Season 24 of Doctor Who ran between 7 September 1987 and 7 December 1987. It starred Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor and Bonnie Langford as Melanie Bush. The season opened with Time and the Rani and concluded with Dragonfire.
Overview
The season consisted of four serials and fourteen episodes. Unlike season 23, there was no overall story arc, and the episode allotment - two four-episode stories, two three-episode stories - would be retained for the remainder of the original series. Notably, the season featured the introduction of new companion Ace, who would be a prominent figure in the spinoff fiction that kept the Doctor Who name alive following its cancellation in 1989 and was the final official onscreen companion until Rose Tyler in the revived series.
Unlike the previous regenerations of the Doctor, the Sixth Doctor's happened at the beginning of the season's episode. Colin Baker, who played the Sixth Doctor, would not come back to shoot a few episodes leading up to the regeneration as he felt insulted at being replaced after a short time as the Doctor and was displeased to make fans think he was still the Doctor for another year when he was only offered one story before his dismissal. His Doctor's life was instead wrapped up through an audio series entitled The Sixth Doctor: The Last Adventure in 2015.
This was the first season since Season 17 not to feature the Master.
Television stories
| # | Title | Writer | Episodes | Notes |
| 1 | Time and the Rani | Pip and Jane Baker | 4 | Final appearance of the Sixth Doctor and first appearance of the Seventh Doctor. Final appearance of the Rani. |
| 2 | Paradise Towers | Stephen Wyatt | 4 | First of two serials written by newcomer Stephen Wyatt following writer Eric Saward's falling out with John Nathan-Turner. |
| 3 | Delta and the Bannermen | Malcolm Kohll | 3 | Debut of the Seventh Doctor's question-mark umbrella. The Seventh Doctor's persona begins to develop through notable witticisms. |
| 4 | Dragonfire | Ian Briggs | 3 | Final appearance of Melanie Bush and Sabalom Glitz; first appearance of Ace. |
Cast
Recurring
Guest
Stories set during this season
- PROSE: The Useful Pile, AUDIO: Unregenerate! and AUDIO: Red (Between Time and the Rani and Paradise Towers)
- AUDIO: Bang-Bang-a-Boom!, AUDIO: Flip-Flop and COMIC: Plastic Millenium (Between Paradise Towers and Delta and the Bannermen)
- AUDIO: The Fires of Vulcan (Between Delta and the Bannermen and Dragonfire)
Adaptations and merchandising
Home media
VHS
- Time and the Rani (1995)
- Paradise Towers (1995)
- Delta and the Bannermen (2001)
- Dragonfire (1993)
DVD
The first serial was released in 2009.
| Serial name | Number and duration of episodes |
R2 release date | R4 release date | R1 release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time and the Rani | 4 × 25 min. | 13 September 2010 | 4 November 2010 | 14 June 2011 |
| Paradise Towers | 4 × 25 min. | 18 July 2011 | 1 September 2011 | 9 August 2011 |
| Delta and the Bannerman | 3 × 25 min. | 22 June 2009 | 6 August 2009 | 1 September 2009 |
| Dragonfire Released as part of the Ace Adventures box set |
3 × 25 min. | 7 May 2012 | 7 June 2012 | 8 May 2012 |
Download/streaming availability
| Serial name | Amazon Video | iTunes |
|---|---|---|
| Time and the Rani (4 episodes) | ✓ | ✓ |
| Paradise Towers (4 episodes) | ||
| Delta and the Bannermen (3 episodes) | ||
| Dragonfire (3 episodes) |