Doctor Who is British science fiction television series, concerning the adventures of a mysterious time-traveller known only as "The Doctor".
It ran for 26 seasons on the BBC from November 23, 1963 until December 6, 1989; the longest-running television science fiction series. It was created by Sydney Newman.
The show was renowned for its use of innovative music and special effects which were produced by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.
The Doctor has a machine which enables him to travel in time and space, the TARDIS. Weekly episodes would form part of a contained story or "serial", of between 1 and 12 episodes, but usually 6 in earlier years and 4 in later years. The Doctor is accompanied by between 1 and 3 companions: people who choose to travel with him for a period of time for a variety of reasons.
It was initially devised to be partly educational: a proportion of episodes would see the characters travel to important periods in history, such as the French Revolution, or the Roman Empire. These so-called "historical" stories were dropped after the first few years in favour of the more popular science-fiction stories.
Part of the longevity of the series is due to the regular renewal of the companion characters. Another is the ability of the Doctor to "regenerate" -- a fictional biological process which completely changes his appearance, and allows a new actor to step into the role. This was devised when the original actor, William Hartnell became too ill to continue working on the show.
The factor which probably most ensured the series captured the public's attention was the introduction of the Daleks in the second storyline: a lethal race of metal-armoured mutants, whose chief role in the great scheme of things would appear to be, as they frequently observe in their instantly-recognisable metallic voices, to 'Exterminate!'.
Most of the show's mythology and backplot was developed gradually by later writers. Early on, nothing is known of the Doctor at all, not even his name: in early episodes he is referred to as "Grandfather" by the character of Susan. Barbara Wright, a teacher who later becomes one of the Doctor's companions, refers to "The Doctor" and Ian Chesterfield, her boyfriend and also a teacher about to take a trip or two in space and time in the TARDIS asks, "Doctor who?" Hence the series title. They meet the Doctor after following his "granddaughter", Susan, (who they are both intrigued by and who is a pupil at their school), home in the fog to a junk-yard where the TARDIS is concealed.
In the series, The Doctor is not subject to the normal constraints of mortal life as he is a Time Lord, a race from the planet Gallifrey that has mastered the secrets of time, but which for the most part keeps them secret. His first incarnation was played by the irascible William Hartnell, and early in the series viewers were indoctrinated into the mysteries of his TARDIS, a machine capable of travel through both space and time.
In many of the series stories, The Doctor has also saved the Earth (and a number of other planets) from such notable adversaries as the Cybermen, the Sontarans and the Silurians.
Seven actors played the Doctor in the original series:
- William Hartnell (November 23, 1963 - October 29, 1966)
- Patrick Troughton (October 29, 1966 - June 21, 1969),
- Jon Pertwee (January 3, 1970 - June 8, 1974)
- Tom Baker (December 28, 1974 - March 21, 1981)
- Peter Davison (March 21, 1981 - March 16, 1984)
- Colin Baker (March 22, 1984 - December 6, 1986)
- Sylvester McCoy (September 7, 1987 - December 6, 1989)
- Paul McGann (Fox TV Movie, simply called Doctor Who, or sometimes Doctor Who: The Enemy Within), 1996)
On a few occasions, former actors guest-starred in episodes featuring past incarnations of The Doctor:
- Pertwee and Troughton with Hartnell in a minor role in The Three Doctors
- Troughton, Pertwee with Davison in The Five Doctors, a 20th anniversary special, with another actor, Richard Hurndall, standing in for the late William Hartnell. The story began with a clip featuring Hartnell. Tom Baker declined to appear and the narrative was reworked to use clips from Shada, an intended six-episode story from the Tom Baker/Lalla Ward period that was never completed due to industrial action. A dummy of Baker was used in the publicity photographs.
- Troughton with Colin Baker in The Two Doctors
The changing of actors is explained within the series by the Time Lords' ability to "regenerate" after suffering mortal injury, illness, or age; the process repairs and rejuvenates all damage, but as a side-effect it reconfigures the Time Lords' physical appearance semi-randomly and also affects their personalities. This explanation was not developed until after the elderly William Hartnell had already retired from the show for health reasons. It was later established that each Time Lord can regenerate 12 times before permanently dying, though as with most such "rules" there were occasionally exceptional cases, such as when a renagade Time Lord at the end of his regeneration cycle posessed the body of another person to continue living.
Another Time Lord was introduced into the series during the Pertwee period, in the form of "The Master", an arch-villain who began to appear regularly until the actor playing the part, Roger Delgado, died suddenly. Later, the character was reintroduced, played by another actor, Anthony Ainley.
The Doctor was played in the film versions (Doctor Who And The Daleks in 1965 and Daleks -- Invasion Earth 2150 AD in 1966, both essentially retellings of existing episodes on the big screen and with a bigger budget) by the actor Peter Cushing. In these films, the character introduces himself as "Doctor Who", and is apparently human.
Doctor Who has appeared on stage, numerous times. Almost all the TV stories have been novelised, and there are also a number of series of original novels - many of these are well-regarded and are considered to fit into the official Doctor Who universe. The pilot episode for a potential spinoff series was aired in 1981, K-9 And Company: A Girl's Best Friend by Terence Dudley, but was not picked up as a regular series.
Doctor Who was largely brought to an end by the actions of a former Director General of the BBC, Michael Grade, who has gone on record as saying that he disliked science fiction, who pulled the series from its prime Saturday tea-time slot which it had occupied for 26 years. He has appeared on television series, Room 101, to disparage the programme. The cancellation caused furore in the British press.
Since the end of the television series, "official" (which is to say, BBC-sanctioned) Doctor Who has survived in a number of forms. BBC Books produces a series of original novels, with two books published each month except December; one features the ongoing adventures of the Eighth Doctor and the other an "untold" story of an earlier Doctor. Big Finish Productions makes a range of audio plays on compact disc, with one released every month starring one of the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Doctors. Finally, there is a regular Eighth Doctor comic strip in the pages of Doctor Who Magazine, published four-weekly by Marvel UK. Telos Publishing was granted a license to publish Doctor Who novellas (the first, Time and Relative by Kim Newman, was released on November 23, 2001), but the BBC chose to take back the license as of March 2004.
There were also six episodes, released directly to video (and re-released on DVD beginning in 2003), of a show called The Stranger starring Colin Baker (as 'The Stranger') and Nicola Bryant (who played the companion Peri Brown) as 'Miss Brown'. The Stranger investigates strange goings-on, much like the Doctor, although the unfolding of the Stranger's past as the series progresses makes it clear that he is not actually the Doctor. BBV, the company behind The Stranger, went on to produce many more video and audio dramas featuring ex-Doctor Who actors. Particularly notable among these is a series of audio dramas starring Sylvester McCoy and his Doctor Who co-star Sophie Aldred as two mysterious travellers in time and space - unlike The Stranger, this series has never made a definite statement about whether its protagonists are the Doctor Who characters they so closely resemble.
In 1999 a four episode special called "Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death" was made for Red Nose Day and later released on VHS. In these episodes The Doctor meets both The Master and the Daleks. The Doctor was played by Rowan Atkinson. During the episodes The Doctor is forced to regenerate several times so he's played also played by Richard E. Grant, Jim Broadbent, Hugh Grant and Joanna Lumley. The script was written by Steven Moffat.
In September 2002, BBC producers announced that the search was underway for a Ninth Doctor to appear in a new series of the popular show.
See also: science fiction film, science fiction television, science fiction, Lime Grove Studios