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 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 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 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 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 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 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": 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", 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", 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 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 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 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" 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; 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 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 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 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 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.
Alias "The Doctor" 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 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 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 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), 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 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 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 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 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 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 the alias "Dr. Bowman" in the 1996
Doctor Who television movie. In
The Wheel in Space (1968), his companion
Jamie McCrimmon, reading the name on medical equipment, tells the crew of the Wheel that the Doctor's name is "John Smith". The Doctor subsequently adopts this alias numerous times over the course of the programme, sometimes prefixing the title "Doctor" to it. He also calls himself "Doctor John Smith" when pressed for a name by a German officer in
The War Games (1969). In the audio adventure,
The Sirens of Time (1999), when the Fifth Doctor is asked his name, this conversation ensues: "I'm the Doctor." "Doctor? That's a profession, not a name." "It's all I have." To his greatest enemies, the
Daleks, the Doctor is known as the
Ka Faraq Gatri, the "Enemy of the Daleks", the "Bringer of Darkness", or "Destroyer of Worlds". This is first mentioned in the 1990 novelisation of
Remembrance of the Daleks by
Ben Aaronovitch and subsequently taken up in the spin-off media, particularly the
Virgin New Adventures books and the
Doctor Who Magazine comic strip.
Davros uses the title "Destroyer of Worlds" to describe the Doctor in "
Journey's End" (2008). In the Virgin New Adventures novel
Love and War, the Doctor is referred to as "The Oncoming Storm" by the
Draconians (whose word for it is "Karshtakavaar"); according to the episode "
The Parting of the Ways" (2005), the same title is used by the Daleks. The Doctor refers to himself as "The Oncoming Storm" in "
The Lodger" (2010). In "
Asylum of the Daleks" (2012), it is stated that Daleks refer to the Doctor as "The Predator". The Virgin New Adventure
Zamper (1995) establishes that the Chelonians refer to him as "Interfering Idiot." The programme has occasionally toyed with the Doctor's identity (or lack thereof). In the first part of
The Mysterious Planet (1986), the Doctor suggests writing a thesis on "Ancient Life on Ravolox, by Doctor...", but is interrupted by his companion
Peri. In
The Armageddon Factor, the Time Lord Drax addresses the
Fourth Doctor as "Thete", short for "Theta Sigma". Later, in
The Happiness Patrol (1988), this was clarified as a nickname from the Doctor's university days; he is called by this name again in the Paul Cornell novel
Goth Opera. In
Remembrance of the Daleks, the Seventh Doctor produces a calling card with a series of pseudo-
Greek letters inscribed on it (as well as a stylised question mark). This may be a reference to
The Making of Doctor Who (1972), by
Terrance Dicks and
Malcolm Hulke, which claims that the Doctor's true name is a string of Greek letters and mathematical symbols. The question mark motif was common throughout the 1980s, in part as a branding attempt. Beginning with season eighteen, the
Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and
Seventh Doctors all sported costumes with a red question mark motif (usually on the shirt collars, except for the Seventh Doctor — it appeared on his pullover and in the shape of his umbrella handle). In the 1978 serial
The Invasion of Time, the Fourth Doctor is asked to sign a document; although the signature itself is not directly seen on screen, his hand movements clearly indicate that he signs it with a question mark. A similar scene occurs with the Seventh Doctor in
Remembrance of the Daleks. On-screen credits In the early years of the franchise, the character was credited as "Doctor Who" or "Dr Who", up to the final story of
season 18,
Logopolis (1981), which was the last story featuring
Tom Baker as the then-incumbent Fourth Doctor. Beginning with the debut of
Peter Davison as the
Fifth Doctor in
Castrovalva (1982), the character was credited as "The Doctor", which he had always been called in-universe since the tenure of William Hartnell. This credit remained from
season 19 to
season 26. In the
television movie, the trend was continued, with
Paul McGann's debuting
Eighth Doctor credited as "The Doctor" and
Sylvester McCoy's out-going
Seventh Doctor as "The Old Doctor". The 2005 resurrection of the programme credited
Christopher Eccleston — playing the
Ninth Doctor — as "Doctor Who" again in
series 1. "
The Parting of the Ways", featuring the Ninth Doctor's regeneration into the Tenth Doctor (
David Tennant), credits Tennant as "Doctor Who". The credit reverted to "The Doctor" for 2005's Christmas special "
The Christmas Invasion" and all subsequent stories at Tennant's request. All subsequent actors to portray the role have continued to be credited as "The Doctor".
John Hurt plays a mysterious past incarnation of the Doctor in the 50th anniversary special "
The Day of the Doctor", with minor roles in "
The Name of the Doctor" and mini-episode "
The Night of the Doctor", created as a "mayfly Doctor" by
Steven Moffat. In the television episodes, he is credited as "The Doctor", but he is introduced as "The War Doctor" in "The Night of the Doctor". The end of "The Name of the Doctor" closes with text superimposed over footage of Hurt introducing him, pictured to the left, which was unprecedented for the show. In "The Day of the Doctor", Hurt appears in a "multi-Doctor" special alongside
Matt Smith and David Tennant as the
Eleventh and
Tenth Doctors, respectively. The three are collectively credited as "The Doctor" alongside Christopher Eccleston, Paul McGann, Sylvester McCoy,
Colin Baker, Peter Davison, Tom Baker,
Jon Pertwee,
Patrick Troughton and William Hartnell (although the latter nine appeared only through the reuse of archive footage). Tom Baker also appears in an uncredited part as "the Curator", an ambiguously different character who resembles the Fourth Doctor. A voice actor, John Guilor, recorded a line of audio impersonating the
First Doctor, for which he was credited as "Voice Over Artist". In other multi-Doctor stories, the multiple actors are all credited as "The Doctor", the exception being
The Three Doctors (1972–1973), which credited William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee as "Doctor Who" as the 1972 serial preceded the practice of crediting the character as "The Doctor". In "
Human Nature" (2007), the plot involves the Tenth Doctor altering his biology and becoming a human to avoid detection. As a human, he takes the name "John Smith". David Tennant is credited as "The Doctor/Smith" for the episode, although the two-parter's concluding episode, "
The Family of Blood" (2007), credits him simply as "The Doctor". ==Changing faces== The recasting of actors playing the part of the Doctor is explained within the programme by the
Time Lords' ability to
regenerate after suffering illness, mortal injury or old age. The process repairs all damage and rejuvenates the Doctor's body, but as a side effect it changes the Doctor's physical appearance and personality. This ability was not introduced until producers had to find a way to replace the ailing
William Hartnell with
Patrick Troughton and was not explicitly called "regeneration" until the third such instance, at the climax of
Planet of the Spiders (1974). On screen, the transformation from Hartnell to Troughton was called a "renewal" and from Troughton to Pertwee a "change of appearance". The original concept of regeneration or renewal was that the Doctor's body would rebuild itself in a younger, healthier form. The Second Doctor was intended to be a literally younger version of the First; biological time would turn back, and several hundred years would get taken off the Doctor's age, rejuvenating him. In practice, however, since the Doctor stated his age in the Second Doctor serial
The Tomb of the Cybermen (1967), his age has been recorded progressively (see
below). On most occasions, regeneration has seen a younger actor assume the role of the Doctor; the only exceptions to this are the introductions of the
Third,
Sixth,
Twelfth and
Fourteenth Doctors, although
Steven Moffat initially intended to cast an actor in his mid-30s to 40s for the role of the
Eleventh Doctor. The 60th anniversary special episode "
The Giggle" introduced a new twist on the regeneration concept called bi-generation, whereby a new Time Lord incarnation can be created by a new body emerging from and splitting off from the body of a previous incarnation. In the episode, the
Fourteenth Doctor (David Tennant) underwent a bi-generation after being shot with UNIT's galvanic beam by
the Toymaker (
Neil Patrick Harris), leading to the
Fifteenth Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) effectively being birthed from his previous incarnation, while also allowing the previous incarnation to retain his physical form and exist independently, allowing him to settle down with
Donna Noble, his best friend.
Actors The actors who have played the lead role of the Doctor to date in the programme, and the dates of their first and last regular television appearances in the role, are: In addition to the above-listed actors, others have played versions of the Doctor for the duration of particular storylines. Notably, John Hurt guest starred as the
War Doctor in the closing moments of the 2013 episode "The Name of the Doctor", the
webcast "The Night of the Doctor" and the 50th Anniversary episode "The Day of the Doctor". The War Doctor exists between those of McGann and Eccleston. Hurt was never the programme's lead actor; his Doctor was
retroactively inserted into continuity for the programme's 50th anniversary, and was written so as not to disturb the ordinal naming of the established Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Doctors. In the 1986 serial
The Trial of a Time Lord,
Michael Jayston played the
Valeyard, an amalgamation of the Doctor's darker sides from between his twelfth and final incarnations. In the Series 12 episode "
Fugitive of the Judoon",
Jo Martin played a previously
unknown incarnation of the Doctor, later confirmed to precede the First Doctor. The capacity for the Doctor to have other previously unknown regenerations prior to the First Doctor was introduced in "The Timeless Children" (2020), having previously been hinted at in the 1976 serial
The Brain of Morbius. In that serial, we see images of eight previously unseen faces, intended to represent incarnations preceding the
First Doctor. The Doctor's previous faces are portrayed by members of the
Doctor Who crew who worked on this serial or the following serial,
The Seeds of Doom: production unit manager
George Gallaccio, script editor
Robert Holmes, production assistant
Graeme Harper, director
Douglas Camfield, producer
Philip Hinchcliffe, production assistant Christopher Baker, writer
Robert Banks Stewart, and director
Christopher Barry. Hinchcliffe stated, "We tried to get famous actors for the faces of the Doctor. But because no one would volunteer, we had to use backroom boys. And it is true to say that I attempted to imply that
William Hartnell was not the first Doctor". As William Hartnell had died in 1975, two other actors reprised the First Doctor in later years.
Richard Hurndall appeared as the First Doctor in "
The Five Doctors" (1983).
David Bradley played that incarnation in three episodes, including "
Twice Upon a Time" (2017) and "
The Power of the Doctor" (2022), helping the Twelfth Doctor and Thirteenth Doctor, respectively, regenerate into their next incarnations. At the conclusion of "
The Reality War" (2025), the
Fifteenth Doctor ostensibly regenerated into a form played by
Billie Piper, who had previously played companion
Rose Tyler. Piper's official role remains undisclosed, with her character not identified in the episode's closing credits, which only stated "Introducing Billie Piper", though some sources have speculated that she could possibly be the sixteenth incarnation of the Doctor. and "the man who can turn an army around at the mention of his name". Though the Doctor tends to present a jocular, even childlike, persona, when the stakes rise—e.g., in
Pyramids of Mars (1975)—that mask tends to fall, revealing a Doctor who is cold, driven, at times callous. This dark side sits in contrast to the Doctor's deep compassion, which manifests to different strength and effect across their incarnations. The Doctor prefers a
pacifist solution to most problems, and is an ardent champion of life and dignity over violence and war. Their pacifism runs deeply enough to, on many occasions, doubt the morality of destroying their worst enemies - the
Daleks. Their compassion for their fallen friend, the Master, often runs against clear reason or self-interest, as when they urge a dying Master to regenerate ("
Last of the Time Lords") or vows to watch over them for 1,000 years in order to avert their execution ("
Extremis"). The Doctor has a deep sense of right and wrong, and a conviction that it is right to intervene when injustice occurs, which sets them apart from their own people, the Time Lords, and their strict ethic of non-intervention. Often the Doctor is critical of others who employ deadly force, be they their companions (
Leela in
The Face of Evil and
The Talons of Weng-Chiang (1977);
Jack Harkness in "
Utopia" (2007)) or other supporting characters. In the episode "
The Lodger" (2010), a member of the Doctor's football team offhandedly mentions annihilating the team they will play next week. The Doctor looks very angry and says, "No violence, not while I'm around, not today, not ever. I'm the Doctor, the oncoming storm... and you basically meant beat them in a football match, didn't you?" The Doctor has a particular dislike for ranged weapons such as firearms or
rayguns and tends to make a special effort to avoid their use. The Tenth Doctor especially makes a show of his distaste, discarding guns while declaring "I never would!" ("
The Doctor's Daughter") and asserting that he is unarmed: "That's me. Always." ("
Doomsday"). On some rare occasions, the Doctor does make use of weapons (as in
Day of the Daleks,
The Talons of Weng Chiang, and
Resurrection of the Daleks), but most of the time it is usually to bluff or employ for an alternative use, e.g., destroying a machine vital to their enemies' scheme ("
The End of Time"). Nonetheless, when brought to an extreme (e.g.,
Earthshock, Vengeance on Varos, "
The Christmas Invasion") the Doctor may resort to violence—even deadly force—to protect those considered under the Doctor's care. In
Remembrance of the Daleks (1988), the Doctor even contrives for the Daleks' homeworld,
Skaro, to be destroyed, albeit manipulating the Daleks into doing it themselves after he sabotaged their equipment. Starting with the 2005 revival, the Doctor carries the weight of a
Time War between the Daleks and his people, the Time Lords, in which he believes himself responsible for the genocide of both races, in aid of the greater good, but this burden was lessened after "
The Day of the Doctor" revealed that the Doctor's thirteen incarnations joined forces to save Gallifrey and create the illusion of its destruction. Bearing the strain of his wartime actions, the
Ninth Doctor deliberately tortures a lone Dalek he encounters ("
Dalek"), despite its pleas to "have pity", stating coldly, "You never did". The
Tenth Doctor notably declares a "one chance only" policy when dealing with aliens invading the Earth, leading his companion
Donna Noble to comment that he needs "someone" to keep his temperament in check. In "
The Family of Blood" (2007), a defeated alien reflects that the Doctor "never raised his voice – that was the worst thing, the fury of a Time Lord". Through the course of his adventures, the
Eleventh Doctor underwent significant personality shifts, becoming ever more ruthless when travelling alone; falling into a deep depression and inertia when his friends
Amy and
Rory were lost to him, and finally undergoing a manic change at the prospect that Clara "Oswin" Oswald was still alive. By contrast, the
Twelfth Doctor became a lighter person over the course of his life, beginning with a grim mood where he may have dropped a man out of a hot air balloon and questioning his own nature ("
Into the Dalek") but ending with a firm resolve that he would take the hard option just because it was right ("
The Doctor Falls").
Accent Different actors have used different
regional accents in the role. The first six Doctors spoke in
Received Pronunciation or "BBC English", as was standard on British television at the time. Sylvester McCoy used a very mild version of his own
Scottish accent in the role, and
Paul McGann spoke with a faint
Liverpudlian lilt. Only rarely is this even addressed in the programme. In the case of
McGann's Doctor, who is identified by American characters as "British", he seems only slightly conscious of the way he sounds, responding with "Yes, I suppose I am." When the accent of Eccleston's Doctor is clearly described as "
Northern", he responds with the line "Lots of planets have a North." Capaldi's portrayal of the Doctor explicitly identified his own accent as "
Scottish" after commenting on the English accents of his friends,
Jenny Flint and Clara Oswald, while experiencing post-regeneration
amnesia ("
Deep Breath"). Whittaker's Thirteenth Doctor speaks with the actress' natural Yorkshire accent and is identified as British during a trip to America. The Fifteenth Doctor also speaks with the actor's natural Scottish-Rwandan accent. Another example is in
The Tomb of the Cybermen when the Doctor is identified as "English" and, dissembling, plays along. Though David Tennant speaks with a natural Scottish accent, he played the
Tenth Doctor with an
Estuary English accent (apart from when, in the
Highlands-set episode "
Tooth and Claw", the character is pretending to be a local). According to producer
Russell T Davies, this was intended as a consequence of spending so much time with Rose. "The Christmas Invasion" would have alluded to this, but the line was cut. Davies also said that after Eccleston's accent, he did not want Tennant "touring the regions" with a Scottish one, and so asked Tennant to affect the same accent he used for the earlier BBC period drama
Casanova. In contrast,
Peter Capaldi was explicitly allowed to continue using his native Scottish accent as the
Twelfth Doctor. In the
Big Finish audio adventure
The Sirens of Time, the captain aboard a German U-boat assumes that he is English because of the way he pronounces his words: "So, you speak German ... but you speak it like an English gentleman."
Clothing The Doctor's clothing has been equally distinctive, from the distinguished
Edwardian suits of the First Doctor to the Second Doctor's rumpled, clown-like
Chaplinesque attire to the dandyish frills and velvet of the Third Doctor's era. The Fourth Doctor's long frock coat, loose-fitting trousers, occasionally worn a wide-brimmed hat and trailing, multi-striped scarf added to his somewhat shambolic and bohemian image; the Fifth's Edwardian
cricketer's outfit suited his youthful, aristocratic air as well as his love of the sport (with a stick of
celery on the lapel for an eccentric touch, though in
The Caves of Androzani (1984), it is revealed to turn purple when exposed to gases the Doctor is allergic to); and the Sixth's multicoloured jacket, with its cat-shaped lapel pins, reflected the excesses of 1980s fashion. The Seventh Doctor's outfit – a Panama hat, a coat with a scarf, a tie, checked trousers and brogues/wing-tips – was more subdued and suggestive of a showman, reflecting his whimsical approach to life. In later seasons, as his personality grew more mysterious, his jacket, tie and hatband all grew darker. Throughout the 1980s,
question marks formed a constant motif, usually on the shirt collars or, in the case of the Seventh Doctor, on his sleeveless jumper and the handle to his umbrella. The idea was grounded in branding considerations, as was the movement starting in Tom Baker's final season toward an unchanging costume for each Doctor, rather than the variants on a theme employed over the first seventeen years of the programme. When the Eighth Doctor regenerated, he clad himself in a 19th-century frock coat and shirt based on a
Wild Bill Hickok costume, reminiscent of the out-of-time quality of earlier Doctors and emphasising the Eighth Doctor's more
Romantic persona. In contrast to the more flamboyant outfits of his predecessors, the Ninth Doctor wore a nondescript, weathered black leather jacket, V-neck jumper and dark trousers. Eccleston stated that he felt that such definitive "costumes" were passé and that the character's trademark eccentricities should show through his actions and clever dialogue, not through gimmicky costumes. Despite this, there is a
running joke about his character that the only piece of clothing he changes is his jumper, even when trying to "blend into" a historical era. The one exception, a photograph of him taken in 1912, wearing period gentleman's clothing, resembles the style of the Eighth Doctor. The Tenth Doctor sports either a brown or a blue pinstripe suit – usually worn with ties – a tan ankle-length coat and trainers, the latter recalling the
plimsolls worn by his fifth incarnation. Also like that incarnation (and his first one), he occasionally wears spectacles. In the 2007
Children in Need "
Time Crash" special he states that he does not actually need glasses to see, but rather wears them to "look a bit clever", as did the Fifth, whom he meets in the special. On occasions, he wears a black
tuxedo with matching black trainers. In interviews, Tennant has described his Doctor's attire as
geek chic. According to Tennant, he had always wanted to wear the trainers. The overall costume was influenced by an outfit worn by
Jamie Oliver in a TV interview on the talk show
Parkinson. The Tenth Doctor says in "
The Runaway Bride" that, like the TARDIS, his pockets are bigger on the inside. The Second, Fourth, Sixth, Seventh, Eleventh and Twelfth Doctors routinely carried numerous items in their coats without this being conspicuous. The Eleventh Doctor's appearance has been described as appearing like "an
Oxford professor", with a
tweed jacket, red or blue striped shirt, red or blue
bow tie, black or grey trousers with red or blue braces, and black boots. He maintains "Bow ties are cool" even when his companions do not agree, and is delighted to meet Dr Black, the first man who agrees with him, in the episode "
Vincent and the Doctor" (2010). As a running gag, he exhibits attraction to unusual hats, like a
fez, a pirate hat and a
stetson, often only to have them destroyed by
River Song shortly afterwards. Starting in the second half of series 7, the Eleventh Doctor reverted to wearing a frock coat, similar to those worn by his predecessors, with a waistcoat and black trousers, black braces, an off-white shirt, bow tie and brown boots. He also added round-rimmed glasses that belonged to former companion Amy Pond. The Twelfth Doctor's costume has been described as looking like a magician. It echoes his third incarnation's look, specifically the red lining on the inside of his
Crombie coat. It has been described as "no frills, no scarves, just 100% rebel Time Lord". The Twelfth Doctor wears a white shirt with no tie, with his top button fastened and no cuff links, a dark blue cardigan (sometimes replaced with a waistcoat), navy trousers and black boots. The Thirteenth Doctor's costume features blue high-waisted culottes with yellow braces, a navy blue or burgundy shirt with a rainbow stripe across it, a lilac-blue coat, brown lace-up boots, blue socks and piercings on her left ear. During the clip where Whittaker was announced as the new Doctor, she wore a grey overcoat over a black hoodie, reminiscent of Capaldi's costume. The Doctor has occasionally expressed distaste and confusion about his own fashion choices in other incarnations. The
First Doctor described his
third incarnation as a "
Dandy", and his
second incarnation as a clown. The
Tenth Doctor cringed at his
fifth self's choice of wearing
celery on his lapel. The
Eleventh Doctor, upon meeting his
previous self, referred to his Converse trainers as "sand-shoes". The
Twelfth Doctor believes his previous incarnation's long scarf "looked stupid" and his prior's love of bow-ties is "embarrassing". though the Doctor was granted additional regenerations when reaching that limit. The following list details the manner of each transition between incarnations: •
First Doctor (
William Hartnell): Succumbed to old age after being weakened by the
Cybermen's draining of Earth's energy before being "renewed" by the TARDIS in
The Tenth Planet (1966). He briefly stalled the process before embracing regeneration as seen in "
Twice Upon a Time" (2017). •
Second Doctor (
Patrick Troughton): A forced "change in appearance" (and exile to Earth) by the Time Lords as punishment for breaching their law of non-intervention in
The War Games (1969). •
Third Doctor (
Jon Pertwee): Succumbed to
radiation poisoning from the planet Metebelis III in
Planet of the Spiders (1974). •
Fourth Doctor (
Tom Baker): Mortally injured after falling from the Pharos Project telescope and merged with a mysterious "in-between" incarnation named "The Watcher" in
Logopolis (1981). •
Fifth Doctor (
Peter Davison): Succumbed to spectrox poisoning, contracted near the start of
The Caves of Androzani (1984). •
Sixth Doctor (
Colin Baker): Mortally injured when the
Rani attacked and crash-landed the TARDIS on the planet Lakertya at the start of
Time and the Rani (1987). •
Seventh Doctor (
Sylvester McCoy): Shot by a
San Francisco street gang and killed during exploratory heart surgery by a doctor unfamiliar with Time Lord physiology; surgical anaesthetic stalled his regeneration in the
1996 television film. •
Eighth Doctor (
Paul McGann): Killed after crash-landing a gunship on the planet Karn in "
The Night of the Doctor" (2013). There, the
Sisterhood of Karn revived the Doctor and provided an elixir that allowed him to choose the outcome of his next regeneration. •
War Doctor (
John Hurt): Succumbed to old age in "
The Day of the Doctor" (2013), after spending the duration of his lifetime fighting in the
Time War. •
Ninth Doctor (
Christopher Eccleston): Absorbed Time Vortex energy from
Rose Tyler, who had absorbed it from the TARDIS, resulting in cellular degeneration in "
The Parting of the Ways" (2005). •
Tenth Doctor (
David Tennant): Having aborted one regeneration after being shot by a
Dalek gun in "
The Stolen Earth" (2008), by healing himself before directing the remaining regeneration energy into his severed hand in "
Journey's End" (2008), he later succumbs to
radiation poisoning incurred while saving
Wilfred Mott in "
The End of Time" (2009–10). •
Eleventh Doctor (
Matt Smith): after centuries defending the planet Trenzalore in his final body, the Time Lords grant the Doctor a new regeneration cycle in "
The Time of the Doctor" (2013) just before he dies of old age. •
Twelfth Doctor (
Peter Capaldi): Electrocuted by a Mondasian Cyberman aboard a colony ship, and later further injured by an explosion, in "
The Doctor Falls" (2017). Initially refusing to change again, the Doctor finally embraces regeneration at the end of "
Twice Upon a Time" (2017). •
Thirteenth Doctor (
Jodie Whittaker): Attacked by
the Master with Qurunx energy in "
The Power of the Doctor" (2022). •
Fourteenth Doctor (David Tennant): Attacked by the
Toymaker with UNIT's galvanic beam weapon in "
The Giggle" (2023). This incarnation still lives and exists independently of the
Fifteenth Doctor following a "bi-generation". •
Fifteenth Doctor (
Ncuti Gatwa): Triggered his own regeneration to provide enough energy to shift reality and preserve the life of Belinda Chandra's daughter, Poppy, in "
The Reality War" (2025).
Regenerations It was established in
The Deadly Assassin (1976) that a Time Lord can regenerate twelve times before permanently dying – a total of thirteen incarnations. The series depicted exceptions to the rule, such as "
The Five Doctors" showing that the Time Lords can circumvent the cap of 12 regenerations in total by giving a Time Lord extra regenerations. While many of the previous regeneration sequences were unique, the Doctor's regenerations of the revived programme were similar with each transition being an explosion of energy in a particularly violent fashion. This is seen from the
Tenth Doctor's regeneration damaging the
TARDIS, to the
Eleventh Doctor's causing a shock wave that devastated the countryside while obliterating a Dalek mother-ship. In "
The Christmas Invasion" (2005), it was stated the regenerative cycle creates a large amount of residual regeneration energy that suffuses the Time Lord's body. As demonstrated by the Tenth Doctor for the first time in that story, in the first fifteen hours of regeneration this energy is enough to even rapidly regrow a severed hand. In the case of the Doctor, his regenerations are usually a result of a previous incarnation sustaining mortal injury, though he can regenerate from old age and was once forced to regenerate by the Time Lords. A common side effect the Doctor frequently experiences is a period of physical and psychological instability. The Fourth Doctor described it as "a new body is like a new house - takes a little bit of time to settle in". The Second Doctor experiences crippling pain after his first regeneration (in
The Power of the Daleks, 1966), while the Third Doctor collapses outside the TARDIS following his regeneration (in
Spearhead from Space, 1970). The Fourth Doctor started rambling random phrases and possessed a higher than usual strength; he could cut a brick in half merely with his hand (in
Robot, 1974). The Fifth Doctor begins reverting to his previous personalities (in
Castrovalva, 1982), and the Sixth Doctor experiences extreme
paranoia, flying into a murderous rage and nearly killing his companion (in
The Twin Dilemma, 1984). The Seventh Doctor experienced partial amnesia both as a result of post-regeneration trauma and because the Rani injects him with an amnesia-inducing drug (in
Time and the Rani, 1987). The Eighth Doctor experienced full amnesia as a result of both post-regeneration trauma and due to the anaesthetics affecting his physiology (in the 1996
television film); uniquely, the Doctor was "not alive" at the time of this regeneration. The regeneration from the Ninth to the Tenth Doctor sees the Doctor experiencing sudden spasms and great pain (in
Children in Need special, 2005), and later being unconscious for most of the next fifteen hours (in
The Christmas Invasion). The experience was traumatic enough to cause one of his hearts to temporarily stop beating. The regeneration from the Tenth to the Eleventh Doctor caused the Doctor to experience strange food cravings, only to be disgusted by them upon actually trying them (in
The Eleventh Hour, 2010). The Twelfth Doctor forgot how to fly the TARDIS (as well as the name of the TARDIS) right after the regeneration process (in
The Time of the Doctor, 2013), and the Thirteenth Doctor experienced partial amnesia as a result of post-regeneration trauma from falling from the TARDIS to the carriage ceiling of a train (
The Woman Who Fell to Earth, 2018).
The Brain of Morbius implies that Time Lords other than the Doctor may experience difficult regenerations, since the Sisterhood of Karn had been supplying them with an "
elixir of life" that could assist the process. In "
The Night of the Doctor", the Sisterhood tell the
Eighth Doctor they can provide elixirs to give rise to non-random regenerations, allowing the Doctor to specify either a physical type or personality. The TARDIS appears to aid in the regenerative process, with few occasions where the Doctor regenerates outside it. Three of these are initiated by Time Lords: one forced on him before banishment to Earth (
The War Games), one requiring a Time Lord to give the Doctor's cells a "little push" to start the process (
Planet of the Spiders), and one needing the Watcher – which the Doctor's travelling companions believed to be some version of the Doctor himself (
Logopolis). The Eighth Doctor's regeneration apparently occurred a few hours after he had actually "died", leaving him with temporary amnesia due to his body's adverse reaction to earth medicines. In the BBC Series 4 FAQ, writer Russell T Davies suggested that as the Time Lords were killed in the time war, the Doctor could be able to regenerate indefinitely. In "
Journey's End", the
Tenth Doctor manages to avert his own regeneration by using some of the energy to heal himself, then channeling the remaining energy into his severed hand, thus retaining his appearance and personality. That regenerative energy was a key point in a "human–Time Lord biological metacrisis" inadvertently caused by
Donna Noble that creates the Meta-Crisis Doctor while she obtains a Time Lord intellect. In "
The Time of the Doctor" the Eleventh Doctor revealed that it was considered a full regeneration; he just kept the same face due to "vanity issues", and that he was now in his final life (given that the Tenth Doctor counted as two regenerations and the revelation of the existence of the War Doctor, this made a total of 12 regenerations). In the same episode, the Doctor is given a new cycle of regenerations by the Time Lords, allowing him to regenerate for the thirteenth time into the Twelfth Doctor, with the Twelfth Doctor ("
Kill the Moon") and Rassilon ("
Hell Bent") each expressing uncertainty about how many regenerations the Doctor now has.
Multi-Doctor stories Due to time travel, it is possible for the Doctor's various incarnations to encounter and interact with each other, although supposedly prohibited by the First Law of Time (as stated in
The Three Doctors) or permitted only in the "gravest of emergencies" ("
The Five Doctors"). In the 1963–1989 television programme, such encounters were seen on three occasions: in
The Three Doctors (1972), "The Five Doctors" (1983) and
The Two Doctors (1985). In
Day of the Daleks (1972), the Third Doctor and
Jo Grant very briefly met their future selves due to a glitch during a temporal experiment (the serial was supposed to end with the same scene depicted from the perspective of the "other" Doctor and Jo, but was excised because it was anticlimactic). In "
Father's Day" (2005), the Ninth Doctor and Rose observed but did not interact with past versions of themselves; when Rose changed history, the earlier selves – after momentarily noticing Rose running past – vanished and a temporal paradox was created that attracted the extra-dimensional
Reapers. The Tenth and Fifth Doctors met in the TARDIS in the mini-episode "
Time Crash", which aired on 16 November 2007 as part of the BBC's annual
Children in Need appeal. This marks the first time the Doctor has met a previous incarnation since the programme's revival. Although the scene aired outside the programme itself, it was established as taking place between the events of "
Last of the Time Lords" and "
Voyage of the Damned". In the
Virgin New Adventures, the Seventh Doctor is shown briefly interacting with a man who may be the Third Doctor in the
Sherlock Holmes crossover novel
All-Consuming Fire, but the scene is narrated from the perspective of
Dr. Watson and thus the other man is never expressly identified. The
Virgin Missing Adventures novel
Cold Fusion is a unique twist on the traditional multi-Doctor story as it focuses on the Fifth Doctor's adventures before he meets the Seventh, where normal stories treat the later Doctor as 'the' Doctor. The BBC novel
The Eight Doctors was written by respected Doctor Who writer
Terrance Dicks, the same author who wrote "
The Five Doctors". In it, he tries to reconcile the continuity errors of the 1996 movie, while having the Eighth Doctor meet and interact with each of his previous selves, although the Eighth Doctor visited each incarnation one at a time rather than all eight of them appearing in the same place. Later Eighth Doctor novel
Interference – Book One sees the Eighth Doctor briefly meeting the Third, although this occasion results in the Doctor unwittingly changing his own history so that the Third Doctor will regenerate ahead of schedule (A change that is later 'reset' in the novel
The Ancestor Cell thanks to the TARDIS taking action to preserve the original history). In the
Past Doctor Adventures, the novel
Heart of TARDIS features the Second and Fourth Doctors dealing with two different ends of the same crisis, with the Second Doctor trapped in a dimensional anomaly created by a government experiment and the Fourth recruited to stop the experiment destroying the world, but although they are at one point both in the Second Doctor's TARDIS, the Fourth Doctor and his companion hide on the opposite side of the console from his past self and the Second is never aware of his future self. In
The Colony of Lies, the Second Doctor briefly interacts with the
Seventh Doctor in a VR simulation, but it is unspecified if this is the actual Seventh Doctor or just a VR program he left to advise his past self. In
Wolfsbane, like in
Heart of TARDIS, the Fourth and Eighth Doctors deal with separate ends of the same crisis, the Eighth stopping the threat in November 1936 while the Fourth ties up loose ends in December of the same year, but the two incarnations never meet directly, and due to the Eighth Doctor's current amnesia none of the other characters realizes that the two Doctors are the same person. Physical contact between two versions of the same person in the programme can lead to an energy discharge that shorts out the "time differential". This is apparently due to a (fictional) principle known as the Blinovitch Limitation Effect, and was seen when the past and future versions of
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart touched hands in
Mawdryn Undead. The Doctor's incarnations do not appear to suffer this effect when encountering each other and shaking hands. This has never been explained. An essay in the
About Time episode guides by
Lawrence Miles and
Tat Wood suggests that Time Lords are somehow exempt from the effect by their very nature.
Rose Tyler is seen holding an infant version of herself in "Father's Day", with no visible energy discharge, but the contact does allow the Reapers to enter the church in which the Doctor and several others are taking refuge. While doing a live commentary on the episode at the 2006 Bristol
Comic Expo, episode author
Paul Cornell said that this is supposed to be due to the Blinovitch Limitation Effect, even though it is not mentioned by name. He suggested that the lack of a spark may be down to the fact that the Time Lords were no longer around to manage anomalies. In the 2006 episode "
School Reunion", the Tenth Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith both seem to indicate in dialogue that they have not seen each other since her departure from the TARDIS in
The Hand of Fear, although this contradicts their having met later during "The Five Doctors". In that story, she does not appear to realise that the
Fifth Doctor is a later incarnation of the
third and
fourth Doctors with whom she had previously travelled. In "Time Crash", the Tenth Doctor remembers and reproduces what he saw himself do when he was the Fifth Doctor, a fact that seems to surprise the Fifth Doctor himself. Russell T Davies has expressed a dislike for stories in which multiple incarnations of the Doctor meet, stating that he believes they focus more on the actors than on the story itself. In 2007, David Tennant showed enthusiasm for the idea of a multi-Doctor story but expressed doubts about the practicality of episodes involving multiple previous Doctors, given that three of the actors who played the character were deceased. ". (Left hand page:
Tenth and
Ninth; Right hand page, left to right, top to bottom:
Fourth,
Third,
Second,
Seventh,
Eighth,
First,
Sixth,
Fifth) Since the programme's revival, there have been five multi-Doctor stories: the
Children in Need special "
Time Crash", the 50th-anniversary special, "
The Day of the Doctor", the 2017 Christmas special "
Twice Upon A Time", the
series 12 episode "
Fugitive of the Judoon", and "
The Reality War" (2025). Before that, the only references to past incarnations (from 1963 to 1996) have been in the aforementioned episode "School Reunion" (in which the Doctor acknowledges having regenerated "half a dozen times" since
last seeing Sarah Jane) and in drawings that the Doctor (who has temporarily become human to hide from the Family Of Blood) makes based on dreams of his other life in the 2007 episode "
Human Nature". Seen on screen are the First, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Doctors, but a fuller view briefly available on the BBC website depicted all ten incarnations. In the 2008 Christmas episode, "
The Next Doctor", the Tenth Doctor discovers an info stamp originally held by the Cybermen, which includes images of all his past selves. This is a clear affirmation of his past, and that the (then) current incarnation was indeed the
Tenth. This was reaffirmed in the episode "
The Eleventh Hour", when the Doctor asks the Atraxi whether this planet is protected. The Atraxi then shows 10 images, one of each Doctor from the first to the tenth, with the eleventh walking through the image of the tenth at the end. This is confirmed in the episode "
The Lodger", when the Doctor, explaining to Craig who and what he is, points at his face and says, "Eleventh". Because each new Doctor is different from their previous incarnations, how their personalities interact varies when two or more different incarnations encounter each other.
Time Crash featured
Peter Davison returning as the Fifth Doctor. This event is explained as occurring due to the current Doctor having left his shields down when rebuilding the TARDIS following "
Last of the Time Lords" and then accidentally crossing the Fifth Doctor's timeline, allowing the two TARDISes to merge. When the Tenth Doctor effortlessly averts the impending Belgium-sized hole in the Universe caused by this temporal anomaly, he reveals having known what to do because he saw himself do it as the Fifth Doctor and remembered. He goes on to tell the Fifth Doctor how fond he was of his incarnation and how he influences the current Doctor's personality. However, in their two meetings, the
Second Doctor and
Third Doctor had a degree of antagonism towards each other, with the patriarchal
First Doctor critical of them both. During the
Virgin New Adventures, the Seventh Doctor was occasionally at odds with his subconscious memory of his previous incarnation as his memory of his past self became increasingly associated with the
Valeyard, his dark, future self, but he eventually accepted his dark side and 'reformed' his memory of his former self, although it was never established how the two Doctors would interact if they had met in person. On many occasions the Eleventh Doctor has actually encountered himself from a different point in his timeline – in "The Big Bang", the mini-episodes
"Space" and "Time" and "
Last Night" – and in "
Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS", at the end, the Doctor interacted with his past self to reset time. In all stories, multiple versions of the Eleventh Doctor from different timelines meet and carry on brief conversations. Additionally, the Eleventh Doctor encountered an artificial (though physically and mentally identical) copy of himself in "
The Almost People"; fought against "Mister Clever", an artificial personality generated out of his own by the Cybermen in "
Nightmare in Silver"; and was pitted against "The Dream Lord", a manifestation of his self-loathing and anger, in "
Amy's Choice". Later, the Eleventh Doctor entered his own timeline in "
The Name of the Doctor" to rescue his companion Clara Oswald, and while there observed a past incarnation portrayed by
John Hurt, one whose actions caused him to be unworthy of the name "Doctor" and viewed as shameful by his future selves. In the 50th anniversary special, "
The Day of the Doctor", the Eleventh Doctor encounters both the Tenth Doctor and the War Doctor (played by John Hurt). The Tenth and Eleventh Doctors are generally amicable towards each other, despite bickering, although the War Doctor treats them both as behaving too childishly. Despite this, he does come to admire both of his future incarnations, working together with them and eventually choosing to go through with the act of destroying Gallifrey because he knows it will help them become what they are. The Tenth and Eleventh are initially leery of the War Doctor, the Eleventh describing him as the "one life I have tried very hard to forget". However, both of them later recognise that the War Doctor followed what seemed to be the only course open to him, and are even willing to help him carry it out so that he won't have to suffer the guilt alone. Fortunately, with influence from the Moment – a sentient Time Lord weapon that brought about their meeting – the three are able to stumble upon an alternative: sending Gallifrey into a pocket universe, making it seem as though it has been destroyed. The three are then joined by the other nine previous Doctors and the future
Twelfth Doctor (
Peter Capaldi) in this act (the War, Tenth and Eleventh Doctors having evidently contacted them off-screen). The Eleventh Doctor is shown to have memories of these events but only recalls them after they have begun. This is explained in dialogue as an instability in the timeline, which causes the War and Tenth Doctors to forget their meeting, thus maintaining the continuity in which the Doctors from the War Doctor onwards believe themselves to have destroyed Gallifrey. The Thirteenth Doctor meets a previously unknown incarnation of the Doctor portrayed by
Jo Martin in "
Fugitive of the Judoon". It is implied in "
The Timeless Children" that Martin's Doctor was a previous incarnation that had been erased from the Doctor's memory by the Division.
Reprising the role On a few occasions, previous actors to have played the Doctor have returned to the role, usually guest-starring with the incumbent: • William Hartnell and
Patrick Troughton with Jon Pertwee in
The Three Doctors, the 10th anniversary special. Originally, Hartnell's role had been intended to be more extensive, but his health had deteriorated to the extent that he could only make a limited appearance which would be his last television role. • Troughton and Pertwee with Peter Davison in "
The Five Doctors", the 20th anniversary special, with newly released footage of
Tom Baker and another actor,
Richard Hurndall, standing in for the deceased Hartnell. Archive footage of Hartnell taken from
The Dalek Invasion of Earth introduced the story. Baker declined to appear, feeling that the role came too soon after he had left the programme (a decision he later said he regretted) and the narrative was reworked to use clips from
Shada, an intended six-part story from the Fourth Doctor's era that was never completed due to industrial strikes. A waxwork dummy of Baker from
Madame Tussauds was used in publicity photographs. • Troughton with
Colin Baker in
The Two Doctors. This story is notable for not being produced either to celebrate the programme's anniversary or as a
Children in Need production. • Pertwee, Tom Baker, Davison and Colin Baker with
Sylvester McCoy in
Dimensions in Time, the programme's 30th anniversary charity special in aid of
Children in Need in 1993. Hartnell and Troughton were represented by rubber heads, because both actors had died by then. Except for these
mannequin versions of Hartnell and Troughton, no two Doctors are shown on screen at the same time. (This story was a crossover with
EastEnders). • McCoy returned to film early segments of
Doctor Who, the TV film featuring the Seventh Doctor's regeneration scene. • Davison with
David Tennant in the 2007
Children in Need mini-episode "
Time Crash". •
Paul McGann returned to film the Eighth Doctor's final moments and regeneration in the 2013 mini-episode "
The Night of the Doctor". None of the other Doctors appeared in this mini-episode, although archive footage of
John Hurt appears briefly in the closing scene, for which he provided original audio. • Tennant with
Matt Smith in "
The Day of the Doctor", the 50th anniversary special. Hurt made his first official appearance as
a newly revealed incarnation of the Doctor. Tom Baker made a
cameo appearance in the special as the curator of the National Gallery. He was implied to be a future Doctor who was "revisiting" an "old favourite" face, but the script never explicitly states this. Dialogue states that "perhaps it doesn't matter either way" whether the Doctor and Curator are the same individual. Archive footage of Hartnell, Troughton, Pertwee, Tom Baker, Davison, Colin Baker, McCoy, McGann and
Christopher Eccleston, with new audio from voice actor John Guilor impersonating Hartnell, was used to represent the other Doctors. Additionally, a brief appearance by
Peter Capaldi, who was due to take over as the Doctor, was inserted, to represent all then-thirteen incarnations of the Doctor. • Smith appeared in "
Deep Breath", the first full episode after his regeneration. He made a telephone call to his future to reassure Clara Oswald and urge her to accept his successor, portrayed by Capaldi. The scene was filmed on the set of "
The Time of the Doctor", Smith's last story as the incumbent Doctor, for
the eighth series. • Davison, Colin Baker, McCoy and McGann with
Jodie Whittaker in "
The Power of the Doctor". They are seen as spirit forms. Davison and McCoy also appeared as holographic versions of their incarnations, when the
Thirteenth Doctor talks to
Tegan Jovanka and
Ace.
David Bradley reprised his role as the
First Doctor from the episodes "
The Doctor Falls" and "
Twice Upon a Time" in this episode. • Tennant appeared as the
Fourteenth Doctor in "The Power of the Doctor" and the
60th anniversary specials. • Whittaker appeared in "
The Reality War". In addition to the above, Bradley, Tom Baker, Davison, Colin Baker, McCoy, McGann, Hurt, Eccleston, Tennant and Whittaker have reprised the role in audio dramas from
Big Finish Productions. ==Age==