Season 45 (Doctor Who)

Season 45 of Doctor Who aired between 30 August 2008 and 1 November 2008. It starred Paterson Joseph as the Twelfth Doctor in his second season, Jacqueline Pearce as Angela Jensen in her second and last season as a regular companion, and Sophie Okonedo as Lizzie Clarke in her first full season. The season opened with The Abbey of Felsecar and concluded with Cold Star. It was followed by the show's first Christmas special, The One Doctor.

A roaring success and new format
Season 44 saw the show return to its usual premise, after three years of being a political drama of sorts from seasons 41 to 43. Ratings averaged 10 million throughout the season which was a contrast to the falling (and last-minute rise) ratings during that time to lows of under 7 million which the show hadn't seen since at least 1992. As a result, the BBC and CBS decided to change the format slightly by including two extra episodes in the season, thus making the new format 10x90 minute episodes.

Christmas with Doctor Who
As well as the new format, the season would also feature a one-off Christmas special which would air on Christmas Day; naturally as Doctor Who was one of the BBC's biggest shows which of course would be a part of the production for the season. In total, the season would have 11x90 minute episodes, making the total screentime of 990 minutes: 270 minutes more than previous seasons, and the second all-time longest-running from all of Doctor Who since Season 6 in 1969, which had an extra 110 minutes (1100 minutes in total).

A new recruit
Although introduced in the last season, a new companion was included in the form of Lizzie Clarke, played by Sophie Okonedo, a barmaid from 2007. With her on board, she would be credited in the title sequence, which other than her name being added on, remained unchanged.

The story
The season lent heavily towards the more serialised style of the Gallifrey era as well as the recent spin-off Panopticon, rather than the previous season which was mostly episodic. Despite this, there was still elements of an episodic structure although plot arcs continue through the entire season which felt more serialised in a way. The main story would focus around Angela Jensen's husband, Sebastian Jensen, played by Paul Darrow, who claimed to have killed the Doctor and be his mortal enemy. The season would see The Doctor, Angela and Lizzie travel through history in chronological order as they follow Sebastian as well as encountering earlier versions of him. This resulted in most of the season being set on Earth with just the idea of time travelling being conceived rather than travelling in space.

The stories continue
Despite having an overarching story in this season, many sub-plots which were introduced last season continued; even some going as far back as Season 39 with the Poplne and Bellonsions. This was largely helped with the returning Bellonsion character Lieutenant Fassile. Other characters such as The Rogue were also due to be more recurring characters in the season, but as Marc Platt decided to end the first series of Panopticon on a cliffhanger, this couldn't be managed, with the Rogue only appearing briefly in the last episode.

Regular

 * The Doctor - Paterson Joseph
 * Rt. Hon. Angela Jensen M.P. - Jacqueline Pearce
 * Lizzie Clarke - Sophie Okonedo

Recurring

 * Rt. Hon. Brian Green - Nicholas Farrell
 * Rt. Hon. Rick Yates - Nicholas Briggs
 * Rt. Hon. Albert Dumfries - Nicholas Gecks
 * Sebastian Jenson - Paul Darrow
 * The Monk - Graeme Garden
 * Brigadier Winifred Bambera - Angela Bruce
 * Fen Do'nel - Tucker Smallwood
 * Lt. Fassile - Alexander Siddig

Guest

 * Sister Helena - Beth Goddard
 * Lucillius - David Fynn
 * Claudio - Marcus O'Donovan
 * Father Derekius - Phil Davis
 * Voice of the Demon Bull - Clifford Norgate
 * Edward the Confessor - Ian Gelder
 * Edith of Wessex - Katheryn Winnick
 * Harold Goodwinson - Adam James
 * Sir Robert Walpole - Ian McNeice
 * Earl of Orford - Frank Skinner
 * John Campbell - Matt Smith
 * Spencer Compton - Miles Richardson
 * John Carteret - Brian Dennehy
 * Henry Pelham - Simon Fisher-Becker
 * Sir Richard Martin - Richard Hope
 * Lucy Martin - Justine Mitchell
 * Lt. Col. Frayling - Gareth Thomas
 * Rathbone - Barnaby Edwards
 * Weeks - Hylton Collins
 * Eskythe - Spencer Wilding
 * Voice of the Ice Warriors - Nicholas Briggs
 * Alison Cheney - Freema Agyeman
 * Urtax - Malcolm Stoddard
 * Mims - Tim Brooke-Taylor
 * Grakus - India Fisher
 * Zygon Actors - Aidan Cook, Paul Casey
 * Voice of the Zygons - Nicholas Briggs
 * Penny - Sheridan Smith
 * Shanequa - Camille Coudri
 * Robbie - Sacha Dhawan
 * Trystan - Gareth David-Lloyd
 * Captain Fitzroy - Scott Bakula
 * Commander Pitts - James Callis
 * Lieutenant Stephens - Burn Gorman
 * Lieutenant Bennett - Kate Vernon
 * Cadet Daniels - Emma Caulfield
 * President Brewster - Robert Beltran
 * Eskythe - Spencer Wilding
 * Fen Gollix - Mary McDonnell
 * Fen So'aard - Maryam d'Abo
 * Fen J'med - Linda Park
 * Father Harish - Iain Glen
 * Lemming - Andrew Underwood
 * Phillipe - Samuel Anderson
 * Dolling - Samuel Pound
 * Hughes - Laura Arthauer
 * Duo Deathtrick - Alan Dale
 * Duo Draw - Quinn Lawrence
 * Duo Herl - Craig Wasson
 * Fen Gearla - Otto Rem
 * Eskythe - Spencer Wilding
 * Banto Zame - Richard Briers
 * Sally-Anne Stubbins - Clare Buckfield
 * Mentos - Brian Blessed
 * Sokkery - David Morissey
 * The Cylinder - Bill Bailey
 * Assemblers - Simon Pegg, Nick Frost
 * Jelloid - Matt Lucas
 * Potikol - Barry Jenner

Physical Media
To be added