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Doctor Who
Season 15
Cover art of the Blu-ray release for the complete season
Starring	Tom Baker Louise Jameson John Leeson
No. of stories	6
No. of episodes	26
Release
Original network	BBC1
Original release	3 September 1977 (1977-09-03) – 11 March 1978 (1978-03-11)
Season chronology
← Previous Season 14Next → Season 16
List of episodes

The fifteenth season of British science fiction television series Doctor Who began on 3 September 1977 with the serial Horror of Fang Rock, and ended with The Invasion of Time. The fourth series for the Fourth Doctor, new producer Graham Williams became producer for this series (and the two following), while Robert Holmes left script editing for Anthony Read midway through.

Casting

Main cast

• Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor
• Louise Jameson as Leela
• John Leeson as Voice of K9

Tom Baker and Louise Jameson continue their roles as the Fourth Doctor and Leela. K9, played by John Leeson, makes his first appearance during the second serial The Invisible Enemy. Louise Jameson makes her final appearance as Leela in The Invasion of Time.

Serials

Graham Williams took over as producer from Philip Hinchcliffe. Robert Holmes was replaced as script editor by Anthony Read, during The Sun Makers. The season took a short transmission break of two weeks over the Christmas 1977 period, between the broadcasts of The Sun Makers and Underworld.

Production

Season fifteen proved to be a difficult transition period. Philip Hinchcliffe's departure coincided with the loss of a number of long-time contributors to the show as Graham Williams took over as Producer. Williams remarked, "I had to try and find some new ones, and that wasn't the least of the problems. Bob Holmes was stuck on Weng-Chiang for ages... all the scripts were coming in late...".

Robert Holmes remained to work on the three stories he had commissioned, while his successor, Anthony Read, trailed him in preparation of taking over the position. Read, an experienced director and producer, had only agreed to the position of Script Editor because he was intrigued by the chance to work on Doctor Who. Holmes completed Horror of Fang Rock and The Invisible Enemy, before leaving due to creative exhaustion. Image of the Fendahl fell to Read, who had to hastily write K-9 into the story when Holmes made him a regular character.

While Tom Baker enjoyed working with John Leeson (the voice of K-9) in rehearsals, he disliked the prop. Holmes recalled, "it used to drive Tom spare, and more often than not, he'd kick it out of frustration." Holmes agreed to write The Sun Makers, and while the story was meant to follow K-9's introduction and establish him as a regular character, scheduling problems—resulting in the shelving of scripts that Fang Rock had to replace—required the story order to change, with Fendahl preceding it.

Baker had found it difficult to accept the violent Leela character since her introduction, contributing to growing tensions between himself and Louise Jameson. According to Jameson, the tension came to a head during the recording of Fang Rock, when she finally confronted Baker over multiple takes of a scene caused by him entering early and cutting her off. Tensions between the two eased over the course of the season.

Read commissioned Bob Baker and Dave Martin to write Underworld, the penultimate story of the season. Right away, the production was hit hard by record inflation, resulting in the design staff working day and night and inventing new techniques and processes to complete the story on time. The final story, The Invasion of Time, proved even more chaotic: with a reduced budget, a complete last-minute re-write by Read and Williams, and a BBC industrial-dispute between the props department and the electricians.

Broadcast

The entire season was broadcast from 3 September 1977 to 11 March 1978.

Home media

VHS releases

DVD and Blu-ray releases

All releases are for DVD unless otherwise indicated:

• indicates a Blu-ray release

1. Only available as part of the K9 Tales box set with the Doctor Who spin-off K-9 and Company in all regions
2. Only available as part of the Myths and Legends box set in Regions 2 and 4. Only available individually in Region 1.
3. Available individually or in the Bred for War box set in Regions 2 and 4. Only available individually in Region 1.
4. Released as Doctor Who: The Collection – Season 15 in Region B. Released as Doctor Who – Tom Baker: Complete Season Four in Region A.

In print

1. Number in Target's Doctor Who Library, if applicable
2. Published by Target's parent companies (Allen Wingate, W. H. Allen, BBC Books) unless otherwise indicated
3. Published by Target Books (or by BBC Books under the Target Collection umbrella) unless otherwise indicated
4. Unabridged from BBC Audio/AudioGo unless otherwise indicated

References

1. ^ "Ratings Guide". Doctor Who News. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
2. ^ The Doctors: 30 Years of Time Travel. Boxtree Ltd|Adrian Rigelsford, 1994.
3. "The Horror of Fang Rock" DVD, Commentary Track.|BBC, 2005.
4. "Underworld" DVD, Into the Unknown, Making-of Documentary.|BBC, 2010.
5. Smith 2014, Horror of Fang Rock.
6. "Doctor Who Horror At Fang Rock by Roadshow Home Ent - Shop Online for Movies, DVDs in Australia". Fishpond. Archived from the original on 16 November 2017. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
7. "Doctor Who: Horror of Fang Rock". 6 September 2005. Retrieved 16 November 2017 – via Amazon.
8. Smith 2014, The Invisible Enemy.
9. "Doctor Who K-9 Tales by Roadshow Entertainment - Shop Online for Movies, DVDs in Australia". Fishpond. Archived from the original on 16 November 2017. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
10. "Doctor Who: The Invisible Enemy". 2 September 2008. Retrieved 16 November 2017 – via Amazon.
11. Smith 2014, Image of the Fendahl.
12. "Doctor Who Image of the Fendahl by Roadshow Entertainment - Shop Online for Movies, DVDs in Australia". Fishpond. Archived from the original on 16 November 2017. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
13. "Doctor Who: Image of the Fendahl". 1 September 2009. Retrieved 16 November 2017 – via Amazon.
14. Smith 2014, The Sun Makers.
15. "Doctor Who The Sun Makers by Roadshow Entertainment - Shop Online for Movies, DVDs in Australia". Fishpond. Archived from the original on 16 November 2017. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
16. ^ "Doctor Who: The Sun Makers". 9 August 2011. Archived from the original on 30 August 2021. Retrieved 16 November 2017 – via Amazon.
17. Smith 2014, Underworld.
18. "Doctor Who Myths and Legends (The Time Monster, Underworld, and The Horns Of Nimon)". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 29 November 2013.
19. "Doctor Who Myths and Legends". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 29 November 2013.
20. "Doctor Who Myths and Legends 3 DVD Set". BBC. Archived from the original on 29 November 2013. Retrieved 29 November 2013.
21. Smith 2014, The Invasion of Time.
22. "Doctor Who Invasion of Time by Roadshow Entertainment - Shop Online for Movies, DVDs in Australia". Fishpond. Archived from the original on 16 November 2017. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
23. "Doctor Who: The Invasion of Time". 2 September 2008. Retrieved 16 November 2017 – via Amazon.
24. "Season 15 announced as the next instalment in The Collection Blu-ray range". Doctor Who News. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
25. "Doctor Who - Series 15 Collection Blu-ray". Sanity. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
26. "Doctor Who: Tom Baker Complete Season 4 (Blu-ray) - BBC Shop US". BBC Shop. Retrieved 11 January 2024.

Bibliography

• Smith, Paul (2014). The Classic Doctor Who DVD Compendium. United Kingdom: Wonderful Books. ISBN 978-0-9576062-2-7.

• 1977 British television seasons
• 1978 British television seasons
• Doctor Who lists
• Doctor Who series
• Fourth Doctor serials