11 Actors Who Have Played The Doctor | Mental Floss 11 Actors Who Have Played The Doctor Image credit: Like us on Facebook There have been many actors who have portrayed the Doctor in various settings, but eleven have been the official Doctors. We'll look at all of them here. 1. William Hartnell Veteran character actor William Hartnell was born in 1908 to humble beginnings; his mother was unwed, he never knew his father, and his first career move was into petty crime. A boxing instructor got him started on horse racing, but he found his real passion when he got a job as a stagehand at the age of 18. He quickly got into acting, working constantly with only a break to serve in World War II in an armored regiment. He ended up typecast in comic tough-guy roles (you can see one of them in The Mouse That Roared), and when Verity Lambert offered him the part of a mysterious time traveler in an educational show aimed at children, he jumped at the part. He created a character who was highly intelligent but not always as wise as he thought himself, brilliant but forgetful, cantankerous but with a deep compassion under the surface.

He enjoyed the role tremendously, but by 1966, his health was deteriorating due to arteriosclerosis and he had to quit. The producers came up with the idea of having his character transform into a new actor, and Hartnell suggested Patrick Troughton, who was approached and accepted the part. Hartnell reprised his role once more for the tenth anniversary special, "The Three Doctors," but his health had deteriorated more than the production crew realized and his part had to be rewritten to accommodate his capabilities; it was his final work as an actor, and he passed away in 1974 at the age of 67. 2. Patrick Troughton Born in 1920, Patrick Troughton went directly into an acting career and was undergoing formal training in New York City when World War II broke out. He returned to England and joined the Navy, where he had a decorated career before returning to the theater, gaining a reputation as a reliable and versatile character actor.

In 1953, he became the first person to play Robin Hood on television and found a succession of television, film, and radio roles afterward before Innes Lloyd, the new producer of Doctor Who, approached him in 1966 about succeeding William Hartnell in the title role. He ended up playing the role as what series creator Sydney Newman called a "cosmic hobo," inspired partly by silent film star Charlie Chaplin — brilliant, a bit egotistical, and also a bit of a comedian. He'd sometimes play the recorder, a significant change from the First Doctor, who had no apparent musical talent, and it was during this era that the sonic screwdriver was first seen. After three years, he decided to move on, although he returned three more times to reprise the role, in "The Three Doctors," "The Five Doctors," and "The Two Doctors." He returned to his work as a character actor after his time on Doctor Who, working hard despite doctors' advice due to major heart problems. In 1987, he defied doctor's orders to stay in the country and recuperate and went on one more convention tour.

He died on March 27, 1987, in Columbus, Georgia. (I actually saw him once, and got his autograph, earlier in the same U.S. tour. He seemed in good health, but, well, he was a very good actor.) Acting was in his blood; several of his children and grandchildren have gone into acting. The youngest of these is Harry Melling, whom Harry Potter fans know as Dudley Dursley. 3. Jon Pertwee Born in 1919, and thus actually a year older than the man he would replace, Jon Pertwee was born into a family that already had a lot of actors in it. Like the first two Doctors, he joined the military in World War II; although his service wasn't as distinguished as Troughton's, he did acquire an interesting souvenir: he woke up one morning after a drunken shore leave to find a tattoo on his arm, which made a brief appearance in his debut episode of Doctor Who. After the war, he became known as a comic actor on stage, television, and film. When he heard that the part of the Doctor had become available, he inquired and discovered he was already on the shortlist, and ultimately was cast.

He played the character as an action hero with an almost James Bond flair, wearing opera capes and driving souped up cars (including the spaceship-like Whomobile, which actually belonged to Pertwee himself, built on commission by a custom car builder). After five seasons, he departed the role. His career didn't falter afterwards, and in 1979 he found his second children's TV role in Worzel Gummidge. He returned to the part of the Doctor for "The Five Doctors." Like Troughton before him, he kept up the convention circuit, meeting with his fans frequently, and he died of a heart attack in Connecticut on May 20, 1996. (One odd coincidence—Pertwee's godfather was the actor Henry Ainley, whose son Anthony later took on the part of the Master, originated by Roger Delgado during Pertwee's tenure.) 4. Tom Baker Born in 1934 to a Catholic working class family in Liverpool, Baker first tried a career as a monk, then joined the military, serving as an orderly in a military hospital, before settling on acting as his career.

In the '60s, he was a part of the National Theatre company under Lawrence Olivier, and in 1971 broke into film as Rasputin in Nicholas and Alexandra. In 1974, producer Barry Letts cast him as the Doctor. His interpretation was as arrogant and egotistical as all his predecessors, and just as determined to do good, but more eccentric, often described as "bohemian." The Fourth Doctor is particularly famous for his ridiculously long scarf, which resulted from a miscommunication between costume designer James Acheson and the knitter hired to produce it; Acheson never specified a length, and bought far too much yarn, so the knitter just kept going until it was all used up. Baker performed the part for a record-breaking seven seasons before retiring from it. After leaving, he had a brief marriage to costar Lalla Ward (the Second Romana), but it fell apart when both realized they'd really fallen in love with the other one's character, not the actor—an occupational hazard, unfortunately—and they parted amicably. He continued working on stage and screen, and is still active. 5.

Peter Davison Born Peter Moffett in 1951 (he chose the stage name "Davison" because there was already a Peter Moffatt on the English stage), Davison began work at Nottingham Playhouse and got into television in 1975 alongside the woman who would become his wife, Sandra Dickinson. (Sci-fi fans will remember her as Trillian in the BBC TV miniseries version of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; it was her idea to get Davison into a big rubber suit to play the Dish of the Day in the same series.) But his first really big break was the role of Tristan Farnon, a young country veterinarian, in All Creatures Great and Small. In 1981, he got his next big break when he was signed on to succeed Tom Baker as the Doctor. Only 29 at the time, he was the youngest to play the role until Matt Smith in 2010. His Doctor had his little quirks, but was much less eccentric than his predecessor, save for a stick of celery he wore on his lapel and a preference for cricket attire. He left after three seasons.

He returned for non-canon productions and the very short charity special "Time Crash," opposite David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor, the only "classic" Doctor to appear on the new series. After Doctor Who, he starred in A Very Peculiar Practice, Campion, and a revival of All Creatures Great and Small, as well as an assortment of other roles; he is still acting. His daughter from his first marriage, Georgia Moffett, later appeared on Doctor Who as well, the first child of a Doctor to appear on the show, in "The Doctor's Daughter" as, well, the Doctor's sort-of daughter. And that led, in a roundabout way, to Peter Davison becoming David Tennant's father-in-law, but more on that later... 6. Colin Baker Born in 1943 (and of no relation to Tom Baker), Colin Baker initially studied law with the intention of becoming a solicitor, but at 23, found a different calling and became an actor.

He had a smattering of television roles before appearing on Doctor Who in 1983 as Commander Maxil, commander of the chancellory guards on Gallifrey in "The Arc of Infinity." This got him onto producer John Nathan-Turner's radar, and he was cast as the Sixth Doctor after Peter Davison's departure. His tenure as the Doctor was a difficult one, marred by the battle of the production team with BBC leadership who hoped to see the series die. His costume was wildly garish, and he even attempted to kill his own companion in a fit of madness. But Baker put everything into the part and, although fans are mixed in their opinion of his Doctor, it cannot be denied that he threw himself into it, creating a Doctor who underwent a substantial amount of character development in two seasons. Unfortunately, the BBC1 Controller, Michael Grade, had never been a fan of the program and, after the troubled season 23, "Trial of a Time Lord," Colin Baker was fired despite having a full series left in his contract. He remains enthusiastic about the series despite that, however, and has lent his talents to numerous fan-made and non-canon productions.

Following his time on Doctor Who, he moved primarily into theater, but still does occasional film and television work as well. 7. Sylvester McCoy Born Percy James Patrick Kent-Smith in Dunoon, Scotland, in 1943, Sylvester McCoy would become the first non-English actor to play the part. (To date, there has been only one other: Scottish actor David Tennant.) He never knew his father, who died in World War II shortly before he was born, and he was raised in Dublin, Ireland. He tried a variety of careers before joining a comedy/vaudeville act called "The Ken Campbell Roadshow." One of the parts he played was a fictitious stuntman named Sylveste McCoy; confused reviewers thought it was his actual name, and he eventually adopted it as a stage name (adding an "r" to the first name to make it look better). In 1987, Doctor Who came out of a year-long hiatus following the firing of Colin Baker, and Sylvester McCoy was cast as the Seventh Doctor. His performance was evocative of the Second Doctor, and clearly informed by his comedy background, but in his second season became increasingly dark.

The series was indefinitely suspended in 1989, ending the bulk of his tenure, although he returned for the American-produced Doctor Who movie in 1996, to film a regeneration scene to transition to Paul McGann. Following his work on Doctor Who, he worked extensively in theater and radio; he was nearly Governor Swann in Pirates of the Caribbean and even more nearly Bilbo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings. He recently traveled to New Zealand to film the part of Radagast the Brown for The Hobbit. 8. Paul McGann Born in Liverpool in 1959, Paul McGann would ultimately have the shortest tenure as Doctor. He was born to a large family, and all four of the McGann boys went into acting. He played a series of roles on television before landing one of the two title roles in Withnail and I, playing Peter Marwood, the "I" of the title who is never named in the movie itself.

He performed in a number of films after that, including American films, and was cast as Richard Sharpe, but a football injury just after filming started meant the number two, Sean Bean, got the part instead, and McGann ultimately walked away with a two million pound insurance settlement to compensate for the lost work and career advancement. In 1996, he was cast in an attempted revival of Doctor Who, filmed largely in Vancouver, British Columbia, and set in San Francisco, which was intended as a "back door pilot." It received very good ratings in the UK, but failed to interest US studios. That was the end of that effort, but Paul McGann went on to pursue a respectable film and television career. Recently, he has recorded audio plays featuring the Eighth Doctor — the BBC does not consider these plays canon — including a "do-over" of "Shada," a story written and partially recorded for the Fourth Doctor's tenure, but that was left uncompleted due to industrial action. 9. Christopher Eccleston Born in 1964 to a working class family in Manchester, Eccleston pursued an acting career right out of school.

He broke into film and television in the early '90s, keeping very busy and receiving multiple awards for his work in television before producer Russell T. Davies cast him as the Ninth Doctor in a newly revived Doctor Who. He played the part in more ordinary dress than his predecessors and with his natural Northern accent. Eccleston was the first Doctor younger than the series itself (by a few months) and the first other than Hartnell to have never seen it prior to being cast. He studied "The Talons of Weng-Chiang" (a Fourth Doctor serial), which was then newly released on DVD, as preparation, and came up with a Doctor who was every bit as egotistical as his predecessors, mischievous and impulsive, but also shadowed with massive grief—sometime in the untransmitted interim, his race had gone to war with the Daleks, and he was now the only Time Lord left. He was also in some way responsible for the fact that the Time Lords were now extinct.

He was only contracted for one season, due to uncertainty whether the BBC would even be interested in commissioning a second season; miscommunications with the BBC marred his departure, as he was mistakenly reported to have quit due to issues with the crew when, in fact, it had been planned that way from the outset. He resumed his intense schedule after Doctor Who and, in 2011, earned the International Emmy Best Actor award for his role in Accursed. 10. David Tennant David McDonald was born in 1971 in West Lothian, Scotland, later taking the name David Tennant as his given name was already in use by another performer. He was a born Whovian, and at the age of three announced his intention to go into acting because of it. A precocious actor, he managed to enter the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama at 16. He performed a variety of roles, including many with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and began breaking into television in the 2000s.

In 2005, he appeared in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire as Barty Crouch, Jr., and appeased his inner Whovian by appearing in the Big Finish audio productions that sort of worked around the edges of Doctor Who continuity and in the abortive attempt at an online animated series, The Scream of the Shalka. He achieved his lifelong dream in 2005 when he was cast as the Tenth Doctor. He elected not to use his natural Scots accent for the part, affecting an Estuary accent, and played it a more confident and more vengeful Doctor than Eccleston. During his first season, he became the first Doctor to appear with someone from the classic series, when Elizabeth Sladen reprised her role as Sarah Jane Smith in "School Reunion." That prompted a spinoff series called The Sarah Jane Adventures, and he appeared in an episode of Season Three of that show. He also provided voice work for two animated series, The Infinite Quest and Dreamland (the latter of which was referenced twice on The Sarah Jane Adventures).

After three full seasons and a series of one-off specials in 2009, Tennant left the series, saying that he had to leave while he still could; any later and he wouldn't be able to bring himself to quit. After leaving the series, he became engaged to actress Georgia Moffett, Peter Davison's daughter. The two have since married and have a daughter together. 11. Matt Smith Born in 1982 in Northhampton, Matt Smith initially dreamed of becoming a professional football player. ("Soccer" to us Yanks, of course.) A back injury put a stop to that, and his drama instructor at school pushed him into acting. He began to study drama and creative writing. He appeared in a variety of stage and television roles, but it was a complete surprise to most when he was cast as the Eleventh Doctor, the youngest ever to take the part. Producer Steven Moffatt had been going for someone in his mid-40s, but was particularly taken by Smith's oddball demeanor and ability to look very old indeed. His Doctor was played as an absent-minded professor, complete with tweed jacket and bowtie (which he obliviously insists is cool), with a sometimes mercurial disposition.

He has also appeared on The Sarah Jane Adventures and has provided voice work for a series of video games. He has been signed for an additional 14 episodes, so will be the Doctor for at least three seasons. Like Eccleston, Smith was largely unfamiliar with the series before accepting the role, but he had an excuse—he was only seven when the series went on hiatus.

(And now some of us can start feeling old!) From William Hartnell to Matt Smith: What the Doctors did next | The Independent From William Hartnell to Matt Smith: What the Doctors did next Neela Debnath looks back at the careers of the Doctors after leaving the Tardis Friday 22 November 2013 09:24 BST Click to follow From William Hartnell to Matt Smith: What the Doctors did next 1/22 BBC 2/22 William Hartnell (centre) as the Doctor alongside Dracula and Frankenstein's monster in 'Doctor Who' episode 'The Chase' in 1965 Getty Images 3/22 Patrick Troughton in 'Doctor Who' serial 'The Web of Fear', one of nine long-lost episodes of Doctor Who which have not been seen since the 1960s but which have been recovered after they were tracked down to a store room in Nigeria PA 4/22 English actor Patrick Troughton holding one of his own paintings outside at his home in Teddington, London in 1981.

The work is a copy of Monet's 'Poppy Field' Getty Images Jon Pertwee played the third Doctor and here poses with a Dalek Getty Images Jon Pertwee as scarecrow Worzel Gummedge Getty Images 7/22 Tom Baker as the Doctor and Mary Tamm as his companion Romana on the set of 'Doctor Who' Getty Images 8/22 Tom Baker at a 'Doctor Who' audio recording session London, five-part adventure, 'Hornet's Nest'. Since 'Doctor Who' he has done a lot of voice work, most notable as the narrator on 'Little Britain' Rex Features 9/22 Actor Peter Davison dressed as the fifth Dr Who in the Tardis at BBC Television Centre in 1981 Getty Images 10/22 Peter Davison now, the actor has gone on to star in television shows such as 'Law and Order UK' and 'Lewis'.

He even made a guest appearance as the Doctor in the Children in Need special 'Time Crash' opposite David Tennant (left) BBC 11/22 Colin Baker as the sixth incarnation of the Doctor and one of the most underrated actors to have taken on the role BBC 12/22 Lewis Bradley as Jack (centre) and Colin Baker as Fleshcreep (right) perform during the traditional pantomime Jack and the Beanstalk on stage at the Theatre Royal Bath. Getty Images Sylvester McCoy as a quizzical incarnation of the Time Lord BBC 14/22 Sylvester McCoy at the world premiere of 'The Hobbit' movie in which he plays a wizard called Radagast the Brown Getty Images Paul McGann who played the Doctor for one adventure in the 1996 film BBC 16/22 Paul McGann has gone on to star in numerous television shows, here is a shot from ITV's 'A Mother's Son'.

Rex Features Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor and Billie Piper as his companion Rose Tyler BBC Christopher Eccleston in 2007 Hollywood film 'The Dark Is Rising' Rex Features 19/22 David Tennant as the tenth Doctor, standing alongside companion his companion Rose Tyler played by Biller Piper BBC David Tennant's most famous role post-'Doctor Who' as surly police officer Alec Harding in 'Broadchurch' ITV Doctor Who star Matt Smith BBC 22/22 Matt Smith will be leaving 'Doctor Who' in December, he has been working on Ryan Gosling's directorial debut 'How to Catch a Monster' in the US Getty Images The 11 Doctors There is a myth that once a Doctor Who actor leaves the role they are forever typecast as the Time Lord and end up running their careers into the ground. But is that criticism fair? We take a look back at the careers of the men who have played the Doctor. William Hartnell Time Lord tenure (1963-1966) William Hartnell left Doctor Who due to his ailing health.

After his time on the show he starred in several other things, including police drama series Softly, Softly: Taskforce and No Hiding Place. He also had a role in the thriller Tomorrow at Ten which was to be his last film appearance before his death in 1975. His deteriorating health was limiting but he did reprise his role as the Doctor for the show's 10th anniversary special in 1973. Hartnell's tenure as the first Doctor has ensured his legacy as a great actor. Most recently, archive footage featuring him as the first Doctor was used on an episode of Doctor Who. William Hartnell (centre) as the Doctor alongside Dracula and Frankenstein's monster in 'Doctor Who' episode 'The Chase' in 1965 Patrick Troughton: Time Lord tenure (1966-1969) After stepping off the Tardis, Troughton had numerous film and television roles, including The Omen, Coronation Street and The Sweeney. He even appeared in the first ever episode of Inspector Morse. It seems that for Troughton, Doctor Who may have been the highlight of his career as he never reached such success in subsequent roles.

He also made an appearance in the 20th anniversary special The Five Doctors. Alongside acting, Troughton painted and even produced a copy of Monet's 'Poppy Field'. Sadly, he died of heart attack in 1987, however his legacy does live on. The eleventh Doctor, Matt Smith, has stated that the second Doctor is his favourite, and his performance has inspired his own incarnation of the Time Lord. English actor Patrick Troughton holding one of his own paintings Jon Pertwee: Time Lord tenure (1970-1974) Jon Pertwee bowed out of Doctor Who and went on to play the scarecrow Worzel Gummidge in the children's programme of the same name. To a generation of children he was known as the Doctor, and to another he was known as the friendly scarecrow, achieving success even after Doctor Who. Pertwee did reprise the role of the Doctor in the 20th anniversary special in 1983. He passed away in 1996 at the age of 76.

Jon Pertwee as scarecrow Worzel Gummedge Tom Baker: Time Lord tenure (1974-1981) Possibly one of the greatest and most famous of the Doctors, Baker has said Doctor Who was one of the nicest jobs he ever did but also killed his career. He played the part for seven years - the longest that any actor has done so. While his career never really took off or matched the popularity of Doctor Who, he had parts in television shows such as Monarch of the Glen in the noughties and the Dungeons and Dragons film flop starring Jeremy Irons. It is Baker's voiceover work that has been keeping him going, his booming sonorous tones have been on everything from The Magic Roundabout to Little Britain. Both Matt Lucas and David Walliams were Doctor Who fans and asked Baker to be their narrator. The actor has even written a dark children's story called The Boy Who Kicked Pigs about a nasty little boy who gets his comeuppance after causing a series of 'unfortunate accidents'. Baker's deliciously dark wit comes through. Like all Doctor Who stars, Baker is a firm fixture on the Science Fiction convention circuit.

Tom Baker at a 'Doctor Who' audio recording session London, five-part adventure, 'Hornet's Nest'. Since 'Doctor Who' he has done a lot of voice work, most notable as the narrator on 'Little Britain' Peter Davison: Time Lord tenure (1981-1984) The youngest actor to play the Doctor, Davison was already known for his work on All Creatures Great and Small and The Tomorrow People. Since leaving Doctor Who, Davison has remained a permanent fixture on British television and starring in everything from Miss Marple, Heartbeat, Jonathan Creek, Midsomer Murders and At Home with the Braithwaites. More recently he has been a guest star on sitcom Miranda and is currently in Law and Order UK, in which he starred alongside Doctor Who actress Freema Agyeman, who played companion Martha Jones opposite David Tennant's Time Lord. Doctor Who has never really left Davison on a personal level because his daughter Georgia Moffet starred in a recent episode of the show. While working on the show Moffet met her future husband Tennant, so Davison is now the father-in-law to another Doctor.

Davison reprised the role of the Doctor several time since leaving the show, most recently in a Children in Need special called Time Crash. Peter Davison now, the actor has gone on to star in television shows such as 'Law and Order UK' and 'Lewis'. He even made a guest appearance as the Doctor in the Children in Need special 'Time Crash' opposite David Tennant (left) Colin Baker: Time Lord tenure (1984-1986) Considered by many to be the worst Doctor - which is simply not true - the actor has continued to have a strong career. Although his work does not reach the heights of his Doctor Who stardom, Baker has had roles in both television and most notably on stage. He has starred in stage roles including She Stoops To Conquer, H.M.S. Pinafore and The Woman in White. Baker was in the first episode of television show Jonathan Creek and Dangerfield. Last year he took part in reality television show in I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! and came eighth out of 12. Like all Doctor Who actors, Baker plays the Doctor in audio plays produced by Big Finish and is also on tour on the convention circuit.

Baker has continued to have success which suggests that his time of Doctor Who did not spell the end of his career. Lewis Bradley as Jack (centre) and Colin Baker as Fleshcreep (right) perform during the traditional pantomime Jack and the Beanstalk on stage at the Theatre Royal Bath. Sylvester McCoy: Time Lord tenure (1987-1996) He was the last actor to play the Doctor after the show got cancelled. All was quiet for a while but in the mid-nineties McCoy took on the role of the Doctor again for the 1996 move and handed over the Doctor Who baton to Paul McGann. There had been the Doctor Who 30th special Dimensions in Space but McCoy was step back onto the Tardis briefly for the 1996 film. The movie was a backdoor pilot which saw McCoy's Doctor meet an unfortunate end after he was shot dead in the streets of San Francisco. McCoy then went on to do plays parts on stage, including The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and the Fool to Ian McKellan's King Lear.

McCoy was Peter Jackson's second choice to play Bilbo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings trilogy but ultimately lost out to Ian Holm. However, McCoy most recently played a wizard called Radagast the Brown in Jackson's The Hobbit trilogy. He is set to reprise his role for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Sylvester McCoy as Radagast the Brown in 'The Hobbit' Paul McGann: Time Lord tenure (1996) Although McGann had the shortest of tenures as the Doctor, he has been associated with role ever since. In order to create cohesion between the television series and the film, McGann recently took on the mantae of the Doctor again for The Night of the Doctor , a mini-episode in the run-up to the 50th anniversary. Following his first turn as the Time Lord in 1996, McGann has worked in several films such as The Queen of the Damned and Lesbian Vampire Killers. But he has had more success on British television, featuring in numerous programmes. Some of his most recent work has been on ITV's A Mother's Son and BBC's Ripper Street and Luther.

Despite playing the Doctor, McGann has managed to avoid being typecast. Paul McGann as the Doctor in 'Night of the Doctor' (BBC) Christopher Eccleston: Time Lord tenure (2005) The actor who helped bring back Doctor Who in 2005 left after one series in the role. After exiting the show, Eccleston went on to play roles in US science fiction superhero show Heroes. He also played John Lennon in the television biopic Lennon Naked and a man forced into drug dealing in the critically acclaimed The Shadow Line. He has also had success on the big screen in Hollywood films including G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, The Dark is Rising and Thor: The Dark World. Time and again Eccleston continues to leave critics and audiences moved by his brilliant performances and he is having a successful career after Doctor Who. Christopher Eccleston in 2007 Hollywood film 'The Dark Is Rising' David Tennant: Time Lord tenure (2005-2010) Recently voted the nation's favourite Doctor, Tennant has had a tough time leaving behind his Time Lord past. Playing the Doctor sent his profile soaring however, he has taken on numerous roles since leaving.

His biggest success to date was as the hard-bitten cop Alec Hardy in ITV's crime drama Broadchurch. He has also taken on a number of different roles on stage, including Hamlet opposite Patrick Stewart, Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing and currently playing the title role in Richard II. The Scottish star will be back on our screens again in The Day of the Doctor as the tenth Doctor. It will take a long time before Tennant can fully free himself of the mantle of the Doctor but it is interesting to watch his career progress. David Tennant's most famous role post-'Doctor Who' as surly police officer Alec Harding in 'Broadchurch' Matt Smith: Time Lord tenure (2010-2013) We have two more adventures left with the eleventh Doctor but Matt Smith has already filmed them and is moving on to other things. During his time as the Time Lord, Smith did play various roles in other projects, including Christopher Isherwood in Christopher and His Kind and Bert Bushnell in Bert and Dickie. He also played a character in Ryan Gosling's directorial debut How to Catch a Monster, which required him to shave off his hair.

But Smith is not resting on his laurels, the actor recently made his own debut in the directing chair with a short film called Cargese. Smith will be taking on the role of the murderous Wall Street banker Patrick Bateman in a musical adaptation of American Psycho. It's safe to say that Smith is doing everything he can to make sure his most famous role will not be the Doctor with this raft of projects. Matt Smith will be leaving 'Doctor Who' in December, he has been working on Ryan Gosling's directorial debut 'How to Catch a Monster' in the US The ‘Doctor Who’ 50th anniversary special ‘The Day of the Doctor’ will be on 23 November on BBC1 Doctor Who | Tardis | Fandom powered by Wikia Doctor Who in five languages - BBC Worldwide Showcase You may wish to consult Doctor Who (disambiguation) for other, similarly-named pages. Doctor Who is both a television show and a global multimedia franchise created and controlled by the BBC ( British Broadcasting Corporation ). It centres on a time traveller called " the Doctor ", who comes from a race of beings known as Time Lords . He travels through space and time in a time machine he calls the TARDIS .

This ship — which looks like a small, London police box on the outside — has nearly infinite dimensions on the inside . It has become such an iconic shape in British culture that it is currently the intellectual property of the BBC rather than its actual makers, the Metropolitan Police Service . Since Doctor Who's revival in 2005, its production has been primarily based in Wales by BBC Wales , with its soundtrack regularly performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales since 2006. In order to accommodate cast changes, the narrative allows the Doctor to regenerate into an essentially new person on occasion. The cast is rounded out by one or more " companions ", often females. On average, the main cast completely changes once every three or four years — a significant factor in the longevity of the programme. It has had two — some argue three — major production periods. The original run of the programme was from 1963 to 1989, and is often called the "classic series" or "classic Doctor Who". A failed revival, in the form of a Universal -BBC co-production, came in 1996 — but the resulting one-off tele movie is often considered a part of the classic series.

The current form of the programme — sometimes called the "new series" — has been produced by BBC Wales and aired on BBC One since 2005. Though the classic series is fondly remembered by fans of a certain age, the new series has been far more consistently popular with the British public,[ source needed ] and is usually the highest-rated scripted drama — outside of perennially popular soap operas — in the weeks that it is on the air. The franchise spawned by the main television programmes includes dozens of distinct ranges of spinoffs in televised, audio and print media. Contents Edit Several individuals share credit for establishing Doctor Who in 1963 , but it is generally accepted that the original impetus for the series, as well as the establishment of certain aspects, such as the concept of the TARDIS , the basic character of the Doctor and the title Doctor Who itself belong to Canadian -born Sydney Newman , who is also credited with creating another iconic series, The Avengers . Others involved in piecing together the puzzle that became the series include Head of Serials Donald Wilson , writer C. E. Webber , script editor David Whitaker and the show's first producer , Verity Lambert , the first woman to hold such a position at the BBC .

Junkyard set and police box for An Unearthly Child . Two other notable participants in the birth of the series were Anthony Coburn and Waris Hussein , the writer and director , respectively, of the first four-part serial, An Unearthly Child , the first episode of which aired on 23 November 1963 . The version of the first episode that was broadcast was in fact the second mounting of that episode; an earlier version (called The Pilot Episode by fans), was taped some weeks before, but rejected for several issues. The BBC allowed a second mounting of the pilot to proceed. The first episode aired the day after the assassination of John F. Kennedy , and had to be rebroadcast a week later when power failures disrupted the first broadcast. Also important to creating the atmosphere of the early series were composers Ron Grainer and Delia Derbyshire . Grainer wrote the basic melody of the Doctor Who theme , and Derbyshire, with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop , transformed it into a pioneering piece of electronica music. There have been several arrangements used of the theme, but the basic melody has remained unchanged throughout the show's history.

No new piece of music has ever been commissioned as a theme, making it one of the longest-serving signature tunes in television history. An Unearthly Child introduced the first incarnation of the Doctor , played by character actor William Hartnell . Supporting him were William Russell and Jacqueline Hill as Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright , respectively, and Carole Ann Ford as the Doctor's granddaughter, Susan Foreman . These four would form the core cast of the series throughout its first season and into the second . The Daleks Edit After the first episode introduced the characters and concept, the remaining three episodes of An Unearthly Child encompassed a modest storyline involving a group of cavemen in prehistoric times. The series began to find its voice as a science fiction series with the second serial, The Daleks by Terry Nation . It introduced the Daleks , the single most iconic reoccurring enemy of the franchise. The series began to really take off in popularity with this serial, which helped launch " Dalekmania " in the UK , leading to toys, the first novelisation Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks , the movie adaptation Dr. Who and the Daleks , and many televised sequels, beginning with The Dalek Invasion of Earth .

Early cast changes Edit The Dalek Invasion of Earth was also notable for featuring the series' first cast change. Carole Ann Ford left the series. She was replaced the following week by Maureen O'Brien as Vicki , establishing the pattern of the Doctor's companions changing. The other original actors, William Russell and Jacqueline Hill, left the series a few months later at the conclusion of The Chase , making way for another new companion, Steven Taylor , played by Peter Purves . Over the decades, the length of service of different companions has ranged from as little as a few weeks (with some being considered companions after appearing in only a single episode), up to several years. Some actors have returned to reprise their roles years and even decades later (most notably Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith ). A change of identity Edit The next major turning point in the series occurred in 1966 when the actor playing the First Doctor , William Hartnell , left the series. Rather than introduce a new leading character, replace Hartnell with no explanation or simply cancel the series, the producers, with input from Sydney Newman , chose to establish the Doctor's ability to regenerate into a new person when injured or near death.

This led to the dramatic — and successful — transition to Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor at the conclusion of The Tenth Planet , a serial that was in itself notable for introducing the franchise's second most popular recurring villains, the Cybermen . The experiment of regenerating the Doctor occurred again in 1970 with the introduction of one-time comic actor Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor , a move that also coincided with the series changing to colour production. Once again, this was successful and Doctor Who continued to establish itself as a British TV institution, although it remained virtually unknown in American markets. Target Books Edit In 1973 , Target Books reissued a trilogy of novelisations from the mid-1960s, and in 1974 began to issue its own adaptations of televised episodes. In a time before home video recorders and commercial release of TV series on tape and DVD and when rebroadcasts were rare and many old episodes were thought lost, the Target line became a popular and valued aspect of the growing Doctor Who franchise; the books would be published into the mid-1990s.

A unique feature of the Target line (in fact dating back to the first novelisations published by Frederick Muller ) is that many of the books were written by either the original scriptwriters or by individuals with strong behind-the-scenes connections to the series, such as Barry Letts , Terrance Dicks , David Whitaker , etc., all of whom worked in script editing or producing capacities on the series. In the late 70s, about a dozen of the Target novels were reprinted in American editions by Pinnacle Books , with introductions by noted science fiction author Harlan Ellison , who added to the franchise's prestige by placing it higher in his estimation than Star Trek . The Tom Baker years Edit The series continued through the 1970s, with Tom Baker taking on the role of the Fourth Doctor in 1974 . Baker became the most iconic, and arguably most popular actor of the classic series. This was due in part to the frequent rebroadcasts of his episodes in the United Kingdom , which began during his tenure. He was the first "young" Doctor and played the role for more seasons (seven) than any actor to date.

Other actors have been considered the "current" Doctor for longer, but without regular television appearances. Near the end of the Tom Baker era, the BBC attempted a spin-off series, K9 and Company , but it never went beyond a pilot episode, A Girl's Best Friend . The US broadcasts of Doctor Who were initially poorly done, with some broadcasters airing a version with narration explaining the plot. By the late 1970s, however, the series was firmly entrenched in the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), which would air the show repeatedly over the next three decades and air the revived series after 2004 . The John Nathan-Turner era Edit Peter Davison succeeded Baker in 1981 as the Fifth Doctor with new producer John Nathan-Turner . Only twenty-nine when he was cast, Davison was, until the appointment of Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor in 2009 , the youngest actor ever to play the Doctor officially. The TARDIS crew of the Fifth Doctor skewed younger and featured the first long-term companion's death when Adric died at the end of Earthshock .

Two short-term companions had died earlier in one serial, The Daleks' Master Plan , but they had not been on the show more than a few weeks; Adric was on the series for about a year. Davison's era was marked by experimentation by the BBC in terms of broadcast scheduling. The series moved to airing twice a week on weeknights, away from its traditional Saturday slot. Initially, this appeared to be a successful gambit. The ratings for Davison's early stories were on par if not higher than Tom Baker's later stories. It was during Davison's era that the series marked its 20th anniversary with the feature-length episode The Five Doctors . This featured all the actors who had played the Doctor to that time (although Hartnell and Tom Baker were shown in stock footage). Colin Baker followed Davison as the Sixth Doctor in 1984 . The BBC further experimented with the format, moving from twenty-minute to forty-five-minute episodes. Nathan-Turner also experimented with the characterisation of the Doctor, intentionally making the Sixth Doctor initially unlikeable in order to create a new dynamic. Neither experiment was successful.

Colin Baker's tenure was marked by a serious threat to the show's survival when the BBC, citing low ratings, announced it was ending the series after the 1985 season, its 22nd . Following immediate outcry, this decision was modified to become an eighteen-month hiatus. During the hiatus, fan efforts were launched to get the show back sooner. These included the recording of a charity record called " Doctor in Distress " by cast members. BBC Radio tried to fill the void by producing the first made-for-radio Doctor Who serial, Slipback , starring Colin Baker. The series returned in 1986 with a season-long story arc, The Trial of a Time Lord , but with greatly reduced screen time. Fourteen episodes were allotted for the season, up from thirteen the previous season, but with episode lengths returned to twenty-five minutes. This was roughly half the storytelling time of recent seasons. End of an era Edit Although the show's return garnered sufficient ratings for the BBC to grant a stay of execution and renew it for a twenty-fourth season , Colin Baker's contract as the Doctor was not renewed and he ceded the role to Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor in 1987 .

The series survived the hiatus, but never regained ratings needed for ongoing survival, constantly being beaten in the ratings by Coronation Street . Towards the end, it garnered ratings barely in the three million range, compared to eleven million at the peak of the Tom Baker era. Attempts were made to refresh the ageing series by darkening the character of the Doctor through what was later called the Cartmel Masterplan (named for then-script editor Andrew Cartmel ), and by introducing Ace , a companion with an edginess never before seen in an assistant. The same year that McCoy took over, a fan-produced independent film, Wartime , was released. Taking advantage of a loophole in licensing that allows characters other than the Doctor to be licensed direct from their creators, this film featuring John Benton was the first of what would be a series of fan-made productions that would help keep the Doctor Who universe alive after 1989. During McCoy's era, the series celebrated its 25th anniversary on TV. One of the year's serials, Remembrance of the Daleks , returned the Doctor to 76 Totter's Lane , where it all began in 1963.

Following production of the twenty-sixth season , Nathan-Turner learned that the show would not be renewed immediately for a twenty-seventh. After having McCoy record a series-ending monologue, the final episode — part 3 of the ironically titled Survival — aired on 6 December 1989 , bringing Doctor Who's marathon 26-year run to a close. The Doctor Who Production Office closed down the following summer. It has never been made clear whether the BBC ever actually "cancelled" Doctor Who in 1989 , or simply put the series on hold. One of the first to state outright that the show was cancelled was co-star Sophie Aldred in the documentary More than 30 Years in the TARDIS . "The Wilderness Years" Edit The end of active production was made official in 1990 . The Doctor Who Production Office was closed. The BBC never officially cancelled the series. It simply didn't commission any new episodes. This led to the launch of a cottage industry of spin-off work. These included the first long-term range of original fiction (the Virgin New Adventures series). Target Books exhausted all available remaining serials to novelise and the brand was retired in 1994 .

There were numerous independent video productions with characters and creatures from the series, but never the Doctor himself. Many of their new actors, writers and directors would become involved in the main Doctor Who series, including Nicholas Briggs and Mark Gatiss . In 1993 , the BBC made a half-hearted attempt at marking the thirtieth anniversary, first commissioning, then cancelling, a multi-Doctor special called The Dark Dimension . Instead they greenlit a brief, poorly received pastiche, Dimensions in Time which aired as part of a Children in Need fundraiser and as a dubious crossover with the soap opera EastEnders . For original fiction, Virgin's New Adventures picked up where Survival had left off. Over the next five years it greatly expanded the world of the Seventh Doctor , and Doctor Who, by featuring stories with more adult storylines than was possible on TV. The books also introduced the character of Bernice Summerfield , who was initially a companion of the Seventh Doctor. Over time she developed her own mini-franchise, which continues to this day. Virgin also launched a similar series of books called the Virgin Missing Adventures , featuring past Doctors.

One New Adventures novel, Damaged Goods , was written by a young writer who would later play a major role in the history of Doctor Who: Russell T Davies . Another future producer of the series, Steven Moffat , contributed short stories to Virgin's third line of Doctor Who fiction, the Virgin Decalogs . Around this time, Moffat also made his Doctor Who TV writing debut by penning the parody serial The Curse of Fatal Death . It aired as a fund-raiser for Comic Relief and starred Rowan Atkinson , Richard E Grant , Jim Broadbent , Hugh Grant , and Joanna Lumley as the 9th through 13th incarnations of the Doctor. A false restart Edit The franchise's so-called "first interregnum" on television ended in 1996 with an attempt at launching an American-UK co-produced Doctor Who series. A telemovie was produced for the American Fox Network , Doctor Who , in which McCoy handed off to Paul McGann 's Eighth Doctor . Neither a reboot or re-imagining, the film was a continuation of the original series. While moderately successful on the BBC, it failed to garner sufficient ratings in the US to warrant a new series.

McCoy, in a later interview with Doctor Who Confidential , postulated that the film failed in the US in part because viewers unfamiliar with the history of Doctor Who were confused by the first part of the film, which dealt with regeneration. Back to the wilderness Edit The "second interregnum" that followed saw more novels (now published by the BBC under its BBC Books logo, featuring the Eighth Doctor), more independent productions, a separate series of Bernice Summerfield novels and, in 1998 , the start of a prolific series of officially licenced audio stories by Big Finish Productions . Unlike the independent made-for-video productions, Big Finish could use Doctors and companions from the series. With the exception of Tom Baker , who wouldn't join Big Finish until 2012 , and earlier Doctors now deceased, the audios featured the original actors. In particular, Big Finish produced a long-running series of programs continuing the adventures of McGann's Eighth Doctor.

Big Finish also produced a prolific series of audio dramas featuring Bernice Summerfield (and began publishing novels featuring her once Virgin ended its series of books) as well as other spin-off series featuring other parts of the Doctor Who universe, such as Dalek Empire , I, Davros , Sarah Jane Smith and Gallifrey . Many of the writers, directors, and voice actors involved in this project also went on to work on the TV series proper. The BBC also created new Doctor Who-related media projects during this time, creating several original webcast productions in conjunction with Big Finish, and making several Virgin-era Doctor Who novels available as e-books on its website. The triumphant return Edit In 2003 for the 40th anniversary, the BBC released the 6-part webcast Scream of the Shalka , in which Richard E Grant was introduced as the Ninth Doctor. Intended to be an "official" continuation of the television series, this version of the character was quickly relegated to non-canon status with the 2005 series revival. The BBC stunned fans by announcing in 2003 that its Welsh production office, BBC Wales , had been given the go-ahead to produce a brand-new series of Doctor Who.

The series would be produced by Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner . Davies, since his days writing Doctor Who fiction for Virgin, had gone on to create the critically acclaimed series, Queer as Folk . In the following months, details of the new series emerged. Fans still questioned if the new series would be a continuation of the original series (a twenty-seventh season), or a reimagining (as had recently occurred to great effect with Battlestar Galactica). Would the Paul McGann movie or Scream of the Shalka count? There was initial controversy when pop singer Billie Piper was cast as the new companion . The new series logo riled some fans; BBC News reported that some on the production team had received death threats over it. The BBC's decision to restart the numbering of the series with series 1 in 2005 fueled the debate over whether the new show would be a continuation. The BBC indicated it was strictly a commercial decision, and part of an overall strategy not to alienate new viewers by suggesting they needed to know twenty-six years of backstory. Doctor Who returned to television in the spring of 2005 . Christopher Eccleston took over from McGann as the Ninth Doctor .

After initial uncertainty, it was soon established the new series was a continuation of the old. The new episodes returned Doctor Who to levels of popularity not seen since the 1970s, and garnered awards the original series never saw. Eccleston's brief era marked the return of UNIT , the Autons , the Nestene Consciousness , the Daleks and the Dalek Emperor to television, as well as the introduction of Jack Harkness , who would become a recurring character during the Russel T. Davies era. In March 2006 , the new series was first broadcast in the United States on the SciFi Channel . Audiences embraced the new series, with Billie Piper's Rose Tyler , in particular. The show stumbled slightly with the announcement days after its premiere on 30 March that Eccleston was leaving after a single season. The BBC later apologised for the timing of this announcement. The tenure of his replacement, David Tennant 's Tenth Doctor , was dominated by the relationship between the Doctor and Rose Tyler, a closer bond than even the "Mentor" type relationship shared between the Seventh Doctor and Ace .

Tennant's era also saw the return of Sarah Jane Smith in School Reunion , the episode most cited as the one that established once and for all that "nuWho" was a direct continuation of the 1963 - 89 series. This was followed by the Children in Need mini-episode Time Crash , in which Peter Davison reprised his role as the Fifth Doctor . Tennant's era also saw the reintroduction of the Cybermen , albeit a parallel version . Related to this, the series began delving into the multiverse concept with Rise of the Cybermen , a topic that would dominate the final episodes of the fourth series in 2008 . Since the show's return to TV, Doctor Who has become a major franchise. It spawned two successful spin-off series in quick succession: Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures ; both centred around the adventures of former companions. There was a third, non-BBC spin-off, K9 . Two documentary series were launched with the return of Doctor Who: Doctor Who Confidential , ( 2005 - 2011 ) and Totally Doctor Who ( 2006 - 2007 ).

The last series also produced the first animated-for-television Doctor Who serial, The Infinite Quest , which aired in 2007 and featured Tennant. A second animated serial, Dreamland , aired in 2009 . The Tennant era also saw the start of a new tradition in late 2005: the Doctor Who Christmas Special , holiday-themed episodes aired separately from the regular seasons. As of December 2013 [update] , nine such specials have been aired. The series has also contributed several mini-episodes, such as the aforementioned Time Crash, to the Children in Need Appeal and the BBC Prom concert series ( Music of the Spheres ). The conclusion of the fourth revived season in 2008 , which linked all four series together and featured the return of Rose and other companions, saw Doctor Who garner its highest ratings in nearly thirty years. It was followed by the 2008 Christmas special, The Next Doctor , which included a scene — the first of its kind — in which all ten Doctors, including the debated Paul McGann's Eighth Doctor, were shown, firmly establishing the Eighth Doctor's place in his personal history.

The transition Edit The year 2009 was a transition year for Doctor Who in terms of both production and releases . The series had only four episodes, aired as specials in April, November and on Christmas Day and New Year's Day 2010. These specials and an animated serial, Dreamland , marked David Tennant 's final appearances as the Tenth Doctor . The decision for the series to take a break following series 4 was, according to Davies' book The Writer's Tale , planned as far back as Tennant's first year. Davies devised the break to smooth the transition between his term as show-runner and that of Steven Moffat , whom he invited to take over his post as executive producer and lead writer when the series returned as a weekly programme in 2010 . Tennant took advantage of this break to appear in a high-profile stage production of Hamlet co-starring Star Trek icon Patrick Stewart, which some media erroneously indicated was the reason for the break. The announcement of the gap year was followed by the announcement that Davies and Julie Gardner would be stepping aside as executive producers of Doctor Who following the specials.

Moffat, who won the Hugo Award three years running for his Doctor Who scripts, was appointed new head writer and executive producer. Also appointed executive producers were Piers Wenger and Beth Willis . The question of whether Tennant would stay on was a hot topic in the UK media for much of 2008. On 19 October 2008 , Tennant, while accepting his National Television Award for Favourite Actor, announced he would leave the role after the specials. After months of speculation, it was announced on 3 January 2009 that twenty-six-year-old Matt Smith would join the series in 2010 as the Eleventh Doctor , smashing Peter Davison 's record as the youngest Doctor ever. The end of Series 4 and the start of the specials marked a "changing of the guard" for international broadcasts of the series in the US and Canada. In the US , the SciFi Channel relinquished first-broadcast rights to BBC America . In Canada , the CBC 's controversial handling of the series (which had seen a marked decrease in network interest and destructive editing of the Series 4 finale for commercials) came to an abrupt end when the cable network Space adopted the series.

Both began airing the series with The Next Doctor in the spring of 2009 and announced they would air the weekly series in 2010. The first gap-year special, Planet of the Dead aired during Easter 2009. Planet of the Dead was the first Doctor Who episode to be filmed in high definition and, subsequently, the first to be issued to Blu-ray . Meanwhile, Torchwood aired its third series in July 2009 , now on BBC One , but in a different format: a single, critically acclaimed, five-episode story entitled Children of Earth . It also aired to acclaim and high ratings on BBC America and Space. The Sarah Jane Adventures began its third series in October 2009, with David Tennant playing the Doctor in two episodes. Work on a non-BBC spin-off series, K9 , also progressed through the year. The second special of the "gap year", The Waters of Mars aired on 15 November 2009, and an animated adventure, Dreamland , was broadcast serialised on the BBC's Red Button service before being aired as one programme by the BBC proper.

During the Christmas season, Tennant appeared as the Doctor in a series of Christmas idents for the BBC. Finally, the era of the Tenth Doctor ended with the two-part special The End of Time . Part 1 aired on 25 December 2009 and the conclusion, with David Tennant handing over the role to Matt Smith , aired on 1 January 2010 . The new man Production of the first Matt Smith episodes commenced in July 2009 . Writers recruited for the new season included Richard Curtis (co-creator of Blackadder and writer of Four Weddings and a Funeral ) and Toby Whithouse (creator of Being Human ). Noted fantasy writer Neil Gaiman was rumoured to be involved in the new season. These rumours proved to be incorrect, but he did end up penning The Doctor's Wife the following series . Michael Moorcock , another noted fantasy novelist, also announced he was writing a Doctor Who novel for publication in 2010. Minor competition for Smith arrived in January 2010 when broadcasts of the non-BBC series K9 began in parts of Europe.

The UK, which had seen a preview of the first episode on Halloween 2009, saw the series debut on Disney XD on 3 April 2010 , a few hours before the start of the fifth series. After months of intense publicity, the Matt Smith/Eleventh Doctor era officially began on 3 April 2010 with the broadcast of The Eleventh Hour on BBC One . In a show of international support for the series, broadcasts in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand were scheduled within a few weeks, the first time the programme's biggest international markets had coincided their broadcasts in this way. The fifth series ran for thirteen weeks, concluding with The Big Bang on 26 June 2010. Before the first episode of series 5 was broadcast, the BBC announced that a Christmas special had been commissioned for 2010, and a sixth series of the revived series was scheduled to enter production that summer for broadcast in 2011 . Series 6 aired in two parts; the first half aired in the spring and the remaining episodes aired in the autumn.

The BBC claimed the split was to accommodate a story arc with a mid-season cliffhanger, the arc being the revelation of the identity of River Song . Steven Moffat was said to have requested the split. Series 7 aired in two parts as well, although this time the first half aired in the autumn and the second half aired in the spring, with a Christmas special in between. Broadcasts began in September 2012 , with Asylum of the Daleks . 50 years Following the series 7 finale, The Name of the Doctor , The Day of the Doctor aired on TV and in cinemas on 23 November 2013 to celebrate the programme's 50th anniversary. This heavily featured a new Doctor, played by John Hurt, who was revealed to be the true ninth incarnation of the Doctor. The Christmas special The Time of the Doctor was broadcast a month later on 25 December . Time featured the Eleventh Doctor 's regeneration into Peter Capaldi 's Twelfth ; Capaldi was announced as the Twelfth Doctor in a live special months earlier on 4 August .

Continuity Edit A common contention among fans and producers of the series is that a large part of the Doctor's appeal comes from his mysterious and alien origins. While over the decades several revelations have been made about his background — that he is a Time Lord , that he is from Gallifrey , among others — the writers have striven to retain some sense of mystery and to preserve the eternal question, "Doctor who?" This backstory was not rigidly planned from the beginning, but developed gradually and haphazardly over the years, the result of the work of many writers and producers. Understandably, this has led to continuity problems. Characters such as the Monk were retroactively classified as Time Lords, early histories of races such as the Daleks were rewritten, and so on. The creation of a detailed backstory has also led to the criticism that too much being known about the Doctor limits both creative possibilities and the sense of mystery. Some of the stories during the Seventh Doctor's tenure, part of the so-called " Cartmel Masterplan ", were intended to deal with this issue by suggesting that much of what was believed about the Doctor was wrong and that he is a far more powerful and mysterious figure than previously thought.

In both an untelevised scene in Remembrance of the Daleks and the subsequent Silver Nemesis it is implied (to quote an excised line from "Remembrance") that the Doctor is "far more than just another Time Lord." The suspension of the series in 1989, however, meant that none of these hints were ever resolved, at least on television. The Virgin New Adventure novel, Lungbarrow , did resolve these hints and explain the Doctor's origins. However, not all fans regard the spin-off novels as canon or accept the revelations made in that particular story. The 1996 television movie created even more uncertainty about the character, revealing that the Doctor had a human mother and he remembered his father. Fans, however, seemed to be more upset about the fact that the Eighth Doctor kissed Dr Grace Holloway , breaking the series' longstanding taboo against the Doctor having any romantic involvement with his companions. The revelation in the 1996 television movie that the Doctor was half- human is often considered to be a continuity error as the Doctor is considered by most to be a full Time Lord, causing fans to attempt to find alternative explanations about why the Doctor claimed to be part human.

While some fans regard discontinuities as a problem, others regard it as a source of interest or humour — an attitude taken in the book The Discontinuity Guide . A common fan explanation is that a universe with time travellers is likely to have many historical inconsistencies. The revived series has tackled this issue head on by suggesting that "time is in flux" and with the exception of certain fixed points in time , most anything can be changed. Recently, some fan interpretations of the series 5 finale, The Big Bang , have suggested a potential reboot of Doctor Who continuity in toto, but there is also evidence in opposition to this view. There has been much fan speculation on exactly which aspects of the television series, books, radio dramatisations, and other sources are considered canon. This has been made more complex by the fact that at least one novel, short story, comic, and audio have all been adapted for the TV series. Additionally, the events of at least one novel have been referenced on screen. For their part, the BBC have never issued a firm edict as to what counts as "canon".

Thus, Doctor Who stands in stark contrast to the more formalised canons of Star Trek, Star Wars, Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings — and, indeed, most every other fictional universe. "Doctor Who?" Edit When the series begins, nothing is known of the Doctor at all, not even his name. In the very first serial, An Unearthly Child , two teachers from the Coal Hill School in London , Barbara Wright and Ian Chesterton , become intrigued by one of their students, Susan Foreman , who exhibits high intelligence and patchy, unusually advanced knowledge. Trailing her to a junkyard at 76 Totter's Lane , they encounter a strange old man and hear Susan's voice coming from inside what appears to be a police box . Pushing their way inside, the two find that the exterior is actually camouflage for the dimensionally transcendental interior of the TARDIS . Susan calls the old man "Grandfather", but he simply calls himself the Doctor. When he fears Ian and Barbara may alert the local authorities to what they've seen, he whisks them all away to another place in time and space.

In the first episode, Ian addresses the Doctor as "Doctor Foreman," as the junkyard in which they find him bears the sign "I.M. Foreman". When addressed by Ian with this name in the next episode, the Time Lord responds, "Eh? Doctor who? What's he talking about?" Later, when Ian realises that "Foreman" is not his name, he asks Barbara, "Who is he? Doctor who?" Although listed in the on-screen credits for nearly twenty years as "Doctor Who", the Doctor is never really called by that name in the series, except in that same tongue-in-cheek manner . For example, in The Five Doctors when one character refers to him as "the Doctor", another character asks, "Who?" The only real exception has been the computer WOTAN , in the serial, The War Machines , which commanded that "Doctor Who is required." In The Gunfighters , the First Doctor uses the alias Dr Caligari . In The Highlanders the Second Doctor assumes the name of "Doctor von Wer" (a German translation of "Doctor of Who"), and signs himself as "Dr. W" in The Underwater Menace .

In The Wheel in Space , his companion Jamie , reads the name off some medical equipment, and tells the crew of the Wheel that the Doctor's name is "John Smith". The Doctor adopts this alias several times over the course of the series, often prefixing the title "Doctor" to it. This has continued to the Tenth Doctor , and was famously referenced to in the 1996 television movie , where even though the Doctor is unconscious, a complete stranger, seemingly at random, writes the name John Smith on the Doctor's hospital admission papers. In The Armageddon Factor , the Time Lord Drax addresses the Fourth Doctor as "Theet", short for "Theta Sigma", apparently a University nickname. In the 1988 serial Remembrance of the Daleks , the Seventh Doctor is asked to sign a document, which he does by using a question mark, and produces a calling card with a series of Greek letters (or Old High Gallifreyan script) and a question mark inscribed on it. The Eighth Doctor briefly used the alias "Dr Bowman" in the 1996 television movie. He has also been mocked by his fellow Time Lords for adhering to such a "lowly" title as "Doctor".

In many spin-off comic strips, books, films and other media, the character is often called "Doctor Who" (or just "Dr. Who") as a matter of course, though this has declined in recent years. From the first story through to Logopolis (the last story of Season 18 and also of the Tom Baker era), the lead character was listed as "Doctor Who". Starting with Peter Davison 's first story, Castrovalva (also the first story of Season 19 ), the lead character is credited simply as "The Doctor". Doctor Who writer Terrance Dicks offered the theory that Time Lord names were "jawbreakers," long and extremely difficult to pronounce, and this was why the Doctor never revealed his true name. However, River Song , one of the few people ever to know his name, was able to whisper it in his ear in a very short time. Some fans have speculated, taking off from the fact that the full name of the Time Lady Romana is Romanadvoratrelundar, that the first syllable of the Doctor's true name is "Who".

It should be noted that, although it is often asserted that "Doctor Who" is not the character's name, there is nothing in the series itself that actually confirms this. On at least one occasion the Doctor is about to give a name after the title "Doctor..." but is interrupted. Interestingly, the BBC novel, The Infinity Doctors mentions an ancient Gallifreyan god named " OHM ". When this name is turned upside down, the result is "WHO." This idea originated in early drafts of The Three Doctors by Bob Baker and Dave Martin . The character of "Ohm" eventually became Omega . It is interesting to note that, while spin-off media is known to "fill in the blanks" regarding aspects of Doctor Who lore — for example, several novels "revealed" The Master 's real name — no officially licensed media has ever seriously attempted to solve the riddle of the Doctor's real name. Notwithstanding early spin-off media that treated "Doctor Who" as his name, of course.

During Matt Smith 's reign as the Eleventh Doctor , it was revealed that the oldest question in the universe was "Doctor Who?" and considering how desperate the Silence , a religious order devoted to destroying the Doctor, are to keep him from revealing it, the consequences of him telling anyone his real name must be catastrophic. The Tenth Doctor , played by David Tennant , has stated that there was only one reason and one time that he would or could reveal his true name. In The Bells of Saint John , the Eleventh Doctor asked Clara to repeat the question, and stated that he didn't realise how much he enjoyed being people asking him "Doctor Who?" Accolades Edit In 2000, in a poll of industry professionals, the British Film Institute voted Doctor Who #3 in a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes . Since its return in 2005, the series has received many nominations and awards both nationally (UK) and internationally. This includes BAFTAs , the National Television Awards and the Hugo Awards .

American accolades have been fewer and farther between, although in 2007 it broke a barrier by receiving a nomination for the 2008 People's Choice Awards, although it did not win. The series' revival found its highest ratings not in the UK but in South Korea. [1] The Guinness World Records have recognised that Doctor Who has broke, accomplished and set many different records. To see a full list, visit the Guinness World Records article on this Wikia. Even the "gap year" season of 2009-2010, which consisted of only four specials (five if the 2008 Christmas special, The Next Doctor is included), wasn't enough to slow down the train of awards given to Doctor Who. On 20 January 2010 the series won Best Drama and David Tennant won Best Drama Performance at the 2010 National Television Awards. [2] Feature films To build upon the success of Dalekmania the series had created in Britain in the 1960s, two feature films were produced ( Dr. Who and the Daleks , and Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. ) and released worldwide.

Although both were adapted from the William Hartnell television stories The Daleks and The Dalek Invasion of Earth respectively, they feature Peter Cushing as a Human scientist named Dr. Who who invents a TARDIS , and as such are not considered to be canonical. In 2011 it was announced that a new feature film would be released, to be directed by Harry Potter director David Yates . [3] Although initial news reports suggested that the film would "start from scratch" in terms of continuity, Steven Moffat subsequently clarified that "any Doctor Who movie would be made by the BBC team, star the current TV Doctor and would certainly not be a Hollywood reboot." [4] He later reiterated, "There will not come a time when there's a separate kind of Doctor Who. What was talked about there was that there would be a separate Doctor and a different continuity. Of course it won't. That would be silly. Everyone knows that's silly. The BBC knows that's silly, and is not going to do that." [5] Other media Edit Although Doctor Who originated as a television programme, it has become much more than that.

Starting with " Dalekmania " in the 1960s, a great deal of merchandise has sprung out of Doctor Who. Some of that merchandise has continued the story of the Doctor's adventures. Over the decades, Doctor Who has appeared on stage, screen, and radio, and in a variety of novels, comics, full-cast audio adventures and webcasts. Beginning in the late 1980s, independent production companies such as BBV Productions and Reeltime Pictures took advantage of a loophole in the BBC's ownership of Doctor Who to licence individual characters and monsters from the series directly from their creators and build original film and audio dramas around them; this reached its height after the original series ended in 1989. Many of these productions involved original cast members from the series. Meanwhile, since 1991, a prolific series of original novels rivalled only by the Star Trek franchise (in terms of quantity) have been published. Many of these productions and novels are highly regarded by some Doctor Who fans. Several of the writers of the 2005 series previously wrote or scripted adventures for the Doctor in other media.

In terms of non-fiction works, Doctor Who ranks among the most intensely chronicled entertainment franchises in history. Since the publication of The Making of Doctor Who in the early 1970s, the number of books detailing the production, personnel, and even philosophy behind Doctor Who has numbered well into three figures. In addition, a growing number of actors connected to the series have published autobiographies (in several cases more than one volume of memoirs), ranging from 1960s-era co-stars such as Anneke Wills and Deborah Watling through to more recent actors such as Billie Piper and John Barrowman . External links

Question: Which actor played the third Dr Who on television?
Answer: Jon Pertwee