Season 18

Season 18 of Doctor Who ran from 30 August 1980 to 21 March 1981. It starred Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor, Lalla Ward as Romana II, John Leeson as K9 Mark II, Matthew Waterhouse as Adric, Sarah Sutton as Nyssa and Janet Fielding as Tegan Jovanka. The season opened with The Leisure Hive and concluded with Logopolis.
== Overview ==
Season 18 consisted of seven stories comprising twenty-eight episodes, making it the longest season in terms of episode count since the start of colour production. It was Tom Baker's final season and the first season of John Nathan-Turner's producership. Many of the changes he brought in during this season would continue throughout the 1980s — some to the end of Doctor Whos original run. Amongst the more obvious changes during the season were: a new logo, a reworking of the theme tune, fully electronic incidental music, a raft of new writers and directors, a new maroon-coloured outfit for the Doctor and the introduction of the question mark motif on the Doctor's clothing. Additionally, he commissioned Tom Yardley-Jones to design a new TARDIS prop to be used for the show. This prop would continue to be used up until the end of Season 26 (though, the previous Barry Newbery design would appear this season in Logopolis). Finally, it was Barry Letts swansong on the programme. He had returned for this one year to executive produce.
It was the last season of the original series to have an autumn-to-spring broadcast schedule and the last to have an autumn start until Season 23. After this season, the number of episodes per season began to decline, after a relatively stable episode count for the whole of the 1970s. The season took a two week transmission break over the 1980 Christmas period, between the broadcast of part four of State of Decay and part one of Warriors' Gate, making it the last to do so.
From Full Circle onwards, the season featured a story arc involving E-Space and the return of the Master who had stolen a new body rather than regenerate. The stories were darker and more adult in tone than those during the Graham Williams era. They also attempted to emphasise science, much to the satisfaction of both script editor Christopher H. Bidmead and executive producer Barry Letts. (REF: The Fourth Doctor Handbook)
Notably, this season revolves around the theme of entropy, linking together all of its stories in a rare phenomenon for the show (while other story arcs would be linked together via people, objects, etc, the use of an overarching theme for a season was unprecedented). This theme would eventually foreshadow and culminate in the Doctor's regeneration at the end of the season.
From a ratings standpoint, it sits right at the very nadir of Doctor Who history. It is easily the worst-ranked season of Doctor Who, with 17 of its 28 episodes outside of the top 100 shows. Indeed, the 9 lowest-charting episodes in Doctor Who history come from this season. Full Circle's second episode remains the worst-charting episode of Doctor Who. Its paltry 3.70 million viewers were only good enough for what was, even by the season's low standard, an extremely anaemic 170th place during the week of 1 November 1980.doctorwhonews.net ratings guide In terms of pure ratings, as opposed to ranking, it was not quite the worst of the lot, with all four seasons after the 1985-86 hiatus faring worse in this regard. But it was easily the least-watched Tom Baker season, with an average of only 5.8 million Britons watching each episode. (REF: The Fourth Doctor Handbook) The decline in ratings has been attributed to direct competition from ITV. The first half of the season was up against , an American import with considerably better production values. (INFO: Full Circle)
== Television stories ==
#	Title 	Writer 	Episodes	Notes
1	The Leisure Hive 	David Fisher 	4 	Debut of the Fourth Doctor's burgundy outfit. Final story to be written by David Fisher.
2	Meglos 	John FlanaganAndrew McCulloch	4 	This story marked the first involvement on the show of Terence Dudley, who, along with directing this story, would contribute several scripts over to the series over the next two seasons.
3	Full Circle 	Andrew Smith 	4 	First appearance of Adric. Directorial debut on the programme of Peter Grimwade. Beginning of the "E-Space trilogy".
4	State of Decay 	Terrance Dicks 	4 	First story to be directed by Peter Moffatt.
5	Warriors' Gate 	Steve Gallagher 	4 	Final appearances of Romana II and K9 Mark II. Conclusion of the "E-Space trilogy".
6	The Keeper of Traken	Johnny Byrne 	4 	First appearance of Nyssa. Reintroduction of , and debut of Anthony Ainley's .
7	Logopolis 	Christopher H. Bidmead 	4 	Final appearance of the Fourth Doctor. First appearance of the Tegan Jovanka and the Fifth Doctor.
==== Notes ====
* Season 18 stands as one of only three seasons in Doctor Who history in which each story of the season has consisted of the same number of episodes - with this season consisting entirely of four-part serials - the others being Series 7 and Series 11, with one each. If the unfinished Shada is discounted, then this number is raised to four, with Season 17 also entirely consisting of four-part serials.
== Cast ==
* Doctor Who - Tom Baker
* Romana II - Lalla Ward
* K9 (voice) - John Leeson
* Adric - Matthew Waterhouse
=== Recurring ===
* Nyssa - Sarah Sutton
* The Master - Anthony Ainley
* Tegan Jovanka - Janet Fielding
* Doctor Who - Peter Davison
=== Guest ===
* Mena - Adrienne Corri
* Brock - John Collin
* Pangol - David Haig
* Hardin - Nigel Lambert
* Morix - Laurence Payne
* Klout - Ian Talbot
* Vargos - Martin Fisk
* Foamasi - Andrew Lane
* General Grugger - Bill Fraser
* Lieutenant Brotadac - Frederick Treves
* Zastor - Edward Underdown
* Lexa - Jacqueline Hill
* Caris - Colette Gleeson
* Earthling - Christopher Owen
* Login - George Baker
* Nefred - James Bree
* Garif - Alan Rowe
* Varsh - Richard Willis
* Tylos - Bernard Padden
* Keara - June Page
* Dexeter - Tony Calvin
* Marshman - Barney Lawrence
* Marshchild - Norman Bacon
* Aukon - Emrys James
* Camilla - Rachel Davies
* Zargo - William Lindsay
* Ivo - Clinton Greyn
* Tarak - Thane Bettany
* Kalmar - Arthur Hewlett
* Rorvik - Clifford Rose
* Packard - Kenneth Cope
* Lane - David Kincaid
* Aldo - Freddie Earlle
* Royce - Harry Waters
* Biroc - David Weston
* The Keeper - Denis Carey
* Tremas - Anthony Ainley
* Kassia - Sheila Ruskin
* Seron - John Woodnutt
* Katura - Margot Van der Burgh
* Luvic - Robin Soans
* Neman - Roland Oliver
* The Master - Geoffrey Beevers
* Aunt Vanessa - Dolore Whiteman
* Detective Inspector - Tom Georgeson
* The Monitor - John Fraser
* The Watcher - Adrian Gibbs
== Stories set before this season ==
The following stories are the known ones to be set between Seasons 17 and 18:
=== Television ===
* The Fourth Doctor and Romana's involvement in The Five Doctors
=== Novels ===
to be added
=== Short stories ===
* The Final Analysis
=== Audios ===
* The Pyralis Effect
*Wave of Destruction
*The Beast of Kravenous
* Dethras
* The Pursuit of History / Casualties of Time
==== Comics ====
to be added
== Stories set during this season ==
=== Novels ===
* The Fourth Doctor and Romana's involvement in The Eight Doctors
=== Short stories ===
* O, Darkness
* Mauritz
=== Audios ===
* The Invasion of E-Space
* A Full Life
*Purgatory 12
*Watchers
=== Comics ===
to be added
== Adaptations and merchandising ==
=== Home media ===
==== VHS releases ====
* The Leisure Hive (1997)
* Meglos (2003)
* The E-Space Trilogy (contains Full Circle, State of Decay and Warriors' Gate) (1997)
* The Keeper of Traken (1992)
* Logopolis (1992)
* The Tom Baker Years (extracts from all the stories)
==== DVD & Blu-ray releases ====
All serials of season 18 were released individually on DVD between 2004 and 2011. The complete season was upscaled in 1080i50 high definition and released on Blu-ray as Doctor Who: The Collection - Season 18 in the UK on 18 March 2019. Due to authoring issues, BBC Video released replacement discs for this set.
It was released in Australia on 17 April 2019 and was released in the US under the title Doctor Who: Tom Baker - Complete Season Seven on 19 March 2019. BBC Video also released replacement discs for this set.
Serial name 	Number and durationof episodes	R2 release date	R4 release date	R1 release date
The Leisure Hive 	4 × 25 min. 	5 July 2004 	7 October 2004 	7 June 2005
Meglos 	4 × 25 min. 	10 January 2011	20 January 2011	11 January 2011
The E-Space Trilogy: Full Circle (4 episodes) State of Decay (4 episodes)Warriors' Gate (4 episodes) 	12 × 25 min. 	26 January 2009	5 March 2009 	5 May 2009
The Keeper of TrakenOnly available as part of the New Beginnings box set in Regions 2 and 4. Available individually or in the box set in Region 1.	4 × 25 min. 	29 January 2007	7 March 2007 	5 June 2007
LogopolisOnly available as part of the New Beginnings box set in Regions 2 and 4. Available individually or in the box set in Region 1. 	4 × 25 min. 	29 January 2007	7 March 2007 	5 June 2007
The Collection - Season 18Released as Tom Baker: Complete Season Seven in the US. 	28 x 25 min. 	18 March 2019 	17 April 2019 	19 March 2019
=== Download/streaming availability ===
Serial name 	Amazon Video	Google Play	iTunes
The Leisure Hive (4 episodes) 	✓ 	 	✓
Meglos (4 episodes) 	 	 	
Full Circle (4 episodes) 	 	 	
State of Decay (4 episodes) 	 	 	
Warriors' Gate (4 episodes) 	 	 	
The Keeper of Traken (4 episodes	 	 	
Logopolis (4 episodes) 	 	✓ 	
=== Novels ===
* Doctor Who and the Leisure Hive
* Meglos
* Full Circle
* Doctor Who and the State of Decay
* Doctor Who and Warriors' Gate
* Doctor Who and the Keeper of Traken
* Logopolis
== External links ==
* BBC website guide to Season 18
== Footnotes ==
de:Doctor Who Staffel 18
es:Temporada 18 (DW-C)
it:Diciottesima Stagione
pt:18ª Temporada (SC)
ru:18 сезон (классические серии)
Category:Seasons
Category:Doctor Who seasons
Category:Infobox double checked