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Season 14 of Doctor Who ran between 4 September 1976 and 2 April 1977. It starred Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor, Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah-Jane Smith and Louise Jameson as Leela. The season opened with The Masque of Mandragora and concluded with The Talons of Weng-Chiang.
On 20 April 2020 the season was released on a Blu-ray Box Set.[1]
Overview
It consisted of six serials and twenty-six episodes. The season is notable for the departure of Sarah Jane Smith in The Hand of Fear and for The Deadly Assassin, a story set entirely on Gallifrey which expounded greatly upon the culture and history of the Time Lords, and the Eye of Harmony and Rassilon are mentioned for the first time. The Deadly Assassin also featured the return of the Decayed Master in a degenerated form and had the Doctor without a companion for an entire story for the first time in the history of Doctor Who. This story is also the first time the limit of regenerations is set.
The season also introduced new companion Leela. The overall gothic ambience of the season was supported by the introduction of the TARDIS' secondary console room, which would be used in lieu of the traditional console room into the next season.
Like the 2011 series, it was comprised of two distinct "halves", separated by a chunk of time when the programme wasn't transmitting new episodes. Though not quite as long as the 2011 gap, the show stopped broadcasting in mid-November and didn't return until New Year's Day. Contemporaneous marketing suggested that The Face of Evil — the serial which began on 1 January 1977 — was actually the start of a new series of Doctor Who. (INFO: The Face of Evil) This fact, however, is ill-remembered and no reference work published since the event has ever seriously suggested that Face was the season 15 opener.
Television stories
| # | Title | Writer | Episodes | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Masque of Mandragora | Louis Marks | 4 | Debut of the secondary TARDIS console room. |
| 2 | The Hand of Fear | Bob Baker Dave Martin |
4 | Final regular appearance of Sarah Jane Smith and the final story to be directed by Lennie Mayne. |
| 3 | The Deadly Assassin | Robert Holmes | 4 | Reintroduction of the Master, now withering; only story of the 1963-89 series in which the Doctor does not have a companion; first story set entirely on Gallifrey; introduction of the twelve regeneration limit for Time Lords; introduction of the Matrix. |
| 4 | The Face of Evil | Chris Boucher | 4 | First appearance of Leela. Also the first story to be written by Chris Boucher and the directorial debut on the programme for Pennant Roberts. |
| 5 | The Robots of Death | Chris Boucher | 4 | Introduction of the Sandminer robots; introduction of Kaldor City. Final story to be directed by Michael E. Briant. |
| 6 | The Talons of Weng-Chiang | Robert Holmes | 6 | First and only televised appearance of Jago and Litefoot, who went on to lead their own Big Finish audio range; final story to be produced by Philip Hinchcliffe and the final story to be directed by David Maloney. |
Cast
Guest
- Count Federico - John Laurimore
- Giuliano - Gareth Armstrong
- Marco - Tim Piggott-Smith
- Captain Rossini - Antony Carrick
- Hieronymous - Norman Jones
- Dr. Carter - Rex Robinson
- Professor Watson - Glyn Houston
- Eldrad - Judith Paris
- Kastrian Eldrad - Stephen Thorne
- Chancellor Goth - Bernard Horsfall
- Castellan Spandrell - George Pravda
- Co-ordinator Engin - Erik Chitty
- Commentator Runcible - Hugh Walters
- The Master - Peter Pratt
- Neeva - David Garfield
- Tomas - Brendan Price
- Calib - Leslie Schofield
- Jabel - Leon Eagles
- Gentek - Mike Ellis
- Uvanov - Russell Hunter
- Toos - Pamela Salem
- Poul - David Collings
- D84 - Gregory de Polnay
- SV7 - Miles Fothergill
- Li H'sen Chang - John Bennet
- Jago - Christopher Benjamin
- Professor Lifefoot - Trevor Baxter
- Mr Sin - Deep Roy
- Casey - Chris Gannon
- P.C. Quick - Conrad Asquith
- Weng-Chiang - Michael Spice
Stories set during this season
After The Deadly Assassin :
After The Robots of Death :
Adaptations and merchandising
Home media
VHS releases
- The Masque of Mandragora (1991)
- The Hand of Fear (1996)
- The Deadly Assassin (1991)
- The Face of Evil (1999)
- The Robots of Death (1986) (edited movie format)
- The Robots of Death (1995)
- The Talons of Weng-Chiang (1988)
- The Tom Baker Years (extracts from all of the stories) (1991)
DVD & Blu-ray releases
All serials of season 14 were released between 2000 to 2012. The complete season was upscaled in 1080i50 high definition and released on Blu-ray as Doctor Who: The Collection - Season 14 in the UK on 20 April 2020.
| Serial name | Number and duration of episodes |
R2 release date | R4 release date | R1 release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Masque of Mandragora | 4 × 25 min. | 8 February 2010 | 31 March 2010 | 4 May 2010 |
| The Hand of Fear | 4 × 25 min. | 24 July 2006 | 7 September 2006 | 7 November 2006 |
| The Deadly Assassin | 4 × 25 min. | 11 May 2009 | 2 July 2009 | 1 September 2009 |
| The Face of Evil | 4 × 25 min. | 5 March 2012 | 5 April 2012 | 13 March 2012 |
| The Robots of Death | 4 × 25 min. | 13 November 2000 | 2 July 2001 | 11 September 2001 |
| The Robots of Death – Special Edition Only available as part of the Revisitations 3 box set in Regions 2 and 4. Only available individually in Region 1. |
4 × 25 min. | 13 February 2012 | 1 March 2012 | 13 March 2012 |
| The Talons of Weng-Chiang | 6 × 25 min. | 28 April 2003 | 30 June 2003 | 7 October 2003 |
| The Talons of Weng-Chiang – Special Edition Only available as part of the Revisitations 1 box set in Regions 2 and 4. Only available individually in Region 1. |
6 × 25 min. | 4 October 2010 | 2 December 2010 | 11 October 2011 |
| The Collection - Season 14 | 26 x 25 min. | 20 April 2020 | TBA | TBA |
Download/streaming availability
| Serial name | Amazon Video | BritBox (US) | BritBox (Canada) | iTunes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Masque of Mandragora (4 episodes) | ✓ | |||
| The Hand of Fear (4 episodes) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| The Deadly Assassin (4 episodes) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| The Face of Evil (4 episodes) | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| The Robots of Death (4 episodes) | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| The Talons of Weng-Chiang (6 episodes) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |