Doctor Who (season 14)

Doctor Who (season 14)
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Starring	Tom Baker Elisabeth Sladen Louise Jameson
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of episodes	26 6 stories
Release
Original network	BBC One
Original release	4 September 1976 (1976-09-04) – 2 April 1977 (1977-04-02)

The fourteenth season of British science fiction television series Doctor Who began on 4 September 1976 with The Masque of Mandragora, and ended with The Talons of Weng-Chiang.

Casting

See also: List of Doctor Who cast members

Main cast

• Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor
• Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith
• Louise Jameson as Leela

Tom Baker continues his role as The Fourth Doctor. Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) departs partway through the season in The Hand of Fear. As Sarah Jane was effectively the only tie the Doctor had to UNIT at this point, he no longer had a reason to return to his former job following her departure. In between the two serials, the Doctor has a solo adventure in The Deadly Assassin. The Doctor is then joined by Leela played by Louise Jameson in The Face of Evil.

Guest stars

The Master reappears in The Deadly Assassin as the main antagonist, his first appearance since Frontier in Space (1973), this time played by Peter Pratt. The character would not make a further appearance until five years later in 1981.

Serials

The Masque of Mandragora saw the debut of the new wood-panelled "Secondary Console Room" set, which was to be used as the main TARDIS console room throughout the season. The season took a five-week transmission break between the broadcasts of The Deadly Assassin and The Face of Evil in order to extend the season further into 1977, allowing Robert Holmes time to work on the final serial The Talons of Weng-Chiang.

Story	Serial	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Prod. code	UK viewers (millions)	AI
86	1	The Masque of Mandragora	Rodney Bennett	Louis Marks	4 September 1976 11 September 1976 18 September 1976 25 September 1976	4M	8.3 9.8 9.2 10.6	58 56 — 56
An encounter with the living energy structure known as the Mandragora Helix leads the TARDIS to 15th century Italy.
87	2	The Hand of Fear	Lennie Mayne	Bob Baker and Dave Martin	2 October 1976 9 October 1976 16 October 1976 23 October 1976	4N	10.5 10.2 11.1 12.0	— — 62 —
The Doctor and Sarah are caught in a mining explosion. Sarah is found clutching what appears to be a fossilised hand, buried in a 150-million-year-old stratum.
88	3	The Deadly Assassin	David Maloney	Robert Holmes	30 October 1976 6 November 1976 13 November 1976 20 November 1976	4P	11.8 12.1 13.0 11.8	— 59 — 61
The Doctor returns to his homeworld, Gallifrey. When the President of the High Council is assassinated, however, he becomes the prime suspect.
89	4	The Face of Evil	Pennant Roberts	Chris Boucher	1 January 1977 8 January 1977 15 January 1977 22 January 1977	4Q	10.7 11.1 11.3 11.7	61 — 59 60
The Doctor arrives on a planet where two tribes are at war and discovers that their god of evil is himself.
90	5	The Robots of Death	Michael E. Briant	Chris Boucher	29 January 1977 5 February 1977 12 February 1977 19 February 1977	4R	12.8 12.4 13.1 12.6	62 — — 57
A vessel is commanded by a crew of indolent or avaricious human staff. It is a happy partnership until the human crew start being murdered one by one.
91	6	The Talons of Weng-Chiang	David Maloney	Robert Holmes	26 February 1977 5 March 1977 12 March 1977 19 March 1977 26 March 1977 2 April 1977	4S	11.3 9.8 10.2 11.4 10.1 9.3	— — — 60 — 58
The Doctor and Leela travel to Victorian London where they encounter a sinister Chinese stage magician and his master, a fugitive from the 51st century.

Broadcast

The entire season was broadcast from 4 September 1976 to 2 April 1977.

DVD Releases

See also: List of Doctor Who home video releases

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 Part of the Revisitations 3 box set.	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

In print

Main article: List of Doctor Who novelisations

Serial name	Novelisation title	Author	First published
The Masque of Mandragora	Doctor Who and the Masque of Mandragora	Philip Hinchcliffe	1977
The Hand of Fear	Doctor Who and the Hand of Fear	Terrance Dicks	1979
The Deadly Assassin	Doctor Who and the Deadly Assassin	Terrance Dicks	1977
The Face of Evil	Doctor Who and the Face of Evil	Terrance Dicks	1978
The Robots of Death	Doctor Who and the Robots of Death	Terrance Dicks	1979
The Talons of Weng-Chiang	Doctor Who and the Talons of Weng-Chiang	Terrance Dicks	1977