142-630: This is a list of Doctor Who serials and episodes that have been released on DVD and Blu-ray . Most Doctor Who DVDs have been released first in the United Kingdom with Region 2 , and released later in Australia and New Zealand ( Region 4 ) and in North America ( Region 1 ). Aside from differences in the external packaging, special features and commentaries are mostly identical in all versions. All Region 1 releases prior to September 2005 included
284-480: A "Who's Who" feature that identified key cast members and gave brief biographies and filmographies. The Region 1 releases of The Robots of Death , The Ark in Space , The Talons of Weng-Chiang , and Pyramids of Mars also include a featurette with the syndicated Time Life introductions and closings narrated by Howard da Silva . There are also minor variations having to do with technical glitches that occurred in
426-505: A "renewal", and the Second Doctor underwent a "change of appearance". The device has allowed for the recasting of the actor various times in the show's history, as well as the depiction of alternative Doctors either from the Doctor's relative past or future. The serials The Deadly Assassin (1976) and Mawdryn Undead (1983) established that a Time Lord can only regenerate 12 times, for
568-455: A 16-year hiatus of in-house production. Eccleston left after one series and was replaced by David Tennant . Davies left the production team in 2009. Steven Moffat , a writer under Davies, was announced as his successor, along with Matt Smith as the new Doctor. Smith decided to leave the role of the Doctor in 2013, the 50th anniversary year. He was replaced by Peter Capaldi . In January 2016, Moffat announced that he would step down after
710-496: A Nigerian television relay station in Jos . Six of the eleven films discovered were the six-part serial The Enemy of the World (1968), from which all but the third episode had been missing. The remaining films were from another six-part serial, The Web of Fear (1968), and included the previously missing episodes 2, 4, 5 and 6. Episode 3 of The Web of Fear is still missing. The Doctor
852-517: A Time " (2017), Peter Capaldi's final episode, was released on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray in 2018. All releases are for DVD unless otherwise indicated: Starring William Hartnell as the First Doctor . All surviving First Doctor serials and episodes were released on DVD from 2002 to 2013. The surviving serials and episodes of Season 2 were released on Blu-ray in 2022. All existing episodes from otherwise missing First Doctor serials have been released on
994-438: A bittersweet quality" and his subsequent desire to avoid the recurring theme. The starting point for the story was Roberts' first novel The Highest Science . Davies liked the image of a train on a desert planet and rewrote the train as a bus. Davies nevertheless emphasised it was not an "adaptation as such" because tangential elements were constantly being conceived and added. Michelle Ryan's casting as Lady Christina de Souza
1136-511: A bonus disc, while others have a reduced edit with additional footage and new special effects, as well as a remixed 5.1 surround soundtrack. The alternative versions of Enlightenment and Planet of Fire are presented in 16:9 widescreen rather than the original 4:3 aspect ratio. The Curse of Fenric and Battlefield are extended edits with new scenes added, while Enlightenment and Planet of Fire are cut down in length to make them more like modern Doctor Who stories. Day of The Daleks featured
1278-534: A challenge to find missing Doctor Who episodes with the promise of a full-scale Dalek model as a reward. In December 2011, it was announced that part 3 of Galaxy 4 (1965) and part 2 of The Underwater Menace (1967) had been returned to the BBC by a fan who had purchased them in the mid-1980s without realising that the BBC did not hold copies of them. On 10 October 2013, the BBC announced that films of eleven episodes, including nine missing episodes, had been found in
1420-411: A childlike solemnity, a miraculous save, bombastic music, and one woman who's held up as being the most special person ever. It didn't hurt that POTD had all the elements of a cracking good story: The Doctor and friends trapped on an alien planet, on the other side of the universe, with no easy way to get home. Alien creatures who might be hostile. A deadly swarm coming to tear our heroes apart. And UNIT on
1562-522: A crane accidentally dropped a container in Dubai City Port. After an emergency discussion by the production team, they agreed that the damage was unintentionally artistic and decided to include the damaged bus in the episode; instead of shipping the spare bus from Cardiff—which would have delayed the already hurried filming schedule—the production team decided to partially reconstruct the bus in Dubai, damage
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#17328594620311704-544: A disembodied brain falling to the floor in The Brain of Morbius and the Doctor apparently being drowned by a villain in The Deadly Assassin (both 1976). Mary Whitehouse's complaint about the latter incident prompted a change in BBC policy towards the series, with much tighter controls imposed on the production team, and the series' next producer, Graham Williams , was under a directive to take out "anything graphic in
1846-458: A hitherto unknown incarnation of the Doctor known as the War Doctor in the run-up to the show's 50th-anniversary special " The Day of the Doctor ". He is shown in mini-episode " The Night of the Doctor " retroactively inserted into the show's fictional chronology between McGann's and Eccleston's Doctors, although his introduction was written so as not to disturb the established numerical naming of
1988-497: A lot of choice—we only had the Dalek serial to go ... We had a bit of a crisis of confidence because Donald [Wilson] was so adamant that we shouldn't make it. Had we had anything else ready we would have made that." Nation's script became the second Doctor Who serial – The Daleks (also known as The Mutants ). The serial introduced the eponymous aliens that would become the series' most popular monsters, dubbed "Dalekmania", and
2130-535: A more compassionate figure and was eventually revealed to be a Time Lord , whose race are from the planet Gallifrey , which the Doctor fled by stealing the TARDIS. Producers introduced the concept of regeneration to permit the recasting of the main character. This was prompted by the poor health of the original star, William Hartnell . The term "regeneration" was not conceived until the Doctor's third on-screen regeneration; Hartnell's Doctor merely described undergoing
2272-692: A national institution in the United Kingdom, with a large following among the general viewing audience. The show received controversy over the suitability of the series for children. Morality campaigner Mary Whitehouse repeatedly complained to the BBC over what she saw as the programme's violent, frightening and gory content. According to Radio Times , the series "never had a more implacable foe than Mary Whitehouse". A BBC audience research survey conducted in 1972 found that, by their own definition of violence ("any act[s] which may cause physical and/or psychological injury, hurt or death to persons, animals or property, whether intentional or accidental"), Doctor Who
2414-488: A photo gallery. "Special edition" releases (which make up the bulk of the line; see above) also typically include one or more documentaries relating to the serial in question, any relevant archive material, and—where applicable—the occasional highlight such as a Dolby 5.1 mix or enhanced movie edit. The precise features vary, depending on the available resources and the nature of the story. Most, but not all, Doctor Who mini-episodes, prequels and webcasts are bundled as part of
2556-631: A poorer place without Doctor Who ". On 4 August 2013, a live programme titled Doctor Who Live: The Next Doctor was broadcast on BBC One, during which the actor who was going to play the Twelfth Doctor was revealed. The live show was watched by an average of 6.27 million in the UK, and was also simulcast in the United States, Canada and Australia. Doctor Who originally ran for 26 seasons on BBC One, from 23 November 1963 until 6 December 1989. During
2698-428: A series. Licensed media such as novels and audio plays provided new stories , but as a television programme, Doctor Who remained dormant. In September 2003, BBC Television announced the in-house production of a new series, after several years of attempts by BBC Worldwide to find backing for a feature film version. The 2005 revival of Doctor Who is a direct plot continuation of the original 1963–1989 series and
2840-504: A stop. No 1960s episodes exist on their original videotapes (all surviving prints being film transfers), though some were transferred to film for editing before transmission and exist in their broadcast form. Some episodes have been returned to the BBC from the archives of other countries that bought prints for broadcast or by private individuals who acquired them by various means. Early colour videotape recordings made off-air by fans have also been retrieved, as well as excerpts filmed from
2982-523: A swarm of alien stingrays that are destroying the ecosystem. He suspects the swarm is generating the wormhole to travel to their next planet to feed upon, and they must hurry and close the wormhole before the aliens can reach Earth. Christina uses her burglary skills to retrieve a power crystal and its mounting from the Tritovore ship, but accidentally wakes an alien stingray, which consumes the Tritovores. With
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#17328594620313124-594: A third bus, an exact replica, to film on in Cardiff a week later. It had taken us a month to find the one we had. It was even mooted that we'd have to forget Dubai and opt for a beach in the UK. But Russell's response was "Okay, let's embrace it. Let's say that the bus was damaged on its way to the alien planet. [...] He wove it into the narrative. We're not trying to hide the damage at all. In fact, we show it off, enhancing it with special effects, smoke and sparks. It works rather marvellously. That London bus, damaged and smoking, in
3266-457: A total of 13 incarnations. This line became stuck in the public consciousness despite not often being repeated and was recognised by producers of the show as a plot obstacle for when the show finally had to regenerate the Doctor a thirteenth time. The episode " The Time of the Doctor " (2013) depicted the Doctor acquiring a new cycle of regenerations, starting from the Twelfth Doctor , due to
3408-498: A unit of measurement after himself is both inspired and hilarious". His review ended by describing the episode as "lifeless for much of the hour" and expressing his hope that the ambiguous entity from Carmen's premonition would "hurry up". Orlando Parfitt of IGN gave the episode a 7.1 (Good) rating out of ten. Parfitt called it a "straightforward story" that did not elevate to the level of excitement typically seen in Doctor Who until
3550-528: Is a significant part of popular culture in Britain and elsewhere; it has gained a cult following . It has influenced generations of British television professionals, many of whom grew up watching the series. Fans of the series are sometimes referred to as Whovians . The series has been listed in Guinness World Records as the longest-running science-fiction television series in the world, as well as
3692-495: Is an adrenaline junkie and thief. Christina is a typical Doctor Who companion, Davies electing to draw parallels from the Time Lady Romana rather than new series companion Rose Tyler . Roberts described her as an " adventuress " who is "upper class and glam, suited and booted, and extremely intelligent" which the Doctor could relate to because they both rejected their heritages. The episode's director James Strong described
3834-761: Is available only as the combined single volume. Starring Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor . All Third Doctor serials were released on DVD from 2001 to 2013. The entire Season 10 was released on Blu-ray in 2019, with Seasons 8 and 9 released between 2021 and 2023. Starring Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor . All Fourth Doctor serials were released on DVD from 2000 to 2013. The entire Seasons 12, 14, 15, 17 and 18 were released on Blu-ray from 2018 to 2024. The Ribos Operation The Pirate Planet The Stones of Blood The Androids of Tara The Power of Kroll The Armageddon Factor Starring Peter Davison as
3976-600: Is available only as the combined single volume. Starring Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor . All surviving Second Doctor serials and episodes were released on DVD from 2002 to 2015. All existing episodes from otherwise missing Second Doctor serials have been released on the Lost in Time collection, with the exceptions of: The Underwater Menace episode 2 and The Web of Fear episodes 2, 4, 5 and 6, which were recovered after
4118-538: Is like comparing Monopoly with the property market in London: both are fantasies, but one is meant to be taken seriously." During Jon Pertwee 's second season as the Doctor, in the serial Terror of the Autons (1971), images of murderous plastic dolls, daffodils killing unsuspecting victims, and blank-featured policemen marked the apex of the series' ability to frighten children. Other notable moments in that decade include
4260-482: Is the first woman to be cast as the character. The show introduced the Time Lords' ability to change sex on regeneration in earlier episodes, first in dialogue, then with Michelle Gomez 's version of The Master and T'Nia Miller 's version of The General. Upon Whittaker's final appearance as the character in " The Power of the Doctor " on 23 October 2022, she regenerated into a form portrayed by David Tennant , who
4402-630: The Daily Telegraph in 2009, the revival of Doctor Who had consistently received high ratings, both in number of viewers and as measured by the Appreciation Index . In 2007, Caitlin Moran , television reviewer for The Times , wrote that Doctor Who is "quintessential to being British". According to Steven Moffat , the American film director Steven Spielberg has commented that "the world would be
List of Doctor Who home video releases - Misplaced Pages Continue
4544-741: The Lost in Time collection, with the exception of: Galaxy 4 episode 3, which was released as part of The Aztecs – Special Edition; The Reign of Terror which had its missing episodes animated for its individual DVD release; and The Tenth Planet which had its missing episode animated for its release as part of the Regeneration Box and individual DVD release. Lost in Time was released in two formats in Region 1, with individual releases for volumes one and two (which cover First Doctor and Second Doctor episodes respectively), as well as an edition combining both volumes. In Regions 2 and 4, Lost in Time
4686-458: The 2017 finale , to be replaced by Chris Chibnall in 2018. Jodie Whittaker , the first female Doctor, appeared in three series, the last of which was shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic . Both Whittaker and Chibnall announced that they would depart the series after a series of specials in 2022. Davies returned as showrunner from the 60th anniversary specials , twelve years after he had left
4828-690: The BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman , C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson , depicts the adventures of an extraterrestrial being called the Doctor , part of a humanoid species called Time Lords . The Doctor travels in the universe and in time using a time travelling spaceship called the TARDIS , which externally appears as a British police box . While travelling, the Doctor works to save lives and liberate oppressed peoples by combating foes . The Doctor often travels with companions . Beginning with William Hartnell , fourteen actors have headlined
4970-486: The BBC Television Service at 17:16:20 GMT on 23 November 1963; this was eighty seconds later than the scheduled programme time, because of announcements concerning the previous day's assassination of John F. Kennedy . It was to be a regular weekly programme, each episode 25 minutes of transmission length. Discussions and plans for the programme had been in progress for a year. The head of drama Sydney Newman
5112-476: The BBC iPlayer , 13.89 million viewers watched the episode in total. The episode received average critical reviews. Simon Brew of science fiction blog Den of Geek said the episode was "by turns ambitious and predictable" but "still quite entertaining". The first part of the review mentioned an objection from his wife that the bus trapped in the sand "[looked] really fake", despite the episode being actually filmed in Dubai, and then mentioned Brew's appreciation of
5254-540: The Eleventh Doctor being the product of the Doctor's twelfth regeneration from his original set. Although the idea of casting a woman as the Doctor had been suggested by the show's writers several times, including by Newman in 1986 and Davies in 2008, until 2017, all official depictions were played by men. Jodie Whittaker took over the role as the Thirteenth Doctor at the end of the 2017 Christmas special and
5396-713: The Fifth Doctor . All Fifth Doctor serials were released on DVD from 1999 to 2011. The entire Seasons 19 and 20 were released on Blu-ray between 2018 and 2023. Starring Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor . All Sixth Doctor serials were released on DVD from 2001 to 2009. The entire Season 23 was released on Blu-ray in 2019 whilst Season 22 was released in 2022. Starring Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor . All Seventh Doctor serials were released on DVD from 2001 to 2012. The Season 26
5538-484: The First Doctor transforming into the Second . The only portion of this in existence, barring a few poor-quality silent 8 mm clips, is the few seconds of the regeneration scene, as it was shown on the children's magazine show Blue Peter . With the approval of the BBC, efforts are now underway to restore as many of the episodes as possible from the extant material. "Official" reconstructions have also been released by
5680-668: The Fourteenth Doctor . All Fourteenth Doctor episodes were released on DVD and Blu-ray in 2023. Starring Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor . Fifteenth Doctor episodes have been released on DVD and Blu-ray since 2024. Some releases compile previously released serials and episodes from both the classic and/or revived series. Generally, these compilations do not carry over the bonus material from previous releases. The Curse of Fenric , Battlefield , Enlightenment and Planet of Fire . Some have re-edited feature-length versions on
5822-584: The Tenth Doctor . All Tenth Doctor episodes were released on DVD and Blu-ray from 2006 to 2013. Starring Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor . All Eleventh Doctor episodes were released on DVD and Blu-ray from 2010 to 2014. Starring Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor . All Twelfth Doctor episodes were released on DVD and Blu-ray from 2014 to 2018. Starring Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor . All Thirteenth Doctor episodes were released on DVD and Blu-ray from 2019 to 2023. Starring David Tennant as
List of Doctor Who home video releases - Misplaced Pages Continue
5964-402: The "classic series" eventually fell behind other science fiction in production values and reputation, leading to its cancellation The BBC drama department produced the programme for 26 seasons, broadcast on BBC One . Due to his increasingly poor health, William Hartnell , first actor to play the Doctor, was succeeded by Patrick Troughton in 1966. In 1970, Jon Pertwee replaced Troughton and
6106-725: The "family atmosphere" on set and described Doctor Who as "really something special to do". On 9 April 2009, Ryan guested on Steve Wright in the Afternoon on BBC Radio 2 and on The Justin Lee Collins Show on ITV2 to promote "Planet of the Dead". After a showing of a trailer for the episode on The Justin Lee Collins Show , Ryan described the "fantastic" time she had filming in Cardiff and in Dubai . Ryan's character Lady Christina de Souza
6248-421: The "most successful" science-fiction series of all time, based on its overall broadcast ratings, DVD and book sales. The series originally ran from 1963 to 1989. There was an unsuccessful attempt to revive regular production in 1996 with a backdoor pilot in the form of a television film titled Doctor Who . The series was relaunched in 2005 and was produced in-house by BBC Wales in Cardiff . Since 2023,
6390-456: The 1975 Doctor Who serial Pyramids of Mars was included on both the DVD and Blu-ray box sets for The Sarah Jane Adventures Season 4. Spearhead from Space , the only serial of the classic series shot completely on film, was released on Blu-ray on 15 July 2013 with exclusive bonus features. The 1996 telemovie received a Blu-ray release on 19 September 2016. Despite being shot entirely on film,
6532-403: The 1996 television film. The executive producers of the new incarnation of the series were Queer as Folk writer Russell T Davies and BBC Cymru Wales head of drama Julie Gardner . From 2005, the series switched from a multi-camera to a single-camera setup. Starring Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor, Doctor Who returned with the episode "Rose" on BBC One on 26 March 2005, after
6674-463: The 45-minute run time; notably, the episodes " Journey's End " from 2008 and " The Eleventh Hour " from 2010 were longer than an hour. 883 Doctor Who instalments have been televised since 1963, ranging between 25-minute episodes (the most common format for the classic era), 45/50-minute episodes (for Resurrection of the Daleks in the 1984 series, a single season in 1985, and the most common format for
6816-796: The BBC on VHS, on MP3 CD-ROM , and as special features on DVD. The BBC, in conjunction with animation studio Cosgrove Hall , reconstructed the missing episodes 1 and 4 of The Invasion (1968), using remastered audio tracks and the comprehensive stage notes for the original filming, for the serial's DVD release in November 2006. The missing episodes of The Reign of Terror were animated by animation company Theta-Sigma, in collaboration with Big Finish , and became available for purchase in May 2013 through Amazon.com. Subsequent animations made in 2013 include The Tenth Planet , The Ice Warriors (1967) and The Moonbase (1967). In April 2006, Blue Peter launched
6958-441: The BBC rebranded the range as "The Collection Limited Edition Packaging", with the original "The Collection" name to be used for standard edition versions of the releases. Episodes released on Blu-ray starting with " Planet of the Dead " were shot in full 1080p High Definition and have been released with DTS-HD High Resolution 5.1 soundtracks. All Ninth and Tenth Doctor episodes appearing on Blu-ray produced prior to " Planet of
7100-447: The BBC to resort to using an unfinished copy to market the episode. "Planet of the Dead" was advertised as Doctor Who ' s 200th story. Writer Russell T Davies admitted that the designation was arbitrary and debatable, based upon how fans counted the unfinished serial Shada , the season-long fourteen-part serial The Trial of a Time Lord , and the third series finale consisting of " Utopia ", " The Sound of Drums " and " Last of
7242-463: The Blu-ray release is simply an HD upscale of the 480i broadcast copy. A Limited edition Blu-ray box-set containing Series 1-7 of Doctor Who was released 5 November 2013. Series 1-4 was shot on Standard Definition video but upscaled and remastered to full 1080p for this release. The classic-era began to receive complete season Blu-ray releases from 2018 onward, under the banner "The Collection". In 2021,
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#17328594620317384-441: The DVD and Blu-ray releases. For example, five prelude videos were released online as part of series 6, and these are extras on the series 6 box set. Some Doctor Who webcasts were released on their own special DVDs. " Planet of the Dead " was the first Doctor Who episode to be filmed and broadcast in high definition . It was released on Blu-ray on the same day as its corresponding DVD in Region 2. All subsequent episodes (excluding
7526-600: The Daleks , which used the NTSC master due to errors on the UK version and issues about music clearance. With few exceptions (noted below), each of the 'classic series' stories have been carefully restored by the Doctor Who Restoration Team from the best available materials, and are presented as originally broadcast—in episodic format, where applicable. Other features present on every (or nearly every) DVD include cast and crew commentary, subtitles, production notes, and
7668-508: The Dead " have been upscaled to 1080p for those releases. The first classic series serial released on Blu-ray in HD, Spearhead from Space , was shot entirely on 16mm film and true 1080p masters for those episodes were produced from the original film elements; the Blu-ray release was in 1080i. Other classic series releases have been upscaled, with HD film scans inserted where possible, and some releases use specially made animated elements. " Twice Upon
7810-641: The Dead" serves as the 200th story of Doctor Who . The episode depicts Christina fleeing the police from a museum robbery by boarding a bus that accidentally travels from London to the desert planet of San Helios, trapping her, the Doctor, and several passengers on board the damaged vehicle. After the bus driver dies trying to return to Earth, the Unified Intelligence Taskforce , headed by Captain Erisa Magambo ( Noma Dumezweni ) and scientific advisor Malcolm Taylor ( Lee Evans ), attempt to return
7952-510: The Dead' was passable enough": he thought it "never really gelled" for him; but he thought it was overall entertaining and was excited for the remaining three specials as a result of Carmen's prophecy. Charlie Jane Anders of io9 "mostly loved 'Planet of the Dead'", commenting that it was a standard Russell T Davies script: POTD was pretty much everything you've come to expect from Russell T. Davies' Who: crazy adventures, slightly cartoony characters, clever dialogue, moments of sheer silly fun,
8094-433: The Doctor to take her with him, but he refuses right before she is arrested; however, he allows her to escape from the police and fly off on the bus before they can stop her. As the Doctor departs, Carmen, a bus passenger who has low-level psychic abilities, warns him that his "song" is ending and "he will knock four times". Russell T Davies co-wrote the episode with Gareth Roberts , the first credited writing partnership for
8236-625: The Doctors. The show later introduced another such unknown past Doctor with Jo Martin 's recurring portrayal of the Fugitive Doctor , beginning with " Fugitive of the Judoon " (2020). An example from the classic series comes from The Trial of a Time Lord (1986), in which Michael Jayston 's character the Valeyard is described as an amalgamation of the darker sides of the Doctor's nature, somewhere between
8378-551: The Land and the Sea . It has been the subject of many parodies and references in popular culture . Doctor Who follows the adventures of the title character, a rogue Time Lord with somewhat unknown origins who goes by the name " the Doctor ". The Doctor fled Gallifrey , the planet of the Time Lords, in a stolen TARDIS ("Time and Relative Dimension(s) in Space"), a time machine that travels by materialising into, and dematerialising out of,
8520-447: The Region 2 discs but were corrected in time for the Region 1 release ( The Caves of Androzani , Remembrance of the Daleks , Complete Series Two box set). The Region 2 discs released up to 2009 have also been dual coded with Region 4, so the two have been identical; this practice ceased for new releases in 2010. The only exceptions are Vengeance on Varos , which fixed an error on the Region 2 version in episode 2, and Remembrance of
8662-681: The TARDIS' blue police box design in merchandising associated with Doctor Who . In 1998, the Metropolitan Police Authority filed an objection to the trademark claim; but in 2002, the Patent Office ruled in favour of the BBC. The 21st-century revival of the programme became the centrepiece of BBC One's Saturday schedule and "defined the channel". Many renowned actors have made guest-starring appearances in various stories including Kylie Minogue , Sir Ian McKellen , and Andrew Garfield among others. According to an article in
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#17328594620318804-423: The Time Lords ". Davies personally disagreed about counting The Trial of a Time Lord as one serial—arguing that it "felt like four stories" to him—and grouping "Utopia" with its following episodes, but agreed that it was only an opinion which did not override any others. Gareth Roberts inserted a reference to the landmark—specifically, the bus number is 200 —and Davies emailed the show's publicity team to advertise
8946-525: The Tritovore are eventually sympathetic to the protagonists and the stingrays are only following their biological imperative. Unlike the Christmas specials, the theme of Easter was not emphasised in the story; the episode only contained a "fleeting mention" of the holiday instead of "robot bunnies carrying baskets full of deadly egg bombs". The episode's tone word—"joyous"—was influenced by Davies' realisation that "every story since ' The Fires of Pompeii ' [had]
9088-576: The Tritovore were influenced by 1950s and 1970s science fiction B-movies such as The Fly and Davies' habit of including aliens that were recognisable to the audience as animals from Earth, such as the Judoon . Carmen's warning evoked memories of the Ood 's warning to the Doctor and Donna in the fourth series episode " Planet of the Ood ". Tennant explained the prophecy meant that the Doctor's "card [had become] marked" and
9230-448: The Wasp "—and instead was a deliberate "clash [of concepts] with many disparate elements". Roberts explained he was cautious to ensure that each element had to "feel precise and defined ... like we meant that", citing the serial Arc of Infinity as an example where such control was not enforced. The episode includes a common feature of Davies' writing in that there is no clear antagonist:
9372-638: The ability to regenerate when there is mortal damage to their body. The Doctor's various incarnations have gained numerous recurring enemies during their travels, including the Daleks , their creator Davros , the Cybermen , and the renegade Time Lord the Master . Doctor Who was originally intended to appeal to a family audience as an educational programme using time travel as a means to explore scientific ideas and famous moments in history. The programme first appeared on
9514-411: The animated Dreamland ) have also been filmed and broadcast in high-definition and released on Blu-ray, usually simultaneously with the corresponding DVDs. An upscaled version of " The Next Doctor " (which was shot in standard definition ) was also released on Blu-ray as part of a box set containing all of the 2008–2010 specials. It was also released individually in Australia and New Zealand. In 2011,
9656-490: The audience to be financially viable; and special effects were considerably more expensive to create in high-definition than in standard-definition. "Planet of the Dead" was used as a switch to HD because of the show's reduced schedule in 2009 and because the filming crew had become experienced with the equipment while they were filming Torchwood . Filming began at the National Museum Cardiff , which doubled for
9798-452: The best known outside Doctor Who itself, due to the popularity of his Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy works. The serial format changed for the 2005 revival , with what was now called a series usually consisting of thirteen 45-minute, self-contained episodes (60 minutes with adverts, on overseas commercial channels) and an extended 60-minute episode broadcast on Christmas Day. This system
9940-631: The brain's frontal lobe . The phrase retains this association with Doctor Who , to the point that in 1991 the Museum of the Moving Image in London named its exhibition celebrating the programme Behind the Sofa . The electronic theme music too was perceived as eerie, novel, and frightening at the time. A 2012 article placed this childhood juxtaposition of fear and thrill "at the center of many people's relationship with
10082-436: The bus [...] it's a disaster; the bus is fucked." When I got into the office, I was handed a photograph–and my initial reaction was absolute horror. We called an emergency meeting. Russell came in [...] and we discussed our options. We had bought an identical London bus to film on in Cardiff, so could we send that out to Dubai? We could have got it out in time if it'd left Cardiff, literally, the next day, but we'd have had to find
10224-427: The bus while preventing a race of metallic stingray aliens from posing a threat to Earth. At the end of the episode, one of the passengers delivers a warning to the Doctor that "he will knock four times", foreshadowing the remaining three specials. "Planet of the Dead" was the first Doctor Who episode to be filmed in high definition , after a positive reaction to the visual quality of spin-off series Torchwood and
10366-410: The bus, the Doctor and Christina scout ahead and spot what appears to be a sandstorm on the horizon. They encounter two alien flies called Tritovores, who take them to their wrecked spaceship. They explain they were going to pick up supplies at San Helios, which had recently housed billions of people but now is totally desert. The Doctor has them scan the approaching sandstorm and finds that it is actually
10508-507: The character as reverting to a traditional romantic-based companionship—rather than the platonic companionship of Donna Noble ( Catherine Tate ) in the fourth series —while still being a unique companion: It's back to basics: she's probably more of a traditional, romantic kind of Thomas Crown Affair kind of heroine, if you like. [...] It echoes to me of Rose, in that there may be a good old fashioned romantic connection between them. She's young, she's beautiful, she's sexy, but whereas Rose
10650-586: The climax, which he thought was "a cracker [that] just-about makes up for the previously plodding plot", and described the entire episode as having "enough enjoyable moments" to entertain fans before the transmission of "The Waters of Mars". "Planet of the Dead" was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form , but lost to "The Waters of Mars". The special aired in Canada in July on Space , and in
10792-510: The concept of people stranded in the desert and concluded that "made a fair fist of it". Brew positively reviewed Michelle Ryan's performance—believing it similar to her role in Bionic Woman than to her role as Zoe Slater in EastEnders —and Lee Evans' performance as Malcolm Taylor, calling him the highlight of the episode because of his dialogue. He closed his review by saying that "'Planet of
10934-436: The country" and that they were "delighted to announce that she [would] be joining the team." Ryan described her casting as a "real honour", noting that she "love[s] the character". Ryan was rumoured to be in line for a role as full-time companion to the incoming Eleventh Doctor ( Matt Smith ) and her casting in "Planet of the Dead", combined with her previous working history with incoming Executive Producer Steven Moffat –
11076-405: The damage in the narrative. The audience gave the episode an Appreciation Index of 88 —considered excellent. The gentlewoman burglar Lady Christina de Souza steals a gold chalice once belonging to King Æthelstan from a London museum and hops on a double-decker bus. The Tenth Doctor joins her and the other passengers, just before the bus passes through a wormhole and ends up on the sands of
11218-401: The depiction of violence". John Nathan-Turner produced the series during the 1980s and said in the documentary More Than Thirty Years in the TARDIS that he looked forward to Whitehouse's comments because the ratings of the series would increase soon after she had made them. Nathan-Turner also got into trouble with BBC executives over the violence he allowed to be depicted for season 22 of
11360-487: The development of the series. On 31 July 1963, Whitaker commissioned Terry Nation to write a story under the title The Mutants . As originally written, the Daleks and Thals were the victims of an alien neutron bomb attack but Nation later dropped the aliens and made the Daleks the aggressors. When the script was presented to Wilson, it was immediately rejected as the programme was not permitted to contain any " bug-eyed monsters ". According to Lambert, "We didn't have
11502-620: The episode that Evans' character had unintentionally become a "loving" caricature of Doctor Who fandom. The episode was influenced by several works: Davies described "Planet of the Dead" as "a great big adventure, a little bit Indiana Jones , a little bit Flight of the Phoenix , a little bit Pitch Black ."; the relationship between the Doctor and Christina was influenced by 1960s films such as Charade and Topkapi , which included Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn "being witty and sophisticated together, and then running for their lives"; and
11644-402: The episode's climax, instead describing the majority of the story as being "taken up with Tennant and Ryan standing in the desert, swapping flirtatious banter in between proclaiming how dire their situation is", and criticised the writing of the part of the episode where the bus was on San Helios, claiming that plot devices such as the Tritovore or Taylor being held at gunpoint and ordered to close
11786-473: The episode's filming, interior scenes in the bus were filmed in a studio in Wales. To disguise the fact they were using a translite , a 360-degree background image, Strong utilised often-avoided techniques such as muddied windows and lens flares ; the latter also served to create a warmer environment for the viewer. After filming ended, editing and post-processing took place until two days before transmission, leaving
11928-474: The established canon of Doctor Who . The two films have been released as a boxed set (often with the Dalekmania documentary on a separate disc), first in region 4 (9 May 2001), then region 1 (22 November 2001) and later region 2 (29 July 2002). It was also re-released in region 2 (25 September 2006) with a new cover. Doctor Who Doctor Who is a British science fiction television series broadcast by
12070-425: The filming industry and viable filming locations were nearer to urban areas than other locations. Production began on 19 January in Wales. The special was the first Doctor Who episode to be filmed in high-definition television resolution. The move to HD had previously been resisted for two major reasons: when the show was revived in 2005, high-definition television had not been adopted by an adequate portion of
12212-480: The financial viability of HDTV convinced the production team to switch formats. To ensure that the desert scenes looked as realistic as possible, the production team filmed in Dubai for three days, sending several props, including a 1980 double-decker Bristol VR bus, to the United Arab Emirates for filming. After a shipping container unintentionally damaged the bus in Dubai, Davies rewrote the script to explain
12354-420: The first two Doctors: William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton . In all, 97 of 253 episodes produced during the programme's first six years are not held in the BBC's archives (most notably seasons 3, 4, and 5, from which 79 episodes are missing). In 1972, almost all episodes then made were known to exist at the BBC, while by 1978 the practice of wiping tapes and destroying "spare" film copies had been brought to
12496-737: The history museum depicted in the episode's first scene. To portray the tunnel the bus travelled into, the Queen's Gate Tunnel of the A4232 road in Butetown was closed for four nights to accommodate filming. The last major piece of filming in Wales took place in the closed Mir (formerly Alphasteel) steelworks in Newport , which doubled almost unaltered for the Tritovore spaceship. Scenes set in London's Oxford Street were filmed at St Mary Street, Cardiff. Filming took place at
12638-502: The lynchpin of the Russell T Davies era". His main criticism was towards Ryan's character, describing the romantic tension between Christina and the Doctor as "feeling forced" and arguing that Ryan was "utterly unconvincing" as Christina. Conversely, he was appreciative of Strong's direction and the UNIT subplot. Specifically, he approved of Evans' performance, noting that "the fact that Malcolm names
12780-455: The middle of the desert–yeah, it looks incredible, especially in gorgeous hi-def. The damaged bus was not the only problem to filming in Dubai: the first of the three days was afflicted by a sandstorm which left most of the footage shot unusable. The production team then struggled to complete three days of filming in two days; the last day was compared to "filming Lawrence of Arabia ". To complete
12922-406: The narrative of one story flowing into the next and each episode having its own title, although produced as distinct stories with their own production codes. Following The Gunfighters (1966), however, each serial was given its own title, and the individual parts were assigned episode numbers. Of the programme's many writers , Robert Holmes was the most prolific, while Douglas Adams became
13064-419: The original four 25-minute episodes, re-edited, with new CGI, new Dalek voices by Nicholas Briggs and new specially shot scenes filmed at the original locations. Film remakes based on the first two Dalek television stories were produced in 1965 ( Dr. Who and the Daleks ) and 1966 ( Daleks' Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. ) starring Peter Cushing as " Dr. Who ". These two theatrical movies do not take place within
13206-457: The original run, each weekly episode formed part of a story (or "serial")—usually of four to six parts in earlier years and three to four in later years. Some notable exceptions were: The Daleks' Master Plan , which aired twelve episodes (plus an earlier one-episode teaser, " Mission to the Unknown ", featuring none of the regular cast ); almost an entire season of seven-episode serials (season 7);
13348-454: The other side of the wormhole, trying to come to grips with this almost unimaginable threat. She compared it to two previous episodes, " The Impossible Planet " and " Midnight ", both of which she enjoyed. She criticised three aspects of the episode: Lady Christina, who was the "first [Russell T Davies] heroine who actually filled [her] with revulsion", leaving her hoping that the character would be killed off-screen, Malcolm's reluctance to close
13490-540: The peak of the February 2009 Great Britain snowfall , where the sub-zero temperatures slowed filming and had a visible effect on the cast. To accommodate for the adverse conditions, Davies included a line in the script that specified that the Tritovore spaceship cooled as external temperatures increase. Filming in Dubai took place in mid-February 2009. Two weeks previously, one of the two 1980 Bristol VR double-decker buses bought for filming had been substantially damaged when
13632-410: The planet San Helios. The Doctor studies the wormhole and determines that the bus protected them from its effects like a Faraday cage , but he is unable to stop the driver from stepping back through the wormhole. When the driver's burnt skeleton appears on Earth, UNIT forces are alerted, led by Captain Erisa Magambo and aided by scientific adviser Malcolm Taylor . While the others attempt to repair
13774-549: The release of Lost in Time ; The Ice Warriors and The Invasion which had their missing episodes animated for its DVD release. The collection also included episode 3 of The Enemy of the World , which (at the time of the collection's release) was the only extant episode from that serial. Lost in Time was released in two formats in Region 1, with individual releases for Volumes 1 and 2 (which cover First Doctor and Second Doctor episodes, respectively), as well as an edition combining both volumes. In Regions 2 and 4, Lost in Time
13916-510: The revival era since 2005), two feature-length productions (1983's " The Five Doctors " and the 1996 television film ), twelve Christmas specials (most of approximately 60 minutes' duration, one of 72 minutes), and four additional specials ranging from 60 to 75 minutes in 2009, 2010, and 2013. Four mini-episodes, running about eight minutes each, were also produced for the 1993, 2005, and 2007 Children in Need charity appeals, while another mini-episode
14058-400: The room to watch the remainder of it. The Economist presented "hiding behind the sofa whenever the Daleks appear" as a British cultural institution on a par with Bovril and tea-time . Paul Parsons, author of The Science of Doctor Who , explains the appeal of hiding behind the sofa as the activation of the fear response in the amygdala in conjunction with reassurances of safety from
14200-422: The same memories, explaining each actor's distinct portrayal, as they all represent different stages in the life of the Doctor and, together, they form a single lifetime with a single narrative. The time-travelling nature of the plot means that different incarnations of the Doctor occasionally meet. In 2017, Jodie Whittaker , as the Thirteenth Doctor , became the first woman to be cast in the lead role. The series
14342-407: The series as the Doctor; as of 2024 , Ncuti Gatwa leads the series as the Fifteenth Doctor . The transition from one actor to another is written into the plot of the series with the concept of regeneration into a new incarnation , a plot device in which, when a Time Lord is fatally injured, their cells regenerate and they are reincarnated, into a different body with mannerisms and behaviour, but
14484-432: The series began production in colour. In 1974, Tom Baker was cast as the Doctor. His eccentric personality became hugely popular, with viewing figures for the series returning to a level not seen since the height of "Dalekmania" a decade earlier. After seven years in the role, Baker was replaced by Peter Davison in 1981, and Colin Baker replaced Davison in 1984. In 1985, the channel's controller Michael Grade cancelled
14626-434: The series in 1985, which was publicly criticised by controller Michael Grade and given as one of his reasons for suspending the series for 18 months. The phrase "hiding behind the sofa " (or "watching from behind the sofa") entered British pop culture , signifying the stereotypical but apocryphal early-series behaviour of children who wanted to avoid seeing frightening parts of a television programme while remaining in
14768-400: The series previously. Bad Wolf co-produces the series in partnership with BBC Studios Productions . Bad Wolf's involvement sees Gardner return to the series alongside Davies and Jane Tranter , who recommissioned the series in 2005. The programme has been sold to many other countries worldwide ( see § Viewership ). It has been claimed that the transmission of the first episode
14910-418: The series", and a 2011 online vote at Digital Spy deemed the series the "scariest TV show of all time". The image of the TARDIS has become firmly linked to the series in the public's consciousness; BBC scriptwriter Anthony Coburn , who lived in the resort of Herne Bay, Kent , was one of the people who conceived the idea of a police box as a time machine. In 1996, the BBC applied for a trademark to use
15052-473: The show has been co-produced by Bad Wolf and BBC Studios Productions in Cardiff. Doctor Who has spawned numerous spin-offs as part of the Whoniverse , including comic books, films, novels and audio dramas, and the television series Torchwood (2006–2011), The Sarah Jane Adventures (2007–2011), K9 (2009–2010), Class (2016), Tales of the TARDIS (2023–2024), and the upcoming The War Between
15194-427: The show since its 2005 revival. "Planet of the Dead" was a departure from Roberts' usual stories—Roberts had previously only written pseudo-historical stories—and instead consisted of wild science fiction elements from his literary career and teenage imagination. The episode had no clear concept—such as Shakespeare and witches in " The Shakespeare Code " or Agatha Christie and a murder mystery in " The Unicorn and
15336-400: The spare bus in Cardiff to match the bus in Dubai, and rewrite part of the script to accommodate and mention the damage to the bus. James Strong recalled the reaction of the production team to the damage to the bus in an issue of Doctor Who Magazine : One morning in the first week of February, I was leaving my flat when Julie Gardner phoned. She said, "there's been a little accident with
15478-572: The special as such. Doctor Who Magazine ' s editor Tom Spilsbury acknowledged the controversy in the magazine's 407th issue, which ran a reader survey of all 200 stories. Overnight figures estimated that the special was watched by 8.41 million people, a 39.6% share of the audience. An additional 184,000 watched the programme on BBC HD, the channel's highest rating at that time. The initial showing had an Appreciation Index of 88: considered excellent. A BBC One repeat, two days later, gained an overnight figure of 1.8 million viewers. The special
15620-432: The swarm nearly on them, the Doctor uses the crystal's mounting, an anti-gravity device, to enable the bus to fly. To control it, he persuades Christina to give him the gold chalice, which he smashes, using it to interface the bus's controls with the mountings. They fly back through the wormhole just as Malcolm closes it, but not before three stingrays sneak through, which UNIT quickly kill with Stinger missiles. Christina asks
15762-436: The television screen onto 8 mm cine film and clips that were shown on other programmes. Audio versions of all lost episodes exist from home viewers who made tape recordings of the show. Short clips from every story with the exception of Marco Polo (1964), " Mission to the Unknown " (1965) and The Massacre (1966) also exist. In addition to these, there are off-screen photographs made by photographer John Cura , who
15904-488: The ten-episode serial The War Games ; and The Trial of a Time Lord , which ran for fourteen episodes (albeit divided into three production codes and four narrative segments) during season 23 . Occasionally, serials were loosely connected by a story line, such as season 8 focusing on the Doctor battling a rogue Time Lord called the Master , season 16 's quest for the Key to Time , season 18 's journey through E-Space and
16046-539: The terms of a deal between BBC Worldwide and SMG Pictures in China, the company has first right of refusal on the purchase for the Chinese market of future series of the programme until and including Series 15. Between 1967 and 1978, large amounts of older material stored in the BBC's various video tape and film libraries was either destroyed or wiped . This included many early episodes of Doctor Who , those stories featuring
16188-418: The theme of entropy, and season 20 's Black Guardian trilogy. The programme was intended to be educational and for family viewing on the early Saturday evening schedule. It initially alternated stories set in the past, which taught younger audience members about history, and with those in the future or outer space, focusing on science. This was also reflected in the Doctor's original companions, one of whom
16330-404: The three specials would thus be darker—characterising "Planet of the Dead" as the "last time the Doctor gets to have any fun"—and that the subject of the prophecy was not the obvious answer: Pre-production on the four specials started on 20 November 2008—four days before scheduled—because the episode's overseas filming in Dubai required the extra planning time. Two weeks later, the production team
16472-540: The time vortex. The TARDIS has a vast interior but appears smaller on the outside, and is equipped with a " chameleon circuit " intended to make the machine take on the appearance of local objects as a disguise. Because of a malfunction, the Doctor's TARDIS remains fixed as a blue British police box . Across time and space, the Doctor's many incarnations often find events that pique their curiosity, and try to prevent evil forces from harming innocent people or changing history, using only ingenuity and minimal resources, such as
16614-650: The twelfth and final incarnation. The most recent example is when Richard E. Grant , who previously portrayed an alternate version of the Doctor known as the Shalka Doctor in the animated series Scream of the Shalka (2003), appeared as a hologram of a past Doctor in " Rogue " (2024). Planet of the Dead " Planet of the Dead " is the first of four special episodes of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who broadcast between mid-2009 and early 2010. It
16756-410: The two of them are in a sparring way, battling against each other to get through this adventure. Comedian Lee Evans plays Professor Malcolm Taylor, a UNIT scientist devoted to his predecessor, the Doctor. Davies created Evans' character to serve as a foil for Noma Dumezweni 's pragmatic character Captain Erisa Magambo , who previously appeared in the episode " Turn Left ". Roberts noted after writing
16898-561: The two working together on Jekyll , fuelled speculation that she might return to Doctor Who accompanying the Eleventh Doctor in Series 5 . It had been reported that Ryan auditioned to replace Billie Piper in the companion role when her character, Rose Tyler, left in 2006 , but was unsuccessful; Ryan subsequently stated that this was false. Ryan was interviewed by BBC News about her role as Lady Christina. Ryan praised her colleagues and
17040-435: The upcoming twenty-third season, forcing the series into an eighteen-month hiatus. In 1986, the series was recommissioned on the condition that Baker left the role of the Doctor, which was recast to Sylvester McCoy in 1987. Falling viewing numbers, a decline in the public perception of the series and a less-prominent transmission slot saw production ended in 1989 by Peter Cregeen , the BBC's new head of series. Although it
17182-401: The versatile sonic screwdriver . The Doctor rarely travels alone and is often joined by one or more companions on these adventures; these companions are usually humans, owing to the Doctor's fascination with planet Earth , which also leads to frequent collaborations with the international military task force UNIT when Earth is threatened. The Doctor is centuries old and, as a Time Lord, has
17324-445: The wormhole and the implausibility of only three stingrays travelling through it. She thought that the episode was "a pretty solid adventure with a cool set of monsters". Ben Rawson-Jones of entertainment website Digital Spy gave the episode two stars out of five. He characterised the episode as being "as hollow as a big chocolate Easter egg" because it was "lacking in the enthralling drama and compelling characterisation that has been
17466-482: The wormhole as "feel[ing] forced and unnaturally shoe-horned into the script". His praise of the episode went to Ryan and Evans: although he thought of Christina as a "shameless Lara Croft ripoff", he said that the character "still proves a sexy and wise-cracking counterpart to the Doctor"; and Evans' acting alongside Dumezweni highlighted his "undeniably great comic acting" as opposed to his "love-it-or-hate-it" stand-up comedy . The last paragraph of his review focused on
17608-434: Was simultaneously broadcast on BBC One and BBC HD on 11 April 2009. The specials served as lead actor David Tennant 's final stories as the Tenth Doctor . He is joined in the episode by actress Michelle Ryan , who plays Lady Christina de Souza, a one-off companion to the Doctor. The episode was written by Russell T Davies and Gareth Roberts , the first co-writing credit since the show's revival in 2005. "Planet of
17750-493: Was a science teacher and another a history teacher. However, science fiction stories came to dominate the programme, and the history-oriented episodes, which were not popular with the production team, were dropped after The Highlanders (1967). While the show continued to use historical settings, they were generally used as a backdrop for science fiction tales, with one exception: Black Orchid (1982), set in 1920s England. The early stories were serialised in nature, with
17892-461: Was a very ordinary, normal girl, Lady Christina is a lady, she comes from a very privileged, very elite background. She's different from any of the companions we've ever had in that she doesn't particularly want to get caught up with the Doctor. She's got her own thing going on, so she's very much a match for the Doctor and very much an equal. Often in an adventure the Doctor will take control and everyone will do what he says. She's very much in control –
18034-409: Was confirmed by the BBC on 23 January 2009 and attracted media attention owing to Ryan's recent relatively high-profile roles in EastEnders , Jekyll , Bionic Woman and Merlin . Ryan stated that she is "a huge fan of Doctor Who and [was] very excited to be joining David Tennant and the Doctor Who team." Davies commented that "Michelle is one of the most sought after young actors in
18176-448: Was confirmed to be the Fourteenth Doctor and the first actor to play two incarnations, having previously played the Tenth Doctor . In the same year, Ncuti Gatwa was revealed to be portraying the Fifteenth Doctor , making him the first black actor to headline the series. In addition to those actors who have headlined the series, others have portrayed versions of the Doctor in guest roles. Notably, in 2013, John Hurt guest-starred as
18318-468: Was delayed by ten minutes due to extended news coverage of the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy the previous day; in fact, it went out after a delay of eighty seconds. The BBC believed that coverage of the assassination, as well as a series of power blackouts across the country, had caused many viewers to miss this introduction to a new series, and it was broadcast again on 30 November 1963, just before episode two. The programme soon became
18460-402: Was effectively cancelled , the BBC repeatedly affirmed over several years that the series would return. While in-house production concluded, the BBC explored an independent production company to relaunch the series. Philip Segal , a British expatriate who worked for Columbia Pictures ' television arm in the United States, had approached the BBC as early as July 1989, while the 26th season
18602-403: Was filmed in 1080i for HDTV and broadcast simultaneously on BBC One and BBC HD . To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the show, a special 3D episode, " The Day of the Doctor ", was broadcast in 2013. In March 2013, it was announced that Tennant and Piper would be returning and that the episode would have a limited cinematic release worldwide. In June 2017, it was announced that due to
18744-468: Was hired by various production personnel to document many of their programmes during the 1950s and 1960s, including Doctor Who . These have been used in fan reconstructions of the serials. The BBC has tolerated these amateur reconstructions, provided they are not sold for profit and are distributed as low-quality copies. One of the most sought-after lost episodes is part four of the last William Hartnell serial, The Tenth Planet (1966), which ends with
18886-488: Was initially shrouded in mystery. In the programme's early days, the character was an eccentric alien traveller of great intelligence who battled injustice while exploring time and space in an unreliable time machine , the " TARDIS " (an acronym for Time and Relative Dimension in Space), which notably appears much larger on the inside than on the outside. The initially irascible and slightly sinister Doctor quickly mellowed into
19028-486: Was mainly responsible for developing the programme, with the first format document for the series being written by Newman along with the head of the script department (later head of serials) Donald Wilson and staff writer C. E. Webber ; in a 1971 interview Wilson claimed to have named the series, and when this claim was put to Newman he did not dispute it. Writer Anthony Coburn , story editor David Whitaker and initial producer Verity Lambert also heavily contributed to
19170-409: Was on a recce for the special and the final draft of the script was completed. The production team examined overseas locations to film the episode because they wanted the scenery to feel "real" and thought that they would be unable to film on a Welsh beach in winter. After examining countries such as Morocco and Tunisia, the production team decided to film in Dubai because the area was more amicable to
19312-453: Was produced in 2008 for a Doctor Who –themed edition of The Proms . The 1993 two-part story, entitled Dimensions in Time , was made in collaboration with the cast of the BBC soap-opera EastEnders and was filmed partly on the EastEnders set. A two-part mini-episode was also produced for the 2011 edition of Comic Relief . Starting with the 2009 special " Planet of the Dead ", the series
19454-508: Was released on Blu-ray in 2020. Season 24 was released on Blu-ray in 2021. Starring Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor . The only Eighth Doctor full television adventure was released on DVD in 2001 and Blu-ray in 2016. Starring Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor . All Ninth Doctor episodes were released in Region 2 on DVD in 2005 and Blu-ray in 2013. Starring David Tennant as
19596-422: Was responsible for the BBC's first merchandising boom. We had to rely on the story because there was little we could do with the effects. Star Wars in a way was the turning point. Once Star Wars had happened, Doctor Who effectively was out of date from that moment on really, judged by that level of technological expertise. — Philip Hinchcliffe , producer of Doctor Who from 1974 to 1977, on why
19738-434: Was shortened to twelve episodes and one Christmas special following the revival's eighth series , and ten episodes from the eleventh series . Each series includes standalone and multiple episodic stories, often linked with a loose story arc resolved in the series finale. As in the early "classic" era, each episode has its own title, whether stand-alone or part of a larger story. Occasionally, regular-series episodes will exceed
19880-489: Was still in production. Segal's negotiations eventually led to a Doctor Who television film as a pilot for an American series, broadcast on the Fox Network in 1996, as an international co-production between Fox, Universal Pictures , the BBC and BBC Worldwide . Starring Paul McGann as the Doctor, the film was successful in the UK (with 9.1 million viewers), but was less so in the United States and did not lead to
20022-579: Was the most violent of the drama programmes the corporation produced at the time. The same report found that 3% of the surveyed audience believed the series was "very unsuitable" for family viewing. Responding to the findings of the survey in The Times newspaper, journalist Philip Howard maintained that, "to compare the violence of Dr Who , sired by a horse-laugh out of a nightmare, with the more realistic violence of other television series, where actors who look like human beings bleed paint that looks like blood,
20164-426: Was therefore the second most watched programme of the day, beaten only by the premiere of the new series of Britain's Got Talent . The final viewing figure for the initial broadcast was 9.54 million viewers on BBC One and 200,000 viewers on BBC HD, making it the fifth most watched programme of the week and the most watched programme aired on BBC HD at that time. Including repeats in the following week and viewings on
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