Sonic screwdriver

The sonic screwdriver was a versatile tool and defensive "weapon" used by the Doctor. He used it primarily as a non-offensive tool to assist him during his adventures. During the course of his travels, most versions were either replaced or destroyed. All were ineffective against wood - something he found embarrassing.

Technology and functions
The sonic screwdriver was considered to be very advanced Gallifreyan technology. (PDA: Heart of TARDIS) The Eleventh Doctor made a tongue-in-cheek implication that he built the first sonic screwdriver (or an innovative model of one) instead of wooing a woman, something he considered a mistake. (DW: A Christmas Carol) Other alien races had similar devices, such as the sonic pen used by Miss Foster (DW: Partners in Crime) and the sonic blaster obtained by Captain Jack Harkness and River Song. (DW: The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances, Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead) The name of the device suggests that it functioned using sound waves, although its actual workings were never truly explained.

The Mark IV sonic screwdriver used a crystal similar to the Metebelis Crystal sought after by the Eight Legs of Metebelis III. (IDW: The Forgotten) There were also electrical components. (DWA: The Halls of Sacrifice)

The screwdriver had a multitude of settings and different versions of settings. The Tenth Doctor told Rose to use "setting 15B" to triangulate the source of the ghosts (DW: Army of Ghosts) and used 34-H to sink a ship (DWBIT: Second Wave). It had a setting 85 that undid security codes to unlock doors. (DW: The Lazarus Experiment) The Ninth Doctor told Rose to use setting 2428D to re-attach barbed wire. (DW: The Doctor Dances) Sarah Jane used the Theta Omega setting to melt plastic vines. (DW: The Android Invasion)

The different versions of the Doctor's sonic screwdrivers exhibited different capabilities and uses, such as the interception of signals ranging from transmat beams to conscious thought; (DW: The End of the World) medical diagnostics and repair of organic parts; (DW: The Empty Child, The Vampires of Venice) cutting, but also re-attaching materials such as barbed wire; (DW: The Doctor Dances) operating Earth machinery such as computers and even cash machines (at regular and high eject speeds); (DW: School Reunion, The Runaway Bride) creating a spark to light a candle (DW: The Girl in the Fireplace); and, on the rare occasion, driving screws without touching them. (DW: The War Games, The Ark in Space, The Doctor's Wife)

Although it was primarily a tool, the sonic screwdriver could also be used as a defensive weapon. The Tenth Doctor put it in a sound board to destroy the Robot Santas by overloading their sensors. (DW: The Runaway Bride) Although the Eighth Doctor once claimed the device could destroy a Dalek's brain if held directly against the casing when activated, (EDA: War of the Daleks) according to the Tenth Doctor, the device could not be used to wound, maim or kill living things. (DW: Doomsday, The Doctor's Daughter) It could destroy non-living objects or mechanisms or place living creatures in circumstances where they might die, if the situation required. (DW: The End of the World, The Christmas Invasion)

From time to time, the sonic screwdriver needed to be recharged. (NSA: The Monsters Inside, DWA: Bizarre Zero) It was self-repairing and could send out a homing signal to any parts that had been separated. (DW: A Christmas Carol) However, it was up to the owner to collect the parts for reassembly.

Sonic screwdrivers and similar technology could not unlock a deadlock seal. (DW: School Reunion) One of few exceptions was Miss Foster's sonic pen, which opened the deadlock seals on and within her own facility when the Doctor's sonic screwdriver could not. (DW: Partners in Crime) Some or all versions were ineffective against wood, or in the presence of some models of hairdryers. (DW: Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead, The Hungry Earth, PDA: Catastrophea)

Mark I
The first version was a small, simple device similar to a penlight, used by the First (MA: Venusian Lullaby) and Second Doctor. (DW: Fury from the Deep) It was used by the Eighth Doctor after it was destroyed "centuries ago". He explained how this occurred to his companion Samantha Jones: "It's a Time Lord tool. Time doesn't work the same way for Time Lord tools." (EDA: Alien Bodies)

Known uses

 * Cracking the code for an aerodynamic shuttle. (MA: Venusian Lullaby) 
 * Opening up hatches, panels and control panels. (DW: Fury from the Deep, The War Games)
 * For cutting through a section of a wall. (DW: The Dominators)
 * As a conventional screwdriver (without touching the screws). (DW: The War Games)

The "Door Handle"
Early in his third incarnation, the Doctor employed a silver tool slightly larger than the Mark I sonic screwdriver but with a round emitter head similar to the Mark II. (DW: Inferno) Although he never referred to as a sonic screwdriver, its appearance and in-hand use were uncanny. The Doctor described it as a "door handle" to a UNIT soldier.

Known uses

 * Operating the automatic door to the Doctor's workshop at Project Inferno (DW: Inferno)

Mark II
The Third Doctor's most-used model of the sonic screwdriver was much larger than the Mark I; its elaborately-detailed silver shape featured black and yellow stripes and red trim. It had a removable head which the Doctor would change with others, each performing a different function. (DW: The Sea Devils)

Known uses

 * Scanning for alarm systems in the Master's TARDIS. (DW: Colony in Space)
 * Remote detection and detonation of land mines. (DW: The Sea Devils)
 * To open an electronic door. (DW: The Mutants)
 * Creation of a spark of fire and igniting swamp gas. (DW: Carnival of Monsters)
 * Open electronic locks. (DW: Carnival of Monsters)
 * A medium for hypnotising Aggedor (and, unintentionally, Jo Grant) (DW: The Curse of Peladon)
 * As conventional screwdriver, on large, flathead screw. (DW: The Curse of Peladon)
 * Overloading the brains of Space Greyhounds. (IDW: The Forgotten)

Mark III
The Third Doctor fitted the head of his sonic screwdriver with a cylindrical black magnet which enabled it to open bolted doors, especially when its polarity was reversed. (DW: Frontier in Space) This refit left the metal mostly unpainted, with a dark red emitter ring. The head of this model could be extended. Before this model was destroyed (DW: The Visitation), its head was repainted twice after the original coat wore off. (DW: The Keeper of Traken, Castrovalva) The Doctor went without a sonic screwdriver for some time after this model and Nyssa lamented the Fifth Doctor's decision not to replace it. (DW: Snakedance)

Known uses

 * To unbolt a door. (DW: Frontier in Space)
 * To fuse shut a sliding door. (DW: Planet of the Daleks)
 * To open a lift door. (DW: The Green Death)
 * To distract giant maggots. (DW: The Green Death)
 * To detect boobytrapped floor tiles. (DW: Death to the Daleks)
 * To break a hypnotic trance. (DW: Death to the Daleks)
 * To open a refinery door. (DW: The Monster of Peladon)
 * To remotely detonate mines. (DW: Robot)
 * To cut locks. (DW: Robot)
 * Undoing screws. (DW: The Ark in Space)
 * Repairing wires chewed by the Wirrn. (DW: The Ark in Space)
 * To fix a circle of transmat refractors. (DW: The Sontaran Experiment)
 * To breach a force field. (DW: The Sontaran Experiment)
 * To shut down Styre's robot. (DW: The Sontaran Experiment)
 * To sabotage a two-way radio. (DW: Genesis of the Daleks)
 * Deactivate an energy loop opening up Sutekh's deflection barrier. (DW: Pyramids of Mars)
 * To shatter the Clynex. (DWM: The Naked Flame)
 * To create a temporary hole in Gallifrey's force field above the Citadel. (DW: The Invasion of Time)
 * Using the correct sonic frequency to return the Fourth Doctor, Ernestina Stott and later, his scarf, to normal size. (AG: The Dead Shoes)
 * To open doors on Ribos. (DW: The Ribos Operation)
 * To unlock multi-levered interlocks to the Ribos crown jewels casket (DW: The Ribos Operation)
 * To open the door to the real Queen Xanxia's chamber. (DW: The Pirate Planet)
 * To free Romana from her bonds on a prison ship in hyperspace. (DW: The Stones of Blood)
 * To blow up a Dalek bomb. (DW: Destiny of the Daleks)
 * To unscrew the Zero Room's hinges and assist in constructing the Zero Cabinet. (DW: Castrovalva)
 * To disarm fusion bombs by reversing the polarity of the neutron-flow. (MA: Cold Fusion)
 * To open a door to escape confinement. (DW: Four to Doomsday)
 * To reverse the magnetic field on Monopticons. (DW: Four to Doomsday)
 * To short-circuit androids in conjunction with a pencil, the graphite acting as a conductive material for the screwdriver's power. (DW: Four to Doomsday)
 * To use as a component in the Delta wave augmenter, to induce sleep. (DW: Kinda)

Mark IV
Towards the end of his seventh life, the Doctor fished a fourth type of sonic screwdriver from one of the tool kits in the TARDIS. This model looked similar to the Mark III seen at the end of his fourth incarnation; it was completely silver. The handle resemblie a small torch. The tip was a circle with a red tip in it. To use this model, the tip was pointed at the object in question. This version remained in the Eighth Doctor's use thoughout his life. There was a torch built into the handle. Once, while suffering from amnesia, the Doctor distracted himself and operated this sonic screwdriver on instinct.

Known Uses

 * To lock the casket containing the Master's remains. (DW: Doctor Who)
 * Maintenance on new parts in the TARDIS console. (DW: Doctor Who)
 * To turn Cybermen against each other. (DWM: The Flood)
 * To disorient a Rescue Operational Security Module. (BFA: Embrace the Darkness)
 * Used by Romana II to raise the bulkheads between her and the Matrix chamber. (BFA: Neverland)
 * To jam motion-sensitive sensors long enough for the Doctor and his companions to get to safety. (BFA: Scaredy Cat)
 * To lock the TARDIS console room away from the rest of the ship until it could repair itself during a Hellion attack. (BFA: Absolution)
 * To track residual energy traces. (BFA: The Girl Who Never Was)
 * To reactivate a long-dormant telegraph machine. (BFA: The Girl Who Never Was)
 * To oscillate the atoms of wickerwork to weaken the structure. (BFA: Dead London)
 * To vibrate Molluscari from their shells by duplicating the precise frequency necessary. (BFA: Orbis)
 * To open the organic locks used by the Zygons. (EDA: The Bodysnatchers)
 * To destroy a Dalek's brain (when placed directly against the Dalek's casing around its head). (EDA: War of the Daleks)
 * To make Dalek weapons detonate. (EDA: Legacy of the Daleks)
 * To repel ghosts. (EDA: Vanderdeken's Children)
 * To open a door in a force field large enough for the Doctor and his companions to travel through. (EDA: EarthWorld)
 * To open the chest of the mobile nuclear weapon Fatboy. (EDA: Eater of Wasps)
 * To decapitate the King of Beasts, leader of the Babewyn. (EDA: The Adventuress of Henrietta Street)
 * To lock a bank vault from the inside. (EDA: Trading Futures)
 * To temporarily disable an electron bomb. (EDA: The Tomorrow Windows)
 * To subdue hostile dogs. (EDA: The Deadstone Memorial)
 * To disrupt the control signal for floating magnetic discs. (EDA: To the Slaughter)

Mark V
Towards the end of his eighth incarnation, the Doctor had a new model with a glowing blue diode at one end. The first known individual known to use it was the Eighth Doctor. (ST: Osskah) The Ninth Doctor carried this model. The Tenth Doctor also used this model, as he liked tinkering with technology to make devices he needed. However, this version was burnt out by accident after the Doctor used it to modify an x-ray radiation output to over 5000%. (DW: Smith and Jones)

Known uses

 * To heal Osskah Longspan's body. (ST: Osskah)
 * To destroy the controls of a lift. (DW: Rose)
 * To detect and stop telepathic signals. (DW: Rose)
 * To interface with a computer. (DW: The End of the World)
 * Opening a door. (DW: Aliens of London)
 * To control a lift. (DW: World War Three)
 * To cause rain via atmospheric excitation. (DWM: Death to the Doctor!)
 * To obtain money from a cash machine. (DW: The Long Game)
 * Opening off a panel to Satellite Five's mainframe. (DW: The Long Game)
 * Obtaining access to Satellite Five's core computer. (DW: The Long Game)
 * Freeing the Ninth Doctor from his manacles. (DW: The Long Game)
 * To charge a battery. (DW: Father's Day)
 * To act as a medical scanner and diagnostic tool. (DW: The Empty Child)
 * To corrode thin metal (e.g. barbed wire) so that it crumbled into rust. (DW: The Doctor Dances)
 * To re-connect barbed wire. (DW: The Doctor Dances)
 * To unlock handcuffs. (DW: The Doctor Dances)
 * To set up a resonation pattern in concrete. (DW: The Doctor Dances)
 * To reverse teleport devices. (DW: Boom Town)
 * To destroy a television camera. (DW: Bad Wolf)
 * To dematerialise the TARDIS and initialising TARDIS processes from outside the craft. (DW: The Parting of the Ways)
 * To blow up a remote control Christmas tree. (DW: The Christmas Invasion)
 * To transfer its powers to a remote control. (VG: Attack of the Graske)
 * To ignite swamp gas. (DWA: The Hunt of Doom)
 * To stop the emergence of Mirrorlings from mirrors. (DWA: Mirror Image)
 * To dislodge and reinsert teeth. (DWM: The Lodger)
 * To light a candle. (DW: The Girl in the Fireplace)
 * To cut rope. (DW: The Age of Steel)
 * To lock and unlock a hatch in Cybus Industries (DW: The Age of Steel)
 * To threaten the Wire. (DW: The Idiot's Lantern)
 * To illuminate Rose. (DWA: Warfreekz!)
 * To reverse an anti-gravity umbrella. (DWA: Smart Bombs)
 * To partially reverse the Abzorbaloff's absorption of Ursula Blake. (DW: Love & Monsters)
 * To de-activate a living graphite scribble. (DW: Fear Her)
 * To partially crack glass so it could be smashed with the push of a finger. (DW: Army of Ghosts)
 * To detonate an explosive device. (DW: Doomsday)
 * To get money from a cash machine, at both regular and extra-high rates of ejection. (DW: The Runaway Bride)
 * To unlock a taxi door and window. (DW: The Runaway Bride)
 * To scan a life form for information, specifically Donna Noble. (DW: The Runaway Bride)
 * To detonate the head of a roboform (DW: The Runaway Bride)
 * To search a phone for an app or a feature. (DW: The Runaway Bride)
 * To hack into the H.C. Clements website. (DW: The Runaway Bride)
 * To bypass the key needed to access the secret basement in H.C. Clements. (DW: The Runaway Bride)
 * To summon the Tardis using Huon particles. (DW: The Runaway Bride)
 * To cut a spider web. (DW: The Runaway Bride)
 * To destroy the Robot Santas with sound (used in conjunction with a professional sound system). (DW: The Runaway Bride)
 * To detect heated water. (DWA: The Halls of Sacrifice)
 * To overload Cybermen. (DWBIT: The Power of the Cybermen)
 * To crash an aircar. (DWBIT: Time of the Cybermen)
 * To confuse the antibodies of a living planet. (DWBIT: Lonely Planet)
 * To increase the radiation output of a device such as an x-ray scanner; this action burned out the screwdriver. (DW: Smith and Jones)

Mark VI
Following his first adventure with Martha, the Doctor created a similar screwdriver. The only visible difference was the colour scheme of the handle. He relied upon just as much as his last sonic screwdriver, to help him out of tight spots. It was damaged repeatedly after his regeneration, which lead to malfunctions. Despite the damage, the Eleventh Doctor used it to overload technology to try to alerting the Atraxi to Prisoner Zero's location. This fried it into useless, charred metal. (DW: The Eleventh Hour)

Known uses

 * Opening air-tight seals. (DW: Gridlock)
 * Trying unsuccessfuly to hack into New New York's police communications to call for help. (DW: Gridlock)
 * Partialy activating ventalation airducts. (DW: Gridlock)
 * Unsuccessfuly activating emergency by-pass switches. (DW: Gridlock)
 * Building a DNA scanning device. (DW: Daleks in Manhattan)
 * Trying to strip off pieces of Dalekanium. (DW: Evolution of the Daleks)
 * Lighting a bunsen burner from a distance. (DW: Evolution of the Daleks)
 * Bypassing and turning off security systems. (DW: The Lazarus Experiment)
 * Reversing the polarity of Lazarus's machine. (DW: The Lazarus Experiment)
 * Scanning for Lazarus's fluctuating DNA. (DW: The Lazarus Experiment)
 * Producing hypersonic sound waves which led to the death of the mutated Richard Lazarus, in conjuction with a pipe organ. (DW: The Lazarus Experiment)
 * Melting hardened asphalt into heated tarmac, and reversing the process, so as to catch animals in a road (NSA: The Last Dodo)
 * Disabling robotic flies. (DWBIT: Exhausting Evil)
 * Disabling security orbs. (DWBIT: Wrath of the Warrior)
 * Modifying hearing aids. (DWBIT: The Screaming Prison)
 * Reversing teleport feeds. (DWBIT: Warriors' Revenge)
 * Sinking a ship. (DWBIT: Second Wave)
 * Resonating a floor to destroy it, via crystal gems. (DWBIT: Operation Lock-up)
 * Melting chocolate by increasing the resonance frequency of a torch. (DWBIT: Crimes and Punishment)
 * Giving mobile phones the ability to call across time and space. (DW: 42, Planet of the Dead, The Doctor's Daughter)
 * (Presumebly) to help build a Timey-wimey detector. (DW; Blink)
 * Completing the pulpusion system for the ship destined for Utopia (DW: Utopia)
 * Fusing the TARDIS navigational coordinates, allowing only travel between its current postion and the previous one. 18 months before or after take off where allowed as destinations. (DW: Utopia)
 * Fixing and upgrading a decades-broken vortex manipulator. (DW: Utopia)
 * Destroying a security camera. (DW: The Sound of Drums)
 * As a soldering iron to make perception filters using TARDIS keys. (DW: The Sound of Drums)
 * Uncorking a champagne bottle. (DW: Voyage of the Damned)
 * Rewriring a television/portrait to show ship's systems. (DW: Voyage of the Damned)
 * Trying (unsuccesfuly) to disable or repair a Host. (DW: Voyage of the Damned)
 * Opening and closing the Titanic's doors. (DW: Voyage of the Damned)
 * Trying (unsuccessfuly) to repair the Titanic's emergenct teleport systems. (DW: Voyage of the Damned)
 * Looping temporal energy of a fraxis pod back into a zygma drive. (DWBIT: Blooms of Doom!)
 * Shattering robot assassins. (DWBIT: A Suitable Showdown)
 * Disabling emergency exit alarms and locks. (DW: Partners in Crime)
 * Used with Miss Foster's Sonic pen to create an ultra-high frequency (DW: Partners in Crime)
 * Controlling a cable cart. (DW: Partners in Crime)
 * Breaking into a silo on the Ood-Sphere. (DW: Planet of the Ood)
 * Fusing a lock shut, forcing it to be broken down. (DW: ''PLanet of the Ood)
 * Knocking over stone tablets. (DW: The Fires of Pompeii)
 * Creating a stasis beam. (DWBIT: School of the Dead)
 * Disabling a Sontaran teleport. (DW: The Sontaran Stratagem)
 * Changing the destination of a Sontaran teleport. (DW: The Poison Sky)
 * Building a terraforming device to ignite the posionous clouds. (DW: The Poison Sky)
 * Scanning shadows for the presence of Vashta Nerada. (DW: Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead)
 * Unintentionaly showing a hologram of Donna Noble. (DW: Forest of the Dead)
 * Tinting a helmet visor and increasing the mesh density of a spacesuit (DW: Forest of the Dead)
 * Disabling the Crusader 50's entertainment system. (DW: Midnight)
 * Checking Crusader 50's control console for faults. (DW: Midnight)
 * Scanning for Infostamps. (DW: The Next Doctor)
 * Teleporting a Graske to the other side of the universe. (DW: Music of the Spheres)
 * Opening the casing of a cleaning robot. (DWBIT: Carnage Zoo)
 * Teleporting onto a Nim spacecraft. (DWBIT: The Day the Earth Was Sold, The King of Earth)
 * As a sonic toothbrush. (DWA: The Continuity Cap)
 * Tracing distress signals. (DWA: The Ghost Factory)
 * Modifying a gravity converter. (DWA: Skydive)
 * Disabling a Cyrronak Robot. (DWA: Highway Robbery)
 * Scanning slime. (DWA: Doomsilk)
 * Cancelling out a phonic blast. (DWA: We Will Rock You)
 * Shattering ice. (DWA: Arctic Eclipse)
 * Scanning the President of Earth for alien influence. (DWA: Return of the Klytode)
 * Blowing up a fire hydrant. (DWA: Creature Feature)
 * Atmospheric excitation to cause rain. (DWA: Mudshock)
 * Tickling a lion with sonic waves. (NSA: The Slitheen Excursion)
 * Repairing an overloading distribution box. (TDL: The Graves of Mordane)
 * Downloading a journal. (TDL: The Colour of Darkness)
 * Detecting and illuminating ultraviolet characters. (TDL: The Game of Death)
 * Remotely controlling environmental controls. (TDL: The Game of Death)
 * Detecting the arrival of spacecraft. (TDL: The Pictures of Emptiness)
 * Picking up traces of psychic spoor. (DWM: Mortal Beloved)
 * Tinting the Doctor's glasses. (DW: Planet of the Dead)
 * Stopping and winding up a winch. (DW: Planet of the Dead)
 * Opening bus doors. (DW: Planet of the Dead)
 * Unlocking handcuffs. (DW: Planet of the Dead, The Eleventh Hour)
 * Incapacitating a Gizou. (IDW: Fugitive)
 * Detecting time traces. (SJA: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith)
 * Making toast and butter. (NSA: Dead Air)
 * As an actual screwdriver, without touching the screws. (DW: Dreamland, The Doctor's Daughter)
 * Disabling a Shimmer. (DW: The End of Time)
 * Switching the Hesperus' power off. (DW: The End of Time)
 * Helping repair the Hesperus. (DW: The End of Time)
 * Remotely controling the TARDIS to change its course. (DW: The Eleventh Hour)
 * Opening a "crack" in space-time. (DW: The Eleventh Hour)
 * Overloading all technology in Leadworth (to the point where the screwdriver itself exploded). (DW: The Eleventh Hour)

Mark VII
Following the Mark VI's destruction, the Doctor received a new Sonic screwdriver from the TARDIS. It differed radically from the previous model. It had “claws” and a green diode, rather than blue. It also had copper plating in various places, similar to the new TARDIS interior. (DW: The Eleventh Hour) Unlike the previous marks, which had "settings", this version had a psychic interface which let the user simply point and think of what they wanted it to do. (DW: Let's Kill Hitler) This version of the screwdriver was destroyed when a sky shark bit it in half and swallowed the top half. (DW: A Christmas Carol) The Doctor left it with Kazran Sardick, saying that he was "going to need a new one." (DW: A Christmas Carol) This new Mark VII was left with the Ganger Doctor. However since the Doctor was seen with it later, it can be assumed he got a new one again. He also mentioned that this screwdriver was more than just sonic, but did not mention what else it was. (DW: Night Terrors)

Known Uses

 * Scanning Starship UK's engine room. (DW: The Beast Below)
 * Scanning voting booth for memory erasing function. (DW: The Beast Below)
 * As a torch with blue light. (DW: The Beast Below)
 * To force a star whale to regurgitate by overloading its chaemo-receptors. (DW: The Beast Below)
 * Trying (unsuccesfuly) to open the exit back into Starship UK. (DW: The Beast Below)
 * Making a star whale's voice audible to the human ear. (DW: The Beast Below)
 * Amplifying an electrical beam. (DW: The Beast Below)
 * Opening the chest plate of an Android's controls and (unsuccessfully) attempting to defuse the bomb inside it. (DW: Victory of the Daleks)
 * To increase a signal's strength. (DW: The Time of Angels)
 * To scan Father Octavian's computer. (DW: The Time of Angels)
 * Opening the entrance hatch of a space ship. (DW: Flesh and Stone)
 * Isolating the lighting so that the Weeping Angels could not drain the power. (DW: Flesh and Stone)
 * Redirecting all the power to the doors in order to open them. (DW: Flesh and Stone)
 * Determining the nature of the cracks throughout time and space. (DW: Flesh and Stone)
 * Unsuccessfully attempting to patially undo a quantuum lock. (DW: Flesh and Stone)
 * To send a signal through to Amy's communicator to help guide her through a forest. (DW: Flesh and Stone)
 * Uploading software. (DW: Flesh and Stone)
 * Simultaneously healing and analysing wounds. (DW: The Vampires of Venice)
 * Blocking out the effects of perception filters. (DW: The Vampires of Venice)
 * Scanning lifeforms. (DW: Amy's Choice)
 * Scanning piles of dust for traces of children. (DW: Amy's Choice)
 * Detecting where lights are. (DW: Amy's Choice)
 * Exploding lightbulbs. (DW: Amy's Choice)
 * Breaking open padlocks. (DW: The Hungry Earth)
 * Hacking into computer records. (DW: The Hungry Earth)
 * Activating bio-programmed soil. (DW: The Hungry Earth)
 * Dsiplaying energy barricades which are usually inivisible to the naked eye. (DW: ''The Hungry Earth)
 * Scanning for heat signatures. (DW: Cold Blood)
 * Disabling Silurian weapons. (DW: Cold Blood)
 * Scanning an infection. (DW: Cold Blood)
 * Locking the TARDIS doors. (DW: Cold Blood, The Doctor's Wife)
 * Opening the gate to the London Underground. (VG: City of the Daleks)
 * Opening up a discarded Dalek dome. (VG: City of the Daleks)
 * Bypassing Dalek security seals. (VG: City of the Daleks)
 * Opening up control panels in Kaalann. (VG: City of the Daleks)
 * Accessing the Visualiser eye and repowering it. (VG: City of the Daleks)
 * Tampering with the Dalek Emperor's casing. (VG: City of the Daleks)
 * Activating a Dalek console trap. (VG: City of the Daleks)
 * Constructing a Dalek Vision Disruptor. (VG: City of the Daleks)
 * Heating water and ice. (VG: Blood of the Cybermen)
 * Giving a Cybermat a "Cyber-Migraine". (VG: Blood of the Cybermen)
 * Distracting Cybermats. (VG: Blood of the Cybermen)
 * Fixing platform lift control panels. (VG: Blood of the Cybermen)
 * Closing and locking a door to a Cyber-conversion room. (VG: Blood of the Cybermen)
 * Unlocking Cyber-conversion unit manacles. (VG: Blood of the Cybermen)
 * Disassembling a Chronon Blocker. (VG: TARDIS)
 * Opening an electronic door. (VG: Shadows of the Vashta Nerada)
 * Activating emergency light switches. (VG: Shadows of the Vashta Nerada)
 * Turning on the lights inside a generator. (VG: Shadows of the Vashta Nerada)
 * Unsuccessfully attempting to stun the Krafayis, appearing to please it instead. (DW: Vincent and the Doctor)
 * Opening the door to a time ship. (DW: The Lodger)
 * Unsuccesfuuly attempting to free Sophie's hand from the time ship console. (DW: The Lodger)
 * Changing a hologram between its different forms. (DW: The Lodger)
 * Scanning Stonehenge. (DW: The Pandorica Opens)
 * Lighting flaming torches. (DW: The Pandorica Opens)
 * Helping trace who is receiving the Pandorica's summons. (DW: The Pandorica Opens)
 * Scrambling a Cyberarm's circuits. (DW: The Pandorica Opens)
 * Scanning the Pandorica. (DW: The Pandorica Opens)
 * To open, close and lock the Pandorica. (DW: The Big Bang)
 * Amplifying a satellite dish to scan for an exploding TARDIS. (DW: The Big Bang)
 * Scanning a vortex manipulator to see if it's wired into something. (DW: The Big Bang)
 * Giving orders to androids. (WC: The War of Art)
 * To reconfigure the binaries in the TARDIS. (VG: Evacuation Earth)
 * Heating up a teapot. (WC: Snowfall)
 * To confirm the isomorphic nature of a control panel. (DW: A Christmas Carol)
 * As a lure to attract a Sky fish. (DW: A Christmas Carol)
 * Attempting self-reconstruction via signalling its other half. (DW: A Christmas Carol)
 * Transmitting Abigail's singing from one broken segment to the other. (DW: A Christmas Carol)
 * Unlocking the door to Melody's room. (DW: Day of the Moon)
 * Scanning a spacesuit. (DW: Day of the Moon)
 * Confirming if a nanorecorder was on telepathic transmission or a replay. (DW: Day of the Moon)
 * Unlocking Amy's restraints. (DW: Day of the Moon)
 * Stunning the Silence. (DW: Day of the Moon)
 * Protecting two versions of Rory Williams from falling victim to the Blinovitch Limitation Effect (NSA: Touched by an Angel)
 * Determining that the Siren uses reflections to appear by scanning the hat of a pirate who was taken. (DW: The Curse of the Black Spot)
 * Confirming the nature of an alien life-support system. (DW: The Curse of the Black Spot)
 * Locking the TARDIS. (DW: The Doctor's Wife)
 * Scanning the Flesh. (DW: The Rebel Flesh)
 * Unlocking a grating. (DW: The Almost People)
 * Locking a grating into place. (DW: The Almost People)
 * Detecting differences between Gangers and humans (DW: The Almost People)
 * Dissolving Gangers. (DW: The Almost People)
 * Closing doors inside a Cyber Ship. (DW: A Good Man Goes to War)
 * Damaging a Cyber Ship. (DW: A Good Man Goes to War)
 * Opening doors on Demon's Run. (DW: A Good Man Goes to War)
 * Detecting if a person is fatally wounded. (DW: A Good Man Goes to War)
 * Disabling a force field. (DW: A Good Man Goes to War)
 * Disarming Melody Pond. (DW: Let's Kill Hitler)
 * Hailing the Eleventh Doctor's sonic cane. (DW: Let's Kill Hitler)
 * Disabling privileges from the the Teselecta's crew. (DW: Let's Kill Hitler)
 * Activating George's toys. (DW: Night Terrors)
 * Scanning for monsters and how powerful they are. (DW: Night Terrors)
 * Detaching the view glass from the visitation facility. (DW: The Girl Who Waited)
 * Augmenting the view glass to work disconnected. (DW: The Girl Who Waited)
 * Locking on to Amy's timestream. (DW: The Girl Who Waited)
 * Amplifying the Sonic Probe. (DW: The Girl Who Waited)
 * Stunning the Rutan Lady Winters. (VG: The Gunpowder Plot)
 * Scanning dimensional lesions. (VG: The Gunpowder Plot)
 * Igniting a cannon. (VG: The Gunpowder Plot)
 * Creating a high pitched noise to get attention. (DW: The God Complex)
 * Scanning the deceased to determine what caused death (later revealed to be the removal of faith) with no success. (DW; The God Complex)
 * Opening a fake door. (DW: The God Complex)
 * As a microphone. (DW: The God Complex)
 * Switching off CCTV monitors. (DW: The God Complex)
 * Detecting electrical interference. (DW: Closing Time)
 * Scanning for lifesigns. (DW: Closing Time)
 * Repairing and activating a lift. (DW: Closing Time)
 * Fusing the controls of a Cyberman teleporter. (DW: Closing Time)
 * Overloading/imploding a Cybermat. (DW: Closing Time)
 * Repairing the controls of a Cyberman teleporter and using it. (DW: Closing Time (TV story))
 * Taking apart a Supreme Dalek. (DW: The Wedding of River Song)
 * Scanning a Dalek's database for information. (DW: The Wedding of River Song)
 * Freezing the Teselecta in place. (DW: The Wedding of River Song)
 * Scanning a Headless Monk head box to confirm its contents. (DW: The Wedding of River Song)
 * Scanning Albert Einstein's mutating liquid. (DW: Death Is the Only Answer)
 * Maintainence on the Digby estate wiring. (DW: ''The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe)
 * (Unsuccessfuly) paralyzing the Wooden King. (DW: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe)
 * Scanning the lifeforce transference crown. (DW: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe)
 * Setting The Doctor's TARDIS on adventure setting (DW: Good as Gold)
 * Enhancing the Olympic torch to (partially) destroy a Weeping Angel (DW: Good as Gold)

Rivers Screwdriver
The Eleventh Doctor created this version at an unknown point in his life before River's final date with him at the Darillium Singing Towers. This version of the sonic screwdriver had the Mark VI's settings along with "dampers" and a "red setting" that allowed it to work without interference from Doctor Moon. The Doctor gave it to River Song so she would be ready when she met his tenth incarnation in The Library. Unknown to her, this version included a Neural Relay which would save her Data Ghost for uploading into the main computer of The Library. (DW: Silence in the Library, Forest of the Dead).

Known uses

 * Activating and disabling gravity platforms. (DW: Forest of the Dead)
 * Slowing the descent of a fall. (DW: Forest of the Dead)
 * Fixing light bulbs. (DW: Forest of the Dead)
 * Storing the consciousness of an individual (specifically River's). (DW: Forest of the Dead)
 * Increasing mesh densities to over 800%. (DW: Forest of the Dead)

Related tools

 * Liz Shaw had her own version of the Doctor's "door handle" device, which she used to open the door to the Doctor's shed. (DW: Inferno)
 * A clone of the Second Doctor also possessed a sonic screwdriver, which he used along with the Fourth Doctor's to send Hexford home. (AG: Survivors in Space)
 * Romana II constructed her own sonic screwdriver. Her version was so impressive, that the Doctor offered to swap sonic screwdrivers with her. (DW: The Horns of Nimon) She later gave it to the Doctor. (NA: Lungbarrow) This resembled a smaller, slimmer version of the Doctor's Mark II.
 * The Fifth Doctor had a device called a sonic prodder, although he didn't consider it a tool like "his beloved sonic screwdriver" (ST: Falling from Xi'an)
 * The Eighth Doctor, despite having lost his memories, built a device he called a sonic suitcase using eighties technology. (EDA: Father Time)
 * The Master had a similar tool, called a laser screwdriver. (DW: The Sound of Drums)
 * Captain Jack Harkness and later River Song had 'sonic blasters. (DW: The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances, Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead)
 * Using stolen and incomplete UNIT design plans, Toshiko Sato created a sonic modulator. (TW: Fragments)
 * Miss Foster had a sonic pen with a design similar to the Tenth Doctor's sonic screwdriver. (DW: Partners in Crime)
 * The Doctor gave Sarah Jane Smith a sonic lipstick, a similar tool. (SJA: Invasion of the Bane)
 * The Doctor mentioned that he once had a laser spanner as well, but Emmeline Pankhurst took it from him. (DW: Smith and Jones)
 * Mrs Wormwood was in possession of a ring called a Phonic disruptor. (SJA: Enemy of the Bane)
 * The Sixth Doctor defeated Cybermen using a sonic lance, similar in function to the sonic screwdriver. The Doctor used it as a weapon. (DW: Attack of the Cybermen)
 * The Eleventh Doctor used a sonic cane to contact Amy Pond and Rory Williams while they were miniaturised inside the Teselecta and to scan the Teselecta. (DW: Let's Kill Hitler)
 * While trapped on Apalapucia for thirty-six years, Amy Pond cobbled together a sonic screwdriver from various pieces of technology, although she insisted on calling it a "sonic probe". She later admitted it was a sonic screwdriver. (DW: The Girl Who Waited)
 * Jackson Lake carried what is likely the most primitive iteration of the sonic screwdriver. His version was a regular 19th century screwdriver, which he claimed was sonic by virtue of it making a sound when it was struck against a surface. (DW: The Next Doctor)
 * Gabriel (The Pirate Loop) created a device that was made out of Gun's (NSA: The Pirate Loop).

Behind the scenes

 * The sonic screwdriver was retired during the Fifth Doctor serial The Visitation, as it was felt that it had been overused. It was absent for the Sixth Doctor era and all of the Seventh, except in Doctor Who, in which the Seventh Doctor used it to lock the Master's remains away; the Eighth Doctor recovered it at the end of the film. The tool was reintroduced with the Ninth Doctor and has become the show's most frequently used gadget besides the TARDIS itself. It has since appeared in many Seventh and Eighth Doctor audio adventures from Big Finish Productions.
 * For unexplained reasons, the Tenth Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver had a green casing in The Infinite Quest.
 * During early production of Series 1 (2005), the production crew decided to switch from their original prop to one based on the toy Sonic Screwdriver because the first prop was prone to falling apart. The production team secured moulds of the toy replica to make a more reliable prop for the next season.
 * Early conceptual art of the modern era Sonic Screwdriver feature a different "tube" section. Notes refer to "glowing organic circuitry" and a movable ball-joint on the emitter to allow use around corners and in tight spaces. Instead of the "glowing circuitry," the actual prop and toy reproductions featured a black "swivel" like a simple helix. When given a personal copy of the concept art, David Tennant himself commented on the lack of the swivelling emitter.
 * Another early piece of concept art, similar to a simple Bitmap drawing, reveals that the black "cap" at the reverse end of the Sonic Screwdriver was intended to be an opening set of "feet," allowing the Sonic Screwdriver to plug into a section of the TARDIS console. This feature was also dropped from the eventual prop model.
 * There are two main versions of the Mark VI Sonic Screwdriver - one has a slide feature with button, and one which does not slide and has a fixed button. The two prop types varied each episode.
 * When the Doctor handles the screwdriver, the clinking noises produced (when he throws and catches it) are created by repeating the motions with a corkscrew, the handles of which bump against the casing to produce the required noise. These noises are dubbed over the footage.
 * A toy of the Mark VII (Matt Smith version) was seen in "Light Echoes", an edition of "The Sky at Night" broadcast on BBC4 on Wednesday 5th October 2010. The screwdriver was (jokingly) used to scan a part of the LOFAR radio telescope, then under construction in Chilbolton, Hampshire, UK.
 * In the original script for The Eleventh Hour, the Doctor referred to the Mark VI Screwdriver as "Level 4000" technology.
 * The Eleventh Doctor's sonic screwdriver toy has a total of four sound effects, two of which alternate with every other button press. The third is activated by pressing twice and holding on the third button push. The fourth is activated with three presses and a hold on the fourth push. However, in some models of the toy, over-use of the hidden sound effects causes the sound functions to eventually break, leaving only the LED functional.
 * According to the non-fiction source REF: Doctor Who: The Visual Dictionary, the sonic screwdriver was a common and basic Time Lord device. If needed, a Time Lord could make one from scratch in very little time.
 * Scientists at the University of Dundee invented a device which turns objects with ultrasonic waves, an invention which has been described as a real-world version of the Doctor's sonic screwdriver.