385 Robot: Part Four

EPISODE: Robot: Part Four
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 385
STORY NUMBER: 075
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 18 January 1975
WRITER: Terrance Dicks
DIRECTOR: Christopher Barry
SCRIPT EDITOR: Robert Holmes
PRODUCER: Barry Letts
RATINGS: 9 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who – Robot

"Would you like a Jelly Baby?"

Winters has Kettlewell start the countdown to missile launch, but while Winters is checking the food stores Sarah & Harry escape overpowering Jellicoe and allowing Kettlewell to pauses the sequence and the three of them to escape. Kettlewell is accidentally slain by his robot who, having killed it's creator, collapses. UNIT storm the bunker and the Doctor cancels the missile launch that Winters restarted. The recovered Robot takes Sarah hostage. Benton reminds the Doctor of Kettlewell's living metal virus and the Doctor & Harry search Kettlewell's lab for it. The robot restarts the missile sequence and announces it plans to build more machines like itself. The Doctor has the Brigadier get the world powers to operate their fail safe procedures forcing the count down to abort. The robot emerges from the Bunker and the Brigadier attacks it with the Disintigrator gun. However the robot absorbs the energy and uses it to grow to giant size. It places Sarah on the roof of the Thinktank building then attacks the UNIT troops. The Doctor & Harry arrive with the metal eating virus which the Doctor throws over the robot causing it to shrink, rust and disintegrate. Sarah is sad following the robot's death, but the Doctor persuades her to come for another trip in the Tardis but as they're about to leave Harry enters the lab. He doubts the Doctor's claims about the Tardis and is tempted inside.....

You can't really go wrong with a countdown to add a little tension to a story but stopping it and then restarting it TWICE ? That's a little much.

Kettlewell seems genuinely horrified that winters plans to go through with her plan. Expecting them to surrender when their bluff was called does seem a little naive. Mind you there's signs Winters hasn't thought everything through either

HILDA: What about food and water? How long can we hold out if the worst happens?
JELLICOE: I'm not really sure.
HILDA: Then you should be. Take me to the food storage. We must make a proper check. Keep your eye on our friends outside, Professor.

What on earth is Winters doing checking their food stores five minutes before the start of a nuclear war? It's a bit late then to go nipping down to Sainsburys to stock up so I can only assume she's got OCD of the highest order!

You actually feel as if the Brigadier has a reasonable number of men in this episode as there's lots of UNIT troops on display here when attacking the robot. In amongst them is Ray Knight, possibly the soldier the robot encounters in the Bunker, making his uncredited Who début before returning as the Sorenson Monster in Planet of Evil Part Four, a Coven Member in Image of the Fendahl Part Three & Four, a Mentiad in The Pirate Planet Parts One, Three and Four, Lexa's Deon in Meglos Part One, the Policeman with Bike in Logopolis Part One, a Trion in Planet of Fire Part Four and a Member of Giltiz's Crew in Dragonfire Parts One and Two. He's got Blake's 7 on his CV as a Federation Trooper Countdown, a Rebel in the superb Rumours of Death and a Federation Trooper in Warlord. Neither program ever credits him!

When the Robot grows to giant size, and plonks Sarah on a nearby roof, the episode's King Kong roots come to light. It's not clear if writer Terrance Dicks, writing his first solo Doctor Who script, or new script editor Robert Holmes came up with this element but Holmes obviously liked it because he spends a good proportion of the next few years, once he's cleared the backlog of scripts commissioned by Barry Letts & Terrance Dicks, doing homages to various old horror films.

Of course Doctor Who doing giant things has been a staple of the program for many years with Planet of the Giants, where the Tardis crew are shrunk, The Web Planet, insect people, Macra Terror, giant crabs and The Green Death, giant maggots & flies just a few examples.

Another old classic makes an appearance as the robot slays Kettlewell:

ROBOT: I have killed the one who created me.

Oh dear.

Then when looking for the Robot the Doctor points out a flaw in their plan:

DOCTOR: There is just one teeny weeny little thing.
BRIGADIER: What's that?
DOCTOR: Something else you haven't thought of. What are we going to do with it when we find it?
BRIGADIER: Yes. You know, just once I'd like to meet an alien menace that wasn't immune to bullets.

The soloution is provided onscreen by Mr Benton, who obviously was listening carefully in the previous episode, and by Terrance Dicks raiding the Third Doctor's back catalogue one more time: The scene of the Doctor slopping the virus from a bucket in the back of Bessie is very similar to Benton throwing the fungus at the Maggots, again from the back of Bessie, in the Green Death.

And a huge cheer please for the début of yet another Fourth Doctor staple towards the end of the episode:

"Would you like a Jelly Baby?"

For the record Sarah is the first person he offers a Jelly Baby to followed by Harry in a fab routine with Harry being tricked into the Tardis to round off the whole story:

HARRY: Hello. Well, what are you two up to now, eh?
DOCTOR: We're just going on a little trip. Would you like a jelly baby?
HARRY: Little trip? What, in that old police box?
DOCTOR: Yes, as a matter of fact, in that old police box.
HARRY: Oh, come along now, Doctor. We're both reasonable men. Now, we both know that police boxes don't go careering around all over the place.
DOCTOR: Do we?
HARRY: Of course we do. The whole idea's absurd.
DOCTOR: Is it? You wouldn't like to step inside a moment? Just to demonstrate that it is all an illusion.
HARRY: Well, if you think it'll do any good.
DOCTOR: Oh, yes, it'll make me feel a lot better.
SARAH: Doctor.
DOCTOR: In you go.
HARRY: Right-o..... Oh, I say!

Which leaves the Brigadier, seaking the Doctor to force him to attend a number of celebratory function, absoloutely exasperated at yet another absence from his friend.

Scarf, Hat, Jelly Babies, voice, wild staring eyes. All present and correct. We're all set up and good to go for the next Seven years. As an introductory story Robot does it's job: here's the new Doctor but look there's lots of old and familiar things round him, so that's OK, it's still the same show and I say that new chap is really rather good isn't he?

The end of Robot sees the final regular appearance of Bessie, the Doctor's yellow Edwardian roadster used on Earth throughout the Third Doctor's era. It'll be back though, with the Third Doctor in Five Doctors before making it's last appearance in Battlefield.

It's also the last appearance of the Unit Lab. Numerous labs have been seen since the Doctor's arrival on Earth in Spearhead from Space but this one, which made it's début in The Three Doctors before returning in The Green Death & Planet of Spiders is probably the most commonly shown. UNIT HQ appears again in Terror of the Zygons but it's just an office/radio room which we see then.

Robot is also the start of a four season long package of stories which was syndicated to television stations in the USA. Although Doctor Who had been shown previously these stories, frequently edited together to form compilations, were repeated an nauseum and were what really cracked the US for the show. Even more than the British the American image of Doctor Who is scarf wearing & jelly baby eating!

Robot is the last story produced by Barry Letts. As well as returning to directing, helming Android Invasion, he became producer for the Sunday evening Classic Serial and almost immediately roped Terrance Dicks into help first as his script editor and then as his replacement! He executive produced Doctor who season 18 before writing a number of books and radio plays about Doctor Who as well as contributing to a large number of DVD commentaries. His book Who And Me is essential reading to anyone interested in the earlier half of the Pertwee era. It's a shame a sequel covering the later years was never forthcoming: I hope that one day Terrance Dicks might be persuaded to write a book covering his time on the show and covering this portion. Having fought cancer for a time and been recently widowed Barry Letts died on 9 October 2009 aged 84.

Terrance Dicks novelised his script for Robot, with the name being modified to the more dramatic sounding The Giant Robot. It was the first Target Book I ever read, being picked off the paperback shelf in my local library at around the point I first saw Logopolis in 1981. In retrospect it probably has a lot to answer for as the books played a vital part in cementing me as a Doctor Who fan and in the process encouraged a love of reading in me. I have a lot to thank and blame in for and one day I'd like to meet him and tell him just that! For many years Giant Robot only existed in paperback, a hardback edition not being released until 1986. A junior edition of Giant Robot, one of only two junior Doctor Who books, was released in 1980. Robot was released on video in January 1992 alongside Caves of Androzani, the Fifth Doctor's final story. BBC Video had obviously gone regeneration crazy because two months later they released Logopolis & Castrovalva, the Fourth & Fifth Doctors last & first stories respectively, and then in May 1992 released The Twin Dilemma as a Woolworths exclusive. Robot was released on DVD on 4th June 2007.

384 Robot: Part Three

EPISODE: Robot: Part Three
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 384
STORY NUMBER: 075
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 11 January 1975
WRITER: Terrance Dicks
DIRECTOR: Christopher Barry
SCRIPT EDITOR: Robert Holmes
PRODUCER: Barry Letts
RATINGS: 10.1 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who – Robot

"Good evening, everyone. Now please, stay calm. Everyone keep your seat. Now then, what can I do to entertain you till my friend the Brigadier arrives? A little song? A little dance, perhaps? Not just a little dance? Anyone for cards?"

The Doctor is saved by Sarah, who the robot trusts, and Benton who drives the robot off with a machine gun. UNIT troops attempt to contain it but it escapes. They find Kettlewell in the house and bring him to UNIT HQ where he explains the robot is made of a living metal that can grow and that he has a "virus" that can break metal down into a recyclable material. Sarah talks the professor into taking her to a Scientific Reform Society Meeting. The Brigadier admits that Chambers was holding the nuclear codes for a number of countries and that was what was stolen from his house. The holders would be able to set off every atomic missile in the world. The Doctor is angry when he finds out Sarah went with Kettlewell. At the meeting Winters tells the SRS members their scheme is coming to fruition and introduces Kettlewell to the stage with his robot. The Doctor disrupts the meeting but is restrained. The Brigadier raids the meeting but Winters, Jellicoe, Kettlewell and the robot escape with Sarah as a prisoner. Harry is taken hostage at Thinktank. The Brigadier locates Thinktank's bunker but they find it defended by automated machine gun nests. Winters demands that the Brigadier surrender. Harry & Sarah are held prisoner by the robot. Troops deal with the Machine Gun while the Doctor detonates landmines enabling them to approach the bunker where the Doctor starts to open the doors. Winters has Kettlewell start to program the destructor codes. The doors to the bunker open revealing the robot armed with the disintegrator gun, which destroys the tank the Brigadier sends against it.

A mixed bag.

Tom's great throughout, especially during the sequence where he tries to distract the crowd at the scientific reform society gathering. We get a number of first for him again:

There's the début of another Fourth Doctor staple: the Doctor emptying his pockets and all sorts of junk coming out.

DOCTOR: Where is that pass? Freedom to the city of Skaro? No. Pilot's licence for the Mars Venus rocket run. Galactic passport. Do you travel much? Honorary member of the Alpha Centauri Table Tennis Club. Very tricky opponents, those chaps. Six arms, and of course six bats. It really keeps you on your toes.

The line about the Doctor being "an honorary member of the Alpha Centauri Table tennis club" is nice reference to the occasional third Doctor character Alpha Centauri, one of the Galactic Federation's representatives to the planet Peladon. This is confirmed by the Doctor's remark about "6 arms and 6 bats" clearly describing the creature seen on screen. Alpha Centauri first appeared in The Curse of Peladon, in 1972, before returning in 1974's The Monster of Peladon, the last but one story which was the penultimate Third Doctor tale.

The guard on the doors at the scientific reform society who the Doctor tips his pockets out for is played by regular stuntman Terry Walsh who had doubled for the Third Doctor John Pertwee and would do again for Tom Baker. The reason why a stuntman is cast is quickly revealed as he gets the Doctor's scarf pulled out from under him before jumping at an obviously bending down Doctor on stage and finally manhandling him!

There's also the Fourth Doctor's first use of the sonic screw driver. Initially he uses it to blow up mines, as in the Sea Devils, although at this point it looks more like it's original form of a flashlight pen before he attaches the more traditional top to cut threw the door lock.

Against that ......

The episode starts with a substantial reprise from the previous one, from the point where the Doctor enters Kettlewell's home meaning that we don't get any new material till 2m45s into the episode!

Yup that's a particularly insane plan the Scientific Reform Society have

BRIGADIER: A few months ago, the superpowers, Russia, America and China, decided upon a plan to ensure peace. All three powers have hidden atomic missile sites. All three agreed to give details of those sites plus full operational instructions to another neutral country. In the event of trouble, that country could publish everyone's secrets and so cool things down. Well, naturally enough, the only country that could be trusted with such a role was Great Britain.
DOCTOR: Well, naturally, I mean, the rest were all foreigners.
BRIGADIER: Well, exactly. The destructor codes for firing these missiles were kept in Chambers' house in a special Dynastreem safe. The robot killed Chambers, blasted the safe open with a disintegrator gun and took the codes.
BENTON: So what can they do with them now that they've got them?
BRIGADIER: They could set off every atomic missile in the world, Mister Benton.
DOCTOR: Yes, and start a nuclear holocaust that would turn this little planet of yours into a radioactive cinder suspended in space.
BENTON: You mean he could use the information to blackmail the world? Do things our way or we light the blue touch paper.
DOCTOR: I'm afraid so.

The idea that any one country, let alone person, should be holding the codes for all the world's nuclear weapons is perhaps a conceit too far on the part of the writer and The Brigadier's "and naturally there was only one country that could be trusted" puts the seal on it!

There's some very dodgy effects in this episode: my word that's a rubbish cardboard bunker that gets blown up by a grenade. And as for the Action Man tank that appears at the end of the episode.... deary me.

BRIGADIER: Well, I've brought along something that will deal with it.
DOCTOR: I very much doubt it, Brigadier.

I'm with the Doctor on this one.

And it very much is an Action Man tank - google Action Man Scorpion Tank if you don't believe me!

It's not helped by a lot of the scenes involving gunfire being afflicted by microphony creating a pattern of horizontal lines across the screen.

The major location in this story is Wood Norton Hall in Evesham, Worcestershire. It previously appeared, both inside and out, in the Third Doctor's début Spearhead from Space. This time the crew were forbidden from filming inside by the official secrets act: The site was a designated emergency broadcasting centre in the event of nuclear war. Why they were allowed in 1969 and not in 1974 remains a mystery. This is the first Doctor Who story to have it's location work recorded using Outside Broadcast video rather than film producing a more consistent look with the studio filmed footage.

This story sees the début of another new opening title sequence, now featuring Tom Baker's face and for the first time the Tardis. It's broadly similar to the title sequence used for the Third Doctor's last season: both use silhouettes and tunnels, albeit different ones, but both use the same logo and ending. As someone who gre up with the Tom Baker titles I'm obviously very fond of them but I do like the start of the Pertwee sequence with the increasing number of streaks forming a circular tunnel. But I'm not fond of the silhouettes, certainly not Pertwee's body and although the Police Box shape is better, the first time The Tardis has been in the titles, the round topped lamp on top of the box has always annoyed me.

While Pertwee's last season play the end credits over a receding diamond shaped tunnel, the Tom Baker titles feature a round silver tunnel approaching us. These two new title sequences would be used for the next SIX years making them the longest used set of Doctor Who titles. The Doctor Who: Robot DVD has a feature on how all four title sequences to date were achieved.

And speaking of the end titles, there's an oddity to be found in these: writer Terrance Dicks gets a credit at the end of the episode as well as the start!

Note also how the end of the new titles, with the writer's credit, is the same as the old closing title sequence!

I've seen Robot a fair few times now over the years but one that sticks in my mind was UK Gold showing it the morning of my 30th birthday morning. My wife was making us breakfast and really laying into the effects, especially the tank, as she cooked the bacon sandwiches!

383 Robot: Part Two

EPISODE: Robot: Part Two
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 383
STORY NUMBER: 075
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 04 January 1975
WRITER: Terrance Dicks
DIRECTOR: Christopher Barry
SCRIPT EDITOR: Robert Holmes
PRODUCER: Barry Letts
RATINGS: 10.7 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who – Robot

"Why should some alien life form invade Earth just to steal a new weapon? If they were that advanced, they'd have weapons of their own. Ha. Rather a splendid paradox, eh, Brigadier? The only ones who could do it wouldn't need to!"

Sarah is found by Miss Winters & Jellicoe who claim they set the robot on her as joke. She is allowed to talk with the robot and assured it isn't dangerous, demonstrated when it refuses to destroy her when commandeered. Jellicoe is angry as the robot has only just been reset and he believes it may have killed her when commanded. Sarah tells the Doctor & Brigadier about the robot. The Robot is sent to kill cabinet minister Joseph Chambers and steals something from the safe. The Doctor visits Professor Kettlewell to talk to him about the robot. The Brigadier discovers many members of Thinktank were members of the Scientific Reform Society. The robot visits Kettlewell saying it has been given orders that conflict with it's programming. Sarah interviews Mr Short from the Scientific Reform Society that leave her unimpressed. The Brigadier & Doctor visit Thinktank but are unable to see the robot because Miss Winters claims it's been dismantled. Harry Sullivan infiltrates Thinktank posing as a Doctor from the Ministry of Health. Kettlewell calls the Doctor saying he has the robot and asks the Doctor to come to help him. As he puts the phone down Winters & Jellicoe arrive. Sarah and the newly promoted Warrant Officer Benton find the note the Doctor leaves. Entering Kettlewell's house the Doctor is attacked by the Robot who has been instructed to destroy him as an enemy of the human race....

This episode I can feel elements of the Third Doctor coming through in Tom's performance and not just because he gets to drive Bessie for the first time. The "I'll talk to anyone" when he answers the phone is a direct lift from The Green Death. Given that it's the most recent thing for Tom to model his performance on and that writer Terrance Dicks has spent the last 5 years tidying up other people's scripts for Pertwee this shouldn't come as a surprise.

However there's two Fourth Doctor staples seen in the fight with the robot at the end:

First he tries to trip it with his scarf then he blinds it with his hat. We'll see both of those tricks again!

There's some fab dialogue between the Doctor & Brigadier, as they discuss the thefts and try to untangle who could have done it, which is superb:

BRIGADIER: Well, Doctor, what are we dealing with? Invasion from outer space again?
DOCTOR: Why should some alien life form invade Earth just to steal a new weapon? If they were that advanced, they'd have weapons of their own. Ha. Rather a splendid paradox, eh, Brigadier? The only ones who could do it wouldn't need to.
BRIGADIER: Enemy agents?
DOCTOR: Well, they might steal the plans, but why steal the circuits and the generators? An enemy government would have those resources itself.
BRIGADIER: So where does that leave us?
DOCTOR: I think your enemies are home grown, Brigadier. People with access to technological information and a most unusual weapon. A weapon that walks and thinks. In a word, anthropomorphic.
BRIGADIER: Well, I suppose that narrows the field a bit. Do we know anything else about these people?
DOCTOR: Only that they're prepared to kill to protect themselves.

and then, interrupted by Sarah's arrival:

BRIGADIER: Where do I start looking for this precious conspiracy?
DOCTOR: Oh, it's surely not that difficult, Brigadier? Oh, thank you. There can't be many groups of people with the money and resources to design and build something like
SARAH: An enormous robot over seven feet tall!
DOCTOR: Yes, something like that. However did you guess?
SARAH: Guess? I've just seen it. I've been talking to it.

We get our first full look at the robot too and it looks fabulous! It's little wonder that Dennis Fisher included it in their toy range a few years later alongside a couple of other monsters from this season....

It's scenes with Sarah show off it's shear size well. Actress Elisabeth Sladen was 1m62cm (5'4") high so you can get some idea of how big it was!

Miss Winters' line to Sarah reminded me somewhat of the first Doctor's companion Vicki

HILDA: Really, Miss Smith, this is absurd. I think you must be the sort of girl that gives motor cars pet names.

She really did have this habit giving names to everything in sight!

Though I'm afraid that this exchange between Sarah and the Brigadier, called a Swinger by Sarah last episode, did make me chuckle for reasons I'm sure the writer didn't intend:

BRIGADIER: Where you off to?
SARAH: Home to bed. Busy day tomorrow. I'm still a working girl, you know.

Deary me.

Speaking of working you can tell that Jellico and winters are proper scientists: both are wearing white coats as the modify the robot!

More work: Someone's had a promotion!

SARAH: Oo, I like that. What is it?
BENTON: That's promotion, Miss, to WO1.
SARAH: WO what?
BENTON: Warrant Officer. You see, technically speaking, the Brig should have a Major and a Captain under him. The UNIT budget won't run to it so they settled on promoting me.
SARAH: Congratulations. About time, too.
BENTON: Thank you.

And well deserved it is too. Actually It's Benton's second promotion since we met him first in 1968's The Invasion. He was a Corporal there but had been made up to Sergeant by the time of his second appearance in Ambassadors of Death. Five years later he receives another promotion to Warrant Office Class 1, The highest ranked Non Comissioned Officer in the British Army. That's actually a jump of three grades passing over both Staff Sergeant, the rank held by Arnold in Web of Fear, and Warrant Officer Class 2.

Leading the guest cast for this story is Patricia Maynard playing Hilda Winters. Despite a long career the only other thing I've seen her in is her appearance in The Sweeney episode Abduction, the 13th & final episode of the show's first series, where she plays Miss Doreen Alexander. I'm unsure if that's where she met Dennis Waterman or not but she became his second wife (his third wife shows up in Doctor Who much later) and is the mother of actress Hannah Waterman (Eastenders and New Tricks).

Alec Linstead, Arnold Jellicoe, was Unit technical Sgt. Osgood in The Dæmons. There's a character called Osgood in Unit in the New series and it looks highly likely that she is the original Osgood's daughter! Linstead later returns as Arthur Stegnos in Revelation of the Daleks.

We've seen Michael Kilgarriff, inside the K1 Robot, before as the Cyber-Controller in The Tomb of the Cybermen and an Ogron in Frontier in Space. He'll make a return appearance as the Controller in Attack of the Cybermen. Meanwhile his creator, Professor Kettlewell, is played by Edward Burnham who was also has Cyberman connections appearing previously as Professor Watkins in The Invasion. Burnham is believed to be the second oldest surviving actor from then original series and celebrated his 98th Birthday last Monday!

Playing Short, the man who Sarah interviews at the Scientific Reform Society, is Timothy Craven who was a cell guard in Frontier in Space and Robinson in Invasion of the Dinosaurs. He'll be back as a Tesh in The Face of Evil Part Three.

Playing, uncredited, the politician Joseph Chambers is Walter Goodman who been in the series several times without getting a credit. He was an extra in Spearhead from Space Episode 1 , the RAF VIP Auton in Spearhead from Space: Episode 4, a Villager in The Dæmons Episode Three and will return as the Android Farmer in The Android Invasion Part One.

The filming of Robot was disrupted by a scene shifters' strike necessitating that the sets for the program be left up. Famously an episode of Blue Peter, featuring Peter Purves who played the First Doctor's companion Steven, was filmed in the Doctor Who lab set! The start of this episode is included on the Doctor Who: Robot DVD.

The last few minutes of this episode, roughly from 21:05 to 25:02, are covered quite extensively in the second edition of The Making of Doctor Who by Terrance Dicks & his old friend Malcolm Hulke. Hulke, with some assistance from Dicks, had written the first edition in 1972 for Piccolo Books in 1972 and featured some material on the making of The Sea Devils. With the Doctor who fictional licence now resting with Target and a new Doctor in place it was felt that it was time for an update. The scenes, featuring Sarah & Benton and The Doctor & the robot are shown progressing from writer's storyline through writer's story breakdown, rehearsal script and finally to an excerpt from Dicks' own Target novelisation of the story.

This is the first episode of Doctor Who broadcast in 1975 which bring me on to one of the main reasons I decided to look at these episode again. Due to a scheduling change for the series more episodes of Doctor Who are shown during this year than in any other year since the 1960. The series started just after Christmas as it had done for every year since the start of Jon Pertwee's reign in 1970. As was the custom for the first story of the season Robot was recorded at the end of the series 11th production block right after (and sometimes during) the production of Pertwee's final story Planet of Spiders but broadcast as the opening story of the 12th season. The 12th production block opened with the all location Sontaran Experiment before returning to studio for The Ark in Space, Revenge of the Cybermen and Genesis of the Daleks in that order before recording Terror of the Zygons. However the BBC decided that they would like Doctor Who to, in future, start from it's more traditional 60s start time of early Autumn so the 12th season was cut short at 20 episodes which made it the shortest season so far: the standard length the last few years had been, and would continue to be, 26 episodes. Terror of the Zygons was held back to start the 13th season and the 13th production block started with Pyramids of Mars then Planet of Evil and Android Invasion. These ended up being shown in a different order, with Android Invasion finishing before Christmas and a two week break for the festive scheduling.

Season	Recording	Story	Episode	Date
12	11	Robot	1	28/12/1974
12	11	Robot	2	04/01/1975
12	11	Robot	3	11/01/1975
12	11	Robot	4	18/01/1975
12	12	The Ark in Space	1	25/01/1975
12	12	The Ark in Space	2	01/02/1975
12	12	The Ark in Space	3	08/02/1975
12	12	The Ark in Space	4	15/02/1975
12	12	The Sontaran Experiment	1	22/02/1975
12	12	The Sontaran Experiment	2	01/03/1975
12	12	Genesis of the Daleks	1	08/03/1975
12	12	Genesis of the Daleks	2	15/03/1975
12	12	Genesis of the Daleks	3	22/03/1975
12	12	Genesis of the Daleks	4	29/03/1975
12	12	Genesis of the Daleks	5	05/04/1975
12	12	Genesis of the Daleks	6	12/04/1975
12	12	Revenge of the Cybermen	1	19/04/1975
12	12	Revenge of the Cybermen	2	26/04/1975
12	12	Revenge of the Cybermen	3	03/05/1975
12	12	Revenge of the Cybermen	4	10/05/1975
13	12	Terror of the Zygons	1	30/08/1975
13	12	Terror of the Zygons	2	06/09/1975
13	12	Terror of the Zygons	3	13/09/1975
13	12	Terror of the Zygons	4	20/09/1975
13	13	Planet of Evil	1	27/09/1975
13	13	Planet of Evil	2	04/10/1975
13	13	Planet of Evil	3	11/10/1975
13	13	Planet of Evil	4	18/10/1975
13	13	Pyramids of Mars	1	25/10/1975
13	13	Pyramids of Mars	2	01/11/1975
13	13	Pyramids of Mars	3	08/11/1975
13	13	Pyramids of Mars	4	15/11/1975
13	13	The Android Invasion	1	22/11/1975
13	13	The Android Invasion	2	29/11/1975
13	13	The Android Invasion	3	06/12/1975
13	13	The Android Invasion	4	13/12/1975

So all in all 35 new episodes of Doctor Who were shown in 1975, many of them considered to be amongst the series very best!