Recap / Doctor Who

"All of time and space, everything that ever happened or ever will... Where do you want to start?"

— The Eleventh Doctor, "The Eleventh Hour"

See also the BBC's episode guide.

Recaps for Doctor Who, spanning all TV series episodes from 1963 up until the present day.

Many of the First and Second Doctors' episodes (97 to be precise) are no longer accounted for in video format— though only one, "The Daleks' Master Plan" part 7, "The Feast of Steven", was almost certainly exterminated beyond recovery as no copies were ever made of it, so a delicate flicker of hope remains for the other 96 (And even that isn't enough to stop fans from thinking the 97th episode has a copy lurking somewhere!). All the missing episodes survive in audio form thanks to viewers at the time using tape recorders during the original broadcasts, and in addition to these soundtracks being released with narration from an original cast member to fill in the visual elements, there are also telesnap reconstructions, which marry the audio to off-screen photographs of the original broadcasts. Some of these episodes have been animated by dedicated restoration teams for official DVD releases funded by the BBC.

The "Classic Series" (1963-1989) was done in 25-minute long episodes where every story (except for "Mission to the Unknown" and "The Five Doctors") was a multi-episode serial; typically these ranged from four to six episodes, but on rare occasions could go from as little as a single episode to as many as twelve (fourteen if you count Season 23, The Trial of a Time Lord, as one serial^note to make a long story short, Season 23 was produced as four different but interlinked serials in an overarching story arc, but the whole season was billed as a single serial when it aired as a marketing tactic). Season 22 stood out as an exception, with serials comprising two or three 45-minute long episodes each, but it was still in the serial format. When the series began airing in the US in the early 70s, the individual episodes for each serial were combined into full-length "movies"; because of this, most fans consider each episode part of a much larger story, aided by the fact that serials quickly switched to using overarching titles in season 3. Consequently, fan discussions about the Classic Series will typically refer to serials rather than individual episodes unless the latter becomes absolutely necessary (e.g. production differences between individual episodes).

The "Revival Series" (2005-present) is done mostly in 45-minute-long episodes, most of them self-contained with at least one two-part story each season (and Series 3, 9, and 10 each have a three-parter. Series 1 also has a three parter, just not consecutively), with numerous filmed shorts to supplement the series. Series 11 ups the episode length to 50 minutes. For all intents and purposes, the Revival Series is an official continuation of the Classic Series, taking place within the same canon.

Cross-reference recap pages for The Sarah Jane Adventures, Torchwood, K9, and Class, which are also part of the Whoniverse, as well as for the many tangled continuities and timelines of the Big Finish audio series, which are broadly canonical.

Good luck.

Classic Series

First Doctor era (William Hartnell): 1963-1966

There is some dispute as to what a number of the serials up to "The Gunfighters" should be called, as these stories had individual episode titles rather than an on-screen full title. Many of the titles have been gleaned from surviving BBC paperwork, but for the very early stories, you may see alternative names being used. The names seen below are those on home media releases.

Season 1 ( 23 November 1963 — 12 September 1964)

"Have you ever thought what it's like to be wanderers in the fourth dimension? Have you? To be exiles?"

— The Doctor

The Doctor begins his adventures throughout space and time, along with the company of his granddaughter Susan, and the rather less willing company of her teachers Ian and Barbara. The four find themselves veering between being caught up in historical events, and meeting new, unusual, and often deadly alien foes.

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Season 1 (42 episodes of which 33 survive, 23 November 1963 — 12 September 1964)

1. "An Unearthly Child" (4 episodes)^note Episode YMMV, Episode Trivia
2. "The Daleks" (7 episodes)
3. "The Edge of Destruction" (2 episodes)
4. "Marco Polo" (7 episodes, all missing)
5. "The Keys of Marinus" (6 episodes)
6. "The Aztecs" (4 episodes)
7. "The Sensorites" (6 episodes)
8. "The Reign of Terror" (6 episodes, 4 & 5 missing but remade with animation married to the original soundtrack)

Season 2 ( 31 October 1964 — 24 July 1965)

"The least important things, sometimes, my dear boy, lead to the greatest discoveries."

"One day, I shall come back. Yes, I shall come back. Until then, there must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties. Just go forward in all your beliefs and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine."

— The Doctor

While the Doctor continues to veer between adventures in Earth's history, and those on far-off worlds, he soon finds everything changing. Firstly he's forced to bid a tearful farewell to Susan, who is soon replaced by the orphan Vicki, and later on he assists Ian and Barbara in finally getting back to their own time, with space pilot Steven Taylor replacing them.

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Season 2 (39 episodes of which 37 survive, 31 October 1964 — 24 July 1965)

1. "Planet of Giants" (3 episodes, though originally produced as 4 episodes)
2. "The Dalek Invasion of Earth" (6 episodes)
3. "The Rescue" (2 episodes)
4. "The Romans" (4 episodes)
5. "The Web Planet" (6 episodes)
6. "The Crusade" (4 episodes, 2 & 4 missing)
7. "The Space Museum" (4 episodes)
8. "The Chase" (6 episodes)
9. "The Time Meddler" (4 episodes)

Season 3 ( 11 September 1965 — 16 July 1966)

"And now, they're all gone. All gone. None of them could understand. Not even my little Susan. Or Vicki. And as for Barbara and Chatterton - Chesterton - they were all too impatient to get back to their own time. And now, Steven. Perhaps I should go home. Back to my own planet. But I can't... I can't..."

— The Doctor

After Vicki, like Susan before her, leaves the Doctor's company to be with the man she loves, the Doctor's travels take an increasingly dangerous turn, claiming the lives of two short-term companions in the process. Things even out once newcomer Dodo Chaplet joins the TARDIS team, though she and Steven will depart by the end of the season, leaving the Doctor with two unexpected stowaways as his new companions.

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Season 3 (45 episodes of which 17 survive, 11 September 1965 — 16 July 1966)

1. "Galaxy 4" (4 episodes, all but Episode 3 missing but remade with animation)
2. "Mission to the Unknown" (1 episode, missing but remade in live-action; only story to not feature the Doctor)
3. "The Myth Makers" (4 episodes, all missing)
4. "The Daleks' Master Plan" (12 episodes, only 2, 5 and 10 known to survive. The Christmas episode^note which was technically speaking an interlude rather than part of the serial, but this page is complicated enough as it is is the only one that is irretrievably lost, in all likelihood)
5. "The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve" (4 episodes, all missing; title commonly shortened to "The Massacre")
6. "The Ark" (4 episodes)
7. "The Celestial Toymaker" (4 episodes, only Episode 4 known to survive)
8. "The Gunfighters" (4 episodes)
9. "The Savages" (4 episodes, all missing)
10. "The War Machines" (4 episodes)

Season 4 ( 10 September — 29 October 1966)

"This old body of mine is wearing a bit thin."

— The Doctor

The Doctor and his new companions Ben and Polly barely even have time to get used to each other's company before an encounter with a deadly new enemy helps push the Doctor's ageing body over the edge.

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Season 4 (43 episodes of which 10 survive, 10 September 1966 — 1 July 1967. No story from this season survives in a complete form.)

1. "The Smugglers" (4 episodes, all missing)
2. "The Tenth Planet" (4 episodes, Episode 4 missing but remade with animation)

Second Doctor era (Patrick Troughton): 1966-1969

The Second Doctor's reappearances in "The Three Doctors", "The Five Doctors", and "The Two Doctors" are ambiguously placed in his timeline. ^explanationThe first of those stories can be slotted in anywhere after "The Invasion" (whose events the Second Doctor references, in addition to recognising Benton) without much difficulty. However, in the latter two stories (besides the actors obviously looking older) Jamie clearly knows about Time Lords, the Doctor has been in contact with them, is willingly working with them, and capable of actually controlling his TARDIS — none of which he could do in his own era. The Third Doctor then debuts with some items (like his TARDIS-locating watch) that he definitely wasn't wearing in "The War Games". The only logical explanation is that these adventures happen after "The War Games" but before "Spearhead From Space". Luckily, the Early-Installment Weirdness of the regeneration scene makes this surprisingly plausible. The comics of the time fit into this gap (and actually show Troughton changing into Pertwee). Season 6B is basically as official as you can get in Doctor Who — there are over sixty stories set during it, including stories by both Robert Holmes and Terrance Dicks. Holmes, in particular, explicitly meant "The Two Doctors" to take place in this period. It has been proposed that they are set in "Season 6b", meaning they take place during otherwise unseen adventures set after "The War Games".

The Second Doctor's era was hit the worst by the archive purges, to the point where none of his stories from Season 4 survives with even more than half of its episodes still intact, and Season 5 only has two fully-intact stories (one of which didn't resurface until the 2010s). Season 6 got off much lighter by comparison, with only two stories having any missing episodes.

Season 4 ( 5 November 1966 — 1 July 1967)

"There are some corners of the universe which have bred the most terrible things. Things which act against everything we believe in. They must be fought."

— The Doctor

The Doctor's astounding transformation leaves him badly drained and his friends wondering if he's even the same person. The universe obligingly brings out the ultimate test: a confrontation with the Daleks. From there, the new Doctor — with highlander Jamie McCrimmon also joining the team — takes on everything from mad scientists to Cybermen to giant crabs... before coming face-to-face with his worst enemies once more.

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Season 4 (Continued)

3. "The Power of the Daleks" (6 episodes, all missing but remade with animation)
4. "The Highlanders" (4 episodes, all missing)
5. "The Underwater Menace" (4 episodes, 1 & 4 missing but remade with animation)
6. "The Moonbase" (4 episodes, 1 & 3 missing but remade with animation)
7. "The Macra Terror" (4 episodes, all missing but remade with animation)
8. "The Faceless Ones" (6 episodes, 2, 4, 5, and 6 missing but remade with animation)
9. "The Evil of the Daleks" (7 episodes, all but Episode 2 missing but remade with animation)

Season 5 ( 2 September 1967 — 1 June 1968)

"Our lives are different to anybody else's. That's the exciting thing. Nobody in the universe can do what we're doing."

— The Doctor

The Daleks might seem to have met their final end, but the universe remains just as dangerous as ever. The Cybermen continue to menace the Doctor, who finds himself also coming up against new enemies such as the Great Intelligence and its Yeti servants, along with the reptillian Ice Warriors. The Doctor finds himself having to introduce the orphaned Victoria Waterfield to his way of life, but by the end of the season, lets her leave and settle down into a more stable life.

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Season 5 (40 episodes of which 22 survive, 2 September 1967 — 1 June 1968)

1. "The Tomb of the Cybermen" (4 episodes)
2. "The Abominable Snowmen" (6 episodes, only Episode 2 known to survive; all six episodes remade with animation)
3. "The Ice Warriors" (6 episodes, 2 & 3 missing but remade with animation)
4. "The Enemy of the World" (6 episodes)
5. "The Web of Fear" (6 episodes, Episode 3 missing but remade with animation)
6. "Fury from the Deep" (6 episodes, all missing but remade with animation, last serial to be missing in its entirety)
7. "The Wheel in Space" (6 episodes, only 3 & 6 known to survive)

Season 6 ( 10 August 1968 — 21 June 1969)

The Doctor: Well, it is a fact, Jamie, that I do tend to get involved with things.
Jamie: Aye, you can say that again. Whenever there's any trouble, he's in it right up to his neck.

The Doctor, Jamie, and new companion Zoe face an array of new enemies, in addition to yet another encounter with the Cybermen. Ultimately, however, the Doctor's finally crossing paths with his people, the Time Lords, will have terrible consequences for all three TARDIS travellers.

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Season 6 (44 episodes of which 37 survive, 10 August 1968 — 21 June 1969)

1. "The Dominators" (5 episodes)
2. "The Mind Robber" (5 episodes, 20 minutes each)
3. "The Invasion" (8 episodes, 1 & 4 missing but remade with animation)
4. "The Krotons" (4 episodes)
5. "The Seeds of Death" (6 episodes)
6. "The Space Pirates" (6 episodes, only Episode 2 known to survive; last of known incomplete serials)
7. "The War Games" (10 episodes)

Third Doctor era (Jon Pertwee): 1970-1974

The actual regeneration sequence from Patrick Troughton to Jon Pertwee was not televised ^explanation The concept of regeneration was not fully defined yet, the writers more or less used an excuse to change his appearance and there was no fuss to be made about showing the transition, but a possible version based on the idea that the Doctor actually managed to escape the Time Lords at the end of "The War Games" was depicted in a comic (the TV Comic story "The Night Walkers") shortly before Season 7 began (and later explored in a psuedo-canon fan project work titled Devious that is loosely connected to official Doctor Who and featured Pertwee himself in a filmed regeneration sequence). While this was the last era to be affected by the BBC's routine archive purges, from this point onwards all episodes survive and can be found in the BBC archives, albeit as telerecordings alone in many cases.

This era also marked the start of the series being in full colour (as well as scaling the series back from running all year round with a two-month break to running for just half of the year), although a handful of Third Doctor episodes had survived only in black and white. These have since been restored to full colour by various methods.^note The exception is part one of "Invasion of the Dinosaurs", as the recolourisation method was only partially successful; a "best efforts" colour version was included on the DVD, but as an alternative to the monochrome version.

Season 7 ( 3 January — 20 June 1970)

"We deal with the odd... the unexplained. Anything on Earth... or beyond."

— The Brigadier

Having been forced to change his appearance by his own people and exiled to Earth, the Doctor finds himself on the front lines of an Auton invasion. With no way off-planet for the foreseeable future, he grudgingly joins forces with UNIT, acting as their scientific advisor against various alien threats.

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Season 7 (25 episodes, 3 January — 20 June 1970)

1. "Spearhead from Space" (4 episodes)
2. "Doctor Who and the Silurians" (7 episodes)
3. "The Ambassadors of Death" (7 episodes)
4. "Inferno" (7 episodes)

Season 8 ( 2 January — 19 June 1971)

"Obviously the Time Lords have programmed the TARDIS always to return to Earth."

Brigadier: Think he'll turn up again, Doctor?
The Doctor: Yes, bound to.
Jo: You don't seem very worried about it.
The Doctor: I'm not. As a matter of fact, Jo, I'm rather looking forward to it.

The Doctor is joined by socialite/escapologist Josephine Grant, and his exile to Earth is enlivened by the arrival of the Master, an old friend turned would-be world conqueror.

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Season 8 (25 episodes, 2 January — 19 June 1971)

1. "Terror of the Autons" (4 episodes)
2. "The Mind of Evil" (6 episodes)
3. "The Claws of Axos" (4 episodes)
4. "Colony in Space" (6 episodes)
5. "The Dæmons" (5 episodes)

Season 9 ( 1 January — 24 June 1972)

"I reversed the polarity of the neutron flow."

The Doctor: My dear Jo, the TARDIS was working then because it was being operated under remote control by the High Council of the Time Lords.
Jo: Well, if it worked for them-
The Doctor: I don't want it to work for them: I want it to work for me. No one's going to turn me into an interplanetary puppet.

The Doctor and Jo deal with Daleks, interstellar politics, and the Master's ever-more-dangerous bids for world domination.

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Season 9 (26 episodes, 1 January — 24 June 1972)

1. "Day of the Daleks" (4 episodes)
2. "The Curse of Peladon" (4 episodes)
3. "The Sea Devils" (6 episodes)
4. "The Mutants" (6 episodes)
5. "The Time Monster" (6 episodes)

Season 10 ( 30 December 1972 — 23 June 1973)

"They've forgiven me. They've given me back my freedom."

Jo: There's only one little world I want to see right now. That one.
The Doctor: That one? But Jo, that's Earth.
Jo: That's right, Doctor. Home.
The Doctor: Home it is, Miss Grant.

When the Doctor — with the help of his previous two incarnations — helps save the Time Lords and the universe from a threat from their ancient past, his Earthly exile is lifted at last. But the freedom to explore time and space once more paves the way for more confrontations with old enemies...

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Season 10 (26 episodes, 30 December 1972 — 23 June 1973)

1. "The Three Doctors" (4 episodes, 10th anniversary special, multi-Doctor, with First and Second Doctors)
2. "Carnival of Monsters" (4 episodes)
3. "Frontier in Space" (6 episodes)
4. "Planet of the Daleks" (6 episodes)
5. "The Green Death" (6 episodes)

Season 11 ( 15 December 1973 — 8 June 1974)

"A straight line may be the shortest distance between two points, but it is by no means the most interesting."

— The Doctor

The Doctor takes on a new companion, plucky reporter Sarah Jane Smith, on the way to meeting his destiny when an event from his recent past turns out to have paved the way for a terrible new threat.

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Season 11 (26 episodes, 15 December 1973 — 8 June 1974)

1. "The Time Warrior" (4 episodes)
2. "Invasion of the Dinosaurs" (6 episodes, part 1 titled "Invasion" to preserve the twist and is the only Pertwee episode not to survive in full colour)
3. "Death to the Daleks" (4 episodes)
4. "The Monster of Peladon" (6 episodes)
5. "Planet of the Spiders" (6 episodes)

Fourth Doctor era (Tom Baker): 1974-1981

From this point onwards, no episodes were ever junked, so all episodes survive. Furthermore, from Season 16 on, no episodes were ever in danger of being junked, as it was in 1978 that the BBC ended its junking policy. A twelve-regeneration (thirteen incarnations) limit was also put into practice during Tom Baker's tenure for the sake of explaining the return of an old villain, and as a way of bringing a definite end to the series if the need arose, back during the days when its future was in doubt. They probably never expected the show to have such enduring popularity that they'd eventually have to go past that point.

Season 12 ( 28 December 1974 — 10 May 1975)

"You may be a doctor, but I am the Doctor. The definite article, you might say."

Sarah Jane: Doctor, you're being childish!
The Doctor: Well, of course I am! There's no point being grown-up if you can't be childish sometimes.

The Fourth Doctor is itching to get away from UNIT more than ever, even as he helps them deal with mysterious thefts. With both Sarah Jane Smith and amiable UNIT doctor Harry Sullivan in tow, he journeys to a far-future space station. But solving a crisis involving the future of humanity is just the beginning of a roundabout journey through time and space that will set him against three of his most powerful adversaries... and give him the chance to stop one of them from ever existing.

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Season 12 (20 episodes, 28 December 1974 — 10 May 1975)

1. "Robot" (4 episodes)
2. "The Ark in Space" (4 episodes)
3. "The Sontaran Experiment" (2 episodes)
4. "Genesis of the Daleks" (6 episodes)
5. "Revenge of the Cybermen" (4 episodes)

Season 13 ( 30 August 1975 — 6 March 1976)

"About time I found something better to do than run around after the Brigadier!"

— The Doctor

As the Fourth Doctor slowly severs his ties with UNIT, he and Sarah Jane are faced with a particularly Gothic series of adventures.

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Season 13 (26 episodes, 30 August 1975 — 6 March 1976)

1. "Terror of the Zygons" (4 episodes)
2. "Planet of Evil" (4 episodes)
3. "Pyramids of Mars" (4 episodes)
4. "The Android Invasion" (4 episodes)
5. "The Brain of Morbius" (4 episodes)
6. "The Seeds of Doom" (6 episodes)

Season 14 ( 4 September 1976 — 2 April 1977)

"You know, travel really does broaden the mind."

"You know, the very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common. They don't alter their views to fit the facts. They alter the facts to fit the views. Which can be uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that needs altering."

— The Doctor

The Doctor and Sarah Jane are forced to part ways when he is called back to Gallifrey, where he faces the treachery that lies beneath the glamorous façade of the Time Lords. From there, he finds himself saddled with a very different companion in the curious Amazonian warrior Leela.

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Season 14 (26 episodes, 4 September 1976 — 2 April 1977)

1. "The Masque of Mandragora" (4 episodes)
2. "The Hand of Fear" (4 episodes)
3. "The Deadly Assassin" (4 episodes; only classic serial with no companion)
4. "The Face of Evil" (4 episodes)^note Episode YMMV
5. "The Robots of Death" (4 episodes)
6. "The Talons of Weng-Chiang" (6 episodes)

Season 15 ( 3 September 1977 — 11 March 1978)

"Sometimes my brilliance astonishes even me."

The Nucleus: It is the right of every creature across the universe to survive, multiply and perpetuate its species. How else does the predator exist? We are all predators, Doctor. We kill, we devour to live! Survival is all, you agree?
The Doctor: Oh yes, I do, I do. And on your argument - I have the perfect right to dispose of you.

The Doctor and Leela's journey continues as oppressed societies are liberated, terrifying creatures are obliterated, and robot dog K-9 becomes a third member of the team.

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Season 15 (26 episodes, 3 September 1977 — 11 March 1978)

1. "Horror of Fang Rock" (4 episodes)
2. "The Invisible Enemy" (4 episodes)
3. "Image of the Fendahl" (4 episodes)
4. "The Sun Makers" (4 episodes)
5. "Underworld" (4 episodes)
6. "The Invasion of Time" (6 episodes)

"The Final Battle" [Bonus feature for the season 15 Boxset, featuring Louise Jameson as Leela]

Season 16 (The Key to Time; 2 September 1978 — 24 February 1979)

"These segments must be traced and returned to me before it is too late, before the Universe is plunged into eternal chaos."

— The White Guardian

In the first season to feature a season-spanning story arc (one of only two in the original run), the Doctor and K-9 Mark II are teamed up with Time Lady Romana to track down the six pieces of a cosmic artifact that can be used to restore balance to the universe... or destroy it utterly.

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Season 16 (26 episodes, 2 September 1978 — 24 February 1979)

1. "The Ribos Operation" (4 episodes)
2. "The Pirate Planet" (4 episodes)
3. "The Stones of Blood" (4 episodes)
4. "The Androids of Tara" (4 episodes)
5. "The Power of Kroll" (4 episodes)
6. "The Armageddon Factor" (6 episodes)

Season 17 ( 1 September 1979 — 12 January 1980)

"I suppose the best way to find out where you come from is to find out where you're going, and then work backwards."

Romana: Where are we going?
The Doctor: Are you talking philosophically or geographically?
Romana: Philosophically.
The Doctor: Then we're going to lunch.

Now travelling to mostly random locations to throw his enemies off his scent, the Doctor and Romana — who has voluntarily regenerated into a pluckier, snarkier lass — are ready to face anything that comes their way, with the powers of obfuscating stupidity on his part and wit on both their parts.

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Season 17 (20 episodes, plus 6 unfinished, 1 September 1979 — 12 January 1980)

1. "Destiny of the Daleks" (4 episodes)
2. "City of Death" (4 episodes)
3. "The Creature from the Pit" (4 episodes)
4. "Nightmare of Eden" (4 episodes)
5. "The Horns of Nimon" (4 episodes)
6. "Shada" (6 episodes, incomplete and unaired; unfilmed parts were completed in 2017 with animation using most of the original cast) ^note It was also the most adapted story of the classic series, with a novelisation, a video release with Tom Baker providing linking narration, an animated adaptation featuring Paul McGann instead of Tom Baker, the audio of which was given a Big Finish release, and scenes were reused in "The Five Doctors".

Season 18 ( 30 August 1980 — 21 March 1981)

"Don't cross your bridges before they're hatched."

"It's the end, but the moment has been prepared for."

— The Doctor

John Nathan-Turner takes over as producer, and the show boldly forges into the The '80s, as the Doctor's costume, the sound design, and, most prominently, the title sequence is given a major overhaul, complete with a new, more synth-ier version of the theme song by Peter Howell. This season features two mini-arcs: First, the Doctor, Romana II, and K-9 Mark II become trapped in "E-Space", a pocket universe. The journey to escape it will bring a new companion, child genius Adric, aboard the TARDIS — but also see Romana and K-9 depart. Next, an old enemy of the Doctor sets in motion a plan that will lead to the arrival of more companions... and the near-destruction of the universe.

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Season 18 (28 episodes, 30 August 1980 — 21 March 1981)

1. "The Leisure Hive" (4 episodes)
2. "Meglos" (4 episodes)
3. "Full Circle" (4 episodes)
4. "State of Decay" (4 episodes)
5. "Warriors' Gate" (4 episodes)
6. "The Keeper of Traken" (4 episodes)
7. "Logopolis" (4 episodes)

Fifth Doctor era (Peter Davison): 1982-1984

The Sonic Screwdriver was retired during this era, and would remain gone until the TV Movie. On a real-world note, the series also changed timeslot for the first time, leaving its traditional Saturday teatime slot to run twice-weekly on weeknights instead.^note Season 19 ran on Mondays and Tuesdays, Season 20 on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and Season 21 on Thursdays and Fridays This meant it ran for a smaller number of weeks in the year, and that first- and third- episode cliffhangers only had one day before being resolved. Finally, Doctor Who had its first ever season of repeats in the gap between this season and the last, The Five Faces of Doctor Who, which re-ran "An Unearthly Child", "The Krotons", "Carnival Of Monsters", "The Three Doctors", and "Logopolis". This served to re-familiarise viewers with the idea of a Doctor that wasn't Tom Baker, let younger viewers catch their first glimpses of the earlier Doctors, and lastly caught new viewers up on the events of "Logopolis".

Season 19 ( 4 January — 30 March 1982)

"An apple a day keeps the... No, never mind."

"That's the trouble with regeneration. You never quite know what you're going to get."

— The Doctor

The Fifth Doctor, after a bout of regeneration sickness and one more attempt by the Master to undo him, quickly ingratiates himself with Adric and his newest companions: Tegan Jovanka, a sharp-tongued stewardess, and the gentle Nyssa of Traken. But as he tries to get Tegan back to the present day, their adventures sometimes take tragic turns...

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Season 19 (26 episodes, 4 January — 30 March 1982)

1. "Castrovalva" (4 episodes)
2. "Four to Doomsday" (4 episodes)
3. "Kinda" (4 episodes)
4. "The Visitation" (4 episodes)
5. "Black Orchid" (2 episodes)
6. "Earthshock" (4 episodes)
7. "Time-Flight" (4 episodes)

Season 20 ( 3 January — 25 November 1983)

"A man... is the sum of his memories, you know. A Time Lord even more so."

"You will be destroying one of the most evil creatures in the universe. He calls himself the Doctor."

— The Black Guardian

A plethora of old enemies are gunning for the Doctor^note The fact that every story featured an enemy from the series' past was a coincidence, but when it was pointed out John Nathan-Turner decided it made a good promotional hook — most importantly the Black Guardian, who recruits Vislor Turlough, an exiled alien prince masquerading as a schoolboy on Earth, to become the Doctor's newest companion and finish the Time Lord off for good. But even under pain of death if he fails, can Turlough bring himself to do this once he gets to know him? Also, due to various production factors screwing with what date "Mawdryn Undead" took place in-universe and which characters were involved,^note It was originally written for Ian Chesterton but changed to the Brigadier when William Russell proved unavailable it finally became completely impossible to work out if UNIT stories happened in the 1970s or 1980s without contradicting each other. This became known as the "UNIT dating controversy", and has been even jokingly been referenced in the new series.

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Season 20 (22 episodes, 3 January — 16 March 1983)

1. "Arc of Infinity" (4 episodes)
2. "Snakedance" (4 episodes)
3. "Mawdryn Undead" (4 episodes) (first part of the Black Guardian trilogy)
4. "Terminus" (4 episodes) (second part of the Black Guardian trilogy)
5. "Enlightenment" (4 episodes) (third part of the Black Guardian trilogy)
6. "The King's Demons" (2 episodes)

20th Anniversary Special – 1983 Children in Need Special (23 November 1983 [US], 25 November 1983 [UK]; not officially part of any season, but listed here for sanity's sake)

• "The Five Doctors" (1 90-minute special, multi-Doctor, with First, Second, Third, and Fourth Doctors) ^note The Fourth Doctor only appeared via reused footage from Shada, as Tom Baker declined to appear. This was produced as one episode, but has been aired as four 25-minute episodes in reruns.

Season 21 ( 5 January — 16 March 1984)

Peri: Doctor, why do you wear a stick of celery in your lapel?
The Doctor: Does it offend you?
Peri: No, just curious.
The Doctor: Safety precaution. I'm allergic to certain gases in the praxis range of the spectrum.
Peri: Well how does the celery help?
The Doctor: If the gas is present, the celery turns purple.
Peri: And... then what do you do?
The Doctor: I eat the celery. If nothing else I'm sure it's good for my teeth.

It is a time of great changes in the TARDIS. There are departures as Tegan grows disillusioned with the tragedies that surround the Doctor, Turlough comes to terms with his past, and even the shapeshifting robot Kamelion's story comes full circle. From this, the Doctor takes on Peri Brown, but when they are caught up in skullduggery on a distant planet he will have to risk everything in the hopes of saving her from the horrors that ensue...

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Season 21 (24/26 episodes, 5 January — 30 March 1984)

1. "Warriors of the Deep" (4 episodes)
2. "The Awakening" (2 episodes)
3. "Frontios" (4 episodes)
4. "Resurrection of the Daleks" (produced as 4 episodes, aired as 2 45-minute episodes)
5. "Planet of Fire" (4 episodes)
6. "The Caves of Androzani" (4 episodes)

Sixth Doctor era (Colin Baker): 1984-1986

Colin Baker's era is notable for starting at the tail end of Peter Davison's final season, and for experimenting with the show's format. However, due to troubled production values, criticisms and Executive Meddling, Season 23 was placed on hiatus, had its runtime drastically reduced and retooled into a large story arc, causing several planned stories featuring him to be dropped entirely. Baker's time on the TV series ended just as roughly as it began, with severely reduced ratings, general public and executive apathy towards the show, and Baker himself being unceremoniously fired after Season 23's conclusion, marking the only time an actor was outright axed from the role of the Doctor during the show's run.

Love it or hate it, the Sixth Doctor's tenure on TV would be the foundation for Big Finish to give Baker the proper continuation he deserves, although that wouldn't happen until almost 15 years after he left the show. You can find all of his (audio-only) adventures taking place in-between Seasons 22 & 23 (which includes the lost stories from the originally planned Season 23), as well as every adventure he had beyond Season 23 (including his regeneration story) right over here.

Season 21 ( 22 - 30 March 1984)

"Whatever else happens, I am the Doctor, whether you like it or not."

— The Doctor

After an extremely traumatic regeneration that occurred at the end of the Fifth Doctor's final adventure, the Sixth Doctor ends up struggling to come back to his own senses and ends up causing a lot of damage to Peri ^note (as well as plenty of Doctor Who fans, when this serial first aired). Despite all that, Sixth and Peri are dragged into a new adventure, as the era of the Sixth Doctor begins with himself slowly drifting away from his usual behavior and kindness, which will hopefully mellow out in due time...

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Season 21 (Continued)

7. "The Twin Dilemma" (4 episodes)

Season 22 ( 5 January — 30 March 1985)

"Rest is for the weary, sleep is for the dead. I feel like a hungry man eager for the feast!"

Peri: Look Doctor, ever since you regenerated, i-it's as if your memory has been put through the meat grinder. I mean, it's all there, but in a pile of unrelated bits and pieces.
The Doctor: That's a horrible simile.
Peri: It's true, though. In the past couple of days, you've called me Tegan, Zoe, Susan... on one occasion, you even referred to me as Jamie.

The much-changed, more bombastic and less-amiable Sixth Doctor spars with the frustrated Peri as they face off with old and new enemies — who are often collaborating with each other. This series returned to Saturday evenings in a new 45-minute format (hence the low episode count).

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Season 22 (13 45-minute episodes, 5 January — 30 March 1985)

1. "Attack of the Cybermen" (2 episodes)
2. "Vengeance on Varos" (2 episodes)
3. "The Mark of the Rani" (2 episodes)
4. "The Two Doctors" (3 episodes, multi-Doctor, with Second Doctor)
5. "Timelash" (2 episodes)
6. "Revelation of the Daleks" (2 episodes)

1985 – "Jim'll Fix It" Guest Segment (23 February 1985)

• "A Fix With Sontarans"

Season 23 (The Trial of a Time Lord; 6 September — 6 December 1986)

"By order of the High Council, this is an impartial enquiry into the behavior of the accused person, known as the Doctor, who is charged that he, on diverse occasions has been guilty of conduct unbecoming a Time Lord."

"In all my travelling throughout the universe, I have battled against evil, against power-mad conspirators. I should have stayed here! The oldest civilisation: decadent, degenerate, and rotten to the core! Power-mad conspirators? Daleks? Sontarans? Cybermen? They're still in the nursery compared to us! Ten million years of absolute power! That's what it takes to be REALLY corrupt!"

— The Doctor

The Doctor is captured and put on trial by the Time Lords over his interfering with events across time and space. The menacing Valeyard makes his case for the Doctor's guilt by revealing the details of two recent adventures of his — including the fate of Peri — while the Doctor counters with a story from his future. But all is not as it seems in the present, and the Doctor, with the help of his future companion Melanie Bush, is on the path to a showdown with an enemy he never could have imagined. This season returned to 25-minute episodes following the previous season's experiment with 45-minuters, but retained a reduced overall episode count.

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Season 23 (14 episodes, 6 September — 6 December 1986) ^note "The Trial of a Time Lord" is a 14-part story, but with four distinctive subsections. This is either treated as one story or four (the only on-screen title used is "The Trial of a Time Lord"); it was produced and novelised as four "parts", and all commercial releases treat it as four stories forming a wider whole, so TV Tropes has separate pages for each of the four "parts" of the serial.

1. "The Mysterious Planet" (4 episodes)
2. "Mindwarp" (4 episodes)
3. "Terror of the Vervoids" (4 episodes)
4. "The Ultimate Foe" (2 episodes, Part 2 is 30 minutes long)

Seventh Doctor era (Sylvester McCoy): 1987-1989

This was the last era of the classic series, after Doctor Who was not renewed for a 27th season. The series kept its reduced episode count and was again moved from Saturdays to a weeknight slot, this time pitting it against Coronation Street, stifling any chance at regaining its massive ratings losses from the previous two seasons despite significant improvements in fan and critical reception before finally being cancelled in 1989 (though the BBC repeatedly insisted that it was an indefinite hiatus). However, Sylvester McCoy made guest appearances as the Seventh Doctor on children's shows throughout the 1990s, such as Search Out Science and a Children in Need special, before finally returning for the 1996 Doctor Who television movie.

Season 24 ( 7 September — 7 December 1987)

"The more I know me, the less I like me."

"Think about me when you're living your life one day after another, all in a neat pattern. Think about the homeless traveller and his old police box, with his days like crazy paving."

— The Doctor

The Seventh Doctor and Mel Bush embark upon a more whimsical series of adventures befitting a more lighthearted Doctor.

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Season 24 (14 episodes, 7 September — 7 December 1987)

1. "Time and the Rani" (4 episodes)
2. "Paradise Towers" (4 episodes)
3. "Delta and the Bannermen" (3 episodes)
4. "Dragonfire" (3 episodes)

Season 25 ( 5 October 1988 — 4 January 1989)

Davros: You flatter yourself, Doctor. In the end, you are merely another Time Lord!
The Doctor: Oh, Davros. I am far more than just "another" Time Lord.^note This exchange was cut from the actual broadcast, but can be seen on the DVD.

The Doctor has a new companion in the quick-witted, scrappy teenager Ace. She had a strange life even before she met the Doctor... but she comes to learn that it can't compare to the mysteries surrounding the man she calls "Professor", whose clownish bumbling is giving way to the machinations of a chessmaster with many secrets in his distant past... some of which are now coming to light.

This is also the first season where the serials were noticeably broadcast Out of Order. They were reshuffled due to the Olympics causing the start date to be pushed back, and wanting to air the first episode of "Silver Nemesis" on the anniversary. The originally intended order order is "Remembrance", "Greatest Show", "Happiness Patrol", "Silver Nemesis".^note Or possibly the last two are swapped to production order, depending on whether you want to treat Ace's rucksack as a Continuity Nod or a continuity error! The main thing is that Ace has Flowerchild's earring in episodes filmed after "Greatest Show".

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Season 25 (14 episodes, 5 October 1988 — 4 January 1989)

1. "Remembrance of the Daleks" (4 episodes)
2. "The Happiness Patrol" (3 episodes)
3. "Silver Nemesis" (3 episodes, 25th anniversary special)
4. "The Greatest Show in the Galaxy" (4 episodes)

Season 26 ( 6 September — 6 December 1989)

"Love and hate, frightening feelings, especially when they're trapped struggling beneath the surface."

"There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, and the sea's asleep, and the rivers dream; people made of smoke and cities made of song. Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice, and somewhere else the tea's getting cold. Come on, Ace. We've got work to do."

— The Doctor

With the help of the Doctor — and whether she wants to or not — Ace must learn and come to terms with the mysteries of her past on the way to returning to the present and facing the future.

Season 26 (14 episodes, 6 September — 6 December 1989)

1. "Battlefield" (4 episodes)
2. "Ghost Light" (3 episodes)
3. "The Curse of Fenric" (4 episodes)
4. "Survival" (3 episodes)

Search Out Space — Special Episode of Search Out Science (21 November 1990)

• A special guest episode of Search Out Science, a children's education programme, K9 returned as did Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred, returning as the Seventh Doctor and Ace. Presumably non-canon due to its ties to Doctor Who being tangential at most.

30th Anniversary Special — 1993 Children in Need Special (2 parts, 26 November 1993 to 27 November 1993)

• "Dimensions in Time" (2 episodes, multi-Doctor, with Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Doctors, and posthumously, the First and Second Doctors, considered Canon Discontinuity by the BBC)

Eighth Doctor era (Paul McGann): 1996

Paul McGann did not receive a full televised tenure, due to the the television movie not being picked up for a new series. Instead, his character was explored in a very wide range of Expanded Universe material. His two on-screen appearances act as bookends to his life, with his 2013 regeneration story name-checking his Big Finish Doctor Who audio companions. The Eighth Doctor's second on-screen appearance, "The Night of the Doctor", is listed under the Eleventh Doctor era.

The TV Movie ( 27 May 1996)

"Grace, I came back to life before your eyes. I held back death. Look, I can't make your dream come true forever, but I can make it come true today!"

— The Doctor

When the Master was blown to smithereens by some Daleks that imprisoned him on Skaro, the Seventh Doctor was tasked to scatter the Master's remains all over Gallifrey. Unfortunately, the Master manages to escape from the TARDIS, and the Doctor is then gunned down to near-death by a street gang upon landing in San Francisco— on New Year's Eve of 1999, no less. And if that weren't enough, he ends up dying at the hands of some American surgeons, with Dr. Grace Holloway being one of them.

After the Doctor undergoes a new regeneration, on top of the Master assimilating himself a brand new body, it's a race against the clock as the younger, hotter and hammier Eighth Doctor teams up with his new companion Grace so they can put an end to the Master once and for all, before the new millennium arrives.

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Made-for-TV Special (1 90-minute episode, 12 May 1996 [Canada], 27 May 1996 [UK])

• "Doctor Who" (with Seventh Doctor)^note The TV movie has No Title aside from the title of the series. Episode Trivia, Episode YMMV

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Revival Series

War Doctor era (Sir John Hurt): 2013

The War Doctor, played by Sir John Hurt, was introduced retroactively in 2013 as a bygone, concealed incarnation of the Doctor who fought in the Last Great Time War. His on-screen appearances are contained to the Eleventh Doctor era, and are listed in that section below: "The Name of the Doctor", "The Night of the Doctor" and "The Day of the Doctor". You'll find the rest of his adventures in the Big Finish Doctor Who audio range and the Expanded Universe.

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Ninth Doctor era (Christopher Eccleston): 2005

This series marks the beginning of the revived TV series; all episodes before this series are considered "Classic Who", on account of both the 16-year cancellation/hiatus and the massive retool in both format and presentation upon the show's eventual return. Notably, Christopher Eccleston limited his tenure to one 13-episode season for personal reasons, stemming from a troubled working atmosphere behind the scenes. He is well-known among fan circles for maintaining a professional attitude on the matter, where he will only come back if the offer is truly enticing to him, and thus took fandom rather by surprise when it was announced in August 2020 that he was reprising the role for Big Finish.^note He also has a notorious reputation for being overshadowed. Due to only being the Doctor for only a few months in TV time, his presence in the Expanded Universe was heavily diminished, as only a handful of show-concurrent novels and Doctor Who Magazine comic stories exist featuring him. However, he saw a reemergence in 2015 with the release of a Doctor Who Titan comic miniseries. Unfortunately, his short television run is sometimes sorely overlooked by both first-time viewers and in network reruns, leading to the coining of the phrase "Don't skip Nine." For some years Eccleston was technically the shortest-tenured actor of them all in terms of time actually playing the part due to Hurt and McGann's tenures playing the Doctor in the Big Finish audio plays, although Eccleston's own audio adventures will go some way to redressing the balance.

Series 1 ( 26 March — 18 June, 2005)

It's almost time... but not yet.

"Do you know like we were saying? About the Earth revolving? It's like when you're a kid. The first time they tell you that the world's turning and you just can't quite believe it because everything looks like it's standing still. I can feel it. The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at 1,000 miles an hour and the entire planet is hurtling around the sun at 67,000 miles an hour, and I can feel it. We're falling through space, you and me, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go... that's who I am."

— The Doctor

Rose Tyler was just an ordinary Londoner until the day she met the Ninth Doctor — who, after solving a new crisis involving his old enemy the Autons, invites her to see the wonders of the universe with him. Leaving behind both an anxious mum and a frustrated boyfriend, Rose gets to know the Doctor, learning bits and pieces of the terrible tragedies of his recent past along the way to a crisis that pivots upon the mysterious phrase "Bad Wolf".

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Series 1/Season 27 (13 episodes, 26 March — 18 June 2005. Regular episode length returns to the 45-minute format from Season 22, but stories are now typically one episode each.)

1. "Rose"^note Episode Trivia, Episode YMMV
2. "The End of the World"
3. "The Unquiet Dead"
4. "Aliens of London" (Part 1)
5. "World War Three" (Part 2)
6. "Dalek"
7. "The Long Game"
8. "Father's Day"
9. "The Empty Child" (Part 1)
10. "The Doctor Dances" (Part 2)
11. "Boom Town"
12. "Bad Wolf" (Part 1)
13. "The Parting of the Ways" (Part 2)

Tenth Doctor era (David Tennant): 2005-2010

David Tennant's era re-introduced old companions, such as Sarah Jane Smith and K9. It also bore witness to the creation of the spin-off series Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures. At this point in the series, Doctor Who saw a huge popularity boom with a new generation.

Series 2 ( 18 November, 2005 — 8 July, 2006)

"Everyone leaves home in the end."

"You can spend the rest of your life with me, but I can't spend the rest of mine with you. I have to live on. Alone. That's the curse of the Time Lords."

— The Doctor

The just-regenerated Doctor picks up his friendship with Rose with barely a pause... but is it becoming something more? They encounter both old, new, and even alternative faces from each other's lives while their exploits inspire the establishment of a mysterious government organization known as Torchwood — which will be ground zero for a cataclysmic confrontation.

At this point in the timeline, the spin-offs Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures launched, the former commencing immediately after the end of Series 2, while the latter would proceed airing after that first series finished, allowing for a healthy cycle of year-round Doctor Who material as each show cycled in and out of production.

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Children in Need Special (18 November 2005)

• "Doctor Who: Children in Need" (no official title; a.k.a. "Pudsey Cutaway" or "Born Again")

Christmas Special (25 December 2005)

• "The Christmas Invasion" (60 minutes)
• "Attack of the Graske" (interactive episode via BBC Red Button)

Series 2/Season 28 (13 episodes, 15 April — 8 July 2006)

1. "New Earth"
2. "Tooth and Claw"
3. "School Reunion"
4. "The Girl in the Fireplace"
5. "Rise of the Cybermen" (Part 1)
6. "The Age of Steel" (Part 2)
7. "The Idiot's Lantern"
8. "The Impossible Planet" (Part 1)
9. "The Satan Pit" (Part 2)
10. "Love & Monsters" (Doctor-lite)
11. "Fear Her"
12. "Army of Ghosts" (Part 1)
13. "Doomsday" (Part 2)

Series 3 ( 25 December 2006, — 30 June, 2007)

Two worlds will collide.

"You are not alone."

— The Face of Boe

The Doctor, brooding over his separation from Rose Tyler, rescues would-be Christmas bride Donna Noble from an Earth-threatening plot and goes on to find a new companion in medical doctor Martha Jones. But while they're away having adventures, her family becomes involved with the mysterious politician Mr. Saxon, who seems to have a special interest in her new friend...

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Christmas Special (25 December 2006)

• "The Runaway Bride" (60 minutes)

Series 3/Season 29 (13 episodes, 31 March — 30 June 2007)

1. "Smith and Jones"
2. "The Shakespeare Code"
3. "Gridlock"
4. "Daleks in Manhattan" (Part 1)
5. "Evolution of the Daleks" (Part 2)
6. "The Lazarus Experiment"
7. "42"
8. "Human Nature" (Part 1)
9. "The Family of Blood" (Part 2)
10. "Blink" (Doctor-lite)
11. "Utopia" (Part 1, continuing from Torchwood's "End of Days") ^note This episode was originally announced as standalone, to preserve the twist at the end.
12. "The Sound of Drums" (Part 2)
13. "Last of the Time Lords" (Part 3, 50 minutes)

2007 Totally Doctor Who Animated Serial (13 mini-episodes, 2 April 2007 to 30 June 2007)

• "The Infinite Quest" (set some time between "Gridlock" and "Utopia")

Series 4 ( 16 November, 2007 — 27 July 2008)

"Your life could have gone one way or the other. What made you decide?"

"Because he's still out there, somewhere. And I'll find him, Gramps. Even if I have to wait a hundred years, I'll find him."

— Donna Noble

Donna Noble is reunited with the Doctor and comes to realize there's more to her than anyone ever knew as together they witness the uprising of the Ood, solve an actual murder mystery with Agatha Christie, and meet a mysterious woman from the Doctor's own future named River Song. And when a universe-spanning crisis looms, all of the "Children of Time" who have come to befriend this particular Doctor will band together to meet it with him.

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Children in Need Special (16 November 2007)

• "Time Crash" (multi-Doctor, with Fifth Doctor)

Christmas Special (25 December 2007)

• "Voyage of the Damned" (72 minutes)

Series 4/Season 30 (13 episodes, 5 April — 5 July 2008)

1. "Partners in Crime" (50 minutes)
2. "The Fires of Pompeii" (50 minutes)
3. "Planet of the Ood"
4. "The Sontaran Stratagem" (Part 1)
5. "The Poison Sky" (Part 2)
6. "The Doctor's Daughter"
7. "The Unicorn and the Wasp"
8. "Silence in the Library" (Part 1)
9. "Forest of the Dead" (Part 2)
10. "Midnight"
11. "Turn Left" (Doctor-lite; ties in with the next episode) (50 minutes)
12. "The Stolen Earth" (Part 1; crossover with Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures)
13. "Journey's End" (Part 2; featuring the birth of a Tenth Doctor clone, the Meta-Crisis Doctor, 65 minutes)

Proms Special (27 July 2008)

• "Music of the Spheres"

2009 Specials ( 25 December 2008 — 1 January 2010)

"This song is ending, but the story never ends."

"It is returning, it is returning through the dark. And then Doctor... oh, but then... he will knock four times."

— Carmen

The Doctor is on his own now, and all is well at first. But soon enough he learns he won't be "himself" much longer, and without the influence of a companion he becomes less stable, more willing to take risks he shouldn't. When an old enemy returns as the harbinger of an even more terrible force, the Tenth Doctor will have to face up to his responsibilities, his destiny, at last.

These specials are part of production Series 4, but are listed separately due to being a mini-series.

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2009 Specials (5 episodes, 25 December 2008 — 1 January 2010)

14. "The Next Doctor" (2008 Christmas special, 60 minutes)
15. "Planet of the Dead" (2009 Easter special, 60 minutes)
16. "The Waters of Mars" (2009 Fall special, 60 minutes)

Dreamland (6 mini-episodes, 21 November 2009 to 27 November 2009)

• "Dreamland" (set some time between "The Waters of Mars" and "The End of Time")

2009 Specials (Continued)

The 50th Anniversary, for the Tenth Doctor, takes place in between "The Waters of Mars" and "The End of Time". Due to overlapping timelines, he doesn't recall the full details, only the wedding.

17. "The End of Time" (Part 1 — 2009 Christmas special, 60 minutes, Part 2 — 2010 New Year's special, 75 minutes)

Eleventh Doctor era (Matt Smith): 2010-2013

Matt Smith's tenure incorporated the franchise's 50th anniversary, and his finale overcame the 12-regeneration limit established by the series in the 1970s. His era also saw the introductions of Amy Pond, Rory Williams and Clara Oswald, the three longest-serving companions of the Modern Era (although most of Clara's tenure actually is set in the Twelfth Doctor's era). This was also the point where the series had its popularity cross into North America.

Series 5 ( 3 April — 25 December 2010)

The end is just the beginning.

"My name is Amy Pond. When I was seven, I had an imaginary friend. Last night was the night before my wedding. And my imaginary friend came back."

— Amelia "Amy" Pond

The Eleventh Doctor crashes into the life of Amelia Pond, a little girl who has a mysterious crack in the wall of her bedroom. He aims to help her... but then his five-minute absence accidentally lasts over a decade. He regains Amy's good graces and she sets off to explore the universe with him. But she is leaving behind a fiancé, Rory Williams, while out there in the stars, more and more cracks are appearing...

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Series 5/Season 31 (13 episodes, 3 April — 26 June 2010)

1. "The Eleventh Hour" (65 minutes)
2. "The Beast Below"
3. "Victory of the Daleks"
4. "The Time of Angels" (Part 1)
5. "Flesh and Stone" (Part 2)
6. "The Vampires of Venice" (50 minutes)
7. "Amy's Choice"
8. "The Hungry Earth" (Part 1)
9. "Cold Blood" (Part 2)
10. "Vincent and the Doctor"
11. "The Lodger"
12. "The Pandorica Opens" (Part 1, 50 minutes)
13. "The Big Bang" (Part 2, 55 minutes)

The Adventure Games Series 1 (5 June — 23 December 2010)

1. "City of the Daleks"
2. "Blood of the Cybermen"
3. "TARDIS"
4. "Shadows of the Vashta Nerada"
5. "The Gunpowder Plot"

Christmas Special (25 December 2010)

• "A Christmas Carol" (60 minutes)

Series 6 ( 18 March — 25 December 2011)

Time runs out.

"'And silence would fall.' All those times I heard those words, I never realized it was my silence. My death. The Doctor will fall."

— The Doctor (alternate timeline)

Matt Smith's second series saw a change in format, with the series split into two halves; the first 7 airing in the spring, and the last 6 in the early autumn.

Amy and Rory, along with River Song, receive a terrible glimpse of the future: On 22 April 2011, the Doctor will die for good at a lake in Utah, slain by a mysterious assassin in a spacesuit. But that Doctor is some 200 years older than who they're currently traveling with. Can their friend be saved? What roles will they play in his fate?

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Comic Relief Special (18 March 2011)

• "Space" and "Time"

Series 6/Season 32 (13 episodes, 23 April — 4 June 2011, 27 August — 1 October 2011)

1. "The Impossible Astronaut" (Part 1)
2. "Day of the Moon" (Part 2)
3. "The Curse of the Black Spot"
4. "The Doctor's Wife"
5. "The Rebel Flesh" (Part 1)
6. "The Almost People" (Part 2)
7. "A Good Man Goes to War" (Spring finale, 50 minutes)
8. "Let's Kill Hitler" (Autumn premiere, 50 minutes)
9. "Night Terrors"
10. "The Girl Who Waited"
11. "The God Complex" (50 minutes)
12. "Closing Time"
13. "The Wedding of River Song"

The Adventure Games Series 2 — 31 October 2011

1. "The Gunpowder Plot"

Script to Screen Special (1 October 2011)

• "Death Is the Only Answer"

Home Video Bonus Special (22 November 2011)

• "Night and the Doctor"

Christmas Special (25 December 2011)

• "The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe" (60 minutes)

Series 7 ( 24 May 2012 — 24 September 2013)

"Right then, Clara Oswald. Time to find out who you are."

"I look at you at you every single day, and I don't understand a thing about you. Why do I keep running into you?"

— The Doctor to Clara Oswald

Like Series 6 before it, Series 7 was split into two halves; five episodes in September 2012, and the remaining eight in Spring 2013, with the Christmas special falling in between. Due to the radical differences between the two halves — featuring completely different companions, story arcs, and even a title sequence — many media and the BBC itself treat Series 7 as two separate seasons, 7A and 7B.

In 7A, the Doctor returns to the Ponds, reaffirming their friendship before a final, and tragic, farewell. As 7B begins, he has all but retired in the wake of his loss, but he comes down from a Victorian-era cloud thanks to a quirky and inquisitive serving wench and governess named Clara Oswin Oswald. When tragedy strikes again, he realises he's heard her voice before — in a Dalek asylum where she was Oswin Oswald, a computer whiz. How can one woman have lived and died twice? That question gives him a reason to return to the stars, and when a present-day nanny, Clara Oswald, calls the TARDIS for help he brings her onboard in hopes of figuring out the riddle of her existence... and eventually learns how she would/will go on to define a major part of who he is, all while etching herself on his hearts in a way not seen in centuries.

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Script to Screen Special (24 May 2012)

• "Good as Gold"

Series Prequel (5 mini-episodes, 27-31 August 2012)

• "Pond Life"

Series 7A/Season 33, First Half (5 episodes, 1 September — 29 September 2012)

1. "Asylum of the Daleks" (50 minutes)
2. "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship"
3. "A Town Called Mercy"
4. "The Power of Three"
5. "The Angels Take Manhattan" (autumn finale)

Web Special (12 October 2012)

• "P.S." (unfilmed scene from "The Angels Take Manhattan")

Children in Need Minisode (16 November 2012)

• "The Great Detective"

Web Special (21 December 2012)

• "Songtaran Carols"

Christmas Special (25 December 2012)

• "The Snowmen" (60 minutes)

Web Special (25 March 2013)

• "The Battle of Demon's Run: Two Days Later"

Series 7B/Season 33, Second Half (8 episodes, 30 March — 18 May 2013)

6. "The Bells of Saint John" (spring premiere)
7. "The Rings of Akhaten"
8. "Cold War"
9. "Hide"
10. "Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS"
11. "The Crimson Horror"
12. "Nightmare in Silver"
13. "The Name of the Doctor"

Web Special (26 May 2013)

• "Clarence and the Whispermen"

Home Video Bonus Specials (24 September 2013)

• "Rain Gods"
• "Clara and the TARDIS"
• "The Inforarium"

2013 Specials ( 14 November — 25 December 2013)

"Everything ends, Clara. And sooner than you think."

"I've had many faces, many lives. I don't admit to all of them. There's one life I've tried very hard to forget."

— The Doctor

The Doctor finally comes to terms with his actions in the Last Great Time War in a way he never could have expected. From there, he learns the origin of the forces that have plagued him ever since he regenerated, and prepares to make his final stand...

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Web Specials (14 November — 21 November 2013)

• "The Night of the Doctor" (prequel to "The Day of the Doctor", starring the Eighth Doctor)
• "The Last Day" (another prequel to "The Day of the Doctor")

50th Anniversary Special (23 November 2013)

• "The Day of the Doctor" (Multi-Doctor, with War and Tenth Doctors, as well as cameos by all Doctors so far, including Twelve, 76 minutes)

Christmas Special (25 December 2013)

• "The Time of the Doctor" (60 minutes)

Twelfth Doctor era (Peter Capaldi): 2014-2017

This era returned to uninterrupted runs and season-long story arcs. Each series has 12 episodes rather than 13; Series 9 is unique to the revival in that it has only one definitively standalone episode. (According to Steven Moffat, Series 9 was deliberately designed to challenge perceptions as to whether each episode was a one-parter, two-parter or even a three-parter, and hence there is some argument about whether some episodes are standalone or not.) The longer-than-usual gap between Series 9 (Fall 2015) and Series 10 (Spring 2017) was relieved by the annual Christmas Episodes in 2015 and '16; a short-lived spinoff, Class, also aired during this gap.

Series 8 ( 23 August — 25 December 2014)

The new Doctor lands.

"Clara, be my pal and tell me... am I a good man?"

— The Doctor

A new life comes with an identity crisis for the broody, more detached Twelfth Doctor. As Clara struggles to understand her much-changed friend, Twelve struggles with feelings he developed in his last incarnation, feelings he hasn't had in centuries, all while now-schoolteacher Clara is drawn to a gentle colleague at Coal Hill School, ex-soldier Danny Pink. She must decide whose world she belongs in, while the mysterious Missy sees all from a place where humans go after they die, setting up a very unwanted reunion...

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Series 8/Season 34 (12 episodes, 23 August — 8 November 2014)

1. "Deep Breath" (76 minutes)
2. "Into the Dalek"
3. "Robot of Sherwood"
4. "Listen"
5. "Time Heist"
6. "The Caretaker"
7. "Kill the Moon"
8. "Mummy on the Orient Express"
9. "Flatline"
10. "In the Forest of the Night"
11. "Dark Water" (Part 1)
12. "Death in Heaven" (Part 2, 55 minutes)

Christmas Special (25 December 2014)

• "Last Christmas" (60 minutes)

Series 9 ( 11 September — 25 December 2015)

Born to save the universe.

"Look at you, with your eyes, and your never giving up, and your anger, and your kindness. One day, the memory of that will hurt so much that I won't be able to breathe, and I'll do what I always do. I'll get in my box and I'll run and I'll run, in case all the pain ever catches up. And every place I go, it will be there!"

— The Doctor

Clara is growing further into her confidence and abilities, resembling the Doctor himself in many ways, but as they give into the feelings that permeated between them since their first meeting, he becomes less willing to accept that they must be parted one day. Terrible trials await as the consequences of his actions haunt them through the ages. But if a man is driven to extremes over a lost love, can that love redeem him... and make him the man another woman has longed for at last?

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Online Special (11 September 2015)

• "Prologue"

Theatrical Prequel (15 September 2015)

• "The Doctor's Meditation"

Series 9/Season 35 (12 episodes, 19 September — 5 December 2015)

1. "The Magician's Apprentice" (Part 1, 50 minutes)
2. "The Witch's Familiar" (Part 2, 50 minutes)
3. "Under the Lake" (Part 1)
4. "Before the Flood" (Part 2)
5. "The Girl Who Died" (Part 1)^note Announced as standalone and often listed as such, but ends with "To Be Continued" and its storyline is directly connected to the episode that follows.
6. "The Woman Who Lived" (Part 2)
7. "The Zygon Invasion" (Part 1)
8. "The Zygon Inversion" (Part 2)
9. "Sleep No More"
10. "Face the Raven" (Part 1)^note Announced as standalone and often listed as such, but ends with "To Be Continued" and its storyline is directly connected to the episodes that follow.
11. "Heaven Sent" (Part 2, 55 minutes)
12. "Hell Bent" (Part 3, 65 minutes)

2015 Christmas Special (25 December 2015)

• "The Husbands of River Song" (60 minutes)^note Due to airing only three weeks after the finale of Series 9, a number of reference works and review sites consider this episode to be the finale, or at least coda, of Series 9.

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Series 10 ( 23 April 2016 — 25 December 2017)

A time for heroes.

"Things end. That's all. Everything ends, and it's always sad. But everything begins again too, and that's... always happy. Be happy. I'll look after everything else."

— The Doctor

The Doctor is lonely and world-weary after the loss of his love and takes an oath to watch over a mysterious vault hidden beneath an Earth university, aided by far-future humanoid/cyborg, Nardole. Decades have passed when the Doctor meets Bill Potts, a feisty cafeteria worker full of questions and wonder. His wanderlust is renewed but his promise remains. Can he endure and do what is right even in the blackest darkness? Can he convince his oldest friend, and his bitter enemy, to finally stand with him... "without hope, without witness, without reward"? And after his long struggle to understand himself, after all he's lost, can he be convinced to re-embrace change and keep living?

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Mini-Episode (23 April 2016)

• "Friend from the Future"

2016 Christmas Special (25 December 2016)

• "The Return of Doctor Mysterio"

Series 10/Season 36 (12 episodes, 15 April — 1 July 2017)

1. "The Pilot"
2. "Smile"
3. "Thin Ice"
4. "Knock Knock"
5. "Oxygen"
6. "Extremis" (Part 1)
7. "The Pyramid at the End of the World" (Part 2)
8. "The Lie of the Land" (Part 3)
9. "Empress of Mars"
10. "The Eaters of Light"
11. "World Enough and Time" (Part 1)
12. "The Doctor Falls" (Part 2, 60 minutes)

2017 Christmas Special (25 December 2017)

• "Twice Upon a Time" (multi-Doctor, with the First Doctor, 60 minutes)

Thirteenth Doctor era (Jodie Whittaker): 2018-2022

Announced after the Wimbledon Men's Finals in 2017, Jodie Whittaker is the first canon female incarnation of the Doctor. Her first series, under new showrunner Chris Chibnall (who previously wrote several episodes for the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors and helmed Torchwood), launched on October 7, 2018 with "The Woman Who Fell to Earth".

Chibnall becoming showrunner also caused a change to the format followed since the birth of NewWho, with the show now consisting of 50-minute episodes airing on Sundays, and the post-series special moved from Christmas to New Year's Day. In addition, there were three more year-plus gaps between series, with Series 12 not airing until January 2020, Series 13 not airing until October 2021 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, and a two-year plus gap until Series 14, the first of Russell T Davies' second tenure, all of which were relieved by various specials.

Series 11 ( 7 October 2018 — 1 January 2019)

It's about time.

"All of this is new to me. New faces, new worlds. New times. So if I asked really, really nicely, would you be my new best friends?"

— The Doctor

Everyone knows you don't get aliens in Sheffield... until a warrior from 5,000 galaxies away arrives to prey on innocent people, and the Doctor drops out of the sky to stop him. With a brand new "Team TARDIS" in tow, she heads off into the unknown once more.

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Series 11/Season 37 (10 episodes, 7 October — 9 December 2018)

1. "The Woman Who Fell to Earth" (65 minutes)
2. "The Ghost Monument"
3. "Rosa"
4. "Arachnids in the UK"
5. "The Tsuranga Conundrum"
6. "Demons of the Punjab"
7. "Kerblam!"
8. "The Witchfinders"
9. "It Takes You Away"
10. "The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos"

2019 New Year's Special (1 January 2019)

• "Resolution" (60 minutes)

Series 12 ( 1 January 2020 — 1 January 2021)

Space. For all.

"Ryan, I've lived for thousands of years. So long I've lost count. I've had so many faces. How long have you been here? You don't know me. Not even a little bit."

— The Doctor

It's business as usual for Team TARDIS... until an old enemy makes their grand return, claiming to have uncovered an Awful Truth hidden in the very foundation of Time Lord society. As the Doctor's friends realize how much they still have to learn about her, she has to contend with yet another skeleton in Gallifrey's closet: "the lie of the Timeless Child."

This series began with the two-parter "Spyfall", with part one airing on New Year's Day and part two airing on January 5, shifting the show to the Sunday slot began by Series 11.

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Series 12/Season 38 (10 episodes, 1 January — 1 March 2020)

1. "Spyfall" (2 episodes, both parts 60 minutes)
2. "Orphan 55"
3. "Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror"
4. "Fugitive of the Judoon"
5. "Praxeus"
6. "Can You Hear Me?"
7. "The Haunting of Villa Diodati" (Part 1)
8. "Ascension of the Cybermen" (Part 2)
9. "The Timeless Children" (Part 3, 65 minutes)

2021 New Year's Special (1 January 2021)

• "Revolution of the Daleks" (70 minutes)

Series 13 (Flux, 31 October — 5 December 2021)

It's coming. Be ready. One epic story over six thrilling chapters.

"The Flux is imminent. I forecast incredible suffering. Vast bloodshed. A conflict that will dwarf all that has come before. The greatest of times are upon us. We must be ready to take advantage."

— Kragar

On July 25th, 2021, it was revealed that Series 13 would comprise six episodes that constitute a single narrative — the first time Doctor Who had done this since "Trial of a Time Lord". Series 13 was also the last regular series that Chris Chibnall would serve as showrunner and the last that Jodie Whittaker would appear as the Doctor, followed by a trilogy of specials in 2022.

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Series 13/Season 39 (6 episodes, 31 October — 5 December 2021)

1. "The Halloween Apocalypse" (Part 1)
2. "War of the Sontarans" (Part 2, 60 minutes)
3. "Once, Upon Time" (Part 3)
4. "Village of the Angels" (Part 4, 55 minutes)
5. "Survivors of the Flux" (Part 5)
6. "The Vanquishers" (Part 6, 60 minutes)

2022 Specials ( 1 January — 23 October 2022)

"Hello, Doctor. Welcome to the very end of your existence."

"Can we just live in the present? Of what we have, while we still have it?"

— The Doctor

The final batch of specials under Chris Chibnall's reign as showrunner, these episodes saw the final adventures of 13, Yaz, and Dan and ushered in the beginning of Russell T Davies' second tenure as showrunner. They also mark the end of Doctor Who airing on BBC America after 15 years.

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2022 Specials (3 episodes)

• "Eve of the Daleks" (60 minutes) ^note New Year's Day Special
• "Legend of the Sea Devils" (48 minutes) ^note Easter Special
• "The Power of the Doctor" (87 minutes) ^note BBC Centenary Special. First single episode to surpass 80 minutes since the TV Movie. Features the regeneration of the Thirteenth Doctor and the introduction of the Fourteenth, played by David Tennant. Aired on the 23rd of October.

Fourteenth Doctor era (David Tennant): 2023

Shortly after the Thirteenth Doctor regenerated into this strangely familiar form at the end of "The Power of the Doctor", the BBC announced that Tennant, alongside the returning Catherine Tate as Donna Noble, would star in three specials to commemorate the series' 60th anniversary, leading into Ncuti Gatwa's debut as the Fifteenth Doctor in the 2023 festive period. The first special was directed by returning Moffat-era director Rachel Talalay, with the second being helmed by Tom Kingsley, and the third directed by Chanya Button.

Starting with these specials, the series also began exclusively broadcasting on Disney+ outside of the UK and Ireland as a part of the BBC's attempts to expand the global reach of the show.

Russell T Davies' return as showrunner saw the reversion of Chris Chibnall's schedule changes, with the show returning to Saturdays and the post-series special returning to Christmas.

2023 60th Anniversary Specials ( 17 November — 9 December 2023)

Their time has come.

"I don't believe in destiny, but if destiny exists, then it is heading for Donna Noble right now."

— The Doctor

After regenerating into the Fourteenth Doctor (but having the same face as the Tenth), the Doctor does his best to find answers behind this familiar face re-appearing. In the midst of it all, he runs into the last companion he'd ever want to reunite with— Donna Noble. Eventually, the two are forced to team-up, as they go on three more adventures together. The Doctor knows this face won't last too long, so he'll have to make sure to find out who or what is causing this to happen. All signs point to a powerful old foe who ran into The Doctor several times in the past^note (although not seen on TV for over 50 years)...will The Fourteenth Doctor get his question answered before his next incarnation steps into place?

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Children in Need Special (17 November 2023)

• "Doctor Who: Children in Need" (entitled "Destination: Skaro", according to episode writer Russell T Davies.)

2023 60th Anniversary Specials (3 episodes; 25 November — 9 December 2023)

1. "The Star Beast" (60 minutes)
2. "Wild Blue Yonder" (55 minutes)
3. "The Giggle" (65 minutes)

Fifteenth Doctor era (Ncuti Gatwa): 2023-incumbent

In conjunction with the 60th Anniversary specials, Russell T Davies' second tenure as showrunner allowed the Fifteenth Doctor era to start right after the short-lived Fourteenth Doctor era, with the 2023 Christmas special. Ncuti Gatwa takes the role of the Doctor, and is joined by Millie Gibson who plays Fifteen's first companion, Ruby Sunday. In addition, Davies has stated that the series will undergo a soft reboot much like the start of the revival series as well as the start of Steven Moffat's tenure (Series 5) and the start of Chris Chibnall's tenure (Series 11). On Disney+, this Series has been branded as "Season 1".

Series 14 ( 25 December 2023 - )

Your cosmic journey awaits.

"Things seem to be turning more and more supernatural."

— Kate Lethbridge-Stewart

Russell T Davies revealed in Doctor Who Magazine #585 that the Fifteenth Doctor's first full season would be eight episodes long, plus a Christmas special.

In a first for the series, the first two episodes make their UK premiere on BBC iPlayer at midnight on Saturday 11 May, before airing on BBC One that Saturday evening. Outside the UK, Disney+ begins streaming the show at 7pm Eastern Time on Friday 10 May, simultaneous with the iPlayer release. Following the premiere, each episode will be released weekly on iPlayer at midnight on Saturday, before airing on BBC One on Saturday evening.

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Christmas Special (December 25, 2023)

• "The Church on Ruby Road"

Series 14/Season 40 (8 episodes; 11 May — 22 June 2024)

1. "Space Babies"
2. "The Devil's Chord"
3. "Boom"
4. "73 Yards"
5. "Dot and Bubble"
6. "Rogue"
7. "The Legend of Ruby Sunday" (Part 1)
8. "Empire of Death" (Part 2)

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Expanded Universe recaps

The Doctor Who Expanded Universe builds on the TV series, with many different continuities and timelines. The TV series sometimes references or adapts bits of the Expanded Universe. Recaps can be found under:

• Doctor Who New Adventures (novels starring the Seventh Doctor, set after his TV episodes)
• Doctor Who Missing Adventures (novels starring the first six Doctors, set between televised episodes)
• Eighth Doctor Adventures (novels starring the Eighth Doctor, set after the TV movie)
• Past Doctor Adventures (novels starring the first seven Doctors, set between televised episodes)
• New Series Adventures (novels featuring the New Series Doctors)
• Doctor Who: The Curse of Fatal Death (1999 Comic Relief TV spoof)
• Big Finish Doctor Who (Audio productions by Big Finish)
• Death Comes to Time (2001 webcast starring Sylvester McCoy)
• The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot (50th Anniversary spoof, 23 November 2013)
• Doctor Who Magazine (comic strips published in the titular magazine)
• Doctor Who (IDW) (comic strips in Doctor Who (IDW))
• Doctor Who: Lockdown (webisodes produced and released during the COVID-19 Pandemic lockdown)

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*(EEEERRRRuuuuuuwh...!)*

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