| Season Start: | 31 October 1964 | | Season End: | 24 July 1965 | | Season Length: | 39 Weeks | | Writers: | Bill Strutton, David Whitaker, Dennis Spooner, Glyn Jones, Louis Marks and Terry Nation | | Directors: | Christopher Barry, Douglas Camfield, Mervyn Pinfield and Richard Martin | | Producer: | Verity Lambert | | Associate Producer: | Mervyn Pinfield | | Story Editors: | David Whitaker, Dennis Spooner and Donald Tosh | | Title Sequence: | Bernard Lodge | | Title Music: | Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Arranged by Delia Derbyshire |
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Incarnation of the Doctor: |
The First Doctor
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| Number of
Companions: |
5 |
| The
Companions: |
Susan (Departs), Barbara Wright (Departs), Ian Chesterton (Departs), Vicki (Joins) and Steven Taylor (Joins)
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| Number of
Stories: |
9
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| Number of
Incomplete/Missing Stories: |
1
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| Number of
Episodes: |
39
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| Number of
Incomplete/Missing Episodes: |
2
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| Percentages: |
| Full Stories Held | 89% | | Episodes Held | 95% |
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| Doctor Who Magazine Poll (1998) | | | Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2009) | | | Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2014) | |
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 'One day, I shall Come back. Yes. I shall come back. Until then, there must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties. Just go forward in all your beliefs, and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine. Goodbye, my dear. Goodbye. Susan.'
The Doctor
(The Dalek Invasion of Earth) |
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| The Doctor Plays the Lyre |
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By the end of the second season, Doctor Who had again proved itself a big success and was fast becoming the UK's most popular series. This was due in no small part again to the phenomenal impact made by the Daleks who appeared in another two excellent stories.
This season consolidated and built upon the success of Season One with all the lead actors settling into their characters. There was much more variety in the content of the stories. Despite using well trusted formulae in some of the stories others stretched the boundaries into previously unexplored territory. The most obvious of these was "The Romans" with its overt humour and the pseudo-historical "The Time Meddler". However the weirdest story of all was the ambitious "The Web Planet" which contains, apart from The Doctor and his companions, only non-humanoid life forms of the insect kind.
However, despite the popularity of the four lead actors, by the end of this season only William Hartnell remained. And in the production office only Verity Lambert survived from the team responsible for launching the series.
With a gap of only seven weeks Season Three was not that far away and there would be more changes to come on both sides of the camera and even more ground breaking stories.
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| Susan and Ian confront a giant ant |
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The Doctor and his three travelling companions find themselves trapped in what appears to be a jungle with monstrous creatures pursuing them in a world that at first seems so strange only because of the size of the things around them. When they first emerge they find that the two giant rock formations on either side of the TARDIS do not look natural. It is not long before Barbara Wright notices what appears to be a giant snake hanging down from the rock face above them. The Doctor is quite sure that it's dead but Barbara is more concerned by its fantastic size. Susan and Ian discover what looks like an egg, but it is far too large even for an ostrich egg. Ian Chesterton is quick to wonder what kind of a world they have wound up in. All is revealed when they discover that the TARDIS has materialised between the crazy-paving stones in a garden very near a small house where some very sinister things are going on. However, The Doctor and his companions discover that being only about an inch tall is dangerous enough especially they are forced to seek refuge inside the nearby building to escape being attacked by a rather large cat ("Planet of Giants").
Realising that he is holding Susan back and that she is quickly growing up and no longer wishing to be treated as a child The Doctor is forced to take drastic action. He locks her out of the TARDIS when he realises that she would be better off starting a new life on Earth with a resistance fighter who she had fallen in love with. Realising that The Doctor has forced her to face facts she is left to watch the TARDIS dematerialises without her. As she turns away to start her new life she lets the TARDIS key drop to the ground. ("The Dalek Invasion of Earth").
When Ian and Barbara finally manage to return to 20th-century London, by using a time machine abandoned by the Daleks, they are naturally delighted to be back home. After a trip on a bus, so as to soak in all the sites and sounds that they have missed during their time with The Doctor, they quickly realise that they have in fact arrived in 1965, two years later than when they left, leaving the viewer to wonder how they are going to explain their long absence! ("The Chase").
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| The Daleks in London |
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The highest point of the season is during "The Dalek Invasion of Earth". After the success of the Daleks in their first story "The Daleks" it was inevitable that they would make a quick reappearance. This time though they can be seen in more familiar surroundings - the City of London. To see the Daleks rampaging through the streets and famous sites of London is more shocking then when they were within their own futuristic city making it even more important for The Doctor to defeat them.
The lowest point has to be the last three episodes of the very first story. After such a terrific start and introduction to the main characters and the main theme in the first episode the first trip in the TARDIS takes the viewer in the world of the prehistoric cave man with not even a dinosaur in sight. With only the animal grunts and instincts of the tribe and the time spent trying to escape from their incarceration in a dreary cave it seemed that the show had lost its way before it had even started. Thankfully the very next story changed all that.
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The Firsts:
The first Doctor Who story to be directed by Douglas Camfield. (Planet of Giants)
The first Doctor Who story not to be recorded at Lime Grove. (Planet of Giants)
The first Dalek story set on Earth. (The Dalek Invasion of Earth)
The first departure of an original cast member. Carole Ann Ford who played The Doctor's 'granddaughter', Susan. (The Dalek Invasion of Earth)
The introduction of new companion Vicki played by Maureen O'Brien. (The Rescue)
Dennis Spooner's first involvement in the show as Story Editor. (The Rescue)
The first Doctor Who story to be watched by more than 12 million viewers. (The Rescue)
The first Doctor Who story to have an individual episode watched by more than 13 million viewers. This being the first episode. (The Web Planet)
The first involment in the show for Jean Marsh. She would return as the short-lived companion Sara Kingdom in "The Daleks' Master Plan". (The Crusade)
The introduction of new companion Steven Taylor played by Peter Purves. (The Chase)
The first appearance of the Mechonoids. (The Chase)
The first appearance in the show of another member of The Doctor's own race. (The Time Meddler)
The first appearance in the show of The Meddling Monk played by Peter Butterworth. (The Time Meddler)
Donald Tosh's first involvement in the show as Story Editor. (The Time Meddler)
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The Lasts (Subject to Future Stories):
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| Doctor Who CMS Magazine (An Adventure in Space and Time) | Season 2 Special Release | | Doctor Who Magazine - Article | Issue 116 - (Released: September 1986) | | Doctor Who Magazine - Episode Guide | Issue 139 - (Released: August 1988) | | Doctor Who Magazine - Countdown to 50 | Issue 431 - (Released: March 2011) |
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The Doctor and Companions| |  | | The First Doctor |
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 | | Susan |
|  | | Barbara Wright |
|  | | Ian Chesterton |
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|  | | Steven Taylor |
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On Release | | The Collection Season 2 Limited Edition Blu-Ray Cover |
VIDEO |
| |  | | The Collection Season 2 Standard Edition Blu-Ray Cover |
VIDEO |
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Magazines | | Doctor Who CMS Magazine (An Adventure in Space and Time): Season 2 Special Release |
|  | | Doctor Who Magazine - Article: Issue 116 |
|  | | Doctor Who Magazine - Episode Guide: Issue 139 |
|  | | Doctor Who Magazine - Countdown to 50: Issue 431 |
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(Position = 23 out of 31)
