History Trivia / DoctorWho

* OldShame:
** To the shock of many fans, Creator/DouglasAdams viewed [[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E6Shada "Shada"]] as this, publicly stating that he'd only signed the release to allow the 1992 VHS issue of what was made to go ahead because he hadn't noticed that it had been included in a folder with a bunch of other routine paperwork.
** Creator/RobertHolmes said that [[Recap/DoctorWhoS16E5ThePowerOfKroll "The Power of Kroll"]] was the least favourite serial he'd written for the show. He never liked doing "scary monster" stories, so right from the start he was wary of the premise that script editor Anthony Read gave him. He found the finished product dull and shakily executed.
** Creator/MartinClunes is ''very'' embarrassed about his guest role in the 1983 serial [[Recap/DoctorWhoS20E2Snakedance "Snakedance"]] (though he's easily the [[SpotlightStealingSquad best thing in the story]]).
** ''Everyone'' involved with the notoriously bad charity single [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ege9lQecazo "Doctor in Distress"]] would like to forget about it. Creator/ColinBaker, who was against the idea from the start and had to be talked into it, called it one of the worst decisions he ever made, while Ian Levine, who wrote and produced it, apologised for it in 2005, calling it "a balls up fiasco".
** Creator/PeterKay has called his guest spot as the Abzorbaloff in 2006's [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E10LoveAndMonsters "Love & Monsters"]] the one thing in his career that he regrets. While he had fun making it, he was disappointed by the finished product ("I'm a big green lizard running around Cardiff? Is that it?") and is aware that the episode is considered by some fans to be one of the worst ever.
** Creator/StevenMoffat has regrets about the second episode he wrote during his tenure as executive producer, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E2TheBeastBelow "The Beast Below"]]. He's called it "a bit of a mess", citing the fact that he had too many ideas that would have been fine on their own, but having them all packed into a short 45-minute runtime didn't give them all enough time to properly stew or be focused upon. He also confirmed that owing to an extreme time-crunch and overcommitments on his part the shooting script for [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E8LetsKillHitler "Let's Kill Hitler"]] was at best only a first draft.

* ActorInspiredElement:
** Most, if not all, the Doctors have had at least some input into their costume design and [[TheNthDoctor their Doctor's]] idiosyncrasies.
*** The First Doctor's {{Character Tic|s}} of AccidentalMisnaming was inspired by Creator/WilliamHartnell's difficulty remembering the name "Ian Chesterton" in rehearsal. Since it fit the Doctor's detached and absent-minded personality perfectly, and because William Russell was able to make the cast and crew crack up by ad-libbing around them, it was agreed it would become one of his most memorable quirks. (Some fans believe that the manglings of "Chesterton" in the series itself are all genuine flubs, but a quick look at the script proves this is not the case.)
*** Creator/PatrickTroughton played the recorder himself, and always carried his recorder with him. This quirk was ported straight into the character of his Doctor. The Second Doctor's [[TheSocialExpert Social Expertise]] also stemmed from Troughton, an intuitive people-watcher who loved reading social dynamics — this impressed Gerry Davis enough that he insisted Troughton play the Doctor like that.
*** Creator/JonPertwee was a gadgets and cars aficionado, and asked if these could be incorporated into his character, along with a moment or two of "charm". Suffice to say his Doctor became the closest to Film/JamesBond. He also came up with his look. The story goes that he didn't have a costume ready for his photocall, so he went to his attic and raided a trunk containing his father's clothes and a cloak that belonged to his grandfather. The dashing Victorian dandy look was just what they production team was looking for.
*** Creator/TomBaker came up with the Fourth Doctor offering Sarah Jane jelly babies and they [[CharacterCatchphrase ran with it]]. [[note]]While Baker may have been a big fan of Jelly babies, they were first seen in possession of the Second Doctor, who offered one to the Brigadier the second time they showed up.[[/note]] The fact that Tom Baker's favourite jelly babies were the orange ones was eventually written into the character in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS15E6TheInvasionOfTime "The Invasion of Time"]]. Also, the AttentionWhore characteristics written into the character from Season 15 onward were added in when the crew realised they weren't able to stop Tom Baker [[LargeHam hamming it up for attention]] any more.
*** Creator/PeterDavison suggested his cricket outfit, as he was a fan of the sport. Creator/JohnNathanTurner reportedly got the idea to cast Davison after seeing a photo of him at a charity cricket match from the set of ''Series/{{All Creatures Great And Small|1978}}''.
*** It was Creator/ColinBaker's idea for the Sixth Doctor to wear a cat badge. He also suggested that he have an extensive vocabulary as a way of encouraging children to look up new words. (Averted hard with the notoriously garish coat, though, which Colin hated as much as almost everyone else did.)
*** The Seventh Doctor's hat actually belonged to Creator/SylvesterMcCoy. Plus, a lot of [=McCoy=]'s performance artist background bled into the character, such as playing the spoons, physical comedy, etc.
*** Creator/SophieAldred contributed to the design of Ace's badge-bedecked jacket, and some of the badges are from her own collection, the most famous being a ''Series/BluePeter'' badge she was awarded as a child for an experiment in home rocketry.
*** Creator/ChristopherEccleston suggested that his Doctor wear a leather jacket, as he wanted a less showy costume than before.
*** Creator/DavidTennant came up with the Tenth Doctor's trenchcoat, having seen Jamie Oliver wear one on a talk show. He also insisted on wearing Converse trainers instead of the boots the production team had in mind for him. The Doctor's glasses were also his idea.
*** Creator/StevenMoffat conceptualised Creator/MattSmith's Eleventh Doctor with a piratical theme and personality, so when Smith asked to wear a bowtie and to have a dotty and professorial personality, Moffat rejected it out of hand, calling it a "[[ShallowParody cartoon idea]]" of what the Doctor was like. However, Smith eventually persuaded Moffat to give this persona a spin, and Moffat realised it worked perfectly and wrote the scripts to suit.
*** According to a Reddit AMA with the writer of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E8MummyOnTheOrientExpress "Mummy on the Orient Express"]], a scene where the Twelfth Doctor offers a cigar case to someone he's interrogating only to reveal it's full of [[InternalHomage jelly babies]] was Creator/PeterCapaldi's [[https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2iyngn/i_wrote_tonights_doctor_who_and_next_weeks_ama/cl6t85f idea]].\\\
Capaldi's past as the guitarist of a punk band (with Creator/CraigFerguson!) was also added to the series, with the Doctor playing guitar in many Series 9 episodes.\\\
He also helped design his costume so that it would be easier for cosplayers to replicate.
*** Creator/JodieWhittaker collaborated with costume designer Ray Holman on designing her costume; during their first meeting about it, Whittaker got completely distracted by the colour of the wallpaper behind them, told Holman she absolutely loved that colour, and it ended up becoming the colour for the Thirteenth Doctor's trousers. It was largely inspired by an old photo of an androgynously dressed woman that Jodie felt an immediate attachment to.\\\

** Creator/PeterCapaldi is a lifelong ''Doctor Who'' fan.

** BBC Worldwide's Asia arm has never been good with the specials (Easter specials are outright skipped over, while other specials are chosen at its own discretion, irrelevant of the interest shown on social media). However, most egregiously, "[[Recap/DoctorWho2013CSTheTimeOfTheDoctor The Time of the Doctor]]" was skipped over back in 2013, and this special is important as it showcases the regeneration of Creator/MattSmith to Creator/PeterCapaldi, and regenerations are extremely important events to Whovians. [[http://www.bbc-asia.com/contact/?page=10 Many wrote to the BBC]], who claimed that they have noted the interest of Asian viewers in the episode, but had announced that it would not be aired in the near future. It finally aired in mid-Febuary 2015, during ''[[BadExportForYou Chinese New Year]]'' and over a year after its premiere in other regions, but BBC Entertainment Asia will still hand pick which specials it will and will not show in the future. And oh, the pre-2005 episodes have never been aired on BBC Asia's feeds, either.

* AccidentalDownerEnding: Skillfully [[AvertedTrope Averted this trope]] -- was the main reason John-Nathan Turner [[ExecutiveMeddling soundly vetoed]] the original final cliffhanger for "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS23E4TheUltimateFoe Trial of a Time Lord]]", which entailed The Doctor and The Valeyard last being seen falling into The Matrix locked in combat. Turner knew that such a spectacle would give Michael Grade the reason to cancel the show, as it looked like a final ending, even if that wasn't intended.

* Clara and the Twelfth Doctor never actually have a discussion about whether or not four is too much. The exchange in question was taken from a preexisting meme and transferred to a four panel image of Clara and the Doctor.