The seventeenth season of British science fiction television series Doctor Who began on 1 September 1979 with the story Destiny of the Daleks, and ended with The Horns of Nimon. This was Graham Williams' final season producing Doctor Who. The script editor was Douglas Adams.
Casting
Main cast Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor Lalla Ward as Romana David Brierly as Voice of K9
Tom Baker continued as the Fourth Doctor. Lalla Ward, who played Princess Astra in the season 16 finale The Armageddon Factor, returned to the series as the newly regenerated Romana, replacing Mary Tamm in the role. After John Leeson declined to return as K9, David Brierly replaced him in the part for the season's final four serials, including Shada.
Serials
Production
Scrapped stories
Season 17 was intended to follow the same format as had every season since Season 13, with five 4-part serials and a 6-parter closing the season out. However, the planned final serial of the season, Shada, was affected by an industrial dispute involving the BBC's technicians; while the location filming and the first studio recording session were completed, strike action by staff meant that the planned second studio session had to be cancelled. Although the dispute was resolved and plans were put in place to continue work on the story, it was eventually shelved, as the BBC was concerned that its Christmas productions might be affected. A BBC historian has suggested that by cancelling completely instead of finishing what little was required, the management could demonstrate that the strikes had consequences. Ironically, the viewer ratings of Season 17 were also affected by a strike, with the BBC's main rival, ITV, off air due to a dispute.
Multiple other stories were scrapped from this season. John Lloyd's The Doomsday Contract adapted material from his unpublished science-fiction story GiGax. and would have seen Doctor summonsed to appear in court when a corporation tries to buy Earth to obtain a matter-transmutation device.. Pennant Roberts' Erinella would have depicted two men fighting over a princess on the titular planet, with the Doctor being involved after arriving at the wrong time and being accused of poisoning.. Allen Drury's The Tearing of the Veil would have seen fake spiritualists exploiting the widow of a vicar, with the TARDIS arriving during a seance.. Philip Hinchcliffe's The Valley of the Lost would have seen an alien crash-landing in a South American jungle in 1870, but was scrapped due to cost concerns... Prior to submitting Shada, Adams pitched an untitled storyline featuring the Doctor retiring but still being called to solve problems before being replaced by Shada.. An untitled Pat Mills and John Wagner storyline would have involved a parallel universe in which the Roman Empire never fell.. Other scrapped storylines included Child Prodigy by Alistair Beaton and Sarah Dunant and The Secret of Cassius by Andrew Smith..
Broadcast Part 4 of The Horns of Nimon saw the last appearance of the diamond-shaped logo that had been used since The Time Warrior in 1973 until it was reintroduced in the 60th anniversary specials starting with "The Star Beast" in 2023.
The entire season was broadcast from 1 September 1979 to 12 January 1980.
Home media
VHS releases
DVD and Blu-ray releases
In print
Notes
References
Bibliography
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External links