<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

Doctor Who, Season 8 was the first season on which producer Barry Letts would be able to have a major influence. He had been brought in too late in the game the previous season to make any meaningful changes himself.

First off, Letts wanted to return to the shorter 4-6 episode story length that had been most successful earlier in the program's history. He figured that more stories meant more first episodes and, therefore, more opportunities for the audience to tune in. But more stories also meant more sets and more costumes. In short, he needed more money. Fortunately, his "more first episodes" argument made sense to his superiors, as did the fact that the new format showed signs of reversing the program's backslide in ratings. The program's budget would be increased for this season.

Secondly, Letts felt the character of Liz Shaw was too smart to fulfill the function of a companion, which was basically to force the Doctor to explain things at a child's level. In any case, actress Caroline John had become pregnant, so keeping her character was not an option. The accident prone and somewhat ditzy character of Jo Grant would be created to replace her. Also, the character of Captain Mike Yates was added as a possible traveling companion and a potential love interest for Jo. He also added an additional layer of realism for UNIT, which had previously had Sgt. Benton reporting directly to the Brigadier.

Finally, it occurred to Letts that an Earth-bound Doctor was perhaps something like a latter day Sherlock Holmes. As such, he thought the Doctor should have a Moriarty-like arch nemesis. To this end, it was decided to introduce an evil Time Lord that would be known as the Master. In fact, Letts was so enamoured with the idea, that he would have the character appear in every story of the season.

Season eight began airing on February 1, 1971. Like the previous season, it would have 25 episodes. Ratings once again rose significantly this season, clearly indicating the program's recovery from the near death state of a mere two years earlier.

• Terror of the Autons (4 episodes)
• The Mind of Evil (6 episodes)
• The Claws of Axos (4 episodes)
• Colony in Space (6 episodes)
• The Daemons (5 episodes)