Doctor Who (season 24)
| Doctor Who (season 24) | |
|---|---|
Cover art of the Region 2 DVD release for first serial of the season
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| Starring | |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of stories | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 14 |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC One |
| Original release | 7 September – 7 December 1987 |
| Season chronology | |
The twenty-fourth season of British science fiction television series Doctor Who began on 7 September 1987 with Sylvester McCoy's first story Time and the Rani, and ended with Dragonfire.
The departure of Bonnie Langford saw plans to introduce a new companion. However, owing to Langford being undecided as to when she would actually leave the show, producer John Nathan-Turner asked writers Malcolm Kohll and Ian Briggs to formulate characters that could be used as potential companions. Kohll designed a character in his script, titled The Flight of the Chimeron (eventually to take shape as Delta and the Bannermen), called Ray. Initially it appeared that The Flight of the Chimeron would be the final serial of the season, which would see Ray leave with the Doctor. However, by the time it came to production and scheduling for the season, Kohll's serial had been swapped in the running order with Ian Briggs' (which became Dragonfire), and led to Briggs' creation, who eventually became Ace, taking Mel's place with the Doctor.
Kate O'Mara makes her second appearance as the Rani in McCoy's first serial Time and the Rani.
Sophie Aldred guest stars as Ace in Dragonfire; Ace would become the Doctor's companion in the next season.
Tony Selby, having recently appeared in The Trial of a Time Lord, also made a guest appearance as Sabalom Glitz in the same story and acts as an unofficial companion to the Seventh Doctor.
Andrew Cartmel takes over as script editor. This season is moved to a Monday schedule.
The previous season, while ostensibly a single 14-part serial, was divided into three stories of four episodes and one of two episodes. For this season, this was re-jigged into a new format that would be followed over the next three years, with a pair of four-parters and a pair of three-parters. Not including The Two Doctors, which had episodes of 45-minute duration, Delta and the Bannermen was the first standard format (25-minute) 3 part serial since Planet of Giants in Season 2.
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