Doctor Who (season 3)


The third season of British science fiction television series Doctor Who began on 11 September 1965 with the story Galaxy 4 and ended on 16 July 1966 with The War Machines. Only 17 out of 45 episodes survive in the BBC archives; 28 remain missing. As a result, only 3 serials are complete.

Casting

Main cast

William Hartnell continues his journey as The First Doctor, accompanied by companions Vicki and Steven Taylor. In the third story The Myth Makers, Vicki departed and was replaced by Katarina. Katarina's tenure was brief, with the character being killed in episode 4 of the following story, The Daleks' Master Plan. In some companion lists, Sara Kingdom is included as a companion, though her appearances were limited to later episodes of the serial The Daleks' Master Plan.
Dodo Chaplet joined the Doctor and Steven in the next serial, The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve. There were no changes in the primary cast until Steven's departure in the penultimate story, The Savages. In the final story The War Machines, Dodo also departs, and the Doctor was joined by Polly and Ben. Like the previous season, the cast of companions had changed from start to finish.

Guest stars

makes his second and final appearance as the Meddling Monk in the serial The Daleks' Master Plan, though his presence in the story is limited to three parts only; "Volcano", "Golden Death", and "Escape Switch".

Serials

replaced Verity Lambert as producer after "Mission to the Unknown". Innes Lloyd, in turn, replaced Wiles after The Ark. Donald Tosh continued as script editor until The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve: "Priest of Death", and was replaced by Gerry Davis beginning with The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve: "Bell of Doom".
The practice of giving each individual episode a different title was abandoned after The Gunfighters, near the end of the season. This season was notable for the longest serial to date, The Daleks' Master Plan, which contained 12 episodes. The record of The Daleks' Master Plan as the longest serial was eventually taken by the 14-part The Trial of a Time Lord, which spanned the whole of Season 23. The single-episode prequel to this story, "Mission to the Unknown", was not only the shortest story, but was notable for the absence of the entire regular cast. The episode came about when Planet of Giants, the opening serial of Season 2, was reduced from four to three episodes, leaving a single episode held over in the production schedule. Rather than attempt to create a single-episode story, or add an episode to an already commissioned story, it was decided to use this one episode as a trailer to set up the upcoming 12-part Dalek story.
Four of the stories from Season 3 are completely missing from the BBC archive, with no surviving episodes. Further, "Mission to the Unknown" and The Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve are two of only three stories from the entire run of Doctor Who with no surviving footage from any sources. Only three of this season's stories are complete.
Season 3 holds the distinction of being the longest-running season of Doctor Who to date, having produced 45 episodes in 10 serials. Season 6 produced just one episode less in 7 serials.
The Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve was the first serial that saw the lead actor cast in a dual role; William Hartnell not only plays the Doctor, but also the Abbot of Amboise. This would be repeated by Patrick Troughton in Season 5's The Enemy of the World.

Missing episodes

  • Galaxy 4 – Episodes 1, 2 & 4
  • "Mission to the Unknown" – Entire episode
  • The Myth Makers – All 4 episodes
  • The Daleks' Master Plan – Episodes 1, 3, 4, 6 – 9, 11 & 12
  • The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve – All 4 episodes
  • The Celestial Toymaker – Episodes 1, 2 & 3
  • The Savages – All 4 episodes

    Home media

VHS releases

DVD and Blu-ray releases

In print

Serial nameNovelisation titleAuthorFirst published
Galaxy 4Galaxy FourWilliam Emms14 November 1985
"Mission to the Unknown"The Daleks' Master Plan Part I: Mission to the UnknownJohn Peel21 September 1989
The Myth MakersThe Myth MakersDonald Cotton11 April 1985
The Daleks' Master PlanThe Daleks' Master Plan Part I: Mission to the Unknown
The Daleks' Master Plan Part II: The Mutation of Time		John Peel21 September 1989
19 October 1989
The Massacre of St Bartholomew's EveThe MassacreJohn Lucarotti18 June 1987
The ArkThe ArkPaul Erickson16 October 1986
The Celestial ToymakerThe Celestial ToymakerGerry Davis and Alison Bingeman19 June 1986
The GunfightersThe GunfightersDonald Cotton11 July 1985
The SavagesThe SavagesIan Stuart Black20 March 1986
The War MachinesThe War MachinesIan Stuart Black16 February 1989