Series 2 (Doctor Who 2005)

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Series 2 of Doctor Who ran from 18 November 2005 to 8 July 2006 . It starred David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor, Billie Piper as Rose Tyler and Noel Clarke as Mickey Smith. The regular series was preceded by The Christmas Invasion, opened with New Earth and concluded with Doomsday.

Overview

It consisted of twelve stories and fifteen episodes. It was David Tennant's first full series as the Tenth Doctor, wrote out Billie Piper's Rose Tyler and briefly introduced the character of Donna Noble. Significantly, series 2 also served as a mild advertisement for the then-forthcoming Torchwood television series, since its main story arc established the origins of the Torchwood Institute.

Unlike series 1, the main production team did not feature Mal Young. Instead, Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner carried on as executive producers and Phil Collinson continued in his role as the main producer — an arrangement that persisted through to series 4's Journey's End.

Everything from the 2005 Children in Need Special to Doomsday was a part of the series 2 production block — though the "regular season" is typically characterised as the stories from New Earth to Doomsday.

Production

The main story arc for the season was the Torchwood Institute, referenced only twice previously, which served to lead up to the final episodes as well as the Torchwood spinoff series. A secondary arc dealt with the development of the love story between Rose and the Doctor. Series 2 saw the return of the Cybermen to television and the return of companions Sarah Jane Smith and K9. Both were last seen (notwithstanding independent, fan-made productions) in 1983; their successful return sparked the commissioning of a second spin-off series, The Sarah Jane Adventures, for CBBC. The series 2 finale saw the introduction of Donna Noble.

This was the first series to feature a "Doctor-lite" episode. These were episodes in which the Doctor (and, usually, his companion) only appears in one or two scenes, with the story carried by new, supporting characters. This allowed David Tennant to film two episodes at the same time, and let the production team speed up the filming schedule. Love & Monsters was the first episode to use this innovation, though it did not receive the same level of acclaim as later Doctor-lite episodes such as Blink and Turn Left.

Each episode (not counting the specials) was accompanied by a short teaser "Tardisode" which was only viewable on the Internet; this experiment was not repeated for succeeding seasons, though several online prequels would once again be produced for series 6; the Tardisodes were the first BBC-filmed Doctor Who productions since TV: Mission to the Unknown in which neither the Doctor nor a companion appeared (with the exception of the Tardisode for TV: School Reunion which featured Mickey Smith).

Cast

Recurring

Guest

Television stories

Mini-episode

Episode
Number
Title Writer Director Notes
N/A Children in Need Special Russell T Davies Euros Lyn No official title given for mini-episode, though sometimes referred to as "Born Again"[1][2].

Christmas special

Episode
Number
Title Writer Director Notes
N/A The Christmas Invasion Russell T Davies James Hawes First encounter with the Torchwood Institute's operations.

Regular season

Episode
Number
Title Writer Director Tardisode Notes
1 New Earth Russell T Davies James Hawes 1 First episode set off of Earth. First appearance of New Earth and Hame. First mention of the Face of Boe's secret. Final appearance of Cassandra.
2 Tooth and Claw Euros Lyn 2 Founding of Torchwood.
3 School Reunion Toby Whithouse James Hawes 3 Reintroduction of Sarah Jane Smith. Final appearance of K9 Mark III and first appearance of K9 Mark IV. Mickey Smith joins the TARDIS crew.
4 The Girl in the Fireplace Steven Moffat Euros Lyn 4
5 & 6 Rise of the Cybermen / The Age of Steel Tom MacRae Graeme Harper 5 & 6 Introduction to Pete's World. First appearance of the Cybus Industries Cybermen. Final appearance of Mickey Smith as a travelling companion.
7 The Idiot's Lantern Mark Gatiss Euros Lyn 7 First appearance of the recurring Magpie Electricals brand.
8 & 9 The Impossible Planet / The Satan Pit Matt Jones James Strong 8 & 9 First appearance of the Ood.
10 Love & Monsters Russell T Davies Dan Zeff 10 First official Doctor-lite episode.
11 Fear Her Matthew Graham Euros Lyn 11
12 & 13 Army of Ghosts / Doomsday Russell T Davies Graeme Harper 12 &13 Final regular appearances of Rose Tyler, Mickey Smith and Jackie Tyler. Formal introduction of Torchwood. Destruction of Torchwood One and resolution of the Torchwood arc. First appearances of the Cult of Skaro and Donna Noble.

Adaptations and merchandising

Home media

VHS

All episodes of series 2 including the Children In Need special and The Christmas Invasion were released in July 2006 by Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment.

DVD

All episodes of series 2 were released in 2006 in both individual volumes and in boxset form by 2|Entertain and Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment for Region 2, in 2006 by Warner Home Video for Region 1. However, in region 4 volumes 3, 4 and 5 along with the complete box set were released by CTHE under the Sony Pictures Home Entertainment name.

In 2014 the series was re-released on DVD in the US, split into two volumes labelled "Part One" and "Part Two" respectively, mimicking the home video release of Series 6 and 7. This release is missing much of the bonus content seen on the previous box set. Re-packaged versions of the complete series were also made available.

Title Number and duration
of episodes
R2 release date R4 release date R1 release date
Doctor Who: Series 2, Volume 1
The Christmas Invasion
New Earth
1 x 60 min.
1 × 45 min.
1 May 2006 20 July 2006
Doctor Who: Series 2, Volume 2
Tooth and Claw
School Reunion
The Girl in the Fireplace
3 × 45 min. 5 June 2006 17 August 2006
Doctor Who: Series 2, Volume 3
Rise of the Cybermen /
The Age of Steel
The Idiot's Lantern
3 × 45 min. 10 July 2006 7 September 2006
Doctor Who: Series 2, Volume 4
The Impossible Planet /
The Satan Pit
Love & Monsters
3 × 45 min. 10 July 2006 5 October 2006
Doctor Who: Series 2, Volume 5
Fear Her
Army of Ghosts /
Doomsday
3 × 45 min. 10 July 2006 2 November 2006
Doctor Who: The Complete Second Series 1 x 60 min.
13 × 45 min.
10 July 2006 6 December 2006 16 January 2007 (US)
6 February 2007 (Canada)
Doctor Who: Series Two, Part One
The Christmas Invasion
New Earth
Tooth and Claw
School Reunion
The Girl in the Fireplace
Rise of the Cybermen /
The Age of Steel
The Making of Doctor Who Series 2, Part 1
1 x 60 min.

6 x 45 min.

1 x 20 min.

8 April 2014 TBA 8 April 2014
Doctor Who: Series Two, Part Two
The Idiot's Lantern
The Impossible Planet /
The Satan Pit
Love & Monsters
Fear Her
Army of Ghosts /
Doomsday
The Making of Doctor Who Series 2, Part 2
7 × 45 min.
1 x 20 min.
13 May 2014 TBA 13 May 2014

Blu-ray

Series 2 was included in the Doctor Who: Complete Series 1-7 Blu-ray boxset, released on 4 November, 2013 in the UK and 5 November, 2013 in the US. In 2015, Series 1-4 were reissued on Blu-ray individually.

Stories set before this series

Sarah Jane Smith

Main article: Sarah Jane Smith (audio series)

Stories set during this series

Novels

Audio stories

Promotional trailer

  • A trailer using specially shot footage of the Doctor was created to promote the new season.

External links