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195-590: The Thirteenth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor , the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who . She is played by Jodie Whittaker , the first woman to portray the character, in three series as well as five specials. Within the series's narrative, the Doctor is a millennia-old, alien Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey , with somewhat unknown origins, who travels in time and space in their TARDIS , frequently with companions . At

390-586: 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

585-427: A "backlash" over Whittaker's casting, and said there was "80% approval on social media". Moffat commented, "It strikes me that Doctor Who fans are more excited about the idea of a brilliant actress playing the part than the fact she's a woman. It's been incredibly progressive and enlightened." Guardian journalist Zoe Williams described Whittaker's casting as "the revolutionary feminist we need right now", lauding

780-608: 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

975-631: 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

1170-463: 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 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

1365-682: 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 ",

1560-408: A 1988 issue of Sassy showing a number of female models in men's clothing, with the specific photo of a woman in trousers, braces and a T-shirt, walking with a purpose. Whittaker said she "just love[d] the androgyny of it, without it being masculine", and that "felt intriguing and kind of open to interpretation and I really love that". Additional elements drew out from the photograph. Whittaker wanted

1755-471: 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

1950-505: A Time ". After regenerating , The Doctor falls out of the TARDIS and, in series premiere " The Woman Who Fell to Earth " (2018), lands in modern-day Sheffield , where she befriends retired bus driver Graham O'Brien ( Bradley Walsh ), his wife's grandson Ryan Sinclair ( Tosin Cole ), and police officer Yasmin "Yaz" Khan ( Mandip Gill ), with whom she successfully repels an alien hunter from

2145-541: 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

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2340-520: A Time Lord symbol signifying exile, removed once the Doctor's exile was formally ended following the events of The Three Doctors . The Third Doctor stories were the first to be broadcast in colour. The early ones were set on Earth because he had been exiled there when the Second Doctor was banished to Earth by his people, the Time Lords , and forced to regenerate. On Earth, he worked with

2535-546: A UNIT scientist named Liz Shaw were to face the Autons for the first time. The Autons were to be one of the Doctor's recurring foes. At the conclusion of this adventure, the Doctor became UNIT's scientific advisor. After facing Silurians , the so-called Ambassadors of Death and the Inferno project, Liz was replaced as the Doctor's assistant by a feisty but slightly scatter-brained young woman named Jo Grant . After meeting Jo,

2730-600: 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, 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

2925-462: A coat that flowed with her actions and gave her pockets but otherwise did not have any fasteners, and she wanted some colour within the outfit but without going too "cartoonish". Holman added violet to the inside of the coat's sleeves, a reference to the violet-and-green colours of the Suffragettes . The Thirteenth Doctor makes her debut in the final scene of 2017 Christmas special " Twice Upon

3120-460: 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 is disintegrated and later woven into the Doctor. The Timeless Child reveal partly took inspiration from this. The Doctor's adoptive mother Tecteun

3315-431: 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

3510-484: A difficult time removing him from somewhere when he did not want to be removed ( The Mind of Evil ). The Third Doctor was a skilled diplomat (keeping talks going in The Curse of Peladon , for example) and linguist, as well as having a penchant for disguises. When asked to attend a Radio Times photo-call in 1969, Jon Pertwee arrived in what he thought was "a suitably eccentric outfit" from his family wardrobe, and

3705-553: A female Doctor was first mentioned in 1981, when Tom Baker suggested his successor might be female, after announcing the end of his tenure as the Fourth Doctor . Producer, John Nathan-Turner , later discussed the possibility of casting a woman as the Sixth Doctor to replace the departing Peter Davison 's Fifth Doctor , claiming it was feasible, but not something he was considering at the moment. In October 1986, during

3900-528: 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

4095-579: 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

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4290-406: 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

4485-631: A good working relationship with Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart , whom he had first encountered, in his previous incarnation, as a Colonel in command of troops fighting Yeti and the Cybermen . As well as the Brigadier, he developed friendships with other regular UNIT colleagues including Sergeant Benton and Captain Mike Yates . When meteors were seen falling to Earth in Essex, the Doctor together with

4680-468: 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

4875-522: 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

5070-505: 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,

5265-537: 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

5460-529: A passionate defender of justice, equality, fairness and resisted those who seek to dominate or destroy. — Colin Baker , 17 July 2017 Reaction among former Doctor Who actors was largely positive. Colin Baker , who portrayed the Sixth Doctor , quoting his own character in his introductory stories The Caves of Androzani and The Twin Dilemma , tweeted: "Change my dears and not a moment too soon — she IS

5655-585: A plan to rebuild the Cyber-Empire and wipe out all life in the universe. As the last fragments of humanity face destruction at the hands of the Cybermen, the Doctor is pulled through a portal to Gallifrey by the Master in " The Timeless Children ", where she learns of a radical cover-up of her origins: she is in fact the Timeless Child, an orphan from an unknown world whose unique power to regenerate

5850-408: A remarkable level of assurance." After watching the first five episodes of the eleventh series, Radio Times Flora Carr commented: "She's channelled the best elements of recent Doctors ( Matt Smith 's whimsy, David Tennant 's frenetic energy, Peter Capaldi 's wry humour...), but above all, she's made the role her own." Mark Braxton also said, "Jodie's Doctor is a whirlwind of likeability and energy,

6045-648: A remote control, dramatically increased speed capabilities and inertial dampers. He also maintained a hovercraft-like vessel that fans nicknamed the Whomobile. The First Doctor , upon meeting the Third, described him indignantly as a " dandy ", while the Second Doctor , with whom the Third had something of an antagonistic relationship on the occasions they encountered each other, referred to him as "Fancy Pants". While this incarnation spent most of his time exiled on Earth—grudgingly working as UNIT 's scientific advisor—he

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6240-502: A role that continued into his future incarnations. In general, this incarnation of the Doctor was more physically daring than the previous two and was the first to confront an enemy physically if cornered (both of his previous incarnations nearly always attempted to dodge, flee or negotiate rather than attack). This often took the form of quick strikes, with the occasional joint lock or throw — usually enough to get himself and anyone accompanying him out of immediate danger, but usually not to

6435-612: A satirical version of the Thirteenth Doctor in the 1999 Comic Relief special, The Curse of Fatal Death . Arabella Weir also played an alternative Third Doctor in the Doctor Who Unbound Big Finish episode, Exile . Neither portrayal is typically considered to be within the show's main continuity. Producer, Jane Tranter , also considered casting Judi Dench as the Ninth Doctor . The concept of Time Lords changing sex upon regeneration

6630-545: 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

6825-490: 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

7020-529: 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, 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

7215-521: A tour de force that has relaunched the show with panache." BBC Drama controller Piers Wenger told Radio Times his opinion of Whittaker's performance, stating it was "intensely moral, a little distracted and bursting with energy, she's both the Doctor we know and a new version of the Time Lord. Gone is the daffiness and idiosyncrasy of her predecessors in favour of a Doctor with energy, spark and relatability." Conversely, some reviewers were critical of

7410-420: A woman and we're thrilled to have secured our number one choice. Her audition for The Doctor simply blew us all away." Later on in his statement, Chibnall called Whittaker "an in-demand, funny, inspiring, super-smart force of nature" and said that she "will bring loads of wit, strength and warmth to the role." In an interview with Tenth Doctor actor and Broadchurch co-star David Tennant , Whittaker said she

7605-554: A woman. But you [BBC] just test it. If the audience don't like it then just kill her off. ... Nobody has ever failed by the way, nobody has, it's just how it is." Freema Agyeman , who played Martha Jones between 2007 and 2010, said she was "astounded" by the negative reception from some fans, noting that the show's history of change was key to its strength and longevity. Other former cast members Christopher Eccleston , Sylvester McCoy , Katy Manning , David Tennant , Billie Piper , Karen Gillan and John Barrowman reacted positively to

7800-523: A working relationship with the British contingent of UNIT , an international organisation tasked to investigate and defend the Earth against extraterrestrial threats. It was a partnership initially born out of convenience — the Doctor required facilities to try to repair his TARDIS to break the exile, and UNIT needed his expertise to combat the threats they encountered. There is some disagreement about when

7995-553: Is UNIT scientist Liz Shaw ( Caroline John ), who unceremoniously leaves the Doctor's company between episodes to be replaced by the more wide-eyed Jo Grant ( Katy Manning ), who then continues to accompany the Doctor after he regains use of his TARDIS. His final companion is intrepid journalist Sarah Jane Smith ( Elisabeth Sladen ). After the Doctor was found guilty of breaking the Time Lord laws of non-interference and forced to regenerate, he began his third incarnation in exile on 20th century Earth. The Third Doctor immediately formed

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8190-422: Is a breath of fresh air: a talented, emotionally engaged actress who brings warmth and humanity to a show that was largely in danger of disappearing up its own black hole. From the outset, she proves to be a charismatic presence, righting alien wrongs in the gleaming metropolis of Sheffield (of all places.) Likeable, funny, as brave as a lion, Whittaker's Doctor has ushered in a new era for this 55-year-old show, with

8385-408: Is a self-selected alias. In episodes specifically under showrunner Steven Moffat , the story arcs surrounding events in 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

8580-410: 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

8775-404: 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 ",

8970-444: 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

9165-439: Is incredibly lively, warm, funny, energetic, inclusive – she's the greatest friend you could wish to have as your guide around the universe." In the same article, Whittaker also added that her Doctor "speak[s] at a hundred miles an hour," while actress Mandip Gill who plays companion Yaz Khan, commented that Whittaker's Doctor "has a similar energy to Matt Smith 's Doctor... Very high energy. Jodie has that about her Doctor." In

9360-510: 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

9555-576: Is later revealed to be 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,

9750-521: 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

9945-435: 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

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10140-489: 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),

10335-625: 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

10530-582: 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 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

10725-504: 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;

10920-628: The Brigadier and the rest of the UNIT team. However, as his tenure progressed he had reasons to leave Earth, on occasion being sent on missions by the Time Lords. Eventually, after his defeat of the renegade Omega in The Three Doctors , he was granted complete freedom by the Time Lords in gratitude for saving Gallifrey . The Third Doctor's era introduced adversaries including the Autons,

11115-558: 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

11310-523: The New Year's Day special " Resolution " (2019), her friends encounter a Dalek for the first time when it is awakened by archaeologists in Sheffield. The Dalek is defeated before it can signal a broader Dalek invasion of Earth. In " Spyfall " (2020), the Doctor faces off against the regenerated Master ( Sacha Dhawan ), who reveals that he has destroyed their home planet of Gallifrey in revenge for

11505-562: The TARDIS , frequently with companions . At the end of life, the Doctor regenerates . Consequently, both the physical appearance and personality of the Doctor changes. Preceded in regeneration by the Second Doctor ( Patrick Troughton ), he is followed by the Fourth Doctor ( Tom Baker ). Pertwee portrays the Third Doctor as a dapper man of action, in stark contrast to his wily but less action-orientated predecessors. While previous Doctors' stories had all involved time and space travel, for production reasons Pertwee's stories initially depicted

11700-629: 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

11895-495: The Zygons ". Throughout the revival, the Doctor routinely attempts to change the topic when questioned about being 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

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12090-546: 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

12285-577: The partition of India in " Demons of the Punjab "; preventing a plan to kill millions galaxy-wide as part of a labour protest, in " Kerblam! "; and repelling an alien invasion alongside James VI and I in Jacobean Lancashire, in " The Witchfinders ". In series finale " The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos ", the Doctor is drawn into a second confrontation with the Stenza she faced in Sheffield. In

12480-466: The twelfth series , Whittaker's second series, began production in November 2018. The series premiere aired on 1 January 2020. Whittaker continued on in the role for the thirteenth series . Whittaker and Chibnall stated they would exit the show following the thirteenth series and three specials , which aired through 2022. Chibnall said "Jodie and I made a 'three series and out' pact with each other at

12675-430: The "loss of a role model for boys". Nevertheless, he noted that Whittaker is a "terrific actress" and would do "a wonderful job" in the role. Baker and Davison argued over the casting at the 2017 San Diego Comic-Con. Tom Baker , who portrayed the Fourth Doctor , reacted positively to the news. However, he warned that if the audience were to lose interest, Whittaker should be replaced: "I think it might be quite nice to have

12870-405: The 13th Doctor’s characterisation, Whittaker's performance or both. Merryana Salem of Junkee panned her performance as "constantly fidgety, rambling and flitting about like a primary school teacher with too much caffeine on board in what constantly felt like a weak impersonation of the character". In an article for The Daily Telegraph , Ed Power called Whittaker "talented", but felt her character

13065-418: 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

13260-474: The BBC announced that the portrayer of the Thirteenth Doctor would be revealed after the 2017 Wimbledon Championships men's finals on 16 July 2017. Whittaker was introduced as the Thirteenth Doctor on 16 July and subsequently made her debut in the 2017 Christmas special " Twice Upon a Time" and starring in the eleventh series . On Whittaker's casting, Chibnall said, "I always knew I wanted the Thirteenth Doctor to be

13455-806: The Best Actress Category, at the ITalkTelly Awards in the Best Dramatic Performance category, and she won the Heat Magazine Unmissable Award for actress of the year. In 2019, Whittaker received a Saturn Award nomination for Best Actress on Television for her performance in the eleventh series, making her the third person to receive a Saturn Award nomination for playing the Doctor after Paul McGann and David Tennant . The Doctor (Doctor Who) A number of other actors have played

13650-618: 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

13845-464: 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

14040-425: 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

14235-629: 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

14430-434: The Doctor ", the Eleventh Doctor invokes the phrase when confronting a time portal with the Tenth Doctor, suggesting that they both "reverse the polarity" with their sonic screwdrivers (which merely neutralizes each other's efforts). In " The Girl Who Died ", the Twelfth Doctor tells Clara Oswald he is "Reversing the polarity of the neutron flow", followed by "I bet that means something. It sounds great." Clara herself uses

14625-405: The Doctor ", the Eleventh Doctor tells companion Clara Oswald that the name "Doctor" is essentially a promise he made. The promise itself 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

14820-410: 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

15015-562: 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 ,

15210-547: 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 the initiation on participants: "Some would be inspired, some would run away and some would go mad (as he suggests happened to his nemesis,

15405-400: 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

15600-521: The Doctor gives a partially-converted Cyberman ( Patrick O'Kane ) from the future a compendium containing all knowledge of the fallen Cyber-Empire, in order to save the life of Percy Shelley (Lewis Rainer) and protect human history. The Doctor and her friends pursue the Lone Cyberman to the future and the aftermath of the Cyber-Wars in " Ascension of the Cybermen ", where he has set in motion

15795-487: 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 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

15990-433: 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

16185-472: 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 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

16380-749: The Doctor regenerates overlooking the view from Durdle Door , and finds their new body is the same as an old one (played by David Tennant ). The first book to feature the Thirteenth Doctor was the short story collection Doctor Who: Twelve Angels Weeping by Dave Rudden , released in October 2018. New Series Adventures released three novels starring the Thirteenth Doctor, Graham O'Brien, Ryan Sinclair and Yaz Khan in October/November 2018: The Good Doctor , Molten Heart , and Combat Magicks . A novel targeted at younger readers, The Secret in Vault 13 ,

16575-482: 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

16770-450: The Doctor stranded on Earth in exile, where he worked as a scientific advisor to the international military group UNIT . Within the story, the Third Doctor came into existence as part of a punishment from his own race, the Time Lords, who forced him to regenerate and also disabled his TARDIS. Eventually, this restriction is lifted and the Third Doctor embarks on more traditional time travel and space exploration stories. His initial companion

16965-417: 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

17160-524: 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 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

17355-470: The Doctor whether you like it or not!" In an opinion piece for The Guardian , Baker wrote that he had "never been able to think of any logical reason" why the Doctor could not be a woman, and described himself as "shocked" that some fans of the show were vowing not to watch again due to Whittaker's casting. Conversely, Peter Davison , who portrayed the Fifth Doctor , stated that the casting would mean

17550-578: 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 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

17745-549: The Doctor's forgotten past as a Division agent, returns to take revenge upon her. At the same time, the Flux, a cosmic event that has the power to destroy entire galaxies, rips through the universe, and Sontarans , Daleks, Cybermen, and Weeping Angels begin amassing. Swarm and his sister Azure attempt to trap the universe in a loop where it will be continually destroyed by the Flux, while the Sontarans attempt to survive it by having

17940-498: 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

18135-493: The Doctor's new companion after stowing away in his TARDIS. The Third Doctor's final adventures saw them defeating the Sontarans in medieval England and the Daleks on the planet Exxilon. The Third Doctor contracted radiation poisoning on the planet Metebelis 3, during the events of Planet of the Spiders . When the TARDIS brought him back to UNIT headquarters, he collapsed, regenerating into the Fourth Doctor . The Third Doctor

18330-399: 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

18525-431: 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

18720-428: 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

18915-460: The Flux. The crisis concludes with Dan joining the Doctor and Yaz as a full-time companion, but the Doctor is troubled by a warning that her end is nearing. In " Legend of the Sea Devils " (2022), Yaz confesses to the Doctor that she holds romantic feelings for her, which the Doctor acknowledges but discourages Yaz from acting on, as it will only lead to heartbreak. In " The Power of the Doctor ",

19110-509: 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

19305-569: 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

19500-487: 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 the Armageddon Factor , it is revealed that the Doctor scraped through the academy with 51% on his second attempt. In The Time Meddler , it

19695-524: The Master and an even older enemy — the Daleks . Although the Master was a criminal genius, the Doctor was always able to outwit him in all his schemes. Whilst facing the ecological destruction wrought by Global Chemicals and the super computer BOSS, Jo met and fell in love with Dr. Clifford Jones. Marrying Jones and following him to the Amazon on an expedition, Jo left a saddened Doctor. The fiercely independent investigative journalist Sarah Jane Smith became

19890-511: The Master returns alongside his CyberMasters in an alliance with the Daleks to eliminate the Doctor once and for all by stealing her body through a forced regeneration. Although defeated narrowly by Yaz and some of the Doctor's friends and past companions, the Master is able to land a fatal laser attack on the Doctor. When her regeneration process starts, she chooses to spend some quality time with Yaz before parting ways with her one last time. Alone,

20085-615: The Master, Omega, the Sontarans , the Silurians and the Sea Devils . The Daleks returned after a five-year absence about halfway through Pertwee's run. The Third Doctor was the only one from the classic series not to have a story featuring the Cybermen (although they were seen briefly in The Mind of Evil and Carnival of Monsters ), but he did eventually encounter them during " The Five Doctors ". A catchphrase devised during

20280-581: The New Year's Day special " Revolution of the Daleks " (2021), and with his help the TARDIS crew prevent an attempted takeover of Earth by clones of the Dalek discovered in Sheffield. Following this adventure, Jack, Ryan, and Graham choose to stay behind on Earth, leaving Yaz as the Doctor's sole travelling companion. In Series 13 (2021), titled "Flux", the Doctor and Yaz are joined by new companion Dan Lewis ( John Bishop ) as Swarm ( Sam Spruell ), an enemy from

20475-486: The Seventh Doctor replies that he does not know. In the 1996 television movie , 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

20670-584: The Seventh Doctor, the reunion with the Thirteenth Doctor encouraging Ace to reconsider her relationship with the Doctor. Doctor Who: The Runaway is a VR game released for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive in 2019, and via Steam in 2020. In July 2024, Big Finish Productions announced that Whittaker would reprise her role as the Doctor for a series of audio dramas, alongside Gill returning as Yaz. The Thirteenth Doctor Adventures will start in July 2025 and run for twelve episodes. Fan reaction to Whittaker's casting

20865-516: 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

21060-534: The Third Doctor encountered his greatest nemesis (next to the Daleks) — the Master . A renegade Time Lord, the Master plagued the Third Doctor with his diabolical schemes, including the summoning of an ancient Dæmon, and unleashing the terrifyingly powerful Kronos, a Chronovore. The Doctor's exile continued until it was lifted by the Time Lords after he helped save them from destruction at the hands of Omega. The Third Doctor, free to roam space and time again, soon ran into

21255-421: The Third Doctor genuinely cared for his companions in a paternal fashion, and even held a thinly veiled but grudging admiration for his nemesis, the Master , and for UNIT's leader, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart , with whom he eventually became friends. In fact, even when his much-resented exile was lifted, the moral and dashing Third Doctor continued to help UNIT protect the Earth from all manner of alien threats,

21450-621: The Third Doctor titled The Third Doctor Adventures , with Tim Treloar voicing the role. Visions of the Third Doctor appear in The Brain of Morbius , Mawdryn Undead , and Resurrection of the Daleks . A portrait of him is seen in Timelash . A brief clip of the Third Doctor taken from Terror of the Autons appears in " The Next Doctor ", another appears in The Sarah Jane Adventures serial The Mad Woman in

21645-416: The Third Doctor's UNIT stories were set, with some evidence that they were contemporary stories set at the same time they were broadcast (the early 70s), and some evidence that they were set in the near future. According to the production team, there was an intention to set the stories in the near future, but the writers did not always remember this and set the stories in the present. The Doctor also developed

21840-409: The Third Doctor's era was "reverse the polarity of the neutron flow". Terrance Dicks recalls that he had used the line in a script, and Pertwee approached him about the line. Knowing that Pertwee struggled with technobabble in the role, Dicks had feared that he would have to remove the line, but Pertwee stated that he found it manageable and wanted to see it more often. The Third Doctor only said

22035-474: 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

22230-431: The Thirteenth Doctor is questioned how she copes with 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

22425-618: The Time Lords having lied to them about their species' origins, concerning a story of the "Timeless Child". In " Fugitive of the Judoon ", the Doctor learns her former companion Jack Harkness ( John Barrowman ) has sent her a warning – "Do not give the Lone Cyberman what it wants" – just as she was encountering a past incarnation of herself (played by Jo Martin ), that she has no recollection of being. The Doctor ignores Jack's warning in " The Haunting of Villa Diodati ", when

22620-399: 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 " 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

22815-490: 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

23010-454: The Twelfth Doctor rejects that he could be a hybrid of human and Time Lord ("Hell Bent"). The Doctor mentions having had 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

23205-425: 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

23400-500: 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

23595-418: The alias "Dr. Bowman" in the 1996 Doctor Who television movie . Third Doctor The Third Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor , the protagonist of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who . He was portrayed by actor Jon Pertwee . Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-old alien Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey who travels in time and space in

23790-482: The announcement of Whittaker's casting, fans and scholars discussed the possibility of a female Doctor and analysed the benefits of such a regeneration. When referring to whether the new Doctor would be a woman, incoming Doctor Who showrunner Chris Chibnall originally was quoted in February 2017, as saying, "Nothing is ruled out but I don't want the casting to be a gimmick and that's all I can say". On 14 July 2017,

23985-500: 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 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

24180-429: 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

24375-412: 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

24570-480: 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

24765-419: The character was known as Missy, short for "Mistress". The tenth series finale, " World Enough and Time " / " The Doctor Falls ", addresses cross-gender regeneration several times; the Doctor tells his companion Bill Potts ( Pearl Mackie ) that Missy was "his first man-crush", and adds that he is only "fairly sure" he himself was male at the time, although the remark may have been flippant. Two years prior to

24960-492: 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

25155-490: The clip in which the casting of Whittaker was announced, she wears a grey overcoat over a black hoodie . The first images of Whittaker's official costume as the Doctor were released to the media on 9 November 2017. The Thirteenth Doctor's costume features blue high-waisted culottes with yellow braces , a navy blue t-shirt with a rainbow stripe across it, a lilac-blue trenchcoat with a hood, brown lace-up boots, blue socks and piercings on her left ear. Some fans noted that

25350-522: The colour scheme changed from story to story, though the basic look was maintained. In his first episode, when the Doctor evades capture by taking a shower, a tattoo of a serpent can be seen on his arm. Whereas Pertwee obtained it during his service in the Royal Navy , an in-universe reason for it was eventually provided in the New Adventures novel Christmas on a Rational Planet as being

25545-478: The combined matter of the Daleks' and Cybermen's fleets absorb and stop the Flux. An alien race called the Lupari, meanwhile, defend the Earth from the Flux. The Doctor manages to split herself into three temporal entities, one letting herself be tortured by Swarm at Division, while the other two sabotage the Sontarans' plan so that they are destroyed with the Daleks and the Cybermen, before the Doctor safely redirects

25740-597: The decision as "the difference between tolerating modernity and embodying it". Williams compared the casting of a female Doctor to other examples of the show breaking "cultural taboo[s]", mentioning companions Captain Jack Harkness ( John Barrowman ) and Bill Potts ( Pearl Mackie ) as examples of the show's diversity. The world we live in has a history of male domination, of stereotyping, of resistance to change, of playing it safe. Doctor Who has never been about that. The Doctor in all his incarnations has always been

25935-473: 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 the academy and his affiliation with the notoriously devious Prydonian chapter of Time Lords. In " The Sound of Drums ",

26130-543: 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 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

26325-491: 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

26520-416: 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

26715-523: The end of life, the Doctor regenerates ; as a result, the physical appearance and personality of the Doctor change. Whittaker's incarnation is a light-hearted adventurer with a passion for building things, placing a high value on friendships and striving for non-violent solutions. Preceded in regeneration by the Twelfth Doctor ( Peter Capaldi ), she is followed by the Fourteenth Doctor ( David Tennant ). This incarnation's first companions were

26910-470: The end of the production run, by Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor ). In 1993, he played the role again for the 30th Anniversary charity special Dimensions in Time , and in the audio drama The Paradise of Death . Months before his death, he played the Doctor for the final time in the audio drama The Ghosts of N-Space . From 2015, Big Finish had produced a new series of audio drama adventures featuring

27105-431: 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

27300-494: The extent of a brawl, in keeping with the Doctor's non-violent nature. He only used his fighting skills if he had no alternative, and even then generally disarmed his opponents rather than knocking them unconscious. Indeed, his martial prowess was such that a single, sudden strike was usually enough to halt whatever threatened him, and at one point he reminded Captain Yates of UNIT (physically as well as verbally) that Yates would have

27495-459: The feeling." In " The Doctor's Daughter ", when discussing the topic of parenthood, 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

27690-399: The first four seasons of Pertwee's tenure would later be used again, in modified form, as the logo for the 1996 Doctor Who TV movie . This version subsequently became the official Doctor Who logo, most notably with regards to products connected to the Eighth Doctor . With the introduction of a new official series logo in 2005, the 1996 logo continued to be used by Big Finish Productions as

27885-412: The flamboyant image stuck with producer Barry Letts . Through the first two seasons, he wore a flowing, crimson-lined cape over a black velvet smoking jacket and a ruffled shirt with a variety of neckties such as jabots , bow ties or cravats . Beginning in the 1971 season, when the look was refashioned by Ken Trew, Pertwee wore a red jacket and a cloak with purple lining. In the final two seasons,

28080-512: The full phrase "reverse the polarity of the neutron flow" twice on screen – in The Sea Devils (1972) and the 20th Anniversary special " The Five Doctors " (1983), with numerous other examples of "reverse the polarity" and earlier instances of "fusing the control of the neutron flow" and "change the polarity". Pertwee used the phrase when he acted in the stage play Doctor Who – The Ultimate Adventure in 1989. When Colin Baker took over

28275-442: The inside" – time machine : the TARDIS . This time machine, whose name is an acronym for Time And Relative Dimension(s) In Space , takes 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"

28470-469: 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

28665-423: The logo for all pre-2005 series material including books and audio dramas, and by the BBC on DVD releases of episodes from the 1963–89 series, books and audio. The Third Doctor appeared again in the 20th anniversary special " The Five Doctors ", broadcast in 1983. A stage play, Doctor Who – The Ultimate Adventure , was produced in 1989, starring Jon Pertwee (occasionally replaced by an understudy then later, until

28860-415: 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

29055-517: 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 the Doctor is revealed as " the Other ", a mysterious figure in Gallifreyan lore who co-founded Time Lord society with Rassilon and Omega . After

29250-471: 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 ",

29445-604: 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 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

29640-696: 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

29835-411: 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"

30030-632: The neutrons ). The full phrase was used in several Target novelisations. It was subsequently used by the Fourth Doctor (in City of Death ) and the Fifth Doctor (in Castrovalva and Mawdryn Undead ). Together with "The Five Doctors", this resulted in the phrase being used as a nostalgic reference. In the Tenth Doctor episode " The Lazarus Experiment ", the Doctor, while hiding in Lazarus' machine, comments that it had taken him too long to reverse

30225-612: The news. Whittaker received positive reviews for her portrayal in the eleventh series. Ed Power of The Independent applauded her introduction in " The Woman Who Fell to Earth ", commenting "Whittaker is a force of breezy nature – rambunctious, quirky but with a reassuring familiar aura of Gallifreyan uncanniness." Adding upon this he stated "still, she's soon in her stride with a turn that swerves satisfyingly between whimsical and tom-boyish." Morgan Jeffery of Digital Spy called her debut performance "terrific" and "fizzling with energy". Ben Lawrence of The Telegraph commented "Whittaker

30420-521: 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

30615-525: The outfit had similarities to earlier Doctors' costumes, with others comparing it to Robin Williams ' costume in the American sitcom Mork & Mindy . Whittaker stated that she worked with the show's costume designer Ray Holman (who had also worked before with Whittaker on Broadchurch ) to come up with her outfit, inspired by a photograph that she had found online. The photograph had been published in

30810-424: The phrase, saying she "reversed the polarity" of a mind-wiping device to prevent the Doctor from erasing her memories of him from her mind (" Hell Bent "). In " It Takes You Away ", Yaz Khan suggests that the Thirteenth Doctor reverse the polarity on the sonic screwdriver in order to (successfully) open a locked inter-universe portal. The original title sequence for the Third Doctor's seasons introduced colour and

31005-521: 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

31200-548: The polarity due to being out of practice. The Tenth Doctor uses the full phrase in " Music of the Spheres ". During the episode " The Almost People ", a clone of the Eleventh Doctor speaks the phrase while reliving the memories of all his predecessors. He goes on to conflate it with his regeneration-spanning love of jelly babies , remarking that they need to "reverse the jelly baby of the neutron flow". In " The Day of

31395-400: 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

31590-542: 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

31785-403: The role in the play he amended the line to "Reverse the linearity of the proton flow." In the radio play The Paradise of Death , the Brigadier asks "Reverse the polarity of the neutron flow?" and the Doctor proceeds to explain that the phrase is meaningless (though in reality neutrons can be polarized by a magnetic field, such that reversing the magnetic field's direction reverses the polarity of

31980-487: 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

32175-546: The scripts, characterisation, and the additions to previously established lore concerning the Doctor's origins in the episode " The Timeless Children ". For the 23rd Satellite Awards , Whittaker received a nomination for Best Actress in a Series, Drama/Genre . Whittaker was also nominated at the National Television Awards in the Best Dramatic Performance category, in the TV Choice Awards in

32370-442: The show after the tenth series ; he was set to be replaced by new showrunner, Chris Chibnall . Peter Capaldi confirmed a year later that the tenth series would be his last as well. Following this news, several media reports and bookmakers had speculated as to who would replace Capaldi as the Thirteenth Doctor. Bookmakers' favourites included Ben Whishaw , Phoebe Waller-Bridge , Kris Marshall , and Tilda Swinton . The concept of

32565-436: 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

32760-467: 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

32955-513: 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

33150-485: 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 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

33345-483: The start of this once-in-a-lifetime blast. So now our shift is done, and we're handing back the Tardis keys. Jodie's magnificent, iconic Doctor has exceeded all our high expectations." She was succeeded by Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor . Interviewed by Radio Times , Chibnall described the Thirteenth Doctor as "absolutely the Doctor, but there's a new calibration, a new mixture of Doctorishness. The Thirteenth Doctor

33540-469: 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

33735-421: 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

33930-516: 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 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,

34125-460: The transmission of Colin Baker 's final season as the Sixth Doctor, series creator, Sydney Newman , wrote to BBC Controller, Michael Grade , with a suggestion that "at a later stage, Doctor Who should be metamorphosed into a woman". Dawn French , Joanna Lumley , and Frances de la Tour , were suggested by Newman in 1986 for the role, but were dismissed by the BBC. Lumley later appeared as

34320-629: The trio of dyspraxic part-time warehouse worker Ryan Sinclair ( Tosin Cole ), his step-grandfather and retired bus driver Graham O'Brien ( Bradley Walsh ), and probationary police officer Yasmin "Yaz" Khan ( Mandip Gill ), all of whom she met shortly after her regeneration; after splitting up with the first two, she travels with Yaz and food bank volunteer Dan Lewis ( John Bishop ). She also had one-episode reunions with former companions Captain Jack Harkness ( John Barrowman ), Tegan Jovanka ( Janet Fielding ), and Ace ( Sophie Aldred ). In January 2016, Steven Moffat announced that he would leave

34515-493: 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

34710-426: The warlike Stenza race. The Doctor builds a device to return her to the TARDIS, but accidentally teleports her new friends with her; the group help retrieve the TARDIS on an alien world in " The Ghost Monument ". After a trip to segregation-era Alabama in " Rosa ", Graham, Ryan, and Yaz agree to being full-time companions in " Arachnids in the UK ". Subsequent trips include visiting Yaz's grandmother in 1947; witnessing

34905-498: Was "let down by poorly-thought-out, at times nonsensical, plotlines". Both Bleeding Cool ' s Adi Tantimedh and The Escapist ' s Darren Mooney criticised the Thirteen Doctor for doing little to combat social and political injustices as if "afraid of challenging the status quo". Other aspects of Whittaker's tenure have been considered divisive, with praise for the series' improved production values, but criticism for

35100-746: 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 , 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

35295-703: 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 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

35490-426: Was a suave, dapper, technologically orientated and authoritative man of action who practised Venusian Aikido . A keen scientist, he maintained a laboratory at UNIT where he enjoyed working on gadgets in his TARDIS. In his spare time, he was fond of motoring, handling all manner of vehicles. His favourite car was a canary-yellow vintage roadster that he nicknamed "Bessie", a machine which featured such modifications as

35685-412: Was an extension of the "howlround" kaleidoscopic patterns used for the previous Doctors. It features red, black then green flaming hands, then shows Jon Pertwee's face followed by a series of swirling lines to represent the time vortex. As the vortex turns red it speeds up only to start reversing, and in some cases it is seen turning pink and yellow. In the Third Doctor's final season, a new title sequence

35880-470: 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 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

36075-449: Was didn't grow up watching Doctor Who and had decided against watching it to prepare for the role, saying: "I started to watch a bit during my audition process and I quickly decided that was not the way for me...It just made me panic...[Chibnall] said to me, 'you're not coming in and playing the Doctor, you're playing the truth of the scene and the Doctor will come out of that'... so, that's what I did." In November 2018, BBC confirmed that

36270-422: 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

36465-470: Was introduced using a full-body picture of Pertwee, designed by Bernard Lodge. Partially inspired by the slit-scan hyperspace sequence in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey , one portion of this sequence is the prototype for the time tunnel sequence of the Fourth Doctor's seasons. The Third Doctor's final season also introduced the diamond logo which would remain in use until 1980 and be revived in 2022. The series logo introduced in 1970 and used for

36660-437: Was largely positive, although "a sizeable minority protested that the Doctor shouldn't be played by a woman." Some said that a female Doctor would be a good role model for young girls, while others felt the Doctor was only ever meant to be male, or criticised the casting as an exercise in political correctness . During the Doctor Who panel at the 2017 San Diego Comic-Con , outgoing showrunner Steven Moffat denied there had been

36855-489: Was occasionally sent on covert missions by the Time Lords, where he would often act as a reluctant mediator. Even though he developed a fondness for Earthlings with whom he worked (such as Liz Shaw and Jo Grant ), he jumped at any chance to return to the stars. Though he had a somewhat patrician and authoritarian air, he was quick to criticise authority, and often exclaimed "Now listen to me!" when dealing with people seeking to obstruct him. Despite his occasional arrogance,

37050-418: Was pre-determined from his hidden previous life. The Doctor stole a TARDIS with his granddaughter Susan from 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

37245-440: Was published that November by BBC Children's Books. The Thirteenth Doctor cameos in Tom Baker's and James Goss' 2019 Doctor Who novel Scratchman. At Childhood's End, published in February 2020 is written by Sophie Aldred , who previously played the Seventh Doctor 's companion Ace , and features an adult Ace reuniting with the Thirteenth Doctor to investigate a threat that links to the circumstances that prompted Ace to leave

37440-404: 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

37635-530: Was seeded throughout Moffat's tenure as showrunner. Just after regenerating, the Eleventh Doctor exclaims "I'm a girl?" In the 2011 episode, " The Doctor's Wife ", the Doctor recalls a Time Lord acquaintance known as the Corsair, who had at least two female incarnations. In the 2013 short, " The Night of the Doctor ", the Sisterhood of Karn offer a dying Eighth Doctor ( Paul McGann ) control over his inevitable regeneration, with "man or woman" being touted as possibilities. The first on-screen cross-gender regeneration

37830-456: Was shown in the 2015 episode, " Hell Bent ", in which a white male Gallifreyan general ( Ken Bones ) regenerates into a black woman ( T'Nia Miller ), who states that her previous incarnation was the only time she had been a man. The most notable Time Lord to have appeared in both male and female forms prior to Whittaker's casting is the Doctor's nemesis, the Master , portrayed from 2014 to 2017 by Scottish actress, Michelle Gomez . This version of

38025-441: Was studied and replicated by her adopted mother, whose people used it to build the Time Lord empire. The Time Lords then forced her to work for them as an agent of the secretive "Division" for many years before erasing her memories. The Doctor defeats the Master's plan to conquer the universe with a new race of "CyberMaster" Cybermen-Time Lord hybrids, but is then arrested by the Judoon . She is broken out of prison by Jack Harkness in

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