Doctor Who (TV Series)

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Doctor Who
Doctor Who title card since 2014
Genre	Science fiction Drama
Created by	Sydney Newman C.E. Webber Donald Wilson
Written by	Various
Directed by	Various
Starring	Various Doctors (as of 2015 Peter Capaldi) Various companions
Theme music composer	Ron Grainer
Opening theme	Doctor Who theme music
Composer(s)	Various composers (as of 2005 Murray Gold)
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of Seasons	26 (1963–89) + 1 TV film (1996)
No. of Series	9 (2005–present)
No. of episodes	824 (97 missing) (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Various (as of 2013 Steven Moffat and Brian Minchin)
Camera setup	Single/multiple-camera hybrid
Running time	Regular episodes: 25 minutes (1963–84, 1986–89) 45 minutes (1985, 2005–present) Specials: Various: 50–90 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC One (1963–present) BBC One HD (TV Channel)BBC One HD (2010–present) BBC HD (2007–10)
Picture format	405-line Black-and-white (1963–67) 625-line Black-and-white (1968–69) 625-line PAL (1970–89) 525-line NTSC (1996) 576i 16:9 DTV (2005–08) 1080i HDTV (2009–present)
Audio format	Mono (1963–87) Stereo (1988–89; 1996; 2005–08) 5.1 Surround Sound (2009–present)
Original run	Classic series: 23 November 1963 – 6 December 1989 Television film: 12 May 1996 Revived series: 26 March 2005 – present
Chronology
Related shows	K-9 and Company (1981) Torchwood (2006–11) The Sarah Jane Adventures (2007–11) K-9 (2009–10) Doctor Who Confidential (2005–11) Totally Doctor Who (2006–07) Doctor Who Extra (2014–present)
External links
Doctor Who at the BBC

Doctor Who is a British science-fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a Time Lord—a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor. He explores the universe in his TARDIS (acronym: Time and Relative Dimension in Space), a sentient time-travelling space ship. Its exterior appears as a blue British police box, which was a common sight in Britain in 1963 when the series first aired. Along with a succession of companions, the Doctor faces a variety of foes while working to save civilisations, help ordinary people, and right wrongs.

The show is a significant part of British popular culture; and elsewhere it has become a cult television favourite. The show has influenced generations of British television professionals, many of whom grew up watching the series. The programme originally ran from 1963 to 1989. After an unsuccessful attempt to revive regular production in 1996 with a backdoor pilot in the form of a television film, the programme was relaunched in 2005 by Russell T Davies who was showrunner and head writer for the first five years of its revival, produced in-house by BBC Wales in Cardiff. Series 1 in the 21st century, featuring Christopher Eccleston as the ninth incarnation, was produced by the BBC. Series 2 and 3 had some development money contributed by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), which was credited as a co-producer. Doctor Who also spawned spin-offs in multiple media, including Torchwood (2006–11) and The Sarah Jane Adventures (2007–11), both created by Russell T Davies; K-9 (2009–10), the four-part video series P.R.O.B.E. (1994–96), and a single pilot episode of K-9 and Company (1981). There also have been many spoofs and cultural references of the character in other media.

Eleven actors have headlined the series as the Doctor. The transition from one actor to another is written into the plot of the show as regeneration, a life process of Time Lords through which the character of the Doctor takes on a new body and, to some extent, new personality, which occurs after sustaining injury which would be fatal to most other species. Although each portrayal of the Doctor is different, and on occasions the various incarnations have even met one another, they are all meant to be aspects of the same character. The Doctor as of 2013 is portrayed by Matt Smith, who took up the role after David Tennant's last appearance. On 1 June 2013, it was announced that Matt Smith would leave the series and the eleventh Doctor would regenerate in the 2013 Christmas special, "The Time of the Doctor"

Premise

History

Main article: History of Doctor Who

Public consciousness

Episodes

Further information: List of Doctor Who serials

Missing episodes

Main article: Doctor Who missing episodes

Characters

The Doctor

Doctor (Doctor Who)

Changes of appearance

Producers introduced the concept of regeneration to permit the recasting of the main character. This was first prompted by original star William Hartnell's poor health. The actual term "regeneration" was not initially conceived of until the Doctor's third on-screen regeneration however; Hartnell's Doctor had merely described undergoing a "renewal," and the Second Doctor underwent a "change of appearance". The device has allowed for the recasting of the actor various times in the show's history, as well as the depiction of alternative Doctors either from the Doctor's relative past or future.Template:Cn

The serials The Deadly Assassin and Mawdryn Undead and the 1996 TV film would later establish that a Time Lord can only regenerate 12 times, for a total of 13 incarnations. This line has stuck in the public consciousness despite not often being repeated, and was recognised by producers of the show as a plot obstacle for when the show finally had to regenerate the Doctor a thirteenth time. The episode "The Time of the Doctor" depicted the Doctor acquiring a new cycle of regenerations, starting from the Twelfth Doctor, due to the Eleventh Doctor being the product of the Doctor's twelfth regeneration from his original set.

The Doctor	Portrayed by	Tenure
William Hartnell	First Doctor	1963–66
Patrick Troughton	Second Doctor	1966–69
Jon Pertwee	Third Doctor	1970–74
Tom Baker	Fourth Doctor	1974–81
Peter Davison	Fifth Doctor	1981–84
Colin Baker	Sixth Doctor	1984–86
Sylvester McCoy	Seventh Doctor	1987–89, 1996
Paul McGann	Eighth Doctor	1996
Christopher Eccleston	Ninth Doctor	2005
David Tennant	Tenth Doctor	2005–10
Matt Smith	Eleventh Doctor	2010–13
Peter Capaldi	Twelfth Doctor	2013–

Meetings of past and present incarnations

Revelations about the Doctor

See also: Doctor Who Continuity curiosities

Companions

Companion (Doctor Who)

Adversaries

Daleks

Main article: Dalek

Cybermen

Main article: Cyberman

The Master

Main article: Master (Doctor Who)

Music

See also: List of Doctor Who composers

Theme music

Main article: Doctor Who theme music

Incidental music

Main article: List of music featured on Doctor Who

See also: List of Doctor Who music releases

Logo history

Viewership

Main article: Doctor Who fandom

United Kingdom

International

Country	Channel

DVD and video

Main article: List of Doctor Who DVD releases

Adaptations and other appearances

Doctor Who films

Main article: Dr. Who (Dalek films)

Spin-offs

Main article: Doctor Who spin-offs

Charity episodes

Spoofs and cultural references

Main article: Doctor Who spoofs

Museums and exhibitions

Main article: Doctor Who exhibitions

There have been various exhibitions of Doctor Who in the United Kingdom, including the now closed exhibitions at:

Lands End (Cornwall)
Blackpool
Llangollen
Kelvingrove Museum, Glasgow
Coventry Transport Museum, Coventry
Centre for life, Newcastle upon Tyne
Melbourne, Australia (only international DW concert to be performed)
Kensington Olympia Two, London

There is an exhibition open currently in Cardiff (the city where the series is filmed)

Merchandise

Main article: Doctor Who merchandise

Since its beginnings, Doctor Who has generated hundreds of products related to the show, from toys and games to collectible picture cards and postage stamps. These include board games, card games, gamebooks, computer games, roleplaying games, action figures and a pinball game. Many games have been released that feature the Daleks, including Dalek computer games.

Audios

The Doctor has also appeared in webcasts and in audio plays; among the latter were those produced by Big Finish Productions, who were responsible for a range of audio plays released on CD, as well as 2006's eight-part BBC 7 series starring Paul McGann. Big Finish's productions began with the release of The Sirens of Time in July 1999. These audios feature Doctors 4–8. As well as this, Big Finish also release a range of other audio books read by both Doctors and Companions.

Books

See also: List of Doctor Who novelists

Doctor Who books have been published from the mid-sixties through to the present day. From 1965 to 1991 the books published were primarily novelised adaptations of broadcast episodes; beginning in 1991 an extensive line of original fiction was launched, the Virgin New Adventures and Virgin Missing Adventures. Since the relaunch of the programme in 2005, a new range of novels have been published by BBC Books, featuring the adventures of the Ninth, Tenth and 11th Doctors. Numerous non-fiction books about the series, including guidebooks and critical studies, have also been published, and a dedicated Doctor Who Magazine with newsstand circulation has been published regularly since 1979. There is also a Doctor Who Adventures magazine published by the BBC.

Awards

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Doctor Who

Notes

References

Cited texts

External links

Official websites

Past official BBC websites

Reference websites

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+| bgcolor="#ffffff" colspan= "2" |[[BBC One (TV Channel)|BBC One]] (1963–present)<br>[[BBC One HD (TV Channel)BBC One HD]] (2010–present)<br>[[BBC HD (TV Channel)|BBC HD]] (2007–10)
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 | style="text-align: left;"|'''Picture format'''