Hello everyone! 🙂
Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!
The fifth and final season of Jon Pertwee’s era of ‘Doctor Who’ is probably one of the most significant in the TV show’s history. Most especially, it introduces us to Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith, who would go on to become one of the most popular ‘Doctor Who’ companions ever. 🙂
That’s for both classic and new ‘Doctor Who’. Joined by Linx the Sontaran in ‘The Time Warrior’, Sarah Jane was well-loved by audiences and fans. Sarah Jane could’ve easily not worked with Jon Pertwee’s Third Doctor, especially since he’d worked particularly well with Katy Manning as Jo Grant.
Thankfully, with a combination of both Lis Sladen’s dedication to the character in terms of her performance as well as the writing by Robert Holmes in ‘The Time Warrior’, Sarah Jane worked out well in the end. It’s also clear Jon Pertwee and Lis Sladen got on well with each other in the series. 🙂
Season 11 is also significant in not just being Jon Pertwee’s final season in ‘Doctor Who’, but also the final season of producer Barry Letts and script editor Terrance Dicks. A lot changed during the making of Season 10, particularly with the tragic death of Roger Delgado who played the evil Master.
Originally, Season 11 was planned to end with a final confrontation between Jon Pertwee’s Third Doctor and Roger Delgado’s Master – something that Mark Gatiss took cue from for his ‘Doctor Who’ story ‘Last of the Gaderene’. In the end, ‘Planet of the Spiders’ became Jon Pertwee’s swansong.
There was a lot of love and dedication throughout the Jon Pertwee era in terms of on-screen and behind-the-scenes. The cast and crew went to great efforts to see that Jon Pertwee’s era concluded on a reasonable high. Despite the setbacks, Jon Pertwee’s era does conclude very well in Season 11.
Thanks for reading!
Bye for now!
Tim 🙂
Bradley's Basement 
I remember learning how Roger’s Master was meant to conclude via Jon’s regeneration finale. And I think that John Simm’s exit in The End Of Time was meant to be a homage to that original premise. Thank you, Tim, for your review.
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Hi scifimike,
Yes, I believe you’re right that John Simm’s Master fighting against David Tennant’s Doctor in ‘The End of Time’ is echoing the original premise of Roger Delgado’s Master fighting Jon Pertwee’s Doctor at the end of the Third Doctor era. Clearly, Russell T. Daves is a fan of the Jon Pertwee/Third Doctor era in that regard.
Many thanks for your comments. Glad you enjoyed my summary of Season 11.
Tim 🙂
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