Portal:Doctor Who
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 often travels with companions.
Beginning with William Hartnell, fourteen actors have headlined the series as the Doctor; as of 2024[update], Ncuti Gatwa leads the series as the Fifteenth Doctor. The transition from one actor to another 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, their cells regenerate and they are reincarnated, into a different body with mannerisms and behaviour, but the same memories, explaining each actor's distinct portrayal, as they all represent different stages in the life of the Doctor and, together, they form a single lifetime with a single narrative. The time-travelling nature of the plot means that different incarnations of the Doctor occasionally meet. In 2017, Jodie Whittaker, as the Thirteenth Doctor, became the first woman to be cast in the lead role.
The series is a significant part of popular culture in Britain and elsewhere; it has gained a cult following. 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
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"The Wedding of River Song" is the thirteenth and final episode in the sixth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, and was first broadcast on BBC One on 1 October 2011. It was written by lead writer and executive producer Steven Moffat and directed by Jeremy Webb.
In the episode, the archaeologist River Song (Alex Kingston) is programmed by the religious order the Silence to kill the alien time traveller the Doctor (Matt Smith) to prevent "the first question" from being asked on a planet called Trenzalore in the Doctor's future. She refuses, and they end up in an alternative timeline where all of time is running simultaneously and beginning to disintegrate. The Doctor tries to restore the universe with the help of River and the alternative universe versions of his companions Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) and Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill). It is revealed that he had already planned escape by posing as himself using the shape-shifting Teselecta. (Full article...) -
Peter Dougan Capaldi (/kəˈpældi/; born 14 April 1958) is a Scottish actor and director. He portrayed the twelfth incarnation of the Doctor in the science fiction series Doctor Who and Malcolm Tucker in The Thick of It, for which he received four British Academy Television Award nominations, winning Best Male Comedy Performance in 2010.
Capaldi won an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film and the BAFTA Award for Best Short Film for his 1993 short film Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life. He went on to write and direct the drama film Strictly Sinatra and directed two series of the sitcom Getting On. Capaldi also played Mr Curry in the family film Paddington and its sequel Paddington 2, as well as The Thinker in The Suicide Squad. (Full article...) -
"The Power of Three" is the fourth episode of the seventh series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who that aired on BBC One and BBC One HD on 22 September 2012. It was written by Chris Chibnall and directed by Douglas Mackinnon.
In the episode, alien time traveller the Doctor (Matt Smith) spends time on Earth with his travelling companions Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) and her husband Rory (Arthur Darvill) while he awaits activity from millions of small cubes that appeared overnight. (Full article...) -
Galaxy 4 is the first serial of the third season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Written by William Emms and directed by Derek Martinus, the serial was broadcast on BBC1 in four weekly parts from 11 September to 2 October 1965. In the serial, the First Doctor (William Hartnell) and his travelling companions Vicki (Maureen O'Brien) and Steven (Peter Purves) arrive on an arid planet, where they encounter the beautiful but dangerous Drahvins and the hideous but friendly Rills, two crash-landed species in conflict with one another. Both species wish to escape as the planet is set to explode in two dawns, but the Drahvin leader Maaga (Stephanie Bidmead) wants only her people to make it out alive.
Emms, an avid Doctor Who viewer since its beginning, was commissioned to write Galaxy 4 by outgoing story editor Dennis Spooner after submitting an unsolicited story idea: show two conflicting races—one beautiful and one ugly—and flip convention by making the beautiful race evil. Spooner's successor Donald Tosh handled the bulk of the rewrites. Although Verity Lambert was credited as producer, Galaxy 4 was the first serial to be produced by her successor John Wiles. Mervyn Pinfield was originally assigned to direct the story but his failing health shortly into production prevented him from continuing, and he was replaced by Derek Martinus, a new director. Galaxy 4 was the penultimate serial of the show's second recording block but was pushed to open the third season. Filming took place at the Television Centre in July 1965. (Full article...) -
"A Town Called Mercy" is the third episode of the seventh series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, transmitted on BBC One in the United Kingdom on 15 September 2012. It was written by Toby Whithouse and directed by Saul Metzstein.
The episode featured alien time traveller the Doctor (Matt Smith) and his companions Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) and Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill) visiting the Wild West, where they encounter a town which is cut off from the rest of the frontier until they hand over Kahler-Jex, an alien doctor, to a cyborg called the Gunslinger. However, the Gunslinger is a product of experiments by Jex to win a civil war on his planet, and the Doctor is unsure of what is the right thing to do. (Full article...) -
Gwen Elizabeth Cooper is a fictional character portrayed by Welsh actress Eve Myles in the BBC science-fiction television programme Torchwood, a spin-off of the long-running series Doctor Who. The lead female character, Gwen featured in every episode of the show's 2006–2011 run, as well as two 2008 crossover episodes of Doctor Who. Gwen appears in Expanded Universe material such as the Torchwood novels and audiobooks, comic books and radio plays.
Within the series narrative, Gwen is a South Wales Police officer who discovers the mysterious Torchwood Institute, into which she is recruited by Jack Harkness (John Barrowman). Gwen initially operates as a field agent, bringing a humane and rounded approach to the team's investigations of the extraterrestrial. Gwen's work begins to take a toll on her personal life in the first series (2006), but her marriage to Rhys (Kai Owen) keeps her grounded, even as her responsibilities increase in Series 2 (2008). In Children of Earth (2009) and Miracle Day (2011), after Torchwood is destroyed to conceal a government conspiracy, a much hardened Gwen operates under her own mandate as the world undergoes crises linked with unprecedented alien threats. (Full article...) -
"Cold Blood" is the ninth episode in the fifth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast on 29 May 2010 on BBC One. It was written by Chris Chibnall and directed by Ashley Way. It is the second episode of a two-part story, the first episode being "The Hungry Earth", which features the return of the reptilian humanoid Silurians.
In the episode, deep underground, humans Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) and Nasreen Chaudhry (Meera Syal) have a conference with the Silurians' leader Eldane (Stephen Moore) over sharing the Earth between the two species. Meanwhile, the Silurian warrior Alaya (Neve McIntosh) is kept hostage in Wales by locals Ambrose (Nia Roberts) and Tony (Robert Pugh) until their relatives Mo (Alun Raglan) and Elliot (Samuel Davies) are returned from underground. The negotiations collapse after Alaya is killed by Ambrose for not helping them. (Full article...) -
"Father's Day" is the eighth episode of the first series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who, first broadcast on 14 May 2005 on BBC One. It was written by Paul Cornell and directed by Joe Ahearne.
In the episode, alien time traveller the Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) agrees to take his companion Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) back to the day her father Pete (Shaun Dingwall) died in 1987. When Rose intervenes and pulls her father out of the path of a car, time is wounded and dangerous Reapers attack, threatening to erase history. Pete eventually realises that to get rid of the Reapers, he must throw himself under the car that was originally meant to kill him. (Full article...) -
The seventh series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who was broadcast concurrently on BBC One in the United Kingdom, and was split into two parts as the previous series had been. Following its premiere on 1 September 2012, the series aired weekly with five episodes until 29 September. The remaining eight episodes were broadcast between 30 March and 18 May 2013. The 2012 Christmas special, "The Snowmen", aired separately from the main series and introduced a new TARDIS interior, title sequence, theme tune, and outfit for the Doctor.
Doctor Who's seventh series was the show's third and final series to feature Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill. They reprised their roles of the Eleventh Doctor, Amy Pond and Rory Williams, respectively, from the previous series. Gillan and Darvill departed the series in the fifth episode, "The Angels Take Manhattan", after which a new companion named Clara Oswald joined the Doctor, played by Jenna-Louise Coleman, remaining with the series for its second half. The main story arc of the series focused on the significance of the character of Clara, whom the Doctor had encountered twice before as Oswin in "Asylum of the Daleks" and as a governess in "The Snowmen". It also features the recurring appearance of the Doctor's enemy, The Great Intelligence, who is later revealed to be trying to gain the Doctor's true name for his own purposes. Smith stayed for one year longer than Gillan and Darvill, and departed after the 2013 specials, with his final appearance being in the 2013 Christmas special "The Time of the Doctor". (Full article...) -
The eleventh series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who premiered on 7 October 2018 and concluded on 9 December 2018. The series is the first to be led by Chris Chibnall as head writer and executive producer, alongside executive producers Matt Strevens and Sam Hoyle, after Steven Moffat and Brian Minchin stepped down after the tenth series. This series is the eleventh to air following the programme's revival in 2005 and is the thirty-seventh season overall. It also marks the beginning of the third production era of the revived series, following Russell T Davies' original run from 2005 to 2010, and Moffat's from 2010 to 2017. The eleventh series was broadcast on Sundays, a first in the programme's history; regular episodes of the revived era were previously broadcast on Saturdays. The series was followed by a New Year's Day special episode, "Resolution", instead of the traditional annual Christmas Day special.
The series introduces Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor, a new incarnation of the Doctor, an alien Time Lord who travels through time and space in her TARDIS, which appears to be a British police box on the outside. The series also introduces Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole, and Mandip Gill as the Doctor's newest travelling companions, Graham O'Brien, Ryan Sinclair, and Yasmin Khan, respectively. The series follows the Thirteenth Doctor as she initially searches for her lost TARDIS, inadvertently bringing Graham, Ryan, and Yasmin with her on her travels. All three later contemplate returning to their normal lives but decide to continue travelling with the Doctor. Rather than an overall story arc similar to those in previous series, each episode of the series served mostly as a standalone story. (Full article...) -
"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...) -
"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...) -
Stephen Russell Davies OBE FRSL (/ˈdeɪvɪs/ DAY-vis; born 27 April 1963), better known as Russell T Davies, is a Welsh screenwriter and television producer. He is best known for being the original showrunner and head writer of the 2005 revival of the BBC sci-fi series Doctor Who, from 2005 to 2010 and again since 2023. His other notable works include creating the series Queer as Folk (1999–2000), Bob & Rose (2001), The Second Coming (2003), Casanova (2005), Doctor Who spin-offs Torchwood (2006–2011) and The Sarah Jane Adventures (2007–2011), Cucumber (2015), A Very English Scandal (2018), Years and Years (2019), It's a Sin (2021) and Nolly (2023).
Born in Swansea, Davies had aspirations as a comic artist before focusing on being a playwright and screenwriter. After graduating from Oxford University, he joined the BBC's children's department, CBBC, in 1985 on a part-time basis and held various positions, which included creating two series, Dark Season and Century Falls. He eventually left the BBC for Granada Television, and in 1994 began writing adult television drama. His early scripts generally explored concepts of religion and sexuality among various backdrops: Revelations was a soap opera about organised religion and featured a lesbian vicar; Springhill was a soap drama about a Catholic family in contemporary Liverpool; The Grand explored society's opinion of subjects such as prostitution, abortion and homosexuality during the interwar period; and Queer as Folk recreated his experiences in the Manchester gay scene. His work in the 2000s included Bob & Rose, which portrayed a gay man who fell in love with a woman; The Second Coming, which focused on the second coming and deicide of Jesus Christ from a mostly non-religious point of view; Mine All Mine, a comedy about a family who discover they own the entire city of Swansea; and Casanova, an adaptation of the complete memoirs of Venetian adventurer Giacomo Casanova. (Full article...) -
"Empire of Death" is the eighth and final episode of the fourteenth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The episode was simultaneously released on BBC iPlayer in the United Kingdom on 22 June 2024 and released on Disney+ in the United States on 21 June. It was broadcast on BBC One later on the same day. The episode was written by Russell T Davies and directed by Jamie Donoughue. It is the second part of a two-part story following "The Legend of Ruby Sunday". The combined story was also given a limited theatrical release.
In this episode, the Fifteenth Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and his companion Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) attempt to stop the god-like being Sutekh (Gabriel Woolf) from destroying all life in the universe. Filming for the story took place in June and July 2023. (Full article...) -
The Space Museum is the seventh serial of the second season in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Written by Glyn Jones and directed by Mervyn Pinfield, it was broadcast on BBC1 in four weekly parts from 24 April to 15 May 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) arrive in a Space Museum on the planet Xeros, where they seek to change their fate after seeing themselves turned into museum exhibits in the future. They also become entangled in a conflict between the militaristic Moroks who run the museum, and the servile indigenous Xerons who work for them.
Jones was not familiar with the show or science fiction when asked to develop the storyline. Story editor Dennis Spooner edited out much of the humour from the original script as he felt that it was more intellectual; Jones was unhappy with the changes. Pinfield and the production crew hoped that The Space Museum could be made cheaply to offset more expensive serials, using a small cast and limited sets. Pinfield also used stock music recordings for the incidental score. The Space Museum received mixed reviews, with praise directed at its opening episode and the performances of Hartnell and O'Brien, but criticism of the remaining episodes, the formulaic nature of the story, and the performances of the supporting cast. The story was later novelised and released on VHS and DVD. (Full article...)
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Selected story
The Daleks' Master Plan is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The twelve episodes (the most of any Dr Who serial, excluding the four 1986 stories that were together called The Trial of a Time Lord) were aired from November 13, 1965 to January 29, 1966. This serial marks the final appearance of Adrienne Hill as companion Katarina, the only appearance of Jean Marsh as Sara Kingdom and the first ever death of a companion.
The episode is set in the year 4000, the Daleks conspire to conquer the Solar System. Their scheme involves treachery at the highest levels, and a weapon capable of destroying the very fabric of time. The Doctor and his companions are forced to travel throughout time in order to stop them.
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Did you know (auto-generated)
- ... that three-quarters of Doctor Who's longest story are missing?
- ... that due to legal and union restrictions, the production team for the Doctor Who episode "Space Babies" occasionally had to replace real babies with props?
- ... that David Tennant filmed a Doctor Who mini-episode on his birthday?
- ... that Jessica Martin has played both a punk werewolf and the voice of the Queen in Doctor Who?
- ... that working broadcast journalists were used as extras for the portions of the Doctor Who episode "73 Yards" that were filmed at the BBC Cymru Wales New Broadcasting House?
- ... that according to writer Russell T Davies, he conceived elements of the Doctor Who episode "Empire of Death" decades before he wrote it?
Selected quote
| “ | Your species has the most amazing capacity for self-deception, matched only by its ingenuity when trying to destroy itself. | ” |
| — Seventh Doctor, Remembrance of the Daleks | ||
Events
| Date | Event |
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| 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 |
More did you know?
- ... that actress Carole Ann Ford described her character in the Doctor Who serial The Keys of Marinus as "pathetic"?
- ... that Rose is the first new episode of Doctor Who to be shown since 1996?
- ... that a rough cut of "Deep Breath", the first episode of the eighth series of Doctor Who, was leaked online six weeks before the episode was due to air?
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