Season 21 (Doctor Who 1963)

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Season 21 of Doctor Who ran between 5 January 1984 and 30 March 1984. It starred Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor, Janet Fielding as Tegan Jovanka and Mark Strickson as Turlough for the majority, whilst the final serial featured Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor and Nicola Bryant as Peri Brown. The season opened with Warriors of the Deep and concluded with The Twin Dilemma.

Overview

The season consisted of seven serials and twenty-four episodes. The Twin Dilemma, the first story with Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor, aired last in the season. This season saw the departure of companions Tegan, Turlough and Kamelion and introduced Peri. Most episodes were the traditional twenty-five minute length. However, due to coverage of the 1984 Winter Olympics, Resurrection of the Daleks was re-edited before airing and shown as two forty-five minute episodes.

Colin Baker's first story, The Twin Dilemma, introduced a modified version of the opening credits including a slight modification to the series logo (although the theme arrangement was not changed). This was the first time since Season 4 that such a change occurred during a season.

Along with Season 4, it was one of only two seasons of the classic series to have a completely different cast in the final story of the season than in the first story. In this case, Janet Fielding, Mark Strickson and Peter Davison, respectively, departed their roles in three consecutive serials.

Television stories

# Title Writer Episodes Notes
1 Warriors of the Deep Johnny Byrne 4 First appearance of the Silurians and the Sea Devils since the Jon Pertwee years; last appearance of the Silurians in classic series; last appearance of the Sea Devils; final story to be written by Johnny Byrne.
2 The Awakening Eric Pringle 2 Last 2-part Doctor Who story to be broadcast with 25-minute episodes.
3 Frontios Christopher H. Bidmead 4 First story to feature extensive destruction of the TARDIS and show its capacity to repair itself; final story to be written by former script editor Christopher H. Bidmead.
4 Resurrection of the Daleks Eric Saward 2 Final appearance of Tegan Jovanka; first story broadcast in 45-minute episodes.
5 Planet of Fire Peter Grimwade 4 First appearance of Peri Brown and final appearances of Vislor Turlough and Kamelion. Final story to be written by Peter Grimwade, and also the final to be directed by Fiona Cumming.
6 The Caves of Androzani Robert Holmes 4 First appearance of the Sixth Doctor and final regular appearance of the Fifth Doctor. Cameo appearances of Tegan, Turlough, Kamelion, Nyssa, Adric and the Master, all seen in visions experienced by the Fifth Doctor in his final moments.
7 The Twin Dilemma Anthony Steven 4 First full story of the Sixth Doctor.

Cast

Recurring

Guest

Stories set during this season

Adaptations and merchandising

Home media

VHS

DVDs

All serials of season 21 were released individually in between 2001 and 2011.

Serial name Number and duration
of episodes
R2 release date R4 release date R1 release date
Warriors of the Deep
Only available as part of the Beneath the Surface box set in Regions 2 and 4.
Available individually or in the box set in Region 1.
4 × 25 min. 14 January 2008 5 March 2008 3 June 2008
The Awakening
Only available as part of the Earthstory box set in Regions 2 and 4.
Only available individually in Region 1.
2 × 25 min. 20 June 2011 4 August 2011 12 July 2011
Frontios 4 × 25 min. 30 May 2011 7 July 2011 14 June 2011
Resurrection of the Daleks
Available individually or in The Complete Davros Collection box set in Regions 2 and 4.
Only available individually in Region 1.
4 × 25 min.
(Original Version)
18 November 2002 3 February 2003 1 July 2003
Resurrection of the Daleks – Special Edition
Only available as part of the Revisitations 2 box set in Regions 2 and 4.
Only available individually in Region 1.
4 × 25 min.
(Original Version)
2 × 46 min.
(Broadcast Version)
28 March 2011 5 May 2011 12 June 2012
Planet of Fire
Only available as part of the Kamelion Tales box set in Regions 2 and 4.
Only available individually in Region 1.
Includes remastered "movie version" with new footage.
4 × 25 min.
(Broadcast Version)
1 × 66 min.
(Special Edition)
14 June 2010 5 August 2010 7 September 2010
The Caves of Androzani 4 × 25 min. 18 June 2001 7 January 2002 2 April 2002
The Caves of Androzani – Special Edition
Only available as part of the Revisitations 1 box set in Regions 2 and 4.
4 × 25 min. 4 October 2010 2 December 2010 14 February 2012
The Twin Dilemma 4 × 25 min. 7 September 2009 3 December 2009 5 January 2010

 Download/streaming availability

Serial name Amazon Video iTunes
Warriors of the Deep (4 episodes)
The Awakening (2 episodes)
Frontios (4 episodes)
Resurrection of the Daleks (2 episodes)
Planet of Fire (4 episodes)
The Caves of Androzani (4 episodes
The Twin Dilemma (4 episodes)

Novels

Target Books was originally unable to come to an agreement that would have allowed Resurrection of the Daleks to be adapted as a novel. However, Eric Saward eventually novelised the story in collaboration with BBC Books in 2019, 35 years after the story first premiered on television.

External links