Title cards / Doctor Who Title cards for " Doctor Who " have either the episode title , writer ' s name or episode number superimposed over the opening title sequence or initial sequences of the episode . The following sub - sections have galleries illustrating the changes in font and format that the " Doctor Who " title card has gone through from the earliest title cards where each episode had an individual title to the 1980s - 2011 where each title card became more uniform as post - production methods became far more controlled . First Doctor . For Seasons 1 , 2 and most of 3 each episode had its own title , so each episode title card is shown . For most William Hartnell episodes the title card was superimposed over the action instead of the opening titles . Font : Grotesque from Stephenson Blake ( or variant ) . Animation : Fade in , Fade out . Beginning with TV : " The Savages " each story had an overall title followed by an episode number . For TV : " The War Machines " a special computer - style font was used , with each letter appearing one at a time , while flashing in and out of negative . While TV : " The Tenth Planet " had the title card appear and disappear amongst numerous letters . Font : Grotesque One Three ( TV : " The Savages " , " The Smugglers " ) / Eurostile ( TV : " The Tenth Planet " onwards ) Animation : Fade in , Fade out . Second Doctor . While having the title card superimposed over the action was still the norm , starting from TV : " The Macra Terror " it started being superimposed over the opening titles for some episodes . During the Patrick Troughton era several stories had special film sequences made for the title cards to be superimposed on to . In TV : " The Ice Warriors " where the title cards would appear burley , zoom out , become clear then disappear , over shots of glaciers and ice . In TV : " The Wheel in Space " they were superimposed over a mixture of the opening titles and shots of The Wheel . In TV : " The Seeds of Death " they were superimposed over shots of the Earth & Moon in space . And in TV : " The War Games " the were superimposed between shots of explosions & gunfire , flashing in and out . Font : Eurostile ( except TV : " The Ice Warriors " , " The War Games " ) Animation : Fade in , Fade out . Third Doctor . Starting with TV : " Spearhead from Space " the title card is superimposed over the opening titles , with TV : " Inferno " the only exception where the title card was superimposed over shots of a volcano erupting , with it appearing burly , zooming out , become clear then disappearing . Font : Futura Bold ( until TV : " The Green Death " ) / Futura Extra Bold ( TV : " The Time Warrior " onwards ) Animation : Fade in , Disappear . ( Exceptions : TV : Spearhead from Space started small and zoomed in towards the camera . Appeared and Disappeared . TV : " The Ambassadors of Death " which used a unique format : hard cut to the words " The Ambassadors " , zoom towards camera , then " of Death " appearing with a " sting " sound effect . ) Fourth Doctor . Font : Futura Extra Bold ( until TV : " The Seeds of Doom " ) / Della Robbia Bold ( TV : " The Masque of Mandragora " - TV : " The Horns of Nimon " ) / Helvetica Rounded Bold " with Upper Case " G " & Lower Case " t " , from VAG " ( TV : " The Leisure Hive " onwards ) Animation : Appear , Disappear ( TV : " Robot " – TV : " The Horns of Nimon " ) / Fade in , Fade Out ( ( TV : " The Leisure Hive " onwards ) Fifth Doctor . Font : Helvetica Rounded Bold " with Upper Case " G " & Lower Case " t " , from VAG " Animation : Fade in , Fade Out . Sixth Doctor . Font : Helvetica Rounded Bold " with Upper Case " G " & Lower Case " t " , from VAG " Animation : Fade in , Fade Out . Seventh Doctor . For the first time in the show ' s history the episode title and writer ' s credit appear on the same title card , this has now become the norm . Font : Univers Light Ultra Condensed ( story / writers credit ) & Eurostile Extended Bold ( " by " credit ) . Animation : Fade in , Fade Out . Ninth Doctor . Font : Futura Book Animation : Fades in / Fades out Tenth Doctor . Title Card fades in and out from 2005 - 2009 . During 2009 the title fades in , slightly zooms in and fades out . Font : Futura Book Doctor Who website title card . For the fourth series of " Doctor Who " , the BBC published title cards for each episode , on the official Doctor Who website . Eleventh Doctor . From " The Eleventh Hour " to " The Doctor , the Widow and the Wardrobe " , the title caption appears at the bottom for the first time since Season 24 . The font is SF Movie Poster and the text blurs in , grows slightly , blurs out . From " Asylum of the Daleks " onwards , the title and writer centred again with greater spacing , and with a filamentous animation . The font used is Contax Bold Small Caps , and has a mottled effect . TV : " The Night of the Doctor " is an Eighth Doctor story , borrowing the series 7b title card format used by the Eleventh Doctor in a darker vortex effect . Twelfth Doctor . Font : Heroic Condensed Medium Style : Series 8 : Typeface fluctuates between lowercase ( Episodes 1 - 4 ) and uppercase episode titles ( Episodes 5 - 12 ) and writing credits . Series 9 : Typeface standardised to lowercase lettering for both episode title and writing credit , the latter now being preceded by a ' Written by . . . ' credit . Series 10 : Typeface for episode title and writer ' s credit has become entirely capitalised , with the spacing between each letter being expanded . The writing credit has once again lost its preceding ' Written by . . . ' writing credit , now abbreviated to ' by . . . ' presented on a separate line to the writing credit . Animation : Series 8 - 9 ( " Deep Breath - The Return of Doctor Mysterio " ) - the title card appears behind the TARDIS as it shuffles off screen . Series 10 ( " The Pilot - Empress of Mars " ) - the title card fades in using a blurred fade effect - with the episode title appearing first , followed shortly by the writer ' s credit .