Seasons of Fear was the eighth story in Season 37 of Doctor Who. It was written by Paul Cornell & Caroline Symcox, directed by Sheree Folkson and starred Aidan Gillen as the Tenth Doctor & Helen Baxendale as Jean Robinson.
Synopsis[]
Sebastian Grayle: immortal, obsessed, ruthless, has come to the city to meet the Time Lord. To the Doctor, he's a complete stranger, but to Grayle, the Doctor is an old enemy. An enemy that, many years ago, he finally succeeded in killing. And this is his only chance to gloat.
The Doctor and Jean desperately search human history for the secret of Grayle's power and immortality. Their quest takes in four different time periods, the Hellfire Club, the court of Edward the Confessor, and the Time Vortex itself. And when the monsters arrive, the stakes are raised from the life of one Time Lord to the existence of all humanity.
Plot[]
To be added.
Cast[]
- The Doctor - Aidan Gillen
- Jean Robinson - Helen Baxendale
- Sebastian Grayle - To be added.
- Lucillius - To be added.
- Richard Martin - To be added.
- Edward the Confessor - To be added.
- Edith - To be added.
- Marcus - To be added.
- Nimon - To be added.
- Lucy Martin - To be added.
- Waiter - To be added.
- Prisoner - To be added.
Crew[]
To be added.
Worldbuilding[]
The Doctor[]
- According to Jean, the Doctor smells of honey.
- The Doctor acquires various aliases such as Ambrosius Clemensis and Sir Peter Pollard.
- Jean thinks that the Doctor lets her win when they play Scrabble.
Minerals[]
- Grayle (as Leofric of Exeter) mines uranium and creates plutonium in England in 1055.
Literature[]
- Jean has read a lot of Jane Austen novels.
Time lords[]
- When questioned by Sebastian Grayle, the Doctor wonders whether Sebastian has mixed him up with another Time Lord, as he doesn't say "You will obey me" (a reference to the Master), he doesn't meddle (a reference to the Monk) and that he's "not a glamorous woman" (a reference to the Rani).
Technology[]
- The Doctor uses a genetic sampler to get a sample of Alex Grayle's DNA out of Jean's mouth after she had been kissing him in order to trace him back to his family home.
- The Nimons use psyionic technology.
Individuals[]
- The Abott of Felsicar is the greatest expert on human genealogy in the milky way.
- A man named "Jesus" is mentioned as being hanged on a cross a few days ago although his fate is unknown.
Notes[]
- Jean jokes about the Doctor "always playing the fool to keep his enemies talking", a technique commonly used by the Doctor's other incarnations as well, for example, the Fourth Doctor, in order to find out people's (often evil) plans.
Continuity[]
- The Doctor previously encountered the Nimon on Skonnos during his fourth incarnation. (TV: The Horns of Nimon)
- When the Nimon arrive on Earth, Grayle calls the Hellfire Club members who are to be consumed by the Nimon "weakling scum", a reference to the Co-Pilot calling the tributes from Aneth the same thing. (TV: The Horns of Nimon)
- The Doctor and Jean last encountered the Hellfire Club in Malebolgia in 2003. (TV: Minuet in Hell)
- Felsecar (Monks and Abbeys) are mentioned in TV: Love and War and TV: Human Nature.
- The Doctor mentions that he rarely touches meat. He decided to become a vegetarian in his Sixth incarnation. (TV: The Two Doctors)
- The Doctor says that he "had his moments with swords". (TV: The Sea Devils, The Masque of Mandragora, The Androids of Tara, The King's Demons, Knight Falls)
- When questioned by Sebastian Grayle, the Doctor wonders whether Sebastian has mixed him up with another Time Lord, as he doesn't say "You will obey me" (a reference to the Master), he doesn't meddle (a reference to the Meddling Monk), he's "not a glamorous woman" (a reference to the Rani) and that he's "not trying to conquer Gallifrey" (a reference to Kalien). (TV: The Time Meddler, Terror of the Autons, The Mark of the Rani, The Kingdom of Lies et al.)
- The Doctor uses the fast return switch as part of his plan. The TARDIS fast return returns the TARDIS to a previous destination where it had landed before. (TV: The Edge of Destruction, et al.)
Home video releases[]
VHS[]
- This story was first released on VHS.
DVD[]
- This story along with the other stories in Season 37 were released as Doctor Who: The Complete Thirty-Seventh Season in 2001.
Blu-ray[]
- This story along with the other stories in Season 37 were later released as Doctor Who: The Complete Thirty-Seventh Season on Blu-ray.