Portal:Doctor Who

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Doctor Who is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterrestrial being called the Doctor, part of a humanoid species called Time Lords. The Doctor travels in the universe and in time using a time travelling spaceship called the TARDIS, which externally appears as a British police box. While travelling, the Doctor works to save lives and liberate oppressed peoples by combating foes. The Doctor usually travels with companions.

Beginning with William Hartnell, fourteen actors have headlined the series as the Doctor; the most recent being Ncuti Gatwa, who portrayed the Fifteenth Doctor from 2023 to 2025. The transition between actors is written into the plot of the series with the concept of regeneration into a new incarnation, a plot device in which, when a Time Lord is fatally injured or weakened from old age, their cells regenerate and they are reincarnated into a different body with new mannerisms and behaviour but the same memories. This explains each actor's distinct portrayal, as they all represent different stages in the Doctor's life and, together, form a single lifetime with a single narrative. The time-travelling nature of the plot means that different incarnations of the Doctor occasionally meet. The Doctor can change ethnic appearance or gender; in 2017, Jodie Whittaker became the first woman cast in the lead role, and in 2023, Gatwa became the first black actor to lead the series.

The series is a significant part of British popular culture and has gained a cult following overseas. It has influenced generations of British television professionals, many of whom grew up watching the series. Fans of the series are sometimes referred to as Whovians. The series has been listed in Guinness World Records as the longest-running science-fiction television series in the world, as well as the "most successful" science-fiction series of all time, based on its overall broadcast ratings, DVD and book sales. (Full article...)

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Rassilon is a fictional character from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. In the backstory of the programme, he was the founder of Time Lord society on the planet Gallifrey and its first leader. Rassilon was first mentioned in the 1976 serial The Deadly Assassin, where he was retconned into being a major establishing figure in Time Lord society, filling the role previously fulfilled by the character Omega. Despite his impact on Time Lord society, he was implied to be a cruel leader. He would later appear in the 1983 episode "The Five Doctors" in a physical appearance. In the show's revival, he appears as an antagonist in the 2009–2010 episodes "The End of Time" and the 2015 episode "Hell Bent". Rassilon has also appeared in a large amount of spin-off media associated with the show.

The role of Rassilon has been portrayed by several actors throughout the series, with Richard Mathews portraying him in "The Five Doctors", Timothy Dalton portraying him in "The End of Time", and Donald Sumpter portraying him in "Hell Bent". He also has been voiced by actors Don Warrington and Richard Armitage in Big Finish produced audio dramas. Rassilon has been analysed for his role as a leadership figure in the series, as well as in comparisons between the series and real-world religions. (Full article...)
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"The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. First broadcast on BBC One on 25 December 2011, it is the seventh Doctor Who Christmas special since the show's revival in 2005. It was written by Steven Moffat and directed by Farren Blackburn. Internationally, the special was shown on BBC America in the United States and on Space in Canada the same day as the British broadcast, with ABC1 in Australia showing it one day later.

In the special, alien time traveller the Doctor (Matt Smith) is the caretaker of recently widowed Madge Arwell (Claire Skinner) and her children Lily (Holly Earl) and Cyril (Maurice Cole) during their holiday vacation in 1941 Britain. The Doctor plans to take them on a treat to a snowy planet through a portal in a present he has placed under the Christmas tree, but Cyril opens it before Christmas and wanders through. While looking for him, the others learn that the trees of the planet are about to be melted down with acid rain for energy. (Full article...)
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"Flesh and Stone" is the fifth episode of the fifth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Written by Steven Moffat and directed by Adam Smith, the episode was first broadcast on 1 May 2010 on BBC One. Featuring the Weeping Angels as primary villains and the recurring character River Song (Alex Kingston), it is the conclusion of a two-episode story; the first part, "The Time of Angels", aired on 24 April.

In the episode, the alien time traveller the Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith), his companion Amy Pond (Karen Gillan), River Song, and Father Octavian (Iain Glen) and his militarised clerics have escaped entrapment by the Weeping Angels, creatures who only move when unobserved by others. They take refuge inside the crashed starship Byzantium, but the Angels pursue them and Amy is on the brink of dying from the imprint of an Angel in her eye. Both the Angels and the Doctor's team face danger from a widening crack in space and time which has the power to erase persons from history. (Full article...)
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The first series of the 2005 revival of the British science fiction programme Doctor Who began on 26 March 2005 with the episode "Rose". This marked the end of the programme's 16 year absence from episodic television following its cancellation in 1989, and the first new televised Doctor Who story since the broadcast of the television movie starring Paul McGann in 1996. The finale episode, "The Parting of the Ways", was broadcast on 18 June 2005. The show was revived by longtime Doctor Who fan Russell T Davies, who had been lobbying the BBC since the late 1990s to bring the show back. The first series comprised 13 episodes, eight of which Davies wrote. Davies, Julie Gardner and Mal Young served as executive producers, Phil Collinson as producer.

The show depicts the adventures of a mysterious and eccentric Time Lord known as the Doctor, who travels through time and space in his time machine, the TARDIS, which normally appears from the exterior to be a blue 1950s British police box. With his companions, he explores time and space, faces a variety of foes and saves civilizations, helping people and righting wrongs. (Full article...)
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"Amy's Choice" is the seventh episode of the fifth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It first broadcast on BBC One on 15 May 2010. It was written by sitcom writer Simon Nye and directed by Catherine Morshead.

In the episode, the Eleventh Doctor, a time travelling alien played by Matt Smith, and his human travelling companions Amy (Karen Gillan) and Rory (Arthur Darvill), are in a trap set by the mysterious "Dream Lord" (Toby Jones), wherein they repeatedly fall asleep and wake up in a different reality. In one, Amy and Rory are happily married but pursued by elderly people possessed by aliens, while in another they are on board the Doctor's time machine, the TARDIS, where they anticipate being frozen to death by a nearby astronomical phenomenon. They must decide which is the real reality and die in the dream, to wake up in reality and escape the trap. At the episode's conclusion, the Dream Lord is ultimately revealed to be a manifestation of the Doctor's dark side and self-loathing. (Full article...)
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"73 Yards" is the fourth episode of the fourteenth series of the science fiction television series Doctor Who. The episode was first released in the United Kingdom on BBC iPlayer on 25 May 2024 and was broadcast on BBC One the same night. It was released simultaneously on Disney+ in the United States on 24 May. The episode was written by Russell T Davies and directed by Dylan Holmes Williams.

In the episode, the Fifteenth Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) suddenly vanishes from a clifftop in Wales after breaking a fairy circle. His companion Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson), searches for him whilst being followed by a mysterious woman who is always 73 yards away from her. Described by Davies as folk horror, "73 Yards" was the first episode of the fourteenth series to be filmed, with shooting taking place in various locations around Wales in late 2022 and early 2023. (Full article...)
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"Vincent and the Doctor" is the tenth episode of the fifth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who, first broadcast on BBC One on 5 June 2010. It was written by Richard Curtis and directed by Jonny Campbell and featured an uncredited guest appearance from actor Bill Nighy.

Intrigued by an ominous figure in Vincent van Gogh's June 1890 painting The Church at Auvers, alien time traveller the Doctor (Matt Smith) and his companion Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) go back in time to meet van Gogh (Tony Curran) and discover that Auvers-sur-Oise has been plagued by an invisible creature, known as the Krafayis, which only van Gogh can see. The Doctor and Amy work with van Gogh to defeat the Krafayis, but in their attempt to have van Gogh realise his legacy through bringing him to the future they ultimately realise that not all of time can be rewritten and there are some evils which are out of the Doctor's reach. (Full article...)
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"Boom" is the third episode of the fourteenth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was written by Steven Moffat, who had previously been showrunner from 2010 to 2017, and directed by Julie Anne Robinson. It was broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 18 May 2024 and released in the United States on Disney+ on 17 May.

The episode revolves around the Fifteenth Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and his companion, Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson), who land on an alien planet in the midst of a large-scale war. When the Doctor steps on a landmine, he is forced to come up with a solution to disarm it without moving. In what is considered to be a bottle episode, Varada Sethu, who was not expected to debut in Doctor Who until the following series, makes a guest appearance as Mundy Flynn. (Full article...)
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"The Time of Angels" is the fourth episode of the fifth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast on 24 April 2010 on BBC One. It is the first episode of a two-part story written by showrunner Steven Moffat and directed by Adam Smith; the second episode, "Flesh and Stone", aired on 1 May. Moffat utilised the two-part episode to bring back a couple of his previous creations: the Weeping Angels from his series 3 episode "Blink", and River Song (Alex Kingston) from the series 4 episodes "Silence in the Library" and "Forest of the Dead".

The episode is partly set in the 51st century. In the episode, the Eleventh Doctor—a time travelling alien played by Matt Smith—and his companion Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) are summoned by River Song, a mysterious woman from the Doctor's future. She takes them to the planet Alfava Metraxis, where the spaceship Byzantium has crashed. Hidden inside is a Weeping Angel, a creature that can only move when unobserved by others. With the help of Father Octavian (Iain Glen) and his militarised clerics, the Doctor, Amy and River Song travel through a stone labyrinth to reach the ship. On the way, they discover that all the statues in the maze are Angels, which are slowly restoring and planning to trap them in the labyrinth. (Full article...)
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Adam Mitchell is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, played by Bruno Langley. Adam is introduced in the first series of the programme's revival as the second television companion of the Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston). However, unlike the Ninth Doctor's primary companion, Rose Tyler (Billie Piper), who provided an effective human contrast to the Doctor's centuries-old alien, Adam was created to provide an example of an inept time traveller.

The character is introduced as a boy genius from the year 2012 who attracts the attention of the Doctor's traveling companion Rose after she and the Doctor meet him in his place of work. Despite Rose's willingness to accept Adam as a fellow traveller, the Doctor is sceptical. After Adam attempts to use information from the future for his own gain, the Doctor throws Adam out of the TARDIS and sends him home. This was the first example of the Doctor forcing a companion to leave because of negative behaviour. (Full article...)
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The Aztecs is the sixth serial of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast on BBC1 in four weekly parts from 23 May to 13 June 1964. It was written by John Lucarotti and directed by John Crockett. In the serial, the First Doctor (William Hartnell), his granddaughter Susan (Carole Ann Ford), and teachers Ian Chesterton (William Russell) and Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill) arrive in Mexico during the Aztec empire. Barbara becomes mistaken for the goddess Yetaxa, and accepts the identity in hope of persuading the Aztecs to give up human sacrifice, despite the Doctor's warnings about changing history.

Lucarotti became fascinated by the Aztec civilisation while living in Mexico, largely due to the Aztec tradition of human sacrifice. He wrote the episodes while his other serial, Marco Polo, was in production. Designer Barry Newbery based his set designs on books and documentaries about the Aztecs, though faced difficulty due to the limited information on the civilisation available. Costume designer Daphne Dare used artistic licence with the serial's costumes, due to the limited clothing worn by the Aztecs. The serial premiered with 7.9 million viewers, maintaining audience figures throughout the four weeks. Response for the serial was positive, and it has since been described as one of the show's greatest stories. It later received several print adaptations and home media releases. (Full article...)
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"Night Terrors" is the ninth episode of the sixth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, and was first broadcast on BBC One and BBC America on 3 September 2011. It was written by Mark Gatiss and directed by Richard Clark.

In the episode, alien time traveller the Doctor (in his eleventh incarnation played by Matt Smith) and his companions Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) and Rory (Arthur Darvill) decide to make a "house call" to Croydon, to an eight-year-old boy named George (Jamie Oram) who is terrified of almost everything and especially dreads the cupboard in his bedroom. While the Doctor discusses this with George's father Alex (Daniel Mays), Amy and Rory become trapped in a doll house with terrifying life-size peg dolls. (Full article...)
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A hostile Weeping Angel as displayed in 2008

The Weeping Angels are a race of fictional predatory alien creatures from the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The Weeping Angels are "quantum-locked", meaning they can only move when unobserved. Weeping Angels feast by touching a victim; the victim is sent back in time, and the Angel feeds on the resulting time energy from the time travel caused. The Weeping Angels were introduced in the 2007 episode "Blink" and became recurring characters across a variety of Doctor Who media. These later episodes expand the Angels' list of abilities, which include the ability for an image of an Angel to become another Weeping Angel, the ability to turn other statues into Weeping Angels, and the ability to kill others by touching them twice.

The Angels were created by writer Steven Moffat. Moffat was inspired by a variety of sources, including an encounter with a statue in a graveyard, which had mysteriously disappeared when he returned to view it at a later date. The Weeping Angels are portrayed by actresses, who portray the Angels physically, with freeze frames being used to make the Angels appear entirely still in the final product. The Weeping Angels were planned to act as the overarching, main antagonists of the spin-off series Class; however, due to the series's cancellation, this never came to fruition. (Full article...)
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The Crusade is the sixth serial of the second season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Written by David Whitaker and directed by Douglas Camfield, the serial was broadcast on BBC1 in four weekly parts from 27 March to 17 April 1965. In this serial, the First Doctor (William Hartnell) and his travelling companions Ian Chesterton (William Russell), Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill), and Vicki (Maureen O'Brien) arrive in 12th century Palestine during the Third Crusade, and find themselves entangled in the conflict between King Richard the Lionheart (Julian Glover) and Saladin (Bernard Kay). They also meet King Richard's sister Lady Joanna (Jean Marsh) and Saladin's brother Saphadin (Roger Avon).

Whitaker wrote the serial after departing his role as the show's story editor in 1964. He was fascinated by the Third Crusade, and found the historical figures effective material for a character drama, particularly the relationship between King Richard and his sister. Story editor Dennis Spooner was impressed by the maturity and near-Shakespearean nature of Whitaker's scripts, and Camfield considered them the best he directed for the show. Viewership fell from the previous serial and dropped throughout the four weeks, but was considered acceptable. The Crusade received positive reviews, with praise directed at the writing, performances, and set design. Two of the four episodes remain missing after the BBC wiped them from the archives. The story received several print adaptations and home media releases, with the missing episodes reconstructed using off-air recordings. (Full article...)
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"Dalek" is the sixth episode of the revived first series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 30 April 2005. This episode is the first appearance of the Daleks in the 21st-century revival of Doctor Who; it also marks the first appearance of Bruno Langley as companion Adam Mitchell.

The episode is set in Utah in the year 2012, in the underground bunker owned by Henry van Statten (Corey Johnson), a rich collector of alien artefacts. In the episode, the alien time traveller the Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) and his travelling companion Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) encounter the bunker's only living exhibit: a Dalek, which breaks loose and attempts to exterminate everyone in the bunker after repairing itself. (Full article...)

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The Keys of Marinus is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in 6 weekly parts from April 11 to May 16, 1964.

The planet Marinus is under threat from the Voord. The only hope of stopping them is to recover the keys to a machine known as the Conscience of Marinus, which have been hidden around the planet. The First Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara are forced to search for the keys in a variety of dangerous locations in order to restore order to Marinus.

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Did you know (auto-generated)

... that Irish writer Dave Rudden has written a juvenile fantasy trilogy as well as several stories in the Doctor Who universe?
... that Jessica Martin has played both a punk werewolf and the voice of the Queen in Doctor Who?
... that a Doctor Who episode took place during the partition of India, and used a unique Indian adaptation of the usual closing theme?
... that the Doctor Who episode "Lux" is set in Miami, Florida, despite being filmed in Penarth, Wales?
... that Disney+ released a promotional poster for the Doctor Who Christmas special "Joy to the World" with the title spelled incorrectly?
... that a Doctor Who episode was still in post-production in the month before it aired?

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“

"Jo, it's all quite simple - I am he and he is me."

"And we are all together, goo-goo-goo-joob?"

”

— Third Doctor and Jo Grant, The Three Doctors

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Events

**Recent scheduled events**
Date	Event
29 August 2022	Another SMTV Live crossover episode
1 January 2022	2022 specials
December 2021	Big Finish audio play The Year of Martha Jones [1]
February 2022	Second volume of the Big Finish audio play The Lone Centurion [2]
May 2022	Series 2 of the audio play Doctor Who: The Ninth Doctor Adventures

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More did you know?

... that the War Doctor (played by John Hurt, pictured), introduced in The Night of the Doctor, is a "dark doctor" who will "bring an ancient battle to its devastating conclusion"?
... that Douglas Adams convinced John Cleese to appear in the Doctor Who serial City of Death after learning the comedian would be working in BBC Television Centre on the same day of filming?
... that the titular planet in the Doctor Who episode "Planet of the Ood" is in the same planetary system as the Sense-Sphere, the location for the 1964 serial The Sensorites?

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