The season's writing was recognized by the Writer's Guild of Great Britain for Best Children's Drama Script.

[1] This is the Third Doctor's fifth and final series, and also the last consecutively to be produced by Barry Letts and script edited by Terrance Dicks.

Nicholas Courtney and John Levene continue their roles of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and Sergeant Benton, while Richard Franklin makes his final regular appearance as Captain Yates in Planet of the Spiders Alan Bennion makes his third and final appearance in the series as an Ice Warrior, portraying Lord Azaxyr in The Monster of Peladon.

This season was the last to have Barry Letts as producer and Terrance Dicks as script editor, ending the relationship that had gone through the whole of Jon Pertwee's tenure as the Doctor.

It saw the introduction of a new logo that would be used nearly throughout the fourth Doctor's era, as well as the new companion Sarah Jane Smith and the alien race, the Sontarans.