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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:[19]
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:[20] 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:
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).
References
^ abWright, Mark, ed. (24 February 2016). "Silver Nemesis, The Greatest Show in the Galaxy and Battlefield". Doctor Who: The Complete History. No. 45. Panini Comics, Hachette Partworks. p. 134. ISSN2057-6048.
^ abWright, Mark, ed. (18 April 2018). "Ghost Light, The Curse of Fenric and Survival". Doctor Who: The Complete History. No. 46. Panini Comics, Hachette Partworks. pp. 41, 79, 123.
