Doctor Who season 22

Development

Season 22 had several story ideas that never made it to screen. Marc Platt's Cat's Cradle was abandoned because its scope exceeded the available budget. Andrew Smith proposed The First Sontarans, a tale linking the Mary Celeste to the origins of the Sontaran-Rutan war, but it was dropped since the Sontarans were already slated to appear in The Two Doctors. Other abandoned concepts included Johnny Byrne's The Guardians of Prophecy, Brian Finch's Leviathan, The Macros by Ingrid Pitt and Tony Rudlin, and Ian Marter's Volvok.

Casting

Season 22 sees Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant back as the Sixth Doctor and Peri Brown. Patrick Troughton and Frazer Hines return as the Second Doctor and Jamie McCrimmon in The Two Doctors, their first full on-screen reunion since 1983's The Five Doctors. Anthony Ainley appears as the Master in The Mark of the Rani, where Kate O'Mara makes her debut as the Rani. Terry Molloy reprises Davros in Revelation of the Daleks, having earlier played Russell in Attack of the Cybermen.

Maurice Colbourne returns as Lytton from Resurrection of the Daleks in Attack of the Cybermen. David Banks appears as a Cyber-leader for the third time in Attack of the Cybermen. Michael Kilgarriff returns as the Cyber-Controller, a role he originated in 1967's The Tomb of the Cybermen.

Serials

Season 22 returned to a weekly Saturday schedule, with each episode running 45 minutes. Shorter 25-minute versions were created for international broadcast.

Though the season contained only 13 episodes, its total runtime matched earlier seasons because each installment was nearly double the usual length. A special segment for the BBC show Jim'll Fix It, featuring Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor, aired on 23 February 1985. Most fans do not regard this segment as canonical, though a Big Finish Short Trips book later produced a sequel to it.