Doctor Who: Season 16

1978 · 26 episodes · ★ 6.8

The Key to Time

What Season 16 of Doctor Who

Season 16 opens with the arrival of Romana, the Doctor's new companion, who travels with him and K-9 on a mission assigned by the White Guardian: to gather the fragments of the Key to Time, an object of all-powerful influence. Each story changes location and era, from the planet Ribos to Zanak, late-seventies England, Tara, or a future shaped by nuclear war. At each stop, the duo runs into dangerous adversaries, such as Count Grendel or the monster Kroll, and ordinary people caught up in conflicts not their own. The White and Black Guardians appear for the first time and turn the quest into the thread that ties the season together.

26episodes

Sep 2, 1978premiered

Feb 24, 1979last episode

10.8 hrtotal runtime

Season 16 Episodes

16x01 The Ribos Operation (1)
Sep 2, 1978 · 25 min · ★ 6.7
The Magellanic Clouds, the planet Ribos, an unknown time. Ordered by the White Guardian to collect the pieces of the omnipotent Key to Time, The Doctor, K-9 and his new assistant Romana arrive. Collecting the first segment is not going to be easy…
Directing: George Spenton-Foster · Writing: Robert Holmes · Starring: Cyril Luckham, Iain Cuthbertson, Nigel Plaskitt, Paul Seed
16x02 The Ribos Operation (2)
Sep 9, 1978 · 25 min · ★ 6.6
Trying to obtain the first segment of the Key to Time, the Doctor and Romana are swept up in an elaborate con. The target – the homicidal Graff Vynda K.
Directing: George Spenton-Foster · Writing: Robert Holmes · Starring: Iain Cuthbertson, Nigel Plaskitt, Paul Seed, Robert Keegan
16x03 The Ribos Operation (3)
Sep 16, 1978 · 25 min · ★ 6.6
Prisoners of the maniacal Graff Vynda K, the Doctor and Romana must break out and pursue the first segment – even as Unstoff takes it into the most dangerous place on Ribos.
Directing: George Spenton-Foster · Writing: Robert Holmes · Starring: Iain Cuthbertson, Nigel Plaskitt, Paul Seed, Robert Keegan
16x04 The Ribos Operation (4)
Sep 23, 1978 · 25 min · ★ 6.6
Trapped in the catacombs between a mad warlord and ravenous monsters, the Doctor and Romana work desperately to obtain the segment of the Key to Time - and escape alive.
Directing: George Spenton-Foster · Writing: Robert Holmes · Starring: Iain Cuthbertson, Nigel Plaskitt, Paul Seed, Robert Keegan
16x05 The Pirate Planet (1)
Sep 30, 1978 · 25 min · ★ 7.4
Planet Zanak, unknown time. The Doctor and Romana are seeking the planet Calufrax where the second segment waits. They are in the right place and the right time… but on the wrong planet.
Directing: Pennant Roberts · Writing: Douglas Adams · Starring: Bruce Purchase, Andrew Robertson, Ralph Michael, David Sibley
16x06 The Pirate Planet (2)
Oct 7, 1978 · 25 min · ★ 7.7
The Doctor begins to investigate the mysteriously wealthy planet Zanak. Mentiads, a deranged Captain, strange omens, miraculous mines – what does it all mean? And what does it have to do with the Key to Time?
Directed by: Pennant Roberts · Written by: Douglas Adams · Starring: Bruce Purchase, Andrew Robertson, Ralph Michael, David Warwick
16x07 The Pirate Planet (3)
Oct 14, 1978 · 25 min · ★ 7.6
The Mentiads take the Doctor, Romana and Kimus to a reunion with K9 and Mula, where they set about trying to defeat the Captain.
Directing: Pennant Roberts · Writing: Douglas Adams · Starring: Bruce Purchase, Andrew Robertson, David Sibley, David Warwick
16x08 The Pirate Planet (4)
Oct 21, 1978 · 25 min · ★ 7.4
The Captain and Xanxia work toward their secret goals. Both depends on the pirate planet consuming one more victim - Earth.
Directing: Pennant Roberts · Writing: Douglas Adams · Starring: Bruce Purchase, Andrew Robertson, David Sibley, David Warwick
16x09 The Stones of Blood (1)
Oct 28, 1978 · 25 min · ★ 7.8
England, the late 1970s. The Doctor and Romana arrive in search of the third segment. But the Tracer readings are erratic and something ominous is happening with an ancient stone circle...
Directing: Darrol Blake · Writing: David Fisher · Starring: Beatrix Lehmann, Susan Engel, Nicholas McArdle, Elaine Ives-Cameron
16x10 The Stones of Blood (2)
Nov 4, 1978 · 25 min · ★ 7.7
The quest for the Third Segment has landed the Doctor and Romana in the midst of a druidic cult centred on a stone circle. But the stones are not what they seem, and somewhere out there is a blood-thirsty Celtic goddess.
Directing: Darrol Blake · Writing: David Fisher · Starring: Beatrix Lehmann, Susan Engel, Nicholas McArdle, Elaine Ives-Cameron
16x11 The Stones of Blood (3)
Nov 11, 1978 · 25 min · ★ 7.4
Chased by blood-thirsty stones, the Doctor must find a way to rescue Romana. What awaits him in the theoretical absurdity of hyperspace?
Directing: Darrol Blake · Writing: David Fisher · Starring: Beatrix Lehmann, Susan Engel, Gerald Cross, David McAlister
16x12 The Stones of Blood (4)
Nov 18, 1978 · 25 min · ★ 7.4
Facing a sentence of death from merciless justice machines, the Doctor must play for time while Romana tries to discover just who Vivian Fey really is.
Directing: Darrol Blake · Writing: David Fisher · Starring: Beatrix Lehmann, Susan Engel, Gerald Cross, David McAlister
16x13 The Androids of Tara (1)
Nov 25, 1978 · 25 min · ★ 6.9
Arriving on Tara, Romana locates the fourth segment of the Key to Time with ease. But getting it away proves more difficult, as she is captured by the scheming Count Grendel who wants the throne of Tara for himself.
Directed by: Michael Hayes · Written by: David Fisher · Starring: Peter Jeffrey, Simon Lack, Neville Jason, Paul Lavers
16x14 The Androids of Tara (2)
Dec 2, 1978 · 25 min · ★ 6.6
The Doctor must employ a desperate gambit to keep the evil Grendel off the throne. And the Count has a new pawn to play - Romana.
Directed by: Michael Hayes · Written by: David Fisher · Starring: Peter Jeffrey, Simon Lack, Neville Jason, Paul Lavers
16x15 The Androids of Tara (3)
Dec 9, 1978 · 25 min · ★ 6.8
The battle for control of Tara turns into a duel of wits between the Doctor and Grendel. But the Count shows he has more treacherous tricks up his sleeve.
Directed by: Michael Hayes · Written by: David Fisher · Starring: Peter Jeffrey, Simon Lack, Neville Jason, Paul Lavers
16x16 The Androids of Tara (4)
Dec 16, 1978 · 25 min · ★ 6.8
Grendel plans two weddings and a funeral to cement his hold over Tara. The Doctor and K-9 race to foil him and save the Time Lady's life.
Directed by: Michael Hayes · Written by: David Fisher · Starring: Peter Jeffrey, Simon Lack, Neville Jason, Paul Lavers
16x17 The Power of Kroll (1)
Dec 23, 1978 · 25 min · ★ 6.1
The Third Moon of Delta Magna, The Future. The Doctor and Romana arrive in search of the fifth segment and are immediately swept up in a conflict between the crew of a new refinery and the embittered natives…
Directing: Norman Stewart · Writing: Robert Holmes · Starring: Neil McCarthy, John Abineri, Philip Madoc, Glyn Owen
16x18 The Power of Kroll (2)
Dec 30, 1978 · 25 min · ★ 5.9
The Doctor and Romana try to avoid being sacrificed to Kroll – just in time for the real monster to appear.
Directing: Norman Stewart · Writing: Robert Holmes · Starring: Neil McCarthy, John Abineri, Philip Madoc, Glyn Owen
16x19 The Power of Kroll (3)
Jan 6, 1979 · 25 min · ★ 5.7
The massive Kroll is awake and killing anyone in its path. And the swampies are determined to appease it – by sacrificing the Doctor and Romana.
Directing: Norman Stewart · Writing: Robert Holmes · Starring: Neil McCarthy, John Abineri, Philip Madoc, Glyn Owen
16x20 The Power of Kroll (4)
Jan 13, 1979 · 25 min · ★ 5.7
The Doctor and Romana are trapped between the monstrous Kroll and the insane refinery commander. And there is no sign of the fifth segment of the Key to Time.
Directed by: Norman Stewart · Written by: Robert Holmes · Starring: Neil McCarthy, John Abineri, Philip Madoc, Carl Rigg
16x21 The Armageddon Factor (1)
Jan 20, 1979 · 25 min · ★ 6.7
Searching for the sixth segment, the Doctor and Romana land in the midst of a brutal nuclear war between the planets Atrios and Zeos.
Directed by: Michael Hayes · Written by: Bob Baker, Dave Martin · Starring: John Woodvine, Lalla Ward, Davyd Harries, Ian Liston
16x22 The Armageddon Factor (2)
Jan 27, 1979 · 25 min · ★ 6.7
Swept up in an apocalyptic war, the Doctor must help the Marshal defend his planet. But who or what controls the Marshal?
Directing: Michael Hayes · Writing: Bob Baker, Dave Martin · Starring: Harry Fielder, John Woodvine, Lalla Ward, Davyd Harries
16x23 The Armageddon Factor (3)
Feb 3, 1979 · 25 min · ★ 6.8
The Doctor meets a new enemy – the Shadow – who wants the Key to Time. And the Atrian-Zeon war is approaching an awful climax.
Directed by: Michael Hayes · Written by: Bob Baker, Dave Martin · Starring: John Woodvine, Lalla Ward, Davyd Harries, William Squire
16x24 The Armageddon Factor (4)
Feb 10, 1979 · 25 min · ★ 6.6
The Doctor is forced into a desperate gambit to prevent a massacre. But it is getting harder to tell friend from foe.
Directed by: Michael Hayes · Written by: Bob Baker, Dave Martin · Starring: John Woodvine, Lalla Ward, Davyd Harries, William Squire
16x25 The Armageddon Factor (5)
Feb 17, 1979 · 25 min · ★ 6.4
The Doctor and Romana finally venture into the Shadow's lair. The Shadow appears to hold all the cards but the Doctor has found an old friend.
Directed by: Michael Hayes · Written by: Dave Martin, Bob Baker · Starring: Lalla Ward, William Squire, Barry Jackson
16x26 The Armageddon Factor (6) Season Finale
Feb 24, 1979 · 25 min · ★ 6.7
The Doctor and the Shadow have their final confrontation to take control of the Key to Time. Completing it may entail an awful sacrifice. And the Black Guardian will do anything to obtain it and plunge the Universe into chaos.
Directed by: Michael Hayes · Written by: Dave Martin, Bob Baker · Starring: John Woodvine, Lalla Ward, Davyd Harries, Valentine Dyall