The twelfth season of Doctor Who ran between 28 December 1974 and 10 May 1975. It was the first season of the series to feature Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor. It was also the last Doctor Who season to have a December/January start until the Peter Davison era.
Overview
Season 12 consisted of five serials and twenty episodes and was the shortest season to date. The season was shortened by a decision by the BBC to move Terror of the Zygons, originally intended as the finale, to the start of Season 13 to allow the next season to begin earlier and let Doctor Who better compete against the soon-to-debut Space: 1999.
All the stories in this season were interconnected, several forming a loose story arc relating to Space Station Nerva. The Cybermen returned to the series for the first time since The Invasion. Genesis of the Daleks, a story which introduced Davros and showed the creation of the Daleks, is one of the most famous of all Doctor Who serials.
Television stories
| # | Title | Writer | Episodes | Notes |
| 1 | Robot | Terrance Dicks | 4 | First appearance of Harry Sullivan; final regular appearance of Bessie. First story to feature videotaped exteriors. |
| 2 | The Ark in Space | Robert Holmes | 4 | First appearance of Nerva Beacon. |
| 3 | The Sontaran Experiment | Bob Baker Dave Martin |
2 | Shortest 1970s story; first two-part story since The Rescue in 1965. |
| 4 | Genesis of the Daleks | Terry Nation | 6 | First appearance of Davros. |
| 5 | Revenge of the Cybermen | Gerry Davis | 4 | First full appearance of the Cybermen since 1968. Final appearance of the Nerva Beacon. |
Cast
Recurring
- The Fourth Doctor - Tom Baker
- Sarah Jane Smith - Elisabeth Sladen
- Harry Sullivan - Ian Marter
- Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart - Nicholas Courtney
- Warrant Officer Benton - John Levene
Guest
- Hilda Winters - Patricia Maynard
- K1 Robot - Michael Kilgarriff
- Professor Kettlewell - Edward Burnham
- Vira - Wendy Williams
- Noah - Kenton Moore
- Rogin - Richardson Morgan
- Vural - Donald Douglas
- Krans - Glyn Jones
- Erak - Peter Walshe
- Styre - Kevin Lindsay
- Davros – Michael Wisher
- Nyder – Peter Miles
- Gharman – Dennis Chinnery
- Stevenson - Ronald Leigh-Hunt
- Lester - William Marlowe
- Tyrum - Kevin Stoney
- Vorus - David Collings
Notes
- Though they only appeared in one story during Season 12, the Brigadier and Benton had appeared more prominently in previous stories.
Stories set during this season
- PROSE: A Device of Death (immediately after Genesis of the Daleks)
Adaptations and merchandising
Home media
VHS
- Robot (1992)
- The Ark in Space (1989) (edited movie format)
- The Ark in Space (1994)
- The Sontaran Experiment/Genesis of the Daleks (1991)
- Genesis of the Daleks (2001)
- Revenge of the Cybermen (1983/1984) (edited movie format)
- Revenge of the Cybermen (1999)
- The Tom Baker Years (1992) (extracts from each of the stories)
DVD
The stories were released on DVD individually in between 2002 and 2010.
| Serial name | Number and duration of episodes |
R2 release date | R4 release date | R1 release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Robot | 4 × 25 min. | 4 June 2007 | 4 July 2007 | 14 August 2007 |
| The Ark in Space | 4 × 25 min. | 8 April 2002 | 3 June 2002 | 6 August 2002 |
| The Ark in Space - Special Edition | 4 × 25 min. | 18 February 2013 | 20 February 2013 | 12 March 2013 |
| The Sontaran Experiment Available individually or in the Bred for War box set in Regions 2 and 4. Only available individually in Region 1. |
2 × 25 min. | 9 October 2006 | 7 December 2006 | 6 March 2007 |
| Genesis of the Daleks Available individually or in The Complete Davros Collection box set in Regions 2 and 4. Only available individually in Region 1. |
6 × 25 min. | 10 April 2006 | 4 May 2006 | 6 June 2006 |
| Revenge of the Cybermen Only available as part of the Cybermen box set in Regions 2 and 4. Only available individually in Region 1. |
4 × 25 min. | 9 August 2010 | 7 October 2010 | 2 November 2010 |
Novels
- Doctor Who and the Giant Robot
- Doctor Who and the Ark in Space
- Doctor Who and the Sontaran Experiment
- Doctor Who and the Genesis of the Daleks
- Revenge of the Cybermen
Scriptbooks
- In 2004, BBC Books published a hardcover, annotated collection of all the scripts from Season 12.