Eighth Doctor

Grumpy but kindhearted much like his original incarnation, the Eighth Doctor started life as a grumpy and snappish individual, but he became more softer and approachable as time went on. While the Doctor was no longer a manipulator, he occasionally was forced to slip back into the role. This incarnation initially travelled with Kate Creevy but eventually she left on bad terms with him and the Doctor was joined by Bernice Summerfield, an archaeologist from the 26th Century, & David Lyons, a UNIT soldier who he worked with when fighting the Daleks.

After many adventures with his companions, the Doctor finally regenerated when he was shot multiple times when he tried to escape back to the TARDIS.

## Eighth Doctor

### Companions

Kate CreevyBernice Summerfield

David Lyons

### Cause of Regeneration

Gunned down while attempting to flee to the TARDIS

## Biography

After his Immune system was destroyed by Seekers of Doom Virus, the Seventh Doctor painfully regenerated in the arms of his companion Kate. The Outbreak (TV Story)

The Doctor was dazed and confused after his regeneration and Kate became scared after his regeneration, despite the state he was in the Doctor fought Davros and the Daleks. The Doctor discovered the Daleks trying to take over the Earth by kidnapping humans and making them into Dalek mutants, he, Kate and UNIT destroyed the Dalek base, destroying the Daleks and seemingly killing Davros, before he left in the TARDIS he checked to see if Kate was ok with his new incarnation to which she was. Survival of the Daleks (TV Story)

Taking Kate into a cabin after she fell into a lake, they witnessed a series of deaths amongst the group of academics staying there, and discovered that they were experimenting with time with a device they called "the Bartholomew transactor", so they could send a message back to warn their past selves about misdiagnosing a deceased girl named Edie O'Neil. However, the interference with the timeline caused Edie to be transformed into a zombie-like state of limbo, and the Doctor realised that the misdiagnosis had never been genuine, and that the whole series of events were part of a time experiment conducted by Major Dickens.

Intending to correct the academics' mistake, the Doctor travelled back to undo the damage, but was unable to bring himself to kill the child, allowing the zombie-Edie to come into being. Returning to the present, the Doctor discovered that the academics were now all deceased, and, theorising that the zombie-Edie was responsible for the deaths, keeping herself "alive" through her own use of the transactor, the Doctor and Kate departed. Night Thoughts (TV Story)

The Doctor began tracking an alien signal and tracked it to London in 1941. The Doctor and Kate befriended Cody McBride who'd seen the sphere crash land and after investigating the Peddler Institute, they discovered that the Cybermen had arrived on Earth from the 30th Century and were attempting to convert everyone into Cybermen. The Doctor eventually found his way to the Cybermen's base of operations and rescued a captured Kate. George Limb ended up using one of the Cybermen's time machines to escape into the future. The Doctor and Kate managed to escape into the TARDIS. Illegal Alien (TV Story)

The Doctor returned to his ancestral home; the House of Lungbarrow. There, he was accused of murder, and was forced to uncovered dark secrets from his own past in a bid to clear his name. After clearing his name, the Doctor bid farewell to Romana, Leela and two versions of K9. Lungbarrow (TV Story)

Contemplating a solitary retirement, the Doctor travelled to Crook Marsham, where he and Kate were forced to prevent the reawakening of an ancient sentience which fed on nostalgia that had been trapped within the Earth since its formation. The Doctor tricked it into feeding off a supernova, trapping it in the resulting black hole. Nightshade (TV Story)

The Doctor and Kate then travelled to Belgium in 1914 and discovered that the Angels of Mons were actually a war race known as the Kalron, the Doctor used the angels of mons legend as a mission for the Kalron and after they completed it the Doctor banished them from Earth. The Angels of Mons (TV Story)

landing on a woodland planet housing nothing but a castle, the Doctor and Kate explored the long abandoned castle where they found an expedition crew who’s ship crashed on the planet. Everyone explored the house and Kate opened a chest with nothing inside, the Castle became haunted with spirits and paranormal activities soon took place. The Doctor learned the castle was visited by three priests who gave the house an exorcism and trapped the spirits in a chest and the Doctor realises that the ghosts will always be a threat, the crew soon began to be taken over by the ghosts and they killed the possessed crew members, the Doctor used an ancient Gallifreyan ritual to banish the ghosts forevermore and he comforted Kate who believed she created a chain reaction of events which led to the crew being killed. The Nefarious Castle (TV Story)

Visiting Salcombe in 1965, the Doctor and Kate found the people to be un-eased due to all the graves being empty, where they found an alien race known as the Zangrox were responsible. The Zangrox fed off madness and they found the best way to make people go mad was by re-animating the dead so people would see their dead loved ones walk around the town, the Doctor defeated the Zangrox by blowing up their main ship which also killed the deceased who were brought back to life. The Returned Lives (TV Story)

On their travels, the Doctor and Kate met Kadiatu Lethbridge-Stewart in the 22nd century whilst combatting an entity the Doctor nicknamed Fred which was attempting to enter their universe using the Sol Transit System. Transit (TV Story)

Following the funeral of Kate's friend Julian Milton, the Doctor brought the TARDIS to 2570 Heaven, where the pair became friends with a group called the Travellers. The Doctor then helped Professor Bernice Summerfield open the way to a Heavenite observatory, and deciphered writing they found to discover a plot by the Hoothi to use Heaven to create an army of the dead. Entering Puterspace, the Doctor was attacked by the Vacuum Church, working in league with the Hoothi, and forced to relive the slow death of his third incarnation, until he was freed by Christopher, a psychic Traveller.

Realising the danger the falling Hoothi fibres would cause, the Doctor ordered Bernice to quickly unearth the observatory, which could detect otherwise invisible Hoothi spheres, and, knowing that the pyrokinetic Traveller Jan Rydd, whom Kate had fallen in love with, had been infected by a fibre, the Doctor ordered him to travel to the sphere. After using Brother Phaedrus of the Vacuum Church to summon the sphere to Puterspace, the Doctor used Christopher to send a message to Jan to ignite the sphere, killing himself in the process. The Doctor found that Kate was disgusted with him for sacrificing Jan, and, refusing to forgive him, demanded to be taken home, when she arrived home Kate said to the Doctor "You're not the Doctor I knew.” Bernice, though with some reluctance, agreed to travel with the Doctor in Kate's place, under the condition that he didn't treat her the way he did Kate, and also told him to call her "Benny". Love and War (TV Story)

The Doctor and Bernice arrived on Earth where they helped UNIT fight the Daleks in the last battle in the Dalek Civil War, they became friendly with one of the soldiers named David Lyons and after the Daleks were defeated the Doctor allowed him to join the TARDIS. Conflict of the Daleks (TV Story)

Whilst in space an entity drained the TARDIS of power and the trio had to go and restore it, they got separated along the way and would have to cope on their own. The Doctor had visions of Bernice and David dying after being killed by Kate out of revenge due to what he did to Jan, Bernice had a mental breakdown due to disembodied voices telling her she would die if she stayed with the Doctor and David heard similar voices telling him to kill the Doctor and he experienced visions of him ageing to death as he walked on through the corridors. They all found each other and restored power back to the TARDIS and the Doctor banished the entity. The Terror Inside (TV Story)

Landing on an alternate Earth where the Silurians had killed the Doctor in his third incarnation, the TARDIS trio lost the TARDIS and became embroiled in an inter-species conflict. Managing to escape in his parallel counterpart's TARDIS, the Doctor was forced to destroy the alternate universe in order to generate the energy needed to restore the original. Realising that someone was meddling with his own timeline, the Doctor set out to discover who. Blood Heat (TV Story)

The TARDIS trio met Christián Xochiti Alvarez who claimed to have met them, much to the trio's confusion, together they defeat the aztec god Huitzilin. The Left-Handed Hummingbird (TV Story)

The TARDIS then landed in the 11th century and due to his technology the Doctor was sentenced to death by Morgaine for being a wizard, he later claimed the title of Merlin and banished Morgaine to set everything in motion for his past incarnation. The Battle of Merlin (TV Story)

The Doctor was brought in by Romana to investigate her political rival in the Gallifreyan election, Arkadian. He discovered that Arkadian won, he’d abolish all Gallifreyan chapters and either kill or imprison all political enemies, with the help of Romana, Leela and K-9 mark I and II, the TARDIS trio exposed Arkadian and he was imprisoned leading to Romana’s election as president. The Fateful Election (TV Story)

The Timelords brought Doctors 3-8 to Gallifrey as the Daleks were attacking his timeline and the different incarnations had to fight the Daleks at different points in time, the Doctor, Bernice and David landed in London, 1993 and tried to stop a full-on dalek invasion where the Doctor, theorised that because history has somewhat been changed they’re DNA must be unstable and with help of the TARDIS he sent a temporal rift around the Earth, which aged the Daleks by centuries killing them.

The Doctors landed on the mothership where they confronted the Emperor Dalek and the Doctors teamed up and stopped the Daleks from what they were doing and destroyed the equipment for the Dalek time portals and rescued their companions.

They went back to Gallifrey and Romana told them that the Omega Event is still active and it was revealed to be the work of Tyrell who wanted to cause chaos and see time suffer, he tried to get away but was arrested by the CIA and all the Doctors went back to their rightful times and places, the Eighth Doctor then went to see Ian Chesterton again after many years. The Champion of Time (TV Story)

The Doctor was persuing the criminal Nic Reece, when he found himself back on Peladon, who were currently working with the Galactic Federation to bring peace to the planet. Not long after Ancient Relics were stolen from the citadel and the members of the Galactic Federation were blamed. While investigating the Doctor believed the Ice Warriors to have been responsible, however the Doctor was soon arrested and framed for the crime.

The Doctor eventually cleared his name and discovered that an evil intelligence trapped inside a Diadem had influenced an expedition group led by Nic Rease into unleashing it, where it possessed the body of Siabohn Sadler before eventually dying. After this, the Doctor Benny and David made their goodbyes, before leaving in the TARDIS. Legacy (TV Story)

The trio then landed in an alternate 1964 in London, they discovered the outcome of World War II to be different as the Nazis won the war and the Doctor soon discovered this to be the work of the Meddling Monk, he later defeated the Monk and restored time. The Darkest Future (TV Story)

The TARDIS landed on Crillee where people were unhappy with the democratic government becoming increasingly unpopular and a military coup about to take place, the Doctor didn’t want to get involved but David decided to help the government and tried to warn them but the Doctor managed to stop him in time and the coup was forced to happen. Shattered Promises (TV Story)

David decided to take revenge on the Doctor, manipulating him into committing murder in order to make him pay for his amoral actions, the Doctor later forgave him for what he had done. Lucifer Rising (TV Story)

The trio then visited Olleril during it’s annual tragedy day and they discovered that the society was being controlled by the cult of Luminus, led by a young boy named Crispin. The Doctor later tricked the Friars of Pangloss into permanently separating their minds from their bodies. This caused the planets in their galaxy to cool down, and allowed their slaves to destroy their mindless bodies. Tragedy Day (TV Story)

The trio then landed on a planet where the Doctor discovered a scientific team who created a world called the ‘perfect paradise’ for the less fortunate people in their society and the trio discovered that these people actually believed it and they had to try and convince them that this was not reality which they were able to do. Life and Reality (TV Story)

The TARDIS team were chased by a group of alien mercenaries named ‘the Borkus’ due to them stealing valuable objects from museums as they tried to discover the legend of the Universe’s greatest treasure ‘The Orion Vault’ a cave on a deserted planet which housed the lost treasures of the four galaxies. The Doctor defeated the Mercenaries by tricking them into flying into a collapsing galaxy and sealing the vault off so it stays hidden forever. Honour Among Thieves (TV Story)

The TARDIS landed on Lupum where the trio joined an expedition team exploring the ruins of the planet, it was here Bernice began seeing a mysterious being and she thought she was going mad because only she could see it. Members of the expedition team started to die mysteriously and the Doctor discovered the being was using a cloaking device which Bernice could see past and the Doctor defeated it. The Lupum Ruins (TV Story)

The Doctor discovered a gladiator tournament where soldiers from Earth’s past are being pitted against each other, the Doctor worked with the fighters to stop the games and bring down the Emperor of Vinov Bellum which they eventually did. The Survival Fights (TV Story)

The Doctor helped Bernice reunite with her father Isaac Summerfield in Little Caldwell in 1983, there they defeated C19 and Albbinex, it was here Bernice departed ways to stay with her father. Return of the Living Dad (TV Story)

Now one companion short, the Doctor and David landed on Betrushia during a war between the natives and they tried to save it from a religious organisation known as the chapter of St. Anthony. When they tried to convert Betrushia, they destroyed the rings surrounding the planet, this caused the Keth to be unleashed from its confinement. The Doctor convinced the Magna to help him destroy Betrushia and the Keth so it would not endanger other planets. Unknown to the Doctor, David convinced one of the Chaptermen to disable the mothership's navigation. Unable to break orbit, it was vaporised along with the planet. St Anthony's Fire (TV Story)

The Doctor then stopped the Cybermen in a French village during the revolution. The Steel Revolution (TV Story)

The TARDIS landed in London, 2098 during the Third World War and the city was a wasteland ravaged by fire and radiation, the Doctor and David were separated and saw the horrors of nuclear warfare and the aftermath, they were eventually reunited and left. Future Lost (TV Story)

The Doctor and David arrived on Zetov where they discovered a totalitarian government, led by General Oliver, was in control. The Doctor and David joined the resistance and tried to break into the secret labs but were captured, they were then brutally interrogated being physically and psychologically tortured. It was eventually decided that David would be taken to the labs and the Doctor would be put on trial, David was then experimented on in the labs being injected with toxins and being tortured and which slowly transformed him into a mutant. The Doctor broke out of prison with the help of the resistance and eventually found the labs, the Doctor found David in an incubator tank almost fully transformed into a mutant. David pleaded with the Doctor to end his life by pulling the lever and the Doctor pulled it which flooded the tank with a cloud of acid which melted David. The Doctor and the resistance found their way to General Oliver’s HQ but was nowhere to be found and they saw her making her way into a room where the government kept the mutants and the Doctor confronted her, during this the Doctor shut Oliver inside the room and activated a code to release the mutants who killed Oliver, the remaining fascist troops killed the resistance members and the Doctor made his way to the TARDIS, however the Doctor was gunned down as he reached the TARDIS, he used the last of his strength to make it inside and de-materialise before collapsing to the floor as he regenerated into his Ninth incarnation. The Fatal Rebellion (TV Story)

## Personality

The Eight Doctor came about as more grumpier and stricter his previous incarnations. The Doctor decided to drop his manipulative ways however he would be forced to slip back into the role, which would've caused great damage to those he cared about, most notably Kate Creevy

### Hair and Grooming

The Eighth Doctor had short white hair and a white beard, the Doctor kept the beard until his regeneration.

### Clothing

The Eighth Doctor wore an old black demob suit with a patterned cravat, occasionally he would wear different variations of the demob suit including dark blue (Night Thoughts), grey (Lungbarrow, The Survival Fights), a tan variation with a yellow suit vest (The Returned Lives) and brown (Legacy). He would wear different variations of the cravat as well including a black cravat with a variety of different coloured patterns (Night Thoughts), purple and yellow (Nightshade), a flower patterned variant (The Darkest Future), a red cravat with white dots (The Survival Fights) and an orange cravat (St Anthony's Fire).

Due to the Seekers of Doom's virus which destroyed his immune system, the Doctor had poorer eyesight and therefore settled on a pair of glasses choosing frames in the style of those from the 1980s and 90s. (Survival of the Daleks)

## Other Information

* The Eighth Doctor has never encountered the Master in any of his travels.
* The Eighth Doctor is the only incarnation to wear glasses throughout every story of his tenure.
* He is also the only incarnation to have permanent facial hair throughout his tenure.
* The Eighth Doctor is tied with the Third Doctor for the second longest run with five seasons, just behind the Fourth Doctor who had a run of seven seasons.

## Behind the Scenes

Richard Griffiths was the top choice for the BBC to play the Doctor, however there were other options in case he declined including Ian Richardson, David McCallum and the second choice for Eight: William Gaunt.

After Fraser cast Griffiths, he originally wanted the Doctor to go back to a grandfatherly figure. However Ben Aaronovitch painted the Doctor as a dark and manipulative figure who did not clearly know right from wrong; Fraser loved the idea and went with it as he thought there could be an arc resolved at some point in Griffiths’ era and he could lose his dark ways. Originally, both Aaronovitch and Griffiths wanted the Doctor to wear a morning suit, with a blue trench coat topped off with a red silk scarf, beetle badge and a navy blue dotted bowtie. However Fraser eventually decided he should wear a Demob suit with a patterned cravat, to which Griffiths agreed with.

## List of Appearances

### Doctor Who

#### Season 28

* *Survival of the Daleks*
* *Night Thoughts*
* *Illegal Alien*
* *Lungbarrow*

#### Season 29

* *Nightshade*
* *The Angels of Mons*
* *The Nefarious Castle*
* *The Returned Lives*
* *Transit*
* *Love and War*

#### Season 30

* *Conflict of the Daleks*
* *The Terror Inside*
* *Blood Heat*
* *The Left-Handed Hummingbird*
* *The Battle of Merlin*
* *The Fateful Election*

#### Season 31

* *Legacy*
* *The Darkest Future*
* *Shattered Promises*
* *Lucifer Rising*
* *Tragedy Day*
* *Life and Reality*
* *Honour Among Thieves*

#### Season 32

* *The Lupum Ruins*
* *The Survival Fights*
* *Return of the Living Dad*
* *St Anthony's Fire*
* *The Steel Revolution*
* *Future Lost*
* *The Fatal Rebellion*