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- For the 1966-1967 season of the original series, see Season 4.
The term "Doctor Who series 4" was one that had several different meanings, making a precise and universally-agreed definition difficult. It was nevertheless generally considered the "2008 series".
From a production standpoint, the series began with Voyage of the Damned, continued to Time Crash, and concluded with The End of Time. This view was amply supported by Russell T Davies in his memoir, The Writer's Tale, and by production code and production block numbering.
However, subsequent home video releases suggested — by their very contents — that series could be considered as having begun with Time Crash and having ended with Journey's End. Additionally, the BBC's official Doctor Who website blurred the marketing message by treating Christmas specials as independent of any series. Whatever one's perspective, though, there was universal agreement that the regular, weekly portion of series 4 began on 5th April 2008 with the broadcast of Partners in Crime and continued through to the 5th July 2008 broadcast of Journey's End. It was the second series of BBC Wales to have received a BAFTA nomination in the "Best Drama Series" category, although it did not win, as series 1 had done. The four principal producers — Phil Collinson, Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner and Susie Liggat —were all named nominees.
This series starred David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor and Catherine Tate as his companion, Donna Noble. The final two (or three in the case of Billie Piper) episodes saw the return of Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones), John Barrowman (Jack Harkness), Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith) and Billie Piper (Rose Tyler) to the main cast, accompanied by Noel Clarke (Mickey Smith), Camille Coduri (Jackie Tyler), Penelope Wilton (Harriet Jones), Adjoa Andoh (Francine Jones), Eve Myles (Gwen Cooper), and Gareth David-Lloyd (Ianto Jones). Kylie Minogue starred as Astrid Peth in the Christmas special Voyage of the Damned. Peter Davison returned to the role of the Fifth Doctor for the Children in Need special Time Crash.
Major cast and characters
David Tennant stayed on as the Tenth Doctor, and Catherine Tate reprised her role as Donna Noble, following her one off in the The Runaway Bride.
This series featured several (former) companions returning; Freema Agyeman, returned as Martha Jones for five episodes of the series, which began with The Sontaran Stratagem following her three episode spell with Torchwood. Jack Harkness crossed over from Torchwood for a second time later in the series. Billie Piper returned as Rose Tyler for a three episode stint starting with Turn Left, all three returned in The Stolen Earth along with Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith. These were further joined by Noel Clarke as Mickey Smith and Camille Coduri as Jackie Tyler in Journey's End.
Broadcast milestones
Series 4 featured several milestones. It is the 30th ever broadcast season of Doctor Who, and features the 750th broadcast episode, which was The Stolen Earth, the 50th new series episode, The Unicorn and the Wasp, and the finale episodes The Stolen Earth and Journey's End also took the revived series to new heights of popularity, scoring the highest viewership ratings since the Tom Baker era and according to the media both episodes scored Appreciation Index ratings unprecedented for an ongoing scripted drama series.
In terms of production, the season marked the first production of a "Companion-lite" episode, Midnight (as opposed to the usual "Doctor-lite" episodes, ie. Love and Monsters and Blink), although a Doctor-lite episode, Turn Left was also produced. This was necessitated by the need to film several episodes at the same time, including an unprecedented 15th episode, The Next Doctor, which would air as the 2008 Christmas special.
Series 4 marked the last full season to be produced by Russell T Davies, Phil Collinson and Julie Gardner. Collinson left following Journey's End, and Davies and Gardner announced they would depart following production of a series of specials planned for 2009 in lieu of a regular season. When the show resumed weekly broadcast in 2010, Steven Moffat became the head writer and show-runner. It also marked the last full season featuring David Tennant as the Doctor as, in October 2008, he announced his intention to leave the role following the production of the 2009 specials; in January 2009 Matt Smith was announced as his successor, with Karen Gillan appearing as his companion Amy Pond.
Television stories
Story arcs
As with the preceding three seasons, Series 4 incorporated several ongoing story arcs which were resolved in the finale episodes. In Series 4 these threads included: Donna Noble's evolution, Rose Tyler's attempts to return to her original world and the Doctor, the disappearance of bees from planet Earth, recurring references to planets and moons disappearing, and the coming of "The Darkness", mainly represented by the attempts of the Daleks and Davros to wipe out all reality. Additionally, most episodes include a running gag: namely, that people keep mistaking the Doctor and Donna for a couple.
Mini-episode
| # | Title | Writer | Director | Notes |
| N/A | Time Crash | Steven Moffat | Graeme Harper | Reintroduction of the Fifth Doctor |
Christmas special
| # | Title | Writer | Director | Notes |
| N/A | Voyage of the Damned | Russell T Davies | James Strong | First appearance of Wilfred Mott |
Regular series
| # | Title | Writer | Director | Notes |
| 1 | Partners in Crime | Russell T Davies | James Strong | Reintroduction of Donna Noble |
| 2 | The Fires of Pompeii | James Moran | Colin Teague | |
| 3 | Planet of the Ood | Keith Temple | Graeme Harper | Reintroduction of the Ood |
| 4 | Pt. 1: The Sontaran Stratagem Pt. 2: The Poison Sky |
Helen Raynor | Douglas Mackinnon | Reintroduction of the Sontarans. Return of Martha Jones and formal reintroduction of UNIT. Martha briefly rejoins TARDIS crew |
| 5 | The Doctor's Daughter | Stephen Greenhorn | Alice Troughton | Martha Jones leaves TARDIS |
| 6 | The Unicorn and the Wasp | Gareth Roberts | Graeme Harper | |
| 7 | Pt. 1: Silence in the Library Pt. 2: Forest of the Dead |
Steven Moffat | Euros Lyn | First appearance of River Song |
| 8 | Midnight | Russell T Davies | Alice Troughton | |
| 9 | Turn Left | Russell T Davies | Graeme Harper | Formal Reintroduction of Rose Tyler |
| 10 | Pt. 1: The Stolen Earth Pt. 2: Journey's End |
Russell T Davies | Graeme Harper | Reintroduction of Davros. Return of Jack Harkness, Sarah Jane Smith, Mickey Smith, and Jackie Tyler. First direct crossover with Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures characters. Last regular appearances of Donna Noble, Wilfred Mott |
Mini-episode
| # | Title | Writer | Director | Notes |
| NA | Music of the Spheres | Russell T Davies | Euros Lyn | Shown during the BBC Proms season |
Christmas episode #2
| # | Title | Writer | Director | Notes |
| NA | The Next Doctor | Russell T Davies | Andy Goddard | Return of the Cybus Cybermen |
- From a production standpoint, the 2009 stories Planet of the Dead, The Waters of Mars, and The End of Time were also a part of series 4. However this wikia's community has chosen to separate them into their own article.
Cast
Primary cast
Secondary cast
- Martha Jones - Freema Agyeman
- Rose Tyler - Billie Piper
- Wilfred Mott - Bernard Cribbins
- Sylvia Noble - Jacqueline King
Guest cast
- Fifth Doctor - Peter Davison
- Astrid Peth - Kylie Minogue
- Miss Foster - Sarah Lancashire
- Caecilius - Peter Capaldi
- Metella - Tracey Childs
- Mr Halpen - Tim McInnerny
- General Staal - Christopher Ryan
- Colonel Mace - Rupert Holliday-Evans
- Jenny- Georgia Moffett
- Agatha Christie - Fenella Woolgar
- Clemency Eddison - Felicity Kendal
- Arnold Golightly - Tom Goodman-Hill
- River Song - Alex Kingston
- Moon- Colin Salmon
- Strackman Lux - Steve Pemberton
- Sky Silvestry - Lesley Sharp
- Sanchez - Michael Brandon
- Sarah Jane Smith - Elisabeth Sladen
- Luke Smith - Tommy Knight
- Mr Smith - Alexander Armstrong (Voice)
- Jack Harkness - John Barrowman
- Gwen Cooper - Eve Myles
- Ianto Jones - Gareth David-Lloyd
- Harriet Jones - Penelope Wilton
- Davros - Julian Bleach
- Francine Jones - Adjoa Andoh
- Mickey Smith - Noel Clarke
- Jackie Tyler - Camille Coduri
- K9 - John Leeson (Voice)
- Jackson Lake - David Morrissey
- Rosita Farisi - Velile Tshabalala
Novels
Audiobooks
Aliens and enemies
Promotional trailers
As with previous seasons, trailers were created to promote the season, though this year they were shown in theatres as well as on television in the UK. Of particular note is the second trailer that was released, which utilised unique, specially shot footage of Donna sitting by a camp- or bonfire talking to either an unseen individual or the audience about the Doctor "coming back to save us" and "I'll be ready" interspersed with images of Sontarans, Ood and Daleks. There is no scene like this in any of the episodes; the meaning of "he'll come back to save us" is unknown as there is no circumstance within Series 4 in which Donna would be in such a position to make such a remark.
The other major trailers included another Donna-centric trailer utilising a scene between Donna and Wilfred Mott from Partners in Crime, and a mid-season trailer focusing in part on the return of Rose Tyler in Turn Left.
Awards
- Winner, "Favorite Foreign Drama of the Year", 2009 Seoul International Drama Awards (shared with CSI: Crime Scene Investigation)