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{{Image|Ncuti_Gatwa,_Jan_2019_on_MTV_International_01.jpg|right|250px|[[Ncuti Gatwa]] will take over the lead role of ''Doctor Who'' in 2023.}}
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| style="background: #ccf; text-align: center;" | '''[[Doctor Who]]'''
| style="background: #fff; text-align: center; border: 1px solid #000000" | '''''Doctor Who'''''
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| style="padding-left: 1.0em;"|'''Format:''' [[Science Fiction]]; [[Drama]]  
| style="text-align: center;"|''British [[science fiction|science-fiction]] [[drama]] series''
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| style="padding-left: 1.0em;"|'''Country:''' [[United Kingdom]]
| style="background: #fff; text-align: center;" | '''First broadcasts'''
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| style="padding-left: 1.0em;"|'''Channel:''' [[BBC One]]
| style="text-align: center;"|23rd November 1963 (original series)<br> 12th<ref>This is the date of its first broadcast, as an independent film in Canada; after further broadcast in the USA it was shown as part of the BBC series on the 27th.</ref> May 1996 (TV movie)<br> 26th March 2005 (current series)
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|style="border-bottom: 1px solid #ccc"|
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| style="background: #fff; text-align: center;" | '''Creators'''
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| style="padding-left: 1.0em;"|'''First Aired:''' [[23 November]] [[1963]]
| style="text-align: center;"|[[Sydney Newman]]<br> [[Donald Wilson]]<br> [[C. E. Webber]]
|-  
|-  
|style="border-bottom: 1px solid #ccc"|
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|-
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| style="padding-left: 1.0em;"|'''Creators:''' [[Sydney Newman]]
| style="background: #fff; text-align: center;" | '''1960s-1990s'''
|-  
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| style="padding-left: 6.0em;"|[[C. E. Webber]]
| style="background: #fff; text-align: center;" | '''Starring'''
|-  
| style="padding-left: 6.0em;"|[[Donald Wilson (writer and producer)|Donald Wilson]]
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| style="padding-left: 6.0em;"|[[Russell T. Davies]] (current series)
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| style="padding-left: 1.0em;"|'''Starring:''' [[William Hartnell]]; [[Patrick Troughton]];
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| style="padding-left: 5.5em;"|[[Jon Pertwee]];[[Tom Baker]];
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| style="padding-left: 5.5em;"|[[Peter Davison]]; [[Colin Baker]];
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| style="padding-left: 5.5em;"|[[Sylvester McCoy]]; [[Paul McGann]];
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| style="padding-left: 5.5em;"|[[Christopher Eccleston]]; [[David Tennant]]
| style="text-align: center;"|[[William Hartnell]] • [[Patrick Troughton]]<br>[[Jon Pertwee]] • [[Tom Baker]]<br>[[Peter Davison]] • [[Colin Baker]]<br>Sylvester McCoy • [[Paul McGann]]<br>
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|style="border-bottom: 1px solid #ccc"|
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| style="padding-left: 1.0em;"|'''Picture format:''' [[405-line]] black & white (1963–1967)
| style="background: #fff; text-align: center;" | '''2000s-'''
|-
| style="padding-left: 8.5em;"|[[576i|625-line]] black & white (1968–1969)
|-
| style="padding-left: 8.5em;"|[[PAL]] 625-line colour (1970–1989)
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|-
| style="padding-left: 8.5em;"| (1996)
| style="background: #fff; text-align: center;" | '''Starring'''
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| style="padding-left: 8.5em;"| 720x576 16:9 (2005–)
| style="text-align: center;"|[[Christopher Eccleston]]<br>[[David Tennant]]<br>[[Matt Smith]]<br>[[Peter Capaldi]]<br>[[Jodie Whittaker]]<br>[[Ncuti Gatwa]]
|}
|}
{{Image|Jodie-whittaker-2018.jpg|right|250px|[[Jodie Whittaker]], the first female Doctor, at the 2018 [[San Diego Comic-Con|San Diego Comic-Con International]].}}
{{Image|Peter-capaldi-doctor-who-2014.jpg|right|250px|[[Peter Capaldi]] played the central character of ''Doctor Who'' from 2013 to 2017, portraying the Doctor as a more alien and ancient figure than his recent predecessors.}}
'''''Doctor Who''''' is a [[United Kingdom|British]] [[science fiction|science-fiction]] [[television]] series which started in 1963 and was [[Doctor Who/2000s-|relaunched in 2005]] following its [[Doctor Who/1960s-1990s|original 26-year run]] on the [[BBC]], plus a 1996 [[television movie]]. On television and in other media, it features the adventures of a [[time travel|time-traveller]] known as the '[[Doctor Who#The Doctor|Doctor]]', who journeys through [[time]] and [[space]], righting wrongs and fighting injustice, usually accompanied by friends known to [[fan (person)|fans]] as 'companions'.


'''''Doctor Who''''' is primarily a [[BBC]]  [[science fiction]] television series about the adventures of a time-traveller known as 'the Doctor'. His time machine, the [[TARDIS]], is disguised as an old British [[police box]], but is much bigger on the inside than out. Some recurrent adversaries include the 'Daleks' - mutants inside pepperpot-shaped casings - and the 'Cybermen'. The programme has lasted so long because the Doctor, an alien, can 'regenerate' his body when badly injured, allowing the [[leading actor|lead actor]] to be recast. Traditionally, the Doctor is accompanied by at least one (usually human) companion, usually female, but with few romantic implications until comparatively recently.
The programme has lasted since 1963 partly because the Doctor, who has an [[alien]] physiology, is able to 'regenerate' when badly injured, allowing the lead actor to be recast. As of 2022, thirteen successive actors have played the lead role in the television series, as listed in the panel on the right, with others appearing as additional Doctors and stand-ins in some programmes and in unofficial or alternative productions. His/her [[time machine]], the [[TARDIS]], is famously disguised as an old British [[police box]]<ref>In an example of how British culture has taken the programme to heart, on the occasion when [[London, United Kingdom|London]]'s [[Metropolitan Police]] challenged the BBC's ownership of the police box design, they lost as the court ruled that people associate such boxes with time machines rather than the police. See ''BBC News'': ''[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/2352743.stm BBC Wins Police Tardis Case]'', 23rd October 2002.</ref> and is bigger on the inside than out; some well-known adversaries include the [[Daleks]] - mutants inside pepperpot-shaped casings - and the [[Cyberman|Cybermen]].  


The programme is the longest-running science fiction television series in the world<ref>{{cite news
''Doctor Who'' is executive-[[producer|produced]] by [[Russell T. Davies]], who took over from [[Chris Chibnall]] in 2022. Chibnall cast [[Jodie Whittaker]] as the first woman to play the Doctor in the official broadcast series. Her successor, [[David Tennant]], returned to the role with Davies in 2022 for three forthcoming special episodes to celebrate the programme's 60th anniversary. Tennant previously played the Doctor from 2005 to 2009, and will be succeeded by [[Ncuti Gatwa]] in 2023. Gatwa will be the first non-white actor in the lead role, and is also the first to have been born after the original series ended in 1989.
| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/5390372.stm
| title=Dr Who 'longest-running sci-fi'
| publisher=BBC News
| date=2006-09-28
| accessdate=2006-09-30
}}</ref> and is also a significant part of British popular culture.<ref>{{cite journal
| date= [[2006-09-14]]
| title = The end of Olde Englande: A lament for Blighty
| journal = The Economist
| volume =
| issue =
| pages =
| url = http://www.economist.com/world/britain/displaystory.cfm?story_id=7912946
| accessdate = 2006-09-18
| }}</ref><ref>{{cite web
| title=ICONS. A Portrait of England
| url=http://www.icons.org.uk/theicons/collection/doctor-who
| accessdate=2007-11-10
| }}</ref> It has been recognised for its imaginative stories, creative low-budget special effects during its original run and pioneering use of electronic music (originally produced by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop). In Britain and elsewhere the show has become a cult favourite on a par with ''Star Trek''. It has received recognition from critics and the public as one of the finest British television programmes, including a [[British Academy Television Awards|BAFTA Award]] for Best Drama Series in 2006.


The programme first ran from 1963 to 1989, with a television movie made in 1996. It was [[Doctor Who (new series)|relaunched]] in 2005, produced in-house by BBC Wales.<ref>Some development money for the new series is contributed by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), which is credited as a co-producer, although they do not have creative input into the show.</ref> ''Doctor Who'' has also spawned spin-offs in multiple media, including the current television series ''Torchwood'' and ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'', as well as actual Doctor Who stories in other media.
Whittaker's predecessor, [[Peter Capaldi]], took over at the end of 2013, and made a short [[cameo]] in the 50th anniversary special, ''Day of the Doctor'', broadcast on 23rd November that year. Capaldi announced in January 2017 that he would step down from the role with the following special Christmas episode.


The relaunch of the programme has seen Christmas Day special episodes broadcast between series, the most recent being ''Voyage of the Damned''. Series three of the programme, starring David Tennant as the Doctor and [[Freema Agyeman]] as his 'companion' Martha Jones, followed in spring 2007 on BBC One. Series four, beginning in spring 2008, featured [[Catherine Tate]] as the Doctor's latest companion, Donna. After this, four special programmes will be broadcast in 2009/10, before a new series produced by [[Stephen Moffat]], with a new Doctor, will begin in 2010.
Currently, ''Doctor Who'' appears to have won a new generation of followers of varying ages: the UK children's magazine show ''[[Blue Peter]]'', for example, reported that their 'Design a ''Doctor Who'' Monster' competition received the largest number of entries for any such event since 1993.<ref>[[BBC]]: ''[http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/news/cult/news/drwho/2005/08/18/23167.shtml Monster Success]''. 18th August 2005. The winning entry appeared in 2006's ''Love & Monsters'' as the fearsome 'Abzorbaloff'. Its creator, 13-year-old William Grantham, reportedly gave the seal of approval to the BBC's interpretation, though remarked that "it was supposed to be the size of a double-decker bus".</ref>
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==History==
==History==
''Doctor Who'' first appeared on BBC television at 5:15 p.m. ([[Greenwich Mean Time|GMT]]) on [[23 November]] [[1963]]. The programme was born out of discussions and plans that had been going on for a year. The [[BBC television drama|Head of Drama]], [[Sydney Newman]] was mainly responsible for developing it, with contributions by the Head of the Script Department (later Head of Serials), [[Donald Wilson (writer and producer)|Donald Wilson]], staff writer [[C. E. Webber|C. E. 'Bunny' Webber]], writer [[Anthony Coburn]], [[script editor|story editor]] [[David Whitaker]] and initial [[Television producer|producer]], [[Verity Lambert]]. The series' distinctive, haunting title theme was composed by [[Ron Grainer]] and realised by [[Delia Derbyshire]] of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.
===1960s===
 
In the early 1960s, ''Doctor Who'' was the eventual product of a desire within the BBC to bring science fiction to the small screen. Something was also needed to plug a gap in the Saturday early evening schedules of [[sport]] and [[music]] programmes; ''Doctor Who'' was created by [[Sydney Newman]], [[Donald Wilson]] and [[C.E. Webber]], and produced by the BBC's [[drama]] department as a family viewing, intended to be [[education]]al and exciting. With [[Verity Lambert]] at the helm, [[William Hartnell]] was cast as the grandfatherly, enigmatic 'Doctor' and the series was first shown on 23rd November 1963.
The BBC drama department's Serials division produced the programme for twenty-six series, broadcast on [[BBC One]]. Viewing numbers that had fallen (though comparably increased at some points), a decline in the public perception of the show and a less prominent transmission slot saw production suspended in 1989 by [[Jonathan Powell]], Controller of BBC One. Although it was for all intents and purposes cancelled (as series co-star [[Sophie Aldred]] reported in the documentary ''Doctor Who: More Than 30 Years in the TARDIS''), the BBC maintained the series was merely "on hiatus" and insisted the show would return.


While in-house production had ceased, the BBC was hopeful of finding an independent production company to re-launch the show. [[Philip Segal]], a British [[expatriate]] who worked for [[Columbia Pictures]]' television arm in the [[United States]], approached the BBC about such a venture. Segal's negotiations eventually led to a [[television movie]]. [[Doctor Who (1996)|The ''Doctor Who'' television movie]] was broadcast on the [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox Network]] in 1996 as a co-production between Fox, [[Universal Studios|Universal Pictures]], the [[BBC]], and [[BBC Worldwide]]. Although the film was successful in the UK (with 9.1 million viewers), it was less so in the [[United States]] and did not lead to a series.  
''Doctor Who'' initially endured a rough ride, though audiences seemed positive on the whole. The series was only intended to run for a few episodes, but all that changed with the second serial - ''The Daleks''. [[Terry Nation]]'s script ushered in the mid-sixties 'Dalekmania' craze, with millions of children and not a few older viewers taking the evil Daleks to heart. The Daleks secured the show's future, and over time, appeared more regularly both in the series and in two cinematic productions starring [[Peter Cushing]]. More aliens appeared in the programme as successive production teams took the TARDIS further out into time and space.


[[Doctor Who spin-offs|Licensed]] media such as novels and audio plays provided new stories.
By 1966, changes were afoot as audience ratings began to decline. If the show was to survive, a new lead actor was required; ultimately the concept of a mysterious 'renewal' process, explained as part of the TARDIS, was shown to change the Doctor's physical appearance and, to some extent, his personality. [[Patrick Troughton]] first appeared as the Doctor in 1966; over the next few weeks, it became clear that audiences were warming to his portrayal of the Doctor as a dishevelled figure with a determination to overcome the terrors of the [[universe]], and the series entered its so-called 'Monster Era', with more alien creatures appearing.


After the programme's cancellation in 1989 and the failure of a 1996 American-backed movie to secure a new series, as a television programme ''Doctor Who'' stayed 'on hiatus' until 2003. Its return in 2005 was largely due to the persistence of the controller of BBC One, Lorraine Heggessey,<ref>[http://media.guardian.co.uk/columnists/story/0,,368725,00.html Born in 1956], Heggessey was amongst the first generation of BBC executives and ''Doctor Who'' contributors who had grown up with the original programme. It has been suggested that this childhood love of the series, emerging as these people reached the senior ranks of the BBC, was a factor in the show's resurrection in 2003.</ref> who finally won the rights to the series from the corporation's commercial arm, ''BBC Worldwide''. Several unsuccessful attempts by Worldwide to find backing for a feature film version finally convinced the BBC that an in-house series was the best way to secure the future of the programme.<ref>''Daily Telegraph'': '[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/09/26/nwho26.xml Doctor Who ready to come out of the Tardis for Saturday TV series]' 26th September 2003.</ref>.
1969 saw Troughton's departure; his final episode saw the Doctor captured and put on trial by his own people, the 'Time Lords', accused of meddling in the affairs of other races. His sentence was exile to Earth and a second change of appearance, heralding another radical change for the series.


To bring back the series, the BBC approached writer Russell T. Davies, who had contributed to a range of ''Doctor Who'' novels, so had a love of the programme as well as considerable scriptwriting experience. Davies was appointed as executive producer and head writer on the programme. To date, he has also written most of the scripts for the series. Joining him to head up the programme at BBC Wales was the BBC Head of Drama, Julie Gardner.
===1970s===
The early 1970s saw the first episodes of ''Doctor Who'' broadcast in colour - a move which certainly suited the flamboyant third Doctor, played by [[Jon Pertwee]] as something of a dandy. This incarnation would emphasise the Doctor's love of [[technology|technological]] wizardry and high-powered vehicles. Under outgoing producer [[Derrick Sherwin]], the series moved to an [[Earth]]-based background where the Doctor would be aided by a [[military]] organisation known as the '[[United Nations]] Intelligence Taskforce' (UNIT). However, new producer [[Barry Letts]] and script editor [[Terrance Dicks]] found the UNIT format too restrictive, and so gradually steered the Doctor's adventures to ever-lengthier forays back out into time and space. The 1970s were also the years when critics of the programme increasingly labelled the programme as too [[violence|violent]] and unsuitable for children.


The new series began with the episode ''Rose'' on BBC One on 26 March 2005, and the show has since been sold to many other countries. Due to an initial lack of interest by networks in the USA, it only debuted on the Sci Fi Channel on 17 March 2006, one year after the Canadian and UK showings. The BBC subsequently commissioned more series and Christmas specials. Series 2 in the UK was followed by ''The Runaway Bride'' in December 2006. Series two began airing in the US on the Sci-Fi Channel on 29 September 2006, followed by the CBC on 9 October. After four series and several specials, Davies left the programme in the hands of frequent writer for the series, [[Stephen Moffat]], who is executive producer from series five onwards. With David Tennant also leaving the series in 2010, the fifth season of the programme will open with a new actor playing the Doctor.
In 1974, Pertwee moved on, and was succeeded by [[Tom Baker]], then the youngest actor to take on the part. At 40, Baker would go on to become the best-remembered Doctor to date, playing the role for a record seven years and depicting the Doctor as a more 'bohemian' figure, usually clad in a long coat, wide-brimmed hat and trademark scarf. By this time, ''Doctor Who'' was a mainstay of Saturday-evening entertainment, regularly pulling in over ten million viewers a week, and towards the end of the decade had become notably more [[humour]]-driven and aimed at younger viewers. Change, as ever, was just around the corner.


==Format==
{{Image|Doctorwho-castandcrew-1983.jpg|left|350px|Cast and crew of ''Doctor Who'' reunited at a 1983 fan convention celebrating 20 years of the programme. Clockwise from top left: [[Tom Baker]] (fourth Doctor), [[John Nathan-Turner]] (1980s producer), [[Patrick Troughton]] (second Doctor), [[Peter Davison]] (fifth Doctor), and [[Jon Pertwee]] (third Doctor); with 'companion' actors [[Sarah Sutton]], [[Mark Strickson]], [[Carole Ann Ford]], [[Elisabeth Sladen]] and [[Janet Fielding]].}}
''Doctor Who'' originally ran for [[List of Doctor Who serials|26 seasons]] on BBC1, from [[November 23]], [[1963]] until [[December 6]], [[1989]]. During the original run, each weekly episode formed part of a story (or "[[Serial#Film|serial]]") — usually of four to six parts in earlier years and three to four in later years. Three notable exceptions were the epic ''[[The Daleks' Master Plan]]'' (1965–66), which aired in 12 episodes (plus an earlier one-episode teaser, ''[[Mission to the Unknown]]'', featuring none of the regular cast); the 10-episode serial ''[[The War Games]]'' (1969) and ''[[The Trial of a Time Lord]]'' which ran for 14 episodes (containing four stories often referred to by individual titles, and connected by framing sequences) during [[List of Doctor Who serials#Season 23 (1986)|Season 23]] (1986). Occasionally serials were loosely connected by a storyline, such as [[List of Doctor Who serials#Season 16 (1978–79)|Season 16's]] quest for [[the Key to Time]].
===1980s===
[[John Nathan-Turner]] became the producer of ''Doctor Who'' in 1980, at the time of Baker's final season. 'JN-T' would go on to produce the programme right through the 1980s, and in 1981 cast the well-known actor [[Peter Davison]] as Baker's much younger successor. Nathan-Turner was determined to court the series' fans by bringing back old adversaries, and also introduced more unconventional companions that were a sharp contrast with the mostly female, human occupants that until then had made up the majority of TARDIS travellers.


The programme was intended to be educational and for family viewing on the early Saturday evening schedule. Initially, it alternated stories set in the past, which would teach younger audience members about history, with stories set either in the future or in outer space to teach them about science. This was also reflected in the Doctor's original companions, one of whom was a science teacher and another a history teacher.
Davison would ultimately decide that three years was enough, and Nathan-Turner again had to find a replacement, casting [[Colin Baker]] in 1984. Baker played a loud and unashamedly arrogant sixth Doctor, and would ultimately complete only two seasons. The BBC considered ''Doctor Who'' vulnerable against competition on other channels, and possibly too [[violence|violent]]. Creative differences among the production team reached a low point at this stage. A decision was taken in 1985 to 'suspend' ''Doctor Who'', with effect from early 1986, but a fan campaign backed up by the [[media]] ensured its return in late 1987, with Sylvester McCoy in the role. McCoy's early clownish seventh Doctor became much darker and manipulative under the direction of script editor [[Andrew Cartmel]]; this era of the show also encouraged young and inexperienced writers, leading to some of the most innovative but controversial stories of the original series. By 1989, however, ratings had declined once more, and this time no media campaign backed the series when it was quietly killed off after 26 years.


However, science fiction stories came to dominate the programme and the "historicals", which were not popular with the production team, were dropped after ''[[The Highlanders (Doctor Who)|The Highlanders]]'' (1967). While the show continued to use historical settings, they were generally used as a backdrop for science fiction tales, with one exception: ''[[Black Orchid (Doctor Who)|Black Orchid]]'' (1982) set in 1920s Britain.
{{Image|Earls-court-london-police-box.jpg|left|150px|[[Police box]] mounted with a modern surveillance camera located outside [[Earl's Court]] tube station in [[London, United Kingdom|London]]. The [[TARDIS]] exterior has been based on this design since the first episode of ''Doctor Who'' in 1963.}}


The early stories were more serial-like 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. Following ''[[The Gunfighters]]'' (1966), however, each serial was given its own title, with the individual parts simply being assigned episode numbers. What to name these earlier stories is often [[Doctor Who story title controversy|a subject of fan debate]].
===1990s===
''Doctor Who'' survived throughout the 1990s as a series of original novels produced by [[Virgin Publishing]], and later the BBC. In 1996, the Doctor returned to the small screen in a U.S.-backed TV movie which saw McCoy hand over to [[Paul McGann]]. The production fared well among UK audiences, but was poorly scheduled in [[North America]] and ultimately it failed to go to a series. McGann's Doctor was a gentler figure than his predecessor, and his adventures continued in print, in audio recordings, on [[radio]] and in [[comic]]s into the twenty-first century, before he returned in a short 50th-anniversary production, ''The Night of the Doctor'', in 2013.


Writers during the original run included [[Terry Nation]], [[Henry Lincoln]], [[Douglas Adams]], [[Robert Holmes (scriptwriter)|Robert Holmes]], [[Terrance Dicks]], [[Dennis Spooner]], [[Eric Saward]], [[Malcolm Hulke]], [[Christopher H. Bidmead]], [[Stephen Gallagher]], [[Brian Hayles]], [[Chris Boucher]], [[Marc Platt]] and [[Ben Aaronovitch]].
===2000s===
Following the programme's 1989 cancellation and failure of the 1996 TV movie to secure a new series, the return of the show in 2005 was largely due to the persistence of the Controller of BBC One at the time, [[Lorraine Heggessey]],<ref>[http://media.guardian.co.uk/columnists/story/0,,368725,00.html Born in 1956], Heggessey was amongst the first generation of BBC executives and ''Doctor Who'' contributors who had actually grown up with the original programme.</ref> backed by the Controller of Drama Commissioning at the time, [[Jane Tranter]],<ref>''BAFTA'': '[http://www.bafta.org/learning/webcasts/in-conversation-with-jane-tranter,598,BA.html In conversation with Jane Tranter]'. 30th September 2008.</ref> and [[Mal Young]], the Controller of Continuing Drama Series. The lack of support for further films had finally convinced the BBC that an [[in-house]] series was the best way to secure the future of the programme.<ref>''[[Daily Telegraph]]'': '[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/09/26/nwho26.xml Doctor Who ready to come out of the Tardis for Saturday TV series]' 26th September 2003.</ref> The 'new series' retained the TARDIS and other key features of the original 'classic series'. Going into production in 2004, it was executive-produced by writer [[Russell T. Davies]] and [[BBC Wales]] Head of Drama/BBC Television Controller of Drama Commissioning [[Julie Gardner]]. Davies cast the highly-experienced actor [[Christopher Eccleston]] as the Doctor, who declined to appear in a second run of adventures, leading Davies to cast [[David Tennant]] as the tenth Doctor, a role he relinquished in 2009 (his last appearance was broadcast on New Year's Day, 2010, but was of course recorded earlier).


Over 700 ''Doctor Who'' instalments have been televised since 1963, ranging from the 20-minute episodes of ''[[The Mind Robber]]'' (the shortest being just 18 minutes), through 25-minute episodes (the most common format in the original production), and 45-minute episodes (the normal length in the new production), to two feature-length productions (1983's ''[[The Five Doctors]]'', at 90 minutes the longest so far, and the [[Doctor Who (1996)|1996 television movie]]).
===2010s===
After four series and several specials, Davies left the programme in the hands of Steven Moffat, a frequent writer for the series, who was made executive producer from series five onwards. Moffat cast first Matt Smith to play the Doctor,<ref>''BBC News'': '[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7808697.stm New Doctor actor is youngest ever ]'. 4th January 2009.</ref> then Peter Capaldi. Chris Chibnall replaced succeeded Moffat in 2018 and decided to cast the first woman in the role, Jodie Whittaker.


Each series in the revived programme consists usully of thirteen 45-minute episodes. These usually include three two-parters and a loose story arc per season whose elements are brought together in the season finale. Like the original serial format, episodes in two-part stories have separate titles. From series two, the regular characters have been largely absent from one episode so the leads can concentrate on filming others; this led to criticism of the first 'Doctor-lite' adventure, 2006's ''Love & Monsters''.
===2020s===
''Doctor Who''has surpassed the number of instalments of the ''Star Trek'' franchise (726 episodes over five programmes) during the 2007 series.
The new series had already been thinned out by years off, and this was exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Whittaker left in 2022, with two new Doctors announced to succeed her: David Tennant again for three 60th-anniversary specials, followed by Ncuti Gatwa.


The current series is filmed in 576i25 DigiBeta widescreen format and then filmised to give a 25p image in post-production using a Snell and Wilcox Alchemist Platinum.
==Characters==
===The Doctor===
{{Image|David-tennant-2009-doctor10.jpg|right|200px|From 2005 to 2010, the Doctor was played by [[David Tennant]], who brought a buccaneering and stylish emphasis to the role.}}
The Doctor is the main character in the series, but "information" is fragmentary and sometimes apparently contradictory. In real life these contradictions may be explained as script writers or editors not knowing or not caring what had been said in previous episodes. In-universe explanations include the emphatic statement by River Song, (apparently) his fourth wife, that "The Doctor lies." Various aspects of his/her character and past have been revealed, but much remains mysterious. Even their name remains an enigma; he has variously introduced himself as Doctor Caligari (''The Gunfighters'', 1966), Doctor von Wer (''The Highlanders'', 1966) and Doctor John Smith (various stories, 1970 on), and signed a letter Doctor W (''The Underwater Menace'', 1967). A fellow Time Lord addresses him as Thete (''The Armageddon Factor'', 1978; actually, as that Time Lord talks with a Cockney accent, this is pronounced Fee', with a glottal stop), which is later explained as derived from a nickname (''The Happiness Patrol'', 1988). In the dialogue he has only once been referred to as Doctor Who (''The War Machines'', 1966). Despite this, the character is usually referred to as 'Doctor Who' in the media, and indeed the programme's end credits included 'Who' for the first four Doctors and the Ninth, with just "The Doctor" for the others. Also on screen appeared the episode title "The death of Doctor Who" (1966) and the serial title ''Doctor Who and the Silurians'' (1970). A few explanations for the title have been presented over the years, such as the Doctor obtaining various [[doctorate]]s (e.g. ''The Armageddon Factor'', 1978). It is unclear whether they are a [[medicine|medical]] [[doctor (physician)|doctor]] or not, and early on he referred to himself as a [[science|scientist]] and [[engineering|engineer]], "a builder of things" (''The Aztecs'', 1964).


A special case is the Children in Need specials broadcast for charity. The first of these was also the 20th anniversary special. It was billed in ''Radio Times'' in the normal format for the series and is usually counted as part of it. One event in it is alluded to in a later programme. Others appeared in between the old and new series and are obviously not intended to be taken seriously. At one point Joanna Lumley appears as the Doctor. In the new series, CIN specials appear in between the main annual series and the Christmas special. However, the trailers, teasers and next episode captions at the ends of the main series ignore them, jumping straight to the Christmas specials. They are usually omitted from lists of TV programmes. (Some websites attempt to list all stories in all media in one continuous sequence, though none seem to have succeeded.)
In ''The Timeless Children'' (2020), much back-story was apparently revealed. It now starts with the discovery of a little girl of unknown alien origin with the power of regeneration, known as the Timeless Child. This power is transplanted into inhabitants of Gallifrey. The Child had many incarnations before his first appearance in the series as the Doctor but his memory was wiped and his regeneration as a boy therefore thought himself the first. This suggests that the family he grew up in, and mentions various "facts" about, is not his real one. His statement that he was half-human on his mother's side seems to be corroborated by the Master's finding that his DNA is half human, however.


==Public consciousness==
It has been confirmed on a number of occasions that the Doctor had children and grandchildren, including his grand-daughter, Susan (''An Unearthly Child'', 1963), who was travelling with him in the TARDIS in the start of the programme. Although a previous marriage might be considered implicit in the existence of a grand-daughter, it is not explicitly mentioned until ''Blink'' (2007). Since that episode, the Doctor says, he has been married to Queen Elizabeth I of England (''The End of Time'', 2009; confirmed in ''The Day of the Doctor'', 2013), and taken part in a legally invalid marriage ceremony with Marilyn Monroe (''A Christmas Carol'', 2010), and he is the bridegroom in the episode ''The Wedding of River Song'' (2011). In ''Death in Heaven'' (2014), his companion Clara, trying to convince a Cyberman that she is the Doctor, says she (he) has been married four times and had children and grandchildren.
The programme rapidly became a national institution, the subject of countless jokes, newspaper mentions and other popular culture references. Many renowned actors asked for or were offered and accepted [[Celebrity appearances in Doctor Who|guest starring roles]] in various stories.  


However, with popularity came controversy over the show's suitability for children. The moral campaigner [[Mary Whitehouse]] made a series of complaints to the BBC in the 1970s over its sometimes frightening or gory content. Ironically, her actions made the programme even more popular, especially with children. [[John Nathan-Turner]], who produced the series during the 1980s, was heard to say that he looked forward to Whitehouse's comments, as the show's ratings would increase soon after she had made them. During the 1970s, the ''[[Radio Times]]'', the BBC's listings magazine, announced that a child's mother said the theme music terrified her son. The ''Radio Times'' was apologetic, but the theme music remained.
{{Image|Matt-smith-2010-doctor11.jpg|left|150px|[[Matt Smith]] portrayed the Doctor as a professorial eccentric from 2010 to 2013.}}
Over the course of the programme's first few years, it becomes clear that the Doctor is not a human being, though in the 1990s and later, it was shown that he may have some human roots (''Doctor Who'', 1996), and that he is also able to become human (''Human Nature'', 2007). From 1969's ''The War Games'', the Doctor's own people, the Time Lords, appeared regularly in the show, but in the 2005- production it was suggested that they had been destroyed in a 'Time War' with the Daleks, the Doctor's greatest adversaries. However, the series elaborates that the War exists 'time-locked' in another realm from which it is possible to escape.


There were more complaints about the programme's content than its music. During [[Jon Pertwee]]'s [[List of Doctor Who serials#Season 8 (1971)|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 android policemen marked the apex of the show's ability to frighten children. Other notable moments in that decade included the Doctor apparently being drowned by Chancellor Goth in ''[[The Deadly Assassin]]'' (1976), and the allegedly negative portrayal of Chinese people in ''[[The Talons of Weng-Chiang]]'' (1977).
The Doctor's physiology is rather different from humans: most spectacularly, as first shown at the conclusion of 1966's ''[[Doctor Who/Video#'First Doctor regenerates'|The Tenth Planet]]'', is his ability to 'regenerate' - what he calls a "renewal" (''The Power of the Daleks'', 1966) or a trick for "cheating death" (''The Parting of the Ways'', 2005). In the latter story, for example, the viewer witness a tremendous burst of energy released from his body, and his features melt into those of a new individual - the Doctor's tenth incarnation, portrayed by David Tennant. It is quickly established that this new person is the same character, physically different and with some new personality quirks, but still the same adventurer (''The Christmas Invasion'', 2006). The process occurs again in the final episode of the tenth Doctor's era, this time shown capable of actually damaging the TARDIS as the Doctor regenerates into the form of Matt Smith (''The End of Time'', 2010). The programme established in 1977's ''The Deadly Assassin'' that only twelve regenerations are possible, giving thirteen incarnations, but both ''The Five Doctors'' (1983) and ''The Time of the Doctor'' (2013) show that the Time Lords can bestow a fresh cycle of regenerations. The Capaldi incarnation was the first in a new cycle for the Doctor, since [[John Hurt]]'s was revealed to have been the ninth incarnation in ''Day of the Doctor'' (2013) and David Tennant's used a regeneration while managing to keep the same persona in ''Journey's End'' (2008).


It has been said that watching ''Doctor Who'' from a position of safety "[[behind the sofa]]" (as the ''Doctor Who'' exhibition at the [[Museum of the Moving Image]] in London was titled) and peering cautiously out to see if the frightening part was over is one of the great shared experiences of British childhood. The phrase has become a common phrase in association with the programme and occasionally elsewhere.
Dialogue in ''The Doctor's Wife'' (2011) implied that Time Lords can change sex when they regenerate, and this was confirmed by the appearance of a female incarnation of the Master in ''Dark Water'' (2014). At present, the Doctor is female.


A BBC audience research survey conducted in 1972 found that by their own definition of "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 all the drama programmes the corporation then produced.<ref name="times-violence">{{cite news|title=Violence is not really Dr Who's cup of tea|publisher=[[The Times]]|first=Philip|last=Howard|date=[[1972-01-29]]|accessdate=2007-01-17|pages=2}}</ref> The same report found that 3% of the surveyed audience regarded the show as "very unsuitable" for family viewing.<ref name="times-audience">{{cite news|title=The Times Diary - Points of view|publisher=[[The Times]]|date=[[1972-01-27]]|accessdate=2007-01-17|pages=16}}</ref> However, 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 (game)|Monopoly]] with the property market in London: both are fantasies, but one is meant to be taken seriously."<ref name="times-violence"/>
===Companions===
The Doctor rarely travels the universe alone, and many of their friends or 'companions' have shared their adventures over the years. The very first, Susan, was actually his grand-daughter, with her two human teachers completing the first TARDIS crew. Through curiosity, being rescued or taking up an offer to see the universe, many others followed over the years. In the 1970s, the Doctor was 'exiled' to Earth by his own people for a time, and became a reluctant member of UNIT, a special taskforce set up to counter alien threats. This 'UNIT family' memorably included [[Nicholas Courtney]] as its commanding officer, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. Other well-remembered companions of the 1970s included the accident-prone UNIT agent Jo Grant ([[Katy Manning]]), the leather-clad savage Leela ([[Louise Jameson]]), and Sarah Jane Smith, a [[journalism|journalist]] played by [[Elisabeth Sladen]].


The image of the [[TARDIS]] has become firmly linked to the show in the public's conciousness. In 1996, the BBC applied for a [[trademark]] to use the TARDIS' blue [[police box]] design in merchandising associated with ''Doctor Who''. <ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.patent.gov.uk/tm/t-find/t-find-number?detailsrequested=C&trademark=2104259 |title=Case details for Trade Mark 2104259 |accessdate=2007-01-17 |publisher=[[United Kingdom Patent Office|UK Patent Office]] }}</ref>  In 1998, the Metropolitan Police filed an objection to the trademark claim; in 2002 the [[United Kingdom Patent Office|Patent Office]] ruled in favor of the BBC,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.patent.gov.uk/tm/t-decisionmaking/t-challenge/t-challenge-decision-results/t-challenge-decision-results-bl?BL_Number=O/336/02 |title=Trade mark decision |accessdate=2007-01-17 |work=[[United Kingdom Patent Office|UK Patent Office]] website }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.patent.gov.uk/tm//legal/decisions/2002/o33602.pdf |title=IN THE MATTER OF Application No. 2104259 by The British Broadcasting Corporation to register a series of three marks in Classes 9, 16, 25 and 41 AND IN THE MATTER OF Opposition thereto under No. 48452 by The Metropolitan Police Authority |accessdate=2007-01-17 |last=Knight |first=Mike |format=[[PDF]] |publisher=[[United Kingdom Patent Office|UK Patent Office]]}}</ref> indicating that the police box image was more associated with ''Doctor Who'' than with the police.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/2352743.stm |title=BBC wins police Tardis case |accessdate=2007-01-17 |date=[[2002-10-23]] |work=[[BBC News]] }}</ref>
From 2005 onwards, the Doctor is initially travelling alone, but former London shop assistant Rose Tyler ([[Billie Piper]]) joins him at the close of the opening adventure, with others appearing later, and also characters who fulfilled the companion role for just one story. Steven Moffat introduced Amy Pond, played by [[Karen Gillan]], initially as a young girl whose life was a mysterious time-altered jumble, with an increasing role for [[Arthur Darvill]] as Rory Williams, later Amy's husband. 2012 saw the introduction of Clara, played by [[Jenna Coleman]];<ref>The actress was credited as Jenna-Louise Coleman in earlier appearances but has now changed her stage name.</ref> her successor, [[Pearl Mackie]] as Bill, was announced in 2016.


==The Doctor==
{{Image|Dalek-2010.jpg|right|200px|The [[Dalek]]s are terrifying, [[Nazi]]-inspired creatures. Though the design has changed little since their first appearance in 1963, this larger-than-usual and somewhat cartoonish redesigned version of 2010 proved controversial with some fans. The front appendages include an eyestalk, interface device that uncannily resembles a sink plunger, and an exterminating weapon.}}
{{main|Doctor (Doctor Who)}}


''Warning: '''Spoilers''' follow below''
===Villains===
In ''Doctor Who'', the universe is a dangerous place. A frequently occurring theme is that of various alien races attempting to conquer the Earth or otherwise threatening the human race, only to be foiled by the Doctor.


The character of the Doctor was initially shrouded in mystery. All that was known about him in the programme's early days was that he was an eccentric alien traveller of great intelligence who battled injustice while exploring time and space in an unreliable old time machine called the [[TARDIS]]. The TARDIS is much larger on the inside than on the outside and, due to a chronic malfunction, stuck in the shape of a 1950s-style British [[police box]]. Even now, much remains mysterious: even the Doctor's actual name has never been revealed. He is called Doctor Who frequently in the cast lists screened at the ends of programmes, but hardly ever in the actual dialogue in the programmes.
Best-known villains in the series and wider UK culture are the '[[Dalek]]s', mutants inside metallic pepperpot-like casings equipped with a gun and an appendage not unlike a [[sink plunger]]. Envisaged as representing the [[Nazism|Nazis]], their best-known characteristic is frequently screaming ''"Exterminate!"'' at anything un-Dalek prior to destroying anything that gets in their way of eliminating all life other than that which is Dalek. They have appeared numerous times in the series.


However, not only did the initially irascible and slightly sinister Doctor quickly mellow into a more compassionate figure, it was eventually revealed that he had been "on the run" from his own people, the [[Time Lord]]s of the planet [[Gallifrey]].  
The other villains appearing comparable numbers of times are the Master (a fellow, evil Time Lord; also known as Missy, short for Mistress, in a female regeneration) and the [[Cyberman|Cybermen]].


Like all Time Lords, the Doctor has the ability to "[[Doctor (Doctor Who)#Regeneration|regenerate]]" his body when near death, allowing for the convenient recasting of the lead actor. A Time Lord can regenerate twelve times, with a total of thirteen Doctors. The Doctor has gone through this process and its resulting after-effects on nine occasions, with each of his incarnations having his own quirks and abilities. Despite these shifts in personality, the Doctor has always remained an intensely curious and highly moral adventurer, who would rather solve problems with his wits than through violence. The following actors portrayed the Doctor from 1963:
Until recently the Daleks regularly topped the polls for the most "popular" enemy. In recent polls, however, they have been overtaken by the Weeping Angels, who first appeared in 2007.


#[[William Hartnell]] (1963-1966)
==Format==
#[[Patrick Troughton]] (1966-1969)
For most of its 1963-1989 run, ''Doctor Who'' was broadcast in 25-minute episodes, with few exceptions. Initially the programme ran for most of the year, with only a few weeks' break between seasons. Over the decades, the number of episodes each year was reduced; about 26 was the norm for some years, though by the end of the 1980s this had fallen to 14. From 1966, each story had only one title, but originally individual episodes had separate titles, leading to considerable fan debate over what the overall titles for some of these early serials are. The very first story, for instance, is commonly known and marketed by the BBC as ''An Unearthly Child'', which strictly speaking was only the title of the very first episode. Internal production documents have led some fans to conclude that the 'true' title is ''100,000 BC''.<ref>Research publications by David J. Howe, Mark Stammers and Stephen J. Walker hold to these behind-the-scenes titles, for example.</ref>
#[[Jon Pertwee]] (1970-1974)
#[[Tom Baker]] (1974-1981)
#[[Peter Davison]] (1981-1984)
#[[Colin Baker]] (1984-1986)
#[[Sylvester McCoy]] (1987-1989; 1996)
#[[Paul McGann]] (1996)
#[[Christopher Eccleston]] (2005)
#[[David Tennant]] (2005-2010)


In addition, Richard Hurndall appeared as a lookalike for the late William Hartnell in one of the stories bringing back past Doctors to meet the incumbent, and a number of other actors have played the role in other media.
Episodes of 'new series' ''Doctor Who'' run for about 45 minutes, except for special (usually Christmas) adventures broadcast between series (or, in one recent case, in the middle of a series). Two- and three-episode stories usually have separate titles for each episode, just as in 1963-6. However, whereas stories from 1963-6 are commonly referred to by overall titles (though as just noted not always the same ones), this is not usually done with the recent stories; instead they are usually named by just concatenating their episode titles, e.g. ''Utopia''/''The Sound of Drums''/''Last of the Time Lords''. The increasingly involuted nature of plot arcs over the course of the new series has resulted in increasing disagreement among secondary sources on the grouping of episodes into stories. Since series two, the regular characters have had a reduced role in one or more episodes so the leads can concentrate on filming others.


==Music and titles==
The theme music for ''Doctor Who'' changed little for the first 17 years of the original series's run: composed by [[Ron Grainer]] and realised by [[Delia Derbyshire]] of the [[BBC Radiophonic Workshop]], this example of [[electronic music]] played over the original series titles, which were achieved using a [[howl-round]] visual effect. For the new series, a new arrangement was produced by [[Murray Gold]], whose predecessors on the original series included [[Peter Howell]], who created a faster, more dramatic version for the period 1980-1985; [[Dominic Glynn]] (1986); and [[Keff McCulloch]] (1987-1989). The 1996 film also had new theme music.


The Doctor's physiology is unlike that of a human; he has two hearts, and is capable of physical and mental feats beyond those of an ordinary human.  
==International distribution==
''Doctor Who'' was made available for broadcast outside the UK from the outset, and it is thanks to film copies sent to other countries that many early episodes now survive, since the original tapes were wiped for re-use. Some of these episodes were cut to conform with broadcasting standards in other nations, e.g. to remove [[violence]]. Several stories were sold to [[Arabic language|Arabic]]-speaking countries in the 1960s, with Arabic dubbing. Dubbed versions of adventures were also shown in other countries until the end of the programme in 1989, e.g. in [[French language|French]] and [[German language|German]]. The revived series has been distributed globally, and the BBC sought to build on these new markets by launching a 'global tour' to introduce Peter Capaldi's Doctor in 2014. This involved advanced screenings of Capaldi's first story plus Q&A sessions with the main stars, and took in [[Cardiff]], [[Seoul]], [[Sydney]], [[New York, New York|New York]], [[Mexico City]] and [[Rio de Janeiro]].<ref>''DoctorWho.tv'': '[http://www.doctorwho.tv/worldtour/ Doctor Who: The World Tour]. Accessed 21st August 2014.</ref>


Other aspects of the Doctor's life remain less clear. There are suggestions of romantic feelings towards both Rose and others, but the his personal relationships are never humanlike. Little is known of his family. His father was a Time Lord, but his mother was human. He had at least two uncles, at least one brother, at least one wife, at least one child, and a granddaughter, Susan. At the present point in the series, he believes all his family dead, but his similar beliefs about others have turned out mistaken before. A special case is his "daughter" Jenny, created from DNA stolen from him.
==Spin-offs and alternative adventures==
{{Image|K-9.jpg|right|300px|The robot dog [[K-9 (robot dog)|K-9]] [[Doctor_Who/Video#'K9 plays chess'|appeared in ''Doctor Who'']] and several spin-offs.}}
The original series had only one spin-off, which did not survive beyond its 1981 pilot. ''K-9 and Company'' starred [[Elisabeth Sladen]] and [[John Leeson]], reprising their roles as former companions Sarah Jane Smith and [[K-9 (robot dog)|K-9]] (a [[robot]] [[dog]] voiced by Leeson; they had never appeared together in the series, though they did so subsequently). The new series has seen two spin-off dramas, ''[[Torchwood]]'' (2006-), starring [[John Barrowman]], and ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'' (2007-2011) starring Elisabeth Sladen with appearances by K9, once again voiced by John Leeson. Like Sladen and Leeson, Barrowman appeared as a 'companion' in ''Doctor Who'' itself, starring as Captain Jack Harkness from 2005's ''The Empty Child'' onwards. ''Torchwood'' sees Harkness leading a team trying to prevent alien incursions via a 'time rift' running through present day Cardiff, while the ''Sarah Jane Adventures'' followed the adventures of investigative journalist Sarah Jane Smith. The latter production aired on [[Children's BBC]] with an intended audience of younger fans, while ''Torchwood'' was presented as a post-9 p.m. 'adult' take on the affairs of the ''Doctor Who'' universe. A third spin-off, this time starring K-9 in an independent UK-Australia co-production, ''[[K-9 (TV series)|K-9]]'', first aired in 2010.


==Companions==
Several shorter adventures have also appeared as part of charity events and the [[Proms]], a long-standing evening of music at the [[Royal Albert Hall]]. 2005 saw the immediate aftermath of the Doctor's regeneration into the form of David Tennant broadcast as part of the long-running charity event ''[[Children in Need]]''. Similarly, a second short ''Children in Need'' adventure, ''Time Crash'' (2007), contributed to the series' continuity.
''Warning: '''Spoilers''' follow below''


The Doctor almost always shares his adventures with up to three [[:Category:Doctor Who companions|companions]] (the only exception in the original series being ''The Deadly Assassin'', in which he travels alone). The idea of the companion is to provide a [[audience surrogate|surrogate]] with whom the audience can identify and to further the story by asking questions and getting into trouble. The Doctor regularly gains new companions and loses old ones; sometimes they return home or find new causes — or loves — on worlds they have visited. Some have even died during the course of the series.
The Doctor also appeared in ''The Music of the Spheres'' as part of the 2008 Proms, in an 'interactive' adventure which saw the TARDIS linked to the Royal Albert Hall via a hole in time and space through which an evil 'Graske' emerged to threaten the audience. This was the Graske's second appearance in what has become a significant run of extra adventures available on digital channels or the internet, the first being ''Attack of the Graske'' in 2005.
 
There are some disputes as to the definition of a companion, but fans mostly agree that at least thirty (including [[K-9 (Doctor Who)|K-9]] Marks I and II) meet the criteria for "companion" status in the television series, with [[list of Doctor Who spin-off companions|others being established in the various spin-offs]]. For further details, see the notes in [[List of Doctor Who supporting characters]].
 
'Companion' is more generally used as a technical term in fandom; the press normally refers to them either as companions or assistants. The series does not apply the term consistently to those travelling with the Doctor, with him just as often introducing them simply as his friends.
 
Despite the fact that the majority of the Doctor's companions are young, attractive females, the production team for the 1963–1989 series maintained a longstanding taboo against any overt romantic involvement in the TARDIS: for example, [[Peter Davison]], as the [[Fifth Doctor]], was not allowed to put his arm around either [[Sarah Sutton]] ([[Nyssa of Traken|Nyssa]]) or [[Janet Fielding]] ([[Tegan Jovanka|Tegan]]), although he did put his arm around [[Peri Brown|Peri]] in his last serial, ''[[The Caves of Androzani]]''. However, that has not prevented fans from speculating about possible romantic involvements, most notably between the [[Fourth Doctor]] and the Time Lady [[Romana]] (whose actors, [[Tom Baker]] and [[Lalla Ward]], shared a romance and brief marriage). The taboo was controversially broken in the 1996 television movie when the [[Eighth Doctor]] was shown kissing companion [[Grace Holloway]], and this has continued in the new series.
 
Previous companions have sometimes reappeared in the series, particularly in the 20th anniversary special, which featured five Doctors, eleven companions, and four familiar enemies.
 
==Adversaries==
 
''Warning: '''Spoilers''' follow below''
 
:''See also: [[List of Doctor Who monsters and aliens]], [[List of Doctor Who villains]]''
When Sydney Newman commissioned the series, he specifically did not want to perpetuate the cliché of the "bug-eyed monster" of science fiction. However, [[list of Doctor Who monsters and aliens|monsters]] were a staple of ''Doctor Who'' almost from the beginning and were popular with audiences.
 
Notable adversaries of the Doctor include the [[Auton]]s, the [[Cyberman|Cybermen]], the [[Sontaran]]s, the [[Sea Devil]]s, the [[Ice Warrior]]s, the [[Yeti (Doctor Who)|Yeti]], the [[Silurian (Doctor Who)|Silurians]], the [[Slitheen]] and [[Master (Doctor Who)|the Master]], a rival Time Lord with a thirst for universal conquest. Of all the monsters and villains, the ones that most secured the series' place in the public's imagination were the [[Dalek]]s. The Daleks are lethal mutants in tank-like mechanical armour from the planet [[Skaro]].  Their chief role in the great scheme of things, as they frequently remark in their instantly recognisable metallic voices, is to "Exterminate!". [[Davros]], the Daleks' creator, also became a recurring villain after he was introduced.
 
The Daleks were created by writer [[Terry Nation]] (who intended them as an [[allegory]] of the [[Nazism|Nazis]]) and BBC designer [[Raymond Cusick]]. The Daleks' debut in the programme's second serial, ''[[The Daleks]]'' (1963–64), caused a tremendous reaction in the viewing figures and the public, putting ''Doctor Who'' on the cultural map. A Dalek even appeared on a postage stamp celebrating British popular culture in 1999, photographed by [[Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon|Lord Snowdon]].
 
In ''Doctor Who'', the universe is a dangerous place. A frequently occurring theme is that of various alien races attempting to conquer the Earth or otherwise threatening the human race,<ref>A new, enforced guideline for the new series so far is that all stories must involve humanity in some way.</ref> only to be foiled by the Doctor. Perhaps the best-known example of this in the new series concerns the attempts of the Slitheen family to take over the planet and sell it for scrap. Other villians appearing include the Autons (''Rose''), the Cybermen (in the 2006 series) and Cassandra, the last human being alive five billion years in the future (''The End of the World'', 2005; ''Ew Earth'', 2006).
 
Of all the monsters and villains, the best-known in the series and wider UK culture are the Daleks: deadly mutants in tank-like mechanical armour from the planet Skaro. Envisaged as representing the Nazis, their best-known characteristic is frequently screaming ''"Exterminate!"'' at and destroying anything un-Dalek. They Daleks have appeared several times in the new series, firstly in ''Dalek'' (2005), where it appears that only one individual had survived a previous encounter with their nemesis, the Doctor (known in Skaroene lore as 'The Oncoming Storm'. The Daleks have made more regular appearances in the relaunched programme than in the original 1963-1989 series, returning at least once a year. At present, their numbers appear to once again have been reduced to one (''Evolution of the Daleks'', 2007).
 
==Music==
The original 1963 arrangement of the ''Doctor Who'' theme, as composed by Ron Grainer and realised by [[Delia Derbyshire]] at the [[BBC Radiophonic Workshop]], is widely regarded as a significant and innovative  piece of electronic music, working from tape loops of an individually struck piano string and individual test [[oscillator]]s and filters. The Derbyshire arrangement served, with minor edits, as the theme tune up to the end of [[List of Doctor Who serials#Season 17 (1979-80)|Season 17]] (1979–80).
 
A more modern and dynamic arrangement was composed by [[Peter Howell]] for [[List of Doctor Who serials#Season 18 (1980-81)|Season 18]] (1980), which was in turn replaced by [[Dominic Glynn]]'s arrangement for Season 23's ''[[The Trial of a Time Lord]]'' (1986). [[Keff McCulloch]] provided the new arrangement for the [[Seventh Doctor]]'s era which lasted from [[List of Doctor Who serials#Season 24 (1987)|Season 24]] (1987) until the series' suspension in 1989.
 
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". 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. Others who have covered or reinterpreted the theme include [[Orbital (band)|Orbital]], the Australian string ensemble [[Fourplay Electric String Quartet|Fourplay]], [[The Pogues]], [[Pink Floyd]] and the comedians [[Bill Bailey]] and [[Mitch Benn]], and 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]] ring tones. Fans have also produced and distributed their own remixes of the theme.
 
 
For the new series in 2005, Murray Gold provided a new arrangement which featured samples from the 1963 original with further elements added. A soundtrack CD of Gold's music for the new series was released on 4 December 2006 by Silva Screen Records.<ref>BBC: ''[http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/news/cult/news/drwho/2006/07/17/33953.shtml Who soundtrack soon]''. 11th November 2006.</ref>. Gold also created a variation on his arrangement for the closing credits of ''The Christmas Invasion'', which was performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Unlike his arrangement for the 2005 series, this version restored the 'middle eight'; it was also used for the closing credits of the 2006 series.
 
==Viewership==
''Doctor Who'' has always appeared on the BBC's mainstream [[BBC One]] channel, drawing audiences of many millions of viewers. It was most popular in the late 1970s, with audiences frequently as high as 12 million.  During the [[ITV]] network strike of 1979, viewership peaked at 16 million. No first-run episode of ''Doctor Who'' has ever drawn fewer than three million viewers on BBC One, although 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 [[soap opera]] ''[[Coronation Street]]'', the most popular show at the time. The all-time highest chart placing for an episode of ''Doctor Who'' is fifth, for episode two of ''[[The Ark in Space]]'' in 1975.
 
The programme also gained a [[Doctor Who in Australia|strong following in Australia]], possibly as a result of the close connection between the BBC and Australia's major public broadcaster, the [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation|ABC]]. The latest repeat of the classic series in Australia ran from September 2003 to February 2006.
 
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 (see [[Doctor Who in America]]). [[New Zealand]] was the first country outside the UK to screen ''Doctor Who'' beginning in September 1964, and continued to screen the series for many years. In [[Canada]], the series debuted in January 1965, but the CBC only aired the first twenty-six episodes. [[TVOntario]] picked up the show in the 1976 beginning with ''[[Inferno (Doctor Who)|Inferno]]'' and aired it through to Season 24 in 1991. TVO's schedule ran several years behind the BBC's throughout this period. In the 1970s TVO airings were bookended by a host who would introduce the episode and then, after the episode concluded, try to place it in an educational context in keeping with TVO's status as an educational channel. The airing of ''[[The Talons of Weng Chiang]]'' resulted in controversy for TVOntario as a result of accusations that the story was [[racism|racist]]. Consequently the story was not rebroadcast.
 
Only four episodes have ever had their premiere showings on channels other than BBC One. The 1983 twentieth anniversary special ''[[The Five Doctors]]'' had its debut on [[November 23]] (the actual date of the anniversary) on the [[Chicago]] [[PBS]] station [[WTTW-TV|WTTW]] in the United States and various other PBS members two days prior to its BBC One broadcast. The 1988 story ''[[Silver Nemesis]]'' was broadcast with all three episodes edited together in compilation form 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. Finally, the 1996 television movie premiered on [[May 12]] on [[CITV-TV|CITV]] in [[Edmonton, Alberta|Edmonton]], Canada, fifteen days before the BBC One showing, and two days before it aired on [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] in the USA.
 
A wide selection of serials is available from BBC Video on [[VHS]] and [[DVD]], on sale in the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States. Every fully extant serial has been released on VHS, and BBC Worldwide continues to regularly release serials on DVD.
 
 
''Doctor Who'' has always appeared on the BBC's mainstream BBC One channel, drawing audiences of many millions of viewers. 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. The 2005 series had an average audience of 7.95 million viewers, and the 2006 series achieved an average audience of about 7.71 million in the context of declining year-to-year viewership for all television channels. The episode ''Rise of the Cybermen'' managed sixth place in the charts across the week with 9.22 million viewers.<ref>Spilsbury, T.: 'Public Image'. ''Doctor Who Magazine'' #373:8, 13th September 2006.</ref>
 
The programme has been widely sold abroad, both in the [[English language|English]]-speaking world and further afield with dubbing or subtitling.<ref>As of October 2006, the new series has been, or is currently, broadcast weekly in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Hong Kong, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain and Latin America (People+Arts), South Korea, the USA, Greece, the Middle East, North Africa, and the Levant territories. The series has also been sold to, but not yet shown in, Germany (Pro 7), Sweden  and Romania.</ref> The Japanese version, for example, includes a new logo in the native katakana writing system: ドクター・フー (''Dokutaa Fuu'')<ref>BBC: ''[http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/news/cult/news/drwho/2006/06/30/33368.shtml Turning Japanese]''. 30th June 2006. Although ''Fuu'' is an accurate romanisation of the Japanese name, the Japanese version of the programme also employs the English name alongside the Japanese equivalent. Additionally, many speakers will pronounce ''Fuu'' as ''Huu''. See also NHK's ''Doctor Who'' [http://www3.nhk.or.jp/kaigai/doctorwho website].</ref>
 
The series has been released on DVD as both boxed sets of the first two seasons, with extras including a documentary for most episodes, and as single no-frills discs, for both Region 1 and Region 2 players. The 2005 series is also available on UMD for the PlayStation Portable.
 
==Fandom==
''Doctor Who'' has amassed a large number of fans<ref>The term 'Whovian' (similar to Trekkie for Star Trek) is often used by the press to refer to ''Doctor Who'' fans, although the term is not often used by fans themselves.</ref> from all over the world, and appears to have won a new generation of followers of varying ages: the UK children's magazine show ''Blue Peter'' reported that their 'Design a ''Doctor Who'' Monster' competition received the largest number of entries for any such event since 1993.<ref>BBC: ''[http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/news/cult/news/drwho/2005/08/18/23167.shtml Monster Success]''. 18th August 2005. The winning entry appeared in 2006's 'Love & Monsters' as the fearsome 'Abzorbaloff'. Its creator, 13-year-old William Grantham, reportedly gave the seal of approval to the BBC's interpretation, though remarked that "it was supposed to be the size of a double-decker bus".</ref> The series is more a mainstream part of popular culture in its native UK, where it is regarded as a family show and is shown on the main public service broadcasting channel, BBC One. In an example of how British culture has taken the programme to heart, on the occasion when London's Metropolitan Police challenged the BBC's ownership of the police box design, they lost as the court ruled that people associate such boxes with time machines rather than the police.<ref>BBC: ''[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/2352743.stm BBC Wins Police Tardis Case]''. 23rd October 2002.</ref>
 
Celebrity fans include comedians Jon Culshaw, David Walliams,<ref>''[http://www.davidwalliams.com/drwho.htm davidwalliams.com]''. Walliams appeared as the programme's creator, Sydney Newman, in a 1999 sketch with Mark Gatiss.</ref> Mitch Benn, Peter Kay (who appeared in ''Love & Monsters''), Mark Gatiss (writer of several episodes, who also appears in the third series), Stewart Lee and Matt Lucas, cricketers Mike Gatting and Graham Gooch, singer and actress Toyah Willcox, Cedric Bixler-Zavala of the Mars Volta, singer Meat Loaf, Simpsons creator Matt Groening, graphic novelist and fantasy writer Neil Gaiman, horror novelist Brian Keene, and science-fiction writer and critic Harlan Ellison.
 
 
==Adaptations and other appearances==


===Other media===
===Other media===
In the 1960s, Terry Nation was unable to launch a U.S. spin-off series starring his creations, the Daleks, but they twice appeared on the big screen. Two televised adventures of ''Doctor Who'' were remade for the cinema: ''Doctor Who and the Daleks'' (1965) and ''Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150AD'' (1966) starred Peter Cushing as 'Doctor Who', an elderly human scientist who had invented a time machine. These two films, which were not part of the television series's continuity, did well at a time when 'Dalekmania' was at its height.


The BBC, who own the rights in Doctor Who, have authorized many appearances in other media. these appaearances often contradict the Tv programmes much more seriously than the Tv programmes contradict each other.
Nearly all the stories broadcast up to 1996 have been novelised, and annuals containing new stories appeared in print from early in the programme's broadcast history, as did comic strips. In the 1990s two new stories were broadcast on BBC radio (out of sequence: they featured the 3rd Doctor), though one of them actually appeared after its novelization as a result of delays.  
 
====Print====
 
Annuals have appeared roughly contemporaneously with the television series from the beginning, including new stories usually featuring the current or immediately past Doctor and companions. Nearly all the stories of the original production, and the 1996 movie, have been novelized. After the programme was suspended in 1989, a series of novels featuring the 7th Doctor appeared. This was terminated when the 1996 movie came out, with the last book being written so as to link in to the beginning of the movie. Afterwards, a similar series appeared, continuing the adventures of the 8th Doctor. This was terminated with the start of the new series, but in this case no attempt was made to link, and there are serious contradictions between this series and the backstory of the new TV series. Books and short stories continue to appear featuring past and present Doctors.
 
There has been some influence of print appearances on the Tv series. For example, the character sara Kingdom appeared in print before TV. More recently, some stories that had previously appeared in print have been screened in the new series.
 
====Stage====
 
''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]]'' which also featured former companion actress [[Wendy Padbury]] (Pertwee's Doctor made a cameo appearance via film). In the early 1990s, Jon Pertwee and Colin Baker both played the Doctor at different times during the run of a musical play entitled ''[[Doctor Who - The Ultimate Adventure]]''. For two performances while Pertwee was ill, [[David Banks]] (best known for playing various [[Cyberman|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.
 
====Film and video====
 
The Doctor has also appeared in two cinema films: ''[[Dr. Who and the Daleks]]'' in 1965 and ''[[Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD]]'' in 1966. Both were essentially retellings of existing stories on the big screen, with a larger budget and numerous alterations to the series concept. In these films, [[Peter Cushing]] played a human scientist named [[Dr. Who (Dalek films)|Dr. Who]], who travelled with his two granddaughters and other companions in a time machine he invented. Due to this and numerous other changes (not to mention the storylines that duplicated televised episodes), the movies are not regarded as part of the ongoing continuity of the series, although the Cushing version of the character would reappear in both comic strip and literary form, the latter attempting to reconcile the film continuity with that of the series.
 
All surviving TV episodes (see [[#Missing episodes]]) apart from the most recent have been issued on video. These have now been withdrawn, and the BBC have begun reissuing them on DVD.
 
====Cartoons====
 
A comic strip started soon after the TV programme, and lasted slightly longer. It featured the current TV Doctor, but often with different companions. A few webcast animations have been produced in recent years. the first of them, appearing before the new series, featured a different "Ninth Doctor".
 
====Radio and audio====
 
After the suspension of the TV series, two stories appeared on BBC radio featuring Jon Pertwee. These were billed in ''Radio Times'' as if they were part of the series, but are of course out of sequence and are not usually counted.
 
More recently a series featuring Paul McGann has been running on BBC Radio 7.
 
Audio recordings have been issued of all episodes whose film has been lost. there have also been many new stories on audio, particularly featuring the 8th Doctor.
 
===Spin-offs===
 
A pilot episode for a potential spin-off series, ''[[K-9 and Company]]'', was aired in 1981 with [[Elisabeth Sladen]] reprising her role as companion [[Sarah Jane Smith]] and [[John Leeson]] as the voice of [[K-9 (Doctor Who)|K-9]], but was not picked up as a regular series.
 
 
 
 
====Torchwood====
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 Wales and investigating alien activities and crime. The series debuted on BBC Three on 22 October 2006. John Barrowman reprises his role of Jack Harkness from the 2005 series of ''Doctor Who''. <ref>BBC: ''[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/4349120.stm Doctor Who spin-off made in Wales]''. 17th October 2005.</ref> Eve Myles, who was in the 2005 ''Doctor Who'' episode ''The Unquiet Dead'', and Naoko Mori (''Aliens of London'') also star, the latter reprising her role as Toshiko Sato.<ref>[[BBC]]: ''[http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/news/cult/news/drwho/2006/02/24/29846.shtml Team Torchwood]''. 24th February 2006.</ref> ''Torchwood'' returned for a second series in 2008, followed by a [[BBC Radio 4]] play that year. A third, shorter series is to follow.
 
====The Sarah Jane Adventures====
''The Sarah Jane Adventures'', starring Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith, has been developed by CBBC; a special aired on New Year's Day 2007, and a full series followed later in 2007.<ref>{{cite press release
| title =Russell T Davies creates new series for CBBC, starring Doctor Who's Sarah Jane Smith
| publisher =BBC
|date=2006-09-14
| url =http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2006/09_september/14/sarah.shtml
| accessdate =2006-09-14 }}</ref>
 
====Other episodes====
A new K-9 children's series, ''K-9 Adventures'', is in development, but not by the BBC.<ref>BBC: ''[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4939144.stm Doctor Who dog K9 gets spin-off]''. 26th July 2006.</ref>
 
==Awards==
Although ''Doctor Who'' was fondly regarded during its original 1963–1989 run, it received little critical recognition at the time.  In 1975, [[List of Doctor Who serials#Season 11 (1973–74)|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" season, celebrating sixty 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 (television)|Casualty]]''.  In 2000, ''Doctor Who'' was ranked third in a list of the [[100 Greatest British Television Programmes]] of the twentieth century, produced by the [[British Film Institute]] and voted on by industry professionals. In 2005, the series came first in a survey by [[SFX magazine]] of "The Greatest UK Science Fiction and Fantasy Television Series Ever". Also, in the 100 Greatest Kids' Shows (a [[Channel 4]] countdown in 2001), the 1963–1989 run was placed at number eight.
 
The revived series has received particular recognition from critics and the public. In 2005, at the National Television Awards (voted on by members of the British public), ''Doctor Who'' won "Most Popular Drama", Christopher Eccleston won "Most Popular Actor" and Billie Piper won "Most Popular Actress".  The series and Piper repeated their wins at the 2006 National Television Awards, and David Tennant won "Most Popular Actor".<ref>{{cite news
| title = Dr Who scores TV awards hat-trick
| url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6104048.stm
| work = BBC News
| publisher = bbc.co.uk
|date= 2006-10-31
| accessdate = 2006-10-31
}}</ref> A scene from ''The Doctor Dances'' won "Golden Moment" in the BBC's "2005 TV Moments" awards,<ref>{{cite web
| year =December 2005
| url =http://www.bbc.co.uk/tvmoments/winners.shtml
| title =2005 TV Moments
| publisher =bbc.co.uk
| accessdate =2006-04-24
}}</ref> and ''Doctor Who'' swept all the categories in BBC.co.uk's online "Best of Drama" poll in both 2005<ref>{{cite web
| year =December 2005
| url =http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/bestof2005/
| title =Drama Best of 2005
| publisher =bbc.co.uk
| accessdate =2006-04-24
}}</ref> and 2006.<ref>{{cite web
| year =January 2007
| url =http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/bestof2006/
| title =Drama Best of 2006
| publisher =[[bbc.co.uk]]
| accessdate =2007-01-16
}}</ref> The programme also won the ''Broadcast Magazine'' Award for Best Drama.<ref>{{cite web
| year =2006-01-26
| url =http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/news/cult/news/drwho/2006/01/26/29141.shtml
| title =Doctor Who wins Broadcast Award
| publisher = bbc.co.uk
| accessdate =2006-04-24
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
| year =2006
| url =http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/awards/content_frames.asp?content=winners
| title =2006 Winners
| publisher =Broadcast Magazine
| accessdate =2006-04-24
}}</ref> Eccleston was awarded the TV Quick and TV Choice award for Best Actor in 2005; in the same awards in 2006 Tennant won Best Actor, Piper won Best Actress and ''Doctor Who'' won Best-Loved Drama.<ref>{{cite news
|title = Street is best soap at TV awards
|url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4218078.stm
|work = BBC News
|date= 2005-09-06
|accessdate = 2006-09-05
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
|title = Doctor Who lands three TV awards
|url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/5314890.stm
|work = BBC News
|date= 2006-09-05
|accessdate = 2006-09-05
}}</ref>
 
''Doctor Who'' was nominated in the Best Drama Series category at the 2006 Royal Television Society awards,<ref>{{cite news
  | url=http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,,1714821,00.html
  | title=RTS Programme Awards - Nominations
  | publisher=The Guardian
  |date=2006-02-21
  | accessdate=2006-04-24
}}</ref> but lost to BBC Three's medical drama ''Bodies''.<ref>{{cite news
  | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4808172.stm
  | title=Bleak House wins TV drama award
  | publisher=BBC News
  |date=2006-03-15
  | accessdate=2006-04-24
}}</ref>
 
''Doctor Who'' also received several nominations for the 2006 Broadcasting Press Guild Awards: the programme for Best Drama, Eccleston for Best Actor (David Tennant was also nominated for ''Secret Smile''), Piper for Best Actress and Davies for Best Writer, but it did not win any of these categories.<ref>{{cite web
| year =March 31 2006
| url =http://www.broadcastingpressguild.org/awards/2006.html
| title =Broadcasting Press Guild Awards 2006
| publisher =Broadcasting Press Guild
| accessdate =2006-04-24
}}</ref>
 
Several episodes of the 2005 series of ''Doctor Who'' were nominated for the [[Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form]]: ''Dalek'', ''Father's Day'' and the double episode ''The Empty Child''/''The Doctor Dances''. At a ceremony at the Worldcon (64th World Science Fiction Convention) in Los Angeles on 27 August 2006, the Hugo was awarded to ''The Empty Child''/''The Doctor Dances''.<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://www.locusmag.com/2006/News/08_HugoCampbellWinners.html
| title = Hugo and Campbell Awards Winners
| work = Locus Online
| accessdate = 2006-08-27
|date= 2006-08-26
}}</ref> ''Dalek'' and ''Father's Day'' came in second and third places respectively.<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://cluebytwelve.net/Hugos2006/07_Dramatic_Short.htm
| title = Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form
| work = 2006 Hugo Award & Campbell Award Winners
| accessdate = 2006-08-28
|date= 2006-08-26
}}</ref>
 
The British Academy Television Awards (BAFTA) nominations, released on March 27 2006, revealed that ''Doctor Who'' had been shortlisted in the category of Best Drama Series. This is the highest-profile and most prestigious British television award for which the series has ever been nominated.  ''Doctor Who'' was also nominated in several other categories in the BAFTA Craft Awards, including Best Writer (Russell T. Davies), Best Director (Joe Ahearne), and Break-through Talent (production designer Edward Thomas). However, it did not eventually win any of its categories at the Craft Awards.
 
On Sunday May 7 2006, the main BAFTA award winners were announced, and ''Doctor Who'' won both of the categories it was nominated for, the Best Drama Series and audience-voted Pioneer Award. Russell T. Davies also won the Dennis Potter Award for Outstanding Writing for Television.<ref>{{cite news
|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4982648.stm
|title=Doctor Who is Bafta award winner
|publisher=BBC News
|date=2006-05-08
|accessdate=2006-05-08
}}</ref>
 
On April 22 2006, the programme won five categories (of fourteen nominations) at the BAFTA Cymru awards, given to programmes made in Wales. It won Best Drama Series, Drama Director (James Hawes), Costume, Make-up and Photography Direction. Russell T Davies also won the Sian Phillips Award for Outstanding Contribution to Network Television.<ref>{{cite news
  | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/4934216.stm
  | title=Doctor leads Bafta Cymru winners
  | publisher=BBC News
  |date=2006-04-22
  | accessdate=2006-04-24
}}</ref>
 
 
 
==Missing episodes==
Between about 1967 and 1978, large amounts of older material stored in the BBC's video tape and film libraries were destroyed or [[Wiping (magnetic tape)|wiped]]. This included many old episodes of ''Doctor Who'', mostly stories featuring the first two Doctors - [[William Hartnell]] and [[Patrick Troughton]]. Archives are complete from the programme's move to colour television (starting from [[Jon Pertwee]]'s time as the Doctor), although a few Pertwee episodes have required substantial restoration; a handful have only been recovered in black and white and several only survive as [[NTSC]] copies recovered from North America. In all, [[List of incomplete Doctor Who serials|108]] of 253 episodes produced during the first six years of the programme are not held in the BBC's archives.
 
Some episodes have been returned to the BBC from the archives of other countries who bought copies for broadcast, or by private individuals who got them by various means. Early colour videotape recordings made off-air by fans have also been retrieved, as well as excerpts filmed off the television screen onto 8 mm [[cine film]] and clips that were shown on other programmes. Audio versions of all of the lost episodes exist from home viewers who made tape recordings of the show.
 
In addition to these, there are photographs made by photographer [[John Cura]], who was hired by the BBC to document the filming of many of their most popular programmes during the 1950s and 1960s, including ''Doctor Who''. These have been used in fan reconstructions of the serials. These amateur reconstructions have been tolerated by the BBC, provided they are not sold for profit and are distributed as low quality VHS copies.
 
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 Doctor|Second]]. The only portion of this in existence, barring a few poor quality silent 8 mm clips, is the few seconds of the regeneration scene, thanks to it having been shown on the children's magazine show ''[[Blue Peter]]''. With the approval of the BBC, efforts are now under way to restore as many of the episodes as possible from the extant material.
Starting in the early 1990s, the BBC began to release audio recordings of missing serials on cassette and compact disc, with linking narration provided by former series actors. "Official" reconstructions have also been released by the BBC on VHS, on [[MP3]] [[CD-ROM]] and as a special feature on a DVD. The BBC, in conjunction with animation studio [[Cosgrove Hall]] has reconstructed the missing Episodes 1 and 4 of ''[[The Invasion (Doctor Who)|The Invasion]]'' (1968) in animated form, using remastered audio tracks and the comprehensive stage notes for the original filming, for the serial's DVD release in November 2006.


In April 2006, ''[[Blue Peter]]'' launched a challenge to find these missing episodes with the promise of a full scale [[Dalek]] model.<ref>{{cite web
A stage play, ''Doctor Who and the Daleks in the Seven Keys to Doomsday'', starring [[Trevor Martin]], played in the  early 1970s, and another theatrical adventure appeared as ''The Ultimate Adventure'' in 1989. Jon Pertwee reprised his role for the play's first run, and later shows featured [[Colin Baker]] as the Doctor. Baker and his co-star on the original series, [[Nicola Bryant]], also appeared in a ''Doctor Who'' radio drama, ''Slipback'', in 1985. The 1980s also saw a series of documentary films from [[Reeltime Pictures]], as well as independent productions licensed to use certain characters from ''Doctor Who'', the first being ''Wartime'' in 1987. Among others, ''Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans'' (1994) was a new outing for a classic ''Doctor Who'' race of villains, and this was followed by ''Downtime'' (1995), which saw the return of the Yeti, a 1960s monster.
| year =April 2006
| url =http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/bluepeter/content/articles/2006/04/19/doctor_who_feature.shtml
| title =Blue Peter — Missing Doctor Who tapes
| publisher =[[bbc.co.uk]]
| accessdate =2006-04-24
}}</ref>
{{-}}


Many of the original stars of the series appeared as different characters in several fan-produced video dramas in the 1990s. More recently, they have starred in officially-licensed audio dramas by [[Big Finish]], some of which have aired on the [[digital radio]] station [[BBC 7]]. The BBC produced original adventures for the Doctor on its website, notably ''The Scream of the Shalka'' (2003), starring [[Richard E. Grant]]. Meanwhile, a series of original novels saw Doctors past and present battling adversaries old and new first for Virgin Publishing in their ''New Adventures'' series (1991-1997), then [[BBC Books]] (1997-). [[Telos Publishing]] produced an award-winning range of [[novella]]s over 2001-2004.


==Spoofs==
===Spoofs===
''Doctor Who'' has been satirised and spoofed on many occasions by comedians including [[Spike Milligan]] and [[Lenny Henry]]. [[Doctor Who fandom|''Doctor Who'' fandom]] has also been lampooned on programmes such as ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' and ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]''.
The BBC itself produced two spoofs of ''Doctor Who'' for charity. In 1993, ''[[Children in Need]]'' featured ''[[Dimensions in Time]]'', which involved a crossover with several incarnations of the Doctor meeting characters from the British [[soap opera]] ''[[Eastenders]]''. This was publicised as a "pantomime" and is not considered 'canon' by fans. In 1999, ''[[Red Nose Day]]'' featured the comedy ''Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death''.
 
The Doctor in his fourth incarnation (the one most Americans associate the Doctor with) has been represented on several episodes of ''[[The Simpsons]]'', starting with the episode "[[Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming]]".
 
[[Jon Culshaw]] frequently impersonates the Fourth Doctor in the BBC ''[[Dead Ringers (comedy)|Dead Ringers]]'' series. Culshaw's "Doctor" has telephoned four of the "real" Doctors — Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy — in character as the Fourth Doctor. In the 2005 ''Dead Ringers'' Christmas special, broadcast shortly before ''[[The Christmas Invasion]]'', Culshaw impersonated both the Fourth and Tenth Doctors, while the Second, Seventh and Ninth Doctors were impersonated by [[Mark Perry (impressionist)|Mark Perry]], [[Kevin Connelly]] and [[Phil Cornwell]], respectively.
 
Less a spoof and more of a [[pastiche]] is the character of Professor Gamble, a renegade from the [[Time Variance Authority]], appeared in [[Marvel Comics]]' ''[[Power Man and Iron Fist]]'' #79 and ''[[Avengers (comics)|Avengers]] Annual'' #22. His enemies include the rogue robots known as the Incinerators. Professor Gamble was created by [[Jo Duffy]], [[Kerry Gammill]], and [[Ricardo Villamonte]].<ref>{{cite web
| year =[[2004-09-26]]
| url =http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/jagamble.htm
| title =Professor Justin Alphone Gamble
| publisher =The Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe
| accessdate =2006-06-22
}}</ref>
 
The BBC itself produced two spoofs of ''Doctor Who'' for charity. in 1993 [[Children in Need]] featured ''[[Dimensions in Time]]'', which featured a crossover with several incarnations of ''The Doctor'' meeting characters from the British [[soap opera]] ''[[Eastenders]]'', and in 1999 ''[[Red Nose Day]]'' featured the comedy ''[[Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death]]''. Children in Need has continued to feature mini-episodes of ''Doctor Who'' in its current incarnation, but unlike ''Dimensions in Time'' these are not intended as spoofs of the show but actually as part of its continuity.
 
There have also been many references to ''Doctor Who'' in popular culture and other science fiction franchises, including ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' ("[[The Neutral Zone (TNG episode)|The Neutral Zone]]", among others).


==Footnotes==
==Footnotes==
<div class="references-small">
{{reflist|2}}[[Category:Suggestion Bot Tag]]
<references/>
</div>
 
==References==
<div class="references-small">
* {{cite book
| author = [[David J. Howe|Howe, David J]] & [[Stephen James Walker|Walker, Stephen James]]
| year = 1998
| title = Doctor Who: The Television Companion
| edition = 1st ed.
| location = London
| publisher =  [[BBC Books]]
| id = ISBN 978-0-563-40588-7
}}
* {{cite book
| author = Howe, David J & Walker, Stephen James
| year = 2003
| title = The Television Companion: The Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to DOCTOR WHO
| edition = 2nd ed.
| location = Surrey, UK
| publisher =  [[Telos Publishing Ltd.]]
| id = ISBN 1-90388951-0
}}
</div>
 
==See also==
*[[TARDIS]]
*[[Douglas Adams]]
*[[Michael Hayes]]

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Ncuti Gatwa will take over the lead role of Doctor Who in 2023.
Doctor Who
British science-fiction drama series
First broadcasts
23rd November 1963 (original series)
12th[1] May 1996 (TV movie)
26th March 2005 (current series)
Creators
Sydney Newman
Donald Wilson
C. E. Webber
1960s-1990s
Starring
William HartnellPatrick Troughton
Jon PertweeTom Baker
Peter DavisonColin Baker
Sylvester McCoy • Paul McGann
2000s-
Starring
Christopher Eccleston
David Tennant
Matt Smith
Peter Capaldi
Jodie Whittaker
Ncuti Gatwa
(CC) Image: Gage Skidmore
Jodie Whittaker, the first female Doctor, at the 2018 San Diego Comic-Con International.
(CC) Photo: Shaun Smith
Peter Capaldi played the central character of Doctor Who from 2013 to 2017, portraying the Doctor as a more alien and ancient figure than his recent predecessors.

Doctor Who is a British science-fiction television series which started in 1963 and was relaunched in 2005 following its original 26-year run on the BBC, plus a 1996 television movie. On television and in other media, it features the adventures of a time-traveller known as the 'Doctor', who journeys through time and space, righting wrongs and fighting injustice, usually accompanied by friends known to fans as 'companions'.

The programme has lasted since 1963 partly because the Doctor, who has an alien physiology, is able to 'regenerate' when badly injured, allowing the lead actor to be recast. As of 2022, thirteen successive actors have played the lead role in the television series, as listed in the panel on the right, with others appearing as additional Doctors and stand-ins in some programmes and in unofficial or alternative productions. His/her time machine, the TARDIS, is famously disguised as an old British police box[2] and is bigger on the inside than out; some well-known adversaries include the Daleks - mutants inside pepperpot-shaped casings - and the Cybermen.

Doctor Who is executive-produced by Russell T. Davies, who took over from Chris Chibnall in 2022. Chibnall cast Jodie Whittaker as the first woman to play the Doctor in the official broadcast series. Her successor, David Tennant, returned to the role with Davies in 2022 for three forthcoming special episodes to celebrate the programme's 60th anniversary. Tennant previously played the Doctor from 2005 to 2009, and will be succeeded by Ncuti Gatwa in 2023. Gatwa will be the first non-white actor in the lead role, and is also the first to have been born after the original series ended in 1989.

Whittaker's predecessor, Peter Capaldi, took over at the end of 2013, and made a short cameo in the 50th anniversary special, Day of the Doctor, broadcast on 23rd November that year. Capaldi announced in January 2017 that he would step down from the role with the following special Christmas episode.

Currently, Doctor Who appears to have won a new generation of followers of varying ages: the UK children's magazine show Blue Peter, for example, reported that their 'Design a Doctor Who Monster' competition received the largest number of entries for any such event since 1993.[3]

History

1960s

In the early 1960s, Doctor Who was the eventual product of a desire within the BBC to bring science fiction to the small screen. Something was also needed to plug a gap in the Saturday early evening schedules of sport and music programmes; Doctor Who was created by Sydney Newman, Donald Wilson and C.E. Webber, and produced by the BBC's drama department as a family viewing, intended to be educational and exciting. With Verity Lambert at the helm, William Hartnell was cast as the grandfatherly, enigmatic 'Doctor' and the series was first shown on 23rd November 1963.

Doctor Who initially endured a rough ride, though audiences seemed positive on the whole. The series was only intended to run for a few episodes, but all that changed with the second serial - The Daleks. Terry Nation's script ushered in the mid-sixties 'Dalekmania' craze, with millions of children and not a few older viewers taking the evil Daleks to heart. The Daleks secured the show's future, and over time, appeared more regularly both in the series and in two cinematic productions starring Peter Cushing. More aliens appeared in the programme as successive production teams took the TARDIS further out into time and space.

By 1966, changes were afoot as audience ratings began to decline. If the show was to survive, a new lead actor was required; ultimately the concept of a mysterious 'renewal' process, explained as part of the TARDIS, was shown to change the Doctor's physical appearance and, to some extent, his personality. Patrick Troughton first appeared as the Doctor in 1966; over the next few weeks, it became clear that audiences were warming to his portrayal of the Doctor as a dishevelled figure with a determination to overcome the terrors of the universe, and the series entered its so-called 'Monster Era', with more alien creatures appearing.

1969 saw Troughton's departure; his final episode saw the Doctor captured and put on trial by his own people, the 'Time Lords', accused of meddling in the affairs of other races. His sentence was exile to Earth and a second change of appearance, heralding another radical change for the series.

1970s

The early 1970s saw the first episodes of Doctor Who broadcast in colour - a move which certainly suited the flamboyant third Doctor, played by Jon Pertwee as something of a dandy. This incarnation would emphasise the Doctor's love of technological wizardry and high-powered vehicles. Under outgoing producer Derrick Sherwin, the series moved to an Earth-based background where the Doctor would be aided by a military organisation known as the 'United Nations Intelligence Taskforce' (UNIT). However, new producer Barry Letts and script editor Terrance Dicks found the UNIT format too restrictive, and so gradually steered the Doctor's adventures to ever-lengthier forays back out into time and space. The 1970s were also the years when critics of the programme increasingly labelled the programme as too violent and unsuitable for children.

In 1974, Pertwee moved on, and was succeeded by Tom Baker, then the youngest actor to take on the part. At 40, Baker would go on to become the best-remembered Doctor to date, playing the role for a record seven years and depicting the Doctor as a more 'bohemian' figure, usually clad in a long coat, wide-brimmed hat and trademark scarf. By this time, Doctor Who was a mainstay of Saturday-evening entertainment, regularly pulling in over ten million viewers a week, and towards the end of the decade had become notably more humour-driven and aimed at younger viewers. Change, as ever, was just around the corner.

(CC) Photo: Tim Schnack
Cast and crew of Doctor Who reunited at a 1983 fan convention celebrating 20 years of the programme. Clockwise from top left: Tom Baker (fourth Doctor), John Nathan-Turner (1980s producer), Patrick Troughton (second Doctor), Peter Davison (fifth Doctor), and Jon Pertwee (third Doctor); with 'companion' actors Sarah Sutton, Mark Strickson, Carole Ann Ford, Elisabeth Sladen and Janet Fielding.

1980s

John Nathan-Turner became the producer of Doctor Who in 1980, at the time of Baker's final season. 'JN-T' would go on to produce the programme right through the 1980s, and in 1981 cast the well-known actor Peter Davison as Baker's much younger successor. Nathan-Turner was determined to court the series' fans by bringing back old adversaries, and also introduced more unconventional companions that were a sharp contrast with the mostly female, human occupants that until then had made up the majority of TARDIS travellers.

Davison would ultimately decide that three years was enough, and Nathan-Turner again had to find a replacement, casting Colin Baker in 1984. Baker played a loud and unashamedly arrogant sixth Doctor, and would ultimately complete only two seasons. The BBC considered Doctor Who vulnerable against competition on other channels, and possibly too violent. Creative differences among the production team reached a low point at this stage. A decision was taken in 1985 to 'suspend' Doctor Who, with effect from early 1986, but a fan campaign backed up by the media ensured its return in late 1987, with Sylvester McCoy in the role. McCoy's early clownish seventh Doctor became much darker and manipulative under the direction of script editor Andrew Cartmel; this era of the show also encouraged young and inexperienced writers, leading to some of the most innovative but controversial stories of the original series. By 1989, however, ratings had declined once more, and this time no media campaign backed the series when it was quietly killed off after 26 years.

(CC) Photo: Robynne Blume
Police box mounted with a modern surveillance camera located outside Earl's Court tube station in London. The TARDIS exterior has been based on this design since the first episode of Doctor Who in 1963.

1990s

Doctor Who survived throughout the 1990s as a series of original novels produced by Virgin Publishing, and later the BBC. In 1996, the Doctor returned to the small screen in a U.S.-backed TV movie which saw McCoy hand over to Paul McGann. The production fared well among UK audiences, but was poorly scheduled in North America and ultimately it failed to go to a series. McGann's Doctor was a gentler figure than his predecessor, and his adventures continued in print, in audio recordings, on radio and in comics into the twenty-first century, before he returned in a short 50th-anniversary production, The Night of the Doctor, in 2013.

2000s

Following the programme's 1989 cancellation and failure of the 1996 TV movie to secure a new series, the return of the show in 2005 was largely due to the persistence of the Controller of BBC One at the time, Lorraine Heggessey,[4] backed by the Controller of Drama Commissioning at the time, Jane Tranter,[5] and Mal Young, the Controller of Continuing Drama Series. The lack of support for further films had finally convinced the BBC that an in-house series was the best way to secure the future of the programme.[6] The 'new series' retained the TARDIS and other key features of the original 'classic series'. Going into production in 2004, it was executive-produced by writer Russell T. Davies and BBC Wales Head of Drama/BBC Television Controller of Drama Commissioning Julie Gardner. Davies cast the highly-experienced actor Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor, who declined to appear in a second run of adventures, leading Davies to cast David Tennant as the tenth Doctor, a role he relinquished in 2009 (his last appearance was broadcast on New Year's Day, 2010, but was of course recorded earlier).

2010s

After four series and several specials, Davies left the programme in the hands of Steven Moffat, a frequent writer for the series, who was made executive producer from series five onwards. Moffat cast first Matt Smith to play the Doctor,[7] then Peter Capaldi. Chris Chibnall replaced succeeded Moffat in 2018 and decided to cast the first woman in the role, Jodie Whittaker.

2020s

The new series had already been thinned out by years off, and this was exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Whittaker left in 2022, with two new Doctors announced to succeed her: David Tennant again for three 60th-anniversary specials, followed by Ncuti Gatwa.

Characters

The Doctor

(CC) Photo: Alun Vega
From 2005 to 2010, the Doctor was played by David Tennant, who brought a buccaneering and stylish emphasis to the role.

The Doctor is the main character in the series, but "information" is fragmentary and sometimes apparently contradictory. In real life these contradictions may be explained as script writers or editors not knowing or not caring what had been said in previous episodes. In-universe explanations include the emphatic statement by River Song, (apparently) his fourth wife, that "The Doctor lies." Various aspects of his/her character and past have been revealed, but much remains mysterious. Even their name remains an enigma; he has variously introduced himself as Doctor Caligari (The Gunfighters, 1966), Doctor von Wer (The Highlanders, 1966) and Doctor John Smith (various stories, 1970 on), and signed a letter Doctor W (The Underwater Menace, 1967). A fellow Time Lord addresses him as Thete (The Armageddon Factor, 1978; actually, as that Time Lord talks with a Cockney accent, this is pronounced Fee', with a glottal stop), which is later explained as derived from a nickname (The Happiness Patrol, 1988). In the dialogue he has only once been referred to as Doctor Who (The War Machines, 1966). Despite this, the character is usually referred to as 'Doctor Who' in the media, and indeed the programme's end credits included 'Who' for the first four Doctors and the Ninth, with just "The Doctor" for the others. Also on screen appeared the episode title "The death of Doctor Who" (1966) and the serial title Doctor Who and the Silurians (1970). A few explanations for the title have been presented over the years, such as the Doctor obtaining various doctorates (e.g. The Armageddon Factor, 1978). It is unclear whether they are a medical doctor or not, and early on he referred to himself as a scientist and engineer, "a builder of things" (The Aztecs, 1964).

In The Timeless Children (2020), much back-story was apparently revealed. It now starts with the discovery of a little girl of unknown alien origin with the power of regeneration, known as the Timeless Child. This power is transplanted into inhabitants of Gallifrey. The Child had many incarnations before his first appearance in the series as the Doctor but his memory was wiped and his regeneration as a boy therefore thought himself the first. This suggests that the family he grew up in, and mentions various "facts" about, is not his real one. His statement that he was half-human on his mother's side seems to be corroborated by the Master's finding that his DNA is half human, however.

It has been confirmed on a number of occasions that the Doctor had children and grandchildren, including his grand-daughter, Susan (An Unearthly Child, 1963), who was travelling with him in the TARDIS in the start of the programme. Although a previous marriage might be considered implicit in the existence of a grand-daughter, it is not explicitly mentioned until Blink (2007). Since that episode, the Doctor says, he has been married to Queen Elizabeth I of England (The End of Time, 2009; confirmed in The Day of the Doctor, 2013), and taken part in a legally invalid marriage ceremony with Marilyn Monroe (A Christmas Carol, 2010), and he is the bridegroom in the episode The Wedding of River Song (2011). In Death in Heaven (2014), his companion Clara, trying to convince a Cyberman that she is the Doctor, says she (he) has been married four times and had children and grandchildren.

(CC) Photo: Alun Vega
Matt Smith portrayed the Doctor as a professorial eccentric from 2010 to 2013.

Over the course of the programme's first few years, it becomes clear that the Doctor is not a human being, though in the 1990s and later, it was shown that he may have some human roots (Doctor Who, 1996), and that he is also able to become human (Human Nature, 2007). From 1969's The War Games, the Doctor's own people, the Time Lords, appeared regularly in the show, but in the 2005- production it was suggested that they had been destroyed in a 'Time War' with the Daleks, the Doctor's greatest adversaries. However, the series elaborates that the War exists 'time-locked' in another realm from which it is possible to escape.

The Doctor's physiology is rather different from humans: most spectacularly, as first shown at the conclusion of 1966's The Tenth Planet, is his ability to 'regenerate' - what he calls a "renewal" (The Power of the Daleks, 1966) or a trick for "cheating death" (The Parting of the Ways, 2005). In the latter story, for example, the viewer witness a tremendous burst of energy released from his body, and his features melt into those of a new individual - the Doctor's tenth incarnation, portrayed by David Tennant. It is quickly established that this new person is the same character, physically different and with some new personality quirks, but still the same adventurer (The Christmas Invasion, 2006). The process occurs again in the final episode of the tenth Doctor's era, this time shown capable of actually damaging the TARDIS as the Doctor regenerates into the form of Matt Smith (The End of Time, 2010). The programme established in 1977's The Deadly Assassin that only twelve regenerations are possible, giving thirteen incarnations, but both The Five Doctors (1983) and The Time of the Doctor (2013) show that the Time Lords can bestow a fresh cycle of regenerations. The Capaldi incarnation was the first in a new cycle for the Doctor, since John Hurt's was revealed to have been the ninth incarnation in Day of the Doctor (2013) and David Tennant's used a regeneration while managing to keep the same persona in Journey's End (2008).

Dialogue in The Doctor's Wife (2011) implied that Time Lords can change sex when they regenerate, and this was confirmed by the appearance of a female incarnation of the Master in Dark Water (2014). At present, the Doctor is female.

Companions

The Doctor rarely travels the universe alone, and many of their friends or 'companions' have shared their adventures over the years. The very first, Susan, was actually his grand-daughter, with her two human teachers completing the first TARDIS crew. Through curiosity, being rescued or taking up an offer to see the universe, many others followed over the years. In the 1970s, the Doctor was 'exiled' to Earth by his own people for a time, and became a reluctant member of UNIT, a special taskforce set up to counter alien threats. This 'UNIT family' memorably included Nicholas Courtney as its commanding officer, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. Other well-remembered companions of the 1970s included the accident-prone UNIT agent Jo Grant (Katy Manning), the leather-clad savage Leela (Louise Jameson), and Sarah Jane Smith, a journalist played by Elisabeth Sladen.

From 2005 onwards, the Doctor is initially travelling alone, but former London shop assistant Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) joins him at the close of the opening adventure, with others appearing later, and also characters who fulfilled the companion role for just one story. Steven Moffat introduced Amy Pond, played by Karen Gillan, initially as a young girl whose life was a mysterious time-altered jumble, with an increasing role for Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams, later Amy's husband. 2012 saw the introduction of Clara, played by Jenna Coleman;[8] her successor, Pearl Mackie as Bill, was announced in 2016.

(CC) Photo: Melinda Seckington
The Daleks are terrifying, Nazi-inspired creatures. Though the design has changed little since their first appearance in 1963, this larger-than-usual and somewhat cartoonish redesigned version of 2010 proved controversial with some fans. The front appendages include an eyestalk, interface device that uncannily resembles a sink plunger, and an exterminating weapon.

Villains

In Doctor Who, the universe is a dangerous place. A frequently occurring theme is that of various alien races attempting to conquer the Earth or otherwise threatening the human race, only to be foiled by the Doctor.

Best-known villains in the series and wider UK culture are the 'Daleks', mutants inside metallic pepperpot-like casings equipped with a gun and an appendage not unlike a sink plunger. Envisaged as representing the Nazis, their best-known characteristic is frequently screaming "Exterminate!" at anything un-Dalek prior to destroying anything that gets in their way of eliminating all life other than that which is Dalek. They have appeared numerous times in the series.

The other villains appearing comparable numbers of times are the Master (a fellow, evil Time Lord; also known as Missy, short for Mistress, in a female regeneration) and the Cybermen.

Until recently the Daleks regularly topped the polls for the most "popular" enemy. In recent polls, however, they have been overtaken by the Weeping Angels, who first appeared in 2007.

Format

For most of its 1963-1989 run, Doctor Who was broadcast in 25-minute episodes, with few exceptions. Initially the programme ran for most of the year, with only a few weeks' break between seasons. Over the decades, the number of episodes each year was reduced; about 26 was the norm for some years, though by the end of the 1980s this had fallen to 14. From 1966, each story had only one title, but originally individual episodes had separate titles, leading to considerable fan debate over what the overall titles for some of these early serials are. The very first story, for instance, is commonly known and marketed by the BBC as An Unearthly Child, which strictly speaking was only the title of the very first episode. Internal production documents have led some fans to conclude that the 'true' title is 100,000 BC.[9]

Episodes of 'new series' Doctor Who run for about 45 minutes, except for special (usually Christmas) adventures broadcast between series (or, in one recent case, in the middle of a series). Two- and three-episode stories usually have separate titles for each episode, just as in 1963-6. However, whereas stories from 1963-6 are commonly referred to by overall titles (though as just noted not always the same ones), this is not usually done with the recent stories; instead they are usually named by just concatenating their episode titles, e.g. Utopia/The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords. The increasingly involuted nature of plot arcs over the course of the new series has resulted in increasing disagreement among secondary sources on the grouping of episodes into stories. Since series two, the regular characters have had a reduced role in one or more episodes so the leads can concentrate on filming others.

Music and titles

The theme music for Doctor Who changed little for the first 17 years of the original series's run: composed by Ron Grainer and realised by Delia Derbyshire of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, this example of electronic music played over the original series titles, which were achieved using a howl-round visual effect. For the new series, a new arrangement was produced by Murray Gold, whose predecessors on the original series included Peter Howell, who created a faster, more dramatic version for the period 1980-1985; Dominic Glynn (1986); and Keff McCulloch (1987-1989). The 1996 film also had new theme music.

International distribution

Doctor Who was made available for broadcast outside the UK from the outset, and it is thanks to film copies sent to other countries that many early episodes now survive, since the original tapes were wiped for re-use. Some of these episodes were cut to conform with broadcasting standards in other nations, e.g. to remove violence. Several stories were sold to Arabic-speaking countries in the 1960s, with Arabic dubbing. Dubbed versions of adventures were also shown in other countries until the end of the programme in 1989, e.g. in French and German. The revived series has been distributed globally, and the BBC sought to build on these new markets by launching a 'global tour' to introduce Peter Capaldi's Doctor in 2014. This involved advanced screenings of Capaldi's first story plus Q&A sessions with the main stars, and took in Cardiff, Seoul, Sydney, New York, Mexico City and Rio de Janeiro.[10]

Spin-offs and alternative adventures

(CC) Photo: Sam Howzit
The robot dog K-9 appeared in Doctor Who and several spin-offs.

The original series had only one spin-off, which did not survive beyond its 1981 pilot. K-9 and Company starred Elisabeth Sladen and John Leeson, reprising their roles as former companions Sarah Jane Smith and K-9 (a robot dog voiced by Leeson; they had never appeared together in the series, though they did so subsequently). The new series has seen two spin-off dramas, Torchwood (2006-), starring John Barrowman, and The Sarah Jane Adventures (2007-2011) starring Elisabeth Sladen with appearances by K9, once again voiced by John Leeson. Like Sladen and Leeson, Barrowman appeared as a 'companion' in Doctor Who itself, starring as Captain Jack Harkness from 2005's The Empty Child onwards. Torchwood sees Harkness leading a team trying to prevent alien incursions via a 'time rift' running through present day Cardiff, while the Sarah Jane Adventures followed the adventures of investigative journalist Sarah Jane Smith. The latter production aired on Children's BBC with an intended audience of younger fans, while Torchwood was presented as a post-9 p.m. 'adult' take on the affairs of the Doctor Who universe. A third spin-off, this time starring K-9 in an independent UK-Australia co-production, K-9, first aired in 2010.

Several shorter adventures have also appeared as part of charity events and the Proms, a long-standing evening of music at the Royal Albert Hall. 2005 saw the immediate aftermath of the Doctor's regeneration into the form of David Tennant broadcast as part of the long-running charity event Children in Need. Similarly, a second short Children in Need adventure, Time Crash (2007), contributed to the series' continuity.

The Doctor also appeared in The Music of the Spheres as part of the 2008 Proms, in an 'interactive' adventure which saw the TARDIS linked to the Royal Albert Hall via a hole in time and space through which an evil 'Graske' emerged to threaten the audience. This was the Graske's second appearance in what has become a significant run of extra adventures available on digital channels or the internet, the first being Attack of the Graske in 2005.

Other media

In the 1960s, Terry Nation was unable to launch a U.S. spin-off series starring his creations, the Daleks, but they twice appeared on the big screen. Two televised adventures of Doctor Who were remade for the cinema: Doctor Who and the Daleks (1965) and Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150AD (1966) starred Peter Cushing as 'Doctor Who', an elderly human scientist who had invented a time machine. These two films, which were not part of the television series's continuity, did well at a time when 'Dalekmania' was at its height.

Nearly all the stories broadcast up to 1996 have been novelised, and annuals containing new stories appeared in print from early in the programme's broadcast history, as did comic strips. In the 1990s two new stories were broadcast on BBC radio (out of sequence: they featured the 3rd Doctor), though one of them actually appeared after its novelization as a result of delays.

A stage play, Doctor Who and the Daleks in the Seven Keys to Doomsday, starring Trevor Martin, played in the early 1970s, and another theatrical adventure appeared as The Ultimate Adventure in 1989. Jon Pertwee reprised his role for the play's first run, and later shows featured Colin Baker as the Doctor. Baker and his co-star on the original series, Nicola Bryant, also appeared in a Doctor Who radio drama, Slipback, in 1985. The 1980s also saw a series of documentary films from Reeltime Pictures, as well as independent productions licensed to use certain characters from Doctor Who, the first being Wartime in 1987. Among others, Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans (1994) was a new outing for a classic Doctor Who race of villains, and this was followed by Downtime (1995), which saw the return of the Yeti, a 1960s monster.

Many of the original stars of the series appeared as different characters in several fan-produced video dramas in the 1990s. More recently, they have starred in officially-licensed audio dramas by Big Finish, some of which have aired on the digital radio station BBC 7. The BBC produced original adventures for the Doctor on its website, notably The Scream of the Shalka (2003), starring Richard E. Grant. Meanwhile, a series of original novels saw Doctors past and present battling adversaries old and new first for Virgin Publishing in their New Adventures series (1991-1997), then BBC Books (1997-). Telos Publishing produced an award-winning range of novellas over 2001-2004.

Spoofs

The BBC itself produced two spoofs of Doctor Who for charity. In 1993, Children in Need featured Dimensions in Time, which involved a crossover with several incarnations of the Doctor meeting characters from the British soap opera Eastenders. This was publicised as a "pantomime" and is not considered 'canon' by fans. In 1999, Red Nose Day featured the comedy Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death.

Footnotes

  1. This is the date of its first broadcast, as an independent film in Canada; after further broadcast in the USA it was shown as part of the BBC series on the 27th.
  2. In an example of how British culture has taken the programme to heart, on the occasion when London's Metropolitan Police challenged the BBC's ownership of the police box design, they lost as the court ruled that people associate such boxes with time machines rather than the police. See BBC News: BBC Wins Police Tardis Case, 23rd October 2002.
  3. BBC: Monster Success. 18th August 2005. The winning entry appeared in 2006's Love & Monsters as the fearsome 'Abzorbaloff'. Its creator, 13-year-old William Grantham, reportedly gave the seal of approval to the BBC's interpretation, though remarked that "it was supposed to be the size of a double-decker bus".
  4. Born in 1956, Heggessey was amongst the first generation of BBC executives and Doctor Who contributors who had actually grown up with the original programme.
  5. BAFTA: 'In conversation with Jane Tranter'. 30th September 2008.
  6. Daily Telegraph: 'Doctor Who ready to come out of the Tardis for Saturday TV series' 26th September 2003.
  7. BBC News: 'New Doctor actor is youngest ever '. 4th January 2009.
  8. The actress was credited as Jenna-Louise Coleman in earlier appearances but has now changed her stage name.
  9. Research publications by David J. Howe, Mark Stammers and Stephen J. Walker hold to these behind-the-scenes titles, for example.
  10. DoctorWho.tv: 'Doctor Who: The World Tour. Accessed 21st August 2014.