# Doctor Who season 26

The 26th season of Doctor Who premiered on 6 September 1989 with the serial "Battlefield," and consisted of four serials, ending with "Survival," which was the final episode of Doctor Who for over 15 years, until the show was revived in 2005. John Nathan-Turner produced the series, with Andrew Cartmel script editing.

## Casting
### Main cast

* Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor
* Sophie Aldred as Ace
Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred both continue their roles as the Seventh Doctor and Ace for their final season.

### Recurring stars

* Nicholas Courtney as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
* Anthony Ainley as the Master
Nicholas Courtney returned to play Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart in Battlefield. He first appeared with the Second Doctor in 1968 in The Web of Fear before becoming a recurring character throughout the Second Doctor to the Fifth Doctor and last appearing in "The Five Doctors" (1983).
Anthony Ainley returned to play The Master in Survival, having last appeared in The Trial of a Time Lord (1986). This was Ainley's final television appearance in the role, though he portrayed the Master one last time in the 1997 computer game Destiny of the Doctors.

### Guest stars

Jean Marsh, who had portrayed Joanna in The Crusade (1965) and Sara Kingdom in The Daleks' Master Plan (1965–66), appeared in Battlefield playing the part of the main antagonist.

## Serials

Season 26 continued Andrew Cartmel's trend of bringing a darker and more mysterious tone to the show, with a particular focus on Ace's past and the Doctor's manipulative nature. The season aired on Wednesdays, as per the previous season's schedule.
| No. story | No. in season | Serial title | Episode titles | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | Prod. code | UK viewers (millions) | AI |
| 152 | 1 | Battlefield | "Part One" | Michael Kerrigan | Ben Aaronovitch | 6 September 1989 (1989-9-6) | 7N | 3.1 | 69 |
| 152 | 1 | Battlefield | "Part Two" | Michael Kerrigan | Ben Aaronovitch | 13 September 1989 (1989-9-13) | 7N | 3.9 | 68 |
| 152 | 1 | Battlefield | "Part Three" | Michael Kerrigan | Ben Aaronovitch | 20 September 1989 (1989-9-20) | 7N | 3.6 | 67 |
| 152 | 1 | Battlefield | "Part Four" | Michael Kerrigan | Ben Aaronovitch | 27 September 1989 (1989-9-27) | 7N | 4.0 | 65 |
| The Doctor and Ace discover that a UNIT platoon has come under assault whilst transporting a nuclear warhead. The attackers are knights from another dimension led by the legendary sorceress Morgaine, half-sister of King Arthur, whose magical powers appear to be real. The Doctor learns that one of his future incarnations will become Merlin, and bury Arthur beneath the waters of a nearby lake. With Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart at his side one last time, the Doctor must confront Morgaine, who has summoned a demonic entity known as the Destroyer of Worlds. ||||||||||
| 153 | 2 | Ghost Light | "Part One" | Alan Wareing | Marc Platt | 4 October 1989 (1989-10-4) | 7Q | 4.2 | 68 |
| 153 | 2 | Ghost Light | "Part Two" | Alan Wareing | Marc Platt | 11 October 1989 (1989-10-11) | 7Q | 4.0 | 68 |
| 153 | 2 | Ghost Light | "Part Three" | Alan Wareing | Marc Platt | 18 October 1989 (1989-10-18) | 7Q | 4.0 | 64 |
| The Doctor takes Ace back to 1883 to a Perivale house called Gabriel Chase which Ace recognises. Josiah Smith, an alien who has spent millennia adapting to humanity, intends to assassinate Queen Victoria and seize the British throne. Meanwhile, buried in the basement is Smith's former master – a powerful entity who intends to halt all evolution on Earth. ||||||||||
| 154 | 3 | The Curse of Fenric | "Part One" | Nicholas Mallett | Ian Briggs | 25 October 1989 (1989-10-25) | 7M | 4.3 | 67 |
| 154 | 3 | The Curse of Fenric | "Part Two" | Nicholas Mallett | Ian Briggs | 1 November 1989 (1989-11-1) | 7M | 4.0 | 68 |
| 154 | 3 | The Curse of Fenric | "Part Three" | Nicholas Mallett | Ian Briggs | 8 November 1989 (1989-11-8) | 7M | 4.0 | 68 |
| 154 | 3 | The Curse of Fenric | "Part Four" | Nicholas Mallett | Ian Briggs | 15 November 1989 (1989-11-15) | 7M | 4.2 | 68 |
| The Doctor and Ace land in England during World War II, at a secret seaside base which houses the Ultima Machine, a powerful codebreaking device. But disturbances plague the installation: Russians are trying to steal the Ultima, mysterious Viking runes are found in a church crypt, and vampiric Haemovores are rising from the ocean. The Doctor discovers his ancient foe, Fenric, has manipulated events in order to gain his freedom. And central to Fenric's schemes is none other than Ace. ||||||||||
| 155 | 4 | Survival | "Part One" | Alan Wareing | Rona Munro | 22 November 1989 (1989-11-22) | 7P | 5.0 | 69 |
| 155 | 4 | Survival | "Part Two" | Alan Wareing | Rona Munro | 29 November 1989 (1989-11-29) | 7P | 4.8 | 69 |
| 155 | 4 | Survival | "Part Three" | Alan Wareing | Rona Munro | 6 December 1989 (1989-12-6) | 7P | 5.0 | 71 |
| The Seventh Doctor brings Ace back home to Perivale. Ace becomes worried because her friends seem to have disappeared. The Doctor and a fitness instructor called Paterson are suddenly teleported, and the Doctor is confronted by the Master, who explains that they are on a sentient planet which has the power to transform the inhabitants into Cheetahs. The Master shows signs of transformation. Ace finds her friends Shreela and Midge, but a Cheetah pack attacks; Midge kills one Cheetah while Ace injures another, called Karra. She begins to form an attachment to Karra. Ace's eyes change and she begins to transform into a Cheetah. Midge begins to transform, and The Master uses him to teleport both of them back; Ace helps the Doctor and others get back. Paterson is killed by Midge and the Master, and then Midge is killed in the Master's machinations; he also kills Karra, whose presence had been comforting Ace's continued transformation. The Master teleports himself back along with the Doctor, but the Doctor resists and turns away from violence, and is transported away. The Doctor has gone back to the TARDIS and finds Ace, whose metamorphosis has reversed. ||||||||||

## Broadcast

The entire season was broadcast from 6 September to 6 December 1989. The Curse of Fenric was originally intended to be aired before Ghost Light, but was subsequently rescheduled.

## Home media
### VHS releases

| Season | Story no. | Serial name | Number and duration of episodes | UK release date | Australia release date | USA/Canada release date |
| 26 | 152 | Battlefield | 4 x 25 mins | March 1998 | October 1998 | March 1998 |
| 26 | 153 | Ghost Light | 3 x 25 mins | May 1994 | July 1994 | June 1996 |
| 26 | 154 | The Curse of Fenric | 4 x 25 mins | February 1991 | July 1991 | January 1992 |
| 26 | 155 | Survival | 3 x 25 mins | October 1995 | November 1996 | September 1996 |

### DVD and Blu-ray releases

All releases are for DVD unless otherwise indicated:
* $^{(B)}$ indicates a Blu-ray release
| Season | Story no. | Serial name | Number and duration of episodes | R2 release date | R4 release date | R1 release date |
| 26 | 152 | Battlefield | 1 × 96 min. | 26 December 2008 | 19 March 2009 | 5 May 2009 |
| 26 | 153 | Ghost Light | 3 × 25 min. | 20 September 2004 | 3 February 2005 | 7 June 2005 |
| 26 | 154 | The Curse of Fenric | 1 × 104 min. | 6 October 2003 | 11 February 2004 | 1 June 2004 |
| 26 | 155 | Survival | 3 × 25 min. | 16 April 2007 | 6 June 2007 | 14 August 2007 |
| 26 | 152–155 | Complete Season 26 | 14 × 25 min. 8 × 30 min. 1 × 96 min. 1 × 104 min. | 27 January 2020 $^{(B)}$ | 11 March 2020 $^{(B)}$ | 24 March 2020 $^{(B)}$ |
* ↑ Released as Doctor Who: The Collection – Season 26 in Region B. Released as Doctor Who – Sylvester McCoy: Complete Season Three in Region A.

## In print

| Season | Story no. | Library no. | Novelisation title | Author | Hardcover release date | Paperback release date | Audiobook release date |
| 26 | 152 | 152 | Battlefield | Marc Platt | — | 18 July 1991 | 5 May 2022 |
| 26 | 153 | 149 | Ghost Light | Marc Platt | — | 20 September 1990 | 2 June 2011 |
| 26 | 154 | 151 | The Curse of Fenric | Ian Briggs | — | 15 November 1990 | 3 September 2015 |
| 26 | 155 | 150 | Survival | Rona Munro | — | 18 October 1990 | 7 September 2017 |
* ↑ Number in Target's Doctor Who Library, if applicable
* ↑ Published by Target's parent companies (Allen Wingate, W. H. Allen, BBC Books) unless otherwise indicated
* ↑ Published by Target Books (or by BBC Books under the Target Collection umbrella) unless otherwise indicated
* ↑ Unabridged from BBC Audio/AudioGo unless otherwise indicated

## Season 27

Midway through 1989, Doctor Who's production team began initial planning for Season 27, which would have aired at the end of 1990. Andrew Cartmel and the writers he had worked with regularly, including Ben Aaronovitch, Ian Briggs, and Marc Platt, brainstormed possible story ideas. One of the major proposed plot points for Season 27 was the departure of Ace, who would have been taken to Gallifrey to become a Time Lord herself. This would also have seen the subsequent introduction of a new companion, planned as an "aristocratic cat burglar". The cancellation of the series meant that no detailed work was undertaken beyond these initial ideas:
* Bad Destination by Ben Aaronovitch: Intended to feature a new monster called the "Metatraxi", a race of samurai-like insect warriors, this was planned as a story concerning the politics of humanitarian aid. The only significant detail was the idea of the opening, which would have featured Ace as the captain of a starship.
* Thin Ice by Marc Platt: Planned as the serial that would see the departure of Ace, this was to see the return of the Ice Warriors and be set in London in 1968.
* Action At A Distance by Andrew Cartmel: Planned as the introduction of the new companion, who would have come across the Doctor in the midst of robbing a country house.
* Alixion, by Robin Mukherjee: It would have featured the Doctor playing a series of deadly games on an asteroid, and would have likely led to the Seventh Doctor's regeneration and Sylvester McCoy's departure.
* Blood And Iron, by Andrew Cartmel: was being considered for the final serial as well.
Four of these five proposed serials were subsequently adapted by the authors alongside Big Finish Productions into audio adventures that were released as part of their Doctor Who: The Lost Stories range in 2011:
* Bad Destination was released as Earth Aid
* Thin Ice was released under its own title
* Action at a Distance became Crime of the Century
* Blood and Iron was released as Animal
The only one of the proposed stories that did not receive a release from Big Finish was Alixion.
Although the first series of Doctor Who's return in 2005 is the 27th full series of the show, the production team officially restarted the series numbering from scratch. This was mainly due to the 16-year gap between Season 26 and the new series (not counting the 1996 television movie).