Doctor Who
Template:Short description Template:About Template:Pp-move Template:Pp-semi-indef Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox television
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterrestrial being called the Doctor, part of a humanoid species called Time Lords. The Doctor travels in the universe and in time using a time travelling spaceship called the TARDIS, which externally appears as a British police box. While travelling, the Doctor works to save lives and liberate oppressed peoples by combating foes. The Doctor often travels with companions.
Beginning with William Hartnell, fourteen actors have headlined the series as the Doctor; Template:As of, Ncuti Gatwa leads the series as the Fifteenth Doctor. The transition between actors is written into the plot of the series with the concept of regeneration into a new incarnation, a plot device in which, when a Time Lord is fatally injured, their cells regenerate and they are reincarnated into a different body with new mannerisms and behaviour but the same memories. This explains each actor's distinct portrayal, as they all represent different stages in the Doctor's life and, together, form a single lifetime with a single narrative. The time-travelling nature of the plot means that different incarnations of the Doctor occasionally meet. The Doctor can also change ethnic appearance or gender; in 2017, Jodie Whittaker became the first woman cast in the lead role, and in 2024, Gatwa became the first black actor to headline the series.
The series is a significant part of popular culture in Britain and elsewhere; it has gained a cult following. It has influenced generations of British television professionals, many of whom grew up watching the series. Fans of the series are sometimes referred to as Whovians. The series has been listed in Guinness World Records as the longest-running science-fiction television series in the world, as well as the "most successful" science-fiction series of all time, based on its overall broadcast ratings, DVD and book sales.
The series originally ran from 1963 to 1989. There was an unsuccessful attempt to revive regular production in 1996 with a backdoor pilot in the form of a television film titled Doctor Who. The series was relaunched in 2005 and was produced in-house by BBC Wales in Cardiff. Since 2023, the show has been co-produced by Bad Wolf and BBC Studios Productions in Cardiff. Doctor Who has spawned numerous spin-offs as part of the Whoniverse, including comic books, films, novels and audio dramas, and the television series Torchwood (2006–2011), The Sarah Jane Adventures (2007–2011), K9 (2009–2010), Class (2016), Tales of the TARDIS (2023–2024), and the upcoming The War Between the Land and the Sea. It has been the subject of many parodies and references in popular culture.
Premise
[edit]Doctor Who follows the adventures of the title character, a rogue Time Lord with somewhat unknown origins who goes by the name "the Doctor". The Doctor fled Gallifrey, the planet of the Time Lords, in a stolen TARDIS ("Time and Relative Dimension(s) in Space"), a time machine that travels by materialising into, and dematerialising out of, the time vortex. The TARDIS has a vast interior but appears smaller on the outside, and is equipped with a "chameleon circuit" intended to make the machine take on the appearance of local objects as a disguise. Because of a malfunction, the Doctor's TARDIS remains fixed as a blue British police box.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Across time and space, the Doctor's many incarnations often find events that pique their curiosity, and try to prevent evil forces from harming innocent people or changing history, using only ingenuity and minimal resources, such as the versatile sonic screwdriver. The Doctor rarely travels alone and is often joined by one or more companions on these adventures; these companions are usually humans, owing to the Doctor's fascination with planet Earth, which also leads to frequent collaborations with the international military task force UNIT when Earth is threatened.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Doctor is centuries old and, as a Time Lord, has the ability to regenerate when there is mortal damage to their body.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Doctor's various incarnations have gained numerous recurring enemies during their travels, including the Daleks, their creator Davros, the Cybermen, and the renegade Time Lord the Master.<ref name="DeadliestVillains">Template:Cite web</ref>
History
[edit]Template:Main Doctor Who was originally intended to appeal to a family audience<ref>Howe, Stammers, Walker (1992), p. 3.</ref> as an educational programme using time travel as a means to explore scientific ideas and famous moments in history. The programme first appeared on the BBC Television Service at 17:16:20 GMT on 23 November 1963; this was eighty seconds later than the scheduled programme time, because of announcements concerning the previous day's assassination of John F. Kennedy.<ref>Howe, Stammers, Walker (1994), p. 54</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It was to be a regular weekly programme, each episode 25 minutes of transmission length. Discussions and plans for the programme had been in progress for a year. The head of drama Sydney Newman was mainly responsible for developing the programme, with the first format document for the series being written by Newman along with the head of the script department (later head of serials) Donald Wilson and staff writer C. E. Webber; in a 1971 interview Wilson claimed to have named the series, and when this claim was put to Newman he did not dispute it.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Writer Anthony Coburn, story editor David Whitaker and initial producer Verity Lambert also heavily contributed to the development of the series.<ref>Howe, Stammers, Walker (1994), pp. 157–230 ("Production Diary")</ref>Template:Efn
On 31 July 1963, Whitaker commissioned Terry Nation to write a story under the title The Mutants. As originally written, the Daleks and Thals were the victims of an alien neutron bomb attack but Nation later dropped the aliens and made the Daleks the aggressors. When the script was presented to Wilson, it was immediately rejected as the programme was not permitted to contain any "bug-eyed monsters". According to Lambert, "We didn't have a lot of choice—we only had the Dalek serial to go ... We had a bit of a crisis of confidence because Donald [Wilson] was so adamant that we shouldn't make it. Had we had anything else ready we would have made that." Nation's script became the second Doctor Who serial – The Daleks (also known as The Mutants). The serial introduced the eponymous aliens that would become the series' most popular monsters, dubbed "Dalekmania", and was responsible for the BBC's first merchandising boom.<ref>Steve Tribe; James Goss (2011). Dr Who: The Dalek Handbook. BBC Books. Random House. Template:ISBN. p. 9.</ref>
The BBC drama department produced the programme for 26 seasons, broadcast on BBC One. Due to his increasingly poor health, William Hartnell, first actor to play the Doctor, was succeeded by Patrick Troughton in 1966. In 1970, Jon Pertwee replaced Troughton and the series began production in colour. In 1974, Tom Baker was cast as the Doctor. His eccentric personality became hugely popular, with viewing figures for the series returning to a level not seen since the height of "Dalekmania" a decade earlier.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> After seven years in the role, Baker was replaced by Peter Davison in 1981, and Colin Baker replaced Davison in 1984. In 1985, the channel's controller Michael Grade cancelled the upcoming twenty-third season, forcing the series into an eighteen-month hiatus.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="mcewan">Template:Cite web</ref> In 1986, the series was recommissioned on the condition that Baker left the role of the Doctor,<ref name="mcewan"/> which was recast to Sylvester McCoy in 1987. Falling viewing numbers, a decline in the public perception of the series and a less-prominent transmission slot saw production ended in 1989 by Peter Cregeen, the BBC's new head of series.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Although it was effectively cancelled, the BBC repeatedly affirmed over several years that the series would return.<ref name="8thdrspecial" />
While in-house production concluded, the BBC explored an independent production company to relaunch the series. Philip Segal, a British expatriate who worked for Columbia Pictures' television arm in the United States, had approached the BBC as early as July 1989, while the 26th season was still in production.<ref name="8thdrspecial">Doctor Who Magazine Eighth Doctor Special, Panini Comics 2003</ref> Segal's negotiations eventually led to a Doctor Who television film as a pilot for an American series, broadcast on the Fox Network in 1996, as an international co-production between Fox, Universal Pictures, the BBC and BBC Worldwide. Starring Paul McGann as the Doctor, the film was successful in the UK (with 9.1 million viewers), but was less so in the United States and did not lead to a series.<ref name="8thdrspecial" />
Licensed media such as novels and audio plays provided new stories, but as a television programme, Doctor Who remained dormant. In September 2003,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> BBC Television announced the in-house production of a new series, after several years of attempts by BBC Worldwide to find backing for a feature film version. The 2005 revival of Doctor Who is a direct plot continuation of the original 1963–1989 series and the 1996 television film. The executive producers of the new incarnation of the series were Queer as Folk writer Russell T Davies and BBC Cymru Wales head of drama Julie Gardner. From 2005, the series switched from a multi-camera to a single-camera setup.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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Starring Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor, Doctor Who returned with the episode "Rose" on BBC One on 26 March 2005, after a 16-year hiatus of in-house production.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Eccleston left after one series and was replaced by David Tennant.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Davies left the production team in 2009.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Steven Moffat, a writer under Davies, was announced as his successor, along with Matt Smith as the new Doctor.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Smith decided to leave the role of the Doctor in 2013, the 50th anniversary year.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He was replaced by Peter Capaldi.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In January 2016, Moffat announced that he would step down after the 2017 finale, to be replaced by Chris Chibnall in 2018.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Jodie Whittaker, the first female Doctor, appeared in three series, the last of which was shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Both Whittaker and Chibnall announced that they would depart the series after a series of specials in 2022.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Davies returned as showrunner from the 60th anniversary specials, twelve years after he had left the series previously.<ref name="RTDreturns"/> Bad Wolf co-produces the series in partnership with BBC Studios Productions.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Bad Wolf's involvement sees Gardner return to the series alongside Davies and Jane Tranter, who recommissioned the series in 2005.<ref name="RTDreturns">Template:Cite web</ref>
The programme has been sold to many other countries worldwide Template:See below.
Public consciousness
[edit]It has been claimed that the transmission of the first episode was delayed by ten minutes due to extended news coverage of the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy the previous day; in fact, it went out after a delay of eighty seconds.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The BBC believed that coverage of the assassination, as well as a series of power blackouts across the country, had caused many viewers to miss this introduction to a new series, and it was broadcast again on 30 November 1963, just before episode two.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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The programme soon became a national institution in the United Kingdom, with a large following among the general viewing audience.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The show received controversy over the suitability of the series for children. Morality campaigner Mary Whitehouse repeatedly complained to the BBC over what she saw as the programme's violent, frightening and gory content. According to Radio Times, the series "never had a more implacable foe than Mary Whitehouse".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
A BBC audience research survey conducted in 1972 found that, by their own definition of violence ("any act[s] which may cause physical and/or psychological injury, hurt or death to persons, animals or property, whether intentional or accidental"), Doctor Who was the most violent of the drama programmes the corporation produced at the time.<ref name="times-violence">Template:Cite news</ref> The same report found that 3% of the surveyed audience believed the series was "very unsuitable" for family viewing.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Responding to the findings of the survey in The Times newspaper, journalist Philip Howard maintained that, "to compare the violence of Dr Who, sired by a horse-laugh out of a nightmare, with the more realistic violence of other television series, where actors who look like human beings bleed paint that looks like blood, is like comparing Monopoly with the property market in London: both are fantasies, but one is meant to be taken seriously."<ref name="times-violence" />
During Jon Pertwee's second season as the Doctor, in the serial Terror of the Autons (1971), images of murderous plastic dolls, daffodils killing unsuspecting victims, and blank-featured policemen marked the apex of the series' ability to frighten children.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Other notable moments in that decade include a disembodied brain falling to the floor in The Brain of Morbius<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the Doctor apparently being drowned by a villain in The Deadly Assassin (both 1976).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Mary Whitehouse's complaint about the latter incident prompted a change in BBC policy towards the series, with much tighter controls imposed on the production team,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the series' next producer, Graham Williams, was under a directive to take out "anything graphic in the depiction of violence".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> John Nathan-Turner produced the series during the 1980s and said in the documentary More Than Thirty Years in the TARDIS that he looked forward to Whitehouse's comments because the ratings of the series would increase soon after she had made them. Nathan-Turner also got into trouble with BBC executives over the violence he allowed to be depicted for season 22 of the series in 1985, which was publicly criticised by controller Michael Grade and given as one of his reasons for suspending the series for 18 months.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
The phrase "hiding Template:Visible anchor" (or "watching from behind the sofa") entered British pop culture, signifying the stereotypical but apocryphal early-series behaviour of children who wanted to avoid seeing frightening parts of a television programme while remaining in the room to watch the remainder of it.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="times">"Still, the Daleks are the boss space horrors, something to get the children hiding behind the sofa." Template:Cite news</ref> The Economist presented "hiding behind the sofa whenever the Daleks appear" as a British cultural institution on a par with Bovril and tea-time.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Paul Parsons, author of The Science of Doctor Who, explains the appeal of hiding behind the sofa as the activation of the fear response in the amygdala in conjunction with reassurances of safety from the brain's frontal lobe.<ref>Parsons, Paul. "Who believes in who" The Daily Telegraph. Tuesday 28 March 2006. (URL accessed 30 March 2006.)</ref> The phrase retains this association with Doctor Who, to the point that in 1991 the Museum of the Moving Image in London named its exhibition celebrating the programme Behind the Sofa. The electronic theme music too was perceived as eerie, novel, and frightening at the time. A 2012 article placed this childhood juxtaposition of fear and thrill "at the center of many people's relationship with the series",<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and a 2011 online vote at Digital Spy deemed the series the "scariest TV show of all time".<ref>Template:Cite web, Digital Spy, Catriona Wightman & Morgan Jeffery, 31 October 2011.</ref> Template:Multiple image The image of the TARDIS has become firmly linked to the series in the public's consciousness; BBC scriptwriter Anthony Coburn, who lived in the resort of Herne Bay, Kent, was one of the people who conceived the idea of a police box as a time machine.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 1996, the BBC applied for a trademark to use the TARDIS' blue police box design in merchandising associated with Doctor Who.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1998, the Metropolitan Police Authority filed an objection to the trademark claim; but in 2002, the Patent Office ruled in favour of the BBC.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
The 21st-century revival of the programme became the centrepiece of BBC One's Saturday schedule and "defined the channel".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Many renowned actors have made guest-starring appearances in various stories including Kylie Minogue,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Sir Ian McKellen,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Andrew Garfield<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> among others.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> According to an article in the Daily Telegraph in 2009, the revival of Doctor Who had consistently received high ratings, both in number of viewers and as measured by the Appreciation Index.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2007, Caitlin Moran, television reviewer for The Times, wrote that Doctor Who is "quintessential to being British".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> According to Steven Moffat, the American film director Steven Spielberg has commented that "the world would be a poorer place without Doctor Who".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
On 4 August 2013, a live programme titled Doctor Who Live: The Next Doctor<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> was broadcast on BBC One, during which the actor who was going to play the Twelfth Doctor was revealed.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The live show was watched by an average of 6.27 million in the UK, and was also simulcast in the United States, Canada and Australia.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Episodes
[edit]Template:Further Doctor Who originally ran for 26 seasons on BBC One, from 23 November 1963 until 6 December 1989. During the original run, each weekly episode formed part of a story (or "serial")—usually of four to six parts in earlier years and three to four in later years.Template:Citation needed Some notable exceptions were: The Daleks' Master Plan, which aired twelve episodes (plus an earlier one-episode teaser,<ref>The Daleks' Master Plan. Writers Terry Nation and Dennis Spooner, Director Douglas Camfield, Producer John Wiles. Doctor Who. BBC. BBC One, London. 13 November 1965 – 29 January 1966.</ref> "Mission to the Unknown", featuring none of the regular cast<ref>Template:Cite episode</ref>); almost an entire season of seven-episode serials (season 7); the ten-episode serial The War Games;<ref>The War Games. Writers Malcolm Hulke and Terrance Dicks, Director David Maloney, Producer Derrick Sherwin. Doctor Who. BBC. BBC One, London. 19 April 1969 – 21 June 1969.</ref> and The Trial of a Time Lord, which ran for fourteen episodes (albeit divided into three production codes and four narrative segments) during season 23.<ref>The Trial of a Time Lord. Writers Robert Holmes, Philip Martin and Pip and Jane Baker, Directors Nicholas Mallett, Ron Jones and Chris Clough, Producer John Nathan-Turner. Doctor Who. BBC. BBC One, London. 6 September 1986 – 6 December 1986.</ref> Occasionally, serials were loosely connected by a story line, such as season 8 focusing on the Doctor battling a rogue Time Lord called the Master,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> season 16's quest for the Key to Time,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> season 18's journey through E-Space and the theme of entropy,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and season 20's Black Guardian trilogy.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The programme was intended to be educational and for family viewing on the early Saturday evening schedule.<ref name="Doctor Who Education">Template:Cite web</ref> It initially alternated stories set in the past, which taught younger audience members about history, and with those in the future or outer space, focusing on science.<ref name="Doctor Who Education" /> This was also reflected in the Doctor's original companions, one of whom was a science teacher and another a history teacher.<ref name="Doctor Who Education" />
However, science fiction stories came to dominate the programme, and the history-oriented episodes, which were not popular with the production team,<ref name="Doctor Who Education" /> were dropped after The Highlanders (1967). While the show continued to use historical settings, they were generally used as a backdrop for science fiction tales,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> with one exception: Black Orchid (1982), set in 1920s England.<ref>Black Orchid. Writer Terence Dudley, Director Ron Jones, Producer John Nathan-Turner. Doctor Who. BBC. BBC One, London. 1 March 1982 – 2 March 1982.</ref>
The early stories were serialised in nature, with the narrative of one story flowing into the next and each episode having its own title, although produced as distinct stories with their own production codes.<ref name="BBC Doctor Who Episode List">Template:Cite web</ref> Following The Gunfighters (1966), however, each serial was given its own title, and the individual parts were assigned episode numbers.<ref name="BBC Doctor Who Episode List" />
Of the programme's many writers, Robert Holmes was the most prolific,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> while Douglas Adams became the best known outside Doctor Who itself, due to the popularity of his Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy works.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The serial format changed for the 2005 revival, with what was now called a series usually consisting of thirteen 45-minute, self-contained episodes (60 minutes with adverts, on overseas commercial channels) and an extended 60-minute episode broadcast on Christmas Day. This system was shortened to twelve episodes and one Christmas special following the revival's eighth series, and ten episodes from the eleventh series. Each series includes standalone and multiple episodic stories, often linked with a loose story arc resolved in the series finale. As in the early "classic" era, each episode has its own title, whether stand-alone or part of a larger story. Occasionally, regular-series episodes will exceed the 45-minute run time;Template:Citation needed for example, the episodes "Journey's End" (2008) and "The Eleventh Hour" (2010) were longer than an hour.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:DW episode count Doctor Who instalments have been televised since 1963, ranging between 25-minute episodes (the most common format for the classic era), 45/50-minute episodes (for Resurrection of the Daleks in the 1984 series, a single season in 1985, and the most common format for the revival era since 2005), two feature-length productions (1983's "The Five Doctors" and the 1996 television film), twelve Christmas specials (most of approximately 60 minutes' duration, one of 72 minutes), and four additional specials ranging from 60 to 75 minutes in 2009, 2010, and 2013. Four mini-episodes, running about eight minutes each, were also produced for the 1993, 2005, and 2007 Children in Need charity appeals, while another mini-episode was produced in 2008 for a Doctor Who–themed edition of The Proms. The 1993 two-part story, entitled Dimensions in Time, was made in collaboration with the cast of the BBC soap-opera EastEnders and was filmed partly on the EastEnders set. A two-part mini-episode was also produced for the 2011 edition of Comic Relief.Template:Citation needed Starting with the 2009 special "Planet of the Dead", the series was filmed in 1080i for HDTV<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and broadcast simultaneously on BBC One and BBC HD.
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the show, a special 3D episode, "The Day of the Doctor", was broadcast in 2013.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In March 2013, it was announced that Tennant and Piper would be returning<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and that the episode would have a limited cinematic release worldwide.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In June 2017, it was announced that due to the terms of a deal between BBC Worldwide and SMG Pictures in China, the company has first right of refusal on the purchase for the Chinese market of future series of the programme until and including Series 15.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Missing episodes
[edit]Template:Main Between 1967 and 1978, large amounts of older material stored in the BBC's various video tape and film libraries was either destroyedTemplate:Efn or wiped. This included many early episodes of Doctor Who, those stories featuring the first two Doctors: William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton. In all, 97 of 253 episodes produced during the programme's first six years are not held in the BBC's archives (most notably seasons 3, 4, and 5, from which 79 episodes are missing).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 1972, almost all episodes then made were known to exist at the BBC,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> while by 1978 the practice of wiping tapes and destroying "spare" film copies had been brought to a stop.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
No 1960s episodes exist on their original videotapes (all surviving prints being film transfers), though some were transferred to film for editing before transmission and exist in their broadcast form.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Some episodes have been returned to the BBC from the archives of other countries that bought prints for broadcast or by private individuals who acquired them by various means. Early colour videotape recordings made off-air by fans have also been retrieved, as well as excerpts filmed from the television screen onto 8 mm cine film and clips that were shown on other programmes. Audio versions of all lost episodes exist from home viewers who made tape recordings of the show. Short clips from every story with the exception of Marco Polo (1964), "Mission to the Unknown" (1965) and The Massacre (1966) also exist.
In addition to these, there are off-screen photographs made by photographer John Cura, who was hired by various production personnel to document many of their programmes during the 1950s and 1960s, including Doctor Who.Template:Citation needed These have been used in fan reconstructions of the serials. The BBC has tolerated these amateur reconstructions, provided they are not sold for profit and are distributed as low-quality copies.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
One of the most sought-after lost episodes is part four of the last William Hartnell serial, The Tenth Planet (1966), which ends with the First Doctor transforming into the Second.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The only portion of this in existence, barring a few poor-quality silent 8 mm clips, is the few seconds of the regeneration scene, as it was shown on the children's magazine show Blue Peter. With the approval of the BBC, efforts are now underway to restore as many of the episodes as possible from the extant material.Template:Citation needed
"Official" reconstructions have also been released by the BBC on VHS, on MP3 CD-ROM, and as special features on DVD. The BBC, in conjunction with animation studio Cosgrove Hall, reconstructed the missing episodes 1 and 4 of The Invasion (1968), using remastered audio tracks and the comprehensive stage notes for the original filming, for the serial's DVD release in November 2006.Template:Citation needed The missing episodes of The Reign of Terror were animated by animation company Theta-Sigma, in collaboration with Big Finish, and became available for purchase in May 2013 through Amazon.com.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Subsequent animations made in 2013 include The Tenth Planet, The Ice Warriors (1967) and The Moonbase (1967).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In April 2006, Blue Peter launched a challenge to find missing Doctor Who episodes with the promise of a full-scale Dalek model as a reward.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In December 2011, it was announced that part 3 of Galaxy 4 (1965) and part 2 of The Underwater Menace (1967) had been returned to the BBC by a fan who had purchased them in the mid-1980s without realising that the BBC did not hold copies of them.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
On 10 October 2013, the BBC announced that films of eleven episodes, including nine missing episodes, had been found in a Nigerian television relay station in Jos.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Six of the eleven films discovered were the six-part serial The Enemy of the World (1968), from which all but the third episode had been missing.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The remaining films were from another six-part serial, The Web of Fear (1968), and included the previously missing episodes 2, 4, 5 and 6. Episode 3 of The Web of Fear is still missing.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Characters
[edit]The Doctor
[edit]Template:Main Template:Multiple image
The Doctor was initially shrouded in mystery. In the programme's early days, the character was an eccentric alien traveller of great intelligence who battled injustice while exploring time and space in an unreliable time machine, the "TARDIS" (an acronym for Time and Relative Dimension in Space), which notably appears much larger on the inside than on the outside.Template:Efn<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The initially irascible and slightly sinister Doctor quickly mellowed into a more compassionate figure and was eventually revealed to be a Time Lord, whose race are from the planet Gallifrey, which the Doctor fled by stealing the TARDIS.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Changes of appearance
[edit]Producers introduced the concept of regeneration to permit the recasting of the main character. This was prompted by the poor health of the original star, William Hartnell.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The term "regeneration" was not conceived until the Doctor's third on-screen regeneration; Hartnell's Doctor merely described undergoing a "renewal", and the Second Doctor underwent a "change of appearance".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The device has allowed for the recasting of the actor various times in the show's history, as well as the depiction of alternative Doctors either from the Doctor's relative past or future.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
The serials The Deadly Assassin (1976) and Mawdryn Undead (1983) established that a Time Lord can only regenerate 12 times, for a total of 13 incarnations.<ref name="507joke"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> This line became stuck in the public consciousness despite not often being repeated and was recognised by producers of the show as a plot obstacle for when the show finally had to regenerate the Doctor a thirteenth time.<ref name="507joke">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The episode "The Time of the Doctor" (2013) depicted the Doctor acquiring a new cycle of regenerations, starting from the Twelfth Doctor, due to the Eleventh Doctor being the product of the Doctor's twelfth regeneration from his original set.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Although the idea of casting a woman as the Doctor had been suggested by the show's writers several times, including by Newman in 1986 and Davies in 2008, until 2017, all official depictions were played by men.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Jodie Whittaker took over the role as the Thirteenth Doctor at the end of the 2017 Christmas special and is the first woman to be cast as the character.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The show introduced the Time Lords' ability to change sex on regeneration in earlier episodes, first in dialogue, then with Michelle Gomez's version of the Master<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and T'Nia Miller's version of the General.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Upon Whittaker's final appearance as the character in "The Power of the Doctor" on 23 October 2022, she regenerated into a form portrayed by David Tennant, who was confirmed to be the Fourteenth Doctor and the first actor to play two incarnations, having previously played the Tenth Doctor. In the same year, Ncuti Gatwa was revealed to be portraying the Fifteenth Doctor, making him the first black actor to headline the series.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
| Series lead | Incarnation | TenureTemplate:Efn |
|---|---|---|
| William Hartnell | First Doctor | 1963–1966 |
| Patrick Troughton | Second Doctor | 1966–1969 |
| Jon Pertwee | Third Doctor | 1970–1974 |
| Tom Baker | Fourth Doctor | 1974–1981 |
| Peter Davison | Fifth Doctor | 1982–1984 |
| Colin Baker | Sixth Doctor | 1984–1986 |
| Sylvester McCoy | Seventh Doctor | 1987–1989 |
| Paul McGann | Eighth Doctor | 1996 |
| Christopher Eccleston | Ninth Doctor | 2005 |
| David Tennant | Tenth Doctor | 2005–2010 |
| Matt Smith | Eleventh Doctor | 2010–2013 |
| Peter Capaldi | Twelfth Doctor | 2014–2017 |
| Jodie Whittaker | Thirteenth Doctor | 2018–2022 |
| David Tennant | Fourteenth Doctor | 2023 |
| Ncuti Gatwa | Fifteenth Doctor | 2023–present |
In addition to those actors who have headlined the series, others have portrayed versions of the Doctor in guest roles. Notably, in 2013, John Hurt guest-starred as a hitherto unknown incarnation of the Doctor known as the War Doctor in the run-up to the show's 50th-anniversary special "The Day of the Doctor".<ref name="HurtDoctor">Template:Cite news</ref> He is shown in mini-episode "The Night of the Doctor" retroactively inserted into the show's fictional chronology between McGann's and Eccleston's Doctors, although his introduction was written so as not to disturb the established numerical naming of the Doctors.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The show later introduced another such unknown past Doctor with Jo Martin's recurring portrayal of the Fugitive Doctor, beginning with "Fugitive of the Judoon" (2020).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> An example from the classic series comes from The Trial of a Time Lord (1986), in which Michael Jayston's character the Valeyard is described as an amalgamation of the darker sides of the Doctor's nature, somewhere between the twelfth and final incarnation.<ref>Template:Cite serial</ref> The most recent example is when Richard E. Grant, who previously portrayed an alternate version of the Doctor known as the Shalka Doctor in the animated series Scream of the Shalka (2003), appeared as a hologram of a past Doctor in "Rogue" (2024).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
On rare occasions, other actors have stood in for the lead. In "The Five Doctors", Richard Hurndall played the First Doctor due to William Hartnell's death in 1975;<ref name="EWReturn">Template:Cite magazine</ref> 34 years later David Bradley similarly replaced Hartnell in "Twice Upon a Time".<ref name="Bradley">Template:Cite web</ref> In Time and the Rani, Sylvester McCoy briefly played the Sixth Doctor during the regeneration sequence, carrying on as the Seventh.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In other media, the Doctor has been played by various other actors, including Peter Cushing in two films.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The casting of a new Doctor has often inspired debate and speculation. Common topics of focus include the Doctor's sex (prior to the casting of Whittaker, all official incarnations were male), race (all Doctors were white prior to the casting of Jo Martin in "Fugitive of the Judoon") and age (the youngest actor to be cast is Smith at 26, and the oldest are Capaldi and Hartnell, both 55).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>"Neil Gaiman hopes a non-white person will take Doctor Who role someday", Template:Webarchive Sunday World, 8 August 2013.</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Meetings of different incarnations
[edit]There have been instances of actors returning later to reprise their specific Doctor's role. In 1973's The Three Doctors, William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton returned alongside Jon Pertwee. For 1983's "The Five Doctors", Troughton and Pertwee returned to star with Peter Davison, and Tom Baker appeared in previously unseen footage from the uncompleted Shada serial. For this episode, Richard Hurndall replaced William Hartnell. Patrick Troughton again returned in 1985's The Two Doctors with Colin Baker.<ref name="EWReturn" />
In 2007, Peter Davison returned in the Children in Need short "Time Crash" alongside David Tennant.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In "The Name of the Doctor" (2013), the Eleventh Doctor meets a previously unseen incarnation of himself, subsequently revealed to be the War Doctor.<ref name="HurtDoctor" /> In the following episode, "The Day of the Doctor", David Tennant's Tenth Doctor appeared alongside Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor and John Hurt as the War Doctor, as well as brief footage of all the previous actors.<ref>Template:Cite episode</ref> In 2017, the First Doctor (this time portrayed by David Bradley) returned alongside Peter Capaldi in "The Doctor Falls" and "Twice Upon a Time".<ref name="Bradley" />
In 2020's "Fugitive of the Judoon", Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor meets Jo Martin's incarnation of the Doctor, subsequently known as the Fugitive Doctor; they interact again in the episode "The Timeless Children" later that year as well as in "Once, Upon Time" in 2021. In her final episode, "The Power of the Doctor" (2022), Whittaker interacts with the Guardians of the Edge, manifestations of the Doctor's First (Bradley), Fifth (Davison), Sixth (Colin Baker), Seventh (McCoy), and Eighth (McGann) incarnations.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In "The Giggle" (2023), following the unusual bi-generation of the Fourteenth Doctor which saw the Fifteenth Doctor split out from him, the two Doctors shared a scene together as they defeated the episode's villain, the Toymaker.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Additionally, multiple incarnations of the Doctor have met in various audio dramas and novels based on the television show.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Companions
[edit]Template:Main The companion figure – generally a human – has been a constant feature in Doctor Who since the programme's inception in 1963. One of the roles of the companion is to be a reminder for the Doctor's "moral duty".<ref name="Overview">Template:Cite news</ref> The Doctor's first companions seen on-screen were his granddaughter Susan Foreman (Carole Ann Ford) and her teachers Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill) and Ian Chesterton (William Russell). These characters were intended to act as audience surrogates, through which the audience would discover information about the Doctor, who was to act as a mysterious father figure.<ref name=Overview/> The only story from the original series in which the Doctor travels alone is "The Deadly Assassin" (1976).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Notable companions from the earlier series include a Time Lady named Romana (Mary Tamm and Lalla Ward), and humans such as Jamie McCrimmon (Frazer Hines), Jo Grant (Katy Manning), Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen), Tegan Jovanka (Janet Fielding), Peri Brown (Nicola Bryant), and Ace (Sophie Aldred).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Dramatically, these characters provide a figure with whom the audience can identify and serve to further the story by requesting exposition from the Doctor and manufacturing peril for the Doctor to resolve. The Doctor regularly gains new companions and loses old ones;<ref name="Alien Companions">Template:Cite web</ref> sometimes they return home or find new causes—or loves—on worlds they have visited. Some have died during the course of the series.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Companions are usually humans or humanoid aliens.<ref name="Alien Companions" />
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Since the 2005 revival, the Doctor generally travels with a primary female companion, who occupies a larger narrative role. Steven Moffat described the companion as the main character of the show, as the story begins anew with each companion and she undergoes more change than the Doctor.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="MoffatColeman">Template:Cite web</ref> The primary companions of the Ninth and Tenth Doctors were Rose Tyler (Billie Piper), Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman), and Donna Noble (Catherine Tate), with Mickey Smith (Noel Clarke) and Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) recurring as secondary companion figures.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Eleventh Doctor became the first to travel with a married couple, Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) and Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill), whilst out-of-sync meetings with River Song (Alex Kingston)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman)<ref name="MoffatColeman" /> provided ongoing story arcs that continued with the Twelfth Doctor.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The tenth series included the alien Nardole (Matt Lucas)<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> and introduced Pearl Mackie as Bill Potts,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the Doctor's first openly gay companion. Pearl Mackie said that the increased representation of LGBTQ people is important on a mainstream show.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Thirteenth Doctor primarily travelled with Ryan Sinclair (Tosin Cole), Graham O'Brien (Bradley Walsh), Yasmin Khan (Mandip Gill),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Dan Lewis (John Bishop).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> When David Tennant returned as the Fourteenth Doctor, former co-star Catherine Tate joined him to reprise her role of Donna Noble for the 2023 specials.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Fifteenth Doctor travelled with Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> in his first series and Belinda Chandra (Varada Sethu)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> in his second. The combination of Gatwa and Sethu was notable for being the first time the primary cast of the show consisted entirely of non-white actors.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Some companions have gone on to reappear, either in the main series or in spin-offs. Sarah Jane Smith became the central character in The Sarah Jane Adventures (2007–2011) following a return to Doctor Who in 2006. Guest stars in the series include former companions Jo Grant, K9, and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The character of Jack Harkness also served to launch a spin-off, Torchwood (2006–2011), in which Martha Jones also appeared.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Foes
[edit]Template:See also When Sydney Newman commissioned the series, he specifically did not want to perpetuate the cliché of the "bug-eyed monster" of science fiction.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> However, monsters were popular with audiences and so became a staple of Doctor Who almost from the beginning.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Daleks, Cybermen, and the Master are some of the most iconic foes the Doctor has battled in the series.<ref name="DeadliestVillains" />
With the show's 2005 revival, executive producer Russell T Davies stated his intention to reintroduce the classic monsters of Doctor Who.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Autons with the Nestene Consciousness, first seen in 1970's Spearhead from Space, and Daleks, first seen in 1963's The Daleks, returned in series 1. Davies's successor, Steven Moffat, continued the trend by reviving the Silurians, also first seen in 1970, in series 5 and Zygons, first seen in 1975, in the 50th-anniversary special.<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref> Since its 2005 return, the series has also introduced new recurring aliens: Slitheen (Raxacoricofallapatorians), Ood, Judoon, Weeping Angels and the Silence.<ref name="DeadliestVillains" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Daleks
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The Daleks, which first appeared in the show's second serial in 1963,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> are Doctor WhoTemplate:'s oldest villains. The Daleks are Kaleds from the planet Skaro, mutated by the scientist Davros and housed in mechanical armour shells for mobility. The actual creatures resemble octopuses with large, pronounced brains. Their armour shells have a single eye-stalk, a sink-plunger-like device that serves the purpose of a hand, and a directed-energy weapon. Their main weakness is their eyestalk; attacks upon them using various weapons can blind a Dalek, making it go mad. Their chief role in the series plot, as they frequently remark in their instantly recognisable metallic voices, is to "exterminate" all non-Dalek beings. They even attack the Time Lords in the Time War, as shown during the 50th Anniversary of the show. They continue to be a recurring 'monster' within the Doctor Who franchise, having appeared in every series since 2005.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Davros has also been a recurring figure since his debut in Genesis of the Daleks, although played by several different actors.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The Daleks were created by the writer Terry Nation (who intended them to be an allegory of the Nazis)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and BBC designer Raymond Cusick.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Daleks' début in the programme's second serial, The Daleks (1963–1964), made both the Daleks and Doctor Who very popular. A Dalek appeared on a postage stamp celebrating British popular culture in 1999, photographed by Lord Snowdon.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Daleks received another stamp in 2013 as part of the 50th anniversary.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In "Victory of the Daleks" a new set of Daleks were introduced that come in a range of colours; the colour denoting its role within the species.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Cybermen
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Cybermen were originally a wholly organic species of humanoids originating on Earth's twin planet Mondas that began to implant more and more artificial parts into their bodies. This led to the race becoming coldly logical and calculating cyborgs, with emotions usually only shown when naked aggression was called for. With the demise of Mondas, they acquired Telos as their new home planet. They continue to be a recurring 'monster' within the Doctor Who franchise.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
The Cybermen have evolved dramatically over the course of the show. They were reintroduced in the 2006 series in the form of alternate universe aliens, with radically different back stories.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The standard Cybermen returned in "Closing Time", though they kept their 2006 design.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the 2020 series, the Cybermen aligned themselves with The Master, and were given the ability to regenerate.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The Master
[edit]Template:Main The Master is the Doctor's archenemy, a renegade Time Lord who desires to rule the universe. Conceived as "Professor Moriarty to the Doctor's Sherlock Holmes",<ref>Doctor Who Magazine Special Edition No. 2, 5 September 2002, [subtitled The Complete Third Doctor], p. 14.</ref> the character first appeared in 1971. As with the Doctor, the role has been portrayed by several actors, since the Master is a Time Lord as well and able to regenerate; the first of these actors was Roger Delgado, who continued in the role until his death in 1973. The Master was briefly played by Peter Pratt and Geoffrey Beevers until Anthony Ainley took over and continued to play the character until Doctor WhoTemplate:'s hiatus in 1989.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Master returned in the 1996 television movie of Doctor Who, and was played by American actor Eric Roberts.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Following the series revival in 2005, Derek Jacobi provided the character's reintroduction in the 2007 episode "Utopia". During that story, the role was then assumed by John Simm, who returned to the role multiple times throughout the Tenth Doctor's tenure.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the 2014 episode "Dark Water", it was revealed that the Master had become a female incarnation or "Time Lady", going by the name of "Missy" (short for Mistress, the feminine equivalent of "Master"). This incarnation is played by Michelle Gomez. Simm returned to his role as the Master alongside Gomez in the tenth series.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Master returned for the 2020 twelfth series with Sacha Dhawan in the role.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> This incarnation dubbed himself the "Spy Master" referencing a role he had taken with MI6.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Music
[edit]Theme music
[edit]Template:Main Template:Listen The Doctor Who theme music was one of the first electronic music signature tunes for television, and after more than a half century remains one of the most easily recognised. The original theme was composed by Ron Grainer and realised by Delia Derbyshire of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, with assistance from Dick Mills, and was released as a single on Decca F 11837 in 1964. The Derbyshire arrangement served, with minor edits, as the theme tune up to the end of season 17 (1979–1980). It is regarded as a significant and innovative piece of electronic music recorded well before the availability of commercial synthesisers or multitrack mixers. Each note was individually created by cutting, splicing, speeding up and slowing down segments of analogue tape containing recordings of a single plucked string, white noise, and the simple harmonic waveforms of test-tone oscillators, intended for calibrating equipment and rooms, not creating music. New techniques were invented to allow mixing of the music, as this was before the era of multitrack tape machines. On hearing the finished result, Grainer asked, "Jeez, Delia, did I write that?" She answered, "Most of it."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Although Grainer was willing to give Derbyshire the co-composer credit, it was against BBC policy at the time. She would not receive an on-screen credit until the 50th-anniversary story "The Day of the Doctor" in 2013.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
A different arrangement was recorded by Peter Howell for season 18 (1980), which was in turn replaced by Dominic Glynn's arrangement for the season-long serial The Trial of a Time Lord in season 23 (1986). Keff McCulloch provided the new arrangement for the Seventh Doctor's era, which lasted from season 24 (1987) until the series' suspension in 1989. American composer John Debney created a new arrangement of Grainer's original theme for the 1996 Doctor Who film. For the return of the series in 2005, Murray Gold provided a new arrangement, which featured samples from the 1963 original with further elements added in the 2005 Christmas episode "The Christmas Invasion".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
A new arrangement of the theme, once again by Gold, was introduced in the 2007 Christmas special episode, "Voyage of the Damned".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Gold returned as composer for the 2010 series, and was responsible for a new version of the theme which was reported to have had a hostile reception from some viewers.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2011, the theme tune charted at number 228 of radio station Classic FM's Hall of Fame, a survey of classical music tastes. A revised version of Gold's 2010 arrangement had its debut over the opening titles of the 2012 Christmas special "The Snowmen", and a further revision of the arrangement was made for the 50th-anniversary special "The Day of the Doctor" in November 2013.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
With the arrival of new composer Segun Akinola for series 11<ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref> came a new version of the opening theme, which incorporated elements of Derbyshire's original arrangement.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Akinola also created a new arrangement of the show's closing theme to play over the end credits of "Demons of the Punjab" in the style of Punjabi music.<ref name="RT">Template:Cite news</ref>
Versions of the "Doctor Who Theme" have also been released as pop music. In the early 1970s, Jon Pertwee, who had played the Third Doctor, recorded a version of the Doctor Who theme with spoken lyrics, titled, "Who Is the Doctor".Template:Efn In 1978, a disco version of the theme in the UK, Denmark and Australia by the group Mankind, which reached number 24 in the UK charts. In 1988, the band The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu (later known as The KLF) released the single "Doctorin' the Tardis" under the name The Timelords, which reached No. 1 in the UK and No. 2 in Australia; this version incorporated several other songs, including "Rock and Roll Part 2" by Gary Glitter (who recorded vocals for some of the CD-single remix versions of "Doctorin' the Tardis").<ref name="guardian music">Template:Cite news</ref> Others who have covered or reinterpreted the theme include Orbital,<ref name="guardian music" /> Pink Floyd,<ref name="guardian music" /> the Australian string ensemble Fourplay, New Zealand punk band Blam Blam Blam, The Pogues, Thin Lizzy, Dub Syndicate, and the comedians Bill Bailey and Mitch Benn. Both the theme and obsessive fans were satirised on The Chaser's War on Everything. The theme tune has also appeared on many compilation CDs, and has made its way into mobile-phone ringtones. Fans have also produced and distributed their own remixes of the theme. In January 2011, the Mankind version was released as a digital download on the album Gallifrey And Beyond.Template:Citation needed
Incidental music
[edit]Template:See also Most of the innovative incidental music for Doctor Who has been specially commissioned from freelance composers, although in the early years some episodes also used stock music, as well as occasional excerpts from original recordings or cover versions of songs by popular music acts such as The Beatles and the Beach Boys.Template:Citation needed Since its 2005 return, the series has featured occasional use of excerpts of pop music from the 1970s to the present day.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The incidental music for the first Doctor Who adventure, An Unearthly Child, was written by Norman Kay. Many of the stories of the William Hartnell period were scored by electronic music pioneer Tristram Cary, whose Doctor Who credits include The Daleks, Marco Polo, The Daleks' Master Plan, The Gunfighters and The Mutants. Other composers in this early period included Richard Rodney Bennett, Carey Blyton and Geoffrey Burgon.Template:Citation needed
The most frequent musical contributor during the first 15 years was Dudley Simpson, who is also well known for his theme and incidental music for Blake's 7, and for his haunting theme music and score for the original 1970s version of The Tomorrow People. Simpson's first Doctor Who score was Planet of Giants (1964) and he went on to write music for many adventures of the 1960s and 1970s, including most of the stories of the Jon Pertwee/Tom Baker periods, ending with The Horns of Nimon (1979). He also made a cameo appearance in The Talons of Weng-Chiang (as a Music hall conductor).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In 1980 starting with the serial The Leisure Hive the task of creating incidental music was assigned to the Radiophonic Workshop. Paddy Kingsland and Peter Howell contributed many scores in this period and other contributors included Roger Limb, Malcolm Clarke and Jonathan Gibbs. The Radiophonic Workshop was dropped after 1986's The Trial of a Time Lord series, and Keff McCulloch took over as the series' main composer until the end of its run, with Dominic Glynn and Mark Ayres also contributing scores.Template:Citation needed
From the 2005 revival to the 2017 Christmas episode "Twice Upon a Time",<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> all incidental music for the series was composed by Murray Gold and Ben Foster and has been performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales from the 2005 Christmas episode "The Christmas Invasion" onwards. A concert featuring the orchestra performing music from the first two series took place on 19 November 2006 to raise money for Children in Need. David Tennant hosted the event, introducing the different sections of the concert.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Murray Gold and Russell T Davies answered questions during the interval, and Daleks and Cybermen appeared whilst music from their stories was played. The concert aired on BBCi on Christmas Day 2006. A Doctor Who Prom was celebrated on 27 July 2008 in the Royal Albert Hall as part of the annual BBC Proms. The BBC Philharmonic and the London Philharmonic Choir performed Murray Gold's compositions for the series, conducted by Ben Foster, as well as a selection of classics based on the theme of space and time. The event was presented by Freema Agyeman and guest-presented by various other stars of the show with numerous monsters participating in the proceedings. It also featured the specially filmed mini-episode "Music of the Spheres", written by Russell T Davies and starring David Tennant.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
On 26 June 2018, producer Chris Chibnall announced that the musical score for series 11 would be provided by Royal Birmingham Conservatoire alumnus Segun Akinola.<ref name=":0" /> His approach was described as more subtle and "understated" than Gold's work by critics,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Akinola remained composer throughout Chibnall's tenure, scoring all of the Thirteenth Doctor's episodes.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
When Davies returned to produce the show in 2023, he rehired Gold to work on the series for the 60th anniversary episodes and continuing into the Fifteenth Doctor's tenure.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Gold made a cameo in the 2024 episode "The Devil's Chord".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Six soundtracks have been released since 2005. The first featured tracks from the first two series,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the second and third featured music from the third and fourth series respectively. The fourth was released on 4 October 2010 as a two-disc special edition and contained music from the 2008–2010 specials (The Next Doctor to "End of Time Part 2").<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The soundtrack for Series 5 was released on 8 November 2010.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In February 2011, a soundtrack was released for the 2010 Christmas special "A Christmas Carol",<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and in December 2011, the soundtrack for Series 6 was released, both by Silva Screen Records.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2013, a 50th-anniversary boxed set of audio CDs was released featuring music and sound effects from Doctor Who's 50-year history. The celebration continued in 2016 with the release of Doctor Who: The 50th Anniversary Collection Four LP Box Set by New York City-based Spacelab9. The company pressed 1,000 copies of the set on "Metallic Silver" vinyl, dubbed the "Cyberman Edition".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Viewership
[edit]United Kingdom
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Premiering the day after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the first episode of Doctor Who was repeated with the second episode the following week.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Doctor Who has always appeared initially on the BBC's mainstream BBC One channel, where it is regarded as a family show, drawing audiences of many millions of viewers;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The programme's popularity has waxed and waned over the decades, with three notable periods of high ratings,<ref name="ratings chart">Template:Cite news;Template:Cite web</ref> but has become a significant part of British popular culture.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The most popular period for the programme's history was the "Dalekmania" period (Template:Circa), when the popularity of the Daleks regularly brought Doctor Who ratings of between 9 and 14 million, even for stories which did not feature them.<ref name="ratings chart" /> The second was the mid to late 1970s, when Tom Baker occasionally drew audiences of over 12 million.<ref name="ratings chart" />
During the ITV network strike of 1979, viewership peaked at 16 million.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Figures remained respectable into the 1980s, but fell noticeably after the programme's 23rd series was postponed in 1985 and the show was off the air for 18 months.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Its late 1980s performance of three to five million viewers was seen as poor at the time and was, according to the BBC Board of Control, a leading cause of the programme's 1989 suspension. Some fans considered this disingenuous, since the programme was scheduled against the ITV soap opera Coronation Street, the most popular show at the time.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> During Tennant's run (the third notable period of high ratings), the show had consistently high viewership, with the Christmas specials regularly attracting over 10 million.<ref name="ratings chart" />
The BBC One broadcast of "Rose", the first episode of the 2005 revival, drew an average audience of 10.81 million, third highest for BBC One that week and seventh across all channels.<ref name="ratings chart" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> By late 2007, the revival had also garnered the highest audience Appreciation Index of any drama on television.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
On 29 April, 2017 Guinness World Records named Doctor Who the longest running sci-fi programme with the airing of its 819th episode.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It had previously been awarded the title of "most successful"<ref name="Miller">Template:Cite news</ref> science fiction series in 2009, based on its broadcast viewership, as well as book and DVD sales.
International
[edit]
Doctor Who has been broadcast internationally outside of the United Kingdom since 1964, a year after the show first aired. Template:As of, the modern series has been broadcast in more than 50 countries.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The 50th anniversary episode, "The Day of the Doctor", was broadcast in 94 countries and screened to more than half a million people in cinemas across Australia, Latin America, North America and Europe. The scope of the broadcast was a world record, according to Guinness World Records.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Doctor Who is one of the five top-grossing titles for BBC Worldwide, the BBC's commercial arm.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> BBC Worldwide CEO John Smith has said that Doctor Who is one of a small number of "Superbrands" which are heavily promoted worldwide.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Only four episodes have premiere showings on channels other than BBC One. The 1983 20th-anniversary special "The Five Doctors" had its debut on 23 November (the actual date of the anniversary) on a number of PBS stations two days before its BBC One broadcast. The 1988 story Silver Nemesis was broadcast with all three episodes airing back to back on TVNZ in New Zealand in November, after the first episode had been shown in the UK but before the final two instalments had aired there.Template:Citation needed
Starting with the 60th-anniversary specials in 2023, Doctor Who has been released on Disney+ outside the United Kingdom and Ireland.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Oceania
[edit]Template:Main New Zealand was the first country outside the United Kingdom to screen Doctor Who, beginning in September 1964, and continued to screen the series for many years, including the new revived series that aired on Prime Television from 2005 to 2017.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2018, the series is aired on Fridays on TVNZ 2, and on TVNZ On Demand on the same episode as the UK.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The series moved to TVNZ 1 in 2021,Template:Citation needed before TVNZ lost the rights to the show altogether in 2022.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In Australia, the show has had a strong fan base since its inception, having been exclusively first run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) since January 1965. The ABC has periodically repeated episodes; of note were the daily screenings of all available classic episodes starting in 2003 for the show's 40th anniversary and the weekly screenings of all available revived episodes in 2013 for the show's 50th anniversary. The ABC broadcast the modern series' first run on ABC1 and ABC Me, with repeats on ABC2 and streaming available on ABC iview.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Americas
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The series also has a fan base in the United States, where it was shown in syndication from the 1970s to the 1990s, particularly on PBS stations.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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TVOntario picked up the show in 1976 beginning with The Three Doctors and aired each series (several years late) through to series 24 in 1991. From 1979 to 1981, TVO airings were bookended by science-fiction writer Judith Merril who introduced the episode and then, after the episode concluded, tried to place it in an educational context in keeping with TVO's status as an educational channel. Its airing of The Talons of Weng-Chiang was cancelled as a result of accusations that the story was racist; the story was later broadcast in the 1990s on cable station YTV. CBC began showing the series again in 2005. The series moved to the Canadian cable channel Space in 2009.<ref name="Next Doctor" />
Series three began broadcasting on CBC on 18 June 2007 followed by the second Christmas special, "The Runaway Bride", at midnight,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and the Sci Fi Channel began on 6 July 2007, starting with the second Christmas special at 8:00 pm E/P followed by the first episode.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Series four aired in the United States on the Sci Fi Channel (now known as Syfy), beginning in April 2008.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It aired on CBC beginning 19 September 2008, although the CBC did not air the "Voyage of the Damned" special.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Canadian cable network Space (now known as CTV Sci-Fi Channel) broadcast "The Next Doctor" (in March 2009) and all subsequent series and specials.<ref name="Next Doctor">Template:Cite web</ref>
The series was aired in Brazil at the TV networks Syfy and, more frequently, at the public broadcaster TV Cultura. Expect international distribution rights holders, it had already been made available on local streaming platforms Looke and Globoplay. Starting from 2024, the previous 13 series will be available at the upcoming streaming service +SBT.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Asia
[edit]Series 1 through 3 of Doctor Who were broadcast on various NHK channels from 2006 to 2008 with Japanese subtitles.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Beginning on 2 August 2009, upon the launch of Disney XD in Japan, the series has been broadcast with Japanese dubbing.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Home media
[edit]Template:Main A wide selection of serials is available from BBC Video on DVD, on sale in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and the United States. Every fully extant serial has been released on VHS, and BBC Worldwide continues to regularly release serials on DVD. The 2005 series is also available in its entirety on UMD for the PlayStation Portable. Eight original series serials have been released on Laserdisc<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and many have also been released on Betamax tape and Video 2000. One episode of Doctor Who (The Infinite Quest) was released on VCD. Initially, only the series from 2005 onwards were also available on Blu-ray, along with the 1996 TV film Doctor Who, released in September 2016.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> However in March 2021, it was announced that the classic run would be released on Blu-ray starting with seasons 12 and 19.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Over 600 episodes of the classic series (the first 8 Doctors, from 1963 to 1996) are available to stream on BritBox (launched in 2017) and Pluto TV.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> From 2020, the revival series is available for streaming on HBO Max, as well as spin-offs Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Ahead of the 60th anniversary of the series, BBC cleared the rights to allow almost every single non-missing episode of Doctor WhoTemplate:Efn onto iPlayer. Additionally various spin-offs were also added to iPlayer including Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures, Class, and Doctor Who Confidential.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Adaptations and other appearances
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Films
[edit]Template:Main There are two Dr. Who feature films: Dr. Who and the Daleks, released in 1965 and Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. in 1966.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Both are retellings of existing television stories (specifically, the first two Dalek serials, The Daleks and The Dalek Invasion of Earth respectively) with a larger budget and alterations to the series concept.Template:Citation needed
In these films, Peter Cushing plays a human scientist<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> named "Dr. Who" who travels with his granddaughter, niece, and other companions in a time machine he has invented. The Cushing version of the character reappears in both comic strips and a short story, the latter attempting to reconcile the film continuity with that of the series. In addition, several planned films were proposed, including a sequel, The Chase, loosely based on the original series story, for the Cushing Doctor, plus many attempted television movie and big-screen productions to revive the original Doctor Who after the original series was cancelled.Template:Citation needed
Paul McGann starred in the only television film as the eighth incarnation of the Doctor. After the film, he continued the role in audio dramas and was confirmed as the eighth incarnation through flashback footage and a mini episode in the 2005 revival, effectively linking the two series and the television movie.Template:Citation needed
In 2011, David Yates announced that he had started work with the BBC on a Doctor Who film, a project that would take three or more years to complete. Yates indicated that the film would take a different approach from Doctor Who,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> although then showrunner Steven Moffat stated later that any such film would not be a reboot of the series and that a film should be made by the BBC team and star the current TV Doctor.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Spin-offs
[edit]Template:Main Doctor Who has appeared on stage numerous times. In the early 1970s, Trevor Martin played the role in Doctor Who and the Daleks in the Seven Keys to Doomsday. In the late 1980s, Jon Pertwee and Colin Baker both played the Doctor at different times during the run of a play titled Doctor Who – The Ultimate Adventure. For two performances, while Pertwee was ill, David Banks (better known for playing Cybermen) played the Doctor. Other original plays have been staged as amateur productions, with other actors playing the Doctor, while Terry Nation wrote The Curse of the Daleks, a stage play mounted in the late 1960s, but without the Doctor.Template:Citation needed
A pilot episode ("A Girl's Best Friend") for a potential spin-off series, K-9 and Company, aired in 1981, with Elisabeth Sladen reprising her role as companion Sarah Jane Smith and John Leeson as the voice of K9, but was not picked up as a regular series. Concept art for an animated Doctor Who series was produced by animation company Nelvana in the 1980s, but the series was not produced.<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Following the success of the 2005 series produced by Russell T Davies, the BBC commissioned Davies to produce a 13-part spin-off series titled Torchwood (an anagram of "Doctor Who"), set in modern-day Cardiff and investigating alien activities and crime. The series debuted on BBC Three on 22 October 2006.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> John Barrowman reprised his role of Jack Harkness from the 2005 series of Doctor Who.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Two other actresses who appeared in Doctor Who also star in the series: Eve Myles as Gwen Cooper, who played the similarly named servant girl Gwyneth in the 2005 Doctor Who episode "The Unquiet Dead",<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Naoko Mori, who reprised her role as Toshiko Sato, first seen in "Aliens of London". A second series of Torchwood aired in 2008; for three episodes, the cast was joined by Freema Agyeman reprising her Doctor Who role of Martha Jones. A third series was broadcast from 6 to 10 July 2009, and consisted of a single five-part story called Children of Earth which was set largely in London. A fourth series, Torchwood: Miracle Day jointly produced by BBC Wales, BBC Worldwide and the American entertainment company Starz debuted in 2011. The series was predominantly set in the United States, though Wales remained part of the show's setting.Template:Citation needed
The Sarah Jane Adventures, starring Elisabeth Sladen who reprised her role as investigative journalist Sarah Jane Smith, was developed by CBBC; a special aired on New Year's Day 2007, and a full series began on 24 September 2007.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref> A second series followed in 2008, featuring the return of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A third in 2009 featured a crossover appearance from the main show by David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2010, a fourth season featured Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor alongside former companion actress Katy Manning reprising her role as Jo Grant.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> A final, three-story fifth series was transmitted in autumn 2011 – uncompleted due to Sladen's death in early 2011.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
An animated serial, The Infinite Quest, aired alongside the 2007 series of Doctor Who as part of the children's television series Totally Doctor Who. The serial featured the voices of series regulars David Tennant and Freema Agyeman but is not considered part of the 2007 series.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> A second animated serial, Dreamland, aired in six parts on the BBC Red Button service, and the official Doctor Who website in 2009.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Class, featuring students of Coal Hill School, was first aired on-line on BBC Three from 22 October 2016, as a series of eight 45 minute episodes, written by Patrick Ness.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor appears in the show's first episode.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The series was picked up by BBC America on 8 January 2016 and by BBC One a day later.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> On 7 September 2017, BBC Three controller Damian Kavanagh confirmed that the series had officially been cancelled.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
On 27 January 2023, Russell T Davies confirmed via GQ that future Doctor Who spin-offs were in the works.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> At San Diego Comic-Con in July 2024, Davies confirmed a new spin-off series, The War Between the Land and the Sea, was in development.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Davies wrote the spin-off with Pete McTighe,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> which will consist of five parts, and is set to be directed by Dylan Holmes Williams.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Jemma Redgrave and Alexander Devrient are expected to reprise their roles from Doctor Who as Kate Lethbridge-Stewart and Colonel Ibrahim,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> while Russell Tovey and Gugu Mbatha-Raw, who portrayed characters in Doctor Who, were cast as new characters. The series is expected to see the return of the Sea Devils.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Numerous other spin-off series have been created not by the BBC but by the respective owners of the characters and concepts. Such spin-offs include the novel and audio drama series Faction Paradox, Iris Wildthyme and Bernice Summerfield; as well as the made-for-video series P.R.O.B.E.; the Australian-produced television series K-9, which aired a 26-episode first season on Disney XD;<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and the audio spin-off Counter-Measures.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Aftershows
[edit]When the revived series of Doctor Who was brought back, an aftershow series was created by the BBC, titled Doctor Who Confidential. There have been five aftershow series created, with the latest one titled Doctor Who: Unleashed, which began airing from the 60th anniversary specials. Each series follows behind-the-scenes footage on the making of Doctor Who through clips and interviews with the cast, production crew and other people, including those who have participated in the television series in some manner. Each episode deals with a different topic, and in most cases refers to the Doctor Who episode that preceded it.
| Series | Episodes | Doctor Who series | First aired | Last aired | Narrator / Presenter |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Doctor Who Confidential | 87 | 1–6 | 26 March 2005 | 1 October 2011 | David Tennant (2005) Simon Pegg (2005) Mark Gatiss (2005–2006) Anthony Head (2006–2010) Noel Clarke (2009) Alex Price (2010) Russell Tovey (2010–2011) |
| Doctor Who Extra | 24 | 8–9 | 23 August 2014 | 5 December 2015 | Matt Botten Rufus Hound Matt Lucas Charity Wakefield |
| Doctor Who: The Fan Show | 18 | 10 | 8 May 2015 | 3 August 2018 | Christel Dee (main host) Luke Spillane (co-host) |
| Doctor Who Access All Areas | 10 | 11 | 13 October 2018 | 13 December 2018 | Yinka Bokinni |
| Doctor Who: Unleashed | Template:Tmpv | 14–15 | 17 November 2023 | present | Steffan Powell |
Charity episodes and appearances
[edit]In 1983, coinciding with the series' 20th anniversary, "The Five Doctors" was shown as part of the annual BBC Children in Need Appeal, however it was not a charity-based production, simply scheduled within the line-up of Friday 25 November 1983. This was the programme's first co-production with Australian broadcaster ABC.<ref>Template:Cite AV media notes</ref> At 90 minutes long it was the longest single episode of Doctor Who produced to date. It featured three of the first five Doctors, a new actor to replace the deceased William Hartnell, and unused footage to represent Tom Baker.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 1993, for the franchise's 30th anniversary, another charity special, Dimensions in Time, was produced for Children in Need, featuring all the surviving actors who played the Doctor and a number of previous companions. It also featured a crossover with the soap opera EastEnders, the action taking place in the latter's Albert Square location and around Greenwich. The special was one of several special 3D programmes the BBC produced at the time, using a 3D system that made use of the Pulfrich effect, requiring glasses with one darkened lens; the picture would look normal to those viewers who watched without the glasses.Template:Citation needed
In 1999, another special, Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death, was made for Comic Relief and later released on VHS. An affectionate parody of the television series, it was split into four segments, mimicking the traditional serial format, complete with cliffhangers, and running down the same corridor several times when being chased (the version released on video was split into only two episodes).Template:Citation needed In the story, the Doctor (Rowan Atkinson) encounters both the Master (Jonathan Pryce) and the Daleks. During the special, the Doctor is forced to regenerate several times, with his subsequent incarnations played by, in order, Richard E. Grant, Jim Broadbent, Hugh Grant, and Joanna Lumley.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The script was written by Steven Moffat, later to be head writer and executive producer of the revived series.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Since the return of Doctor Who in 2005, the franchise has produced two original "mini-episodes" to support Children in Need. The first, which aired in November 2005, was an untitled seven-minute scene introducing David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor. It was followed in November 2007 by "Time Crash", a 7-minute scene that featured the Tenth Doctor meeting the Fifth Doctor, Peter Davison.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
A set of two mini-episodes, titled "Space" and "Time" respectively, were produced to support Comic Relief. They were aired during the Comic Relief 2011 event.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> During Children in Need 2011, an exclusively filmed segment showed the Doctor addressing the viewer, attempting to persuade them to purchase items of his clothing, which were going up for auction for Children in Need. Children in Need 2012 featured the mini-episode "The Great Detective".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2014, the Twelfth Doctor Peter Capaldi designed a Doctor Who-themed Paddington Bear statue, which was located at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich (one of 50 placed around London), which was auctioned to raise funds for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Spoofs and cultural references
[edit]Doctor Who has been satirised and spoofed on many occasions by comedians including Spike Milligan (a Dalek invades his bathroom—Milligan, naked, hurls a soap sponge at it) and Lenny Henry. Jon Culshaw frequently impersonates the Fourth Doctor in the BBC Dead Ringers series.<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref> Doctor Who fandom has also been lampooned on programs such as Saturday Night Live, The Chaser's War on Everything, Mystery Science Theater 3000, Family Guy, American Dad!, Futurama, South Park, Community as Inspector Spacetime, The Simpsons and The Big Bang Theory.Template:Citation needed As part of the 50th-anniversary programmes, former Fifth Doctor Peter Davison directed, wrote, and co-starred in the parody The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot, which also starred two other former Doctors, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy, and had cameo appearances from cast and crew involved in the programme, including showrunner Steven Moffat and Doctors Paul McGann, David Tennant, and Matt Smith.<ref>"The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot", BBC. Retrieved 23 November 2013</ref>
There have also been many references to Doctor Who in popular culture and other science fiction, including Star Trek: The Next Generation ("The Neutral Zone")<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and Leverage. In the Channel 4 series Queer as Folk (created by later Doctor Who executive producer Russell T. Davies), the character of Vince was portrayed as an avid Doctor Who fan, with references appearing many times throughout in the form of clips from the programme. In a similar manner, the character of Oliver on Coupling (created and written by Steven Moffat) is portrayed as a Doctor Who collector and enthusiast. References to Doctor Who have also appeared in the young adult fantasy novels Brisingr<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and High Wizardry,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the video game Rock Band,Template:Citation needed the Adult Swim comedy show Robot Chicken, the Family Guy episodes "Blue Harvest" and "420", and the game RuneScape. It has also been referenced in Destroy All Humans! 2, by civilians in the game's variation of England,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and multiple times throughout the Ace Attorney series.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It has been featured in Good Omens through the first Doctor Who Annual.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Doctor Who has been a reference in several political cartoons, from a 1964 cartoon in the Daily Mail depicting Charles de Gaulle as a Dalek<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> to a 2008 edition of This Modern World by Tom Tomorrow in which the Tenth Doctor informs an incredulous character from 2003 that the Democratic Party will nominate an African-American as its presidential candidate.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The word "TARDIS" is an entry in the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Audio
[edit]The earliest Doctor Who–related audio release was a 21-minute narrated abridgement of the First Doctor television story The Chase released in 1966. Ten years later, the first original Doctor Who audio was released on LP record; Doctor Who and the Pescatons featuring the Fourth Doctor.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The first commercially available audiobook was an abridged reading of the Fourth Doctor story State of Decay in 1981. In 1988, during a hiatus in the television show, Slipback, the first radio drama, was transmitted.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Since 1999, Big Finish Productions has released several different series of Doctor Who audios on CD. The earliest of these featured the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Doctors, with Paul McGann's Eighth Doctor joining the line in 2001. Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor began appearing for Big Finish in 2012.<ref name="WildernessY">Template:Cite web</ref> Along with the main range, adventures of the First, Second and Third Doctors have been produced in both limited cast and full cast formats, as well as audiobooks. The 2013 series Destiny of the Doctor, produced as part of the series' 50th-anniversary celebrations, marked the first time Big Finish created stories (in this case audiobooks) featuring the Doctors from the revived show.Template:Citation needed Along with this, in May 2016, the Tenth Doctor, David Tennant, appeared alongside Catherine Tate in a collection of three audio adventures,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> before receiving his own range.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="WildernessY" /> In August 2020, Big Finish announced a new series of audios beginning release in May 2021, featuring Christopher Eccleston reprising his role as the Ninth Doctor.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="WildernessY" />
The main range, Doctor Who: The Monthly Adventures, holds the Guinness World Record for the longest-running science fiction audio play series.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2020 Big Finish revealed that The Monthly Adventures would come to an end in favor of individual box sets.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2022, BBC Sounds began airing Doctor Who: Redacted, a podcast written by Juno Dawson and starring Charlie Craggs and Jodie Whittaker. The podcast focuses on a trio of friends who host a paranormal conspiracy podcast, "The Blue Box Files", and end up getting involved in much more than they expected.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The podcast was later renewed for a second series.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Books
[edit]Doctor Who books have been published from the mid-sixties through to the present day. From 1965 to 1991 the books published were primarily novelised adaptations of broadcast episodes; beginning in 1991 an extensive line of original fiction was launched, the Virgin New Adventures and Virgin Missing Adventures. Since the relaunch of the programme in 2005, a new range of novels has been published by BBC Books. Numerous non-fiction books about the series, including guidebooks and critical studies, have also been published,Template:Citation needed and a dedicated Doctor Who Magazine (DWM) with newsstand circulation has been published regularly since 1979: DWM is recognised by Guinness World Records as the longest running TV tie-in magazine, celebrating 40 years of continuous publication on 11 October 2019.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> This is published by Panini, as is the Doctor Who Adventures magazine for younger fans.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Video games
[edit]Numerous Doctor Who video games have been created from the mid-80s through to the present day. A Doctor Who game was planned for the Sega Mega Drive but never released.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> One of the recent ones is a match-3 game released in November 2013 for iOS, Android, Amazon App Store and Facebook called Doctor Who: Legacy. It has been constantly updated since its release and features all the Doctors as playable characters as well as over 100 companions.<ref>'Doctor Who: Legacy' Keeps Getting Updated as 10th Anniversary of 'Dr. Who' Show Approaches Template:Webarchive. Retrieved 26 February 2015.</ref>
Another video game instalment is Lego Dimensions – in which Doctor Who is one of the many "Level Packs" in the game. The pack contains the Twelfth Doctor (who can reincarnate into the others), K9, the TARDIS and a Victorian London adventure level area. The game and pack released in November 2015.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Doctor Who: Battle of Time was a digital collectible card game developed by Bandai Namco Entertainment and released for iOS and Android.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It was soft-launched on 30 May 2018 in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Thailand, but was shut down on 26 November of that same year.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Doctor Who Infinity was released on Steam on 7 August 2018.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It was nominated for "Best Start-up" at The Independent Game Developers' Association Awards 2018.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Chronology and canonicity
[edit]Since the creation of the Doctor Who character by BBC Television in the early 1960s, a myriad of stories have been published about Doctor Who, in different media: apart from the actual television episodes that continue to be produced by the BBC, there have also been novels, comics, short stories, audio books, radio plays, interactive video games, game books, webcasts, DVD extras, and stage performances. The BBC takes no position on the canonicity of any of such stories, and producers of the show have expressed distaste for the idea of canonicity.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Awards
[edit]The show has received recognition as one of Britain's finest television programmes, winning the 2006 British Academy Television Award for Best Drama Series and five consecutive (2005–2010) awards at the National Television Awards during Russell T Davies' tenure as executive producer.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2011, Matt Smith became the first Doctor to be nominated for a BAFTA Television Award for Best Actor,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and in 2016, Michelle Gomez became the first woman to receive a BAFTA nomination for the series, getting a Best Supporting Actress nomination for her work as Missy.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2013, the Peabody Awards honoured Doctor Who with an Institutional Peabody "for evolving with technology and the times like nothing else in the known television universe."<ref>72nd Annual Peabody Awards Template:Webarchive, May 2013.</ref> The programme is listed in Guinness World Records as the longest-running science-fiction television show in the world,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> as the "most successful" science-fiction series of all time—based on its overall broadcast ratings, DVD and book sales, and iTunes traffic<ref name="Miller" />—and for the largest ever simulcast of a TV drama with its 50th-anniversary special.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 1975, Season 11 of the series won a Writers' Guild of Great Britain award for Best Writing in a Children's Serial. In 1996, BBC television held the "Auntie Awards" as the culmination of their "TV60" series, celebrating 60 years of BBC television broadcasting, where Doctor Who was voted as the "Best Popular Drama" the corporation had ever produced, ahead of such ratings heavyweights as EastEnders and Casualty.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2000, Doctor Who was ranked third in a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes of the 20th century, produced by the British Film Institute and voted on by industry professionals.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2005, the series came first in a survey by SFX magazine of "The Greatest UK Science Fiction and Fantasy Television Series Ever". In Channel 4's 2001 list of the 100 Greatest Kids' TV shows, Doctor Who was placed at number nine.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2004 and 2007, Doctor Who was ranked number 18 and number 22 on TV Guide's Top Cult Shows Ever.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2013, TV Guide ranked it as the sixth-best sci-fi show.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
The revived series has received recognition from critics and the public, across various awards ceremonies. It won five BAFTA TV Awards, including Best Drama Series, the highest-profile and most prestigious British television award for which the series has ever been nominated.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> It was very popular at the BAFTA Cymru Awards, with 25 wins overall including Best Drama Series (twice), Best Screenplay/Screenwriter (thrice) and Best Actor.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> It was also nominated for 7 Saturn Awards, winning the only Best International Series in the ceremony's history. In 2009, Doctor Who was voted the 3rd greatest show of the 2000s by Channel 4, behind Top Gear and The Apprentice. The episode "Vincent and the Doctor" was shortlisted for a Mind Award at the 2010 Mind Mental Health Media Awards for its "touching" portrayal of Vincent van Gogh.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
It has won the Short Form of the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, the oldest science fiction/fantasy award for films and series, six times since 2006. The winning episodes were "The Empty Child"/"The Doctor Dances" (2006), "The Girl in the Fireplace" (2007), "Blink" (2008), "The Waters of Mars" (2010), "The Pandorica Opens"/"The Big Bang" (2011), and "The Doctor's Wife" (2012).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The 2016 Christmas special "The Return of Doctor Mysterio" was also a finalist for the 2017 Hugo Awards.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Doctor Who star Matt Smith won Best Actor in the 2012 National Television awards alongside Karen Gillan, who won Best Actress.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
As a British series, the majority of its nominations and awards have been for national competitions such as the BAFTAs, but it has occasionally received nominations in mainstream American awards, most notably a nomination for "Favorite Sci-Fi Show" in the 2008 People's Choice Awards, and the series has been nominated multiple times in the Spike Scream Awards, with Smith winning Best Science Fiction Actor in 2011. The Canadian Constellation Awards have also recognised the series. In 2019, Doctor Who was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame based in Seattle, Washington.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]References
[edit]Citations
[edit]Cited texts
[edit]Further reading
[edit]- Matt Hills. Triumph of a Time Lord: Regenerating "Doctor Who" in the Twenty-First Century (I. B. Tauris, 2010). 261 pages. Discusses the revival of the BBC's Doctor Who in 2005 after it had been off the air as a regular series for more than 15 years; topics include the role of "fandom" in the sci-fi programme's return, and notions of "cult" and "mainstream" in television.
Scholarly views
[edit]- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Charles, Alec. "War Without End?: Utopia, the Family, and the Post-9/11 World in Russell T. Davies's Doctor WhoTemplate:-". Science Fiction Studies (2008): 450–465.
- Charles, Alec. 2011. "The crack of doom: The uncanny echoes of Steven Moffat's Doctor Who". Science Fiction Film and Television; Vol. 4, Issue 1, Spring 2011. Liverpool University Press. This analysis is framed specifically by the Freudian notion of the uncanny, and suggests that Moffat's work on Doctor Who confronts unconscious perceptions, repressed fears and death itself through storytelling techniques which attempt to connect directly with the audience by deconstructing the distance between material reality and the fantasy space of the series.
- Fisher, R. Michael, and Barbara Bickel. "The Mystery of Dr. Who? On A Road Less Traveled in Art Education". Journal of Social Theory in Art Education 26.1 (2006): 28–57.
- Fiske, John. "Popularity and ideology: A structuralist reading of Dr. Who". Interpreting television: Current research perspectives (1984): 165–198.
- McCormack, Una (2011). "He's Not the Messiah: Undermining Political and Religious Authority in New Doctor Who". In Bradshaw, S., Anthony Keen and Graham Sleight (eds.), The Unsilent Library: Essays on the Russell T. Davies Era of the New Doctor Who. The Science Fiction Foundation.
- Orthia, Lindy A. "Antirationalist critique or fifth column of scientism? Challenges from Doctor Who to the mad scientist trope". Public Understanding of Science 20.4 (2011): 525–542.
- Perryman, Neil. "Doctor Who and the Convergence of Media: A Case Study in Transmedia Storytelling". Convergence 14.1 (2008): 21–39.
External links
[edit]Template:Wikiquote Template:Commons and category
Official websites
[edit]- Template:BBC programme
- Template:Official website
- Template:Official website
- Doctor Who at BBC Worldwide
- Archived websites: 1963–1996, 2005–2007, 2008
- Production website Template:Webarchive
Reference websites
[edit]- Doctor Who Reference Guide – synopses of all media based on the series (1963–2012)
- Doctor Who at IMDb: 1963, 1996, 2005, 2023
- Template:Guardian topic
Template:Doctor Who Template:Doctor Who episodes Template:Navboxes Template:Media in Cardiff Template:Russell T Davies Template:Steven Moffat Template:Chris Chibnall Template:Disney+ original series
- Pages with broken file links
- Doctor Who
- 1960s British drama television series
- 1960s British science fiction television series
- 1963 British television series debuts
- 1970s British drama television series
- 1970s British science fiction television series
- 1980s British drama television series
- 1980s British science fiction television series
- 1989 British television series endings
- 2000s British drama television series
- 2000s British science fiction television series
- 2005 British television series debuts
- 2010s British drama television series
- 2010s British science fiction television series
- 2020s British drama television series
- 2020s British science fiction television series
- 1960s time travel television series
- 1970s time travel television series
- 1980s time travel television series
- 2000s time travel television series
- 2010s time travel television series
- 2020s time travel television series
- Adventure television series
- BAFTA winners (television series)
- BBC Cymru Wales television shows
- BBC high definition shows
- BBC One original programming
- Black-and-white British television shows
- British science fiction television shows
- British television series revived after cancellation
- British time travel television series
- British English-language television shows
- Disney+ original programming
- Fiction about intergalactic travel
- Hugo Award–winning television series
- Mass media franchises introduced in 1963
- Nonlinear narrative television series
- Peabody Award–winning television programs
- Saturn Award–winning television series
- Soft science fiction
- Space adventure television series
- Television series about extraterrestrial life
- Television series about parallel universes
- Television series by Bad Wolf (production company)
- Television series by BBC Studios
- Television series by Universal Television
- Television series created by C. E. Webber
- Television series created by Donald Wilson (writer and producer)
- Television series created by Sydney Newman
- Television series produced at Pinewood Studios
- Television series set in the future
- Television series set on fictional planets
- Television shows adapted into comics
- Television shows adapted into films
- Television shows adapted into novels
- Television shows adapted into video games
- Television shows filmed in Wales
- Temporal war fiction