Portal:Doctor Who

The Doctor Who Portal

Doctor Who is a British science fiction television series first broadcast by the BBC in 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson, follows the adventures of the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being from a humanoid species known as Time Lords. The Doctor travels through space and time using a time travelling spaceship called the TARDIS, which has an exterior that resembles a British police box. The Doctor encounters various civilisations, which they seek to protect by outwitting foes and solving crises. The Doctor usually travels with a companion.

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 woven into the story via the plot device of regeneration. When a Time Lord is fatally injured or weakened by old age, their cells regenerate into a new body; while they retain their memories, their personality changes. The different portrayals function as distinct stages within a single, continuous narrative. Due to time travel, these different incarnations occasionally cross paths.

A British popular culture staple with a global cult following, the show has shaped generations of British television professionals. 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...)

Refresh with new selections below (purge)

Recognized quality articles

Image 1
The 2013 specials of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who are two additional episodes following the programme's seventh series. In addition to the traditional Christmas episode broadcast on 25 December 2013, a feature of the revived series since 2005, there was also a special celebrating the 50th anniversary of the programme broadcast on 23 November 2013, both airing on BBC One.

Production of "The Day of the Doctor" began on 2 April 2013, and production of the Christmas episode, "The Time of the Doctor", began in September. Two supplemental episodes were also filmed alongside the specials; "The Night of the Doctor" (which featured the return of Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor for the first time since 1996.) and "The Last Day" were both produced as lead-in mini-episodes for the 50th anniversary special, and were released online days before the special's broadcast. The two special broadcast episodes were initially released in separate home media sets, before being released together alongside the mini-episodes in a collector's boxset. (Full article...)
Image 2
"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...)
Image 3
The fourteenth series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who premiered on 11 May 2024, and aired through to 22 June. The series is also known as "Season One" following the production changes and the acquisition of Doctor Who's international broadcasting rights by Disney+. It is the fifth series led by Russell T Davies as head writer and executive producer and the first since his return to the show, having previously worked on it from 2005 to 2010. This series is the fourteenth to air since the programme's revival in 2005, and the fortieth season overall. The fourteenth series was announced with Davies' return for its 60th anniversary in 2023 and beyond, with Bad Wolf becoming a co-producer.

The series is the first to star Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor, a new incarnation of the Doctor, an alien Time Lord who travels through time and space in the TARDIS, which appears to be a British police box from the outside. The Fifteenth Doctor was introduced in "The Giggle" (2023) through a "bi-generation", in which he split from his predecessor, the Fourteenth Doctor (David Tennant), rather than replacing him. The series also introduces Millie Gibson as the Doctor's newest companion, Ruby Sunday. (Full article...)
Image 4
"Day of the Moon" is the second episode of the sixth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Written by show runner Steven Moffat, and directed by Toby Haynes, the episode was first broadcast on 30 April 2011 on BBC One in the United Kingdom and on BBC America in the United States. The episode is the second of a two-part story that began with "The Impossible Astronaut" on 23 April.

In 1969 America, alien time traveller the Doctor (Matt Smith) along with his companions Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) and Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill), archaeologist River Song (Alex Kingston) and FBI agent Canton Everett Delaware III (Mark Sheppard), attempt to lead the human race into a revolution against the Silence, a religious order of aliens who cannot be remembered after they are encountered. (Full article...)
Image 5

Davies in 2025

Stephen Russell Davies (/ˈdeɪvɪs/ DAY-vis; born 27 April 1963), known professionally 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 revival of the BBC sci-fi series Doctor Who, from 2005 to 2010 and 2023 to 2025. 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), The Sarah Jane Adventures (2007–2011), and The War Between the Land and the Sea (2025), 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 his return to the BBC with BBC Three's Casanova (produced concurrently with the Doctor Who revival but broadcast first), an adaptation of the complete memoirs of Venetian adventurer Giacomo Casanova. (Full article...)
Image 6
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...)
Image 7

Barrowman in 2025

John Scot Barrowman (born 11 March 1967) is a Scottish-American actor, author, presenter, singer and comic book writer. He is known for his roles as Captain Jack Harkness in Doctor Who (2005; 2007–2008; 2010; 2020–2021) and its spin-off Torchwood (2006–2011), and as Malcolm Merlyn in the Arrowverse (2012–2019).

Born in Glasgow, Barrowman moved to the US state of Illinois with his family at the age of eight. Encouraged by his high school teachers there, he studied performing arts at the United States International University in San Diego before landing the role of Billy Crocker in Cole Porter's Anything Goes in London's West End. Since his début, he has played a number of roles in various musicals both in the West End and on Broadway, including Miss Saigon, The Phantom of the Opera, Sunset Boulevard, and Matador. After appearing in Sam Mendes' production of The Fix, he was nominated for the 1998 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical and, in the early 2000s, returned to the role of Billy Crocker in the revival of Anything Goes. His most recent West End credit was in the 2009 production of La Cage aux Folles. (Full article...)
Image 8
"Victory of the Daleks" is the third episode in the fifth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Written by Mark Gatiss and directed by Andrew Gunn, it was first broadcast on BBC One on 17 April 2010.

In the episode, the Doctor (Matt Smith) and his companion Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) arrive in London during the Blitz, where Winston Churchill (Ian McNeice) has employed "Ironsides", a scientific creation from Professor Bracewell (Bill Paterson) to be used as weapons in the war effort. However, the Doctor recognises the Ironsides as his archenemies the Daleks, who plan to destroy Earth by activating a device located inside Bracewell, an android. (Full article...)
Image 9
"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...)
Image 10
The Day of the Clown is the second serial of the second series of the British science fiction television series The Sarah Jane Adventures. It was first broadcast in two weekly parts on the CBBC channel on 6 and 13 October 2008. The Day of the Clown introduces main character Rani Chandra (Anjli Mohindra) and her parents, Haresh (Ace Bhatti) and Gita Chandra (Mina Anwar) to the series, with Rani joining the series' main cast. Rani succeeds the character of Maria Jackson (Yasmin Paige) as a main character in this serial, as Paige had left the series to focus on her academic studies. The serial was filmed in April 2008 and aired later that year on CBBC.

The serial depicts Rani moving onto the street which Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) and her son Luke Smith (Tommy Knight) live on. Rani ends up joining Sarah Jane, Luke, and Luke's friend Clyde Langer (Daniel Anthony) in investigating a mysterious figure named Odd Bob the Clown, who is actually an alien who goes by the alias of Elijah Spellman (Bradley Walsh). The group believe Spellman to be behind the disappearances of several children. (Full article...)
Image 11

Thasmin is a fan-nickname given to the ship, a relationship between two fictional characters desired by fans, and later on-screen romance between the thirteenth incarnation of the Doctor, the main character of science fiction television series Doctor Who, and her travelling companion Yasmin Khan. The two characters, portrayed by actresses Jodie Whittaker and Mandip Gill, were shipped as a result of comments made by a character in the 2018 episode "Arachnids in the UK", after which it grew popular in the form of Internet memes and slash fiction. Both Whittaker and Gill became aware of the ship, and Whittaker brought it up with series showrunner Chris Chibnall, who was enthusiastic about including it in the series. The ship was eventually incorporated into the television series, with the romance ending as a result of the departure of both Whittaker and Gill from the series in 2022.

Reception to the ship has been primarily positive, with praise directed towards it as a positive representation of queer and LGBTQ+ communities, though it has been criticized as queerbaiting by some due to how their relationship concluded. (Full article...)
Image 12
"The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. First broadcast on BBC One on 25 December 2011, it is the seventh Doctor Who Christmas special since the show's revival in 2005. It was written by Steven Moffat and directed by Farren Blackburn. Internationally, the special was shown on BBC America in the United States and on Space in Canada the same day as the British broadcast, with ABC1 in Australia showing it one day later.

In the special, alien time traveller the Doctor (Matt Smith) is the caretaker of recently widowed Madge Arwell (Claire Skinner) and her children Lily (Holly Earl) and Cyril (Maurice Cole) during their holiday vacation in 1941 Britain. The Doctor plans to take them on a treat to a snowy planet through a portal in a present he has placed under the Christmas tree, but Cyril opens it before Christmas and wanders through. While looking for him, the others learn that the trees of the planet are about to be melted down with acid rain for energy. (Full article...)
Image 13
"A Christmas Carol" is an episode of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who. It is the sixth Doctor Who Christmas special since the programme's revival in 2005, and it was broadcast on 25 December 2010 on both BBC One and BBC America, making it the first episode to premiere on the same day in both the United Kingdom and United States. It was written by Steven Moffat and directed by Toby Haynes.

In the episode, a crashing space liner with more than four thousand people on board has been caught in a strange cloud belt. The alien time traveller the Doctor (Matt Smith) lands on the planet below and meets the miserly Kazran Sardick (Michael Gambon), a man who can control the cloud layer but refuses to help. Inspired by Charles Dickens's 1843 novella A Christmas Carol, the episode has the Doctor attempting to use time travel to alter Kazran's past and make him kinder so that he will save the spaceship. (Full article...)
Image 14

Gatwa in 2024

Mizero Ncuti Gatwa (English: /ˈ(n)ʃuːti ˈɡætwɑː/ (N)SHOO-tee GAT-wah; born 15 October 1992) is a Rwandan-Scottish actor. He is best known for playing Eric Effiong in the Netflix series Sex Education (2019–2023) and the Fifteenth Doctor in the BBC series Doctor Who (2023–2025). He won the 2020 BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Actor in Television for the former role, and the 2024 BAFTA Cymru Award for Best Actor for the latter.

Gatwa began his career on stage at the Dundee Repertory Theatre and was nominated for an Ian Charleson Award for his performance as Mercutio in a 2014 production of Romeo & Juliet at HOME arts centre. For his breakout role in Sex Education, Gatwa earned three consecutive British Academy Television Award nominations for Best Male Comedy Performance. In 2022, he became the first non-white actor to be cast as the lead character of the Doctor in Doctor Who. His film appearances include Barbie (2023) and The Roses (2025). (Full article...)
Image 15
The twelfth series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who premiered on 1 January 2020 and aired until 1 March 2020. It is the second series to be led by Chris Chibnall as head writer and executive producer, alongside executive producer Matt Strevens, the twelfth to air after the programme's revival in 2005, and the thirty-eighth season overall. The twelfth series was broadcast on Sundays, except for the premiere episode, continuing the trend from the eleventh series. Prior to the eleventh series, regular episodes of the revived era were commonly broadcast on Saturdays. The series was followed by the 2021 New Year's Day special, "Revolution of the Daleks".

Jodie Whittaker returns for her second series as the Thirteenth Doctor, an incarnation of the Doctor, an alien Time Lord who travels through time and space in her TARDIS, which appears from the outside to be an old fashioned British police box. It also stars Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole and Mandip Gill as the Doctor's travelling companions, playing Graham O'Brien, Ryan Sinclair and Yasmin Khan, respectively. The series follows the Thirteenth Doctor and her companions, who meet a new incarnation of the Master, the destruction of Gallifrey, the return of Jack Harkness, the appearance of an unknown incarnation of the Doctor, the Cybermen, and the secret of the "Timeless Child". (Full article...)

More recognized articles

edit

Selected story

The Aztecs is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in 4 weekly parts from May 23 to June 13, 1964.

The arrival of the TARDIS in 15th century Mesoamerica leads the crew to encounter the doomed Aztec people, a mixture of high culture and brutal savagery side by side. Matters are further complicated when Barbara is mistaken for a goddess, while the First Doctor inadvertently becomes engaged to be married.

More selected stories

edit

Related portals

Did you know (auto-generated)

... that the fourth episode of The Celestial Toymaker cost £1,449, making it the cheapest Doctor Who episode ever recorded?
... 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 a popular Marvel villain appeared in the Transformers and Doctor Who franchises before joining the Marvel Universe?
... that a popular romantic pairing from Doctor Who was later adapted into the show at the suggestion of lead actress Jodie Whittaker?
... that the fourth episode of The Celestial Toymaker cost £1,449, making it the cheapest Doctor Who episode ever recorded?
... that the Doctor Who episode "Lux" is set in Miami, Florida, despite being filmed in Penarth, Wales?

edit

Selected quote

“

The Time Lords are an immensely civilised race. We can control our own environment - we can live forever, barring accidents, and we have the secret of space-time travel.

”

— Second Doctor, The War Games

More selected quotes

edit

More did you know?

... that the designs for the Doctor Who serial The Sensorites were inspired by Antoni Gaudí's design of the Sagrada Família (pictured) in Barcelona, which has no right angles?
... that the entire fourth serial of Doctor Who is missing after being erased by the BBC in 1967?
... that the Thirteenth Doctor, portrayed by Jodie Whittaker, is the first female incarnation of the Doctor in the continuity of Doctor Who?

More Did you know facts

edit

Topics

edit

Things you can do

Where possible, replace fair use images on Doctor Who pages with free content.
Ensure that all remaining fair use images on Doctor Who pages are appropriately tagged with valid fair use rationales.
Make sure that all of the featured and good Doctor Who articles contain reliable, inline citations.
Help expand any Doctor Who lists to include a reasonable mixture of both in-universe and out-of-universe information.
Add information about production and reception to all episode and serial pages to do with Doctor Who, Torchwood, and The Sarah Jane Adventures.