Doctor Who: Sylvester McCoy: Complete Season Two Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		2.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		3.0

Doctor Who: Sylvester McCoy: Complete Season Two Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 28, 2025

BBC's often slightly baffling release regimen of what might be termed "archival" seasons of Doctor Who continues to, well, baffle. Not only is there the terminology difference between our British cousins and those of us on this side of the pond vis a vis "season" or "series", there's also the highly variant way numbering systems have been used by the BBC to even designate various seasons (for example, this particular season is season 25 in British vernacular). And then you can start to throw in the order of BBC's Blu-ray releases to further confuse things. Case in point: the three seasons of the long running series which starred Sylvester McCoy. You might think that someone at BBC might have thought releasing the seasons in order might have added to their appeal, at least in terms of introductions and departures, so to speak. But, no, BBC had other plans. Doctor Who: Sylvester McCoy: Complete Season Three was, oddly, the first release on Blu-ray back in 2020, followed at least relatively quickly by Doctor Who: Sylvester McCoy: Complete Season One a year later in 2021, because Doctor Who is, after all, a time lord and his first season can easily follow his third season. Now some four years later comes this "sophomore" effort, thereby completing the triumvirate of seasons and letting devoted Whovians start to ponder the absolute hilarity of the most recent Blu-ray announcement, the upcoming Doctor Who: Season One.

McCoy's tenure as the Doctor wasn't especially long lived, and it in fact led to the (obviously only temporary) death of the character, when the BBC actually cancelled the series after McCoy's third season. This particular year sees McCoy's characterizations, which was almost clownish or at least a bit buffoonish in his first year, start to matriculate over to the veritable "Dark Side", at least at times, something that may actually give this season a bit more punch than McCoy's premiere year. Things get off to a "vintage" start in more ways than one, with the Doctor traveling to 1963 for yet another fracas with the ever villainous (if also undeniably comical) Daleks. The Happiness Patrol plays oddly like that great old It's a Good Life episode from The Twilight Zone: Season 3, where you'd better pretend to be content even if you're not. There's some interesting "meta" data available on both some supplements in this collection as well as online hinting at script editor Andrew Cartmel's plans for the series during this tenure, plans which didn't completely come to fruition due to the show's imminent cancellation, but there are echoes of that plan in The Silver Nemesis, a title which may subliminally allude to the fact that this was the show's 25th anniversary year. Speaking of clowns, there's an actual "psychic circus" on hand in The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, a serial which may recall certain aspects of Doctor Who: The Celestial Toymaker.

Doctor Who: Sylvester McCoy: Complete Season Two Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Doctor Who: Sylvester McCoy: Complete Season Two is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of BBC with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.32:1. As I've stated before in more than one "vintage" Doctor Who review in general and of the two other McCoy seasons in particular, fans of the series who have been getting previous upscaled seasons will know that video quality of these releases can be variable at best, and downright problematic at worst, and this is another salient example. Once again the undeniable plus of these upscales is the healthiness of the palette, which is really quite nicely suffused a lot of the time (check out the great red/orange hair on the inimitable Siân Phillips in screenshot 2 for just one example, though there are several other examples sprinked throughout many of the other screenshots I've uploaded to accompany this review). Things are considerably less consistent in terms of detail levels, and this is another of the Doctor Who upscales that can show everything from combing artifacts to upscaling bugaboos like aliasing to even some moderate ghosting at times. The "new, improved" special effects tend to be best when documenting outer space material, but are hardly game changers in any event.

Doctor Who: Sylvester McCoy: Complete Season Two Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Once again BBC is offering fans both DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 options on all of the "main" serials. And also once again I was generally more pleased with the old style 2.0 tracks, though the 5.1 versions can certainly open up effects in both outer space material but also with regard to some of the lunatic sound effects accompanying some of the various "technologies" the Doctor and his cohort utilize. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Doctor Who: Sylvester McCoy: Complete Season Two Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Disc One - Remembrance of the Daleks

• Updated Special Effects can be toggled on or off.


• Making of Documentary (SD; 32:37)


• Behind the Sofa (HD; 38:47)


• Remembrances (SD; 15:12) features trips down memory lane by various crew members.


• Deleted & Extended Scenes (SD; 12:39)


• Outtakes (SD; 4:14)


• Model Footage (SD; 13:18)


• Action Coverage (SD; 3:46)


• Promotion & TV Appearances

Season 25 Press Trailer (SD; 2:01)




Kilroy (SD; 4:29)




Daytime Live: Radiophonics (SD; 4:80)




Why Don't You. . .? (SD; 5:50)




Open Air (SD; 2:43)




Take Two (SD; 1:29)




Breakfast Time (SD; 5:00)




Blue Peter (SD; 00:26)




Points of View (SD; 00:41)




Daytime Live: 25th Anniversary (SD; 12:25)

• Music Demo (HD: 3:24) can be played in either DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 or DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1.


• BBC Trails & Continuities (SD; 5:36)


• Photo Gallery (HD; 11:19)


• Isolated Music Soundtrack can be accessed under the Audio Options Menu.


• Episode Commentary can be accessed under the Audio Options Menu.


• Episode Info Text can be accessed under the Subtitles & Info Text Menu.


• PDF Files are available via a computer drive.

Disc Two - Remembrance of the Daleks Bonus Disc

• Davros Connections (SD; 43:17) is an archival overview.


• Looking for Dursley (HD; 55:05) is a fun new piece with the always entertaining Toby Hadoke.


• Location Footage (SD; 1:29:59)


• Studio Footage (SD; 1:29:59)


• Season 25 Blu-ray Trailer (HD; 6:17)

Disc Three - The Happiness Patrol

• Making of Documentary (SD; 23:47)


• Behind the Sofa (HD; 32:08)


• Deleted & Extended Scenes (SD; 23:20)


• Sophie Allred in Conversation (HD; 55:12) is one of the new interviews included in the set.


• Lesley Dunlop Interview (HD; 15:46) is another new piece.


• When Worlds Collide (SD; 46:04) is an archival piece featuring some "ripped from the headlines" material.


• Girls Girls Girls (HD; 21:45) is another new piece featuring Sophie Aldred, Janet Fielding, and Sarah Sutton, with a little help from Peter Purves.


• Going Live (SD; 10:23) has some live footage.


• Newsnight (SD; 8:25)


• BBC Trails & Continuities (SD; 3:49)


• Photo Gallery (HD; 10:00)


• Isolated Music Soundtrack can be accessed under the Audio Options Menu.


• Episode Commentary can be accessed under the Audio Options Menu.


• Episode Info Text can be accessed under the Subtitles & Info Text Menu.


• PDF Files are available via a computer drive.

Disc Four - The Happiness Patrol: Special Edition

• Chris Clough in Conversation (HD; 52:30) continues with the newly produced interviews for this collection, this time with the producer and director.


• Stephen Mansfield Interview (HD; 9:05) is another new interview with the designer and voice actor.


• Studio Footage (SD; 3:17:32)

Disc Five - The Silver Nemesis

• Updated Special Effects can be toggled on or off.


• 1988 Making of Documentary (SD; 55:06)


• 2010 Making of Documentary (SD; 33:30)


• Behind the Sofa (HD; 34:08)


• Deleted & Extended Scenes (SD; 22:31)


• Andrew Cartmel in Conversation (HD; 50:40) is an enjoyable newly produced interview with the editor.


• Open Air (SD; 15:04)


• Behind the Screen (SD; 6:25)


• Points of View (SD; 1:08)


• John Nathan-Turner Interview (SD; 21:37)


• Chris Clough Interview (SD; 22:19)


• Dorka Nieradzik Interview (SD; 9:10)


• The 50th Anniversary Archive (HD; 6:36) features Sophie Aldred.


• BBC Trails & Continuities (SD; 3:58)


• Photo Gallery (HD; 13:29)


• Coming Soon (SD; 1:05)


• Isolated Music Soundtrack can be accessed under the Audio Options Menu.


• Episode Commentary can be accessed under the Audio Options Menu.


• Episode Info Text can be accessed under the Subtitles & Info Text Menu.


• PDF Files are available via a computer drive.

Disc Six - The Silver Nemesis Bonus Disc

• Omnibus Version (HD; 52:42)


• VHS Version comes with quaint tracking control informational prefatory text crawls.

VHS Part One (SD; 29:50)




VHS Part Two (SD; 25:51)




VHS Part Three (SD; 29:14)

• Location Footage (SD; 2:57:45)


• Special Edition Deleted Scenes (HD; 2:34)

Disc Seven - The Greatest Show in the Galaxy

• Updated Special Effects can be toggled on or off.


• Making of Documentary (SD; 30:17)


• Behind the Sofa (HD; 33:59)


• Deleted & Extended Scenes (SD; 11:11)


• Model Featurette (SD; 2:07)


• Model Footage (SD; 13:46)


• Special Effects Featurette (SD; 12:33)


• Victoria Wood Sketch (SD; 1:15)


• Knock Knock (SD; 2:31)


• The Psychic Circus Music Video (HD; 4:50) can be played with either DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 or DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1.


• BBC Trails & Continuities (SD; 3:53)


• Photo Gallery (HD; 10:13)


• Coming Soon: Battlefield (SD; 1:15)


• Coming Soon: Season 26 (HD; 2:57)


• Audio Archive (HD; 10:37) features Sylvester McCoy.


• Isolated Music Soundtrack can be accessed under the Audio Options Menu.


• Episode Commentary can be accessed under the Audio Options Menu.


• Episode Info Text can be accessed under the Subtitles & Info Text Menu.


• PDF Files are available via a computer drive.

Disc Eight - The Greatest Show in the Galaxy Bonus Disc

• Doctor Who Escape Room (HD; 1:15:28) is another goofy escape room scenario, this time featuring Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred and Bonnie Langford.


• The Collectors: The 1980s (HD; 23:20) looks at memorabilia and those who collect it.


• Location & OB Footage (SD; 3:00:01)


• Tomorrow's World Christmas Quiz (SD; 29:33)


• Open Air (SD; 25:15)


• The Panopticon Archive (SD; 45:43) features Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred.


• Manopticon 2 (SD; 59:13) features Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred.

Doctor Who: Sylvester McCoy: Complete Season Two Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

They say there's no accounting for taste, and in that regard while perhaps contrary to some diehard fans' preferences, I think I probably like this second season featuring McCoy the best out of all three, but that may frankly be damning with faint praise. There's a glut of location shooting throughout this season which helps to keep things relatively fresh, but the whole McCoy era kind of seems to have been born under a bad star. Technical merits are once again pretty iffy in the video department, but fine in the audio department, and as usual BBC has assembled a gobsmacking array of both archival and newly produced supplements, for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.