The Doctor

The Doctor was the alias adopted by a renegade Time Lord from Gallifrey who journeyed through time and space in his outdated Type 40 TARDIS which he had stolen, with various travelling companions at his side.

Alone among the Time Lords, he survived the Last Great Time War as the last of his kind. Throughout his life, he had a particular association and affinity with Earth and its primary and most significant natives, the human race. Thanks to his perpetual heroics, he was a well-known and frequently celebrated individual throughout time and space. In contrast, in the opinions of his enemies, he was as an object of hatred and terror. The Doctor was the origin of the word "doctor" in languages throughout the universe. (DW: A Good Man Goes to War)

Biography

 * For more detailed biographical information see articles for individual incarnations. For information on the Doctor's earliest life, see First Doctor.

The Doctor left Gallifrey and became a hero who fought evil and injustice across the universe in violation of the Time Lords' non-interference policy. (DW: The War Games) Technically, he explored only with the intention of experiencing the wonders of the universe and having fun, but frequently became embroiled in machinations and crises that ended with him defeating the foe and saving the planet he was visiting. He travelled with many companions, beginning with his granddaughter Susan Foreman, who also came from Gallifrey. (DW: An Unearthly Child, The Sensorites, Gridlock)

Eventually, he was called to account for his crimes against the Time Lords during his second incarnation. His punishment was a forced regeneration and exile to Earth, as well as the loss of his knowledge of how to control the TARDIS. (DW: The War Games) This knowledge was restored to him after he helped to defeat Omega. (DW: The Three Doctors)

The Doctor fought in the Last Great Time War between the Time Lords and the Daleks. He was ultimately responsible for ending the war, likely with the action which resulted in the obliteration of Gallifrey, as well as the supposed extinction of both races, apart from the Doctor himself. (DW: Dalek) The Doctor defeated the Time Lords by sealing them in a Time Lock (IDW: Don't Step on the Grass) from which they escaped with the help of the Master, but the Doctor re-imprisoned them, along with the Master, within the Time Lock. (DW: The End of Time)
 * For details on the Last Great Time War and its survivors, see the separate article.

The Doctor's incarnations
Through the power of regeneration, the Doctor's personality and outer form greatly changed over time, although all his incarnations were essentially the same person. He continued to be a heroic figure, fighting the evils of the universe wherever he found them, even if his values and motives were often alien to humankind. So far, the Doctor is known to have had eleven incarnations: (DW: The Tenth Planet, The Power of the Daleks, The Five Doctors, The End of Time)
 * The First Doctor was an unreadable, guarded figure. This Doctor was often irascible. He was protective of young women who reminded him of his granddaughter, Susan. He was a brilliant, often short-tempered scientist and keen strategist.
 * The Second Doctor, in contrast to his preceding incarnation, was warm and wise. He was as surprised and frightened of alien menaces as those who faced them with him. He had a knack for manipulation and deception. He loves tootling on his recorder, and carried around a 500-year diary. He wore a big fur coat that dwarfed him, tying it closed with twine.
 * The Third Doctor was more of a dashing figure than his predecessors, described by his first incarnation as a "dandy". (DW: The Three Doctors) He had a penchant for inventing gadgets and was skilled at martial arts, particularly Venusian aikido. His initially difficult relationship with the Brigadier softened to an easy, mutual trust during his exile on Earth.
 * The Fourth Doctor was more eccentric than his previous incarnations. Rarely without his very long scarf, he travelled with several individuals. He always carried jelly babies in his pockets, using them as bluffs, gifts and distractions - and occasionally snacks. (DW: Robot, The Face of Evil, The Invisible Enemy, The Ribos Operation, Full Circle, Logopolis)
 * The Fifth Doctor had a fondness for cricket and wearing a stick of celery on his lapel. This energetic, compassionate Doctor was nervous after a difficult regeneration, but like his previous incarnations, when he found himself in a corner, used improvisation as the best way out.
 * The Sixth Doctor was a grandiose and eloquent incarnation. He sported a multi-coloured wardrobe that looked as if it were designed by Christian Lacroix, often commented upon. He possessed a manic personality and acerbic wit that could shade into moral passion. (DW: The Twin Dilemma, Attack of the Cybermen)
 * The Seventh Doctor had a voice touched by a Scottish burr. A keen strategist, scientist and especially early in his incarnation, light hearted, this incarnation was a plotter of the highest order. Embracing the complexities of time travel and his ability to manipulate and plan for the future, he at times fully embraced his role of Time Lord.
 * The Eighth Doctor, more human than his preceding two versions, showed a romantic and sensitive side not displayed by previous Doctors. More morally flexible than his immediate predecessor, the Eighth Doctor suffered from bouts of amnesia, first after his initial regeneration and again after the first destruction of Gallifrey, following the War with the Enemy. Unlike other Doctors, the Eighth spent his travels crossing between parallel universes and amidst time paradoxes.
 * The Ninth Doctor was a survivor of the Last Great Time War. He displayed much of the playfulness of his previous incarnations, but was emotionally and psychologically scarred by War and his role in it. (DW: The End of the World, Dalek)
 * The Tenth Doctor had a manic personality. He had a fondness for human pop culture reference. However, memories of the Time War were still something he lived with. While he had a bright, playful side, much like his previous incarnations, he was frequently ruthless. (DW: The Christmas Invasion, Tooth and Claw, School Reunion)
 * The Eleventh Doctor was smug about his abilities and exhibited a renewed youthful enthusiasm for adventure. He had keen observational skills, an obsession with seeming trivia and a calm personality which could quickly turn frantically angry and ruthless when events demanded. (DW: The Eleventh Hour, The Beast Below)

An interesting aspect of the Doctor's personality was that he occasionally expressed a personal liking for particular incarnations, though this opinion depended on the incarnation making the assessment. The Doctor's tenth incarnation expressed a deep fondness for his fifth incarnation (DW: Time Crash). Ironically, the Fifth Doctor was disliked by his immediate successor (DW: The Twin Dilemma), though this may have been due to his particularly traumatic regeneration. In another instance, the fourth made reference to the third, saying "Some people liked it, but I prefer this one" (DW: The Brain of Morbius). Immediately before his tenth regeneration, the Tenth Doctor stated, "I don't want to go". Immediately after his tenth regeneration, the Eleventh Doctor remarked upon his new nose, stating that "I've had worse" - probably a reference to his third incarnation, who was once described as a "long-shanked fellow with a mighty nose". (DW: The End of Time, The Time Warrior)

Regeneration
Due to the unique structure of Time Lord physiology, the Doctor had the ability to regenerate, to "cheat death". (DW: The Parting of the Ways)

A Time Lord was usually limited to twelve regenerations, making the "thirteenth Doctor" the last. (DW: The Deadly Assassin, Doctor Who) Later, however, the Eleventh Doctor stated that he could change his appearance 507 times. (SJA: Death of the Doctor) It is unknown if this is something which had changed or if the Doctor was simply being sarcastic.

The Doctor regenerated ten times, for a total of eleven incarnations. Although the Tenth Doctor began a regeneration, he healed himself and channelled the remaining energy into his severed hand; whether this counted as a full regeneration is unknown. The exact circumstances surrounding these changes are known with the exception of his eighth regeneration. An event that occurred in one chronicle (DW: The Brain of Morbius) implied the Doctor may have had more incarnations, but during a later incident during the Doctor's fifth incarnation, when asked by the First Doctor what regeneration he was up to, the Fifth Doctor answered "Fourth," leading his first incarnation to exclaim, "Good heavens, so there are five of me now!". (DW: The Five Doctors)

Further confusing the issue, the Eleventh Doctor not only died, but did so while his remaining regenerations were disabled. He was revived by Melody Pond (who used her own remaining regenerations), so it is unclear not only if the Doctor was even capable of further regeneration, but also how many he had if any were left. (DW: Let's Kill Hitler)

The effect of regeneration on the Doctor varied from incarnation to incarnation. In some cases the Doctor was able to regain his faculties quickly, erratic behaviour notwithstanding. (DW: The Power of the Daleks, The Twin Dilemma, The Eleventh Hour) On one occasion when the regenerative process was postponed for a long time, he was rendered amnesiac. (DW: Doctor Who) In most cases, however, the Doctor was incapacitated for a period of time before ultimately recovering. (DW: Spearhead from Space, Robot, Castrovalva, Time and the Rani, The Christmas Invasion)

Although it was considered a major violation of the Laws of Time, on numerous occasions different incarnations of the Doctor met and interacted, sometimes with Time Lord High Council sanction, (DW: The Three Doctors, The Five Doctors) and sometimes accidentally. (DW: Time Crash) In the last case, the only known occasion of incarnations meeting following the fall of Gallifrey in the Last Great Time War, it would appear that, without Time Lord interference, a major disruption in time and space could be caused by such meetings. (DW: Father's Day, Time Crash)

Causes
The Doctor has had to regenerate several times either by cause of injury, illness or a particular situation:
 * First Doctor: Weakened by Mondas as it drained Earth's energy, succumbing to old age. (DW: The Tenth Planet)
 * Second Doctor: Forced upon him by the Time Lords, as part of his punishment for breaking the Laws of Time. (DW: The War Games)
 * Third Doctor: Radiation poisoning from the Great One's web of Metebelis crystals. (DW: Planet of the Spiders)
 * Fourth Doctor: Plummeted from the Pharos Project radio telescope. (DW: Logopolis)
 * Fifth Doctor: Exposure to unrefined Spectrox. (DW: The Caves of Androzani)
 * Sixth Doctor: Injured in the Rani's crash-landing of his TARDIS after being weakened from his battle with the Lamprey. (PDA: Spiral Scratch, DW: Time and the Rani)
 * Seventh Doctor: Caught in crossfire in a gang war, with subsequent heart surgery ending his life. (DW: Doctor Who)
 * Eighth Doctor: Due to the Last Great Time War. (IDW: The Forgotten)
 * Ninth Doctor: Removed the Time Vortex's energy from Rose Tyler, channelling it back into the heart of the TARDIS. His brief possession ruined his cellular structure. (DW: The Parting of the Ways)
 * Tenth Doctor: Partial regeneration from being shot by a Dalek, aborted by channelling excess regenerative energy into extra hand. (DW: The Stolen Earth/Journey's End)
 * Complete regeneration after absorbing the radiation from a vented nuclear bolt supply in order to spare Wilfred Mott from it. (DW: The End of Time)

Name
The Doctor was enigmatic. Befitting this, his true name remained unknown to all but a very few individuals, such as Samantha Jones and River Song. (EDA: Vanderdeken's Children, DW: Forest of the Dead) Apparently his real name was not even used by the Time Lords. (DW: The War Games, The Trial of a Time Lord, The End of Time) The title "Doctor" was not undeserved, however, as the Doctor did hold a doctorate of some sort (DW: The Armageddon Factor) and had studied medicine (DW: The Moonbase). The Doctor claims to hold a doctorate in both medicine and cheesemaking (DW: The God Complex). Apparently the name was written in the stars in the Medusa Cascade (DW: The Fires of Pompeii), possibly as a reminder of his closing the rift there (DW: Last of the Time Lords). Members of an unidentified race of pan-dimensional beings also came to know the Doctor's real name at one point. (BBCR: The Last Voyage). According to the Master, his name reflected his constant need to make other people better. (DW: The Sound of Drums)


 * For a longer discussion of the mystery of the Doctor's true name and of his other aliases, see Aliases of the Doctor.

Age

 * See separate article.

On Gallifrey
On Gallifrey, the Doctor was held to be either one of the forty-five cousins created by the Loom of the House of Lungbarrow, or born to a human mother. (DW: Doctor Who) When the House disowned him, he said that he had "other families." (NA: Lungbarrow) These would somehow seem to include parents (DW: Doctor Who) and a spouse (DW: Blink, MA: Cold Fusion), probably Patience (PDA: The Infinity Doctors), at least one brother (DW: Smith and Jones), Irving Braxiatel (BNA: Tears of the Oracle), and more than one child (DW: Fear Her, The Doctor's Daughter) -- 'sons or daughters, or both.' (PDA: The Eleventh Tiger) He had a granddaughter, Susan Foreman. along with two other grandchildren, John and Gillian. (TVC: The Klepton Parasites) He also had a two-headed godmother. (DW: Vincent and the Doctor) All were believed by the Doctor to be lost, either killed during the Last Great Time War or having died long before it. (DW: The Tomb of the Cybermen) When one person asked him what had happened to his family, he replied, with seemingly honesty, that he didn't know. (DW: The Curse of Fenric)
 * He had not, however, at that point, returned to the House of Lungbarrow. As far as the Doctor's relationship with Susan, contradictory statements describe the circumstances under which he adopted her - or if he did - though both identify her as originally a native of Gallifrey. Her later fate, if she did not die in the Last Great Time War, remains unknown.

At one point, the Doctor became the adoptive father of a female Time Lord named Miranda Dawkins, whom the Doctor (around the time of his eighth incarnation) reared until her mid-teens. (EDA: Father Time) Miranda later gave birth to a daughter, Zezanne, and died while trying to protect the Doctor (EDA: Sometime Never...).

The Doctor also had a great-grandson named Alex. Alex was the son of Susan and David Campbell. (NA: An Earthly Child)

After the Time War
Genetic material from the Doctor in his tenth incarnation was used to create a daughter, Jenny. Although initially spurned by the Doctor, he soon began to consider Jenny his daughter and invited her to travel with him in the TARDIS. Before she could join him, however, she was shot and the Doctor believed Jenny to have died, although unknown to him, she underwent a partial regeneration after his departure and survived, at which point she set out on her own life of adventure. (DW: The Doctor's Daughter)

When the Earth was relocated to the Medusa Cascade, a clone of the Doctor was created; this clone later was exiled by the Doctor to Pete's World. Technically, the clone can be considered a relative of the Doctor's. Also, Sarah Jane Smith referred to the Doctor's companions as his family saying "you act like such a lonely man, but you've got the biggest family on Earth!" (DW: Journey's End)

The Eleventh Doctor married River Song, making Amy Pond and Rory Williams his mother and father in-law respectively. (DW: The Wedding of River Song)

Marriages
During an encounter with Ood Sigma, the Tenth Doctor claimed to have married 'Good Queen Bess', or Elizabeth I, a decision that didn't end well and led to her declaring him an enemy (DW: The Shakespeare Code, The End of Time, The Beast Below). This does not appear to be the Doctor's only marriage, as he remarked to Sally Sparrow about being "rubbish at weddings, especially my own." (DW: Blink) In his eleventh incarnation, the Doctor accidentally became engaged to Marilyn Monroe, and married her the same night in what he later claimed was not a real chapel. (DW: A Christmas Carol)

It was hinted throughout the appearances of River Song that she and the Doctor had a physical relationship somewhere in her past and his future relative to the Eleventh Doctor's encounter with the Silence in Florida. (DW: Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead, The Time of Angels / Flesh and Stone, The Pandorica Opens / The Big Bang, Day of the Moon)

Later he was shown being married to her shortly before his "death". (DW: The Wedding of River Song)

Languages
The Doctor could speak five billion languages (DW: The Parting of the Ways), though it may be he could only do so with help from the TARDIS' telepathic translation circuits. His native language was probably Modern Gallifreyan, but he seemed to prefer speaking British English, (DW: The Mind Robber) always in an accent that on Earth was similar to accents used in the British Isles; (DW: An Unearthly Child, The Power of the Daleks, Spearhead from Space, Robot, Castrovalva, et al.) this accent changed from incarnation to incarnation, with, for example, the Doctor's seventh incarnation speaking with an accent similar to that used in Scotland (DW: Time and the Rani) (the tenth incarnation once affected a Scottish accent intentionally). (DW: Tooth and Claw) Grace Holloway identified the Eighth Doctor to a policeman as being English (DW: Doctor Who), and both Rose Tyler and Harriet Jones noted the accent of his ninth self sounded like it came from "the north" or was "a northern accent", referring to the north of England. (DW: Rose, World War Three)

He could read and write Old High Gallifreyan, an unusual skill even among Time Lords. (DW: The Five Doctors, The Time of Angels) He was known to be fluent in the language of the Judoon (DW: The Stolen Earth), Delphon (a language "spoken" using only eyebrow movements) (DW: Spearhead from Space), several Chinese languages (DW: The Mind of Evil, The Talons of Weng-Chiang), Ancient Martian (DW: The Waters of Mars), Tritovore (DW: Planet of the Dead) and either Celtic or Welsh (DW: The Fires of Pompeii) and knew at least some Sycoraxic. (DW: The Christmas Invasion) He did not seem to understand French in his second incarnation (DW: The War Games), but later became fluent in it across several periods of French history. (DW: The Girl in the Fireplace) He also spoke baby (DW: A Good Man Goes to War) and cat. (DW: The Lodger)

Connections With Earth
Although the Doctor visited many worlds, the planet Earth remained the one for which he had the closest affinity. He displayed immense knowledge of and interest in Earth history. He was either an observer of or an active participant in countless major events in that history. (DW: Marco Polo, The Dalek Invasion of Earth, The Crusade, The Romans, The Time Meddler, et al.) As noted earlier, he found himself exiled to Earth during his third incarnation, very much against his wishes. During this period he worked with UNIT and later was a good friend to former colleagues such as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Sergeant Benton, Mike Yates, Liz Shaw, Jo Grant, Sarah Jane Smith and Harry Sullivan. (DW: Spearhead from Space, Terror of the Autons, The Ark in Space)

He had, at times, an affinity for the world, and specifically for Great Britain. When Angus Goodman asked him if he was British, he replied that he wasn't, but thanked Gus for the compliment. (DWM: 4-Dimensional Vistas) He considered himself to be British soon after his regeneration into his eighth incarnation. (DW: Doctor Who) Later, toward the end of his tenth incarnation, when questioned if he "was British or something", the Doctor responded that he was "something". (DW: Dreamland)

His incarnations spoke in accents based upon different regions of the United Kingdom, most notably his seventh incarnation (who had a Scottish accent) and his ninth, whose accent resembled that of the north of England - though he tried to pass it off by claiming "lots of planets have a North!" (DW: Rose) His tenth incarnation once adopted a convincing Scottish accent as part of a disguise, (DW: Tooth and Claw) though he was also known to briefly adopt an American one (DW: The Christmas Invasion, Dreamland)

The vast majority of the Doctor's known companions were humans hailing from various points in the planet's history, with a strong bias towards the 20th and 21st centuries. (DW: An Unearthly Child, The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve, The War Machines, The Wheel in Space, Rose, Dalek, School Reunion, et al.) His ninth and tenth incarnations developed a network of friends and former companions at one point referred to as the Doctor's Secret Army or the Children of Time. Thanks to their knowledge of him, they were able to summon him at a time of desperate need when he was unable to find Earth, enabling him to arrive to save the day with his companion of the moment, Donna Noble. This threat (Davros' New Dalek Empire) took the combined power of the Doctor and all of the companions and friends of his Secret Army to defeat. Among them were Sarah Jane Smith, (who referred to his companions as his family) her computer Mr Smith, her robotic dog K9 and her son Luke Smith; Captain Jack Harkness and his Torchwood team; Harriet Jones (who sacrificed herself to help summon him); Donna Noble, her mother and grandfather who helped summon the Doctor; Martha Jones who was given a job at UNIT after she left the Doctor; Mickey Smith, who had briefly travelled with him; Rose Tyler and her mother Jackie who showed up to help from Pete's World (the parallel world they were living on). Also, a clone of the Doctor was created that played a role in this crisis, but was left behind on Pete's World with Rose to live out a normal, human life. (DW: School Reunion, Rise of the Cybermen / The Age of Steel, The Stolen Earth / Journey's End, TW: Reset)

The general populace of Earth remained oblivious to the Doctor's ongoing efforts to protect the planet, and unaware of his existence. There were a few exceptions to this, however. During the Sycorax invasion, Prime Minister Harriet Jones made a public appeal over the UK airwaves for the Doctor to intervene. (DW: The Christmas Invasion) The Tenth Doctor appeared on international television to light the Olympic flame at the 2012 London Games, though he was never identified (DW: Fear Her). By the early 21st century, the Doctor had also become something of a cult figure, with at least one group, LINDA, following his exploits (DW: Love & Monsters, Time Crash), and conspiracy theorists dedicating websites to solving the "Who is the Doctor?" mystery (DW: Rose, World War Three, et al). At some point after 2059, due to the Doctor altering history, a media website ran a story about "The Mythical Doctor" and his involvement in the Bowie Base One incident on Mars and his rescue of two of its crewmembers (DW: The Waters of Mars).

Perhaps the widest knowledge of the Doctor came during the The Year That Never Was, when Martha Jones travelled around Earth, spreading tales of the Doctor and generating a groundswell of faith in the Time Lord that facilitated the defeat of the Master; this timeline, however, was ultimately negated and forgotten by all but a few individuals. (DW: Last of the Time Lords).

The Doctor established friendships with many well-known humans throughout history, including (but not limited to) William Shakespeare, for whom he transcribed the first folio of Hamlet (DW: City of Death) and shared an adventure (DW: The Shakespeare Code); Winston Churchill (DW: Victory of the Daleks), Frank Sinatra (DW: A Christmas Carol); Vincent Van Gogh (DW: Vincent and the Doctor); Mary Shelley (BFA: The Company of Friends); Sir Isaac Newton (DW: The Pirate Planet). He was even married to Marilyn Monroe and claimed to know the real Santa Claus (DW: A Christmas Carol).

Influence
The Doctor belonged to the Prydonian Chapter, the most important chapter of Time Lord society. (DW: The Deadly Assassin) He had a profound influence on many worlds and was written into their histories (DW: Forest of the Dead); as a result, he has been the recipient of many honours including being made a noble of Draconia (DW: Frontier in Space) and a knight of the British Empire. (DW: Tooth and Claw)

Having broken the Time Lords' non-interference policy, in his second incarnation he was put on trial as a renegade. (DW: The War Games) Subsequently, for a time, he acted as agent of the Time Lords' Celestial Intervention Agency before the beginning of his sentence on 20th century Earth. (PDA: Players, World Game) Following his defeat of Omega, which saved Gallifrey, he was granted a pardon and given his freedom. (DW: The Three Doctors)

In his fourth incarnation, as part of a ploy to outwit invaders of Gallifrey, he was a candidate for the position of Lord President of the High Council. (DW: The Invasion of Time) In his fifth incarnation, he was put on trial again for recklessness. (DWM: The Stockbridge Horror) He was later given the title of Lord President by Councillor Flavia, against his wishes. He pretended to accept the office but ran away in his TARDIS. (DW: The Five Doctors) Prior to the Doctor's trial during his sixth incarnation, he was deposed in absentia and put on trial for breaking the non-interference policy and, later in the same trial, for genocide, although the validity of the trial was called into question when it was discovered that it had been orchestrated by an evil future manifestation of the Doctor, the Valeyard. (DW: The Trial of a Time Lord)

Companions

 * Main article: Companion

Throughout much of his life, the Doctor chose (or was forced) to share his travels with an array of individuals, occasionally referred to in official terms as companions. (DW: The Stolen Earth) Usually humanoid and female, (DW: An Unearthly Child, The Rescue, The Myth Makers, The Daleks' Master Plan, The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve, The War Machines, The Evil of the Daleks, et al.) these platonic relationships provided the Doctor with company and, occasionally, a means to control his actions. (DW: The Runaway Bride) On rare occasions, most noticeably in the case of Rose Tyler and Charlotte Pollard, the Doctor developed a relationship with a companion that could be said to have been more than platonic. (DW: Journey's End, BFA: Scherzo) At least one "family member", Susan Foreman, also travelled as a companion to the Doctor for a time. (DW: An Unearthly Child) In his later incarnations, the Doctor became hesitant to take on companions, offering only the most exceptional the opportunity to travel with him (DW: Rose, The Runaway Bride). On at least one occasion he evicted a companion for bad behaviour. (DW: The Long Game) After the painful loss of one companion, Donna Noble (DW: Journey's End), he refused to take on new companions for fear of having his hearts broken again (DW: The Next Doctor, Planet of the Dead). Despite this claim, after he regenerated into his eleventh incarnation, he took on Amy Pond, and later, her fiancé Rory Williams as companions, claiming that he had grown tired of travelling alone. (DW: The Eleventh Hour, The Vampires of Venice)

"Doctor Who"
The use of the name "Doctor Who" when referring to the Doctor is disapproved of by most fans. Despite this, the ending credits for the series gave his name as "Doctor Who" or "Dr. Who", from 1963 until 1980, when new Producer John Nathan-Turner changed this policy, making his name in the end credits "the Doctor". This remained in place through the end of the original series in 1989. Executive Producer Russell T Davies used "Doctor Who" when the series returned in 2005, but Tenth Doctor actor David Tennant asked to change it back to "the Doctor" beginning in 2006. This tradition has continued into the Matt Smith era.

Throughout the franchise's history it has been common for media and cast members to refer to the character as "Dr. Who".

In the series, only one character, WOTAN in 1966's The War Machines, has ever directly referred to him by this name. In the 2005 episode Rose, a website called "Who is Doctor Who?" is introduced, though the name is presented as a question put forward by a conspiracy theorist and no one actually uses the name in dialogue. A line of dialogue written for DW: The Empty Child, but cut, would have had the Doctor himself use the name as part of a joke involving Star Trek (after being hailed as "Mr. Spock" by Rose, the Doctor was to have muttered, "I'd rather be Doctor Who than Star Trek").

Other media, 1960s and early 1970s Doctor Who Annuals, comics and Target Books (most notably the Doctor Who and the Zarbi, not technically a Target Books novelisation, but reprinted by them) have called the Doctor "Doctor Who". Even then, dialogue between characters usually referred to him as "the Doctor".

In the 1990s, the name "The Doctor" took on an unusual distinction in science fiction history as it came to be used not only in Doctor Who but also in the Star Trek franchise,when a character known only as "The Doctor" was introduced in the 1995-2001 spin-off series Star Trek: Voyager. Although both franchises have made one-off references to each other, this remains the only occasion in which ongoing major characters in both have shared the same name. Due to copyrights and trademarks, this likely became possible only because the Voyager character was originally to have carried the name "Dr. Zimmerman", and the series reiterated on several occasions that the character was "the doctor" for the Voyager starship, but otherwise had no permanent name other than "Emergency Medical Hologram" (as opposed to the lead character of Doctor Who who explicitly uses "The Doctor" as his name, even if only as an alias).

Further in-universe references are considered at the "Doctor Who?" running joke.

Casting
So far every actor to portray the Doctor has been male, white, and born in the United Kingdom. Despite the fact that the Doctor is not a native of Britain, or of Earth for that matter, every actor to play him so far has had a British accent, much in the way most aliens in the Star Trek franchise tend to speak with an American accent. The type of British accent has varied from one incarnation to the next. The earliest incarnations used RP, whereas more recent incarnations have had Estuary accents. The Ninth Doctor was unique in that he had a Northern accent, causing Rose to ask why an alien would have a Northern accent, to which he replied "Lots of planets have a north." (DW: Rose) In recent years there has been speculation over whether Time Lords might be able to change races or even sexes when regenerating. While the former idea was first postulated by Tom Baker and never taken seriously, during the recent casting for the Eleventh Doctor, at least one black actor (Paterson Joseph) was considered a leading contender ("A Chat with Paterson Joseph" on TV.com). Actors from the United States and Canada, (in one case Australia) have been rumoured as contenders for the role over the years. Actors considered for the role have varied widely in age, from the 20s to the 60s. To date the oldest actor to be cast as the Doctor has been William Hartnell, who was 55; the youngest has been Matt Smith, who was 26 when cast. Jon Pertwee was 77 when he made his final official performance as the Doctor in a BBC Radio serial, making him the oldest actor to play the part in an officially licensed capacity. His closest rival is Tom Baker, who turned 75 in 2009, the year he recorded a series of Doctor Who audio dramas. Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann, all in their 50s or 60s, continue to portray the Doctor in licensed audio dramas produced by Big Finish Productions, with McGann also appearing in audio dramas produced by Big Finish for broadcast on BBC7 radio.

List of actors

 * William Hartnell - First Doctor
 * Patrick Troughton - Second Doctor
 * Jon Pertwee - Third Doctor
 * Tom Baker - Fourth Doctor
 * Peter Davison - Fifth Doctor
 * Colin Baker - Sixth Doctor
 * Sylvester McCoy - Seventh Doctor
 * Paul McGann - Eighth Doctor
 * Christopher Eccleston - Ninth Doctor
 * David Tennant - Tenth Doctor
 * Matt Smith - Eleventh Doctor

First Doctor

 * Brian Proudfoot - DW: The Reign of Terror (uncredited; body double)
 * Richard Hurndall - DW: The Five Doctors

Third Doctor

 * David Warner (Alternate Timeline) - DWU: Sympathy for the Devil, Masters of War
 * Arabella Weir (Alternative) - DWU: Exile

Fourth Doctor

 * Trevor Martin (Alternate Timeline) - SP: Doctor Who and the Daleks in The Seven Keys to Doomsday
 * David Banks (Alternate Timeline) - SP: Doctor Who: The Ultimate Adventure
 * Jon Culshaw - DOC: The Story of Doctor Who

Ninth Doctor

 * Rowan Atkinson (Alternate Timeline) - DW: The Curse of Fatal Death
 * Richard E. Grant (Alternate Timeline) - WC: Scream of the Shalka

Tenth Doctor

 * Richard E. Grant (Alternate Timeline) - DW: The Curse of Fatal Death

Eleventh Doctor

 * Jim Broadbent (Alternate Timeline) - DW: The Curse of Fatal Death
 * Daniel Anthony (Clyde Langer's body taken over by the Doctor, still voiced by Matt Smith) - SJA: Death of the Doctor

Twelfth Doctor

 * Hugh Grant (Alternate Timeline) - DW: The Curse of Fatal Death

Thirteenth Doctor

 * Joanna Lumley (Alternate Timeline) - DW: The Curse of Fatal Death

Other Doctors

 * Peter Cushing (Dr. Who) - Dr. Who and the Daleks, Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.
 * Adrian Gibbs (The Watcher) - DW: Logopolis
 * Michael Jayston (The Valeyard) - DW: The Trial of a Time Lord, DWU: He Jests at Scars...
 * Geoffrey Hughes ("Popplewick" - Valeyard in disguise) - DW: The Ultimate Foe
 * Mark Gatiss (Unspecified Doctor) - The Web of Caves
 * Geoffrey Bayldon (Alternative Doctor) - DWU: Auld Mortality, A Storm of Angels
 * David Collings (Alternative Doctor) - DWU: Full Fathom Five
 * Ian Brooker (Alternative Doctor) - DWU: Full Fathom Five
 * Derek Jacobi (Martin Bannister - who believed he was the Doctor) - DWU: Deadline
 * David Morrissey (Jackson Lake - who believed he was the Doctor) - DW: The Next Doctor
 * Toby Jones (The Dream Lord) - DW: Amy's Choice
 * Nick Scovell
 * Lenny Henry

Analogous characters

 * See Pastiches of the Doctor