The Doctor Who Portal
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...)
Recognized quality articles
"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...)- The Keys of Marinus is the fifth serial of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast on BBC TV/BBC1 in six weekly parts from 11 April to 16 May 1964. Written by Terry Nation and directed by John Gorrie, the serial takes on a "mini-adventures" format, in which the First Doctor (William Hartnell), his granddaughter Susan Foreman (Carole Ann Ford), and her teachers Ian Chesterton (William Russell), and Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill) search for four keys to restore the Conscience of Marinus, a computer which maintains law and order. The group travel to two cities, a jungle, and an icy wasteland in search of the keys.
The Keys of Marinus was written to replace a different script which was deemed problematic. When commissioned to write the script, Nation was intrigued by the idea of the TARDIS crew searching for pieces of a puzzle; he and script editor David Whitaker decided to construct the serial around a series of "mini-adventures", each with a different setting and cast. Incidental music was composed by Norman Kay, while Raymond Cusick, Daphne Dare, and Jill Summers worked as designers. The serial premiered with nine million viewers, maintaining audience figures for several weeks before seeing a significant drop from the fifth episode. Response for the serial was mixed, and it received several print adaptations and home media releases. (Full article...) - The fifth series of the British science-fiction television programme Doctor Who was originally broadcast on BBC One in 2010. The series began on 3 April 2010 with "The Eleventh Hour", and ended with "The Big Bang" on 26 June 2010. The series is the first to be led by Steven Moffat, who took over as head writer and executive producer when Russell T Davies ended his involvement in the show after "The End of Time". The series has 13 episodes, six of which were written by Moffat. Piers Wenger and Beth Willis were co-executive producers, and Tracie Simpson and Peter Bennett were producers. Although it is the fifth series since the show's revival in 2005 (and the thirty-first since it began in 1963), the series' production code numbers were reset.
It was the first series to feature Matt Smith as the eleventh incarnation of the Doctor, an alien Time Lord who travels through time and space in his TARDIS (a spacecraft whose exterior resembles a British police box). Karen Gillan is introduced as the Doctor's new companion, Amy Pond. Her fiancé, Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill), appears in seven episodes, travels with the Doctor and Amy, and is a regular character in the next series. Alex Kingston returns as River Song, a mysterious woman from the Doctor's future who summons him twice in this series. The main story arc, covering several episodes, concerns a pattern of cracks in the universe which are sometimes unnoticed by the characters. It is discovered that the cracks can erase things from existence; this happens to Rory, and Amy forgets him. It is revealed in the series finale that the cracks were caused by the TARDIS exploding, and the Doctor is forced to reboot the universe to its state before the cracks appeared. (Full article...) - "Planet of the Ood" is the third episode of the fourth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 19 April 2008.
The episode takes place in the year 4126 on the Ood-Sphere, the titular planet of the episode. The Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) and his companion Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) investigate Ood Operations, a company that is selling the Ood as a servant race, to discover the reason the Ood are happy to serve. When they find a group of unprocessed Ood, they become horrified at the alterations performed and resolve to free the Ood. (Full article...) - The Web Planet is the fifth serial of the second season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Written by Bill Strutton and directed by Richard Martin, the serial was broadcast on BBC1 in six weekly parts from 13 February to 20 March 1965. In the serial, the First Doctor (William Hartnell) and his travelling companions Ian Chesterton (William Russell), Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill), and Vicki (Maureen O'Brien) ally themselves with the Menoptra, the former inhabitants of the planet Vortis, as they struggle to win back the planet from the malignant Animus (Catherine Fleming) and its Zarbi slaves.
When crafting an idea for the serial, Strutton recalled a memory as a child of watching two bull ants fighting, which he linked with his two sons fighting each other. Story editor Dennis Spooner found the narrative to be multilayered, with the Menoptra representing free enterprise and the Zarbi communism. Martin hired a mime artist to develop choreography for the serial, and forwent a traditional score in favour of prerecorded stock music. The Web Planet premiered with 13.5 million viewers, the highest in the series to date; it maintained high viewership across the six weeks. Reviews were mixed, with praise directed at its choreography and action, and criticism towards its costumes and confusing story; retrospective reviews applauded the serial's ambition despite its outdated visuals. The Web Planet was later novelised and released on VHS and DVD. (Full article...) - Planet of Giants is the first serial of the second season in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Written by Louis Marks and directed by Mervyn Pinfield and Douglas Camfield, the serial was first broadcast on BBC1 in three weekly parts from 31 October to 14 November 1964. In the serial, the First Doctor (William Hartnell), his granddaughter Susan Foreman (Carole Ann Ford), and her teachers Ian Chesterton (William Russell) and Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill) are shrunk to the size of an inch after the Doctor's time machine the TARDIS arrives in contemporary England.
The story's concept was first proposed as the first serial of the show's first season, but was rejected due to its technical complexity and lack of character development. When Marks was commissioned to write the script, he was inspired by Rachel Carson's 1962 environmental science book Silent Spring, the first major documentation on human impact on the environment. The story was originally written and filmed as a four-part serial, but later reduced to three parts; the third and fourth episodes were cut down to form a faster-paced climax. The serial premiered with 8.4 million viewers, maintaining audience figures throughout the three weeks. Retrospective response for the serial was mixed, with criticism directed at its story and characterisation despite praise for its ambition. It later received several print adaptations and home media releases. (Full article...) - "Silence in the Library" is the eighth episode of the fourth series of the revived British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 31 May 2008. It is the first of a two-part story; the second part, "Forest of the Dead", aired on 7 June. The two episodes make up the second two-parter Steven Moffat contributed to the series after "The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances" from the first series. It is also the final story that Moffat wrote before replacing Russell T Davies as head writer and showrunner starting from the fifth series in 2010.
In the episode, the archaeologist River Song (Alex Kingston) summons the alien time traveller the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) to a planet-sized library in the 51st century, where thousands of visitors disappeared without a trace a hundred years earlier when the library was shut off. The episode marks the first appearance of Alex Kingston as River Song, a role she would reprise in the next three series. (Full article...) - "The Almost People" is the sixth episode of the sixth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, and was first broadcast on BBC One on 28 May 2011. It is the second episode of a two-part story written by Matthew Graham and directed by Julian Simpson which began with "The Rebel Flesh".
Following from "The Rebel Flesh", alien time traveller the Doctor (Matt Smith) and his companions Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) and Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill) are on an acid-pumping factory on a remote island in the 22nd century where the crew of the factory create "Gangers", the Flesh duplicates they control. However, a solar storm has caused the Gangers to become sentient, and the Doctor must prevent a war breaking out between the humans and Gangers. (Full article...) - "The Big Bang" is the thirteenth and final episode of the fifth series of British science fiction television programme Doctor Who, first broadcast on 26 June 2010 on BBC One. It is the second part of the two-part series finale; the first part, "The Pandorica Opens", aired on 19 June. The episode was written by head writer and executive producer Steven Moffat and directed by Toby Haynes.
Following the end of the previous episode, alien time traveller the Doctor (Matt Smith) is trapped in a prison from which escape is impossible, the space-time vessel the TARDIS has blown up with the time-travelling archaeologist River Song (Alex Kingston) inside, and the Doctor's companion Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) has been shot and killed by an Auton replica of her fiancé Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill). As the universe is collapsing, the Doctor uses time travel to solve these problems and ultimately reboot the universe. (Full article...) - "Wish World" is the seventh and penultimate episode of the fifteenth series of the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who. The episode is the first in a two-part story, concluding with "The Reality War" one week later on 31 May. In the episode, the Fifteenth Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and his companions, Belinda Chandra (Varada Sethu) and Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson), find themselves living in a false, heteronormative, 1950s-era themed reality. This world was engineered by Conrad Clark at the behest of the Rani, a long-time enemy of the Doctor whose ultimate plan is to make the residents doubt the universe they live in and rescue Omega.
Written by Russell T Davies and directed by Alex Sanjiv Pillai, the episode was released on BBC iPlayer, BBC One, and Disney+ on 24 May 2025. It draws together several themes that were present throughout the fifteenth series and was filmed throughout April and May 2024. Production crews faced issues working with animals and a baby while recording took place. Interior scenes were shot at Wolf Studios Wales. The episode was viewed by 2.86 million. "Wish World" received mixed reviews; critics positively highlighted the execution of the false reality, but some criticised the characterisation of the Rani and the return of Omega. The two-part story was also given a limited theatrical release. (Full article...) - The second series of the British science fiction programme Doctor Who was proceded by the Christmas special "The Christmas Invasion" broadcast on 25 December 2005. A regular series of thirteen episodes was broadcast weekly in 2006, starting with "New Earth" on 15 April and concluding with "Doomsday" on 8 July. In addition, two short special episodes were produced; a Children in Need special and an interactive episode, as well as thirteen minisodes titled Tardisodes. It is the second series of the revival of the show, and the twenty-eighth season overall.
It is the first series to feature David Tennant as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor, an alien Time Lord who travels through time and space in his TARDIS, which appears to be a British police box on the outside. The Doctor continues to travel with his companion Rose Tyler (Billie Piper), with whom he has grown increasingly attached. They also briefly travel with Rose's boyfriend Mickey Smith (Noel Clarke), and Rose's mother Jackie (Camille Coduri). The series is connected by a loose story arc consisting of the recurring word "Torchwood". This is also the first series to be preceded by a Christmas special, the success of "The Christmas Invasion" led to the Christmas special becoming an annual tradition. (Full article...) - "Aliens of London" is the fourth episode of the first series of the British science fiction television show Doctor Who after its revival in 2005. First broadcast on 16 April 2005 on BBC One, it was written by Russell T Davies and directed by Keith Boak. It is the first in a two-part story, concluding with "World War Three".
The episode is set in London one year after the 2005 episode "Rose". In the episode, the alien crime family the Slitheen fake a spaceship crash-landing in the River Thames, putting the Earth on high alert. The Slitheen use the crashed spaceship to lure experts of extraterrestrial life including the "ultimate expert", the alien time traveller the Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston), into a trap inside 10 Downing Street. (Full article...) - Enlightenment is the fifth serial of the 20th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was originally broadcast in four twice-weekly parts on BBC1 from 1 to 9 March 1983. It was the 127th serial of the series, and was written by Barbara Clegg and directed by Fiona Cumming, making it the first serial to be both written and directed by women.
In the serial, the alien time traveller the Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison) and his companions Tegan Jovanka (Janet Fielding) and Vislor Turlough (Mark Strickson) encounter a group of god-like immortals who are racing historical sailing vessels from Earth through space, crewed by humans they had plucked out of time, in an attempt to win the prize of enlightenment. Turlough is under the control of the Black Guardian (Valentine Dyall), but struggles with the Guardian's orders to kill the Doctor. Enlightenment is the third of three loosely connected serials where the Black Guardian attempts to compel Turlough to kill the Doctor. (Full article...) - "The Power of the Doctor" is the third and final story of three special episodes that follow the thirteenth series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who. The episode was written by Chris Chibnall and directed by Jamie Magnus Stone. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 23 October 2022. The special was commissioned to air during the BBC's centenary celebrations.
Jodie Whittaker makes her final regular appearance as the thirteenth incarnation of the Doctor. Mandip Gill and John Bishop, who portray the Doctor's companions, Yasmin Khan and Dan Lewis, also depart. Janet Fielding and Sophie Aldred respectively star as Tegan Jovanka and Ace, former companions of the Doctor. It is the final episode in Chibnall's era as showrunner with a new cast, crew, and production company leading future episodes. (Full article...) - "Closing Time" is the twelfth and penultimate episode of the sixth series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who, and was first broadcast on BBC One on 24 September 2011. It was written by Gareth Roberts and directed by Steve Hughes. It is a sequel to "The Lodger", an episode Roberts wrote for the previous series.
In the episode, alien time traveller the Doctor (Matt Smith) is going on a "farewell tour" before his impending death and visits his friend Craig Owens (James Corden) in present-day Colchester, who has a new baby son, Alfie. Though not initially intending to stay, the Doctor becomes intrigued by a Cybermen invasion at a local department store. (Full article...)
Selected story
The Myth Makers is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from October 16 to November 6, 1965. The story is set in Homeric Troy. This serial sees the last appearance of Maureen O'Brien as Vicki and the introduction of Adrienne Hill as the Doctor's newest companion, Katarina.
The Doctor, Vicki, and Steven become involved in the siege of Troy. The story alters the fates of a few characters from the original literature. Vicki remains behind and becomes immortalised as the mythical character Cressida.
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Did you know (auto-generated)
- ... that the robotic costumes used in the Doctor Who episode "The Robot Revolution" were 3D printed in thirty-four different pieces before being assembled?
- ... that a popular romantic pairing from Doctor Who was later adapted into the show at the suggestion of lead actress Jodie Whittaker?
- ... that the producers of Doctor Who only wrote a queer romance into the programme's 2022 special episodes after viewers began shipping two characters?
- ... that Jessica Martin has played both a punk werewolf and the voice of the Queen in Doctor Who?
- ... that the Doctor Who episode "The Devil's Chord" references the events of an episode that aired more than sixty years before?
- ... that "The Christmas Invasion" led to Christmas specials becoming a staple for Doctor Who?
Selected quote
| “ | On my travels to Cathay, Ian, I have come to believe many things I'd previously doubted. For instance, when I was a boy in Venice, they told me that in Cathay there was a stone that burned. I did not believe, but there is such a stone: I have seen it. And if stone burns, why not a caravan that flies? Birds fly; I have even seen fish that fly. You are asking me to believe that your caravan can defy the passage of the sun? Move not merely from one place to another, but from today into tomorrow, today to yesterday? No Ian, that I cannot believe. | ” |
| — Marco Polo, Marco Polo | ||
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 |
| February 2022 | Second volume of the Big Finish audio play The Lone Centurion |
| May 2022 | Series 2 of the audio play Doctor Who: The Ninth Doctor Adventures |
More did you know?
- ... that "The Unicorn and the Wasp" was the first comedic episode in the science fiction television series Doctor Who since the 1966 serial The Gunfighters?
- ... that Doctor Who executive producer Steven Moffat warned actor Matt Smith not to visit fan forums such as Gallifrey Base?
- ... that the Doctor Who story Planet of Giants was inspired by Rachel Carson's 1962 environmental science book Silent Spring?
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