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193-577: The Ninth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor , the protagonist of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who . He is portrayed by Christopher Eccleston during the first series of the show's revival in 2005. Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-old alien Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey who travels in time and space in the TARDIS , frequently with companions . At

386-426: A Doctor Who Magazine poll in 2006 Eccleston was voted the third greatest Doctor behind those portrayed by Tom Baker and David Tennant. In April 2011 IGN also listed Eccleston's Doctor as the third best Doctor, opining that he "gave us a tough-as-nails Doctor damaged by war and guilt, but still possessing the same spark of fun and adventure as his previous selves." The entertainment website stated that in introducing

579-534: A portrait photographer . Langley was in a relationship with Victoria Roscoe, a beautician, from 2004 until 2012. Roscoe gave birth to their son, Freddie, in May 2007. In November 2013, Langley revealed he and Roscoe had ended their relationship, but were sharing the upbringing of their son. Langley met Lucy France in 2019; the couple married and had a child in 2023. In October 2017, a woman complained to ITV that Langley had harassed and sexually assaulted her at Band on

772-574: 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

965-598: 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

1158-611: 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

1351-665: 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 ",

1544-471: A PhD in cheesemaking (" The God Complex "). In the first episode, the Doctor's granddaughter Susan goes by the surname "Foreman", and the junkyard in which Barbara and Ian find him bears the sign "I.M. Foreman". When addressed by Ian with this name, the Doctor responds, "Eh? Doctor who? What's he talking about?" Ian realises that "Foreman" is not the Doctor's name, when Barbara addresses the Doctor as "Doctor Foreman"; Ian asks Barbara, "That's not his name. Who

1737-650: A Time ", it is revealed that the Doctor also left to investigate the mystery of why good prevails in a universe where evil would seem to have so many advantages. It would be after his encounter with the Twelfth Doctor that the First Doctor realised that his actions made the difference in the balance between good and evil, with the Twelfth Doctor stating "The universe generally fails to be a fairy tale, but that's where we come in." In other media, more has been revealed of

1930-529: A Time Lord lady named Patience who was the widow of Omega , one of the founding-fathers of Gallifreyan society who fell into an anti-matter universe. Patience later met and married the Doctor and together they had thirteen children. Once their first-born son announced the arrival of a baby, the family was targeted by the Lord President, as the child was to be conceived naturally and only the Loom-born could inherit

2123-409: A Time Lord—that's eccentric enough to be getting on with". The Ninth Doctor speaks with a Manchester accent (Eccleston's own) in contrast with previous Doctors, making him the first Doctor to have a Northern accent . This is addressed in " Rose " when Rose Tyler asks the Doctor why he sounds like he is "from the north" if he is really an alien, with the Doctor shooting back that "lots of planets have

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2316-556: A brother in " Smith and Jones ", and sisters in " Arachnids in the UK ". In " It Takes You Away ", the Thirteenth Doctor claims that she had seven grandmothers. Later in the same scene, she mentions that her favourite grandmother, Granny 5, alleged Granny 2 was "a secret agent for the Zygons ". Throughout the revival, the Doctor routinely attempts to change the topic when questioned about being

2509-431: A demon in the 13th century, the residents of a convent called the Doctor the "sainted physician". This was proposed by Moffat on Usenet 16 years before "A Good Man Goes to War": Here's a particularly stupid theory. If we take "The Doctor" to be the Doctor's name — even if it is in the form of a title no doubt meaning something deep and Gallifreyan — perhaps our earthly use of the word "doctor" meaning healer or wise man

2702-588: A dissident Time Lady, who opposed the Time Lord High Council's plan to escape the Time War. When she reveals her face to the Doctor, his reaction indicates that he recognises her. Julie Gardner, in the episode's commentary, states that while some have speculated that the Time Lady is the Doctor's mother, neither she nor Russell T. Davies is willing to comment on her identity. When later asked by Wilfred who she was,

2895-400: A fantasy role. The Guardian 's Stephen Kelly felt that Eccleston's Ninth Doctor had many faults, two of which he felt to be "looking like an EastEnders extra and bellowing "fantastic" at every opportunity". However, he felt that he "brought warmth, wit and promise" and a "formidable presence". Kelly believed that Eccleston was believable as a man who had destroyed two civilisations and

3088-459: A fixed number of twelve regenerations, meaning that every Time Lord had a total of thirteen incarnations including the original. The plot of " The Time of the Doctor " involves the Doctor receiving a new cycle of regenerations from the Time Lords before his expected demise, triggering the regeneration into the Twelfth Doctor , played by Peter Capaldi . The origins of the programme were explored in

3281-563: 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

3474-406: A glance into the eyes to put the subject under a trance. The Doctor can read an entire book cover to cover in a second by thumb-flipping the pages before his eyes ( City of Death , " Rose ", " The Time of Angels "). Though medical skills he shows early in the programme are rudimentary, by Remembrance of the Daleks he can perform sophisticated medical diagnoses merely by touching someone's ear. He

3667-577: A half ago I got a band together, we had a few rehearsals, I had fun doing it and it's gone from there really." The band performs songs from the 1950s, as well as taking modern tracks and arranging them into jazz, blues and swing styles. Langley has stated that he does the arrangements himself. As a musician, Langley performed at Manchester Pride in 2011. He released an EP called Jump in July 2016. Langley re-launched his music career in October 2020, when he released

3860-461: A joke. Due to the retroactive creation of a numberless War Doctor and the Tenth Doctor's aborted regeneration in " The Stolen Earth "/" Journey's End ", the Eleventh Doctor was the final incarnation in his natural cycle. The Time Lords used a crack in the universe to give him a new cycle consisting of an unknown number of regenerations in " The Time of the Doctor ", triggering the regeneration into

4053-511: A last resort. According to the alien villain Chedaki in the episode The Android Invasion , "his entire history is one of opposition to conquest". As a time traveller, the Doctor has been present at, or directly involved in, countless major historical events on the planet Earth and elsewhere – sometimes more than once. In the 2005 series premiere, " Rose ", it is revealed that the Ninth Doctor

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4246-496: A new body. It is stated in The Deadly Assassin that Time Lords can only regenerate a total of twelve times, giving a theoretical final total of thirteen incarnations. However, The Doctor has a natural ability to regenerate an infinite number of times. It is possible to exceed this limit: in "The Five Doctors" the Time Lords offer the Master, who is inhabiting a Trakenite body after exhausting his original twelve regenerations,

4439-480: A new direction for the series. Cartmel wished to restore the character's "awe, mystery and strength" and make him "once again more than a mere chump of a Time Lord" – an idea the media dubbed the " Cartmel Masterplan ". Under Cartmel, the show foreshadowed this concept; however, its 1989 cancellation meant that it was never realised onscreen. The proposed backstory was fully explored in Platt's 1997 novel Lungbarrow , where

4632-457: A new generation to the show he "became an icon for a new millennium." Gavin Fuller of The Daily Telegraph named him the ninth best Doctor, noting that Eccleston was "a serious actor" and "his attempts at a lighter style could seem a tad forced", though this was "offset by his showdowns against the Daleks". Fuller also was disappointed that his "time was over all too swiftly". A 2012 poll conducted by

4825-481: A new regeneration cycle as a reward for his help and cooperation, and at some point, during the Time War they resurrected him, with his new body having at least one regeneration of its own. Regeneration is apparently optional, as in " Last of the Time Lords " the Master refuses to regenerate despite the Tenth Doctor's pleading. In addition, there are ways of killing a Time Lord that do not permit regeneration; for example, more than once it has been implied that stopping both

5018-434: A north". Remarking on this aspect of his characterisation, Eccleston stated that the character is "a scientist and an intellectual, and a lot of people seem to think you can only be those things if you speak with Received Pronunciation which, of course, is rubbish". The Ninth Doctor's costume consists of a black leather peacoat , a burgundy or navy jumper , dark trousers, and dark shoes. Eccleston said of this, "I didn't want

5211-408: A parent or his family life, as in " Fear Her ", " The Beast Below " and " A Good Man Goes to War ". In " The Empty Child ", a hospital doctor named Dr. Constantine says to him, "Before this war began, I was a father and a grandfather. Now I'm neither. But I'm still a doctor." The Ninth Doctor 's reply is, "Yeah. I know the feeling." In " The Doctor's Daughter ", when discussing the topic of parenthood,

5404-408: A reformed con man from the 51st century. The Doctor, Rose, and Jack form a close team but are separated in the series finale in which each character has to make difficult choices and face sacrifice. The Ninth Doctor first appears in the episode " Rose " where he rescues 19-year-old shop worker Rose Tyler ( Billie Piper ) from an Auton attack in the department store where she works. After Rose helps

5597-506: A repair shop on Gallifrey. In later episodes, the Doctor mentions that he once took a driving test to pilot a TARDIS and failed, and that he threw the instruction manual in a supernova because he disagreed with it. In " The Doctor's Wife ", Idris (the TARDIS's living soul in a human body) mentions that the Doctor had been travelling with her for 700 years, which indicates that he would have been 200 years old when he first borrowed her. In " Twice Upon

5790-497: A semi-regular role from 2001 to 2002 in Linda Green as Philip "Fizz" Green, the eponymous character's younger brother. While on leave from Coronation Street , he has played roles such as the part of Adam Mitchell in the 2005 series of Doctor Who appearing in two episodes, " Dalek " and " The Long Game ", and provided an audio commentary for the DVD of these episodes. He also filmed

5983-759: A short run at the Richmond Theatre . Beginning in May 2008, he appeared in the premiere stage run of the new musical Sleeping Beauty starring opposite fellow Coronation Street alumna Lucy Evans at the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin . Langley also appeared in the stage show Flashdance the Musical with Victoria Hamilton-Barritt , Bernie Nolan and Noel Sullivan . Langley received positive reviews for his role as Jimmy Kaminsky, with What's on Stage stating, 'Bruno Langley also fares well as Jimmy, particularly when he has

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6176-593: A single series, stating "I don't think you can engage with the new Doctor in the way you should be able to." In 2005 Christopher Eccleston won "Most Popular Actor" at the National Television Awards and the TV Quick and TV Choice award for Best Actor. He was also voted Best Actor by readers of SFX magazine. Eccleston was named Best Actor with 59.42% of the vote in BBC.co.uk 's online "Best of Drama" poll in 2005. In

6369-551: A single, "Collide". He released another single in June 2021, titled "Downpour". Following his role as Adam Mitchell in the 2005 season of BBC's Doctor Who, Langley reprised his role for a single audio drama developed by Big Finish Productions in 2017. Following his sexual assault allegations he was not invited to return for later stories. Langley responded to tabloid reports in August 2019 by confirming on Twitter that he had been working as

6562-410: A small role in the feature film The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse , released in June 2005, as well an episode of Dalziel and Pascoe and the little-seen film Halal Harry in 2006, and read Horace for BBC Radio 7 . He returned to Coronation Street for a twelve episode guest stint in 2007. In April 2011 Langley returned to Coronation Street for a one episode appearance. In June 2013 it

6755-527: A spy named Vansell, Millennia, Rallon and Jelpax. With this group, he learns about the Celestial Toymaker and travels to his realm in a type 18 TARDIS with Deca members Rallon and Millennia, who are killed. This leads to the Doctor's expulsion from the academy, condemned to five hundred years in Records and Traffic Control. In The Quantum Archangel , it is revealed the Doctor studied cosmic science alongside

6948-493: A strange old man and hear Susan's voice coming from inside what appears to be a police box. Pushing their way inside, the two find that the exterior is camouflage for the dimensionally transcendental interior of the TARDIS . The old man, whom Susan calls "Grandfather", kidnaps Barbara and Ian to prevent them from telling anyone about the existence of the TARDIS, taking them on an adventure in time and space. The first Doctor, says cultural scholar John Paul Green, "explicitly positioned

7141-484: A super-human level of stamina and the ability to absorb, withstand and expel large amounts of certain types of radiation (the Tenth Doctor stated they used to play with Röntgen bricks in the nursery, after absorbing the radiation from an x-ray of significantly magnified power). This ability would seem to have limitations which have yet to be fully explained, as the Doctor is harmed by radiation in The Daleks , Planet of

7334-491: A vast range of spin-off novels, audio dramas and comic strips. Ncuti Gatwa has portrayed the Fifteenth Doctor since " The Giggle " (2023). Within the fictional narrative, the Doctor is a Time Lord who travels through time and space in a dimensionally transcendental – "bigger on the inside" – time machine : the TARDIS . This time machine, whose name is an acronym for Time And Relative Dimension(s) In Space , takes

7527-410: Is an excellent cricket player ( Black Orchid ) and in " The Lodger " he proves to be a prodigiously talented footballer despite unfamiliarity with some of the game's basic rules. Though reluctant to engage in combat against living opponents, this is not for lack of skill; the Doctor is conversant with both real and fictitious styles of unarmed combat (most obviously the "Venusian Aikido" practised by

7720-404: Is direct result of the Doctor's multiple interventions in our history as a healer and wise man. In other words, we got it from him. This is a very silly idea and I'm consequently rather proud of it. The anonymity of the Doctor is the theme of series 7 of the revived programme. After faking his death, the Doctor erases himself from the various databases of the universe. In " Asylum of the Daleks ",

7913-634: Is disintegrated and later woven into the Doctor. The Timeless Child reveal partly took inspiration from this. The Doctor's adoptive mother Tecteun was a native to Gallifrey and an explorer of the Shobogans. She adopted the Doctor when she was the timeless child. She led the Division ;after the destruction of Gallifrey by the Spy Master. She was involved in the creation of the Flux ;and

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8106-444: Is he? Doctor who?" In an ultimately unused idea from documents written at the programme's inception, Barbara and Ian would have subsequently referred to the Doctor as "Doctor Who", given their not knowing his name. Throughout both the classic and revived programme, a running joke is that when the Doctor is introduced as just the Doctor, characters reply "Doctor who?" Another variation is "Doctor what?" The story arc running throughout

8299-502: Is known of the Doctor: not even his name, the actual form of which remains a mystery. In the first serial, An Unearthly Child , two teachers from Coal Hill School in London, Barbara Wright and Ian Chesterton , become intrigued by one of their pupils, Susan Foreman , who exhibits high intelligence and unusually advanced knowledge. Trailing her to a junkyard at 76 Totter's Lane, they encounter

8492-515: Is no longer [the Virgin Queen]...". The joke continues in " The Beast Below ", featuring future British monarch Queen Elizabeth X or Liz Ten, and the marriage is finally shown in "The Day of the Doctor" during an adventure with Zygons . In the 2010 Christmas special, " A Christmas Carol ", the Eleventh Doctor accidentally marries Marilyn Monroe but later questions the authenticity of the chapel in which they were married. Steven Moffat did not consider

8685-435: Is only honorary; the Tenth Doctor, however, considers the name to be his legitimate academic rank in " The Waters of Mars " (2009), describing his "name, rank and intention" as "The Doctor; doctor; fun." In an interview with The Age in 2003, Tom Baker mentioned that the Doctor is called so because he is "a doctor of time and relative dimension in space". Apart from being called a doctor of the TARDIS, he has been described as

8878-536: 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),

9071-607: 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

9264-512: Is revealed in " The Day of the Doctor ": "Never cruel nor cowardly. Never give up. Never give in." The episode " The Timeless Children " revised the Doctor's origins, revealing a scientist and space explorer named Tecteun who found a lone, mysterious child with a supernatural physiology – one not belonging to any other life form or species – and an immense intelligence. She adopted the child and studied her, successfully grafting her regeneration capacity (and possibly other traits) into her own species,

9457-565: Is revealed to be the Daleks, as the Dalek Emperor had also survived the Time War and had rebuilt the Dalek race. In " The Parting of the Ways ", the Doctor sends Rose back to the 21st century to protect her before attempting to destroy the Dalek army. When he realises that doing this would destroy most of planet Earth he is unable to do so, proclaiming he would rather be a coward than a killer. Having absorbed

9650-442: Is transformed from a coward to a hero. John Barrowman, reflecting on the interrelationships between The Doctor, Jack and Rose, felt that "the subtle sexual chemistry between all three characters... was always in play" with the caveat that "the relationships were by no means driven by desire". SFX magazine also commented on the "intoxicatingly flirtatious dynamic" and compared the trio to "a Buffy -style Scooby gang who can quip in

9843-499: 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;

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10036-819: The Doctor Who Annual 2006 . In Steven Moffat 's Ninth Doctor short story "'What I Did on My Christmas Holidays' by Sally Sparrow" the Doctor and the TARDIS are inadvertently separated twenty years in time by a fault in the time machine and the Doctor is able to instruct Sally how to bring it back to him in the past. This short story later became the basis of the third series episode " Blink ". The Ninth Doctor has appeared in IDW Comics Doctor Who: The Forgotten and Doctor Who: Prisoners of Time . The Ninth Doctor made his first official, original audio story appearance in Big Finish / AudioGo 's Destiny of

10229-574: The Eighth Doctor ( Paul McGann ) and the War Doctor ( John Hurt ), he is followed by the Tenth Doctor ( David Tennant ). To fit in with a 21st-century audience, the Doctor was given the primary companion Rose Tyler ( Billie Piper ), who was designed to be just as independent and courageous as the Doctor. The Doctor and Rose also briefly travel with Adam Mitchell ( Bruno Langley ) and are later joined by Captain Jack Harkness ( John Barrowman ),

10422-462: The Eighth Doctor remarks that he is half-human on his mother's side, and recalls watching a meteor storm with his father on Gallifrey. The revived series never addresses a human mother again and at times even contradicted this remark: The half-human clone of the Tenth Doctor is initially disgusted to be half-human ("Journey's End") and the Twelfth Doctor rejects that he could be a hybrid of human and Time Lord ("Hell Bent"). The Doctor mentions having had

10615-603: The Eighth Doctor Adventures novel The Adventuress of Henrietta Street , the Doctor's second heart was surgically removed, resulting in the loss of his abilities to metabolise drugs and go without air; these are restored when he begins to grow a new heart after his old one 'dies' ( Camera Obscura ). In his final serial , the Second Doctor states that Time Lords can live forever, "barring accidents". When "accidents" do occur, Time Lords can usually regenerate into

10808-598: The Once and Future series, in which an unspecified incarnation of the Doctor (later revealed to be the War Doctor ) is attacked with a weapon that causes them to switch randomly between past and future incarnations. Eccleston appears in Time Lord Immemorial , where he is joined by David Warner as an alternate-universe version of the Doctor who has appeared in several other Big Finish ranges ; Nicola Walker , who reprises her role as Liv Chenka; and Eccleston's Our Friends in

11001-550: 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

11194-587: 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

11387-711: The "Bad Wolf" story arc of the first series although in keeping with the TV series, the Doctor does not acknowledge these as significant. The Ninth Doctor appeared in the Penguin Fiftieth Anniversary eBook novella The Beast of Babylon by Charlie Higson . Here it is shown that he had adventures between dematerialising near the end of "Rose" and re-materializing to tell Rose the TARDIS travels in time. The character featured in comic strips in Doctor Who Magazine between 2005 and 2006 as well as in several short stories in

11580-418: The 50th anniversary special " The Day of the Doctor ". The Tenth and Eleventh Doctors explained that Hurt's regeneration was not the Doctor because his actions during the Time War were a betrayal of the promise that name symbolized. "The Day of the Doctor" revisited the last day of the Time War after "The End of Time" and revealed that the interference of the future Doctors and future companion Clara Oswald caused

11773-408: The 51st century) in 1941, the Doctor realises Jack had caused a deadly nanotechnological plague to sweep through the human race , turning humans into gas-mask zombies. Following the resolution of the situation, Jack prepares to sacrifice himself in " The Doctor Dances ", but the Doctor saves him and invites him on board the TARDIS. In " Boom Town ", when the Doctor encounters Blon ( Annette Badland ),

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11966-606: The 7 October 2021, "The Ashes of Eternity" was an exclusive-to-audio story from BBC Audio in collaboration with Penguin Books featuring the Ninth Doctor and Rose. It was written by Niel Bushnell and read by Adjoa Andoh . On 9 August 2020, Big Finish announced that Christopher Eccleston would reprise his role as the Ninth Doctor for twelve new stories in The Ninth Doctor Adventures . Eccleston began studio recording for

12159-564: The Armageddon Factor , it is revealed that the Doctor scraped through the academy with 51% on his second attempt. In The Time Meddler , it is said that the Doctor was fifty years before the Meddling Monk . In Time and the Rani , the Doctor claims to have attended university alongside the Rani , specialising in thermodynamics. At the academy, he met his childhood friend the Master and

12352-459: The BBC: it was always the intention for Adam to join the TARDIS team after Rose developed a liking for him. Contrasting against Rose, Adam was created to show that not everybody is suited to be a companion. Davies stated that he "always wanted to do a show with someone who was a rubbish companion" and dubbed Adam "the companion that couldn't". Upon returning Adam home, the Doctor informs him that "I only take

12545-605: The Big Finish spin-off audio series Gallifrey and Bernice Summerfield . In the novel Father Time , the Eighth Doctor, during his hundred-year exile on Earth, found an orphaned Time Lord girl named Miranda whom he adopted and raised until she was 16. In the novel Sometime Never... , she returned to the Doctor with her daughter Zezanne. She was also the central character in a three-issue comic book series published by Comeuppance Comics in 2003. Author Lance Parkin, who devised

12738-510: The Cybermen . The Doctor's standing in Time Lord society has waxed and waned over the years, from being a hunted man who was eventually punished with a forced regeneration and an exile sentence on Earth, to being appointed Lord President of the High Council. He does not assume the office for very long, fleeing Gallifrey after his appointment rather than accepting the limitations on his freedom that

12931-425: The Daleks , Susan and her husband David adopt three children whom they name David Campbell Jr, Ian and Barbara; named after David himself, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright , respectively. Irving Braxiatel , a character first introduced in the novel Theatre of War , was initially hinted at, and later confirmed to be, the Doctor's biological older brother. He has since become a recurring character, especially within

13124-558: The Doctor ", released as a prelude to the 50th anniversary special, featured Paul McGann reprising his role as the Eighth Doctor and was set during the Last Great Time War, albeit much earlier than during "The End of Time". The mini-episode presented him as a conscientious objector to the war who regenerated under controlled circumstances into the War Doctor ( John Hurt ), a previously unseen incarnation created retroactively by Steven Moffat , Davies' successor as head writer, for

13317-524: The Doctor and Rose defeat the Slitheen by firing a missile at their base at 10 Downing Street in " World War Three ", the Doctor offers Mickey a place in the TARDIS with them but he refuses. In the episode " Dalek ", the Doctor encounters a Dalek , though he had believed the race to be extinct as the Time War between the Time Lords and Daleks concluded with the mutual annihilation of both races—an event for which

13510-417: The Doctor and traditional children's heroes, describing the character as "brutal at times [...] confrontational [...] inflexible" and that he "sometimes creates carnage [...] there's nobody like him in Disney ". Matthew Sweet of The Evening Standard highlighted the dichotomy of the character being "brave and wise and brilliant" but also "rough and ready" and "down-to-earth". A loose story arc that informed

13703-410: The Doctor as grandfather to his companion Susan". He wore long white hair and Edwardian costume, reflecting, Green says, a "definite sense of Englishness". When Hartnell left the programme after three years due to ill health, the role was handed over to character actor Patrick Troughton . As of 25 December 2018 , official television productions have depicted fourteen distinct incarnations of

13896-507: The Doctor as one of 45 cousins grown from his house's genetic loom as an adult. By contrast, the TV programme has shown Time Lords as children and stated that Time Lords can have sexual relationships. The Doctor is assumed to be or to have been married to Susan's grandmother, including by head writer Steven Moffat . In " Blink ", the Doctor mentioned that he was rubbish at his own wedding. In The Virgin New Adventures novel Cold Fusion ,

14089-464: The Doctor challenges Rose more than anyone else in her life and that he in turn sees in her "she has huge potential, to be someone really, really great." Eccleston felt that Rose is a "heroine" who "teaches [the Doctor] huge emotional lessons". He felt that the relationship between the two characters was "love at first sight" although in a more mysterious fashion than a conventional love affair. Commentators on

14282-454: The Doctor claims to be a big fan. When faced with a near-death situation, the Doctor tells Rose that he was glad to have met her. In " Aliens of London ", when taking Rose home, the Doctor accidentally returns to Earth 12 months after they left. Because of his actions, he is treated like an Internet predator by Rose's mother Jackie ( Camille Coduri ) and Rose's boyfriend Mickey ( Noel Clarke ) has become Rose's murder suspect. After Mickey helps

14475-650: The Doctor defeat the Nestene Consciousness , he invites her to travel with him in the TARDIS. On their first trip in " The End of the World ", the Doctor takes Rose to witness the destruction of planet Earth in the year five billion. It is revealed that the Doctor's own species, the Time Lords , have been destroyed and the Doctor is the last of his kind. Following from this, they visit Cardiff in 1869 in " The Unquiet Dead ", where they encounter author Charles Dickens , of whom

14668-400: The Doctor evades answering the question, making their connection unclear. In Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale – The Final Chapter , Russell T Davies states that the character was conceived as the Doctor's mother, but her identity was left ambiguous to allow viewers to make up their own minds. In spin-off media, several individuals related to the Doctor have made appearances, and do not appear in

14861-465: The Doctor expels him from the TARDIS . The Doctor is angry at Rose after he takes her to the event of father Pete Tyler 's ( Shaun Dingwall ) death and she saves his life, causing a paradox in " Father's Day ". However, when Pete dies to restore the timeline he shows compassion and encourages her to sit by his side as he passes away. In " The Empty Child ", after encountering Captain Jack Harkness ( John Barrowman ) (a con artist and former Time Agent from

15054-464: The Doctor had a tendency to play the role "too camp, knowing, lovable or twee". He felt that the "brusque, sarky and virile" Ninth Doctor "transports us back to the golden era of Jon Pertwee when the series still had that edge of darkness." Marena Manzoufas, head of ABC programming, commented after picking up the series that Eccleston "has brought a new dynamic energy to the role" and the show would appeal to both long time viewers and new fans. She cited

15247-417: The Doctor himself was responsible. The Doctor tortures the surviving Dalek and at the end of the episode prepares to kill it in cold blood. He refrains once Rose calls him out on this. Adam Mitchell ( Bruno Langley ) joins the Doctor and Rose as companion at the end of "Dalek". However, when he tries to smuggle future knowledge from Satellite Five in the year 200,000 back to his own time in " The Long Game ",

15440-433: The Doctor in the seventh series, particularly in " The Angels Take Manhattan ", confirmed that they were married; in "The Name of the Doctor", the Doctor refers to her as his "wife" after seeing a grave stone with her name on it, after initially answering "yes" when Clara asks if she was an "ex". In " The End of Time ", the Tenth Doctor mentions marrying Queen Elizabeth I and implies that they had sex, stating: "her nickname

15633-507: The Doctor is revealed as " the Other ", a mysterious figure in Gallifreyan lore who co-founded Time Lord society with Rassilon and Omega . After a curse renders Gallifrey sterile, the Other devises biotechnological looms to "weave" new Time Lords; his granddaughter Susan is Gallifrey's last natural child. To escape a civil war with Rassilon, the Other throws himself into the loom system, where he

15826-570: The Doctor recalled his origins as a high-born Gallifreyan. In The Time Monster , the Doctor says he grew up in a house on a mountainside and talks about a hermit who lived under a tree behind the house and inspired the Doctor when he was depressed. He is later reunited with this former mentor, now on Earth posing as the abbot K'anpo Rimpoche, in Planet of the Spiders . In " The Girl in the Fireplace ", according to Madame de Pompadour who psychically linked with

16019-478: The Doctor reveals that he is able to perceive the fabric of time, discerning "fixed points" and "points in flux" – moments when history must remain as it was originally versus moments when he can change or influence the original course of events, as well as all past, present and possible future events. However, in " Kill the Moon ", the Twelfth Doctor claims that there are "grey areas", points in time for which he cannot see

16212-417: The Doctor tries to reassure his companion that Missy is joking, although later in the episode he self-identifies by that name. In " Twice Upon a Time ", before regeneration the Twelfth Doctor states that no one would ever understand his name except for children, saying: "If their hearts are in the right place and the stars are too, children can hear your name." Peter Capaldi offered his own theory regarding

16405-756: The Doctor's early life. In the Past Doctor Adventures novel Divided Loyalties , the Doctor recalls his Academy years in a dream induced by the Celestial Toymaker. According to this, he was a member of an organisation called the Deca, ten brilliant Academy students campaigning for increased Time Lord intervention, alongside Mortimus (the Meddling Monk) , Ushas (the Rani) , Koschei (the Master) , Magnus (the War Chief) , Drax ,

16598-427: The Doctor's future implied serious consequences in the event of the Doctor's true name being spoken, with the nature of these finally revealed in " The Time of the Doctor ". Spin-off media offer the explanation that the Doctor's true name is unpronounceable by humans. In " The Name of the Doctor ", the Eleventh Doctor tells companion Clara Oswald that the name "Doctor" is essentially a promise he made. The promise itself

16791-498: The Doctor's hearts simultaneously would accomplish this (as demonstrated in the Eleventh Doctor story " The Impossible Astronaut "). The Chancellery Guard (Gallifrey's equivalent of a police force) are armed with stasers, weapons capable of suppressing regeneration. In Death of the Doctor , a serial from spin-off programme The Sarah Jane Adventures , the Eleventh Doctor flippantly responds to Clyde Langer that he can regenerate "507" times; writer Russell T. Davies intended this line as

16984-463: The Doctor's memories, the Doctor experienced a very lonely childhood. An elderly woman on Gallifrey died and was shrouded in veils and surrounded by flies, giving the Doctor recurring nightmares, which the confession dial in " Heaven Sent " would later visualise to torment him. In " Listen ", it is ambiguously revealed the Doctor as a child often slept alone in a barn in the Drylands (a desert region outside

17177-461: The Doctor's other families (adopted or not) are rare in the programme. In The Tomb of the Cybermen , when asked about his family, the Second Doctor says his memories of them are alive when he wants them to be; otherwise they sleep in his mind and he forgets. In The Curse of Fenric , when asked if he has family, the Seventh Doctor replies that he does not know. In the 1996 television movie ,

17370-454: 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

17563-431: The Doctor's surname as she believed was the intent of the dialogue. The 2011 mid-series finale " A Good Man Goes to War ", also written by Moffat, suggested through the character of River Song that the Doctor's travels had influenced the etymology of the word "doctor", perverting its meaning on some worlds from "wise man" or "healer" to "great warrior". In " The End of Time " (2009–2010) it is mentioned that after he smote

17756-428: The Doctor. The longest-lasting on-screen incarnation is the Fourth Doctor , played by Tom Baker for seven years. Within the narrative, these changes were explained as regeneration , a biological process which heals a Time Lord when their incarnation is about to die. Consequently, the Time Lord is given a wholly new body. In The Deadly Assassin , the concept of a regeneration limit is introduced, giving Time Lords

17949-609: The Doctor: Night of the Whisper , released in September 2013 for 50th anniversary of Doctor Who . He is joined by companions Rose and Captain Jack, and Nicholas Briggs reads the story and provides his voice. Briggs reprised the role for The Ninth Doctor Chronicles , released in May 2017. In 2019, Nicholas Briggs narrated a short trip from the Ninth Doctor era titled Battle Scars . Released on

18142-500: The Homeworld/Gallifrey abandon their names to symbolise how they are leaving their culture. Similarly, the novel Lungbarrow reveals that the Doctor's name has been struck from the records of his family and therefore cannot be spoken. Quite apart from his name, why the Doctor uses the title "The Doctor" has never been fully explained on screen. The Doctor, at first, said that he was not a physician , often describing himself as

18335-560: The Legacy of Rassilon; as a result, the Doctor's children were systemically culled. The Doctor managed to help Patience escape through the use of the Machine, a prototype TARDIS, after assuring that her daughter-in-law had given birth to a girl named Susan and promised that he would keep the child safely away from Gallifrey. In " The Wedding of River Song ", the Doctor marries recurring companion and love interest River Song . Comments by both River and

18528-598: The Master, taught by Cardinal Sendok. In the Virgin Missing Adventures novel Goth Opera , it is said the Doctor was a frequent prankster while at the academy, introducing cats into Gallifrey's ecosystem with his friend Ruath and electrifying a "perigosto stick" belonging to his teacher, Borusa. Feeling that too much of the Doctor's backstory had been revealed by the Seventh Doctor 's era, writers Andrew Cartmel , Ben Aaronovitch and Marc Platt developed

18721-400: The Ninth Doctor's characterisation during his tenure is his opinion on the destruction of his own race, the Time Lords , which occurred offscreen before episode one. Eccleston felt that the episode "Dalek" showed the audience why his Doctor is the way he is and "how he feels about his past". Davies remarked that the Ninth Doctor carries a lot of survivor guilt , which is why he "strides through

18914-399: The Ninth Doctor's era Tennant subsequently had time to make his character more established. Richard Henley Davis of The Economic Voice also notes that Tennant "had big boots to fill after Christopher Eccleston's Doctor Who, which many believe to be the greatest incarnation of the lunatic time lord." In a 2005 interview Tennant himself stated "there's an awful lot to live up to" after taking on

19107-655: The Ninth Doctor's relationship with the Doctor's arch enemies the Daleks was more successful than in other incarnations giving particular praise to Eccleston's "spittle-enhanced and terrifyingly furious reaction" to the monsters in "Dalek". Blair ends his retrospective by noting that without the foundations laid by Eccleston the show "wouldn't have been able to move onwards towards the even more popular David Tennant era". Steven Moffat , who wrote " The Empty Child "/" The Doctor Dances " for Eccleston's Doctor and would become Doctor Who executive producer in 2010, observed that in 2005 there

19300-508: The North co-star Gina McKee as The Lumiat - an incarnation of The Master who has renounced evil. The Doctor had been played by eight actors between when the series began in 1963 and the casting of Christopher Eccleston; the concept of regeneration—a process in which the title character takes on a new body and identity—had been introduced in 1966 to allow the production team to change lead actors. Between 1963 and 1989 seven different actors played

19493-468: The Shobogans, and herself. This species, who would eventually become the Time Lords, was restricted to a limit of twelve regenerations by a later incarnation of Tecteun. Tecteun and their child were eventually inducted into a clandestine Time Lord organisation known as the Division. After an unknown amount of regenerations, Tecteun's child began calling themself "Doctor". The Fugitive Doctor , true to her title,

19686-512: The Spiders and " The End of Time ". The Doctor has withstood, with minimal damage, exposure to electricity deadly enough to kill a human ( Terror of the Zygons , Genesis of the Daleks , " Aliens of London ", " The Christmas Invasion ", " The Idiot's Lantern ", " Evolution of the Daleks " and spin-off audio Spare Parts ). Certain stories imply that the Time Lord is resistant to cold temperatures (" 42 "). To counter extreme trauma, such as exposure to

19879-413: The TARDIS to find a new home. The third series opens Martyn and Bhambra reprising their roles, implying that Callen and Doyle have become temporary companions as the Doctor mentions having taken them on several adventures in the interim. The pair depart the series in the first episode, taken in by a space colony led by Fiacra ( Louise Jameson , who played Leela in the original television series). Later in

20072-489: The Tenth Doctor confirms that he had at one point been a father and that he lost his children "a long time ago", saying "When they died that part of me died with them"; the nature of their deaths, however, has never been explained, as it is suggested that whatever happened to his family is very painful for the Doctor to talk about. In " The Woman Who Fell to Earth " when the Thirteenth Doctor is questioned how she copes with

20265-517: The Third, Twelfth and Thirteenth Doctors), has won several sword fights against skilled opponents, and is able to make extremely difficult shots with firearms and, in The Face of Evil , with a crossbow. Thanks to exposure to many of history's greatest experts, including those from the future, the Doctor is a talented boxer, musician, organist, scientist and singer (able to shatter windows with his voice), and has

20458-550: The Time War and provide a conclusion that focused on the relationship between the character and Rose. John Barrowman, who played Captain Jack, felt that the Doctor's decision to save Rose enabled a catharsis ; as he sacrifices himself to save her, he lets go of the burden of the Time Lords being destroyed. They love each other. They're best friends and they kind of finish off each other's sentences, understand each other's mood swings and reasoning but, as in all good relationships, they have lessons to teach each other. —Eccleston on

20651-426: The Twelfth Doctor ( Peter Capaldi ). The Twelfth Doctor later claims to be uncertain he "won't keep regenerating forever" ("Kill the Moon"), and even Rassilon, the president of the Time Lords, expresses uncertainty about how many regenerations the Doctor has available to him. Other skills include his mental communication with other Time Lords, in some cases over a galaxy's distance. His skill with hypnosis requires only

20844-584: The United States media news magazine Entertainment Weekly resulted in Eccleston being voted the fourth most popular Doctor, behind David Tennant, Matt Smith (the Eleventh Doctor ) and Tom Baker . The Doctor (Doctor Who) A number of other actors have played the character in stage and audio plays, as well as in various film and television productions. The Doctor has also been featured in films and

21037-479: The Wall , a Manchester music venue. After an internal investigation into the woman's allegations, Langley's contract with Coronation Street was terminated with immediate effect. His character continued to appear on screen until December 2017. On 30 October 2017, police confirmed that Langley had been charged with two counts of sexual assault. Langley appeared in court on 28 November 2017 and pleaded guilty to

21230-425: The War Doctor to change his plan at the last moment. Ultimately, Gallifrey was hidden in a parallel dimension and the Daleks destroyed themselves in the ensuing crossfire; to all observers, it appeared as though the two races had been annihilated together. The unsynchronized timestreams caused the War Doctor to forget the specifics of his actions at this time. The Doctor remembered committing the apparent genocide during

21423-496: The Wasp " (2008) he was able to sense the changes in his body's enzymes (i.e. cyanide poisoning) and expel the cyanide from his body by ingesting a concoction of ginger beer , protein foods and salts. The Doctor has shown a resistance to temporal effects and has demonstrated telepathic ability, both the ability to mentally connect to other incarnations of themselves they have encountered (" The Five Doctors "), and an ability to enter into

21616-515: The academy and his affiliation with the notoriously devious Prydonian chapter of Time Lords. In " The Sound of Drums ", the Doctor describes an academy initiation where, at the age of eight, Gallifreyan children were taken from their families and made to look into the Untempered Schism, a gap in the fabric of reality, to view the Time Vortex. According to the Doctor, when regarding the effects of

21809-621: The actor, and were forced to apologise. Speaking to the Yorkshire Evening Post in 2010, Eccleston denied that he left due to fear of being typecast. He stated that he "didn't enjoy the environment and the culture that we, the cast and crew, had to work in" and that he did not want to do any more based on the experience. He said, "I wasn't comfortable. I thought 'If I stay in this job, I'm going to have to blind myself to certain things that I thought were wrong.' And I think it's more important to be your own man than be successful, so I left. But

22002-735: The alias "Dr. Bowman" in the 1996 Doctor Who television movie . Bruno Langley Bruno Langley (born 21 March 1983) is an English musician and former actor. He is known for his roles as Darren Michaels and Todd Grimshaw in Coronation Street (2001–2004, 2007, 2011, 2013–2017) and Adam Mitchell in Doctor Who (2005). In October 2017, a spokesman for the show confirmed that Langley's Coronation Street contract had been terminated. Greater Manchester Police later announced he had been charged with two counts of sexual assault , to both of which he pleaded guilty on 28 November 2017; he

22195-583: The bar for all of us". Eccleston cited the quality of the scripts as a reason for joining the cast, stating in an interview on BBC's Breakfast programme that he was "excited" about working with Davies. In the press-pack for the series he states that he had emailed the writer to declare his interest in the role. Eccleston enjoyed having the chance to work on a series aimed at a different demographic than his previous work, noting that "it's aimed at families, so I'm kind of acting for children and I feel very lucky to be able to do that". He felt that being cast by Davies in

22388-425: The best. I've got Rose". Fraser McAlpine, reviewing Adam's appearances as companion for BBC America 's Anglophenia blog, described Adam as fulfilling a role as "the companion that proves the worth of all of the other companions". From episodes nine through thirteen, Rose and the Doctor are joined by the con man Jack Harkness. Jack's appearances were conceived with the intention of forming a character arc in which Jack

22581-541: The cello until the age of 16, when he decided to pursue a career as an actor. In addition, he plays the piano. In 2010, he formed a band, Bruno Langley and the Wonderland Band. In a 2011 interview with Dianne Bourne of the Manchester Evening News , he stated, "I've been acting on and off ever since the age of 17, but always in between jobs I'd sit at the piano and write songs, and sing different songs. A year and

22774-461: The chance to showcase his fine voice in the second act.' and Lindsay Corr stating in the Edinburgh Guide that, 'Bruno Langley as Jimmy shows acting doesn't have to take a back seat in musical theatre, as he twitches about the stage in his grey hoodie and delivers his number, 'You Can't Keep Me Down', with understated aplomb.' In 2010–2011 he joined the tour of Calendar Girls , in the role of

22967-429: The character of Dr Who first begins appearing in existing documentation from May of that year. It is possible that series co-creator Donald Wilson may have named the character; in a 1971 interview Wilson claimed to have come up with the series' title, and when this claim was put to Newman he did not dispute it. The character was first portrayed by William Hartnell in 1963. At the programme's beginning, nothing at all

23160-412: The character of Miranda, has hinted that her real father is a future incarnation of the Doctor which, if so, would make Zezanne the Doctor's biological granddaughter as well. The Virgin New Adventures novel Lungbarrow presents an alternative take on the Doctor's origins, suggesting that Time Lords are "loomed" in large batches of "cousins" and not produced via sexual reproduction. Lungbarrow portrays

23353-477: 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

23546-485: 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

23739-537: The character. Other actors linked to the role included Bill Nighy , Richard E Grant, Anthony Head , Eddie Izzard , Hugh Grant and Alan Davies . Jane Tranter , BBC Controller of Drama Commissioning, stated in the announcement of his casting that casting an actor of Eccleston's reputation signalled "our intention to take Doctor Who into the 21st century, as well as retaining its core traditional values – to be surprising, edgy and eccentric". Executive Producer Russell T Davies remarked that casting Eccleston "raises

23932-511: The city capital), was withdrawn from other children, and was cared for by guardian figures who privately doubted the child's ability as an eventual Time Lord. Through the dialogue, it is suggested that several Gallifreyan children were pressured into joining the army, a path which did not sit right with the Doctor's pacifist beliefs, and as a result he wished to enroll into the Time Lord Academy instead. The classic series refers to his time at

24125-472: The comic strip to depict the Eighth Doctor's regeneration into the Ninth at the end of the story arc, The Flood . The regeneration would have been witnessed by the Eighth Doctor's companion, Destrii , and Hickman writes that the intent was to continue with a Ninth Doctor: Year One story arc with the Ninth Doctor and Destrii. However, when this arc was vetoed by both Russell T Davies and series producer Julie Gardner

24318-435: The costume to be my performance, I wanted any flamboyance and colour to come out of my acting." Eccleston thought that his Doctor should show a "slight dark side" but also bring out a lighter side. Executive producer Julie Gardner observed that the Ninth Doctor could be "very intense but also frivolous". Eccleston felt that his Doctor lives solely for the present, avoids thinking about his painful past, and that his only view of

24511-414: The creative team felt unable to regenerate the Doctor without Destrii's presence and the decision was made not to depict the regeneration in the comic strip. The reprint collection includes a specially-drawn panel showing how the Ninth Doctor might have looked in the comic strip immediately after his regeneration, wearing the Eighth Doctor's costume and being tended to by Destrii. The Ninth Doctor appears in

24704-491: The docudrama An Adventure in Space and Time as part of the 50th-anniversary celebrations of Doctor Who , which starred David Bradley as William Hartnell . Although Time Lords resemble humans, their physiology differs in key respects. Like other members of their race, the Doctor has two hearts (binary vascular system), a "respiratory bypass system" that allows the Doctor to go without air, an internal body temperature of 15–16 °C (60 °F) and occasionally exhibits

24897-416: The end of "Forest of the Dead". The events of " The Time of the Doctor " make it clear that his people, the Time Lords, know his true name, despite calling him by his chosen alias as "the Doctor" even in formal settings such as court. Despite the common belief amongst some areas of the fanbase that the Doctor should never be referred to by the name of the series, "Doctor Who" is actually fairly often used as

25090-431: The end of his life, the Doctor regenerates into a new version of himself, with a changed physical appearance and personality. Eccleston's incarnation of the Doctor is a war-torn loner who is more pragmatic and less eccentric than his previous selves, fiercely determined to protect the innocent at all costs, and prone to using humour to mask the trauma he suffers from as a result of the Time War . Preceded in regeneration by

25283-426: The energies of the time vortex, Rose is able to return to the Doctor and destroy the Daleks. To save Rose from being killed by harbouring the time vortex, the Doctor removes the harmful effects by kissing her. However, the damage to his cells causes him to regenerate and the Tenth Doctor ( David Tennant ) takes his place. The Ninth Doctor's origins were not explored during Eccleston's tenure in 2005, but were given in

25476-425: The episode and showrunner Steven Moffat wished to honour his decision. Eccleston does, however, appear in stock footage and stills alongside the first eight Doctors in promotional material for the special. In the essay "Flood Barriers" in the 2007 Panini Books reprint collection of Eighth Doctor comic strips from Doctor Who Magazine strip editor Clayton Hickman reveals that Russell T Davies had authorised

25669-431: The events of past serials such as Genesis of the Daleks have been retroactively attributed to the Time War. It was never shown on-screen until " The End of Time ", which was both Davies' last story as head writer and producer and David Tennant 's last regular story as the Tenth Doctor. This episode featured brief views of Gallifrey and the Time Lords on the last day of the Time War. The 2013 mini-episode " The Night of

25862-423: The exterior form of a 1963 police telephone call box and retains the appearance throughout the programme. Human companions accompany the Doctor through their adventures and serve as audience surrogate characters to ask questions which allow the Doctor to provide relevant exposition. "Doctor" is a self-selected alias. In episodes specifically under showrunner Steven Moffat , the story arcs surrounding events in

26055-433: The face of danger". Jack parts from the Ninth Doctor with a kiss which Barrowman felt to be "full of fondess and respect" and both "a significant moment in the annals of the series" and "a moment full of melancholy and loss for the characters". The Ninth Doctor is highly regarded among fans of the show and both mainstream press and science fiction reviewers generally credit Eccleston and his Doctor as helping to re-establish

26248-434: The first box set - Ravagers - on the 14th December 2020. The first series, consisting of four volumes, were released between May 2021 and February 2022. The Ninth Doctor Adventures take place prior to the events of Rose and features the Doctor, recently regenerated following the Time War , mostly travelling alone. However, in the first volume the Doctor takes on a temporary companion, Nova ( Camilla Beeput ). Later in

26441-509: The first series, the Doctor battles Cybermen and encounters Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart ( Jon Culshaw ). On 13th September 2021, Big Finish confirmed that Eccleston would return for a second series. In series two, the Doctor meets Sea Devils , reunites with Eighth Doctor companion Liv Chenka , and faces an infestation of Vashta Nerada on Earth. In the final episode, he rescues a young blind man named Callen (Adam Martyn) and his talking guide dog Doyle ( Harki Bhambra ), taking them away in

26634-463: The first six of the Doctor Who hardback New Series Adventures novels which tie in with the first series of the revamped show. The first three of these novels— The Clockwise Man , The Monsters Inside and Winner Takes All —were published on 19 May 2005 and feature solely the Doctor and Rose. The Monsters Inside depicts the Doctor taking Rose to her first alien planet, Justicia. Rose mentions

26827-429: The future is simply that "it's there". He felt that the character ultimately provides a life-affirming message: "In everything the Doctor does, he is saying 'it's great to be alive'." In an interview with Newsround , he stated that the Doctor accepts individuals regardless of colour and creed and expressed hope that the Doctor would encourage young children to appreciate life. However, he also drew out differences between

27020-410: The high viewing figures of Eccleston's debut episode—over 10 million—as proof that audiences were ready to welcome in a new era of the show. Looking back on David Tennant's era and forward to Matt Smith , The Herald ' s Edd McCracken comments that casting Tennant had been a risk after "the show's reputation and ratings" had been "restored under Eccleston". However he notes that due to the brevity of

27213-413: The initiation on participants: "Some would be inspired, some would run away and some would go mad (as he suggests happened to his nemesis, the Master )." When asked to which group he belonged, he replied, "Oh, the ones that ran away. I never stopped!" The Doctor was taught by future Lord President Borusa and Azmael , where he met Drax , with whom he attended a Tech course as part of the class of '92. In

27406-465: The lives of his ninth, tenth and eleventh incarnations up until the time of the Eleventh Doctor's present. The character of the Doctor was created by BBC Head of Drama, Sydney Newman . The first format document for the programme that was to become Doctor Who – then provisionally titled The Troubleshooters – was written in March 1963 by C. E. Webber , a staff writer who had been brought in to help develop

27599-400: The loss of her family, she states that she carries the memories of them with her and thus makes them a part of who she is, saying "even though they're gone from the world ... they're never gone from me." In " The End of Time ", a mysterious individual, referred to in the episode credits as "The Woman", appears unexpectedly to Wilfred Mott throughout both episodes. She is later revealed to be

27792-415: The marriages to Elizabeth I and Marilyn Monroe to count when questioned on how many wives the Doctor had had, remarking that he was married to Susan's grandmother and River Song. An adventurous scientist, the Doctor usually solves problems with his wits rather than with force. With the exception of his sonic screwdriver (which cannot kill, wound or maim), the Doctor detests weapons and uses violence only as

27985-471: The memories of other individuals (" The Girl in the Fireplace "). The Doctor can apparently reverse this process, sharing their memory with another, as shown in " The Lodger ". Some humans can enter the Doctor's memories after the Doctor enters theirs, as demonstrated by Madame de Pompadour (much to the Doctor's surprise) in "The Girl in the Fireplace", when she explains, "A door, once opened, may be stepped through in either direction." In " The Fires of Pompeii ",

28178-486: The moon. This event had a massive impact on the Doctor, who theorized that he himself was possibly the Hybrid. This is one reason the Doctor has stated as to why he decided to leave Gallifrey – out of fear. He has given convoluted and contradictory reasons as to why he left, for many reasons such as because his life path was pre-determined from his hidden previous life. The Doctor stole a TARDIS with his granddaughter Susan from

28371-786: The most important thing is that I did it, not that I left. I really feel that, because it kind of broke the mould and it helped to reinvent it. I'm very proud of it." According to the Sunday Mirror , an interview for BBC's Doctor Who website that was taken down after his departure revealed that Eccleston had planned to stay for two or three more years. In March 2013 a source for the BBC indicated that Eccleston had discussed plans for Doctor Who ' s 50th anniversary special , which aired in November 2013, with Davies' successor as executive producer, Steven Moffat . After consideration, he decided not to return to

28564-671: 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

28757-411: The name. The Third Doctor 's car, dubbed "Bessie", carried the plate WHO 1, the only ongoing reference to the "Doctor Who" enigma in the original programme. The Third Doctor later drove an outlandish vehicle called the "Whomobile" in publicity materials, but it is never referred to as such in the programme, being simply known as "the Doctor's car" (or "my car", as the Doctor puts it). The name "Doctor Who"

28950-420: The online serial, Grant was referred to as the official Ninth Doctor by the BBC. However, following the September 2003 announcement that the series would return to television with a new actor in the title role, the canonical status of the so-called " Shalka Doctor " was left in doubt. Christopher Eccleston 's casting as the Ninth Doctor was announced on 22 March 2004. He was the production team's first choice for

29143-525: The only Slitheen to survive the Downing Street explosion, in present-day Cardiff he has doubts over whether or not to send her home to be executed. During this episode, the Doctor first notices that he and Rose had kept coming across the words "Bad Wolf". In " Bad Wolf ", the Doctor, Rose and Jack find themselves at the mercy of the Bad Wolf Corporation based on Satellite Five. However, the true enemy

29336-521: The outcome. Like many other alien species in the programme, the Doctor is able to sense when their own species is within proximity through an inherent telepathic connection. The Doctor exhibits some weaknesses uncommon to humans. For example, according to The Mind of Evil (1971), a tablet of aspirin could kill him. In " Cold Blood ", a process meant to decontaminate him of bacteria from the surface of Earth causes him intense pain, and he says it could have killed him if allowed to proceed to completion. In

29529-410: The pair grew up together. In " The End of Time ", the Master recollects their childhood together where they would run all day across his father's field, described as 'pastures of red grass stretching far across the slopes of Mount Perdition' and the boys would call up at the sky. In " World Enough and Time ", the Doctor claims that they both made a special pact where together they would visit every star in

29722-470: The part. The Eighth Doctor , played by Paul McGann , appeared in a BBC / Fox co-produced television film in 1996, however this did not lead to a full series. Over six weeks in 2003, the BBC posted an animated serial called Scream of the Shalka on their official website. This was originally developed as an official continuation to series, and featured Richard E Grant in the role of the Doctor. In promoting

29915-511: The poisonous fungus in The Seeds of Death and after being shot in Spearhead from Space , the Doctor can go into a self-induced coma until they recover. The Doctor's hypersensitive body and senses enable them to detect anomalies humans cannot, such as identifying alien species, blood type or chemical composition by taste and determining location or time period by sniffing the air. In " The Unicorn and

30108-400: The programme's first episode in 1963, presents the alternative explanation that the Doctor was given that name by medical staff on a foreign planet and liked it. To make up for his lack of a practical name, the Doctor often relies upon convenient pseudonyms. In The Gunfighters (1966), the First Doctor uses the alias Dr. Caligari . In The Highlanders (1966–67), the Second Doctor assumes

30301-538: The project. Webber's document contained a main character described as "The maturer man, 35–40, with some 'character twist'." Newman was not keen on this idea and – along with several other changes to Webber's initial format – created an alternative lead character named Dr Who, a crotchety older man piloting a stolen time machine, on the run from his own far-future world. No written record of Newman's conveyance of these ideas – believed to have taken place in April 1963 – exists, and

30494-415: The relationship between the Doctor and Rose Since 1963, the Doctor has travelled with various companions who generally serve to remind him of his "moral duty". The casting of Billie Piper as the Ninth Doctor's primary female companion Rose Tyler was announced in May 2004. Julie Gardner felt that the young actress and former pop star was perfect as a "unique" and "dynamic" companion for the Doctor. Press for

30687-438: The role from Eccleston, having admired his performances as a viewer. Like Delingpole, Andrew Blair found similarities between the Ninth Doctor era and the Third Doctor era, summarising Eccleston's single series as "a modern day season seven ". In his retrospective of the character, he states that Eccleston's casting proved that the revival of the show "was not a light entertainment concern". He comments that in online fandom there

30880-434: The role in the future. "The Big Finish experience has, to date, been enjoyable and has afforded me the chance to revisit a character I was able to bring to life almost twenty years ago. For now, it is time for me to return to the TARDIS and disappear for a while, but as we know, the world of the Doctor is unpredictable, so this is not a goodbye but an au revoir!" Marking the show's 60th anniversary in 2023, Big Finish released

31073-655: The role of Romeo , The British Theatre Guide described Langley as, 'immediately comfortable with the verse, finding no difficulty in being the lovesick youngster before he's gripped with passion for Juliet. Later he convincingly shows a tantrum-like immaturity at his banishment.' On 30 October 2005, he appeared on stage at the Old Vic in London in the one-night-only play Night Sky with Christopher Eccleston , Navin Chowdhry , David Warner , Saffron Burrows and David Baddiel . In

31266-432: The role would place on him (" The Five Doctors "), and is eventually deposed in absentia ( The Trial of a Time Lord ). By the time of his twelfth incarnation, he is regarded by many Gallifreyans as a war hero, "the man who won the Time War" (" Hell Bent "). In the first series of the 2005 revival, writer Russell T Davies introduced the concept of the Time War to streamline the Doctor's backstory for new viewers of

31459-508: The ruins of Gallifrey, unravel the Web of Time and burn a billion hearts to heal its own. The Wraiths then revealed to him the secret passage leading to another side of the city. The last anyone heard from him was that he apparently stole the moon and the President's wife; however, this was revealed to have been a lie spread about by the Shobogans when in reality it was the President's daughter and he lost

31652-426: The series focused heavily on the fact that Rose was to be more independent and courageous than previous companions. Prior to the casting of Piper, Eccleston had joked that "I'll be doing the running around screaming." He later opined that Rose is not as "vulnerable" as previous companions and that "she's as brave and courageous and intelligent as he is" citing the fact that she saves the Doctor's life. Piper remarked that

31845-446: The series noted the romantic tension between the two characters. In their book Who is the Doctor? , Graeme Burk and Robert Smith described the climactic kiss between the Ninth Doctor and Rose in "The Parting of the Ways" as being something "we all secretly wanted, even though it ultimately killed him". Adam Mitchell joins the Doctor and Rose in the episode "Dalek". The character was first conceived during Russell T Davies' 2003 pitch to

32038-517: The series premiere on Australian Network ABC the Sydney Morning Herald ' s Robin Oliver predicted that older viewers "will find Eccleston easily the best time lord since Tom Baker." However Harry Venning of The Stage , whilst enthusiastic about the revival of the show, labelled Eccleston as the "show's biggest disappointment" following the premiere episode, stating he looked uncomfortable in

32231-483: The series was a "risk" because as an actor he is not known for "charm or comedy" and anticipated a potential backlash due to being built up as "an actor of stature" and the difference between his own interpretation of the character and past doctors. On 30 March 2005 the BBC confirmed that Eccleston would not be staying in the role for a second series, claiming that he was scared of being typecast . On 4 April they admitted that this statement had been made without consulting

32424-468: The series, the Ninth Doctor encounters Bernice Summerfield ( Lisa Bowerman ). In the final volume of series three, Alex Kingston joins the main cast of The Ninth Doctor Adventures , reprising her role as River Song for all three episodes. With the conclusion of series three in May 2024, Eccleston confirmed that this would be his final performance as the Doctor in the current The Ninth Doctor Adventures range, though he implied he would likely return to

32617-513: The series. Had he returned, his incarnation would have played the role that ultimately became the War Doctor , portrayed by John Hurt . Eccleston stated in April 2004 that he did not believe his Doctor would be "as eccentric and as foppish as he was in some of his incarnations". Russell T Davies characterised the character as a "stripped down" version of previous Doctors. Regarding the Ninth Doctor's less eccentric character, Davies quipped that "he travels in time and space, he's got two hearts, he's

32810-408: The show following its hiatus between 1996 and 2005. The character's interactions with his arch-enemies, the Daleks , were particularly praised. Eccleston won several awards for his single series, including the 2005 National Television Award for Best Actor. James Delingpole of The Spectator noted that subsequent to Fourth Doctor Tom Baker 's departure and prior to Eccleston, actors who portrayed

33003-487: The show's 50th anniversary special " The Day of the Doctor " in 2013. This episode also revealed that the Ninth Doctor was actually the Doctor's tenth incarnation; as explained in the short episode " The Night of the Doctor ", a companion episode to "The Day of the Doctor", the Eighth Doctor accepted aid from the Sisterhood of Karn after a spaceship crash to ensure that he would regenerate into an incarnation suited to fight in

33196-436: The show. It was a war across all of time and space which ended when the Doctor presumably destroyed both the Time Lords and the Daleks . The Doctor's remorse for his actions in his Ninth , Tenth and Eleventh incarnations is a key part of his characterisation throughout the revival. The Time War happened between the 1996 television movie and 2005 opening episode " Rose " according to the show's internal chronology, although

33389-418: The significance of the Doctor's name in his episodes since 2006's " The Girl in the Fireplace ", in which historical figure Madame de Pompadour reads the Doctor's mind and remarks, "Doctor who? It's more than just a secret, isn't it?" According to the in-vision commentary on the DVD release, David Tennant had to inform actress Sophia Myles (who played Madame de Pompadour) that she was not, in fact, revealing

33582-506: The sinking when tracking an alien entity in the novel The Left-Handed Hummingbird . The Doctor has also encountered many of Earth's historical figures. It is his tendency for becoming "involved" with the universe – in direct violation of official Time Lord policy – that has caused the Doctor to be labelled a renegade by the Time Lords as stated in The War Games . However, the Doctor's actions are largely tolerated as he saved Gallifrey and

33775-528: The spring of 2006, Langley appeared in Life Imitates Art at the Camden People's Theatre, Camden . Also in 2006 he was seen in a production of A Taste of Honey , taking on the role of repressed gay art student, Geoffrey. In his role as Geoffrey, Langley was described as, 'quietly impressive, poignantly conveying Geoffrey's unending loyalty with ease.' The production toured the UK extensively and played

33968-465: The television series, such as his grandchildren John and Gillian , who appeared alongside the First and Second Doctors in comics and annuals. Two different, conflicting accounts exist on the descendants of Susan after leaving the Doctor. In the audio play " An Earthly Child ", it is revealed that Susan has had a half-human child, Alex Campbell, the Doctor's great-grandson. Alternatively, in the novel Legacy of

34161-421: The tenure of the Eleventh Doctor involved the oldest question in the universe, revealed in " The Wedding of River Song " to be "Doctor who?", giving the phrase in-universe significance. In " The Name of the Doctor ", the Doctor's real name was revealed to be the password used to enter the Doctor's tomb following his death on the planet Trenzalore. The story arc was resolved in " The Time of the Doctor ", wherein it

34354-489: The universe several times. The Time Lords are partial to sending him on missions when deniability or expendability is needed, implied to have begun after his capture during The War Games and witnessed further in later stories, the Time Lords directing the Doctor and/or the TARDIS to specific locations in Colony in Space , The Curse of Peladon , The Mutants , Genesis of the Daleks , The Brain of Morbius and Attack of

34547-400: The universe wearing a dark leather peacoat saying 'don't touch me'". Davies felt that the events of the episode "Dalek" provided the Doctor with a "bit of therapy" and that he "starts to rebuild himself" afterwards. In the episode "The Parting of the Ways", the Doctor sacrifices his life to save Rose. Davies felt it was important to take the Doctor away from mythological offstage concepts such as

34740-463: The universe; however, the Master was 'too busy burning them'. In " Hell Bent ", one day at the academy, the Doctor found himself lost inside the Cloisters (an area located deep beneath the citadel) and spent four days inside. He was contacted by a Wraith who told him about the prophecy of a legendary creature known as 'the Hybrid', prophesied to have been crossbred from two warrior races that would stand in

34933-440: The visit to Justicia in the first series episode "Boom Town" which aired 4 June 2005 in an example of the television series referencing the novels. The second batch of Ninth Doctor novels —comprising The Deviant Strain , Only Human and The Stealers of Dreams —were released 8 September 2005 and feature the Doctor, Rose and later companion Captain Jack. All of the Ninth Doctor novels except Only Human make reference to

35126-430: The war. This incarnation (played by John Hurt ) would have been the Ninth Doctor, but instead took on the moniker of the War Doctor because his involvement in the war made him feel unworthy of his usual numbered title. In the aftermath of the Time War, the War Doctor succumbs to old age. The regeneration scene is cut short just before a CGI rendition of Eccleston's likeness can be fully seen, as he declined to return for

35319-509: The young photographer, Lawrence. In reviewing the Liverpool Empire Theatre production of the show, Liverpool Sound and Vision said Langley, 'gave outstanding moments of beautiful comic timing as young photographer Lawrence that it's no wonder he was asked back to reprise his role from last year.' In November 2012 he began playing Giles Ralston in the 60th anniversary tour of The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie . Langley played

35512-410: Was a distinct lack of science fiction and fantasy drama in the UK. He felt that the first series had to establish itself as "a bit Hollyoaks " and "a bit tough detective" to prove itself as a "proper, sensible drama series". Moffat notes that the 2005 series "changed the landscape into which it once tried to fit" and that now Doctor Who "has to be the most fantastical of the fantasy shows." Ahead of

35705-510: Was a member of a number of junior string orchestras in which he played cello. From 2001 to 2004, Langley played the character of Todd Grimshaw in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street . As the first openly gay character on the show, Langley developed a large gay following. He had also appeared in Coronation Street on 4 August 2000 as Darren Michaels , then boyfriend of Candice. He also had

35898-461: Was a sense "of a ship being steered in a different direction" and praises the plot device of the Time War as allowing the character to become mysterious again by providing him a "blank slate". He compares the Ninth Doctor to the First Doctor ( William Hartnell ) in that both characters are "an unknown who remains aggressively weird until his new-found human friends soften him up". Blair also felt that

36091-466: Was announced that Langley was returning to Coronation Street as a regular character and his character returned in the episodes screened on 4 November. However, following his sexual assault charges, Langley's contract with Coronation Street was terminated in October 2017. In the summer of 2005, Langley made his stage debut in an acclaimed run of Romeo and Juliet opposite fellow ex-soap actress Scarlett Alice Johnson at Stafford Castle . Taking on

36284-453: Was dealing with the repercussions and could have brought more to the show had Eccleston stayed for a second series. Seventh Doctor actor Sylvester McCoy praised Eccleston as being "quite alien" as the Doctor and that "we were not sure if he was on the edge of insanity or not, which was rather good." Peter Davison , who played the Fifth Doctor , criticised Eccleston's decision to quit after

36477-519: Was instrumental in preventing a family from boarding the Titanic prior to her fateful voyage. In " The End of the World ", the Doctor recalls having been on board and surviving the Titanic's sinking to find himself "clinging to an iceberg". The Fourth Doctor mentioned this event in Robot and The Invasion of Time , where he insists that the sinking was not his fault; the Seventh Doctor became involved in

36670-519: Was on the run from the Division in a TARDIS disguised as a police box. The details of their life were also redacted from the Matrix – only snippets remaining, masked as the story of the Irish Garda Brendan. The true origins of the Time Lords remained hidden from themselves and from the Doctor. The First Doctor's subsequent childhood on Gallifrey has been little described in the series. In " Hell Bent "

36863-404: Was revealed that the question had been projected by the Time Lords across all of time and space through a "crack in the skin of the universe" as a means of contacting the Doctor and seeing whether it was safe to leave the parallel universe in which their planet, Gallifrey , had been left following the events of " The Day of the Doctor ". This arc was penned by Steven Moffat , who has been exploring

37056-641: Was sentenced to a 12-month community order. In 2021, Langley announced his intention to pursue his musical aspirations by releasing his first recordings. Langley was born to Australian parents in Somerset and grew up in Buxton , Derbyshire . He attended Harpur Hill Primary School and Buxton Community School. He trained at the North Cheshire Theatre School in Heaton Moor . Along with his sisters he

37249-448: Was the one to release Swarm from imprisonment as part of the Division's plan to destroy the universe. She was disintegrated by Swarm shortly after briefly confronting the Thirteenth Doctor after she found out her true origins as the timeless child. Other than Tecteun and Susan Foreman , his granddaughter with whom he travelled during the first two seasons and who has been mentioned occasionally since, references to

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