History Analysis / DoctorWho

The Doctor ([[IAmNotShazam not "Doctor Who"]][[note]][[AmbiguousSituation we think]][[/note]]), a HumanAlien who [[TimeTravel travels through time]] and [[WalkingTheEarth space]]. Started off as an AntiHero (or even AntiVillain) but soon settled into the [[KnightErrant hero role]]. Usually (though not always) functions as the series' moral centre.

The Doctor ([[IAmNotShazam not "Doctor Who"]][[note]][[AmbiguousSituation Probably]][[/note]]), a HumanAlien who [[TimeTravel travels through time]] and [[WalkingTheEarth space]]. Started off as an AntiHero (or even AntiVillain) but soon settled into the [[KnightErrant hero role]]. Usually (though not always) functions as the series' moral centre.

One of the key abilities of the Doctor, which has helped the show's longevity to a huge degree, is their ability to "regenerate." When faced with imminent death, they transform into a basically different person, with an entirely new appearance and altered personality -- but the same memories as the previous incarnation. These moments, of which thirteen have actually been seen on screen so far (the Second Doctor regenerated off-screen), are usually as big and dramatic as they sound. This makes them the TropeNamer for TheNthDoctor.

The Doctor has been played by fifteen different actors in the TV series to date.[[labelnote:1]]That sound you heard was all the hardcore ''Who''-fans going "Actually..." Some of the more knowledgeable ones can tell you which Doctors were played by more than one actor.[[/labelnote]] Most can be seen in the picture at the top of the character page for The Doctor.

First used by the Second Doctor in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS5E6FuryFromTheDeep "Fury from the Deep"]], this has now become an iconic item carried by the Doctor and has had at least seven different versions to date, not counting future ones. Basically a fancy tube with a light in prop form, it has [[SwissArmySuperpower a wide variety of functions]] including opening ''most'' locked doors, accessing computer information and actually being a screwdriver. What it ''doesn't'' do is [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E5WorldWarThree triplicate the flammability of port]]. Neither does it [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E8SilenceInTheLibrary do wood]]. Yes this ''is'' [[{{irony}} ironic]].

Companions are predominantly human, [[ParentService young, female, and attractive]]. In the early episodes there would also be a companion who was young, male, and heroic. Sometimes they are humanoid aliens, or, famously, a robot dog. They have joined and left the TARDIS for various reasons. The Doctor reserves the right to kick a companion out of the TARDIS for bad behaviour (''The Long Game'' is the only episode in which they've done it so far), or to take on a new companion even over the objections of present companions. Classic Series companions tended to have few or no ties to their homes (and often lose such ties, like in ''The Evil of the Daleks''), and--anniversary specials aside--did not cross paths with the Doctor after leaving the TARDIS[[labelnote:4]]unless the companion in question is Sarah Jane Smith, who did indeed return in the RTD era episode "School Reunion" and was a mite ticked about being ignored for thirty years[[/labelnote]]. Revival series companions don't divide their lives as neatly: They continue to interact with their families while away with the Doctor, and with the Doctor before.

Further on the topic of romance: Due to ''Doctor Who's'' origins as a children's series, the idea of romance between the Doctor and their companions often receives push-back from fans, even though hints have existed as early as 1973 when Jo Grant left the Third Doctor. It has become more overt in the modern era as companions such as Rose Tyler and Martha Jones unambiguously fall in love with the Doctor, with the Doctor fighting against returning the favour. Rose was the first companion to say the words "I love you" to the Doctor directly. River Song was the first companion established to not only marry the Doctor, and the first associate of theirs to indicate sexual relations with the Time Lord (though most of their relationship is not depicted onscreen). Most recently, the Doctor and Clara Oswald's relationship, which ended with Series 9 in 2015, pushed things to a new level -- their relationship was beyond platonic yet was not (as far as was seen on screen) sexual in any way, challenging current attitudes towards depiction of romance on television. The 2020 episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E5FugitiveOfTheJudoon "Fugitive of the Judoon"]] introduced a previously unknown Doctor who had actually married her companion, a man who died protecting her secret. As a [[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E10TheTimelessChildren subsequent episode]] revealed that she preceded all known incarnations who had been {{mind wipe}}d to forget her, it's plausible that these experiences informed the Doctor's later reluctance to romance companions.

''Doctor Who'' stories vary wildly in their style and tone, depending on writers and showrunners. They range from comedic to gothic or nihilistic, sometimes changing approach within a single serial, and the ScienceFiction goes all over the place from soft to hard. Officially there have been 300 stories aired to date, counting Season 23's ''The Trial of a Time Lord'' as one arc, and not counting the abandoned (but belatedly completed) ''Shada''. Website/ThatOtherWiki has them all numbered at the bottom of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Companion_(Doctor_Who) this page]]. Since the series returned in 2005 there have also been 5 canonical mini-episodes broadcast as of March 2011, each lasting no more than 8 minutes, aired as charity specials or during special events. Making matters even more confusing, BBC Radio has also produced or co-produced a number of audio-only ''Doctor Who'' serials since 1985.

The above number 300 does not include the 2 Comic Relief mini-episodes aired in March 2011, the Children in Need episodes aired in 2005 and 2007, and the mini-episode produced for the 2009 Doctor Who at the Proms concert special, or ''Shada''. If you count ''Shada'' and ''Trial of a Time Lord'' as four, this makes 304. The mini-episodes are rarely counted -- if spinoffs are included, that's probably the only time you'll see them.

Those aspects of the show that would normally be set by the series creator -- style, tone, mythology -- are largely the province of the showrunners. In the Classic Series, this referred to the producers and script editors, while in the Revival Series, it refers to the head writer, who functionally fulfils both roles (though credited producers and script editors are still present, albeit with heavily reduced levels of involvement) and writes a good chunk of episodes as well (the "head writer" credit helps sidestep BBC limitations on staff credits). Over its fifty years, the show has seen several producers and script editors, each of whom has left his or her mark for better or for worse. Moreso than individual Doctors (whose tenures usually featured more than one creative redirection), mentioning a particular producer or script editor is the most common shorthand for a particular tone or style of ''Doctor Who''. ''Every'' showrunner is, for ''some'' fan, the one who either singlehandedly saved the series or ruined it forever. Possibly even Creator/VerityLambert and Creator/SydneyNewman, who co-''created'' the show.

That said, one of the most controversial discussions in fandom is whether ''Doctor Who'' is a (to quote a line from a newspaper article which used to explain the show's appeal on the blurbs of the {{novelization}}s) "the children's own programme [[PeripheryDemographic that adults adore]]", a "family show" or a "[[DarkerAndEdgier dark and edgy]] show like ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'' meets ''Series/TheXFiles'', at midnight in an unlit cellar! Constant death and misery! Pain! Lots of pain!" That ''Doctor Who'' can plausibly be described in ''all'' of these terms is a possible key to its long-term appeal. In the opinion of Creator/StevenMoffat it's fundamentally a children's programme that adults can appreciate; if an episode of ''Doctor Who'' isn't keeping kids entertained, it isn't doing its job properly. A large part of this disagreement is down to the fact that most American ''Who'' fans would have discovered the show as teens or adults, while many older Brits remember the show as a ubiquitous childhood favourite. An examination of broadcast schedules for the show around the world reveals the schism in its audience: in the UK, the show traditionally airs around the supper hour on Saturdays, and on those occasions it changes days, it still airs around the same time. In the US, Canada, and other countries the "classic" series is often shown late at night, and newer episodes often air in prime time, often at "late hours" such as 8 and 9 PM.

In 2006, the BBC and animation studio Cosgrove Hall released an animated reconstruction of Parts 1 and 4 of Patrick Troughton serial "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS6E3TheInvasion The Invasion]]", using remastered audio tapes and the original stage notes. For the next few years, fans were disappointed that no similar reconstructions were made, with the company in charge of releasing episodes to DVD claiming that it was too expensive to hire an animation company to do a couple of one-off episodes. However, in 2011 it was announced that "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E8TheReignOfTerror The Reign of Terror]]" would be released in 2012 with two missing episodes similarly reconstructed. Subsequently, "The Ice Warriors", "The Tenth Planet", and "The Moonbase" were all released on DVD with animated reconstructions of missing episodes. In 2016, all six episodes of the Second Doctor's totally lost first story, "The Power of the Daleks", were reconstructed and released on iTunes, DVD, and BBC America, to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the story's broadcast. Subsequently, "The Macra Terror", "The Faceless Ones", "Fury from the Deep", "The Evil of the Daleks", and "Galaxy 4" were all released on DVD and Blu-ray with animated reconstructions of all episodes alongside any surviving original episodes. "The Web of Fear" was released on DVD and Blu-ray with an animated reconstruction of its missing episode.

Along with countless books and semi-canonical audio/video releases, the show has four official television spin-offs: DarkerAndEdgier ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' ([[EveryoneIsBi bisexual]] alien hunters [[AliensInCardiff in Cardiff]]); the (somewhat) LighterAndSofter ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'' (beloved ex-companion and a handful of [[YouMeddlingKids Meddling Kids]] fight aliens in London); the DarkerAndEdgier ''[[Series/Class2016 Class]]'' (students at Coal Hill School fight aliens in London); and ''Series/{{K9}}'' by Park Entertainment, which was filmed in Australia and [[ShortRunInPeru initially aired in Scandinavia]] in early 2010 before being broadcast on a UK cable network in the summer of 2010 and a terrestrial network there in the autumn; a US broadcast has yet to occur. It also falls into the LighterAndSofter category. One spinoff, ''K-9 & Company'', was stillborn in 1981, only producing a pilot episode. Another, ''Rose Tyler: Earth Defence'', was actually given space in the BBC budget before the production team went back on the idea. There was also a behind the scenes documentary series called ''Series/DoctorWhoConfidential'' which immediately followed every episode from "Rose" to "The Wedding of River Song" on BBC Three. An additional behind the scenes series, aimed more for children, was titled ''Series/TotallyDoctorWho'' and aired for two series; its primary claim to fame was broadcasting the first-ever ''animated'' Doctor Who serial for television, ''The Infinite Quest'', in 2007.

The TARDIS and the Doctor's recurring enemy the Daleks have become British cultural icons and it is fair to suggest that the overwhelming majority of Britons would instantly recognize both. It is, in fact, difficult to over-state the extent to which ''Doctor Who'', ostensibly a slightly daft children-oriented sci-fi show, has become a part of the British cultural landscape. The often-used phrase 'hiding behind the sofa' to refer to films or telly that scared someone as a child originates from people's reactions to watching the show in the sixties and seventies. It casts as much a shadow over British culture, as one Anthropology Professor put it, as ''Franchise/StarTrek'' casts over American culture; more so, in fact, as while acknowledged fans of ''Franchise/StarTrek'' are still rather consistently made fun of by mainstream culture, ''Doctor Who'' is beloved by Britons of all ages and demographics. Including, as it happens, UsefulNotes/ElizabethII.
Other [[JustForFun/OneOfUs famous fans]] include Creator/JohnOliver, [[Series/GoodEats Alton Brown]], Creator/RobertDowneyJr, Creator/MattGroening, Creator/SethMacFarlane, Creator/PatrickStewart, Creator/StevenSpielberg, Creator/RianJohnson and Creator/RichardDawkins, [[LongList just to name]] a few.

The show, because of its heyday in the seventies and eighties, has resulted in children growing up and starting careers ''[[PromotedFanboy for the sole purpose of working on the show]]'': Creator/RussellTDavies started his screenwriting career with a (failed) submission to the BBC; Creator/DavidTennant has confessed that the show got him into acting; and Creator/StevenMoffat has joked that he applied to be the executive producer when he was seven. Other people on the show also work [[SoMyKidsCanWatch so their kids can see their parents]] in something that's not inappropriate, such as Creator/JohnSimm, known more for gritty dramas before taking the role of the Master.[[labelnote:7]]Try not to think too hard about the fact that the apparently 'family-appropriate' role is a ''genocidal psychopath.''[[/labelnote]] Even if an actor wasn't a fan when they were a kid, it's almost certain their little kid will be.

Unfortunately, in the United States, the show isn't as widely popular and is often considered the [[SciFiGhetto territory of nerds]] and [[Creator/{{PBS}} public television]]. The 1996 movie was partially an attempt to gain enough American recognition to warrant an American co-produced revival of the series (which failed). Since its revival in 2005, the show ''has'' been acknowledged by the mainstream television press as among the best shows on television, and pulls consistently high ratings for a basic (when it was on [[Creator/{{Syfy}} Sci-Fi Channel]]) and digital (now that it's on [[Creator/TheBBC BBC America]]) cable television show. In fact, "The Impossible Astronaut" is the highest rated BBC America programme ''in the network's history''. Since "A Christmas Carol" at Christmas 2010, the show now airs in the United States only a few hours after its original British airing (except for "The Almost People" and "A Good Man Goes To War", both delayed one week due to Memorial Day weekend). Compare this to the weeks or ''months'' of wait that [[Creator/{{Syfy}} Sci-Fi Channel]] imposed on fans when they aired the first four revival series. Examples of the show's slow acceptance into American pop culture include the mentioning of the series on ''Series/TheLateLateShow with Craig Ferguson'' (being the only host on a US late night talk show that has talked to three of the Steven Moffat-era main cast, complete with making a song and having a miniature TARDIS prop), and the parody ''JustForFun/InspectorSpacetime'', which appeared as a ShowWithinAShow on the third season premiere of the sitcom ''Series/{{Community}}'', which has become a bit of meme here at TV Tropes (sadly, given ''Community'''s own low ratings and cult status, that isn't exactly a ''mainstream'' mention just yet).

The importance of this device is that it's the Doctor's primary tool and that it is not a weapon, but something designed to mend or alter (the Doctor used it to set off land mines once before, but to scare someone off rather than hurt them). This plays directly into their overall persona as a technical pacifist. The revival and its spinoffs have introduced a variety of other sonic devices used by the Doctor and/or others as well, such as Sarah Jane Smith's sonic lipstick and Captain Jack Harkness's sonic blaster. Series 9 featured sonic ''sunglasses'' for the Twelfth Doctor, which reflected his CharacterDevelopment into less of a GrumpyOldMan.

It has to be remembered that, during its most successful periods, the show has had a ''huge'' UK level of popularity, well above stereotypical "cult TV" or SF genre audiences. Audience figures as of Peter Capaldi's tenure were regularly about 5 to 7 million an episode (with about 8 million for Christmas specials), often putting it within the top twenty broadcasts of the week, equivalent in US terms to something like 30 million viewers based on proportion of the population - some episodes from the classic series have clocked more than that, with "City of Death" getting an average of 14.5 million, although Creator/{{ITV}} was suffering from a strike at the time, and there were only three channels back then. It is beaten consistently in the UK only by {{Talent Show}}s and major sporting events (though "Journey's End" trounced Wimbledon), and often holds its own against {{Soap Opera}}s (though this wasn't the case in the waning days of the classic series in the late 1980s when it was constantly beaten by Series/CoronationStreet). It is probably the only non Talent Show or Soap Opera to regularly have spoilers (accurate or not) appear in the [[UsefulNotes/BritishNewspapers mass market tabloid press]].

The show, because of its heyday in the seventies and eighties, has resulted in children growing up and starting careers ''[[PromotedFanboy for the sole purpose of working on the show]]'': Creator/RussellTDavies started his screenwriting career with a (failed) submission to the BBC; Creator/DavidTennant has confessed that the show got him into acting; and Creator/StevenMoffat has joked that he applied to be the executive producer when he was seven. Other people on the show also work [[SoMyKidsCanWatch so their kids can see their parents]] in something that's not inappropriate, such as Creator/JohnSimm, known more for gritty dramas before taking the role of the Master[[labelnote:7]]Try not to think too hard about the fact that the apparently 'family-appropriate' role is a ''genocidal psychopath''[[/labelnote]]. Even if an actor wasn't a fan when they were a kid, it's almost certain their little kid will be.

Website/TVTropes is proof of how much of a phenomenon the series has become -- we have a page for guessing if characters are members of the Doctor's race.

!The pop culture impact

The Doctor ([[IAmNotShazam not "Doctor Who"]])[[note]][[AmbiguousSituation Probably]][[/note]], a HumanAlien who [[TimeTravel travels through time]] and [[WalkingTheEarth space]]. Started off as an AntiHero (or even AntiVillain) but soon settled into the [[KnightErrant hero role]]. Usually (though not always) functions as the series' moral centre.

Female companions are stereotyped in pop culture memory as [[DistressedDamsel helpless]] [[ScreamingWoman screaming women]], and the males were stereotyped as [[ActionHero Action Heroes]] (and the show accused of sexism), but a number of the females have been [[ActionGirl surprisingly kickass]] (Sarah Jane, Leela, Ace, Clara), and some males have been quite accident-prone (Adric, Rory). They're not always female, either.

One of the key abilities of the Doctor, which has helped the show's longevity to a huge degree, is their ability to "regenerate." When faced with imminent death, they transform into a basically different person, with an entirely new appearance and altered personality -- but the same memories as the previous incarnation. These moments, of which twelve have actually been seen on screen so far (the Second Doctor regenerated off-screen), are usually as big and dramatic as they sound. This makes them the TropeNamer for TheNthDoctor.

In anniversaries, the different regenerations will often meet, and sometimes outside of anniversaries. The records for most times returning are the First (''The Three Doctors'', ''The Five Doctors'', ''Twice Upon A Time'') and Second Doctors (''The Three Doctors'', ''The Five Doctors'', ''The Two Doctors'') in the TV series (with the Second Doctor seeing the most {{Role Repris|e}}als from the original actor, as the First was [[TheOtherDarrin recast twice]] due to the previous actors' deaths), and the Fifth Doctor overall (''The Five Doctors'', ''Dimensions in Time'', ''Time & Time Again'', ''Cold Fusion'', ''The Eight Doctors'', ''Happy Deathday'', ''The Sirens of Time'', ''Time Crash'', ''The Four Doctors'', ''The Light at the End'').

The above number 300 does not include the 2 Comic Relief mini-episodes aired in March 2011, the Children in Need episodes aired in 2005 and 2007, and the mini-episode produced for the 2009 Doctor Who at the Proms concert special, or ''Shada''. If you count ''Shada'' and ''Trial of a Time Lord'' as four, this makes 304. The mini episodes are rarely counted -- if spinoffs are included, that's probably the only time you'll see them.

''Doctor Who'' stories vary wildly in their style and tone, depending on writers and showrunners. They range from comedic to gothic or nihilistic, sometimes changing approach within a single serial, and the ScienceFiction goes all over the place from soft to hard. Officially there have been 275 stories aired to date, counting Season 23's ''The Trial of a Time Lord'' as one arc, and not counting the abandoned (but belatedly completed) ''Shada''. Website/ThatOtherWiki has them all numbered at the bottom of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Companion_(Doctor_Who) this page]]. Since the series returned in 2005 there have also been 5 canonical mini-episodes broadcast as of March 2011, each lasting no more than 8 minutes, aired as charity specials or during special events. Making matters even more confusing, BBC Radio has also produced or co-produced a number of audio-only ''Doctor Who'' serials since 1985.

The above number 275 does not include the 2 Comic Relief mini-episodes aired in March 2011, the Children in Need episodes aired in 2005 and 2007, and the mini-episode produced for the 2009 Doctor Who at the Proms concert special, or ''Shada''. If you count ''Shada'' and ''Trial of a Time Lord'' as four, this makes 279. The mini episodes are rarely counted -- if spinoffs are included, that's probably the only time you'll see them.