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245-508: The Tenth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor , the protagonist of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who . He is played by David Tennant in three series and nine specials. The character has also appeared in other Doctor Who spin-offs . In 2023, Tennant returned to the role, this time as the fourteenth incarnation of the Doctor. Within the series' narrative,

490-576: A Doctor Who Tweetalong for " The Runaway Bride " in December 2020, in which Tate told Davies that she would love to come back to do some more "Doctor and Donna", and Tennant agreed. After Davies approached the BBC and was later appointed as succeeding showrunner, plans were set in motion for how Tennant and Tate would return. Rather than bringing back the Tenth Doctor , Davies decided to cast Tennant as

735-586: A scientist or an engineer . However, he does occasionally show medical knowledge and has stated on separate occasions that he studied under Joseph Lister and Joseph Bell . In The Moonbase (1967), the Second Doctor mentions that he studied for a medical degree in Glasgow during the 19th century. The Fourth Doctor was awarded an honorary degree from St. Cedd's College, Cambridge, in 1960. He has been mocked by his fellow Time Lords for adhering to such

980-608: A "doctor of time travel". The revived programme establishes that Time Lords invent their own names. In " The Sound of Drums " (2007), the Tenth Doctor remarks to the Master that they both chose their names, with the Master calling him sanctimonious for identifying himself as "the man who makes people better". The Eleventh Doctor , in " The Name of the Doctor ", elaborates that the name is a promise to be: "Never cruel or cowardly. Never giving up and never giving in." This statement

1225-631: A "lowly" title as "Doctor", although in The Armageddon Factor (1979), Drax congratulates him on achieving his doctorate, indicating it was at least a somewhat respectable title. In " The Girl in the Fireplace " (2006), he draws an analogy between the title and Madame de Pompadour 's. In The Mutants (1972), an official asks the Third Doctor if he is, in fact, a doctor, to which the Doctor replies "I am, yes"; when asked what he

1470-682: A "time splinter" of future companion Clara Oswald using the name Oswin wipes all knowledge of the Doctor from the Daleks' collective memory. This knowledge is regained when the Daleks conquer the Church of the Silence in " The Time of the Doctor " (2013). The Doctor is not present on Solomon's database in " Dinosaurs on a Spaceship " and holds a conversation about his newfound anonymity in " The Angels Take Manhattan " with River Song. In " Nightmare in Silver ",

1715-468: A 2009 series, Tennant appears as the Tenth Doctor, without a regular companion, in several special episodes over the course of 2008 and 2009, the last of which aired on New Year's Day, 2010. In the Christmas special " The Next Doctor ", The Doctor mistakenly believes he has met a later incarnation of himself in an amnesiac Londoner ( David Morrissey ), with whom he saves Victorian-era London. " Planet of

1960-415: A 23 December interview on BBC Radio 1 , Tennant explained that a line had been scripted for the Christmas special explaining that the newly regenerated Doctor had imprinted on Rose Tyler 's accent "like a chick hatching from an egg", but the line was cut from the final episode. In the audiobook The Last Voyage , the Tenth Doctor states that he is not neurotypical . The depictions of the personalities of

2205-409: A 360° full body capture rig consisting of 204 cameras to create the hyper-realistic giant hands and limbs that would be used as prosthetics by the actors during filming. Several body doubles of Tennant and Tate were required during the shoot. Physical set builds were created for the rest of the spaceship, which Davies said was "on a size I've not seen before" and praised the design team. Scenes between

2450-471: A PhD in cheesemaking (" The God Complex "). In the first episode, the Doctor's granddaughter Susan goes by the surname "Foreman", and the junkyard in which Barbara and Ian find him bears the sign "I.M. Foreman". When addressed by Ian with this name, the Doctor responds, "Eh? Doctor who? What's he talking about?" Ian realises that "Foreman" is not the Doctor's name, when Barbara addresses the Doctor as "Doctor Foreman"; Ian asks Barbara, "That's not his name. Who

2695-670: A Time ", it is revealed that the Doctor also left to investigate the mystery of why good prevails in a universe where evil would seem to have so many advantages. It would be after his encounter with the Twelfth Doctor that the First Doctor realised that his actions made the difference in the balance between good and evil, with the Twelfth Doctor stating "The universe generally fails to be a fairy tale, but that's where we come in." In other media, more has been revealed of

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2940-541: A Time Lord lady named Patience who was the widow of Omega , one of the founding-fathers of Gallifreyan society who fell into an anti-matter universe. Patience later met and married the Doctor and together they had thirteen children. Once their first-born son announced the arrival of a baby, the family was targeted by the Lord President, as the child was to be conceived naturally and only the Loom-born could inherit

3185-571: A brother in " Smith and Jones ", and sisters in " Arachnids in the UK ". In " It Takes You Away ", the Thirteenth Doctor claims that she had seven grandmothers. Later in the same scene, she mentions that her favourite grandmother, Granny 5, alleged Granny 2 was "a secret agent for the Zygons ". Throughout the revival, the Doctor routinely attempts to change the topic when questioned about being

3430-413: A change in studio location, with the new studio, Bad Wolf Studios , taking over from Roath Lock Studios as the company for in-house filming, where the programme had filmed since 2012. The change marked a co-production deal between Bad Wolf and BBC Studios for Doctor Who . Bad Wolf further filed for a new subsidiary company, also run by Gardner and Tranter, called "Whoniverse1 LTD". Vicki Delow produced

3675-517: A co-producer of the series. A multitude of new Doctor Who media and re-releases accompanied the specials for the occasion of the anniversary. David Tennant and Catherine Tate both returned to the show as part of the 60th anniversary specials. Tennant starred as the Fourteenth Doctor , a new incarnation who shares a similar appearance to the Tenth Doctor , while Tate reprised her role as Donna Noble . Ncuti Gatwa made his debut as

3920-473: A couple of years thinking, 'I like that,' not knowing I was coming back". Sims described the original concept art as "hard, metal, almost concrete" and "sinister", which Davies thought "looked like a bunker, or a baddie's lair". This was then reworked to match what Davies wanted. The new set is also wheelchair-accessible, with a wheelchair ramp added to the TARDIS doorway, and stairs substituted for ramps inside

4165-431: A demon in the 13th century, the residents of a convent called the Doctor the "sainted physician". This was proposed by Moffat on Usenet 16 years before "A Good Man Goes to War": Here's a particularly stupid theory. If we take "The Doctor" to be the Doctor's name — even if it is in the form of a title no doubt meaning something deep and Gallifreyan — perhaps our earthly use of the word "doctor" meaning healer or wise man

4410-608: A dissident Time Lady, who opposed the Time Lord High Council's plan to escape the Time War. When she reveals her face to the Doctor, his reaction indicates that he recognises her. Julie Gardner, in the episode's commentary, states that while some have speculated that the Time Lady is the Doctor's mother, neither she nor Russell T. Davies is willing to comment on her identity. When later asked by Wilfred who she was,

4655-558: A female companion to the Tenth Doctor ( Justin Lee Collins ) on the Pink Planet, where they are confronted by the alien Gay Lord ( Alan Carr ). When the show became The Sunday Night Project , Catherine Tate appeared in a skit playing the Tenth Doctor. Tennant starred opposite Catherine Tate in her own The Catherine Tate Show special (2007) as Lauren Cooper 's (Tate) teacher Mr. Logan, whom Cooper teases for his resemblance to

4900-465: A fixed number of twelve regenerations, meaning that every Time Lord had a total of thirteen incarnations including the original. The plot of " The Time of the Doctor " involves the Doctor receiving a new cycle of regenerations from the Time Lords before his expected demise, triggering the regeneration into the Twelfth Doctor , played by Peter Capaldi . The origins of the programme were explored in

5145-536: A flash of sparks when hitting a hard surface, with actors wearing bulletproof plexiglass visors . In the second week of the shoot, location filming began in Camden Market ; which attracted media coverage and onlookers, as this was the first time that Tennant, Tate and supporting cast were publicly seen filming. With filming scheduled around the time of Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee , many recognisable parts of central London were unavailable for filming; leading

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5390-579: A former classmate of his named Drax. Drax calls the Doctor "Theta Sigma", or "Thete" for short, an alias which is clarified as being the Doctor's nickname at the Prydon Academy on Gallifrey in The Happiness Patrol and is mentioned again in the 2010 episode " The Pandorica Opens ". In the 2015 episode " The Zygon Inversion ", The Doctor tells Osgood that his first name is "Basil". Doctor Who spin-off media have suggested that

5635-493: A funny monster". He then described " Wild Blue Yonder " as "darker... not scary – it's genuinely weird", and " The Giggle " as "nuts, completely mad, frightening... that one will scare you". The specials were designed as a "bridge" between two eras. The first special is based on the 1980 comic strip Doctor Who and the Star Beast , written by Pat Mills and John Wagner , with art by Dave Gibbons . "The Star Beast" features

5880-406: A glance into the eyes to put the subject under a trance. The Doctor can read an entire book cover to cover in a second by thumb-flipping the pages before his eyes ( City of Death , " Rose ", " The Time of Angels "). Though medical skills he shows early in the programme are rudimentary, by Remembrance of the Daleks he can perform sophisticated medical diagnoses merely by touching someone's ear. He

6125-479: A global brand. Phil Collinson , Gardner, and Tranter all returned to the show as executive producers, alongside newcomer Joel Collins. Davies confirmed by March 2022 that pre-production had begun at Bad Wolf Studios in Cardiff. Will Oswald edited " The Star Beast ", Tim Hodges edited " Wild Blue Yonder ", and Mark Trend edited " The Giggle ". Will Cohen, VFX producer, said that the production team's objective

6370-468: A joke. Due to the retroactive creation of a numberless War Doctor and the Tenth Doctor's aborted regeneration in " The Stolen Earth "/" Journey's End ", the Eleventh Doctor was the final incarnation in his natural cycle. The Time Lords used a crack in the universe to give him a new cycle consisting of an unknown number of regenerations in " The Time of the Doctor ", triggering the regeneration into

6615-522: A last resort. According to the alien villain Chedaki in the episode The Android Invasion , "his entire history is one of opposition to conquest". As a time traveller, the Doctor has been present at, or directly involved in, countless major historical events on the planet Earth and elsewhere – sometimes more than once. In the 2005 series premiere, " Rose ", it is revealed that the Ninth Doctor

6860-523: A lot of, but she was "determined to do that part really, really well... it's all about embracing the stuff that scares you". Kingsley's episodes of Ghosts inspired the production team to approach him to direct the second special. Due to its unique technical challenges, Kingsley initially believed the script would be "an absolute nightmare" to direct, and was planning to turn down the offer. He then changed his mind as he began to come up with ideas for how they could produce it. Producers approached Button for

7105-423: A lot to him. After Donna encounters Rose in a parallel world in " Turn Left ", the Doctor realises that Rose's words to Donna — "Bad Wolf" — must herald the end of the world. In finale episodes " The Stolen Earth " and " Journey's End " (which cross over with spin-offs Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures ), the Doctor and Donna reunite with former companions Rose, Sarah Jane, Martha, Jack, and Mickey to save

7350-471: A man". One of the original ideas included Stooky becoming "a great big puppet version" of the Fourteenth Doctor. However, Davies realised that it would be hard to portray Stooky Bill as such an intimidating threat for the whole episode, and therefore opted to give Stooky a puppeteer, which he said was "a small step to a toymaker". This story also reintroduces Melanie Bush , a former companion of

7595-505: A new body. It is stated in The Deadly Assassin that Time Lords can only regenerate a total of twelve times, giving a theoretical final total of thirteen incarnations. However, The Doctor has a natural ability to regenerate an infinite number of times. It is possible to exceed this limit: in "The Five Doctors" the Time Lords offer the Master, who is inhabiting a Trakenite body after exhausting his original twelve regenerations,

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7840-484: A new direction for the series. Cartmel wished to restore the character's "awe, mystery and strength" and make him "once again more than a mere chump of a Time Lord" – an idea the media dubbed the " Cartmel Masterplan ". Under Cartmel, the show foreshadowed this concept; however, its 1989 cancellation meant that it was never realised onscreen. The proposed backstory was fully explored in Platt's 1997 novel Lungbarrow , where

8085-481: A new regeneration cycle as a reward for his help and cooperation, and at some point, during the Time War they resurrected him, with his new body having at least one regeneration of its own. Regeneration is apparently optional, as in " Last of the Time Lords " the Master refuses to regenerate despite the Tenth Doctor's pleading. In addition, there are ways of killing a Time Lord that do not permit regeneration; for example, more than once it has been implied that stopping both

8330-491: A pair of stories featuring the Tenth Doctor's meta-crisis clone in The Siege of Big Ben and Flight into Hull set on the parallel Earth. The Tenth Doctor appears alongside his fellow incarnations as a playable character in the 2015 toys-to-life crossover game LEGO Dimensions . He is shown wearing his duster coat and brown pinstripe suit. The character uses voice lines taken from the BBC archives. His TARDIS interior

8575-408: A parent or his family life, as in " Fear Her ", " The Beast Below " and " A Good Man Goes to War ". In " The Empty Child ", a hospital doctor named Dr. Constantine says to him, "Before this war began, I was a father and a grandfather. Now I'm neither. But I'm still a doctor." The Ninth Doctor 's reply is, "Yeah. I know the feeling." In " The Doctor's Daughter ", when discussing the topic of parenthood,

8820-582: A planet orbiting around a black hole in " The Impossible Planet ", where the Beast is waiting, with a Torchwood team. While there, in " The Satan Pit ", the Beast taunts the Doctor and Rose about Rose's death. During the 2012 Olympic Games in " Fear Her ", The Doctor picks up the Olympic flame and carries it to the end, starting the Games. The series finale takes place in contemporary London, where modern-day Torchwood

9065-457: A repair shop on Gallifrey. In later episodes, the Doctor mentions that he once took a driving test to pilot a TARDIS and failed, and that he threw the instruction manual in a supernova because he disagreed with it. In " The Doctor's Wife ", Idris (the TARDIS's living soul in a human body) mentions that the Doctor had been travelling with her for 700 years, which indicates that he would have been 200 years old when he first borrowed her. In " Twice Upon

9310-674: A riot of Doctor Who goodness!". The trailer also offered the first glimpses of the Meep and the Wrarth Warriors. On 7 March 2023, it was announced that Tennant, who was the main presenter of Comic Relief 2023 , would appear during a sketch in the telethon in the Fourteenth Doctor's costume to promote the specials. The show began on 17 March with a sketch which saw Lenny Henry regenerate into Tennant's Fourteenth Doctor. Spread over two weeks between April and May 2023, three cryptic teasers with reversed audio and binary codes interrupted

9555-525: A romantic relationship with Rose in the parallel universe while imbuing Donna with a Time Lord's mind, forcing the Doctor to erase his companion's memories to save her life and leave her with her family. A Doctor Who Prom mini-episode, " Music of the Spheres ", features a lone Doctor composing his musical Ode to the Universe before being interrupted by the small alien Graske ( Jimmy Vee ). In lieu of

9800-572: A second companion. The TARDIS slips through a crack in the Time Vortex causing them to be stranded on a parallel Earth, where they encounter the Cybermen in the episode, " Rise of the Cybermen ". After saving parallel Earth, Mickey decides to stay and help stop the Cybermen around the world despite The Doctor telling him he can never return in " The Age of Steel ". He and Rose become stranded on

10045-405: A serious threat", and believed it was time "to take one of the best Doctor Who stories from another medium... and show that to millions of people". Davies wanted the threat to be quite simple and singular, and did not want Donna to "come across an invading army, that's going to ruin the story", which was another reason for why The Star Beast comic worked. He likened the story to E.T. , in which

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10290-399: A slow-burning idea for years. The concept of a multi-Doctor story never appealed to Davies, but having the next Doctor meet his previous self was an idea Davies had interest in: Actually, I've had this idea for years. I've always wanted, instead of going back and meeting old Doctors, I've always wanted the Doctor to talk to his new version. Why has it never been done before? How can you resist

10535-540: A spy named Vansell, Millennia, Rallon and Jelpax. With this group, he learns about the Celestial Toymaker and travels to his realm in a type 18 TARDIS with Deca members Rallon and Millennia, who are killed. This leads to the Doctor's expulsion from the academy, condemned to five hundred years in Records and Traffic Control. In The Quantum Archangel , it is revealed the Doctor studied cosmic science alongside

10780-545: A strange old man and hear Susan's voice coming from inside what appears to be a police box. Pushing their way inside, the two find that the exterior is camouflage for the dimensionally transcendental interior of the TARDIS . The old man, whom Susan calls "Grandfather", kidnaps Barbara and Ian to prevent them from telling anyone about the existence of the TARDIS, taking them on an adventure in time and space. The first Doctor, says cultural scholar John Paul Green, "explicitly positioned

11025-490: A super-human level of stamina and the ability to absorb, withstand and expel large amounts of certain types of radiation (the Tenth Doctor stated they used to play with Röntgen bricks in the nursery, after absorbing the radiation from an x-ray of significantly magnified power). This ability would seem to have limitations which have yet to be fully explained, as the Doctor is harmed by radiation in The Daleks , Planet of

11270-624: A three-episode adventure beginning with " Utopia ", where presumed-deceased archenemy and fellow Time Lord The Master ( John Simm ) becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and ages The Doctor. Martha's plan sees The Doctor infused with the world's psychic energies, and he easily defeats The Master, who then bribes The Doctor Into Destroying the world with a Black Hole Converter . The Master Then seemingly refuses to regenerate and dies in The Doctor's arms. Following this adventure, in

11515-499: A vast range of spin-off novels, audio dramas and comic strips. Ncuti Gatwa has portrayed the Fifteenth Doctor since " The Giggle " (2023). Within the fictional narrative, the Doctor is a Time Lord who travels through time and space in a dimensionally transcendental – "bigger on the inside" – time machine : the TARDIS . This time machine, whose name is an acronym for Time And Relative Dimension(s) In Space , takes

11760-402: A very big step the whole programme is about to take". Originally, Davies intended for the villain of this story to be Stooky Bill , a real-life puppet used by John Logie Baird in 1925, whom Davies was researching at the time of writing Nolly . Davies said he thought that the puppet was "such a perfect Doctor Who monster", and wanted this special to be "the story of a puppet who wanted to be

12005-439: A young character befriends a lost alien on Earth, describing it as "traditional". Adapting an already-existing story in the franchise "never bothered" Davies as "it's [like] how there are two different versions of Human Nature ", and said that "we're in an age of comic book adaptations". Davies maintained the main plot of the comic but entwined plot threads about the meta-crisis storyline and transgender themes. Davies wanted

12250-691: Is a location that players can explore. He, as well as the Thirteenth Doctor , appears as a playable character that users could purchase for free from the Avatar Shop within Roblox for a limited time, which also featured the Pting as a shoulder accessory, and the TARDIS in the form of a backpack. These items were added as part of a sponsorship between the Roblox Corporation and the BBC to promote

12495-451: Is about to be flooded with radiation. He knocks on the glass door four times, fulfilling the prophecy of the Doctor's death. The Doctor sacrifices his life to prevent Wilfred's death, exposing himself to 500,000 rads of deadly radiation and triggering his regeneration . He holds it back and is shown visiting several companions. He gives Donna a winning lottery ticket on her wedding day, buying it with money he borrowed from her late father in

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12740-410: Is an excellent cricket player ( Black Orchid ) and in " The Lodger " he proves to be a prodigiously talented footballer despite unfamiliarity with some of the game's basic rules. Though reluctant to engage in combat against living opponents, this is not for lack of skill; the Doctor is conversant with both real and fictitious styles of unarmed combat (most obviously the "Venusian Aikido" practised by

12985-404: Is direct result of the Doctor's multiple interventions in our history as a healer and wise man. In other words, we got it from him. This is a very silly idea and I'm consequently rather proud of it. The anonymity of the Doctor is the theme of series 7 of the revived programme. After faking his death, the Doctor erases himself from the various databases of the universe. In " Asylum of the Daleks ",

13230-657: Is disintegrated and later woven into the Doctor. The Timeless Child reveal partly took inspiration from this. The Doctor's adoptive mother Tecteun was a native to Gallifrey and an explorer of the Shobogans. She adopted the Doctor when she was the timeless child. She led the Division ;after the destruction of Gallifrey by the Spy Master. She was involved in the creation of the Flux ;and

13475-438: Is harder to achieve with a practical costume. Painting Practice, a design studio that had worked previously on His Dark Materials and Black Mirror , completed world-building and visual development on all three specials, starting with "The Star Beast"; which required "VFX asset creation, set extensions and previsualisation" of the Meep's flight deck and its escape pod, as well as the "fiery 'London Cracking' phenomenon" when

13720-444: Is he? Doctor who?" In an ultimately unused idea from documents written at the programme's inception, Barbara and Ian would have subsequently referred to the Doctor as "Doctor Who", given their not knowing his name. Throughout both the classic and revived programme, a running joke is that when the Doctor is introduced as just the Doctor, characters reply "Doctor who?" Another variation is "Doctor what?" The story arc running throughout

13965-510: Is known of the Doctor: not even his name, the actual form of which remains a mystery. In the first serial, An Unearthly Child , two teachers from Coal Hill School in London, Barbara Wright and Ian Chesterton , become intrigued by one of their pupils, Susan Foreman , who exhibits high intelligence and unusually advanced knowledge. Trailing her to a junkyard at 76 Totter's Lane, they encounter

14210-521: Is no longer [the Virgin Queen]...". The joke continues in " The Beast Below ", featuring future British monarch Queen Elizabeth X or Liz Ten, and the marriage is finally shown in "The Day of the Doctor" during an adventure with Zygons . In the 2010 Christmas special, " A Christmas Carol ", the Eleventh Doctor accidentally marries Marilyn Monroe but later questions the authenticity of the chapel in which they were married. Steven Moffat did not consider

14455-435: Is only honorary; the Tenth Doctor, however, considers the name to be his legitimate academic rank in " The Waters of Mars " (2009), describing his "name, rank and intention" as "The Doctor; doctor; fun." In an interview with The Age in 2003, Tom Baker mentioned that the Doctor is called so because he is "a doctor of time and relative dimension in space". Apart from being called a doctor of the TARDIS, he has been described as

14700-602: Is perceived by most, including companions and other characters such as his future incarnation as "slim and a little bit foxy ". His costume was unveiled on 27 July 2005. He generally wears either a dark brown (with blue pinstripes ) or a blue (with rust red pinstripes) four-buttoned suit with a shirt and a tie, or a shirt and t-shirt, a light brown faux-suede duster coat (which he claims was given to him by Janis Joplin ), and different coloured pairs of Converse All-Star trainers, depending on his suit. According to an interview on Parkinson , David Tennant and Russell T Davies got

14945-489: Is qualified in, the Doctor replies, "Practically everything." The Fourth Doctor states that his companion, Harry Sullivan , is a doctor of medicine, while he is "a doctor of many things" ( Revenge of the Cybermen , 1975). The Fifth Doctor claims to be a doctor "of everything" in Four to Doomsday (1982), and a message to the same effect is related from the Tenth Doctor in " Utopia " (2007). In " The Tsuranga Conundrum " (2018),

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15190-565: Is repeated in the next episode, " The Day of the Doctor ", by the War Doctor , the Tenth Doctor and the Eleventh Doctor collectively. By contrast, the Eleventh Doctor had earlier spoke of the War Doctor as being the man who broke that promise, being the one to fight in the Time War before learning the actual fate of the Time Lords. Since contradicted by the television series, the 2003 Telos novella Frayed by Tara Samms , set prior to

15435-512: Is revealed in " The Day of the Doctor ": "Never cruel nor cowardly. Never give up. Never give in." The episode " The Timeless Children " revised the Doctor's origins, revealing a scientist and space explorer named Tecteun who found a lone, mysterious child with a supernatural physiology – one not belonging to any other life form or species – and an immense intelligence. She adopted the child and studied her, successfully grafting her regeneration capacity (and possibly other traits) into her own species,

15680-567: Is the scene for war between the evil alien Daleks and parallel-universe cyborgs the Cybermen; saving the Earth costs the Doctor Rose, who is stranded in a parallel universe, along with Mickey and her mother, in " Doomsday ". In the closing scene of "Doomsday", a mysterious bride called Donna Noble ( Catherine Tate ) inexplicably appears in his TARDIS. The 2006 Christmas special, " The Runaway Bride " sees The Doctor and bride-to-be Donna save

15925-504: Is used in the title of the serial Doctor Who and the Silurians , but this was a captioning error rather than an in-story mention. The only other time this occurs is in the title of episode five of The Chase , which is titled "The Death of Doctor Who". In " World Enough and Time " (2017), the Doctor's old friend and archenemy the Master (as Missy ) insists that the Doctor's real name is in fact Doctor Who and that he chose it himself;

16170-421: The BBC announced that Chris Chibnall , who served as executive producer and showrunner of Doctor Who since 2018, would quit the show after a run of specials in 2022 , alongside Thirteenth Doctor star Jodie Whittaker . In the BBC press release, Chibnall is quoted as saying: "I wish our successors - whoever the BBC and BBC Studios choose - as much fun as we've had. They're in for a treat!" The future of

16415-524: The Eighth Doctor remarks that he is half-human on his mother's side, and recalls watching a meteor storm with his father on Gallifrey. The revived series never addresses a human mother again and at times even contradicted this remark: The half-human clone of the Tenth Doctor is initially disgusted to be half-human ("Journey's End") and the Twelfth Doctor rejects that he could be a hybrid of human and Time Lord ("Hell Bent"). The Doctor mentions having had

16660-620: The Eighth Doctor Adventures novel The Adventuress of Henrietta Street , the Doctor's second heart was surgically removed, resulting in the loss of his abilities to metabolise drugs and go without air; these are restored when he begins to grow a new heart after his old one 'dies' ( Camera Obscura ). In his final serial , the Second Doctor states that Time Lords can live forever, "barring accidents". When "accidents" do occur, Time Lords can usually regenerate into

16905-580: The Fifteenth Doctor . " The Star Beast " saw Jacqueline King and Karl Collins reprise their roles as Donna's mother Sylvia Noble and husband Shaun Temple, respectively, having last appeared in the final story of Tennant's tenure as the Tenth Doctor, " The End of Time ". Yasmin Finney appeared as Rose Noble, Donna and Shaun's daughter; Miriam Margolyes voiced the Meep ; and Ruth Madeley appeared as Shirley Anne Bingham. " Wild Blue Yonder " saw Bernard Cribbins make his final television appearance in

17150-570: The Fifth Doctor . On one occasion, he wears a pair of Red-Cyan 3D glasses, both as a joke and for practical reasons. Despite appearing in only one story, the glasses became an accessory commonly associated with Tennant's incarnation of the character. and a white/red version worn by Tennant when he co-hosted Comic Relief ), and has been cited by costume designer Louise Page as the costume she is most proud of from her time on Doctor Who . The Ninth Doctor ( Christopher Eccleston ) regenerates into

17395-468: The Fourteenth Doctor , who bears the same form as the Tenth. David Tennant has also made numerous cameo appearances as The Doctor outside of Doctor Who , frequently in spoof appearances . Singer and actress Charlotte Church spoofs Doctor Who alongside an actor playing the Tenth Doctor in her own The Charlotte Church Show (2006). In an appearance on The Friday Night Project in 2007, Tennant plays

17640-617: The Fourth Doctor in the first story of the Out of Time trilogy and co-starred in three audio plays opposite Alex Kingston as River Song in The Tenth Doctor and River Song . Tennant also made an uncredited cameo in series eight of The Diary of River Song as the Doctor. In 2021, as well as starring in the nine-part Dalek Universe saga (which sees the Tenth Doctor trapped in the pre-Time War universe and separated from

17885-715: The National Television Awards award for Most Popular Actor in 2006 and 2007, and the award for Outstanding Drama Performance in 2008 and 2010. In a poll conducted by Radio Times in March 2007, Tennant's Doctor was named the "coolest character on television". IGN ranked the Tenth Doctor the best Doctor in 2011. In 2013, IGN again ranked Tennant as the best Doctor, along with the Daily Mirror and Radio Times , with Billie Piper also being voted as best companion. Users of Plusnet also voted David Tennant as

18130-655: The Ninth Doctor ( Christopher Eccleston ), he is followed by the Eleventh Doctor ( Matt Smith ). This incarnation's companions include some who travelled with his previous incarnation : working-class shop assistant Rose Tyler ( Billie Piper ), her boyfriend Mickey Smith ( Noel Clarke ), and former "Time Agent" Captain Jack Harkness ( John Barrowman ), as well as medical student Martha Jones ( Freema Agyeman ) and fiery temp worker Donna Noble ( Catherine Tate ). He eventually parts ways with them all by

18375-475: The Sixth and Seventh Doctors, who now works at UNIT HQ . Davies said he chose to bring Mel back partly to "right a wrong", as he believes that the character was poorly remembered in her original run, and wanted to "put that right and have a better Mel and a proper Mel, a Mel that [former producer] John Nathan-Turner would be proud of". "The Giggle" introduces the concept of bi-generation, which Davies had as

18620-562: The Thirteenth Doctor states that she is a doctor of "medicine, science, engineering, candyfloss, Lego, philosophy, music, problems, people, hope. Mostly hope." While talking with Harry in Robot (1974–1975), the Doctor says, "You may be a doctor, but I'm the Doctor. The definite article, you might say." In The Ark in Space (1975), aired later that year, the Doctor mentions that his doctorate

18865-546: The collective consciousness of the Cybermen informs the Doctor that he could be reconstructed from the "hole" — the missing records — that he has left behind, a mistake which the Doctor intends to rectify. Few individuals are said to know the Doctor's true name. River Song whispered something to the Tenth Doctor to make him trust her during " Silence in the Library "/" Forest of the Dead ", confirmed to have been his name towards

19110-513: The dénouement of series finale " Last of the Time Lords ", Jack and Martha both depart the TARDIS, and The Doctor is shocked to see what appears to be the RMS Titanic crash into it. Set moments prior, another Children in Need mini-episode, " Time Crash ", features a brief encounter between Tennant's Tenth Doctor and the Fifth Doctor ( Peter Davison ), containing meta-humour surrounding

19355-418: The 50th anniversary special " The Day of the Doctor ". The Tenth and Eleventh Doctors explained that Hurt's regeneration was not the Doctor because his actions during the Time War were a betrayal of the promise that name symbolized. "The Day of the Doctor" revisited the last day of the Time War after "The End of Time" and revealed that the interference of the future Doctors and future companion Clara Oswald caused

19600-545: The American satirical political cartoon strip , This Modern World . Arriving in 2003, the Doctor hints to Sparky the Wonder Penguin (the strip's main character) that in five years' time, the next President could be a black man, with the middle name Hussein, whose father was a Muslim . The character also appeared in a story arc of the webcomic PvP , in which character Brent Sienna hallucinates materialising in

19845-583: The Armageddon Factor , it is revealed that the Doctor scraped through the academy with 51% on his second attempt. In The Time Meddler , it is said that the Doctor was fifty years before the Meddling Monk . In Time and the Rani , the Doctor claims to have attended university alongside the Rani , specialising in thermodynamics. At the academy, he met his childhood friend the Master and

20090-496: The BBC website, and annuals and suchlike; one example is the story "The Lodger" by Gareth Roberts , later adapted into an Eleventh Doctor television episode of the same name . National newspapers The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Times have each published one Christmas-themed Tenth Doctor short story. Additionally, the Tenth Doctor appears in a novelisation of his The Sarah Jane Adventures crossover appearance. The Tenth Doctor also appears extensively in comic books, replacing

20335-487: The BBC's announcement of a second series being commissioned, the story broke that Christopher Eccleston , who played the titular Ninth Doctor , would not be returning for the second series. On 16 April 2005, the BBC announced that David Tennant had been selected for the role of the Tenth Doctor. His first appearance in the series was for 20 seconds following the Ninth Doctor's regeneration at the end of " The Parting of

20580-618: The Big Finish spin-off audio series Gallifrey and Bernice Summerfield . In the novel Father Time , the Eighth Doctor, during his hundred-year exile on Earth, found an orphaned Time Lord girl named Miranda whom he adopted and raised until she was 16. In the novel Sometime Never... , she returned to the Doctor with her daughter Zezanne. She was also the central character in a three-issue comic book series published by Comeuppance Comics in 2003. Author Lance Parkin, who devised

20825-521: The Cybermen . The Doctor's standing in Time Lord society has waxed and waned over the years, from being a hunted man who was eventually punished with a forced regeneration and an exile sentence on Earth, to being appointed Lord President of the High Council. He does not assume the office for very long, fleeing Gallifrey after his appointment rather than accepting the limitations on his freedom that

21070-425: The Daleks , Susan and her husband David adopt three children whom they name David Campbell Jr, Ian and Barbara; named after David himself, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright , respectively. Irving Braxiatel , a character first introduced in the novel Theatre of War , was initially hinted at, and later confirmed to be, the Doctor's biological older brother. He has since become a recurring character, especially within

21315-446: The Dead " (Easter 2009) features jewel thief Lady Christina de Souza ( Michelle Ryan ) as The Doctor's one-off companion, and The Doctor is presented with a prophecy of his imminent death, with a woman telling him 'he will knock four times'. Tennant makes a crossover appearance in a The Sarah Jane Adventures two-parter, " The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith ", in which a powerful being known as The Trickster ( Paul Marc Davis ) also alludes to

21560-567: The Doctor ", released as a prelude to the 50th anniversary special, featured Paul McGann reprising his role as the Eighth Doctor and was set during the Last Great Time War, albeit much earlier than during "The End of Time". The mini-episode presented him as a conscientious objector to the war who regenerated under controlled circumstances into the War Doctor ( John Hurt ), a previously unseen incarnation created retroactively by Steven Moffat , Davies' successor as head writer, for

21805-588: The Doctor (later revealed to be the War Doctor ) is attacked with a weapon that causes them to switch randomly between past and future incarnations. Tennant appears as the Tenth Doctor for The Martian Invasion of Planetoid 50 alongside Michelle Gomez as Missy . This production was recorded in October 2020, long before Tennant was cast as the Fourteenth Doctor for the television 60th anniversary specials . The Tenth Doctor has made other Big Finish appearances that did not involve Tennant, using other actors to voice

22050-565: The Doctor and Donna and the Not-Things were rehearsed twice in a row; first with Tennant and Tate as the real Doctor and Donna, and then again with Tennant and Tate as the Not-Things. The crew filmed part of the Isaac Newton scene in the studio backlot. To prevent health and safety risks of filming in a real apple tree, the Doctor and Donna's shots were filmed separately in a small tree against blue screen. With construction overlapping

22295-510: The Doctor and Donna arrive "on a spaceship, and they meet evil versions of themselves". The simplicity of this plot led to them keeping it as secret as possible prior to transmission. Davies admitted in The Official Doctor Who Podcast that this approach could have "had an unfortunate effect", and that the audience might have been "expecting Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi and the ghost of William Hartnell riding on

22540-410: The Doctor as grandfather to his companion Susan". He wore long white hair and Edwardian costume, reflecting, Green says, a "definite sense of Englishness". When Hartnell left the programme after three years due to ill health, the role was handed over to character actor Patrick Troughton . As of 25 December 2018 , official television productions have depicted fourteen distinct incarnations of

22785-562: The Doctor as one of 45 cousins grown from his house's genetic loom as an adult. By contrast, the TV programme has shown Time Lords as children and stated that Time Lords can have sexual relationships. The Doctor is assumed to be or to have been married to Susan's grandmother, including by head writer Steven Moffat . In " Blink ", the Doctor mentioned that he was rubbish at his own wedding. In The Virgin New Adventures novel Cold Fusion ,

23030-400: The Doctor evades answering the question, making their connection unclear. In Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale – The Final Chapter , Russell T Davies states that the character was conceived as the Doctor's mother, but her identity was left ambiguous to allow viewers to make up their own minds. In spin-off media, several individuals related to the Doctor have made appearances, and do not appear in

23275-557: The Doctor for several special Big Finish releases. He made brief cameos at the end of the Jenny – The Doctor's Daughter series and the final story of Big Finish's multi-Doctor anniversary special The Legacy of Time . The Tenth Doctor made a significant appearance in the final story of the Donna Noble: Kidnapped! spin-off series starring Catherine Tate as Donna Noble . In 2020, Tennant appeared alongside Tom Baker as

23520-433: The Doctor in the seventh series, particularly in " The Angels Take Manhattan ", confirmed that they were married; in "The Name of the Doctor", the Doctor refers to her as his "wife" after seeing a grave stone with her name on it, after initially answering "yes" when Clara asks if she was an "ex". In " The End of Time ", the Tenth Doctor mentions marrying Queen Elizabeth I and implies that they had sex, stating: "her nickname

23765-488: The Doctor is a centuries-old alien Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey who travels in time and space in the TARDIS , frequently with companions . At the end of life, the Doctor regenerates ; as a result, the physical appearance and personality of the Doctor changes. Tennant's portrayal of the Tenth Doctor is of an outwardly charismatic and charming adventurer whose likable and easygoing attitude can quickly turn to righteous fury when provoked. Preceded in regeneration by

24010-517: The Doctor is revealed as " the Other ", a mysterious figure in Gallifreyan lore who co-founded Time Lord society with Rassilon and Omega . After a curse renders Gallifrey sterile, the Other devises biotechnological looms to "weave" new Time Lords; his granddaughter Susan is Gallifrey's last natural child. To escape a civil war with Rassilon, the Other throws himself into the loom system, where he

24255-579: The Doctor recalled his origins as a high-born Gallifreyan. In The Time Monster , the Doctor says he grew up in a house on a mountainside and talks about a hermit who lived under a tree behind the house and inspired the Doctor when he was depressed. He is later reunited with this former mentor, now on Earth posing as the abbot K'anpo Rimpoche, in Planet of the Spiders . In " The Girl in the Fireplace ", according to Madame de Pompadour who psychically linked with

24500-482: The Doctor reveals that he is able to perceive the fabric of time, discerning "fixed points" and "points in flux" – moments when history must remain as it was originally versus moments when he can change or influence the original course of events, as well as all past, present and possible future events. However, in " Kill the Moon ", the Twelfth Doctor claims that there are "grey areas", points in time for which he cannot see

24745-417: The Doctor tries to reassure his companion that Missy is joking, although later in the episode he self-identifies by that name. In " Twice Upon a Time ", before regeneration the Twelfth Doctor states that no one would ever understand his name except for children, saying: "If their hearts are in the right place and the stars are too, children can hear your name." Peter Capaldi offered his own theory regarding

24990-403: The Doctor unintentionally marries Queen Elizabeth I ( Joanna Page ) while luring out a Zygon . He helps the other Doctors in saving Gallifrey at the Time War's conclusion, but will not retain memories of the event. His final words are, once again "I don't want to go" after being told that he will die on Trenzalore. At the conclusion of the 2022 specials, the Thirteenth Doctor regenerates into

25235-515: The Doctor with K9 , Ace , Leela and Nyssa ; he retrieves K9 from a temporal anomaly, helps an alternate version of Leela save a village, rescues Nyssa from a criminal using Time Lord technology as part of a scam, and subsequently leaves K9 with Ace after they stop Axos (" The Claws of Axos ") from escaping its time loop prison. Marking Doctor Who's 60th anniversary, Big Finish released the Once and Future series, in which an unspecified incarnation of

25480-790: The Doctor's early life. In the Past Doctor Adventures novel Divided Loyalties , the Doctor recalls his Academy years in a dream induced by the Celestial Toymaker. According to this, he was a member of an organisation called the Deca, ten brilliant Academy students campaigning for increased Time Lord intervention, alongside Mortimus (the Meddling Monk) , Ushas (the Rani) , Koschei (the Master) , Magnus (the War Chief) , Drax ,

25725-427: The Doctor's future implied serious consequences in the event of the Doctor's true name being spoken, with the nature of these finally revealed in " The Time of the Doctor ". Spin-off media offer the explanation that the Doctor's true name is unpronounceable by humans. In " The Name of the Doctor ", the Eleventh Doctor tells companion Clara Oswald that the name "Doctor" is essentially a promise he made. The promise itself

25970-498: The Doctor's hearts simultaneously would accomplish this (as demonstrated in the Eleventh Doctor story " The Impossible Astronaut "). The Chancellery Guard (Gallifrey's equivalent of a police force) are armed with stasers, weapons capable of suppressing regeneration. In Death of the Doctor , a serial from spin-off programme The Sarah Jane Adventures , the Eleventh Doctor flippantly responds to Clyde Langer that he can regenerate "507" times; writer Russell T. Davies intended this line as

26215-468: The Doctor's memories, the Doctor experienced a very lonely childhood. An elderly woman on Gallifrey died and was shrouded in veils and surrounded by flies, giving the Doctor recurring nightmares, which the confession dial in " Heaven Sent " would later visualise to torment him. In " Listen ", it is ambiguously revealed the Doctor as a child often slept alone in a barn in the Drylands (a desert region outside

26460-468: The Doctor's other families (adopted or not) are rare in the programme. In The Tomb of the Cybermen , when asked about his family, the Second Doctor says his memories of them are alive when he wants them to be; otherwise they sleep in his mind and he forgets. In The Curse of Fenric , when asked if he has family, the Seventh Doctor replies that he does not know. In the 1996 television movie ,

26705-399: The Doctor's real name, commenting: "I don't think human beings could even really say his name. But I think we might be able to hear it, at a certain frequency. If the stars are in the right place, and your heart's in the right place, you'll hear it." On occasion, the Doctor uses other aliases, such as "John Smith". In the Fourth Doctor serial The Armageddon Factor , the Doctor runs into

26950-431: The Doctor's surname as she believed was the intent of the dialogue. The 2011 mid-series finale " A Good Man Goes to War ", also written by Moffat, suggested through the character of River Song that the Doctor's travels had influenced the etymology of the word "doctor", perverting its meaning on some worlds from "wise man" or "healer" to "great warrior". In " The End of Time " (2009–2010) it is mentioned that after he smote

27195-523: The Doctor, including the Tenth Doctor in the episodes Hounded and Churchill Victorious . Likewise, the Tenth Doctor appears in three episodes of Tales from New Earth voiced by Kieran Hodgson . In the Short Trips range, the Tenth Doctor appeared in the two-part story The Jago and Litefoot Revival alongside the Eleventh Doctor , narrated by Christopher Benjamin and Trevor Baxter . Camille Coduri reprised her role as Jackie Tyler to narrate

27440-428: The Doctor. The longest-lasting on-screen incarnation is the Fourth Doctor , played by Tom Baker for seven years. Within the narrative, these changes were explained as regeneration , a biological process which heals a Time Lord when their incarnation is about to die. Consequently, the Time Lord is given a wholly new body. In The Deadly Assassin , the concept of a regeneration limit is introduced, giving Time Lords

27685-443: The Doctor. In April 2018, The Tenth Doctor Chronicles featured four new stories and starred voice actor Jacob Dudman as the Doctor and narrator; Jacqueline King and Michelle Ryan reprised their roles as Sylvia Noble and Lady Christina de Souza respectively. The Churchill Years featured stories of the show's portrayal of Winston Churchill – played by Ian McNeice narrating in-character – meeting various incarnations of

27930-433: The Doctor; eventually, he reveals himself to be the Tenth Doctor and shrinks Cooper into a 5" Rose Tyler action figure . In the final episode of Extras (December 2007), a brief scene shows The Doctor and an unidentified Wren companion attacked by Schlong, a slug-like alien played by Andy Millman ( Ricky Gervais ). The Tenth Doctor is also featured in political satire; in a 2007 episode of Dead Ringers , when faced by

28175-547: The Earth; Donna saves The Doctor from going too far in his revenge against the alien Racnoss , and although she declines his offer of companionship, she tells The Doctor he may need a new companion to keep him in check. In the third series (2007), The Doctor takes on Martha Jones ( Freema Agyeman ) as his new companion. Together, they witness the mysterious Face of Boe ( Struan Rodger ) prophecy to The Doctor that "you are not alone", in " Gridlock ". They are rejoined by former companion Captain Jack Harkness ( John Barrowman ) in

28420-486: The Eleventh Doctor. In stories set after "Journey's End", The Doctor is accompanied by numerous one-off and recurring companions who do not feature in the television series. Outside of Doctor Who literature, penciller Georges Jeanty includes a cameo of the Tenth Doctor and Rose in a panel of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight story arc " No Future for You ". The Tenth Doctor was utilised in

28665-509: The Homeworld/Gallifrey abandon their names to symbolise how they are leaving their culture. Similarly, the novel Lungbarrow reveals that the Doctor's name has been struck from the records of his family and therefore cannot be spoken. Quite apart from his name, why the Doctor uses the title "The Doctor" has never been fully explained on screen. The Doctor, at first, said that he was not a physician , often describing himself as

28910-569: The Legacy of Rassilon; as a result, the Doctor's children were systemically culled. The Doctor managed to help Patience escape through the use of the Machine, a prototype TARDIS, after assuring that her daughter-in-law had given birth to a girl named Susan and promised that he would keep the child safely away from Gallifrey. In " The Wedding of River Song ", the Doctor marries recurring companion and love interest River Song . Comments by both River and

29155-616: The Master, taught by Cardinal Sendok. In the Virgin Missing Adventures novel Goth Opera , it is said the Doctor was a frequent prankster while at the academy, introducing cats into Gallifrey's ecosystem with his friend Ruath and electrifying a "perigosto stick" belonging to his teacher, Borusa. Feeling that too much of the Doctor's backstory had been revealed by the Seventh Doctor 's era, writers Andrew Cartmel , Ben Aaronovitch and Marc Platt developed

29400-457: The Meep as "a 2 ½ foot cream-coloured furry ferret", with "huge, soulful Puss-in-Boots eyes, two long, furry ears sleeked back, the snout extending down into a sad little mouth". Executive producer Phil Collinson said "the idea that [the Meep] would be an entirely CGI creation just didn't feel right". Ultimately, the team settled on a blend of prosthetics and CGI; a practical, animatronic costume

29645-506: The Meep at Bang Post Production in London on 17 October 2022. A Children in Need special was produced on 18 April 2023 and directed by Jamie Donoughue . The six-part miniseries Tales of the TARDIS was recorded over six days at Bad Wolf Studios from 25 to 30 September 2023, directed by Joshua M.G. Thomas. The production blocks for the 2023 specials were arranged as follows: Visual effects for "The Star Beast" were completed by Untold Studios. The VFX team contributed 330 shots for

29890-613: The Ninth Doctor in those published in Doctor Who Magazine , and the younger-audience Doctor Who Adventures and Doctor Who: Battles in Time . American comic book publisher initially published a 2008 Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones miniseries between January and June 2006. This was later followed by a truly ongoing Tenth Doctor series in July 2009, set during the 2008–2010 specials and lasting sixteen issues before relaunching with

30135-448: The Ood about their original prophecy and is led to contemporary Earth where, in the second part, the again-resurrected Master restores Gallifrey and the Time Lords to existence, although he redeems himself by assisting The Doctor to defeat Time Lord President Rassilon ( Timothy Dalton ) before disappearing alongside the other Time Lords. However, Wilfred finds himself trapped in a chamber that

30380-583: The Shard " to model the tower on. With Davies's script describing the tower as "proud, public" and "very Stark Tower ", the company wanted to "emulate the beauty and simplicity of Marvel 's Stark Tower", while also ensuring they had "ownership" in their own version. Painting Practice also helped design shots for the Toymaker's puppet show and the bi-generation. In post-production, Automatik VFX were tasked with completing various effects sequences, including realising

30625-473: The Shobogans, and herself. This species, who would eventually become the Time Lords, was restricted to a limit of twelve regenerations by a later incarnation of Tecteun. Tecteun and their child were eventually inducted into a clandestine Time Lord organisation known as the Division. After an unknown amount of regenerations, Tecteun's child began calling themself "Doctor". The Fugitive Doctor , true to her title,

30870-516: The Spiders and " The End of Time ". The Doctor has withstood, with minimal damage, exposure to electricity deadly enough to kill a human ( Terror of the Zygons , Genesis of the Daleks , " Aliens of London ", " The Christmas Invasion ", " The Idiot's Lantern ", " Evolution of the Daleks " and spin-off audio Spare Parts ). Certain stories imply that the Time Lord is resistant to cold temperatures (" 42 "). To counter extreme trauma, such as exposure to

31115-746: The TARDIS), Tennant reprised the Tenth Doctor for the second part of the Out of Time trilogy, fighting Cybermen with the Fifth Doctor ( Peter Davison ) in The Gates of Hell . As part of the multi-platform Time Lord Victorious storyline, Tennant co-starred in Echoes of Extinction alongside Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor . He was set to be the first Doctor to appear in the spin-off series Torchwood , reuniting Tennant with John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness and Gareth David-Lloyd as Ianto Jones , for Absent Friends . However, while this story

31360-801: The TARDIS. As is the case with the BBC Books novels, the Tenth Doctor replaced the Ninth as the face of the Doctor Who audiobook series , beginning with Pest Control in May 2008 and ending with Dead Air in March 2010. The majority are read by David Tennant, save one read by Michelle Ryan and two by Catherine Tate. A number of Tenth Doctor novels were also abridged to become audiobooks, again featuring David Tennant's voice alongside other cast members such as Freema Agyeman and television series guest stars such as Georgia Tennant, Reggie Yates and Anthony Head ;

31605-810: The Tenth Doctor are all published by BBC Books . The character appears in New Series Adventures novels spanning from The Stone Rose (April 2006) to The Krillitane Storm (September 2009). A number of Decide Your Destiny novels were published between July 2007 and March 2008, as well as five books published as a part of Quick Reads Initiative , a government-sponsored adult literacy project. BBC Children's Books released their own 10-part series, The Darksmith Legacy , supported by an interactive tie-in website. Additionally, short stories are frequently published in Doctor Who Magazine , The Doctor Who Storybook series (2007–2010 editions),

31850-460: The Tenth Doctor at the climax of the first-series (2005) finale, " The Parting of the Ways "; he then reintroduces himself to his companion Rose Tyler ( Billie Piper ) in a Children in Need mini-episode called "Born Again". In the 2005 Christmas special, " The Christmas Invasion ", he is in a comatose state for most of the episode, following his regeneration. After eventually waking up, he defeats

32095-497: The Tenth Doctor confirms that he had at one point been a father and that he lost his children "a long time ago", saying "When they died that part of me died with them"; the nature of their deaths, however, has never been explained, as it is suggested that whatever happened to his family is very painful for the Doctor to talk about. In " The Woman Who Fell to Earth " when the Thirteenth Doctor is questioned how she copes with

32340-802: The Tenth Doctor for the 50th anniversary special, " The Day of the Doctor ", and returned to Doctor Who as the Fourteenth Doctor in 2023 for three 60th anniversary specials . The Tenth Doctor speaks with an Estuary English accent, rather than the Lancashire dialect (Christopher Eccleston's own dialect) that the Ninth Doctor used, the Received Pronunciation of most earlier Doctors, or Tennant's natural Scottish English . David Tennant told SFX magazine in 2006 that Russell T Davies had asked him to drop his natural Scottish accent, because he felt "we'd like to not go for another obvious regional accent, because I suppose they'd done that". In

32585-437: The Tenth Doctor's impending demise. In " The Waters of Mars ", The Doctor tries to alter history and avert the death of one-off companion Adelaide Brooke ( Lindsay Duncan ); when she commits suicide, he begins to feel his mortality weigh down upon him. In the animated serial Dreamland , The Doctor is joined by two one-off companions in 1950s Roswell, New Mexico . In the two-part send-off " The End of Time ", The Doctor confronts

32830-497: The Tenth and Eleventh Doctors shared certain similarities e.g. both being youthful, energetic, friendly, childlike, "good boyfriend Doctors", as Steven Moffat described them and, according to Mark Gatiss "very human Doctors" when compared to other incarnations. The Doctor complains that his tenth incarnation is not " ginger ". However, this incarnation was happy to have sideburns and to have more hair than his previous incarnation. He wears his own brown hair in various ways throughout

33075-526: The Third, Twelfth and Thirteenth Doctors), has won several sword fights against skilled opponents, and is able to make extremely difficult shots with firearms and, in The Face of Evil , with a crossbow. Thanks to exposure to many of history's greatest experts, including those from the future, the Doctor is a talented boxer, musician, organist, scientist and singer (able to shatter windows with his voice), and has

33320-426: The Twelfth Doctor ( Peter Capaldi ). The Twelfth Doctor later claims to be uncertain he "won't keep regenerating forever" ("Kill the Moon"), and even Rassilon, the president of the Time Lords, expresses uncertainty about how many regenerations the Doctor has available to him. Other skills include his mental communication with other Time Lords, in some cases over a galaxy's distance. His skill with hypnosis requires only

33565-425: The War Doctor to change his plan at the last moment. Ultimately, Gallifrey was hidden in a parallel dimension and the Daleks destroyed themselves in the ensuing crossfire; to all observers, it appeared as though the two races had been annihilated together. The unsynchronized timestreams caused the War Doctor to forget the specifics of his actions at this time. The Doctor remembered committing the apparent genocide during

33810-500: The Wasp " (2008) he was able to sense the changes in his body's enzymes (i.e. cyanide poisoning) and expel the cyanide from his body by ingesting a concoction of ginger beer , protein foods and salts. The Doctor has shown a resistance to temporal effects and has demonstrated telepathic ability, both the ability to mentally connect to other incarnations of themselves they have encountered (" The Five Doctors "), and an ability to enter into

34055-598: The Ways ". His first full episode as the Doctor, barring an appearance in a " mini-episode " during the 2005 Children in Need show, was the 2005 Christmas Special, " The Christmas Invasion ". He then appeared in the 2006 , 2007 and 2008 series . Rather than a traditional series run, 2009 and early 2010 featured Tennant in a series of four specials. He also guest-starred in the 2009 two-part The Sarah Jane Adventures story The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith . Tennant also appears in two animated serials The Infinite Quest and Dreamland . In 2013, Tennant reprised his role as

34300-622: The Zaross (with Camille Coduri as Jackie Tyler), Sword of the Chevalier , and Cold Vengeance , which were released in November 2017. A third volume was released in May 2019, once again with Catherine Tate as Donna Noble, in the stories No Place (with as Jacqueline King as Sylvia Noble and Bernard Cribbins as Wilfred Mott ), One Mile Down and The Creeping Death . Outside of The Tenth Doctor Adventures , David Tennant has appeared as

34545-469: The academy and his affiliation with the notoriously devious Prydonian chapter of Time Lords. In " The Sound of Drums ", the Doctor describes an academy initiation where, at the age of eight, Gallifreyan children were taken from their families and made to look into the Untempered Schism, a gap in the fabric of reality, to view the Time Vortex. According to the Doctor, when regarding the effects of

34790-442: The alias "Dr. Bowman" in the 1996 Doctor Who television movie . 60th anniversary (Doctor Who) The 2023 specials of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who are three special episodes that aired between 25 November and 9 December 2023, to celebrate the programme's 60th anniversary. They were written by Russell T Davies and marked the start of his second tenure as showrunner, having served in

35035-575: The alien Sycorax and saves Earth; in the process, he loses a hand, which regrows owing to his recent regeneration. Amongst other second-series (2006) adventures, the Doctor and Rose save Queen Victoria ( Pauline Collins ) from a werewolf in " Tooth and Claw ", resulting in the creation of the anti-alien Torchwood Institute . In " School Reunion ", the Doctor shares an adventure with two former companions, journalist Sarah Jane Smith ( Elisabeth Sladen ) and robot dog K9 (voiced by John Leeson ), before taking on Rose's boyfriend Mickey ( Noel Clarke ) as

35280-565: The back of the Garm on board this spaceship". Davies also wanted this story to utilise the bigger budget, and "make the production team break out into a cold sweat"; this was applied with the use of body horror by the Not-Things and the virtual spaceship corridor. The story features references to the Flux and the Timeless Child , plot threads from the Thirteenth Doctor's era, as Davies

35525-420: The best Doctor in 2013. Users of DoctorWhoTV also voted Tennant as 'Ultimate Doctor' in 2013. Voters on Digital Spy also rated Tennant as the greatest Doctor in 2013 with 50.05% of the votes, and again in 2015. Readers of The Telegraph voted Tennant as the greatest actor to play the Doctor in 2014. Jenna Coleman , who played Clara Oswald and appeared with Tennant in "The Day of the Doctor", said that he

35770-429: The character of Dr Who first begins appearing in existing documentation from May of that year. It is possible that series co-creator Donald Wilson may have named the character; in a 1971 interview Wilson claimed to have come up with the series' title, and when this claim was put to Newman he did not dispute it. The character was first portrayed by William Hartnell in 1963. At the programme's beginning, nothing at all

36015-412: The character of Miranda, has hinted that her real father is a future incarnation of the Doctor which, if so, would make Zezanne the Doctor's biological granddaughter as well. The Virgin New Adventures novel Lungbarrow presents an alternative take on the Doctor's origins, suggesting that Time Lords are "loomed" in large batches of "cousins" and not produced via sexual reproduction. Lungbarrow portrays

36260-480: The character uses "the Doctor" because his actual name is impossible for humans to pronounce. For instance, the novel Vanderdeken's Children relates that the Doctor has already told Sam his real name, which is entirely alien and virtually unpronounceable. This is repeated by companion Peri Brown in the radio serial Slipback . The Faction Paradox encyclopaedia The Book of the War states that all renegades from

36505-473: The character", which included "fully simulated muscle/fat and hair systems", allowing them to increase "the emotional range" of the Meep. This also allowed them to achieve effects such as "pupil dilation, articulated finger and toe movement". After the Meep's dialogue was recorded, the animation team used parts of Margolyes's facial performance to insert into the CG replica, to achieve the "more expressive" shots, which

36750-492: The character's name, most frequently in the spin-off material of the 1960s and 1970s, but occasionally also in the TV series itself. For example, in The Gunfighters the Doctor assumes the name of Doctor Caligari and subsequently responds to the question "Doctor who?" with "yes, quite right." In the serial The War Machines , the computer WOTAN commands that "Doctor Who is required", and his human agents also use

36995-519: The city capital), was withdrawn from other children, and was cared for by guardian figures who privately doubted the child's ability as an eventual Time Lord. Through the dialogue, it is suggested that several Gallifreyan children were pressured into joining the army, a path which did not sit right with the Doctor's pacifist beliefs, and as a result he wished to enroll into the Time Lord Academy instead. The classic series refers to his time at

37240-433: The city is being destroyed. The company also helped create "graphic language" for the 3D screens animated by the Doctor's sonic screwdriver. Prior to production of "Wild Blue Yonder", Dan May, VFX supervisor and co-founder of Painting Practice, worked with production designer Phil Sims and the special's director Tom Kingsley to "design and build the infinite Ghostship corridor scenes", using the software Unreal Engine . This

37485-505: The control room. Ruth Madeley , who plays Shirley Anne Bingham and uses a wheelchair, said: "For every disabled kid who couldn't get into the Tardis, this ramp is forever yours". The set was built over 16 weeks on Stage 6 of Wolf Studios Wales. The Thirteenth Doctor 's TARDIS exterior prop continued to be used. A new version of the sonic screwdriver was introduced for the three specials. Art director for props Michael van Kesteren wanted

37730-501: The crew to search for an iconic area outside of the city centre, and Camden became the "first candidate". Scenes at the steelworks were filmed at Uskmouth Power Station in Newport . 15-20 ft of the Meep's ship was physically built at the location, with the rest completed digitally in post-production. This was then redressed throughout the location shoot according to the different phases of the ship's condition. Axminster Road in Cardiff

37975-494: The crew, and therefore it was cut from the final version. A new version of the theme music was composed by Murray Gold . A new TARDIS interior set also debuted in the first special, designed by Phil Sims, who had previously worked on films such as Guardians of the Galaxy and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker . The interior offers resemblances to the original 60s set, whilst being much larger in scale. The script described

38220-491: The docudrama An Adventure in Space and Time as part of the 50th-anniversary celebrations of Doctor Who , which starred David Bradley as William Hartnell . Although Time Lords resemble humans, their physiology differs in key respects. Like other members of their race, the Doctor has two hearts (binary vascular system), a "respiratory bypass system" that allows the Doctor to go without air, an internal body temperature of 15–16 °C (60 °F) and occasionally exhibits

38465-401: The end of " The Power of the Doctor ". Davies told Doctor Who Magazine in November 2022 that he was apprehensive about the media mocking Tennant in the Thirteenth Doctor 's costume: "We could have the Doctor dressed as a knight, or dressed as God, or dressed as William Hartnell, and the only photo they'd print would be of David [Tennant] in what they considered to be women's clothes... so that

38710-416: The end of "Forest of the Dead". The events of " The Time of the Doctor " make it clear that his people, the Time Lords, know his true name, despite calling him by his chosen alias as "the Doctor" even in formal settings such as court. Despite the common belief amongst some areas of the fanbase that the Doctor should never be referred to by the name of the series, "Doctor Who" is actually fairly often used as

38955-403: The end of the 2008 series finale, " Journey's End ", after which he attempts to travel alone for the duration of the 2008–2010 specials before being accompanied by Donna's grandfather Wilfred Mott ( Bernard Cribbins ) on his final adventure in " The End of Time ". Executive producer Russell T Davies revived Doctor Who after a 16-year absence with the premiere of " Rose " in 2005. Following

39200-455: The episode, with the brief spanning "complex character work, CG environment builds and set extensions, massive battle scenes and highly complex FX sequences". In early stages, bringing the Meep to life served as a challenge for the production team, as they needed to examine all the technical aspects such as the Meep's height, fur colour, and how it should walk. Based on the comic strip drawings created by Dave Gibbons , Davies's script described

39445-565: The episodes", and told the Radio Times in February 2022 that he was finding "brand new ways of telling stories that have never been done before". Scott Handcock acted as script editor for the specials, having previously worked on Doctor Who Confidential , The Sarah Jane Adventures , and most notably written, produced, directed and acted in numerous Doctor Who audio dramas for Big Finish Productions . I realised that there

39690-431: The events of past serials such as Genesis of the Daleks have been retroactively attributed to the Time War. It was never shown on-screen until " The End of Time ", which was both Davies' last story as head writer and producer and David Tennant 's last regular story as the Tenth Doctor. This episode featured brief views of Gallifrey and the Time Lords on the last day of the Time War. The 2013 mini-episode " The Night of

39935-423: The exterior form of a 1963 police telephone call box and retains the appearance throughout the programme. Human companions accompany the Doctor through their adventures and serve as audience surrogate characters to ask questions which allow the Doctor to provide relevant exposition. "Doctor" is a self-selected alias. In episodes specifically under showrunner Steven Moffat , the story arcs surrounding events in

40180-510: The fact David Tennant had watched and loved Davison's Doctor as a child. In parallel with the third series, Tennant lends his voice to the animated serial The Infinite Quest . The 2007 Christmas special, " Voyage of the Damned ", sees The Doctor and a waitress, Astrid Peth ( Kylie Minogue ), save the Earth from the impending crash of the starship Titanic ; Astrid dies heroically, and The Doctor encounters Wilfred Mott ( Bernard Cribbins ) for

40425-439: The first live-action appearances of Beep the Meep and the Wrarth Warriors. Davies told Empire in October 2023 that he "needed to bring Donna back into the story... which meant setting it in London, which meant something alien landing on top of London, and I automatically thought of Star Beast as the best way to tell that story". Davies chose to adapt from the comic due to it being "an enormously fun adventure, with an edge and

40670-547: The first teaser trailer was shown on BBC One after " The Power of the Doctor ". It was confirmed that David Tennant would be playing the Fourteenth Doctor for three specials, and Ncuti Gatwa would then succeed him as the Fifteenth Doctor. It was also revealed that the specials would begin airing in November 2023. Davies teased "plenty more surprises on the way", adding that the anniversary would be "laden with mystery, horror, robots, puppets, danger and fun!". The new logo

40915-455: The first time. In the premiere episode of the fourth series (2008), " Partners in Crime ", The Doctor is reunited with Donna Noble, Wilfred's granddaughter, who becomes his regular companion. In " Planet of the Ood ", the alien Ood prophesy the Tenth Doctor's demise. Martha accompanies them for three episodes; in two, entitled " The Sontaran Stratagem " and " The Poison Sky ", The Doctor battles

41160-446: The idea for the Tenth Doctor's costume from an outfit Jamie Oliver had worn on Parkinson just after Tennant had taken the role. David Tennant has commented that he would vary the combination of the buttons he fastened on his jacket in different episodes. Tennant thought the look was very geek chic . The Doctor dons a pair of dark tortoise-shell rectangular frame glasses, an affectation (along with his signature footwear) borrowed from

41405-449: The idents on BBC One, leading up to a third teaser trailer shown on BBC One before the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 final on 13 May, revealing each special's title. Davies teased the titles are "just the beginning of the Doctor's biggest adventure yet". On 18 July 2023, new character posters were released of the Fourteenth Doctor, Donna Noble, the Fifteenth Doctor and his companion Ruby Sunday . The Fourteenth Doctor's sonic screwdriver

41650-413: The initiation on participants: "Some would be inspired, some would run away and some would go mad (as he suggests happened to his nemesis, the Master )." When asked to which group he belonged, he replied, "Oh, the ones that ran away. I never stopped!" The Doctor was taught by future Lord President Borusa and Azmael , where he met Drax , with whom he attended a Tech course as part of the class of '92. In

41895-574: The last of these scheduled is Judgement of the Judoon , for December 2010. On 26 October 2015, it was announced Tennant would reprise his role for The Tenth Doctor Adventures , a series of full-cast audio stories produced by Big Finish Productions . The first volume of stories had the reprise of Catherine Tate as Donna Noble, consisting of Technophobia , Time Reaver , and Death and the Queen , which were released in May 2016. The second volume of stories saw Billie Piper reprise her role as Rose Tyler alongside Tennant. The stories consisted of Infamy of

42140-417: The lives of his ninth, tenth and eleventh incarnations up until the time of the Eleventh Doctor's present. The character of the Doctor was created by BBC Head of Drama, Sydney Newman . The first format document for the programme that was to become Doctor Who – then provisionally titled The Troubleshooters – was written in March 1963 by C. E. Webber , a staff writer who had been brought in to help develop

42385-438: The logo simply "because we love it… the diamond fact got bolted on afterwards, as a handy coincidence", and that the logo will continue to be used in future seasons. A special 60th anniversary version of this logo, encompassing a diamond texture and a bar reading '60 Years', was then released in November 2022. This logo was used for Doctor Who merchandise and promotional material throughout 2023. A new title sequence debuted in

42630-400: The loss of her family, she states that she carries the memories of them with her and thus makes them a part of who she is, saying "even though they're gone from the world ... they're never gone from me." In " The End of Time ", a mysterious individual, referred to in the episode credits as "The Woman", appears unexpectedly to Wilfred Mott throughout both episodes. She is later revealed to be

42875-415: The marriages to Elizabeth I and Marilyn Monroe to count when questioned on how many wives the Doctor had had, remarking that he was married to Susan's grandmother and River Song. An adventurous scientist, the Doctor usually solves problems with his wits rather than with force. With the exception of his sonic screwdriver (which cannot kill, wound or maim), the Doctor detests weapons and uses violence only as

43120-471: The memories of other individuals (" The Girl in the Fireplace "). The Doctor can apparently reverse this process, sharing their memory with another, as shown in " The Lodger ". Some humans can enter the Doctor's memories after the Doctor enters theirs, as demonstrated by Madame de Pompadour (much to the Doctor's surprise) in "The Girl in the Fireplace", when she explains, "A door, once opened, may be stepped through in either direction." In " The Fires of Pompeii ",

43365-476: The modern-day streets, the American bandleader in the " Spice Up Your Life " sequence, and the World War I pilot on the UNIT helipad. All of these costumes were tailor-made. A new logo was introduced in October 2022, resembling the classic diamond-shaped variant first seen in the eleventh season of the classic era in 1973. The reintroduction of the diamond insignia coincided with the show's diamond anniversary, although Davies stated that they chose to bring back

43610-437: The moon. This event had a massive impact on the Doctor, who theorized that he himself was possibly the Hybrid. This is one reason the Doctor has stated as to why he decided to leave Gallifrey – out of fear. He has given convoluted and contradictory reasons as to why he left, for many reasons such as because his life path was pre-determined from his hidden previous life. The Doctor stole a TARDIS with his granddaughter Susan from

43855-491: The name of "Doctor von Wer" (a German approximation of "Doctor Who"), and signs himself as "Dr. W" in The Underwater Menace . He similarly poses as "the Great Wizard Quiquaequod" in The Dæmons ( qui , quae and quod being, respectively, the masculine, feminine and neuter Latin translation of the nominative form of who ). The Master also utilised Latin translation in the same serial, posing as "Mr Magister". The Eighth Doctor 's companion Grace briefly refers to him by

44100-411: The name. The Third Doctor 's car, dubbed "Bessie", carried the plate WHO 1, the only ongoing reference to the "Doctor Who" enigma in the original programme. The Third Doctor later drove an outlandish vehicle called the "Whomobile" in publicity materials, but it is never referred to as such in the programme, being simply known as "the Doctor's car" (or "my car", as the Doctor puts it). The name "Doctor Who"

44345-423: The new interior as a "huge hemisphere ... the shape of the Tenth Doctor 's Tardis - ramps & gantries leading to a central six-sided console... but white". Davies commented that he chose to bring back the "white TARDIS" after watching recent stories which featured this design, including Clara Oswald 's TARDIS in " Hell Bent " and the Fugitive Doctor 's TARDIS in " Fugitive of the Judoon ". He said that he "spent

44590-426: The next Doctor for a number of specials. In doing so, he stated in Doctor Who: Unleashed that he thought it was a "fascinating" concept for the Doctor to get their old face back, and that "there's no rules... you can do absolutely everything you want". Davies was reluctant to bring back Tennant and Tate for a singular special, as he believed that would have been "a disappointment", and opted for three specials as "it

44835-521: The outcome. Like many other alien species in the programme, the Doctor is able to sense when their own species is within proximity through an inherent telepathic connection. The Doctor exhibits some weaknesses uncommon to humans. For example, according to The Mind of Evil (1971), a tablet of aspirin could kill him. In " Cold Blood ", a process meant to decontaminate him of bacteria from the surface of Earth causes him intense pain, and he says it could have killed him if allowed to proceed to completion. In

45080-410: The pair grew up together. In " The End of Time ", the Master recollects their childhood together where they would run all day across his father's field, described as 'pastures of red grass stretching far across the slopes of Mount Perdition' and the boys would call up at the sky. In " World Enough and Time ", the Doctor claims that they both made a special pact where together they would visit every star in

45325-424: The past, saves Martha and Mickey from a Sontaran sniper, saves Sarah Jane's son Luke ( Tommy Knight ) from a car, introduces Jack to a romantic interest ( Russell Tovey ), and finally, just before regenerating into the Eleventh Doctor ( Matt Smith ), informs Rose in 2005 that she is about to have a "great year". As he begins regenerating once in the TARDIS, his last words are "I don't want to go". Tennant reprised

45570-411: The poisonous fungus in The Seeds of Death and after being shot in Spearhead from Space , the Doctor can go into a self-induced coma until they recover. The Doctor's hypersensitive body and senses enable them to detect anomalies humans cannot, such as identifying alien species, blood type or chemical composition by taste and determining location or time period by sniffing the air. In " The Unicorn and

45815-405: The premiere special, " The Star Beast ". Davies revealed in a video commentary for " The Giggle " that the production team had filmed a shot of the Fourteenth Doctor and Donna Noble "hanging out of the TARDIS" as it travelled through the time vortex. Davies said he showed this version to Steven Moffat , who suggested that they omit it. It was said that the concept received bad reception from most of

46060-409: The programme was first teased by Piers Wenger on 25 August 2021, when he said an upcoming change for Doctor Who would be "radical". On 24 September 2021, the BBC announced Russell T Davies would return to Doctor Who as showrunner, after having acted as showrunner from 2005 to 2010 for the Ninth and Tenth Doctors. He succeeds Chibnall for the show's 60th anniversary in 2023 and beyond. Davies

46305-400: The programme's first episode in 1963, presents the alternative explanation that the Doctor was given that name by medical staff on a foreign planet and liked it. To make up for his lack of a practical name, the Doctor often relies upon convenient pseudonyms. In The Gunfighters (1966), the First Doctor uses the alias Dr. Caligari . In The Highlanders (1966–67), the Second Doctor assumes

46550-459: The programme. They preceded and were announced alongside the fourteenth series; both were announced with Davies's return to the programme for its 60th anniversary and "series beyond". The three specials were directed by Rachel Talalay , Tom Kingsley , and Chanya Button , respectively. Filming occurred between May and July 2022, the first episodes to be filmed at Wolf Studios Wales after production moved from Roath Lock Studios when Bad Wolf became

46795-490: The project. Webber's document contained a main character described as "The maturer man, 35–40, with some 'character twist'." Newman was not keen on this idea and – along with several other changes to Webber's initial format – created an alternative lead character named Dr Who, a crotchety older man piloting a stolen time machine, on the run from his own far-future world. No written record of Newman's conveyance of these ideas – believed to have taken place in April 1963 – exists, and

47040-532: The puppeteering himself. The variety of different locations meant that the crew were moving to a new set "almost every day". Button described the shoot as "a decathlon times ten... like the Directors' Olympics". "Wild Blue Yonder" entered production in July 2022. This special was filmed almost entirely at Bad Wolf Studios; with the only location filming taking place at Camden Market on 16 May alongside "The Star Beast", and Dunraven Gardens in Southerndown on 26 July, doubling for Woolsthorpe Manor . The episode

47285-493: The puppets of Stooky Bill's family and Charles Banerjee, the collapsing corridor in the toy shop, and the bi-generation. Davies said that some versions of the bi-generation sequence were "too violent" and "too liquid", and others were "too thin". For inserting Stooky's face on television screens, Automatik chose to take "footage of Bill from the Frith Street set" and add a "designed, post-production filter to make it look like an early televised image, which we could then put onto all

47530-525: The question of Gordon Brown 's succession, Tony Blair (impressionist Jon Culshaw ) regenerates into David Tennant after promising " New Labour is all about renewal", later vowing 100 more years of power. Tennant modifies his first line in "The Parting of the Ways" ("New teeth, that's weird"), to "New Labour, that's weird" and proceeds to address the public in a Tony Blair impression resembling Culshaw's. Tennant also guest-voiced his incarnation of The Doctor in an episode of Family Guy (2016). He later played

47775-783: The role as Wilfred Mott , while Nathaniel Curtis briefly appeared as Isaac Newton . " The Giggle " saw Neil Patrick Harris play the Toymaker, a character last seen in The Celestial Toymaker (1966), portrayed then by Michael Gough . Jemma Redgrave and Bonnie Langford reprised their respective roles as Kate Lethbridge-Stewart and Mel Bush . King, Collins, Finney, and Madeley all reprised their roles from "The Star Beast". Other cast members for this episode included Charlie De Melo as Charles Banerjee, John MacKay as John Logie Baird , and Alexander Devrient as Colonel Christopher Ibrahim. Lachele Carl briefly reprised her role as Trinity Wells , an American news anchor who appeared frequently during Davies's first era. On 29 July 2021,

48020-411: The role for the show's 50th anniversary in " The Day of the Doctor " (2013), appearing alongside the Eleventh Doctor ( Matt Smith ), future companion Clara Oswald ( Jenna Coleman ) and a forgotten past incarnation, the War Doctor , played by John Hurt . In the special, which from the Tenth Doctor's perspective takes place between the 2008–2010 specials " The Waters of Mars " and " The End of Time ",

48265-515: The role from the start of Doctor Who ' s revival in 2005 until leaving in 2010. The specials were broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom and Ireland , and on Disney+ internationally. David Tennant and Catherine Tate returned to the series as part of the 60th anniversary. Tennant starred as the Fourteenth Doctor for the first time, having previously portrayed the Tenth Doctor , while Tate reprised her role as Donna Noble . Miriam Margolyes and Neil Patrick Harris guest starred as

48510-429: The role in full costume for a sketch with The Muppets in a live performance at The O2 Arena in 2018. As the face of the Doctor Who franchise for 2005–2010, the Tenth Doctor appears extensively in Doctor Who spin-off media; in the majority of these series, the character simply takes after the place of the Ninth Doctor, and in turn is replaced by the Eleventh following the debut of the 2010 series . Novels featuring

48755-432: The role would place on him (" The Five Doctors "), and is eventually deposed in absentia ( The Trial of a Time Lord ). By the time of his twelfth incarnation, he is regarded by many Gallifreyans as a war hero, "the man who won the Time War" (" Hell Bent "). In the first series of the 2005 revival, writer Russell T Davies introduced the concept of the Time War to streamline the Doctor's backstory for new viewers of

49000-410: The ruins of Gallifrey, unravel the Web of Time and burn a billion hearts to heal its own. The Wraiths then revealed to him the secret passage leading to another side of the city. The last anyone heard from him was that he apparently stole the moon and the President's wife; however, this was revealed to have been a lie spread about by the Shobogans when in reality it was the President's daughter and he lost

49245-409: The screens on the UNIT Tower set". On 20 July 2022, Segun Akinola , who had served as composer since 2018, confirmed that he would not return for the 60th anniversary specials. On 24 April 2023, the BBC announced that Murray Gold , the show's composer from 2005 to 2017, would be returning for the 2023 specials and the fourteenth series. The specials feature a new version of the theme tune, which

49490-482: The script required several stunt explosions inside the house, the production team opted to build the house, back garden, and connecting alleyway on a soundstage ; rather than renting a house on-location, with compositions of the night sky and terrace backdrop in the garden and alleyway added in post-production. To achieve the battle scenes between UNIT and the Wrarth Warriors, paintball guns were loaded with zirconium hits to resemble real-time bullet impact; by creating

49735-420: The second special to primarily focus on the Doctor and Donna, aiming to "push them to areas they haven't been, and say things they haven't said before". This led to the concept of a two-hander , which meant that excluding the first and last scenes, this story only featured the two main characters. The special serves as a character study of the Doctor and Donna. Davies described "Wild Blue Yonder" as simply having

49980-421: The series (unstyled in " The Christmas Invasion ", a 1950s-style quiff in " The Idiot's Lantern ", and flattened forwards in " The Runaway Bride " and " The Day of the Doctor ") but mainly styled it in a spiked-up fashion throughout most of the series, with this style being described by friend and later one-time companion Wilfred Mott as being a "modern style sort of hair. All sticky-uppy". He has dark brown eyes and

50225-551: The series finale of Series 12 . Tennant's tenure as the Tenth Doctor is highly regarded among fans of the show and his character received critical acclaim for his complexity and humanity. He is generally considered one of the greatest incarnations of the Doctor, often ranked alongside Tom Baker 's Fourth Doctor . The BBC went as far as to consider ending the show in 2010, thinking it would fail without Tennant. In 2006, readers of Doctor Who Magazine voted Tennant's Doctor "Best Doctor" over perennial favourite Tom Baker. He also won

50470-599: The shoot, scenes on the TARDIS across all three specials were filmed at the end of the shooting period. Filming on the set began on 25 July 2022, with scenes from "The Star Beast". Due to failing health, Cribbins's role as Wilfred Mott was reduced, however, he was able to film one last appearance for the ending of "Wild Blue Yonder", his final performance before his death on 27 July 2022. An uncredited double stood in as Wilfred for "The Giggle", which featured usage of an archival audio recording of Cribbins from " The Poison Sky " (2008). Miriam Margolyes voice-recorded dialogue for

50715-436: The show. It was a war across all of time and space which ended when the Doctor presumably destroyed both the Time Lords and the Daleks . The Doctor's remorse for his actions in his Ninth , Tenth and Eleventh incarnations is a key part of his characterisation throughout the revival. The Time War happened between the 1996 television movie and 2005 opening episode " Rose " according to the show's internal chronology, although

50960-418: The significance of the Doctor's name in his episodes since 2006's " The Girl in the Fireplace ", in which historical figure Madame de Pompadour reads the Doctor's mind and remarks, "Doctor who? It's more than just a secret, isn't it?" According to the in-vision commentary on the DVD release, David Tennant had to inform actress Sophia Myles (who played Madame de Pompadour) that she was not, in fact, revealing

51205-452: The sinking when tracking an alien entity in the novel The Left-Handed Hummingbird . The Doctor has also encountered many of Earth's historical figures. It is his tendency for becoming "involved" with the universe – in direct violation of official Time Lord policy – that has caused the Doctor to be labelled a renegade by the Time Lords as stated in The War Games . However, the Doctor's actions are largely tolerated as he saved Gallifrey and

51450-409: The sonic should look. The executive producers were keen on having "the petals" from the Eleventh Doctor's sonic. Four props of the sonic screwdriver were made, with "two available on set at all times in case of emergency". Unlike previous versions, the Fourteenth Doctor's sonic could animate holographic screens and diagrams which would float in the air. Filming for the 60th anniversary specials marked

51695-482: The sonic to "reference each era, to a degree", as it was being made for the 60th anniversary. The Fourteenth Doctor's sonic screwdriver featured a mix of elements from several previous designs, including "the raku detailing of the Ninth and Tenth Doctor's, the petals from the Eleventh Doctor 's, a little engraved ring that sort of harkens back to the sort of bullet shape on the Third and Fourth Doctor 's". Kesteren produced 67 silhouette sketches of various ideas for how

51940-454: The specials, with Ellen Marsh co-producing. Rachel Talalay returned to direct the first special, Tom Kingsley directed the second, and Chanya Button directed the third. Davies believed that Talalay would be "the perfect choice for a brand-new launch", praising her previous episodes in the Twelfth Doctor 's era. Talalay said that she previously had not "always succeeded" in achieving crowd/action sequences, which "The Star Beast" contains

52185-417: The television series, such as his grandchildren John and Gillian , who appeared alongside the First and Second Doctors in comics and annuals. Two different, conflicting accounts exist on the descendants of Susan after leaving the Doctor. In the audio play " An Earthly Child ", it is revealed that Susan has had a half-human child, Alex Campbell, the Doctor's great-grandson. Alternatively, in the novel Legacy of

52430-421: The tenure of the Eleventh Doctor involved the oldest question in the universe, revealed in " The Wedding of River Song " to be "Doctor who?", giving the phrase in-universe significance. In " The Name of the Doctor ", the Doctor's real name was revealed to be the password used to enter the Doctor's tomb following his death on the planet Trenzalore. The story arc was resolved in " The Time of the Doctor ", wherein it

52675-465: The textures, and animating the walls and buttresses. Nearly every shot in the episode had an element of CGI. To achieve the establishing shots of the new UNIT tower in "The Giggle", Painting Practice used Unreal Engine to create 3D storyboarding "with a virtual camera and set planning", and used "scale models of London" using Techviz to plan the helicopter scenes, and the 360° skyline on the helipad. May researched "some classic strong tower shapes like

52920-498: The third special after seeing her work on World on Fire , and she delighted them in the interview "by being such a fan of the old Doctor and Donna days". Button said that the script was "the most expansive thing I've ever read", and found it "challenging, in the most positive way possible". A readthrough of all three specials was held on 3 May 2022. Principal photography commenced on 9 May 2022, starting with "The Star Beast". The first scenes filmed were inside Donna's house. As

53165-423: The two Doctors splitting. The catch sequence was completed in one day with over 70 shots. The " Spice Up Your Life " musical sequence was filmed on 28 June 2022, with around 50 shots completed in a single day. Puppeteers were present on-set to orchestrate the puppet scenes. The more time-consuming shots were filmed by a second unit . For the Toymaker's companion puppet show, Neil Patrick Harris completed some of

53410-421: The two of them having an adventure at the same time? ... For once, we've got a happy Doctor who is no longer saving the universe, but is parked with Donna for a happy life, while the Doctor – which is always the next Doctor, and that's always true of Doctor Who , the Doctor is the next Doctor - is out amongst the stars. Breaking tradition, the Fourteenth Doctor wore his costume from his very first appearance at

53655-407: The universe from Davros ( Julian Bleach ), the creator of the Daleks. The Doctor was fatally wounded during the event, causing him to regenerate, although he chooses to maintain his current self while transferring residual energy into his previously severed hand. This results in a metacrisis that creates a half-human Doctor (with Donna's DNA) called the Meta-Crisis Doctor who would leave to have

53900-442: The universe several times. The Time Lords are partial to sending him on missions when deniability or expendability is needed, implied to have begun after his capture during The War Games and witnessed further in later stories, the Time Lords directing the Doctor and/or the TARDIS to specific locations in Colony in Space , The Curse of Peladon , The Mutants , Genesis of the Daleks , The Brain of Morbius and Attack of

54145-411: The universe; however, the Master was 'too busy burning them'. In " Hell Bent ", one day at the academy, the Doctor found himself lost inside the Cloisters (an area located deep beneath the citadel) and spent four days inside. He was contacted by a Wraith who told him about the prophecy of a legendary creature known as 'the Hybrid', prophesied to have been crossbred from two warrior races that would stand in

54390-496: The voice of the Meep and the Toymaker , respectively, alongside returning cast members Jacqueline King , Karl Collins , Bernard Cribbins (in his final role), Jemma Redgrave , and Bonnie Langford , as well as newcomers Ruth Madeley, Yasmin Finney , and Ncuti Gatwa , the latter of whom making his debut as the Fifteenth Doctor , who would star in the fourteenth series . The specials were led by Davies as head writer and executive producer in his first episodes since his return to

54635-465: The war-hungry alien Sontarans , and last of which sees him become a father of sorts to Jenny ( Georgia Tennant ), in " The Doctor's Daughter ". He meets archaeologist and future companion River Song ( Alex Kingston ) for the first time from his perspective in the two-parter, " Silence in the Library " and " Forest of the Dead "; she dies, but he stores her consciousness to a hard drive to live on forever, after accepting that one day she will come to mean

54880-432: The writing process – so we could rewrite the script to match the animatic", adding that "the concept art was to such a high standard, that the challenge was really to try and make the episode look as good as the concept art". In post-production, Realtime were tasked with creating "a corresponding high detail version" of the original asset used in the shoot for the "final background renders", removing static lighting, adjusting

55125-518: Was "to craft a series of specials that not only honoured the rich tapestry of Doctor Who ' s history but also reignited the passion of its global fanbase", coupled with a plan "to elevate the series to a cinematic echelon, aspiring to meet the lofty standards of global entertainment giants". Russell T Davies wrote all three specials, plus the additional mini-episode for Children in Need 2023 . In December 2021, around two years ahead of broadcast, Davies confirmed that he had "already written some of

55370-407: Was built on the studio backlot, with a blue screen surrounding half of the set. The bi-generation sequence was filmed over two days, on 21 and 22 June 2022. Producers ensured that this was a "closed set", with only 17 "essential crew" members permitted. Ncuti Gatwa was given the codename "Hilary" in call sheets and shooting schedules. A Technodolly crane was used to shoot a half-circle rotation of

55615-399: Was considered the most complex and technically-challenging to shoot, with lots of "visual trickery". The long spaceship corridor was filmed entirely on a green screen set, with virtual environment software used to show the corridor's CGI design, which would be tracked by the crew during filming. Some of the running sequences were completed on a travelator . Tennant and Tate were scanned by

55860-434: Was created by Millennium FX for the shoot, with digital effects added in post-production. Actress and martial artist Cecily Fay performed movement inside the costume, with puppeteers operating the eyes and ears. In post-production, Untold Studios delivered "both a full CG approach for some shots and an augmented 2D approach to an actor in a costume for other shots". After the Meep turns evil, Untold used "a CG digital replica of

56105-415: Was designed by Pam Downe. Davies ensured that this was not "the same look reproduced", and that "it's a tight suit, but it's a different pattern". The fabric of the costume was selected by Tennant. "Four or five" sets of the costume were produced. Downe was tasked with designing four different costumes for the Toymaker in "The Giggle", consisting of the shopkeeper in the 1920s toy shop, the French showman on

56350-446: Was her favourite Doctor, along with Tom Baker . Writer Terry Pratchett considered Tennant's portrayal to be the greatest Doctor. In 2016, Digital Spy readers voted the Tenth Doctor the best TV character of the 21st century. The Doctor (Doctor Who) A number of other actors have played the character in stage and audio plays, as well as in various film and television productions. The Doctor has also been featured in films and

56595-422: Was instrumental in preventing a family from boarding the Titanic prior to her fateful voyage. In " The End of the World ", the Doctor recalls having been on board and surviving the Titanic's sinking to find himself "clinging to an iceberg". The Fourth Doctor mentioned this event in Robot and The Invasion of Time , where he insists that the sinking was not his fault; the Seventh Doctor became involved in

56840-404: Was joined by the Bad Wolf production company, which was founded by fellow former Doctor Who executive producer Julie Gardner and former BBC head of drama Jane Tranter . In October 2021, it was announced that Sony would acquire a majority of Bad Wolf. Bad Wolf took over creative control of Doctor Who beginning with the specials, with BBC Studios focusing on establishing Doctor Who as

57085-413: Was keen on acknowledging "the brilliant work Chris [Chibnall, former showrunner] did and to say that's absolutely part of our history as well". The third special reintroduces the Celestial Toymaker, last seen in the 1966 serial of the same name. Davies described the Toymaker as "an unashamedly supernatural character", and the fantasy elements of this villain create "a whole new world for Doctor Who ...

57330-435: Was never going to happen". Davies emphasised that he was "absolutely certain that the clothes would regenerate... nothing would've changed my mind". Tennant described his new costume as "a kiss to the past, and a nod to the future", and thought it was important that he wore something that "still had the same flavour", but also gave the impression that "this isn't quite the same story that we were telling [before]". The costume

57575-408: Was on the run from the Division in a TARDIS disguised as a police box. The details of their life were also redacted from the Matrix – only snippets remaining, masked as the story of the Irish Garda Brendan. The true origins of the Time Lords remained hidden from themselves and from the Doctor. The First Doctor's subsequent childhood on Gallifrey has been little described in the series. In " Hell Bent "

57820-470: Was performed live by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales as part of Doctor Who @ 60: A Musical Celebration , and released officially on 12 October 2023. Gold and the BBC National Orchestra attended their first recording session for the specials on 16 January 2023 at the Wales Millennium Centre . Gold said he did not want to include any "old recordings", and ensured that the music was "brand new, even when it's evoking an older theme". On 23 October 2022,

58065-432: Was recorded, its release was cancelled in May 2021. The Out of Time trilogy concluded in June 2022 with Wink , featuring the Tenth Doctor and the Sixth Doctor battling Weeping Angels . In the same month, Tennant appeared as the Doctor in the seventh series of The War Master opposite Derek Jacobi as The Master . In September 2022, Big Finish released the Tenth Doctor, Classic Companions special, which reunites

58310-481: Was revealed on 25 October 2022, in conjunction with the announcement that the specials would premiere on Disney+ outside the UK and Ireland. Gatwa appeared on Live with Kelly and Ryan in the United States to announce the news before the media. On 25 December 2022, the second teaser trailer was shown on BBC One after the Strictly Come Dancing 2022 Christmas special. Davies said they wanted to deliver "a lovely little Christmas present", and promised "2023 will be

58555-404: Was revealed that the question had been projected by the Time Lords across all of time and space through a "crack in the skin of the universe" as a means of contacting the Doctor and seeing whether it was safe to leave the parallel universe in which their planet, Gallifrey , had been left following the events of " The Day of the Doctor ". This arc was penned by Steven Moffat , who has been exploring

58800-429: Was simply as many episodes as David [Tennant] and Catherine [Tate] could do". Davies emphasised that the three specials were "three separate stories", whilst having "a little link between them", and compared the trilogy to a " mini-season ". At a press screening of " The Star Beast ", Davies described the first special as "a great big Pixar family film, like a bank holiday film – all the family watching, lots of laughs,

59045-420: Was subsequently filmed in June 2022. For this special, 10 different sets were built across 5 soundstages at Bad Wolf. The production team spent two days in Bristol ; filming an action scene set in 2023 London, followed by period scenes set in 1925 London. A French crêperie was redressed and used as the exterior of the Toymaker's toy shop, with the interior of the toy shop built on soundstage. The UNIT helipad set

59290-448: Was the one to release Swarm from imprisonment as part of the Division's plan to destroy the universe. She was disintegrated by Swarm shortly after briefly confronting the Thirteenth Doctor after she found out her true origins as the timeless child. Other than Tecteun and Susan Foreman , his granddaughter with whom he travelled during the first two seasons and who has been mentioned occasionally since, references to

59535-409: Was then handed to the VFX company Realtime, which developed a "digital asset" for production. This meant that using the virtual software Mo-Sys, a "physical green screen shoot" could be conducted with in-camera CGI footage, used for "on set camera tracking" and creating "instant post vis and a guide for the actor". Kingsley said that they kept "testing out different versions of big action sequences during

59780-426: Was third act to be written [for the Doctor and Donna], and it was so much fun writing it. On a really simple level, it's working with two of the best actors in the world. I love them. I love them as friends. I love their presence. I'm really interested to push the Doctor and Donna into things they've never done before... Russell T Davies The idea of bringing back David Tennant and Catherine Tate originated during

60025-410: Was used for the scenes on Donna's street; with five nights of battle scenes and practical effects work. A total of three weeks of night shooting was completed for the first special. Talalay said that the time of year put them at a disadvantage: "it gets dark late and light early, and this whole episode takes place at night", meaning that they had "so little shooting time" per night shoot. "The Giggle"

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