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

In Doctor Who, Season 9, producer Barry Letts and script editor Terrance Dicks would continue the successful formula that had brought the show back from the brink of cancellation. However, there would also be signs that the team had begun to become aware of the limitations of that formula.

The Doctor's exile had limited the scope of the program to contemporary Earth-bound stories. This season, the production team would get around the limitation by having the Doctor's Time Lord superiors send him off planet not once, but twice.

This decrease in Earth-bound serials would also mean that the familiar characters from UNIT would not appear in every story of the season. This would be the beginning of a gradual phasing out of UNIT that would occur over the next five seasons.

Feeling that they had made the mistake of overusing the Master the previous season, the production team would scale back the villainous Time Lord's appearances to two stories this season and one the following season.

The season is notable largely for the successful return of the Daleks, who had not appeared as the primary villains in nearly 5 years, for the introduction of the Silurians' aquatic cousins, the Sea Devils, and for an engaging mystery, "The Curse of Peladon."

Season nine began airing on January 1, 1972. Ratings would continue to rise this season, reaching the highest point they had achieved since the beginning of season 3.

• Day of the Daleks (4 episodes)
• The Curse of Pelandon (4 episodes)
• The Sea Devils (6 episodes)
• The Mutants (6 episodes)
• The Time Monster (6 episodes)