Doctor (Doctor Who)

The Doctor is the only known name of the central character in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who, and also featured in a vast range of spin-off novels, audio dramas and comic strips connected to the series.

Changing faces

The changing of actors playing the part of the Doctor is explained within the series by the Time Lords' ability to regenerate after suffering mortal injury, illness, or old age. The process repairs and rejuvenates all damage, but as a side-effect it changes the Time Lord's physical appearance and personality semi-randomly. This ability was not introduced until producers had to find a way to replace the ailing William Hartnell with Patrick Troughton and was not explicitly called "regeneration" until Jon Pertwee's transformation to Tom Baker at the climax of Planet of the Spiders. On screen, the transformation from Hartnell to Troughton was called a "renewal" and from Troughton to Pertwee a "change of appearance".

Related Topics:
Time Lord - Regenerate - William Hartnell - Patrick Troughton - Jon Pertwee - Tom Baker - Planet of the Spiders

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The actors who played the Doctor in the series, and the dates of their first and last regular television appearances in the role, are:

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• First Doctor - William Hartnell: (November 23, 1963–October 29, 1966)
• Second Doctor - Patrick Troughton: (November 5, 1966–June 21, 1969)
• Third Doctor - Jon Pertwee: (January 3, 1970–June 8, 1974)
• Fourth Doctor - Tom Baker: (December 28, 1974–March 21, 1981)
• Fifth Doctor - Peter Davison: (March 21, 1981–March 16, 1984)
• Sixth Doctor - Colin Baker: (March 16, 1984–December 6, 1986)
• Seventh Doctor - Sylvester McCoy: (September 7, 1987–December 6, 1989 in the series, and May 27, 1996, in the Doctor Who television movie)
• Eighth Doctor - Paul McGann: (May 27, 1996, in the Doctor Who television movie)
• Ninth Doctor - Christopher Eccleston: (March 26, 2005–June 18, 2005)
• Tenth Doctor - David Tennant: (June 18, 2005—?)

Despite the fact that the Doctor is supposed to be the same person throughout his regenerations, each actor to play the Doctor has purposely imbued his incarnation with distinct quirks and characteristics. These distinguish one incarnation from the other, not just in physical appearance but personality as well. For example, the Second Doctor was a superficially clownish and sometimes cowardly-appearing figure while the Third was an action-oriented adventurer and the Fourth more bohemian in his manner. The Fifth Doctor was a human, vulnerable figure, while the Sixth was bombastic, the Seventh at first clownish but later darker and more manipulative, and the more romantic Eighth Doctor possessed of an infectious enthusiasm about the universe.

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The Ninth Doctor was a more enigmatic figure, almost manic on the surface but hiding a deep sadness and loneliness. He had a colder, less forgiving personality, perhaps hardened by the Time War that has destroyed Gallifrey and left him the last of the Time Lords sometime prior to Rose. He was also haunted by his actions during the war, when he was responsible for wiping out ten million Dalek warships, an action that apparently also destroyed the Time Lords.

Related Topics:
Rose - Dalek

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At his core, however, the Doctor continues to be a heroic figure, fighting the evils of the universe wherever he finds them, even if his values and motives are sometimes alien. The Tenth Doctor's personality has yet to be revealed.

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No attempt is made to hide the regional accents of the different actors, with two Scottish actors (McCoy and Tennant) having now played the role (McCoy kept his accent; it remains to be seen if Tennant will). Only in the case of the Ninth Doctor, whose accent was clearly identified as being the same as that of residents of the North of England, was this ever addressed in the series (The Doctor's response: "Lots of planets have a North!").

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Save for the unseen transition between the Eighth and Ninth Doctors, the regeneration has so far always been worked into the story. Six regenerations (William Hartnell to Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee to Tom Baker, Tom Baker to Peter Davison, Peter Davison to Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy to Paul McGann, and Christopher Eccleston to David Tennant) have had the outgoing Doctor seen regenerating into his successor in a symbolic handing over of the role. Following is a list of how each Doctor to date has regenerated:

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• First Doctor: apparently succumbed to old age, steadily growing weaker throughout The Tenth Planet and collapsing at the serial's end. The writer's intent was that this was due to the energy drain from the planet Mondas, but this was not made clear in the transmitted story.
• Second Doctor: a forced regeneration and exile to Earth by the Time Lords in the closing moments of The War Games.¹
• Third Doctor: radiation poisoning from the Great One's cave of crystals at the end of Planet of the Spiders.
• Fourth Doctor: fell from the Pharos Project radio telescope in Logopolis.
• Fifth Doctor: spectrox toxaemia, contracted near the start of The Caves of Androzani.
• Sixth Doctor: suffered unspecified injuries when the Rani attacked the TARDIS and caused it to crash land at the start of Time and the Rani. ²
• Seventh Doctor: died on the operating table while undergoing surgery in the 1996 television movie.
• Eighth Doctor: not revealed as yet.³
• Ninth Doctor: cellular degeneration caused by absorbing the energies of the spacetime vortex from Rose, which she in turn had absorbed from the TARDIS, in The Parting of the Ways.

In the original series, with the exception of the change from Troughton to Pertwee, regeneration usually occurred immediately following the "death" of the previous Doctor. The changeover from McCoy to McGann was handled differently, with the Doctor actually dying and being dead for quite some time before regeneration occurred. The Eighth Doctor comments at one point that the anesthesia interfered with the regenerative process, and that he had been "dead too long," accounting for his initial amnesia.

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The 2005 series begins with the Ninth Doctor already regenerated, with no explanation given. In his first appearance in Rose, the Doctor looked in a mirror and commented on the size of his ears (Eccleston's ears are noticeably large), suggesting that the regeneration happened shortly prior to the episode. Russell T. Davies, writer/producer of the new series, stated in Doctor Who Magazine that he has no intention of showing the regeneration in the series, and that he believed the story of how the Eighth Doctor became the Ninth is best told in other media. In Doctor Who Confidential Davies revealed his reasoning that, after such a long hiatus, a regeneration in the first episode would not just be confusing for new viewers but also lack dramatic impact, as there would be no emotional investment in the character before he was replaced.

Related Topics:
2005 - Russell T. Davies - Doctor Who Magazine - Doctor Who Confidential

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After the BBC greenlighted a second series on the strength of the ratings for Rose, they further announced that Eccleston would step down from the role after the 2005 season. At first, the BBC cited fears of typecasting as a reason for his departurehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/news/drwho/2005/03/31/18233.shtml, though they later admitted they had failed to contact Eccleston before responding to the press, and had broken an agreement made in January not to disclose his impending departure.

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The BBC announced on April 16, 2005 that David Tennant would play the Tenth Doctor.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/4450285.stm In that same press release, Davies commented "Regeneration is a huge part of the programme's mythology, and I'm delighted that new, young viewers can now have the complete Doctor Who experience, as they witness their hero change his face."

Related Topics:
April 16 - 2005 - David Tennant

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Although early reports referenced the 2005 Christmas special as Eccleston's final performance,http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/4395849.stm the changeover occurred in the final episode of the 2005 series. It remains to be seen whether the Ninth Doctor will appear again.

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The Doctor's regenerations

It was established in The Deadly Assassin that a Time Lord can regenerate twelve times before permanently dying, though as with most such "rules" there were occasionally exceptions (for more on this see Time Lord).

Related Topics:
The Deadly Assassin - Time Lord

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In The Brain of Morbius (produced shortly before Assassin), it was implied through visual images displayed during a mental battle between the Doctor and Morbius that the Doctor had at least eight incarnations prior to the First Doctor. However, multiple dialogue references throughout the series (particularly in The Three Doctors and The Five Doctors) contradict this, as well as the fact that the Doctor has regenerated five times since Peter Davison. Explanations by fans have included theories that the images were of Morbius's previous incarnations or that they were false images induced by the Doctor. The Doctor Who novels have suggested that these may have been faces of the Other, a figure from Gallifrey's ancient past and the genetic predecessor of the Doctor (although being from the spin-off novels, the canonicity of this character is debatable).

Related Topics:
The Brain of Morbius - The Three Doctors - Other - Canonicity

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The Doctor's regenerations are usually as a result of his previous incarnation sustaining mortal injury or (in one case) having the regeneration forced on him by the Time Lords. Other Time Lord regenerations, like Romana's, have not been as dramatic or painful. A commonly held piece of fan continuity (referenced in the novel The Man in the Velvet Mask by Daniel O'Mahony) is that Time Lords only grow their second heart during their first regeneration.

Related Topics:
Romana - Fan continuity

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Since the regeneration from Troughton to Pertwee, it has become common for the Doctor to experience a period of instability and partial amnesia following regeneration. Some post-regeneration experiences were more difficult than others. In particular, the Fifth Doctor began reverting to his previous personalities and required the healing powers of the TARDIS's "Zero Room" to survive. The Sixth Doctor experienced extreme paranoia and flew into a murderous rage, nearly killing his companion. The Eighth Doctor not only experienced amnesia, but some fans attribute his romantic actions towards his companion to post-regeneration trauma. It has yet to be revealed what, if any, post-regeneration problems the Ninth Doctor experienced or the Tenth Doctor will experience.

Related Topics:
Paranoia - Amnesia

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In the Sixth Doctor story arc The Trial of a Time Lord, a Time Lord with the title of the Valeyard (played by Michael Jayston) was revealed to be a potential future Doctor, existing somewhere between his twelfth and final incarnations and embodying all the evil and malevolence of the Doctor's dark side. The Valeyard was defeated in his attempt to actualize himself by stealing the Sixth Doctor's remaining regenerations, however, and so may never actually come to exist.

Related Topics:
The Trial of a Time Lord - Valeyard - Michael Jayston

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The idea of an "in-between" version of the Doctor has its precedents. In Planet of the Spiders, a Time Lord's future self (described as a "distillation" of the future incarnation) was shown to exist as a corporeal projection that assisted his then-current incarnation. In Logopolis, a mysterious white-cloaked figure known as the Watcher assisted in the transition between the Fourth and Fifth Doctors. Nyssa commented that the Watcher "was the Doctor all the time," but there is no real evidence to back up this assertion and the actual nature of the character has never been made clear.

Related Topics:
Planet of the Spiders - Corporeal projection - Logopolis - Nyssa

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The revelation in the 1996 television movie that the Doctor was half-human proved controversial among fans, and some have suggested that only the Eighth Doctor was half-human due to the particularly traumatic circumstances of his regeneration, rather than the Doctor having been half-human all along. (The evidence for or against this in the series is, typically, equivocal.) The Time Lord ability to change species during regeneration is referenced by the Eighth Doctor in relation to the Master in the television movie, and is supported by Romana's regeneration scene in the 1979 serial Destiny of the Daleks. The Daleks also implied during the events of The Daleks' Master Plan that the First Doctor's humanoid form is not his actual appearance. The spin-off novels have also tried to explain this revelation in various ways, suggesting that the Doctor retained some human DNA from a time when he transformed himself to see what living as a human was like (Human Nature by Paul Cornell). However, as noted above, the canonicity of the novels is uncertain. The new series has not made any allusions to mixed parentage, only referring to the Doctor as "alien?.

Related Topics:
1996 - Master - 1979 - Destiny of the Daleks - Dalek - The Daleks' Master Plan - DNA - Paul Cornell

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The Doctor's age

The Doctor's age has been stated (or estimated) in several stories. In the serial The Tomb of the Cybermen the Second Doctor told Victoria that he was around 450 years old. The Second Doctor was also seen to carry around a 500-year diary in which he kept notes.

Related Topics:
The Tomb of the Cybermen - Victoria

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By the time of The Brain of Morbius, the Fourth Doctor was stated to be 749 years old ("something like 750 years" in the prior Pyramids of Mars). In The Ribos Operation, the first Romana said the Doctor was 759 years old and had been piloting the TARDIS for 523 years, making him 236 when he first "borrowed" it. In Revelation of the Daleks the Sixth Doctor was 900 years old, and in Time and the Rani, the Seventh Doctor's age was the same as the Rani's, namely 953. In Remembrance of the Daleks the Seventh Doctor said that he had "900 years? experience" rewiring alien equipment. In the 1996 television movie, the Eighth Doctor kept a 900-year diary in his TARDIS.

Related Topics:
The Brain of Morbius - Pyramids of Mars - The Ribos Operation - Romana - Revelation of the Daleks - Time and the Rani - Rani - Remembrance of the Daleks

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The large gap in years between the Fourth and Sixth Doctors can be partially covered by the fact that the Fourth Doctor travelled alone for a time or with an equally long-lived Time Lady as a companion, allowing for several decades or centuries of untelevised stories to take place. Such gaps occur between the stories The Deadly Assassin and The Face of Evil when he travelled without a companion and between The Invasion of Time and The Ribos Operation when he was accompanied by K-9. Another potential gap occurs between The Horns of Nimon and The Leisure Hive when he travelled with Romana. The Face of Evil also revealed that the Fourth Doctor travelled on his own for a time during the events of Robot.

Related Topics:
The Deadly Assassin - The Face of Evil - The Invasion of Time - The Ribos Operation - K-9 - The Horns of Nimon - The Leisure Hive - Romana - Robot

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While the Fifth Doctor was never seen without a companion, there was a period where he was travelling with Nyssa of Traken, who, not being human, may not have aged normally. There was also a gap just after The Trial of a Time Lord which can account for the difference in ages between the Sixth Doctor in Revelation of the Daleks and the Seventh Doctor in Time and the Rani.

Related Topics:
Nyssa of Traken - The Trial of a Time Lord

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In the spin-off novels, the Seventh Doctor celebrated his 1000th birthday in Set Piece by Kate Orman, and the Eighth Doctor declared his age to be 1,012 in Vampire Science by Orman and Jonathan Blum. The Eighth Doctor also spent nearly a century on Earth during a story arc spread over several novels.

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In the 2005 series, the Doctor's age is stated in publicity materials as 900 years, and in Aliens of London, he says, "Nine hundred years of time and space, and I've never been slapped by someone's mother." Rose follows up by asking him if he is 900 years old, and he replies affirmatively. He restates his age as 900 in The Doctor Dances.

Related Topics:
2005 - Aliens of London - Rose - The Doctor Dances

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How this figure is to be reconciled with the Doctor's age in the rest of the series and other (arguably non-canon) sources is uncertain. Possibilities include the Doctor estimating his age or lying about it out of vanity (in The Ribos Operation he gave his age at 756, although Romana insisted it was 759).

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Another possibility is that the Doctor is simply referring to the years he has been travelling for simplicity's sake, as opposed to his physical age (in The Empty Child he speaks of 900 years of "phone box" travel) which, if he began at 236, would make him 1,136 years old. This figure does fit roughly with the Eighth Doctor's period as chronicled in the spin-off media. Of course, all this also presupposes that the figures given correspond to Earth years and not Gallifreyan.

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Changing fashions

The Doctor's clothing has also been equally distinctive, from the First Doctor's distinguished Edwardian suit, to the Second Doctor's slightly rumpled, Chaplinesque appearance to the frilly shirts and velvet coats of the dashing Third Doctor's era. The Fourth Doctor's long coat and trailing scarf accentuated his bohemian image, the Fifth's cricketer's outfit suited to his youthful, more aristocratic air and the Sixth's multi-coloured and mismatched jacket reflecting the excesses of 1980s fashion. From the Fourth Doctor onwards, the question mark became a motif of the Doctor's clothing, usually on the shirt collars or in the case of the Seventh Doctor, on his jumper.

Related Topics:
Edwardian - Chaplinesque - Cricket - 1980 - Question mark

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The Seventh Doctor's clothing was more subdued, also sporting an umbrella with a question mark for a handle and in later seasons a dark brown jacket as his personality grew darker and more mysterious. The Eighth Doctor harked back to the Edwardian dandy of earlier Doctors, and had a Byronesque air about him appropriate to his more Romantic personality.

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In contrast to the distinctive looks of his predecessors, the Ninth Doctor wore a non-descript, worn black leather jacket, V-neck shirt and dark trousers. Eccleston stated that he felt that such definitive "costumes" were passé and that the character's trademark eccentricities should show through their actions and clever dialogue, not through gimmicky costumes. Despite this, there is a running joke about his character that the only piece of clothing he changes is his shirt, even when trying to "blend into" an historical era. (However, images of the Ninth Doctor seen in Rose from events such as the launch of the Titanic show that he does on occasion change his style of dress to match the times.)

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When the Tenth Doctor regenerated at the end of the 2005 series he was still dressed in the clothes of the Ninth Doctor. However, as seen in a BBC promotional photograph, the Tenth Doctor will be dressed in a brown pinstripe suit with tie, a light brown long coat and tennis shoes.

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Reprising the role

On a few occasions, previous Doctors have returned to the role, guest-starring with the incumbent:

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• Jon Pertwee and Patrick Troughton with William Hartnell in a minor role in The Three Doctors. Originally Hartnell's role had been intended to be more extensive, but his health had deteriorated to the extent that he could only make a limited appearance. In the end, it turned out to be his last television role.
• Troughton, Pertwee with Davison in The Five Doctors, the twentieth anniversary special, with another actor, Richard Hurndall, standing in for the late William Hartnell. The story began with a clip featuring Hartnell. Tom Baker declined to appear, feeling that the role came too soon after he had left the programme (a decision he later said he regretted) and the narrative was reworked to use clips from Shada, an intended six-part story from the Fourth Doctor's era that was never completed due to industrial action. A waxwork dummy of Baker was used in the publicity photographs. Shada was remade in 2003 as an animated webcast and audio play with Paul McGann and a different cast.
• Patrick Troughton with Colin Baker in The Two Doctors.
• Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Colin Baker, Peter Davison and Sylvester McCoy — with rubber dummy heads standing in for William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton — in Dimensions in Time, a charity special in aid of Children in Need in 1993, the programme's 30th anniversary year.
• Sylvester McCoy in the 1996 television movie, to hand over the role to Paul McGann.

Other actors have portrayed the character of the Doctor outside of the television series. For details on this see under Adaptations and other appearances in the main article and Doctor Who spin-offs.

Related Topics:
Adaptations and other appearances - Doctor Who spin-offs

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For a list of all actors who have played The Doctor see List of actors who have played the Doctor.

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