The Five Doctors
Success of the program in America was sealed by personal appearances of cast members and production staff at science fiction conventions, and by the national airing on PBS of the 20th anniversary special "The Five Doctors" two days before the BBC. In November 1983, on the weekend after the airing of "The Five Doctors", four actors who played the Doctor (Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Peter Davison and Tom Baker) and many of those who played the Doctor's companions over the series' first two decades on television appeared at a standing-room-only event in Chicago, the start of a Thanksgiving Day weekend celebration that continues annually.