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The sixth season of Doctor Who ran between 10 August 1968 and 21 June 1969. It featured Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor.
- You may be looking for series 6.
Overview
Season 6 featured the first UNIT story, The Invasion, which showcased the return of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. It also featured the first official appearance of Time Lords and the Doctor's home planet (as yet unnamed). (Previously, another Time Lord, the Monk, had appeared, without much elaboration, though the name "Time Lord" first appeared in that season.) It also marked the end of the black-and-white era and the tenure of Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor. It consisted of seven serials and forty-four episodes, including two epic-length storylines: the eight episodes of The Invasion and the ten-episode The War Games. This season is fortunately more complete than the previous three seasons, of which only four serials exist. Seven episodes from this season are lost, although audio recordings remain for all; as a result, the DVD release of The Invasion uses animation to recreate the two missing episodes from that story.
Television stories
| # | Title | Writer | Episodes | Notes |
| 1 | The Dominators | Norman Ashby, aka Mervyn Haisman Henry Lincoln (episode 5: with Derrick Sherwin, uncredited) |
5 | First story to be written under a pseudonym. |
| 2 | The Mind Robber | Peter Ling (episode 1: with Derrick Sherwin, uncredited) |
5 | Episode 1 first and only instalment to have no on-screen writer's credit. |
| 3 | The Invasion | Derrick Sherwin Concept by Kit Pedler |
8 | First appearances of UNIT and John Benton, reintroduction of the Cybermen. |
| 4 | The Krotons | Robert Holmes | 4 | First Robert Holmes script for Doctor Who. |
| 5 | The Seeds of Death | Brian Hayles (with Terrance Dicks, uncredited) |
6 | First Terrance Dicks script for Doctor Who, return of the Ice Warriors. (To keep the reappearance of the Ice Warriors a surprise, Steve Peters was credited as 'Alien' in Radio Times for episode 1.) |
| 6 | The Space Pirates | Robert Holmes | 6 | First story of Doctor Who to be filmed using a "double banking" strategy. |
| 7 | The War Games | Malcolm Hulke Terrance Dicks |
10 | Final regular appearances of the Second Doctor, Jamie McCrimmon and Zoe Heriot; first identified appearances by the Time Lords; and first look at Gallifrey (not identified by name). Final black and white episode. |
Cast
Recurring
- The Second Doctor - Patrick Troughton
- Jamie McCrimmon - Frazer Hines
- Zoe Heriot - Wendy Padbury
- Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart - Nicholas Courtney
- Corporal Benton - John Levene
Season 6 was the first season since Season 1 in which the core cast remained unchanged for the entire series.
Stories set during this season
- AUDIO: Fear of the Daleks (after The Wheel in Space)
- Future Imperfect (during Episode 5 The Mind Robber)
- PROSE: Aliens and Predators (between The Invasion and The Krotons)
- Involvement in PROSE UPVC (between The Invasion and The Krotons)
- Involvement in PROSE The Colony of Lies (between The Invasion and The Krotons)
- PROSE: Foreign Devils (between The Invasion and The Krotons)
- PROSE: Vortex of Fear (between The Seeds of Death and The Space Pirates)
- PROSE: The Final Sanction (between The Seeds of Death and The Space Pirates)
- AUDIO: Echoes of Grey (between The Wheel in Space and The Space Pirates)
- AUDIO: Tales from the Vault (between The Wheel in Space and The Space Pirates)
- AUDIO: The Memory Cheats (between The Wheel in Space and The Space Pirates)
- AUDIO: The Jigsaw War (between The Wheel in Space and The Space Pirates)
- AUDIO: The Uncertainty Principle (between The Wheel in Space and The Space Pirates)
- PROSE: Please Shut the Gate (between The Seeds of Death and The Space Pirates)
- PROSE: Constant Companion (between The Seeds of Death and The Space Pirates)
- PROSE: The Indestructible Man (between The Seeds of Death and The Space Pirates)
- AUDIO: The Glorious Revolution (after The Seeds of Death)
- PROSE: The Menagerie (between The Space Pirates and The War Games)
- PROSE: Fallen Angel (between The Space Pirates and The War Games)
- Involvement in PROSE: The Eight Doctors (during episode 9 of The War Games)
- PROSE: War Crimes (during episode 10 of The War Games)
Adaptations and merchandising
Home media
VHS
- The Dominators (1990)
- The Mind Robber (1990)
- The Invasion (with narration of episodes 1 and 4) (1993)
- The Krotons (1991)
- The Seeds of Death (1985/1987) (Edited Movie Format)
- The War Games (1990/2002) (on 2 tapes)
- The Troughton Years (1991) (The Space Pirates episode 2)
Loose Cannon VHS releases
- The Invasion (2003) (Episodes 1 and 4 only)
- The Space Pirates (1998/2007) (Episodes 1, 3-6 only)
DVD
| Serial name | Number and duration of episodes |
R2 release date | R4 release date | R1 release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Dominators | 5 × 25 min. | 12 July 2010 | 2 September 2010 | 11 January 2011 |
| The Mind Robber | 5 × 20 min. | 7 March 2005 | 5 May 2005 | 6 September 2005 |
| The Invasion (episodes 2-3 & 5-8 of 8, animation of 1 & 4) | 8 × 25 min. | 6 November 2006 | 3 January 2007 | 6 March 2007 |
| The Krotons | 4 × 25 min. | 2 July 2012 | 2 August 2012 | 10 July 2012 |
| The Seeds of Death | 6 × 25 min. | 17 February 2003 | 5 May 2003 | 2 March 2004 |
| The Seeds of Death – Special Edition Only available as part of the Revisitations 2 box set in Regions 2 and 4. Only available individually in Region 1. |
6 × 25 min. | 28 March 2011 | 5 May 2011 | 12 June 2012 |
| The War Games | 10 × 25 min. | 6 July 2009 | 3 September 2009 | 3 November 2009 |
| The Space Pirates (episode 2 of 6) | 1 × 25 min. |
1 November 2004 | 2 December 2004 (Original release) 1 July 2010 (Re-release) |
2 November 2004 |
Novels
Other information
Novels and other media contend that further adventures of the Second Doctor occurred during Season 6B prior to his regeneration into the Third Doctor as seen in Season 7 of the television series.