Spin-off media offer the explanation that the Doctor's true name is unpronounceable by humans. In "The Name of the Doctor", the Eleventh Doctor tells companion Clara Oswald that the name "Doctor" is essentially a promise he made. The promise itself is revealed in "The Day of the Doctor": "Never cruel nor cowardly. Never give up. Never give in."
Character biography
The Doctor (Doctor Who)
The Doctor (Doctor Who) | Character biography
In "The Name of the Doctor", the Eleventh Doctor tells companion Clara Oswald that the name "Doctor" is essentially a promise he made. He is a Time Lord with somewhat unknown origins who travels through time and space in a stolen dimensionally transcendental time machine: the TARDIS, which takes the exterior form of a 1963 police telephone call box The Doctor explores the universe in a time-travelling space ship called the TARDIS.Accompanied by a number of companions, the Doctor combats a variety of foes while working to save civilisations and help people in need. Sorry. I cannot find the answer based on the context.
is karen gillan in the fires of pompeii
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Karen Gillan returned in the fifth series to play Amy Pond.
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what is the fires of pompeii?
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It is the second episode of the fourth series of the British science fiction television series "Doctor Who".
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what is its storyline?
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The Tenth Doctor and Donna arrive in Pompeii the day before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79.
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who is the aforesaid person?
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Sorry. I cannot find the answer based on the context.
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who is the aforesaid actress mentioned in the series?
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She is a Scottish actress, filmmaker and former model.
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where was she born?
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Inverness.
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how did she begin her career as an actress?
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Her early television acting career included guest appearances on several television shows, with her first role being in an episode of ITV crime drama "Rebus".
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what is this latter mentioned?
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It is a puzzle device that combines the use of illustrated pictures with individual letters to depict words and/or phrases.
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how is picture associated with this?
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The term "rebus" also refers to the use of a pictogram to represent a syllabic sound.
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what is the aforementioned british tv series all about?
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It is a detective drama series based on the "Inspector Rebus" novels.
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what is its premises?
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"Doctor Who" follows the adventures of the title character, a rogue Time Lord with somewhat unknown origins who goes by the name "the Doctor".
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what was revealed about this character?
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Within the fictional narrative, the Doctor is a Time Lord with somewhat unknown origins who travels through time and space in a stolen dimensionally transcendental – "bigger on the inside" – time machine: the TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimension(s) In Space) which takes the exterior form of a 1963 police telephone call box, and retains the appearance throughout the programme. Human companions accompany the Doctor through his adventures who serve as audience surrogate characters to ask questions which allow the Doctor to provide relevant exposition. "Doctor" is a self-selected alias. In later episodes of the revived programme, specifically under show runner Steven Moffat, the story arcs surrounding events in the Doctor's future implied serious consequences in the event of the Doctor's true name being spoken, the nature of these finally being revealed in "The Time of the Doctor".
The Doctor (Doctor Who) | Character biography
The Doctor was initially shrouded in mystery. In the programme's early days, the character was an eccentric alien traveller of great intelligence who battled injustice while exploring time and space in an unreliable time machine, the "TARDIS" (an acronym for Time and Relative Dimension in Space), which notably appears much larger on the inside than on the outside (a quality referred to as "dimensionally transcendental"). The initially irascible and slightly sinister Doctor quickly mellowed into a more compassionate figure and was eventually revealed to be a Time Lord, whose race are from the planet Gallifrey, which the Doctor fled by stealing the TARDIS.
Doctor Who | The Doctor
"Doctor Who" follows the adventures of the title character, a rogue Time Lord with somewhat unknown origins who goes by the name "the Doctor". The Doctor fled Gallifrey in a stolen TARDIS ("Time and Relative Dimension in Space"), a time machine that travels by materialising into, and dematerialising out of, the time vortex. The TARDIS has a vast interior but appears smaller on the outside, and is equipped with a "chameleon circuit" intended to make the machine take on the appearance of local objects as a disguise; due to a malfunction, the Doctor's TARDIS remains fixed as a blue British police box.
Doctor Who | Premise
Throughout both the classic and revived programme, a running joke is that when the Doctor is introduced as just the Doctor, characters reply "Doctor who?" The story arc running throughout the tenure of the Eleventh Doctor involved the oldest question in the universe, revealed in "The Wedding of River Song" to be "Doctor who?", giving the phrase in-universe significance. In "The Name of the Doctor", the Doctor's real name was revealed to be the password used to enter the Doctor's tomb following his death on the planet Trenzalore. The story arc was resolved in "The Time of the Doctor", wherein it was revealed that the question had been projected by the Time Lords across all of time and space through a "crack in the skin of the universe" as a means of contacting the Doctor and seeing whether it was safe to leave the parallel universe in which their planet, Gallifrey, had been left following the events of "The Day of the Doctor".
The Doctor (Doctor Who) | Name
The Doctor is the title character in the long-running BBC science fiction television programme "Doctor Who". Since the show's inception in 1963, the character has been portrayed by thirteen lead actors (as 13 total Doctors have appeared through the course of the British series). In the programme, "the Doctor" is the alias assumed by a millennia-old alien called a Time Lord who travels through space and time in the TARDIS, frequently with companions. The transition to each succeeding actor is explained within the show's narrative through the plot device of "regeneration", a biological function of the Time Lord race that allows a change of cellular structure and appearance with recovery following a potentially fatal injury.
The Doctor (Doctor Who) | Introduction
Spin-off media offer the explanation that the Doctor's true name is unpronounceable by humans. In "The Name of the Doctor", the Eleventh Doctor tells companion Clara Oswald that the name "Doctor" is essentially a promise he made. The promise itself is revealed in "The Day of the Doctor": "Never cruel nor cowardly. Never give up. Never give in."
The Doctor (Doctor Who) | Character biography
He does not assume the office for very long, fleeing Gallifrey after his appointment rather than accepting the limitations on his freedom that the role would place on him ("The Five Doctors"), and is eventually deposed "in absentia" ("The Trial of a Time Lord"). By the time of his twelfth incarnation, he is regarded by many Gallifreyans as a war hero, "the man who won the Time War" ("Hell Bent").
The Doctor (Doctor Who) | Adventures
The First Doctor is a mysterious character and little is known about him at the outset except that he has a granddaughter, Susan Foreman, and that they come from another time and place. He has a ship that travels through time and space, the TARDIS, which is currently disguised as a police box (Susan notes that it used to be able to change to blend in with its surroundings), and is bigger on the inside. The Doctor describes himself and Susan as "exiles" without specifying why or even whether their exile is self-imposed. It would not be until the last adventure of the Doctor's second incarnation that the name of the Doctor's people (the Time Lords) would be revealed, and the third incarnation before the name of his home planet (Gallifrey) was first spoken.
First Doctor | Character biography
Whereas the contemporary television incarnation of the character was depicted as an abrasive, patronising and cantankerous extraterrestrial, as portrayed by Cushing Dr. Who is an eccentric inventor who claims to have created a time machine, named Tardis, in his back garden. He is a gentle, grandfatherly figure, naturally curious, sometimes absent-minded but not afraid to fight for justice. He is shown to have a keen and somewhat juvenile sense of humour, a strong sense of adventure, a will of iron and very strong morals. Unlike his TV counterpart, for whom the character's name is ambiguous, his surname is clearly stated to be "Who" in both films.
Dr. Who (Dalek films) | Personality
While the Doctor remains essentially the same person throughout their regenerations, each actor has purposely imbued the character with distinct quirks and characteristics, and the production teams dictate new personality traits for each actor to portray. Several personality traits remain constant throughout the Doctor's incarnations, most notably a disarming or mercurial surface, concealing a deep well of age, wisdom, melancholy, and darkness. This duality is explored more overtly in the revived series (2005–present), which has described him as "fire and ice and rage, he's like the night and the storm in the heart of the sun, he's ancient and forever, he burns at the centre of time..." and "the man who can turn an army around at the mention of his name".
The Doctor (Doctor Who) | Personality
The First Doctor is the original incarnation of the Doctor and the initial protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series "Doctor Who". He was portrayed by actor William Hartnell. Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-old alien Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey who travels in time and space in the TARDIS, frequently with companions. At the end of life, the Doctor regenerates; as a result, the physical appearance and personality of the Doctor changes. The concept of regeneration, initially referred to as a "renewal," was introduced when Hartnell needed to leave the series, and consequently has extended the life of the show for many years.
First Doctor | Introduction
Apart from being called a doctor of the TARDIS, the Doctor has been referred to as a "doctor of time travel." The revived programme establishes that Time Lords invent their own names. In "The Sound of Drums" (2007), the Tenth Doctor remarks to the Master that they both chose their names, with the Master calling him sanctimonious for identifying himself as "the man who makes people better." "The Name of the Doctor" and "The Day of the Doctor" elaborate that the Doctor chose the name as a promise for the sort of man he wants to be: "Never cruel or cowardly.
The Doctor (Doctor Who) | Alias "The Doctor"
The secrecy of the Division required Tecteun to eventually wipe all of the Child's memories up to that point and leave the Child in Gallifreyan society. However, the child’s fate and how they became The Doctor were left unknown. The Doctor's subsequent childhood on Gallifrey has been little described. In "Hell Bent" it is revealed that he was a high-born Gallifreyan. In "The Time Monster", the Doctor says he grew up in a house on a mountainside, and talks about a hermit who lived under a tree behind the house and inspired the Doctor when he was depressed. He is later reunited with this former mentor, now on Earth posing as the abbot K'anpo Rimpoche, in "Planet of the Spiders".
The Doctor (Doctor Who) | Early life
So there are five of me now." In 2010, the Eleventh Doctor similarly calls himself "the Eleventh" in "The Lodger". In the 2013 episode "The Time of the Doctor," the Eleventh Doctor clarified he was the product of the twelfth regeneration, due to a previous incarnation which he chose not to count and one other aborted regeneration. The name Eleventh is still used for this incarnation; the same episode depicts the prophesied "Fall of the Eleventh" which had been trailed throughout the series. While the Doctor was early on described as from the planet Gallifrey, as first mentioned in "The Time Warrior" (1973), these origins were retconned in "The Timeless Children" (2020), and the Doctor was shown as from another unknown dimension or universe.
Doctor Who | Revelations about the Doctor
In "The Girl in the Fireplace" (2006), he draws an analogy between the title and Madame de Pompadour's. In "The Mutants" (1972) an official asks the Third Doctor if he is, in fact, a doctor, to which the Doctor replies "I am, yes"; when asked what he is qualified in, the Doctor replies, "Practically everything." The Fourth Doctor states that his companion, Harry Sullivan, is a Doctor of medicine, while he is "a doctor of many things" ("Revenge of the Cybermen", 1975). The Fifth Doctor claims to be a doctor "of everything" in "Four to Doomsday" (1982), and a message to the same effect is related from the Tenth Doctor in "Utopia" (2007).
The Doctor (Doctor Who) | Alias "The Doctor"
Never giving up and never giving in." By contrast, the Eleventh Doctor spoke of the War Doctor (John Hurt) as being the man who broke that promise, being the one to fight in the Time War before learning the actual fate of the Time Lords. Since contradicted by the television series, the 2003 Telos novella "Frayed" by Tara Samms, set prior to the programme's first episode in 1963, presents the alternative explanation that the Doctor was given that name by medical staff on a foreign planet and liked it.
The Doctor (Doctor Who) | Alias "The Doctor"
Early on in the series, the Doctor was identified as a human being; however, his home planet, which from the start of the series is explicitly established as not being Earth, was not named. In "The War Games" (1969), the Doctor's people appeared, who from then on are known as a race called Time Lords, and in "Spearhead from Space" (1970), the Doctor's earlier description of himself as a human is retconned when the Third Doctor explicitly states that he is not human. In "The Time Warrior" (1973–74), the name of the Doctor's home planet, Gallifrey, was revealed on screen for the first time.
Time Lord | Overview
The Twelfth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television programme "Doctor Who". He is portrayed by Scottish actor Peter Capaldi. As with previous incarnations of the Doctor, the character has also appeared in other "Doctor Who" spin-offs. Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a millennia-old alien Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey who travels in time and space in the TARDIS, frequently with companions. At the end of life, the Doctor regenerates; as a result, the physical appearance and personality of the Doctor changes. Capaldi's portrayal of the Doctor is a spiky, brusque, contemplative, and pragmatic character who conceals his emotions in the course of making tough and sometimes ruthless decisions.
Twelfth Doctor | Introduction
The Sixth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series "Doctor Who". He is portrayed by Colin Baker. Although his televisual time on the series was comparatively brief and turbulent, Baker has continued as the Sixth Doctor in Big Finish's range of original "Doctor Who" audio adventures. Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-old alien Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey who travels in time and space in the TARDIS, frequently with companions. At the end of life, the Doctor regenerates; as a result, the physical appearance and personality of the Doctor changes.
Sixth Doctor | Introduction
The Second Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series "Doctor Who". He was portrayed by actor Patrick Troughton. Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-old alien Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey who travels in time and space in the TARDIS, frequently with companions. At the end of life, the Doctor regenerates; as a result, the physical appearance and personality of the Doctor changes. Troughton's Doctor was an outwardly scruffy, light hearted and bumbling tramp nicknamed the "Cosmic Hobo", who hid a more firm and slightly darker side he would often use to manipulate his enemies and allies alike for the greater good.
Second Doctor | Introduction
The Doctor refuses, but as he speaks, River says the Doctor's name and unlocks the TARDIS. Inside, the Doctor reveals a pulsating column of light to be his time stream. The Great Intelligence enters it in order to undo the Doctor's past as revenge for all the defeats it has been dealt. The positive effects of the Doctor's travels begin to be nullified by the Intelligence's interference. Jenny and Strax both disappear.
The Name of the Doctor | Synopsis
Neither the character's real name nor the name he preferred to be referred to as were ever mentioned in the original two television serials he appeared in. As he was disguised as a monk at the time, all other characters referred to him as simply "the monk", the same name Peter Butterworth was listed as in the episode credits. In the television series Doctor Who, the character's true identity has never been revealed. Multiple spin-off media state that the character was the first appearance of renegade Time Lord "the Master", the monk cowl being just a one-off disguise. After the Master's next encounter with the First Doctor on the planet Tigus, he regenerated into a "strikingly handsome, middle-aged man".
The Monk (Doctor Who) | Naming convention
The Fourth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series "Doctor Who". He was portrayed by Tom Baker. Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-old alien Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey who travels in time and space in the TARDIS, frequently with companions. At the end of life, the Doctor regenerates; as a result, the physical appearance and personality of the Doctor changes. Baker portrays the Fourth Doctor as a whimsical and sometimes brooding individual whose enormous personal warmth is at times tempered by his capacity for righteous anger.
Fourth Doctor | Introduction
In the first episode, Barbara addresses the Doctor as "Doctor Foreman", as this is the surname the Doctor's granddaughter Susan goes by, and the junkyard in which they find him bears the sign "I.M. Foreman". When addressed by Ian with this name, the Doctor responds, "Eh? Doctor who? What's he talking about?" Later, when Ian realises that "Foreman" is not the Doctor's name, Ian asks Barbara, "Who is he? Doctor who?" In an ultimately unused idea from documents written at the programme's inception, Barbara and Ian would have subsequently referred to the Doctor as "Doctor Who", given their not knowing his name.
The Doctor (Doctor Who) | Name
The Eleventh Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television programme "Doctor Who". He is played by Matt Smith in three series as well as five specials. As with previous incarnations of the Doctor, the character has also appeared in other "Doctor Who" spin-offs. Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-old alien Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey who travels in time and space in the TARDIS, frequently with companions. At the end of life, the Doctor regenerates; as a result, the physical appearance and personality of the Doctor changes. Smith's incarnation is a quick-tempered but compassionate character whose youthful appearance is at odds with his more discerning and world-weary temperament.
Eleventh Doctor | Introduction
The character has been generally well received by the public. In a 2001 poll conducted by Channel 4, the Doctor was ranked sixth on its list of the 100 Greatest TV Characters. In July 2008, the character's enduring popularity led "The Daily Telegraph" to dub him "Britain's favourite alien". UGO Networks listed the Doctor as one of their best heroes of all time.
The Doctor (Doctor Who) | Reception
In talking with Harry in "Robot" (1974–1975) the Doctor states "You may be "a" doctor, but I'm "the" Doctor. The definite article, you might say." In "The Ark in Space" (1975), aired later that year, the Doctor states that his doctorate is only honorary; the Tenth Doctor, however, considers the name to be his legitimate academic rank in "The Waters of Mars" (2009), describing his "name, rank and intention" as "The Doctor; doctor; fun." In an interview with "The Age" in 2003, Tom Baker mentioned that the Doctor is called so because he is "a doctor of time and relative dimension in space".
The Doctor (Doctor Who) | Alias "The Doctor"
The doctor is revealed to be none other than Victor Frankenstein (David Anders), and that he relies on science, not magic.
The Doctor (Once Upon a Time) | In the Characters' Past
The Fifth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series "Doctor Who". He is portrayed by Peter Davison. Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-old alien Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey who travels in time and space in the TARDIS, frequently with companions. At the end of life, the Doctor regenerates; as a result, the physical appearance and personality of the Doctor changes. Davison portrays the Fifth Doctor as having a vulnerable side and a tendency towards indecisiveness, dressed as a boyish Edwardian cricketer. He travelled with a host of companions, including boy genius Adric (Matthew Waterhouse), alien aristocrat Nyssa (Sarah Sutton) and Australian flight attendant Tegan Jovanka (Janet Fielding), whom he had travelled alongside in his previous incarnation.
Fifth Doctor | Introduction
The Doctor's various incarnations have gained numerous recurring enemies during their travels, including the Daleks, their creator Davros, the Cybermen, and the Master, another renegade Time Lord.
Doctor Who | Premise
Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-old alien Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey who travels in time and space in the TARDIS, frequently with companions. At the end of life, the Doctor regenerates; as a result, the physical appearance and personality of the Doctor changes.
Eighth Doctor | Introduction
When she lowers her arms to stare at the Tenth Doctor he appears to recognise her, but when later asked by Wilfred about her identity, the Doctor evades the question. British newspapers "The Daily Telegraph" and "The Daily Mail" identified the character as the Doctor's mother as early as April 2009. The episodes' writer Russell T Davies wrote in an email to journalist Benjamin Cook, "I like leaving it open, because then you can imagine what you want. I think the fans will say it's Romana. Or even the Rani. Some might say that it's Susan's mother, I suppose. But of course it's meant to be the Doctor's mother." The Doctor at one point addresses the Lord President as "Rassilon", the name of the founder of Time Lord society from the classic series, although the character is only identified in the credits as "The Narrator" in part one and "Lord President" in part two.
The End of Time (Doctor Who) | Continuity
The War Doctor is an incarnation existing between those of McGann and Eccleston. Hurt was never the programme's lead actor; his Doctor was retroactively inserted into continuity for the programme's 50th anniversary, and was written so as not to disturb the ordinal naming of the established Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Doctors. In the 1986 serial "The Trial of a Time Lord", Michael Jayston played the Valeyard, an amalgamation of the Doctor's darker sides from between his twelfth and final incarnations. In the Series 12 episode "Fugitive of the Judoon", Jo Martin played a previous and unknown incarnation of the Doctor who existed at some point before the Time War.
The Doctor (Doctor Who) | Actors
When she reveals her face to the Doctor, his reaction indicates that he recognises her. Julie Gardner, in the episode's commentary, states that while some have speculated that the Time Lady is the Doctor's mother, neither she nor Russell T. Davies are willing to comment on her identity. When later asked by Wilfred who she was, the Doctor evades answering the question, making their connection unclear. In "Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale – The Final Chapter", Russell T Davies states that he created the character to be the Doctor's mother and this is what actress Claire Bloom was told when she was cast.
The Doctor (Doctor Who) | Family
In the same story, it was revealed that First Doctor was not actually the earliest incarnation of the Doctor. During the Seventh Doctor's era, it was hinted that the Doctor was more than just an ordinary Time Lord. In the 1996 television film, the Eighth Doctor describes himself as being "half human". The BBC's FAQ for the programme notes that "purists tend to disregard this", instead focusing on his Gallifreyan heritage. The programme's first serial, "An Unearthly Child", shows that the Doctor has a granddaughter, Susan Foreman. In the 1967 serial, "Tomb of the Cybermen", when Victoria Waterfield doubts the Doctor can remember his family because of, "being so ancient", the Doctor says that he can when he really wants to—"The rest of the time they sleep in my mind".
Doctor Who | Revelations about the Doctor
According to The Doctor, when regarding the effects of the initiation on participants: 'Some are inspired, some go mad (as he suggests happened to his nemesis, the Master) and some run away." When asked to which group he belonged, he replied, "Oh, the ones that ran away; I never stopped!". The Doctor was taught by future Lord President Borusa and Azmael, where he met Drax, with whom he attended a Tech course as part of the class of '92. In "the Armageddon Factor", it is revealed that the Doctor scraped through the Academy with 51% on his second attempt. In "The Time Meddler", it is said that the Doctor was fifty years before the Meddling Monk.
The Doctor (Doctor Who) | Early life
Though the Doctor tends to present a jocular, even childlike, persona, when the stakes rise—e.g., in "Pyramids of Mars" (1975)—that mask tends to fall, revealing a Doctor who is cold, driven, at times callous. This dark side sits in contrast to the Doctor's deep compassion, which manifests to different strength and effect across their incarnations. The Doctor prefers a pacifist solution to most problems, and is an ardent champion of life and dignity over violence and war. Their pacifism runs deeply enough to on many occasions doubt the morality of destroying their worst enemies, the Daleks. Their compassion for their fallen friend, the Master, often runs against clear reason or self-interest, as when he urges a dying Master to regenerate ("Last of the Time Lords") or vows to watch over her for 1,000 years in order to avert her execution ("Extremis").
The Doctor (Doctor Who) | Personality
In "The End of Time" (2009–2010) it is mentioned that after he smote a demon in the 13th century, the residents of a convent called the Doctor the "sainted physician".
The Doctor (Doctor Who) | Name
Although Time Lords resemble humans, their physiology differs in key respects. Like other members of their race, the Doctor has two hearts (binary vascular system), a "respiratory bypass system" that allows the Doctor to go without air, an internal body temperature of 15–16 °C (60 °F) and occasionally exhibits a super-human level of stamina and the ability to absorb, withstand and expel large amounts of certain types of radiation. (The Tenth Doctor stated they used to play with Röntgen bricks in the nursery, after absorbing the radiation from an x-ray of significantly magnified power.) This ability would seem to have limitations which have yet to be fully explained, as the Doctor "is" harmed by radiation in "The Daleks", "Planet of the Spiders" and "The End of Time".
The Doctor (Doctor Who) | Physiology
The Tenth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television programme "Doctor Who". He is played by David Tennant in three series as well as nine specials. As with previous incarnations of the Doctor, the character has also appeared in other "Doctor Who" spin-offs. Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-old alien Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey who travels in time and space in the TARDIS, frequently with companions. At the end of life, the Doctor regenerates; as a result, the physical appearance and personality of the Doctor changes. Tennant's portrayal of the Doctor is of an outwardly charismatic and charming adventurer whose likable and easygoing attitude can quickly turn to righteous fury when provoked.
Tenth Doctor | Introduction
No written record of Newman's conveyance of these ideas – believed to have taken place in April 1963 – exists, and the character of Dr Who first begins appearing in existing documentation from May of that year. The character was first portrayed by William Hartnell in 1963. At the programme's beginning, nothing at all is known of the Doctor: not even his name, the actual form of which remains a mystery. In the first serial, "An Unearthly Child," two teachers from Coal Hill School in London, Barbara Wright and Ian Chesterton, become intrigued by one of their pupils, Susan Foreman, who exhibits high intelligence and unusually advanced knowledge.
The Doctor (Doctor Who) | Development
The opening scene also includes a representation of Susan Foreman and reference to the Doctor's original departure from Gallifrey (as a globed city, previously seen in "The Sound of Drums", and later seen destroyed in "The End of Time"). The Great Intelligence says that the Doctor has been "bloodsoaked" several times, talking about the leader of the Sycorax (whom the Tenth Doctor kills in "The Christmas Invasion"), Solomon the trader (whom the Eleventh Doctor sends to his death in "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship"), the Daleks, and the Cybermen. The Great Intelligence also states that the Doctor will be known as the Valeyard before the end of his life.
The Name of the Doctor | Continuity
He had worked previously with Barry Letts and was a good friend of Jon Pertwee. Malcolm Hulke said of the character, and his relationship with the Doctor: "There was a peculiar relationship between the Master and the Doctor: one felt that the Master wouldn't really have liked to eliminate the Doctor...you see the Doctor was the only person like him at the time in the whole universe, a renegade Time Lord and in a funny sort of way they were partners in crime."
The Master (Doctor Who) | Origins
This arc was penned by Steven Moffat, who has been exploring the significance of the Doctor's name in his episodes since 2006's "The Girl in the Fireplace", in which historical figure Madame de Pompadour reads the Doctor's mind and remarks, "Doctor who? It's more than just a secret, isn't it?" According to the in-vision commentary on the DVD release, David Tennant had to inform actress Sophia Myles (who played Madame de Pompadour) that she was not, in fact, revealing the Doctor's surname as she believed was the intent of the dialogue. The 2011 mid-series finale "A Good Man Goes to War", also written by Moffat, suggested through the character of River Song that the Doctor's travels had influenced the etymology of the word "doctor", perverting its meaning on some worlds from "wise man" or "healer" to "great warrior".
The Doctor (Doctor Who) | Name
The recasting of actors playing the part of the Doctor is explained within the programme by the Time Lords' ability to regenerate after suffering illness, mortal injury or old age. The process repairs all damage and rejuvenates the Doctor's body, but as a side effect it changes the Doctor's physical appearance and personality. This ability was not introduced until producers had to find a way to replace the ailing William Hartnell with Patrick Troughton and was not explicitly called "regeneration" until Jon Pertwee's transformation to Tom Baker at the climax of "Planet of the Spiders" (1974). On screen, the transformation from Hartnell to Troughton was called a "renewal" and from Troughton to Pertwee a "change of appearance".
The Doctor (Doctor Who) | Changing faces
From the beginning, the Doctor was a mysterious figure. He appeared to be a frail old man and yet was possessed of unexpected reserves of strength and will. An early writers' guide by script editor David Whitaker describes "Doctor Who" as "frail-looking but wiry and tough as an old turkey". He obviously held tremendous knowledge of scientific matters, and yet was unable to pilot his TARDIS time ship reliably; his granddaughter Susan explained this by saying that her grandfather was "a bit forgetful"; but the TARDIS required expert piloting and guidance by the Doctor. Its systems would often break down, especially the navigational systems.
First Doctor | Personality
In the accompanying episode of "Doctor Who Confidential", Davies stated that the character's name was indeed Rassilon.
The End of Time (Doctor Who) | Continuity
Quite apart from his name, why the Doctor uses the title "The Doctor" has never been fully explained on screen. The Doctor, at first, said that he was not a physician, often referring to himself as a scientist or an engineer. However, he does occasionally show medical knowledge and has stated on separate occasions that he studied under Joseph Lister and Joseph Bell. In "The Moonbase" (1967), the Second Doctor mentions that he studied for a medical degree in Glasgow during the 19th century. The Fourth Doctor was awarded an honorary degree from St. Cedd's College, Cambridge in 1960. He has been mocked by his fellow Time Lords for adhering to such a "lowly" title as "Doctor", although in "The Armageddon Factor" (1979), Drax congratulates him on achieving his doctorate, indicating it was at least a somewhat respectable title.
The Doctor (Doctor Who) | Alias "The Doctor"
The plot of "The Time of the Doctor" involves the Doctor receiving a new cycle of regenerations from the Time Lords before his expected demise, triggering the regeneration into the Twelfth Doctor, played by Peter Capaldi.
The Doctor (Doctor Who) | Development
The Doctor has withstood, with minimal damage, exposure to electricity deadly enough to kill a human ("Terror of the Zygons", "Genesis of the Daleks", "Aliens of London", "The Christmas Invasion", "The Idiot's Lantern", "Evolution of the Daleks" and spin-off audio "Spare Parts"). Certain stories imply that the Time Lord is resistant to cold temperatures ("42"). To counter extreme trauma, such as exposure to the poisonous fungus in "The Seeds of Death" and after being shot in "Spearhead from Space", the Doctor can go into a self-induced coma until they recover. The Doctor's hypersensitive body and senses enable them to detect anomalies humans cannot, such as identifying alien species, blood type or chemical composition by taste and determining location or time period by sniffing the air.
The Doctor (Doctor Who) | Physiology
The capacity for the Doctor to have other previously-unknown regenerations prior to the First Doctor was introduced in "The Timeless Children" (2020), having previously been hinted at in the serial "The Brain of Morbius".
The Doctor (Doctor Who) | Actors
The Master returned in the 1996 television movie of "Doctor Who", and was played by American actor Eric Roberts. Following the series revival in 2005, Derek Jacobi provided the character's re-introduction in the 2007 episode "Utopia". During that story, the role was then assumed by John Simm who returned to the role multiple times through the Tenth Doctor's tenure. As of the 2014 episode "Dark Water", it was revealed that the Master had become a female incarnation or "Time Lady", going by the name of "Missy" (short for Mistress, the feminine equivalent of "Master"). This incarnation is played by Michelle Gomez.
Doctor Who | The Master
The Doctor refers to himself as "a madman with a box", reprising Amy's and his own description of himself in "The Eleventh Hour". The Doctor refers to Nephew as "another Ood I failed to save"; in "The Satan Pit" the Doctor commented that he did not have time to save the Ood. Idris' cryptic words, "the only water in the forest is the river", are explained in the mid-series finale, "A Good Man Goes to War".
The Doctor's Wife | Continuity
The Fugitive Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television programme "Doctor Who". She is portrayed by the English actor Jo Martin, the first person of colour to play the role. It is unknown where this incarnation falls within the show's fictional chronology. Within the programme's narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-old alien, from the planet Gallifrey. They travel in time and space in their time capsule, the TARDIS. Due to their alien physiology, the Doctor, when critically injured, can regenerate their body, gaining a new physical appearance and personality. This plot device has allowed a number of actors, both male and female, to portray the Doctor through the decades.
Fugitive Doctor | Introduction
The Time Lords are partial to sending him on missions when deniability or expendability is needed, implied to have begun after his capture during "The War Games" and being witnessed further in later stories, the Time Lords directing the Doctor and/or the TARDIS to specific locations in "Colony in Space", "The Curse of Peladon", "The Mutants", "Genesis of the Daleks", "The Brain of Morbius" and "Attack of the Cybermen". The Doctor's standing in Time Lord society has waxed and waned over the years, from being a hunted man who was eventually punished with a forced regeneration and an exile sentence on Earth, to being appointed Lord President of the High Council.
The Doctor (Doctor Who) | Adventures
When Hartnell left the programme after three years due to ill health, the role was handed over to character actor Patrick Troughton. , official television productions have depicted thirteen distinct incarnations of the Doctor. The longest-lasting on-screen incarnation is the Fourth Doctor, played by Tom Baker for seven years. Within the narrative, these changes were explained as regeneration, a biological process which heals a Time Lord when their incarnation is about to die. Consequently, the Time Lord is given a wholly new body. In "The Deadly Assassin", the concept of a regeneration limit is introduced, giving Time Lords a fixed number of twelve regenerations, meaning that every Time Lord had a total of thirteen incarnations including the original.
The Doctor (Doctor Who) | Development
During the events of "Spyfall" the Thirteenth Doctor seeks out an old ally, a former MI6 agent known as 'O' who is living in hiding in the Australian outback (played by Sacha Dhawan). In the closing minutes of the first part, O reveals himself as a new incarnation of The Master; having killed the real O on the way to his first day of work at MI6 and assumed his identity. The Master reveals he manipulated tech mogul Daniel Barton and the inter-dimensional Kasaavin to attract the Doctor's attention; explaining that Gallifrey has been destroyed and how he intends to betray the Kasaavin once they served their purpose in his plans.
The Master (Doctor Who) | Disguised as O
The character of the Doctor was created by BBC Head of Drama, Sydney Newman. The first format document for the programme that was to become "Doctor Who" – then provisionally titled "The Troubleshooters" – was written in March 1963 by C. E. Webber, a staff writer who had been brought in to help develop the project. Webber's document contained a main character described as "The maturer man, 35–40, with some 'character twist.' " Newman was not keen on this idea and – along with several other changes to Webber's initial format – created an alternative lead character named Dr Who, a crotchety older man piloting a stolen time machine, on the run from his own far future world.
The Doctor (Doctor Who) | Development
The Master is a recurring character in the British science fiction television series "Doctor Who" and its associated spin-off works. The character is a renegade alien Time Lord and the archenemy of the title character the Doctor. The Master has been played by multiple actors since the character's introduction in 1971. Within the show, this is varyingly explained as the Master taking possession of other characters' bodies, or as a consequence of regeneration, a biological attribute allowing Time Lords to survive fatal injuries. The role was originated by Roger Delgado in 1971, who portrayed the Master until his death in 1973.
The Master (Doctor Who) | Introduction
The character first appeared as an unnamed character who had disguised himself as a monk, and who was the possessor of a stolen Mark IV TARDIS which had a fully functioning camouflage unit. The Doctor hypothesised that he left the Doctor's then-unnamed home planet, some 50 years after the Doctor did. At this early stage in the history of the series, the names Time Lord and Gallifrey, and the details of the Doctor's origins had not yet been devised. The monk was meddling in history to change it for what he considered to be the better: lending mechanical assistance to the builders of Stonehenge; giving Leonardo da Vinci tips on aircraft design; making money by using time travel to exploit compound interest; and, when the Doctor first encountered him, attempting to prevent the Norman Conquest as part of a plan to guide England into an early age of technological prosperity.
The Monk (Doctor Who) | Television
He also travels briefly with unruly boy-genius Adam Mitchell, played by Bruno Langley, and with 51st-century con man and former "Time Agent" Captain Jack Harkness, portrayed by John Barrowman. Episodes in the series form a loose story arc, based upon the recurring phrase "Bad Wolf", the significance of which goes unexplained until the two-part series finale. Alongside the "Bad Wolf" arc, the revived era re-introduces the Doctor as the sole survivor of an event known as the Time War, which the Doctor claims wiped out all of the Time Lords and the Daleks.
Doctor Who (series 1) | Introduction
The Seventh Doctor's outfit – a straw hat, a coat with two scarves, a tie, checked trousers and brogues/wing-tips – was more subdued and suggestive of a showman, reflecting his whimsical approach to life. In later seasons, as his personality grew more mysterious, his jacket, tie and hatband all grew darker. Throughout the 1980s, question marks formed a constant motif, usually on the shirt collars or, in the case of the Seventh Doctor, on his sleeveless jumper and the handle to his umbrella. The idea was grounded in branding considerations, as was the movement starting in Tom Baker's final season toward an unchanging costume for each Doctor, rather than the variants on a theme employed over the first seventeen years of the programme.
The Doctor (Doctor Who) | Clothing
When the Doctor's time travelling TARDIS is drawn to the planet Messaline, his DNA is used by warring human soldiers on the planet in a Progenation Machine, a device that instantly creates a fully grown and educated new person, and the Doctor recognises her as his "daughter". Born a fighter, with combat skills and tactics automatically programmed, she is initially ideologically at odds with the Doctor's pacifism, but after learning she has two hearts and is connected to the near-extinct race of Time Lords, she begins to pattern her behaviour on that of her father. Named "Jenny" by the Doctor's companion Donna (Catherine Tate) as she is a "generated anomaly", she is initially received with ambivalence by the Doctor, whom she reminds of the loss of his previous family.
Jenny (Doctor Who) | Appearance
However, he shows her the cause of his anger: a secret buried in the Matrix which shows that Time Lords did not develop regeneration as previously understood, but by harvesting the DNA of a very special child from an unknown universe or dimension who had that power; that child is the Doctor, who lived throughout Gallifrey's civilisation and had her memory wiped on at least one occasion. He attempts to create an alliance with the Lone Cyberman, but ends up shrinking him and persuading the Cyberium to use his body as a host. Then, he proceeds to create a new race of Cybermen with regenerating abilities from the dead Time Lord bodies.The Doctor attempts to use the "Death Particle" to defeat the Master, something which will wipe out all organic life on a planet, but can't bring herself to do so.
The Master (Doctor Who) | Disguised as O
Trailing her to a junk yard 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 camouflage for the dimensionally transcendental interior of the TARDIS. The old man, whom Susan calls "Grandfather", kidnaps Barbara and Ian to prevent them from telling anyone about the existence of the TARDIS, taking them on an adventure in time and space. The first Doctor, says cultural scholar John Paul Green, "explicitly positioned the Doctor as grandfather to his companion Susan." He wore long white hair and Edwardian costume, reflecting, Green says, a "definite sense of Englishness".
The Doctor (Doctor Who) | Development
The Tenth and Eleventh Doctors explained that Hurt's regeneration was not The Doctor because his actions during the Time War were a betrayal of the promise that name symbolized. "The Day of the Doctor" revisited the last day of the Time War after "The End of Time "and revealed that the interference of the future Doctors and future companion Clara Oswald caused the War Doctor to change his plan at the last moment. Ultimately, Gallifrey was hidden in a parallel dimension and the Daleks destroyed themselves in the ensuing crossfire; to all observers, it appeared as though the two races had been annihilated together.
The Doctor (Doctor Who) | The Time War
Digital Spy described him as "ridiculously stubborn", and "eccentric", as did the "Radio Times".
List of Doctors characters (2010) | Barry Bamford
Afterwards, the Doctor invited him to join him on his travels.
Thomas Brewster (Doctor Who) | Character history
The Ninth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television programme "Doctor Who". He is portrayed by Christopher Eccleston during the first series of the show's revival in 2005. Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-old alien Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey who travels in time and space in the TARDIS, frequently with companions. At the end of life, the Doctor regenerates; as a result, the physical appearance and personality of the Doctor changes. The production team's approach to the character and Eccleston's portrayal were highlighted as being intentionally different from his predecessors, with Eccleston stating that his character would be less eccentric.
Ninth Doctor | Introduction
Through the dialogue, it is suggested that several Gallifreyan children were pressured into joining the army, a path which did not sit right with the Doctor's pacifist beliefs, and as a result he wished to enroll into the Time Lord Academy instead. The classic programme refers to his time at the Academy and his affiliation with the notoriously devious Prydonian chapter of Time Lords. In "The Sound of Drums", the Doctor describes an Academy initiation where, at the age of eight, Time Lord children were taken from their families and made to look into the Untempered Schism, a gap in space and time, to view the Time Vortex.
The Doctor (Doctor Who) | Early life
The Seventh Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series "Doctor Who". He is portrayed by Scottish actor Sylvester McCoy. Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-old alien Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey who travels in time and space in the TARDIS, frequently with companions. At the end of life, the Doctor regenerates; as a result, the physical appearance and personality of the Doctor changes. McCoy portrays the Seventh Doctor as a whimsical, thoughtful character who quickly becomes more layered, secretive, and manipulative. His first companion was Melanie Bush (Bonnie Langford), a computer programmer who travelled with his previous incarnation, and who is soon succeeded by troubled teenager and explosives expert Ace (Sophie Aldred), who becomes his protégée.
Seventh Doctor | Introduction
The Valeyard appeared in the 1986 serial "The Trial of a Time Lord", where he is described as an amalgamation of the darker sides of the Doctor's nature, somewhere between his twelfth and final incarnations. John Hurt makes his first ever appearance as the War Doctor at the climax of the episode, foreshadowing the events of "The Night of the Doctor" and "The Day of the Doctor", the 50th Anniversary special, in which the events of the Time War and also the Eighth Doctor's regeneration as well as the War Doctor's own is finally explained, bridging the gap between the 1996 Television Movie and the 2005 episode Rose.
The Name of the Doctor | Continuity
The New Adventures significantly expanded the "Doctor Who" universe. The character of the Doctor was recast as Time's Champion, which was sometimes interpreted figuratively and sometimes literally – Time, Death and Pain are occasionally seen as personified beings (possibly Eternals), who were worshipped as gods in Ancient Gallifrey. The Doctor was also shown to have a link to the Other, a figure from the time of Rassilon and Omega; the nature of this link was most explicitly shown in "Lungbarrow". Many new parts of the TARDIS were seen in the New Adventures, including a tertiary console room made of stone.
Virgin New Adventures | Recurring elements
The Doctor was originally known as the Timeless Child, as revealed in "The Timeless Children" (2020). A native Gallifreyan Shobogan traveller named Tecteun discovered the child as a young girl next to a portal to another reality. Tecteun adopted her as her own and discovered that the Child had a capacity to regenerate her body indefinitely. After much study, Tecteun genetically incorporated this ability into some of the Shobogan race, who became the basis for the formation of the elite Time Lords, although their regenerations were forcibly limited to twelve. After many regenerations, Tecteun inducted the Child into a clandestine operative group within the Time Lords known as the Division.
The Doctor (Doctor Who) | Early life
The Master brings the human race under his control as part of an elaborate plan to restore the world of his and the Doctor's own people, the Time Lords, from their demise in the Time War referred to in the series. The Doctor is able to avert this, but incurs fatal injuries. In the episode's conclusion, as has happened before, the Doctor regenerates and becomes a new man with a new personality and physical traits, setting up the show's following series with Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor and Steven Moffat as executive producer.
The End of Time (Doctor Who) | Introduction
Doctor Who Magazine took the stance that the character was a Time Lord known as "The Time Meddler", the name he is referred to in articles, as well as the comic "4-Dimensional Vistas".
The Monk (Doctor Who) | Naming convention
The tie-in novel "The Man in the Velvet Mask" states (incorporating an explanation for the discrepancy from fan lore) that the Doctor did not grow his second heart until his regeneration into the Second Doctor. However, the same omission also appeared in the Second Doctor television story The Wheel in Space. During his first regeneration, the Doctor's clothes (save for his cloak and ring, both of which quickly thereafter fall off) changed with his body ("The Power of the Daleks"). On all subsequent regenerations the new Doctor generally continues to wear the clothing in which he regenerated until he selects a new outfit (though the regeneration from the Fourth to the Fifth Doctor included a change of footwear).
The Doctor (Doctor Who) | Inconsistencies
Rassilon then took control of Gallifrey as Lord President. The nucleus eventually became known as the Eye of Harmony, and Omega's name passed into heroic legend. Millennia later, during the events of the "Doctor Who" serial "The Three Doctors", it was revealed that Omega had not died, but had rather been sent through the event horizon into an antimatter universe and had been trapped there since then; although he was able to shape that universe according to his will, it meant that he could not leave that universe. His exile and solitude turned him quite insane, and he sought revenge on the Time Lords for "abandoning" him.
Omega (Doctor Who) | Character history
He and his TARDIS were being stalked by temporal aliens, so the Doctor went into hiding, wearing dark Victorian garb and calling himself Claudius Dark. After learning his true identity, Jago and Litefoot were invited by the Doctor to take a few trips in the TARDIS, starting with a visit to the planet Venus.
Henry Gordon Jago | Character history
In "The Woman Who Fell to Earth" when the Thirteenth Doctor is questioned how she copes with the loss of her family, she states that she carries the memories of them with her and thus make them a part of who she is, saying "even though they're gone from the world ... they're never gone from me." In "The End of Time", a mysterious individual, referred to only in the credits as "The Woman", appears unexpectedly to Wilfred Mott throughout both episodes. She is later revealed to be a dissident Time Lady, who opposed the Time Lord High Council's plan to escape the Time War.
The Doctor (Doctor Who) | Family
The Doctor's personality mellowed around the time of the serial "Marco Polo", and he evolved into the more familiar grandfatherly figure that children loved. The initially irascible and slightly sinister Doctor quickly mellowed into a more compassionate figure. He was protective of the young women he took on as companions; they reminded him of his granddaughter, Susan. William Hartnell described the Doctor as "a wizard", and "a cross between the Wizard of Oz and Father Christmas". Paul McGann, who played a later incarnation of the Doctor, said Hartnell's "seemed like a Victorian, someone kind of stern and paterfamilias about him.
First Doctor | Personality
As a human, he takes the name "John Smith". David Tennant is credited as "The Doctor/Smith" for the episode, although the two-parter's concluding episode, "The Family of Blood" (2007), credits him simply as "The Doctor".
The Doctor (Doctor Who) | On-screen credits
When he first appeared in "The Shape Shifter" (DWM #88-#89), written by Steve Parkhouse with art by John Ridgway, Frobisher was a private investigator calling himself "Avan Tarklu" (a play on the phrase "Haven't a clue"). He came across the Doctor when an enemy of the Time Lord, Josiah Dogbolter, had placed a bounty on the Doctor in an effort to acquire his secrets and his TARDIS. After infiltrating the TARDIS, instead of turning the Doctor in for the money, Tarklu decided that he liked the Time Lord and helped him against Dogbolter; both split the advance bounty Tarklu had been given from Dogbolter.
Frobisher (Doctor Who) | History
Notable companions from the earlier series included Romana (Mary Tamm and Lalla Ward), a Time Lady; Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen); and Jo Grant (Katy Manning). Dramatically, these characters provide a figure with whom the audience can identify, and serve to further the story by requesting exposition from the Doctor and manufacturing peril for the Doctor to resolve. The Doctor regularly gains new companions and loses old ones; sometimes they return home or find new causes — or loves — on worlds they have visited. Some have died during the course of the series. Companions are usually human, or humanoid aliens.
Doctor Who | Companions
The series was the sixth to air following the programme's revival in 2005 after the classic era aired between 1963 and 1989, and is the thirty-second season overall. The series stars 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. It also stars Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill as his companions, newlyweds Amy Pond and Rory Williams. Alex Kingston also returns as River Song, a mysterious woman from the Doctor's future who is revealed throughout the series to be Amy and Rory's part-Time Lord daughter and the Doctor's wife.
Doctor Who (series 6) | Introduction
Revising the back story, the Doctor succumbs to Clara Oswald's plea to change his mind; and instead, at the last instant of the Time War, he hides his war-torn home planet in time, rather than destroy it. Unfortunately the time distortions incurred causes all but his latest incarnation to have no memory of his changed decision. The episode starred Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor and Jenna Coleman as his companion, Clara Oswald. Previous lead actors David Tennant and Billie Piper returned for the episode, Tennant reprising his role as the Tenth Doctor, while Piper portrayed a sentient doomsday weapon called the Moment, projected as an image based on her character Rose Tyler.
The Day of the Doctor | Introduction
"Doctors" is a British television soap opera first broadcast on BBC One on 26 March 2000. The following is a list of characters who currently appear in the programme, listed in order of first appearance. In the case that more than one actor has portrayed a character, the current actor portraying the character is listed first.
List of Doctors characters | Introduction
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.
Doctor Who (series 5) | Introduction
The Thirteenth Doctor is the current incarnation of the Doctor, the fictional protagonist of the BBC science fiction television programme "Doctor Who". She is portrayed by English actress Jodie Whittaker, the first woman to play the character in the series. Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a millennia-old alien Time Lord with somewhat unknown origins who travels in time and space in her TARDIS, frequently with companions. At the end of life, the Doctor regenerates; as a result, the physical appearance and personality of the Doctor changes. Whittaker's incarnation is a light-hearted adventurer with a passion for building things, placing a high value on friendships and striving for non-violent solutions.
Thirteenth Doctor | Introduction
The Master is the Doctor's archenemy, a renegade Time Lord who desires to rule the universe. Conceived as "Professor Moriarty to the Doctor's Sherlock Holmes", the character first appeared in 1971. As with the Doctor, the role has been portrayed by several actors, since the Master is a Time Lord as well and able to regenerate; the first of these actors was Roger Delgado, who continued in the role until his death in 1973. The Master was briefly played by Peter Pratt and Geoffrey Beevers until Anthony Ainley took over and continued to play the character until Doctor Who's hiatus in 1989.
Doctor Who | The Master
The Third Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series "Doctor Who". He was portrayed by actor Jon Pertwee. Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-old alien Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey who travels in time and space in the TARDIS, frequently with companions. At the end of life, the Doctor regenerates; as a result, the physical appearance and personality of the Doctor changes. Pertwee portrays the Third Doctor as a dapper man of action in stark contrast to his wily but less action-oriented predecessors. While previous Doctors' stories had all involved time and space travel, for production reasons Pertwee's stories initially depicted the Doctor stranded on Earth in exile, where he worked as a scientific advisor to the international military group UNIT.
Third Doctor | Introduction
In his first episode, when the Doctor evades capture by taking a shower, a tattoo of a serpent can be seen on his arm. Whereas Pertwee obtained it during his service in the Royal Navy, an in-universe reason for it was eventually provided in the New Adventures novel "Christmas on a Rational Planet" as being a Time Lord symbol signifying exile, removed once the Doctor's exile was formally ended following the events of "The Three Doctors".
Third Doctor | Appearance
The possibility of the English word "doctor" originating from the Doctor was a notion made by Moffat on Usenet in 1995. Moffat had planned the revelation about River Song "for a long time"; when creating Amy, he chose "Pond" for her last name to create a link. Moffat intended for the "answer to be as complicated as the question". Moffat informed actor Alex Kingston of the secrets of her character at the end of the previous series and she was not allowed to tell anyone; lead actors Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, and Arthur Darvill were unaware of the identity of her character.
A Good Man Goes to War | Writing
Throughout the programme's long history, there have been revelations about the Doctor that have raised additional questions. In "The Brain of Morbius" (1976), it was hinted that the First Doctor might not have been the first incarnation (although the other faces depicted might have been incarnations of the Time Lord Morbius). In subsequent stories the First Doctor was depicted as the earliest incarnation of the Doctor. In "Mawdryn Undead" (1983), the Fifth Doctor explicitly confirmed that he was then currently in his fifth incarnation. Later that same year, during 1983's 20th Anniversary special "The Five Doctors", the First Doctor enquires as to the Fifth Doctor's regeneration; when the Fifth Doctor confirms "Fourth", the First Doctor excitedly replies "Goodness me.
Doctor Who | Revelations about the Doctor
In Webber's original production documents, the character of the Doctor (referred to as "Dr. Who") was a suspicious and malign character who hated scientists and inventors, and had a secret intention to destroy or nullify the future; Newman rejected this idea, wanting the character to be a father figure. Tucker offered the role of the Doctor to Hugh David; having spent a year working on "Knight Errant Limited" and not wanting to be tied to another series, David turned down the role. Tucker envisioned a young actor to play the Doctor with aged make-up; however, Lambert favoured an older actor to avoid preparation time and add authenticity to the role.
An Unearthly Child | Casting and characters
Omega is a fictional character created by Bob Baker and Dave Martin for the British science fiction television series, "Doctor Who". In the context of the series, Omega is known as one of the founders of the Time Lords of the planet Gallifrey, and is a revered figure in Time Lord history together with the equally legendary Rassilon; the Third Doctor refers to him as the Time Lords' "greatest hero". Omega first appeared in the 10th anniversary story, "The Three Doctors". The character was portrayed in "The Three Doctors" by actor Stephen Thorne and in "Arc of Infinity" by both Ian Collier and Peter Davison.
Omega (Doctor Who) | Introduction
In early production documents, the Doctor was said to be 650 years old, although this was never stated on screen. By the time the Doctor did cite his age ("Let me see, in human terms, 400, yes, 450 years" in the serial "The Tomb of the Cybermen" (1967); he kept a 500-year diary), he had already regenerated to a younger form. The intention at that time was that regeneration had turned back the Doctor's clock, making him younger both in appearance and in biological age. Since the Doctor's age had never previously been given, 450 Earth years became a starting point onto which further years would be progressively added as the series continued and the character lived out his further incarnations.
The Doctor (Doctor Who) | Age
Like most of his previous selves, the Seventh carried any number of random items in his pockets, including technological devices and books ("Dragonfire", "Ghost Light"). In a break from his past however, he spoke with a mild Scottish accent with rolled "R"s, rather than in his past selves' Received Pronunciation speaking patterns.
Seventh Doctor | Costume
Nardole is a fictional character created by Steven Moffat and portrayed by Matt Lucas in the long-running British science fiction television series "Doctor Who". He is a companion of the Twelfth Doctor, an incarnation of the alien time traveller known as The Doctor, played by Peter Capaldi. Nardole initially appeared in the 2015 Christmas special "The Husbands of River Song", as a companion of River Song, before returning in the following episode "The Return of Doctor Mysterio", having become the Doctor's companion in the meantime. Despite looking human, Nardole is an alien from the 54th century with cybernetic implants, belonging to a humanoid colony on the planet Mendorax Dellora.
Nardole | Introduction
A recurring theme in the Doctor's life was his lack of a proper name. Starfleet did not assign a name to him, and initially, the Doctor claimed that he did not want one until the episode “”, when he asks Kes to give him a name. He later adopted such names as 'Schweitzer' (after Albert Schweitzer), 'Shmullus' (in "" (by Vidiian patient Dr. Denara Pel), 'Van Gogh,' 'Kenneth,' 'Jones' and several others. His friends suggest the famous historical Earth doctors "Galen" and "Spock". The captioned dialog of early episodes, and early promotional material for the series premiere, referred to him as 'Dr.
The Doctor (Star Trek: Voyager) | Name