TARDIS control room A TARDIS control room , also referred to as a console room , was any place on a TARDIS that contained a functioning control console . This flight deck also functioned as a point of exit . If the Doctor , the Master , the Monk and the Rani ' s TARDIS es were any indication , control rooms were typically circular and featured relatively open floor plans , in which the control console was vaguely , but rarely " precisely " , in the middle of the room . Control rooms also usually contained walls with roundel s , scanners for viewing the TARDIS exterior , and fairly sparse furnishings ; no known TARDIS control room allowed for the operation of the console itself from a seated position . Other than those generalisations , the shape , size and ambience of a control room , even within just the Doctor ' s TARDIS , was highly variable . A control room ' s look could be changed over time . The process by which an operator could transform a control room was fairly simple , once compared by the Fifth Doctor to changing a " desktop theme " . ( TV : " Time Crash " ) On some occasions , a TARDIS was shown to manage the change itself . In one instance , the Doctor regenerated with extreme violence , destroying much of his control room ; the TARDIS was able to completely redesign its interior and console room without the Doctor ' s assistance . ( TV : " The Eleventh Hour " ) By the time of his eleventh incarnation , the Doctor ' s console room had gone through at least twelve redesigns , though the TARDIS revealed that she had archived thirty versions . Once the control room was reconfigured , the Doctor ' s TARDIS archived the old design " for neatness " , effectively " curating " a museum of control rooms — both those in the Doctor ' s personal past " and " future . ( TV : " The Doctor ' s Wife " ) The Doctor ' s main console room . White . When the interior of the TARDIS used by the First Doctor was first seen by Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright , it was a bright white room , with roundels on the walls and a large computer bank taking up a major part of the " back " wall . These computer banks contained the fault locator and various systems relating to navigational control . ( TV : " An Unearthly Child " , " The Dead Planet " ) One wall consisted of white hexagons with roundels implemented on them . The Doctor was known to store brandy behind one of these roundels . ( TV : " Twice Upon a Time " ) The Third Doctor briefly changed the walls of the console room , adding concave " bowl " shaped structures over the regular roundels , with edges that jutted out from the wall , and featuring shallower , non - backlit roundels for the half - roundels at the tops and bottoms of the walls . One of the roundels served as a replacement for the scanner , a picture appearing in its centre . ( TV : " The Time Monster " ) He later reverted to the more traditional design , though with a more visible separation between the roundels and the wall behind them . ( TV : " The Three Doctors " ) The Fourth Doctor continued to use this console room , adding a wall featuring the shallow , non - backlit roundels first seen during his encounter with Kronos at some point during his travels with Sarah Jane Smith . ( TV : " Planet of Evil " , " Pyramids of Mars " ) Grey . After the Fourth Doctor and Leela returned to the main console room following some " refurbishment " , they began to use a markedly different console room . The walls of this room were a light shade of grey , and the roundels were significantly shallower , with a yellowish - beige design mimicking the ones found within the secondary console room . Corrugated grey columns were placed in various corners of the room , and the monitor was changed to a large , flat screen beneath an aperture that opened similarly to an eye , resting between the exit and the door leading further in . ( TV : " The Invisible Enemy " ) The Fifth Doctor continued to use this design . On orders from the Black Guardian , Vislor Turlough later damaged the Heart of the TARDIS enough to the point of the TARDIS nearly falling apart , ( TV : " Terminus " ) leaving the room darker for some time until repairs were done . ( TV : " Enlightenment " ) After the TARDIS ' s interior dimensions were damaged when it was stolen and piloted through a temporally unstable region , ( PROSE : " The Crystal Bucephalus " ) the interior was completely refurbished , giving the control room a sleeker , more high - tech appearance . The columns were now rectangular rather than cylindrical , and the roundelled walls now deeper inset . ( TV : " The Five Doctors " ) Following his regeneration , ( TV : " The Caves of Androzani " ) it would be used by his next two incarnations , the Sixth and Seventh Doctor s . ( TV : " The Twin Dilemma " , " Time and the Rani " ) After the Doctor , Ace and Hex did some " redecorating " to create the " Victorian " console room , ( AUDIO : " The Settling " ) this console room would be retired , briefly being reused as the console room of the original TARDIS after it materialised inside the " Black TARDIS " , which used the " Victorian " . The Black TARDIS was eventually destroyed , restoring the console room to its Victorian style . ( AUDIO : " Black and White " ) The console in this room was duplicated by a matter - manipulating entity that the Rani had enslaved to do her bidding , seeking to replace the console room of her own TARDIS after had separated it from the rest of her ship to save himself from a tyrannosaurus rex . ( TV : " The Mark of the Rani " ) For a time , this console was used as an Oracle by the population of Alexandria in a duplicated version of Ancient Egypt that the entity had created by accident . The people accessed its databanks to learn about future technology . The duplicate console was eventually connected to the Rani ' s TARDIS , allowing her to control her ship once again . ( PROSE : " State of Change " ) Beige . Following an erratic alteration to the TARDIS ' s interior dimensions caused by the Doctor ' s ring interfacing with the chameleon circuit icon system , the console room was once again reconfigured . Now featuring angular walls with non - angular roundels , the roof now resembled the canopy seen in the First Doctor ' s console room . ( COMIC : " The Chameleon Factor " ) Victorian parlour . After the Doctor , Ace and Hex did some " redecorating " of the TARDIS , the Seventh Doctor began to use a new control room , ( AUDIO : " The Settling " ) one that resembled a comfortable Victorian parlour , a design later inherited by the Eighth Doctor . ( TV : " Doctor Who " ) River Song was known to have loved this version of the room , ( GAME : " The Eternity Clock " ) while the Fourth Doctor and Charley Pollard found it in poor taste . ( AUDIO : " The Light at the End " , " The Stones of Venice " ) After later consoles , the Eighth Doctor would later restore or copy this console . ( AUDIO : " Storm Warning " , " The Great War " ) Description . Its comparatively vast interior was significantly larger than any that had come before or after . In this version , the console itself was not the sole focus of the room , but merely one of its many features . A vast bureau almost entirely covered one wall , its huge drawers filled with various objects the Doctor wished to retain . Surrounding the console itself were several metal half - arches , covered in circular holes resembling roundels . Clock s of all description — but mostly mechanical ones — littered various nooks and crannies . Far from the evenly lit , mostly white interior of the past , this control room had multiple light sources and an abundance of wooden surfaces , which allowed the Doctor to create a sense of warmth and even opulent comfort . At least a portion of the Doctor ' s books were in another alcove , forming a sort of " en suite " library . ( TV : " Doctor Who " ) Furniture , usually anathema to the Doctor ' s control rooms , was found in abundance here . Indeed , there was a large area immediately adjacent larger than the console area itself , which had several comfortable chairs , lamps , an ottoman — all of which conspired to give this control room the appearance of a cosy living room . Above it all was a scanner the size of the entire ceiling . The Doctor could flip a switch on his console and reveal astronomical phenomena on a grand scale . ( PROSE : " War of the Daleks " ) According to companion Will Arrowsmith , this console room was not " proper Victorian " but " pseudovictorian " and apparently heavily inspired by H . G . Wells ' story " The Time Machine " , though based more upon the movie adaptation rather than the novel itself . ( AUDIO : " Persuasion " ) Origin . The Doctor ' s original TARDIS ' console room would briefly revert back to its previous design after it dematerialised from the pocket dimension he had used to imprison the Elder God s Albert and Peggy , leaving Ace and Hex behind , while his newly grown " Black TARDIS " used its " mother " ' s Victorian configuration up until its eventual destruction . ( AUDIO : " Black and White " ) Following this , the TARDIS console room was restored to its Victorian layout , ( AUDIO : " Gods and Monsters " ) being briefly changed to a white configuration after To ' Koth used it to return to the home dimension of the Elder God s ( AUDIO : " Signs and Wonders " ) and ultimately reconfigured to its beige layout . ( COMIC : " The Chameleon Factor " ) However , accounts differed over how and why this version of the control room had been restored by the latter part of the Seventh Doctor ' s life . Amongst the competing theories were : Edifice . Following the TARDIS ' destruction after it was caught in a dimensional tear , ( PROSE : " The Shadows of Avalon " ) it reconstructed itself into a massive , bone - like structure that came to be known as the Edifice . Its console room at this stage was apparently based on the console room at the time of destruction , but appeared , like the rest of the ship , to be made of bone . This was due to the TARDIS containing the Faction Paradox biodata virus that had infected the Third Doctor after his early regeneration . ( PROSE : " Interference - Book Two " , " The Ancestor Cell " ) The console also manifested an ' avatar ' of the Third Doctor composed of the dust in the ship , apparently the manifestation of the Third Doctor who should have existed before the Faction changed his history . This console room was ' destroyed ' when the Doctor drained the Edifice of all its power in order to fire the ship ' s ancient weapon systems , erasing the Dust regeneration from history and forcing the TARDIS to spend the next century repairing itself . ( PROSE : " The Ancestor Cell " ) Later Eighth Doctor . The TARDIS completed its regeneration on Earth , after the Doctor exhausted its power in the destruction of Gallifrey . Its interior now resembled a mixture of the original console room and the library - like room often associated with the Eighth Doctor . ( PROSE : " Escape Velocity " ) The console was initially octagonal , ( PROSE : " The Slow Empire " ) but was later reconfigured to be pentagonal . ( PROSE : " Trading Futures " ) The Control Room eventually became hexagonal and contained four alcoves , two on either side of the main doors and the interior door . One contained filing cabinet s and chests , another led to the TARDIS library , the third contained a laboratory , and the fourth contained a kitchen ( which looked out onto an English countryside vista and was an exact replica of the kitchen in the Doctor ' s house in Kent ) . This interior was destroyed when the Doctor used the TARDIS to contain the explosion of a cold fusion generator created by the TARDIS ' original owner . ( PROSE : " The Gallifrey Chronicles " ) The Eighth Doctor was still using his original console room later in his life , ( AUDIO : " Storm Warning " , " Blood of the Daleks " , COMIC : " Music of the Spherions " ) including during the Last Great Time War . ( PROSE : " Natural Regression " ) War console . The War Doctor used a control room during the Last Great Time War , this time reminiscent of his first incarnation ' s control room with similar white walls and roundels , albeit with new coral support beams and a matching console , which incorporated many odds and ends , ranging from a device like a bicycle pump to a mallet used for percussive maintenance . This console was inherited by the Ninth Doctor . The entire room looked as though it had been built from spare parts . Examples included the wiring and circuitry laid out around the outside of the platform the console was set on , the platform itself was clean and tidy where as everything else was dirty . ( TV : " The Day of the Doctor " ) It had Police Box doors and the roof was a white dome rising from the walls . The control room was also linked to the other rooms in the TARDIS via an ascending staircase . ( PROSE : " Engines of War " ) Coral console . Early during the Ninth Doctor ' s life , the control room had been changed to its " coral " theme . This organic design was similar to its previous iteration used by the War and Ninth Doctors during and after the Last Great Time War respectively . However , the walls were now golden , with smaller , hexagonal impressions replacing the white roundels of the previous console room . This iteration of the console had apparently been available as early as the era of the Fifth Doctor , who disliked it , considering it worse than the " leopard skin " version . ( TV : " Time Crash " ) . This control room was inherited by the Tenth Doctor . ( TV : " The Parting of the Ways " ) The Eleventh Doctor reflected on this console as his " grunge phase " , ( TV : " The Day of the Doctor " ) which he grew out of . ( TV : " The Eleventh Hour " ) The console room consisted of a circular area , with a red - tiled ramp leading from the doors to a hexagonal platform . On the platform was a second , circular platform . The entire room was supported by six coral pillars arranged in a hexagonal pattern that met with the top of the time rotor at the room ' s ceiling . There were also several black wires connecting to the time rotor . Under the main platform were storage areas large enough for the Doctor to enter himself to retrieve items ( TV : " Army of Ghosts " ) , though some were packed to just below the top . ( TV : " The Unicorn and the Wasp " ) It was also dim , illuminated by the glow of green light from the time rotor column in the centre of the room and the lights in the hexagons on the walls . ( TV : " Rose " - " Doomsday " ) However , the glow was later made less noticeable as the Doctor used the other lights . ( TV : " The Runaway Bride " - " The End of Time " ) The console room was set on fire and at least one column destroyed by the Tenth Doctor ' s violent regeneration into his eleventh incarnation . Much of the wiring in the ceiling fell apart and parts of the console exploded . The damage to the console was extensive enough to cause the Door Release Lever to malfunction . The Doctor nearly fell out of the TARDIS . ( TV : " The End of Time " , " The Eleventh Hour " ) It was rebuilt by the TARDIS , but it decided to replace it with another version of the console room and archive the coral desktop . The Eleventh Doctor , Amy Pond , Rory Williams and the separated matrix of the TARDIS entered it when House had control of the TARDIS . House deleted the room for the power needed to leave the bubble universe he was in and enter N - Space . ( TV : " The Doctor ' s Wife " ) Copper console . Due to the violent nature of the Tenth Doctor ' s regeneration and the resultant damage to the TARDIS , it required time to repair itself . After the ordeal involving the Atraxi attempting to recapture Prisoner Zero had been resolved , the Eleventh Doctor returned to the TARDIS and , upon seeing the replacement control room , immediately took the TARDIS to the Moon and back to Earth to " run her in " , though accidentally travelled forward two years in doing so . Soon after taking Amy Pond on board for the first time , the new TARDIS console also provided the Doctor with a new sonic screwdriver , as the previous one had been destroyed . ( TV : " The Eleventh Hour " ) Changes to the control room included a new hexagonal console with instruments resembling a typewriter , a telegraph , a gramophone , a set of hot and cold taps , and a view - screen made by Magpie Electricals . A larger , circular , secondary view screen was set into one of the walls . ( TV : " The Beast Below " , " Victory of the Daleks " , " The Hungry Earth " , " Cold Blood " , " The Girl Who Waited " ) There were fewer roundels on the walls than in the past , and an area located underneath the main console which housed the Heart of the TARDIS . This version also possessed an actual phone , on which people could call the Doctor . ( TV : " Victory of the Daleks " , " The Big Bang " , " Bad Night " ) There was also a swing located under the glass floor the Doctor or anyone else could sit on to help with maintenance . ( TV : " The Vampires of Venice " , " Amy ' s Choice " , " The Pandorica Opens " , " Space " ) The railings originally were rectangular barred and black in colour , ( TV : " The Eleventh Hour " ) but later became round barred and gold . ( TV : " A Christmas Carol " , et al ) It had at least three floors : a lower section , the console room level , and the second level . ( TV : " The Eleventh Hour " ) Unlike its immediate predecessor , this console room had three visible exits to the rest of the TARDIS ; two on the lower levels and one via a set of stairs . ( TV : " The Eleventh Hour " - " The Angels Take Manhattan " ) Neon console . At some point after his separation from the Ponds , the Eleventh Doctor dispensed with the whimsical control room when his personality turned less jovial . Seemingly smaller , his new control room contained a console with more literal input devices and instrumentation , as well as a pair of secondary consoles on the railing of the main platform . The room was stark and mechanical , covered in tones of teal and aqua , and an overall cold mood to reflect a more depressed Doctor . ( TV : " The Snowmen " onwards ) This control room was inherited by the Twelfth Doctor , ( TV : " The Time of the Doctor " ) who proceeded to upgrade the console room by adding several items to it , including a reclining chair , bookshelves , candles , chalkboards , an additional staircase to the upper level and circular lights around the lower balcony . He also changed the lighting of the time rotor and room from its original aqua to orange , creating an ambient glow that added warmth to the room . Overall , he gave the once empty and stark control room a homelike sense of decor , provision , and sophistication . ( TV : " Deep Breath " ) Bill Potts described it as " like a really posh kitchen " . ( TV : " The Pilot " ) By contrast , the First Doctor disapproved of its aesthetic , calling it " a restaurant for the French " . ( TV : " Twice Upon a Time " ) The Twelfth Doctor later expanded his renovation of the control room further , adding glowing circles over the hexagonal roundels on the lower floor , echoing the circular roundels of his earlier control rooms . ( COMIC : " Day of the Tune " , TV : " The Magician ' s Apprentice " ) The control room that Clara Oswald knew featured aqua / orange lighting and time rotor , blue Gallifreyan markings on the ceiling and above the time rotor , hexagonal roundels on the lower console level , and Gallifreyan markings on the top level . Several tiny lights went around the walls of the room in a straight line , flashing sections at a time . The console featured two screens , and what seemed to be a radar on one face . There were two additional consoles around the edge of the main level . It was also much darker than the previous iteration . Except for the time rotor , all lights could be turned off when the Doctor was not inside . There were three levels : an upper balcony , which looked down over the console and had doorways off of it , the landing , which housed the console , seating , and main doors ( TV : " The Snowmen " ) and the lower level , which had several compartments , one of which contained clothing . The Eleventh Doctor assembled his new attire from the clothes held in this compartment . ( TV : " The Bells of Saint John " ) Another compartment allowed access to the Heart of the TARDIS and could expose objects placed in there to time wind s . ( TV : " The Time of the Doctor " ) There were four doorways to other sections of the TARDIS , two on the upper level either side of the main doors , and two on the lower level . One of the compartments under the console contained a ladder leading to a lower part of the TARDIS whilst one of the roundels on the lower section of the wall opened to reveal a passageway that led to the engine room at the centre of the TARDIS . ( TV : " Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS " ) This console room initially lacked a hat stand , a factor which even the Doctor hadn ' t noticed until asked about it by Clara . ( TV : " Hide " ) The Twelfth Doctor ' s redecorated console room once more included the hat stand , located on the lower level . ( TV : " Mummy on the Orient Express " ) The console eventually sustained heavy damage following the Twelfth Doctor ' s explosive regeneration , scattering sparks from various control surfaces , and even allowing a portion of the central console to separate from the time rotor . Such extensive damage to the control room made the TARDIS tip onto its side , causing the newly regenerated Thirteenth Doctor , and most of her book s , to fall from the ship , over Earth . Fire completely engulfed the control room right before the TARDIS vanished . ( TV : " Twice Upon a Time " ) Other control rooms . Second control room . There existed a small second control room which the Doctor claimed may have been the original console room ; a recorder and smoking jacket were found in here , implying both the Second and Third Doctor s visited this room but chose not to use it . It was simpler and more compact than the main control room , with the console resembling a desk , no visible time rotor and all the controls hidden behind what appeared to be wooden panelling . It had more subtle roundels , some of them framing stained glass windows . For a brief period , the Fourth Doctor used this as the main control room . ( TV : " The Masque of Mandragora " , " The Hand of Fear " , " The Deadly Assassin " , " The Robots of Death " , " The Invisible Enemy " ) While looking for a Kymbra Chimera which had invaded the TARDIS , the Sixth Doctor and Frobisher discovered it and Peri in the second control room . ( COMIC : " Changes " ) Ace discovered the second control room whilst exploring the TARDIS , and once again the Doctor battled the Mandragora Helix from inside it . ( COMIC : " Distractions " , " The Mark of Mandragora " ) At least one second control room was lost when the Seventh Doctor ejected the primary one from the TARDIS in an attempt to defeat Qataka , a megalomaniac who had downloaded her mind into the TARDIS , the Doctor having tricked her into thinking that the TARDIS life support systems were controlled from that console . However , Qataka was able to use the console to turn herself into the godlike Timewyrm . ( PROSE : " " , " " ) At one stage , the Seventh Doctor suspected that the secondary control room had been deleted , as he hadn ' t seen it in a while . ( PROSE : " " ) The Eighth Doctor went to the secondary control room after his memory was erased by ' trap . At the time , it resembled his original , white control room . ( PROSE : " The Eight Doctors " ) The Eighth Doctor was forced to retreat to this control room with Cardinal Ollistra , Doctor Eva Morrison and Commander Roxita when a group of Vashta Nerada infiltrated the ship , using a set of three spacesuits in this room as part of a plan to purge the Vashta Nerada from the TARDIS . ( AUDIO : " Day of the Vashta Nerada " ) Others . There also existed a tertiary control room , which was cool and dark grey with a small mushroom - shaped console . ( PROSE : " Nightshade " , " Sanctuary " ) Soon after the TARDIS became infected by an organic material from Tír na n - Óg , ( PROSE : " " ) the Doctor began adapting the Zero Room into another console room , disconnected from the Universe , so he could escape the effects . This control room / zero room was lost when the Seventh Doctor ejected it from the TARDIS in an attempt to destroy the sentient computer , Pool . ( PROSE : " Deceit " ) The Eighth Doctor used the quinary control room , which he thought that he hadn ' t used in a while , if ever , after Charlotte Pollard opened C ' rizz ' s absolver and a psychic being partially destroyed the main control room . Charley said it smelt like an old woman ' s parlour . ( AUDIO : " Absolution " ) During his tenth incarnation , the Doctor intimated that there may have been even more control rooms than were known to have been used . ( COMIC : " Tesseract " ) As Idris , the TARDIS told the Eleventh Doctor it had so far archived thirty control rooms . The Doctor argued he had only changed the desktop theme a dozen times and it couldn ' t archive things that hadn ' t happened yet . The TARDIS merely replied that " he " couldn ' t . ( TV : " The Doctor ' s Wife " )