The Doctor in popular culture and mythology

By the 21st century and beyond, the Doctor had become a significant figure in both folklore and popular culture, particularly on Earth. They were variably known as a fictional character, as a real life celebrity, as a documented presence through history, or as a myth or legend, showing up in stories passed down through generations, much like his greatest enemies the Daleks did.

Even on the Doctor's homeworld of Gallifrey their impact on its culture was varied. The First Doctor held several high positions before he became a renegade (PROSE: Flashback et al.) and the Fourth, Fifth and Twelfth Doctors all served time as Lord President. (TV: The Invasion of Time, The Five Doctors, Hell Bent) However, by Year 10639.5 of the Rassilon Era there were some who believed the Doctor to be a fictional creation. (COMIC: The Final Chapter)

The Time Lord Letters, a publication which had access to a wide range of records from all across the universe, stated that researching the Doctor was difficult and information about the Time Lord was "surprisingly scarce" with most of the knowledge about them coming from their actions, "from the planets [they] have saved and the monsters [they] have defeated". The book went on to say the other prime source of information about the Doctor was his personal writings and jottings, of which there were many scattered across time and space. (PROSE: The Time Lord Letters)

As a real person
Most accounts regarding the Doctor seem to portray them as a real person. By the end of the 2000s, the Doctor had made appearances on television in multiple incarnations with the Second Doctor even able to call himself famous during the first part of his exile on Earth in the 20th century. (COMIC: Action in Exile et al.) Even just prior to his exile, the Doctor noted that he was known on Earth in this time. (TV: The War Games)

Intentionally or otherwise, sightings of the Doctor were recorded throughout human history, (TV: Rose, Love & Monsters) with the Ninth Doctor acknowledging that he had been "noticed" after visiting the planet "lots of times". (TV: Aliens of London) The Fifth Doctor acknowledged that groups of "fan[s]" such as LINDA were established to follow him. (TV: Time Crash) Generally going only by "the Doctor", they were found in history books, on the internet, (TV: Aliens of London) in political diaries, conspiracy theories and ghost stories. (TV: Rose) They also had a habit of making relationships with numerous historical figures, both amicable and hostile. (TV: Tooth and Claw, Victory of the Daleks, The Day of the Doctor) As Jac observed, the Doctor tended to make "a lot of noise" and "love[d] to make an entrance." (TV: The Magician's Apprentice)

An overview of the Doctor's wide-ranging involvement in specifically human history was detailed in several locations, most notably a copy of A History of Humankind in the Coal Hill library that was ammended by the Twelfth Doctor in 2014 and another publication which included a version of history that included the Doctor up to and including the end of the universe. (PROSE: A History of Humankind, The Whoniverse)

As observed by Bridget Sinclair, a member of LINDA, the "single constant factor" associated with "all these different Doctors" who came and went was a "faux police box" which kept "cropping up throughout history". (TV: Love & Monsters)

In October 1066, after the First Doctor defeated 's plan to change the result of the Battle of Hastings so that King Harold would win after disabling the Monk's TARDIS he left him a letter informing him of such. (TV: The Time Meddler, PROSE: "A Warning to the Meddlesome") He also expressed a wish for the Monk to stop his meddling and violations of the Laws of Time. The letter was later reproduced in The Time Lord Letters. (PROSE: "A Warning to the Meddlesome")

In 1207, the Eleventh Doctor spent some time in a monastery in Cumbria, where he was known as "the mad monk". (TV: The Bells of Saint John)

A handwritten note signed by the Doctor was delivered to King Henry VIII in October 1543 after being found in a cell in the Tower of London in place of a prisoner. In it, the Doctor apoligised for quarreling with the King over dinner and told him that his incarceration in the Tower had played right into his hands, noting he had locked him and Susan in with his TARDIS. According to Tower records, although the door was locked and there was no other means of escape, the two prisoners - an elderly man and his young granddaughter - had gone from the cell along with a large blue cabinet which Henry had ordered stored in the same cell. The letter was reproduced in The Time Lord Letters. (PROSE: "Taken to the Tower")

In 1562, Queen Elizabeth I of England had a picnic with the Tenth Doctor who, believing her to be a Zygon in disguise, proposed to her to expose the imposter only to find that she was the real Elizabeth. After an encounter with the Eleventh Doctor and the War Doctor, the Doctor and the Queen were married. Following the Doctor's departure, the Queen left instructions that the Doctor be appointed Curator of the Under Gallery of the National Gallery. Among the contents of the National Gallery was a painting depicting the Queen and her husband, the Tenth Doctor. As a result of their relationship, the Doctor indicated that her epihtet, "the Virgin Queen" was no longer applicable. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)

In 1599, the Tenth Doctor sent William Shakespeare a letter to apoligise for leaving so abruptly when he was threatened by Elizabeth I and expressing the fact that it was both he and Martha Jones thought it was great to meet him. The Doctor also gave his permission for Shakespeare to use words such as "Sycorax" and notified him that one of his previous incarnations will help him write a play set in Denmark soon. The letter was found in amongst the few surviving papers and correspondence of Shakespeare and is said to have "puzzled and intrigued academics". It was reproduced in The Time Lord Letters with an accompanying note that those "familiar" with the Doctor's adventures would appreciate the letter was in fact written soon after the Doctor and Martha had helped Shakespeare banish the Carrionites into the Deep Darkness. (PROSE: "Got to Dash...") Shakespeare would later write partially fictionalised accounts of his experiences with the Doctor in the Shakespeare Notebooks. (PROSE: The Shakespeare Notebooks)

Contemporary accounts recorded that, during the reign of King Charles II, an "unnamed Doctor", actually the Eleventh Doctor, was imprisoned without trial in the Tower of London by the King, only to be retrieved by a "magical sphere" two nights later. (TV: The Impossible Astronaut)

In a letter dated to April 1764 that would later be reproduced in The Time Lord Letters after being filtered from French to English using the TARDIS translation circuits, (PROSE: "The Slow Path...") Madame de Pompadour (real name Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson) wrote what would be her final message to the Tenth Doctor before her death. Within, she wrote about the fact she thought that they would not meet again and her own deteriorating health. The letter was entrusted to Louis XV to personally deliver to the Doctor. (TV: The Girl in the Fireplace, PROSE: "The Slow Path...")

In 1793, a letter from the Third Doctor was delivered to Marie Antoinette. It would later be reproduced in The Time Lord Letters. The letter was suppressed by the revolutionary French authorities for many years for its obvious criticism of the Revolution and the unrest and oppression it predicts would follow. The Doctor tells her that he also knows of a brighter future for France after the time known as "the Terror" has passed. He also tells her he has not forgotten the happy time he spent with her and Louis. It was said that despite the grim predictions therein, Antoinette herself found it comforting at a very difficult time - in declining health and facing execution. It was not known who delivered the letter but was speculated to have been James Stirling, an English aristocrat and spy in France at the time. (PROSE: "Hope in Adversity")

In February 1821, the Eleventh Doctor delivered a handwritten note that was unsigned and undated to Napoleon Bonaparte on Saint Helena. In it, the Doctor apologised for whatever Napoleon had found so enraging and thanked him for the bottle of wine, which he was later able to enjoy with River Song, Amy Pond and Rory Williams. Modern historians considered the letter to be a fake or hoax as, despite being itemised in the list of Napoleon's possessions made in 1821 upon his death, the note was written on pale blue writing paper watermarked "Basildon Bond". The Basildon Bond brand was not created by Millington & Sons until 1911 - some ninety years after Napoleon's death. Nevertheless, the note was reproduced in The Time Lord Letters. (PROSE: "Apologies and Thanks")

Circa 1869, after the Ninth Doctor encountered the Gelth with Rose Tyler in Cardiff, he wrote Charles Dickens an undated letter expressing his disappointment that they only got to talk briefly over the course of the adventure. He reiterated that he was a fan and told him he was present at a reading he gave in February 1858, before ending by telling him he now had more personal experiences to write about because of their time together. The letter was discovered amongst Dickens' correspondences after his death in 1870 but the more contemporary style and vocabulary led many to believe it was a hoax, somehow inserted recently into the correspondence. It was later reproduced in The Time Lord Letters. (PROSE: "A Great Fan")

In 1879, Queen Victoria of Great Britain, after being saved from a Lupine Wavelength Haemovariform, knighted the Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler as "Sir Doctor of TARDIS" and "Dame Rose of the Powell Estate". She then exiled them both from the British Empire, and founded the Torchwood Institute to defend the Empire from aliens including the Doctor, who was named in the Torchwood Foundation Charter as an "enemy of the Crown". (TV: Tooth and Claw) In 1899, the Torchwood branch in Cardiff observed numerous references to "the Doctor" made by Jack Harkness in conversations with strangers in various drinking dens. (TV: Fragments)

In 1883, a sketch recorded that the Ninth Doctor was present on the coast of Sumatra the day that Krakatoa exploded. (TV: Rose)

In April 1912, a record and photograph put the Ninth Doctor as a friend of the Daniels family, who cancelled their trip aboard the ill-fated RMS Titanic. (TV: Rose, AUDIO: Battle Scars)

In an attempt to "wave" at Amy Pond and Rory Williams, the Eleventh Doctor made a cameo in a Laurel and Hardy movie. (TV: The Impossible Astronaut)

A number of notes written by the Third and Fourth Doctors dating from 1955 to 1977 were left for Professor Chronotis at St Cedd's College. They concerned the Doctor's attempts to visit Chronotis, only to find him not in his office. All four notes were reproduced in The Time Lord Letters by kind permission of the Master at St Cedd's. (PROSE: "Absent Friend")

"A long time ago", the Doctor made an oath to guard the body of for 1000 years. After this he transported her to the Vault beneath St Luke's University. (TV: Extremis) In late 2016, he had apparently been lecturing at the university for over fifty years, although some rumours said he had been there for over 70. He gave no name during this time, and so was known simply as "the Doctor". (TV: The Pilot)

In 1963, the First Doctor and his granddaughter Susan Foreman spent some months living in Shoreditch after fleeing Gallifrey. Their official address was 76 Totter's Lane, the junkyard where the Doctor kept the TARDIS. (TV: An Unearthly Child)

Susan's student application to Coal Hill School and the accompanying covering letter were stored in the school's archives and were later reproduced in The Time Lord Letters. The application was for the Michaelmas term in 1963 and the reason given for joining the school late was on account of the Doctor and Susan's travelling and having only just settled in the location. The application was received and approved on 19 June with the Doctor giving his name as Doctor I.M. Foreman, the name under which school teachers Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright initially addressed him. (PROSE: "An Application")

While Susan attended Coal Hill, the Doctor registered a library card under the name "John Smith". (TV: The Vampires of Venice) Ultimately, the Doctor and Susan left Shoreditch along with Ian and Barbara on the night of 22 November. (TV: An Unearthly Child)

As recorded in a photograph preserved by the Washington public archive, the Ninth Doctor was witness to the assassination of John F. Kennedy, President of the United States on 22 November 1963. (TV: Rose)

The Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones spent some time in London in 1969, having been displaced by the Weeping Angels from 2007. Whilst there, they left a note at Wester Drumlins as well as a recorded message which was placed as an easter egg in seventeen DVDs that would be owned by Sally Sparrow in 2007, leading the the TARDIS to pick up the pair. (TV: Blink)

During their second incarnation's exile, the Doctor lived in luxury at the Carlton Grange Hotel and was very prolific in the public eye. The Doctor acted as a lecturer for a time at London University. (COMIC: The Brotherhood) He also appeared as a guest on the television show Explain My Mystery after becoming famous for his incredible exploits to help solve the mysteries of the viewers. (COMIC: The Night Walkers)

Rowan Cartwright was easily able to contact him after reading the headline "TIME AND SPACE TRAVELLER RESIDING IN LONDON" in the Daily Record (COMIC: The Mark of Terror) and the Brotherhood were able to land a helicopter on top of the hotel and kidnap him with relative ease. (COMIC: The Brotherhood) During his trial with the Time Lords, the Second Doctor argued against his exile on Earth by explaining that he was "known on Earth… things might get very awkward for [him]"; the Time Lords reassured him that this would not be a concern because his appearance would be changed before he began his exile. (TV: The War Games) Indeed, after his forced regeneration into his next incarnation and throughout his subsequent involvement with UNIT, the Doctor faded into obscurity. (TV: Spearhead from Space et al.)

In November 1988, the Seventh Doctor left an unsigned note in the vault beneath Windsor Castle apoligising for intruding and explaining he had been looking for the Bow of Nemesis only to find it no longer there. Although a catalogue was kept the vault was usually in some disarray therefore leaving it uncertain as to whether the handwritten note had been obtained by the Royal Family and placed in the vault or whether it had been left by someone. It was later reproduced in The Time Lord Letters. (PROSE: "The Missing Bow")

On 30 December 1999, the Seventh Doctor was admitted to San Francisco Walker General Hospital after sustaining a gunshot wound. As a result of exploratory surgery performed by Grace Holloway, who was unfamiliar with Gallifreyan physiology, the Doctor died with his regeneration being delayed by anaesthetic. As he had no identification on him, the Doctor's corpse was tagged as John Doe and taken to the morgue before vanishing; in actuality, the Doctor regenerated into the Eighth Doctor, who broke out of the hospital. (TV: Doctor Who)

By 2005, Clive Finch had collected records of all incarnations of the Doctor, with the exception of the War Doctor, up to the Thirteenth Doctor, as well as two potential Doctors. He shown a particular interest in the Ninth Doctor as he operated a website, whoisdoctorwho.co.uk, which hosted an image of this incarnation. Following her encounter with this Doctor, Rose Tyler found this website by searching "Doctor Blue Box" on search-wise.net and sought Clive out for his insight. (TV: Rose, PROSE: Rose)

By March 2006, the British government recognised the Doctor as the ultimate expert in extra-terrestrial affairs, though this did not mean that all employees were aware of him. In the past year, Mickey Smith read up on the Doctor, finding him by "look[ing] deep enough" on the internet and in the history books, "followed by a list of the dead." It was also through this research that Mickey learnt of the Doctor's association with UNIT.

After a Slitheen spacecraft crashed into Big Ben and landed in the River Thames, the government's Emergency Protocols were activated, leading their software to automatically search all communications for keywords, including "doctor". As a result, when Jackie Tyler called 08081 570980 to report that her daughter was with a man calling himself "the Doctor" with a blue box known as a TARDIS, a red alert was sounded at 10 Downing Street and the police were sent to collect him. Escorted to Downing Street, the Ninth Doctor was photographed by press with Rose Tyler when they arrived at 10 Downing Street to aid the situation with other alien experts. (TV: Aliens of London) One such photograph was part of the Torchwood file acquired by Victor Kennedy. (TV: Love & Monsters)

On 25 December 2006, during the Sycorax invasion of Earth, the Queen's Christmas speech was cancelled in favour of a message from Prime Minister Harriet Jones in which she pleaded for the Doctor's help in dealing with the crisis. (TV: The Christmas Invasion)

On that night, following the destruction of the Sycorax spaceship above Earth, the Tenth Doctor was caught in a photograph taken in Trafalgar Square by Ursula Blake. Along with Colin Skinner, Ursula was a member of a group which studied the Doctor, though she was not aware she had caught his image until Skinner pointed it out. After realising this, she posted the image to her "obscure, little" blog, My Invasion Blog. Elton Pope, who had seen the Doctor in his house as a child, found the image on Ursula's blog, having been inspired to search for him by the Sycorax invasion. Meeting with Ursula, Elton joined her group, which he named LINDA. Though they were aware of "different Doctors", (TV: Love & Monsters) the Tenth Doctor was of particular interest to LINDA, who hosted a drawing of him on their website. (WC: Tardisode 10)

In two letters posited by The Time Lord Letters to have "probably" been written in 2006, the Ninth and Tenth Doctors expressed their congratulations and regrets in regard to the way in which Harriet Jones dealt with the Slitheen and Sycorax crises respectively. The Time Lord Letters noted that because the two letters had differing handwriting, archivists unfamiliar with regeneration speculated that one or both of the letters had been dictated and then handwritten by an unidentified third party. (PROSE: "Congratulations and Regrets")

By early 2007, numerous images of the Doctor, the TARDIS, and by association Rose Tyler had been recorded, though evidence pertaining to this companion in the Torchwood files were lacking due to corruption from the Bad Wolf virus. Nevertheless, Victor Kennedy, actually an alien from the planet Clom, came into the possession of Torchwood files, several photographs as well a video recording of the Tenth Doctor and Rose entering the TARDIS before cutting out, while an audio recording of the TARDIS dematerialising remained.

In March, Victor Kennedy took over LINDA as he pursued the Doctor. Some time after, a police box was sighted in Woolwich as the Doctor and Rose hunted a Hoix. (TV: Love & Monsters)

For a brief period, the Tenth Doctor taught at Deffry Vale High School as a science teacher named "John Smith". (TV: School Reunion)

Later that year, Torchwood One successfully captured the Tenth Doctor in London, only to be destroyed in the Battle of Canary Wharf. (TV: The Sound of Drums) With only Torchwood Two (TV: Everything Changes) and Cardiff's Torchwood Three remaining, Jack Harkness moved to rebuild the Insitute to honour the Doctor. (TV: The Sound of Drums)

In 2008, the Tenth Doctor spent a day undercover at the Royal Hope Hospital as a patient named "John Smith". (TV: Smith and Jones)

The Tenth Doctor sent Mr Copper a letter in February 2008 informing him of some things potentially left out of Mrs Golightly's Earthonomics degree course and telling Copper that he might visit soon now that he had found his feet. The letter was found amongst other papers held by the Mr Copper Foundation. Its exact provenance was unknown with experts believing it was probably written as a joke. It was reproduced in The Time Lord Letters. (PROSE: "Putting Things Straight")

Martha Jones was still able to qualify as a doctor despite a sustained period in which she was absent from her medical training. A handwritten note stapled to the page dated from September 2008 explained that her absence was due to the fact she had been engaged on business of national importance covered by the Official Secrets Act, asking that one would need to contact General Lethbridge-Stewart via the Ministry of Defence for more information. It was signed by the Doctor and later reproduced in The Time Lord Letters. (PROSE: "A Medical Note")

Later that year, the Tenth Doctor was named and pictured along with Martha Jones and Captain Jack Harkness on BBC News 24 by a newsreader because of the fact, under the guise of British Prime Minister Harold Saxon, ordered a nationwide hunt for the trio on the grounds of suspected terrorism. (TV: The Sound of Drums)

On Christmas 2008, Queen Elizabeth II, gave her thanks from afar to the Tenth Doctor as he saved Buckingham Palace from the spaceship Titanic. (TV: Voyage of the Damned) By that point, she was counted as an acquiantance of the Doctor, having shared tea and scones with him. (TV: The Beast Below)

In 2009, the Tenth Doctor investigated Adipose Industries as "John Smith", a Health and Safety officer. (TV: Smith and Jones)

Martha Jones wrote a short, handwritten message to the Tenth Doctor in June 2009 which explained her reasons for departing his company as well as notifying him she had left him her phone in case he needed her in the future. The note was left tucked between controls on the TARDIS console and later reproduced in The Time Lord Letters. (PROSE: "Getting Out") Ultimately, the note was not needed as Martha explained her reasons for leaving the Doctor in person. (TV: Last of the Time Lords)

For a brief period while he was pursuing Cybermen in April 2011, the Eleventh Doctor worked, under the name "The Doctor", at a branch of Sanderson & Grainger in Colchester, during which time he had an amicable relationship with his colleagues. (TV: Closing Time) The Doctor's letter of application was preserved in his personnel file, still held by the company some time later. It was also reproduced in The Time Lord Letters. He cited his address as 79A Aickman Road and in the "care of Craig Owens" before crossing out the former upon realising Craig had moved. After listing his references as "ruling administrations from various star systems, President Nixon and various Earth-based security organisations" he was noted to "obviously [have] a sense of humour, probably [being] good with the kids" and was subsequently hired. Other notes on his file related to difficulty to get the Doctor to divulge his National Insurance number or to provide a P45 from his previous employer. A "torturous and helpful" series of letters to and from HM Revenue and Customs came to an abrupt end because the Doctor simply failed to turn up to work one morning. (PROSE: "Offering to Help")

A letter from the Tenth Doctor to General Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart sent to him during the former's final reward was found amongst his personal effects upon his death (PROSE: "A Fond Farewell") on 16 December 2011. (PROSE: Acceptance, and then Understanding) It was one of the few documents Sir Alistair insisted on taking with him to the nursing home during his final months and it was found lying on his bedside cabinet, as if he had been reading it moments before he passed away. The letter touched on the Doctor's guilt for not having visited him in so long and also confirmed that his times with him at UNIT were among his happiest, despite the fact his past self never told him as such. It was later reproduced in The Time Lord Letters. (PROSE: "A fond Farewell")

The Eleventh Doctor left Amy Pond and Rory Williams a note written in felt pen on the back of a paper napkin in December 2011 telling them that he had in fact arrived on time for Christmas dinner and had even brought his special straw. However, some trouble in the Galpraneth Nebula arose so was leaving the note in case he did not return later for which he preemptively apologised. The note was found pressed between the pages of a Melody Malone novel after Amy and Rory's disappearance in 2012 and was reproduced in The Time Lord Letters. (PROSE: "Christmas Absence")

In a letter dated to 12 March 2012, David Spooner of Eastminster College responded to Mr Coburn's request for references for Clara Oswald in support of her application for a post in the English department of Coal Hill School. The letter was amended by the Twelfth Doctor who used unsigned and handwritten annotations in a blue pen to "fix" mistakes his "secretary" had made and also reiterate the sentiment that "Clara Oswald will be good". This letter was reproduced in The Time Lord Letters. (PROSE: "Clara Will Be Good")

The Tenth Doctor was caught on camera taking the Olympic Torch from a fallen torchbearer during the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games. Huw Edwards, a commentator for BBC News 24 who reported as the Doctor enthusiastically lit the Olympic Flame, described him as a "mystery man" and noted "we've no idea who he is." (TV: Fear Her)

Record of the Doctor's involvement in the Cybermen invasion of 2012, among other incidents, was found by Sonny Robinson. (COMIC: Invasion of the Mindmorphs)

A letter from a John "The Doctor" Smith to Frank Armitage of Coal Hill School received 6 October 2014 was reproduced in The Time Lord Letters. In it, he applied for the post of temporary caretaker whilst the regular caretaker Atif Basra was taken ill. He also briefly outlined his qualifications for the role including his previous teaching positions at Deffry Vale and Farringham and the fact he was once told by one of Armitage's predecessors that he was overqualified for the job. The Doctor ends the letter by informing the school of the uselessness of replying and that he will report to work on Wednesday. The Time Letters notes the letter was stamped one day before Basra called in sick on Tuesday, chalking it up to the date stamp being wrong. (PROSE: "Taking Care")

While working as caretaker, the Doctor left several notes and letters including one from "Doctor Caretaker" to Danny Pink whom he addressed as "PE", a name The Time Lord Letters assumed was a nickname he had at the school when it reproduced it. It concerned the Doctor's annoyance regarding the untidiness of Pink's classroom and his sub-optimal arrangement of tables. The handwritten note was found in the drawer of his desk in Coal Hill after his death in a road traffic accident. (PROSE: "Keeping it Tidy")

The Doctor quickly left the post after dealing with the Skovox Blitzer. (TV: The Caretaker, PROSE: The Time Lord Letters) He wrote a note to headteacher Coburn informing him that his stint at Coal Hill was coming to an end. In the note he also advised Coburn on several improvements that could be made to school including giving each classroom its own supply of paper towels and new strategies for playground duty. Although addressed to Coburn, it was actually found among the personal possessions of Clara Oswald. When it was reproduced in The Time Lord Letters that publication concluded from the note's condition, it was likely Coburn threw it away, having taken whatever - if any - action he deemed necessary. It also speculated Clara kept the note because she found it amusing. (PROSE: "A Few Suggestions")

In addition to the risk assessment on file at the school for the Coal Hill Year 8 Gifted and Talented Group's sleepover visit to the London Zoological Museum in November 2014, an annotated version also existed. It was this version that was partially reproduced in The Time Lord Letters. The modified version was very critical towards the way in which Danny completed the form. It was not known who provided the annotations - actually the Twelfth Doctor - or if they were meant to be taken seriously. (PROSE: "Assessing the Risk")

By the mid-2010s, UNIT developed an algorithm to trace the Doctor's appearances, generating probabilities based on crisis points, anomalies, anachronisms and keywords, detecting him in San Martino, Troy, multiple instances in New York and three possible versions of Atlantis. It was through consulting this algorithm, with the crisis points removed, that Clara Oswald found the Doctor in Essex in 1138. (TV: The Magician's Apprentice)

By early 2020, C, head of MI6, had read files pertaining to the Doctor but was under the mistaken belief that they were "[always] a man", failing to recognise the Thirteenth Doctor as such. (TV: Spyfall)

An undated letter from the Twelfth Doctor to Agatha Christie was discovered by Matthew Puckering tucked inside a paperback copy of Death in the Clouds, which he bought from a second-hand bookshop in the village of Lower Withering On The Spire. It was later reproduced in The Time Lord Letters which concluded that it was unlikely the letter was ever delivered to Dame Agatha, citing the fact the book itself had been stamped "Property of St Cedd's College Library". In the letter, the Doctor asked for help in figuring out the mystery of the Foretold on the Orient Express, doubting within the text itself if he'll ever "bother to send it". (PROSE: "66 Seconds")

In the late 21st century, after the Seventh Doctor and Melanie Bush defeated Kroagnon and united the Caretakers, Kangs and Rezzies, the Acting Interim Chief Caretaker formally expressed his appreciation for the Doctor's efforts and informed him of his plans to slightly relax the rules at Paradise Towers in a letter. He also left an open invitation for them to return, promising an apartment free of wallscrawl. The letter was apparently slipped into the Doctor's pockets before he and Mel left Paradise Towers and it was later reproduced in The Time Lord Letters. (PROSE: "Thank You (in accordance with Rule 1781-B)")

In 2119, Alice O'Donnell counted herself as a "fan" of the Doctor, noting to the Twelfth Doctor that she followed his exploits as well as being aware of his companions. UNIT was still in existence by this time, and the Doctor remained in contact with them. (TV: Under the Lake/Before the Flood)

In 2167, after Susan Foreman left the TARDIS to marry David Campbell and help rebuild in the aftermath of the 22nd century Dalek invasion, she discovered a letter written to her by the Doctor tucked into her coat pocket. The letter described his reasons for forcing her to move on from him in case the Doctor never found the right time to tell her in person, namely the fact he could see a love blossoming between her and David. Additionally, the Doctor's words in the letter exactly echoed that of his final speech to her before departing. The text was reproduced in The Time Lord Letters by the kind permission of the Campbell family. (PROSE: "To my Granddaughter")

By 33rd century, Queen Elizabeth X of Starship UK was well aware of the Doctor and his relationships with the British Royal Family. When she met the Eleventh Doctor, she acknowledged his history with Elizabeth I, Victoria, Elizabeth II and Henry XII. (TV: The Beast Below)

Non-fiction works about the Doctor
In 1913, John Smith, a human identity adopted by the Tenth Doctor while hiding from the Family of Blood, wrote A Journal of Impossible Things, an illustrated record of the dreams he experienced while working as a teacher at Farringham School for Boys. Though John and his colleague, Joan Redfern, believed that the book was derived from his imagination, his dreams were actually the experiences of the Doctor.

Once the Doctor's Time Lord persona returned, (TV: Human Nature/The Family of Blood) he left the book to Joan, who apparently annotated it with a detailed chronicle of her love story with a strange visitor from beyond the stars. In the 21st century, this annotated version of the book fell in possession of her great-granddaughter, Verity Newman, who used it as the basis for her own book of the same name, insisting that the journal was "not just a story" and that every word of it was true. A copy of this book was acquired by the Doctor, who had it signed by Verity for "the Doctor", leading her to recognise him on sight. (TV: The End of Time) The Eleventh Doctor kept this copy in the TARDIS drawing room. (GAME: TARDIS)

Who Killed Kennedy was a non-fiction book by the journalist James Stevens and his co-author David Bishop. Stevens began writing the book on 22 January 1996, completing it shortly before his disappearance in April of that year. Using his notes from October 1969 to September 1971, Stevens wrote an exposé detailing his investigations of the Doctor, UNIT, Department C19 and the numerous alien invasions which befell Earth during the late 1960s and early 1970s. (PROSE: Who Killed Kennedy)

The Shakespeare Notebooks
The Shakespeare Notebooks were described by a later 21st century publication as a record kept by William Shakespeare over several years, a scrapbook containing early drafts of key scenes and moments from his plays, as well as other observations, and previously unknown material, including several sonnets.

The foreword of the Notebooks mentions a "doctor" and Shakespeare notes that after being freed from the influence of the Carrionites, he came to realise that several other strangers who had influenced his life could be the same individual. He summarises the Notebooks as "volume wherein I do draw together every incident and encounter that may perchance have involved or been influenced by the Doctor" although he admits his recollections are only existent within his dreams and fading memory. The 21st century collection of the Notebooks observe that the "doctor" figure appears in many guises throughout as a magician, physician, academic, colleague and friend, or merely as "the Man" or "He". It also speculates that the Notebooks themselves formed the basis of an epic work in which Shakespeare planned to present the adventures of this character but also notes that his background is "never fully explained, assuming he ever existed".

However, the later collection of this work also expresses doubt as to whether Shakespeare was the true author and encourages the reader to "determine whether [...] the Notebooks are indeed genuine, or an elaborate hoax" (PROSE: Preface to the First Edition) citing several anachronisms to give credence to this theory. (PROSE: The Tempest - A Work in Progress, Troilus and Cressida)

Doctor Who


Doctor Who was a BBC science fiction series first broadcast at 5:15 pm on Saturday 30 November 1963. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks, PROSE: Who Killed Kennedy) In 1963, a TV announcer introduced the first episode. Ace had the television on in Mrs Smith's house but rushed out of the room in time to only hear the first syllable of the name. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks)

In 2007, a poster advertising a Doctor Who exhibition could be seen in Cardiff. (TV: Everything Changes)

In the 2010s, when the Earth became overgrown with trees a London bus had an advertisement for Doctor Who on its side. It featured the TARDIS and individuals closely resembling the Twelfth Doctor and Clara Oswald. An unknown source rated the show four stars out of five commenting "A-MAZE-ING ENTERTAINMENT!". (TV: In the Forest of the Night)

Peter Cushing films
A character called Doctor Who played by Peter Cushing appeared in three films, two of which featured the Daleks including Daleks: Invasion Earth and a 1980 science fiction film called Prey for a Miracle. (PROSE: A Visit to the Cinema, Salvation, The Day of the Doctor, We Are the Enemy)

The Doctor was personally involved in the Dalek films as he lent Cushing his coat for the part as they were close friends. UNIT stored VHS tapes of the two films in the Black Archive which the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors both enjoyed whilst there. (PROSE: The Day of the Doctor)

Prey for a Miracle was inspired by the UFO / gods scare caused by the Latter-Day Pantheon in New York City during March and April 1965. A film critic for the magazine Film in Focus commented upon the film's release in November 1980 that it was far from being the "rational, methodical investigation into the events of 1965" which was required. He criticised the film's director, a newcomer named Anthony Jones, for buying "wholesale into notions of alien shape-changers and government conspiracies", which resulted in the film devolving into a B-movie.

The critic added that the film's "fair cast does its best with a script that veers from the turgid to the unbelievable". The veteran science fiction and horror star Peter Cushing played the lead role of "the mysterious government adviser, Doctor Who". However, the critic noted that Cushing's "endearingly eccentric professor [was] as fictional as the rest of Prey for a Miracle" as what little was known about the real life "Doctor" suggested that he was "a shadowy, manipulative figure". (PROSE: Salvation)

Doctor Who Discovers


Doctor Who Discovers was a series of educational children's books written by the Fourth Doctor during his time working with UNIT.

The intended title for the series was The Doctor, Who Discovers... but the publishing company misprinted the title, resulting in the author being mistakenly credited as "Doctor Who".

The Doctor completed five books in the series. He began work on the sixth, Doctor Who Discovers Historical Mysteries, but left it unfinished until a robot sent by the publishers from the 64th century invaded the TARDIS to forcefully remind the Fifth Doctor of his contractual obligation. (AUDIO: The Kingmaker)

Sarah Jane Smith's novels
Sarah Jane Smith's first science-fiction novel, published "a few years on" from 1983, was entitled World War Skaro, (PROSE: The Roving Reporter) and presumably based on her witnessing of the tail end of the Thousand Year War alongside the Fourth Doctor. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks)

Doctor was a series of short stories and novels which were written by Sarah Jane Smith and published from 1994 to 2003, adapted from her adventures with the Doctor. The short stories were published by the Metropolitan from January 1994 to November 1997 starting with Operation Golden Age. The novels were published by Virgin Publishing and from 1997 to 2003 starting with Noah's Ark. The Daleks were directly referred to in the title of one of these novels, Dalek Dawn, as were and the Kraals in The Kraal Invasion.

The series of books made Sarah a best-selling author and Amblin Entertainment were allegedly interested in producing one or more films based on the series.

In Moving On, the last story of the series, the character of the Doctor was "almost peripheral" to the plot which was a great change from the previous installments which had attracted criticisms that "the Doctor was a dominant male lead whose accomplices were feeble caricatures of helpless women". (PROSE: Moving On)

Time Surgeon


Loosely based on the Doctor's adventures, Time Surgeon was a popular comic book series in the 2010s written by Sonny Robinson, who was inspired after finding internet records of the Doctor. The eponymous Time Surgeon travelled through time in a flatpack wardrobe with Nurse Kara.

One of the stories from this series was named Day of the Deathroids, which saw the Time Surgeon and Nurse Kara face the Deathroids and the Minister. (COMIC: Invasion of the Mindmorphs)

Other works
After her encounter with the newly regenerated Eleventh Doctor in 1996, Amy Pond created numerous "cartoons" depicting "the Raggedy Doctor", leading to the Doctor being recognised as such by several Leadworth residents when he returned in 2008. (TV: The Eleventh Hour)

In 2102, Zoe Heriot began writing stories based on the adventures of the Doctor. She began with The Dominators - Episode 1. (PROSE: Dream a Little Dream for Me)

In an alternate timeline, circa 2493, Vicki Pallister novelised some of her adventures with the First Doctor, for example she had works published titled Vicki and the Zarbi, Vicki and the Crusaders and Vicki and the Space Museum. She also wrote about the time she and Steven Taylor first met. (AUDIO: The Crash of the UK-201)

Completely fictional
In an account that gave no indication the Doctor was ever real, from 19 September to 24 October 1964, a six-part Doctor Who story entitled The Outlaws was first broadcast, starring actor William Hartnell as a version of the First Doctor, William Russell in a dual role as companion Ian Chesterton and Robin Hood, Jacqueline Hill as Barbara Wright and Carole Ann Ford as Susan Foreman.

There was coverage of the story in Doctor Who Magazine, Radio Times, Gallifrey Guardian, Doctor Who - A Celebration, The Discontinuity Guide and Doctor Who: The Television Companion.

A novelisation of the story called The Thief of Sherwood was also published that was written by the original writer Godfrey Porter. The Daleks had appeared by 1964 and Tom Baker was the Doctor for some of the 1970s. (PROSE: The Thief of Sherwood)

As a myth or legend
Shortly before his death in March 2005, conspiracy theorist Clive Finch observed to Rose Tyler that the Doctor was "a legend woven throughout history". "When disaster comes, he's there. He brings the storm in his wake and he has one constant companion (death)."

- Clive Finch.

Initially unaware of the Doctor's alien longevity or nature as a time traveller, Rose believed that the appearances of the Ninth Doctor were of a lineage of identical men, and that the title of doctor was passed down from father to son. (TV: Rose)

Colin Skinner, a member of LINDA, was of the view that the Doctor was not a man, rather a "collection of archetypes", including king, fool, stranger, and thief, which were found in "mythological structures". (TV: Love & Monsters)

In 64 AD, during the reign of Emperor Nero, the First Doctor visited Rome. (TV: The Romans) In 79 AD, the Tenth Doctor was convinced by Donna Noble to save the Caecilius family from the eruption at Pompeii. After their departure, the family kept a carving of the pair and the TARDIS, whom they respected as household gods. (TV: The Fires of Pompeii) In both instances, the appearance of a "blue box" was reported and was recalled as late as 451. (PROSE: Combat Magicks)

In the 14th century, it was said that a demon fell from the sky only to be intercepted by a "sainted physician" in a blue box, who smote the demon before disappearing. This was remembered by an English church convent, who depicted the box in a stained glass called the Legend of the Blue Box. The church and its glass stood as late as 2009, when the Woman recalled the story to Wilfred Mott. (TV: The End of Time)

As a complete unknown
The Doctor guessed that the energy from the cracks in time had erased events such as the CyberKing walking over London in the Victorian era, and the 2009 Dalek invasion of Earth, the latter being one of Earth's most publicly visible invasions. (TV: Flesh and Stone) Clive Finch, a man who Rose Tyler met while researching the Ninth Doctor, similarly theorised that cracks in time were erasing peoples' memories of previous alien encounters. (PROSE: Rose)

The Third Doctor initially theorised that the reason Great Britain was a fascist republic in the 20th century in the "Inferno universe" was somehow because of the fact his second incarnation had not been exiled to Earth. However, he later realised the Leader was one of the faces offered to him at his trial. (PROSE: Timewyrm: Revelation)

No mention of Harriet Jones' encounters with the Doctor was made in her autobiography, Do You Know Who I Am?. (PROSE: "Congratulations and Regrets")

In 2012, Henry van Statten, who claimed to own the internet, failed to recognise the Ninth Doctor or the Dalek which he named "Metaltron". (TV: Dalek)

Wanting to be left alone, (HOMEVID: The Inforarium) the Doctor erased himself from every database in the universe, making sure that no one had ever heard of him. (TV: Dinosaurs on a Spaceship, The Angels Take Manhattan, Nightmare in Silver) However, he was unable to erase Earth's records of him because he had played a major role in the planet's history and future, with organisations across the world having been influenced by him. (COMIC: Hunters of the Burning Stone)

By the year 100,000,000,000,000, shortly before the end of the universe, the Tenth Doctor and the TARDIS were not recognised by the distant descendants of Earth humans who resided on Malcassairo. He said that he thought the end of the universe was a "bit humbling" after learning there were no legends and "not even a myth" about him. (TV: Utopia)

The Year That Never Was
During the Year That Never Was, Martha Jones, companion to the Tenth Doctor, travelled the Earth spreading word about the Doctor to the people she met while the Doctor himself was held captive aboard the aircraft carrier Valiant by, who had seized control of the planet with the Toclafane. A year following the Toclafane invasion, Martha was captured and brought aboard the Valiant, where she revealed her and the Doctor's plan to exploit the Archangel Network, which the Master had used to influence the minds of humanity via a psychic field. At that point, the population was compelled to chant the word "Doctor" repeatedly, resulting in the psychic field rejuvenating him, leading to the destruction of the paradox machine and thus the negation of the Year That Never Was, the memory of which was retained only by those who were aboard the Valiant, the eye of the storm. (TV: Last of the Time Lords)

President of the Republic of Great Britain


The Third Doctor once accidentally visited a parallel universe where a disaster at Professor Eric Stahlman's Inferno Project caused the near-destruction of the Earth and the human race. In this universe, Great Britain was a republic governed by a fascist regime. (TV: Inferno)

Whilst there, the Doctor recognised the face of the President of Great Britain as one of the faces his predecessor could have chosen at his trial from the various "UNITY IS STRENGTH" propaganda posters scattered around the Republican Security Forces. The Doctor came to feel great guilt with the knowledge of the actions of his alternate self. (PROSE: Timewyrm: Revelation)

The Leader may have been at least partly responsible for his Earth's much more advanced technology. He died in the volcanic catastrophe that struck Great Britain in the aftermath of I-Day. (PROSE: The Face of the Enemy)

According to one account, the Doctor was mistaken and the Leader was actually an alternate version of Gordon Lethbridge-Stwewart. (PROSE: The Schizoid Earth)

Federation universe
In two incarnations, the Doctor crossed from N-Space into a parallel universe in which Earth was a member of the United Federation of Planets. In the 23rd century, the Fourth Doctor assisted the crew of the Starfleet vessel USS Enterprise in neutralising a Cyberman incursion Aprilia III. This encounter was recorded and recalled aboard the USS Enterprise-D in the 24th century, where the Eleventh Doctor discovered that the Cybermen were altering the history of that universe in a plot to use the technology of the native Borg Collective to upgrade both that universe and his own. After the Cybermen were all destroyed with the assistance of the Enterprise-D, the Doctor returned to his universe but not before voicing his suspicion to the Enterprise crew that the changes the Cybermen had made to history would begin to "[unwind]" by itself as they spoke, suggesting that the record of his previous self's appearance would disappear from the ship's computer banks. However, he noted the crew would retain the memory of what they had experienced. Meanwhile, the Borg Collective decided to master time travel to assimilate the Time Lord. (COMIC: Assimilation²)

Meta-fiction universes
Several different universes existed where the Doctor's adventures were prominently presented in a science fiction series called Doctor Who.

In a version of history where the Great Houses were fictional the Houses came to regard Lawrence Burton as the Enemy because he wrote their very existence in works such as Against Nature, ensuring the continuation of the War in Heaven just to make interesting stories. (PROSE: We Are the Enemy)

In one universe which the Eighth Doctor and Izzy Sinclair visited on 12 October 1979, Tom Baker played the Doctor. He managed to defeat Beep the Meep with his endless rambling by reminding Beep of his old foe, the Fourth Doctor. The Eighth Doctor learnt the truth when he was given a copy of DWM 1 which featured Tom Baker's Doctor and a Dalek on the cover. (COMIC: TV Action!)

In another universe that the Eleventh Doctor visited in 2013, Matt Smith played the Doctor. Tom Baker and Peter Davison had played previous incarnations and the Doctor recommended Peter Capaldi to Steven as a future possibility. Elisabeth Sladen played Sarah Jane Smith.

While in this universe, the Doctor defeated a Cyberman from his universe with the help of Ally, gave some autographs, placed second in a cosplay competition and actually made it onto the set of the programme. The TARDIS was caught dematerialising on camera with one member of the crew voicing their happiness at the amount of money this was saving.

Other characters and monsters that resembled those from the Doctor's universe included Amy Pond, Rory Williams, Azmael, Romulus Sylvest, Remus Sylvest, Mestor, Sontarans, Ice Warriors, Zygons, Peg dolls, K9, Krotons, Robot Yeti, K1, Dums, Vocs, Smilers, Sea Devils and Raxacoricovarlonpatorians. (COMIC: The Girl Who Loved Doctor Who)

The failure of Doctor Who
There also existed alternate timelines and parallel universe where Doctor Who was concieved as an idea but never reached the point of public consumption. (PROSE: All Our Christmases, AUDIO: Deadline)

Early life on Gallifrey
Due to the various alterations the Doctor made to his timeline while travelling through time, what really transpired to the Doctor during his time on Gallifrey was hard to decipher. (PROSE: Celestial Intervention - A Gallifreyan Noir)

Ashildr claimed that he was "a high born Gallifreyan" (TV: Hell Bent) and Clara Oswald said that he was born "into wealth and privilege", (TV: Robot of Sherwood)

The Doctor held the Time Tot hide and seek championship for forty-two years in a row. (COMIC: Weapons of Past Destruction)

During his first year at the Academy, the Doctor gained a troublesome reputation by trapping his teacher in a time-loop for a day, (PROSE: Island of Death) and "mucking about" with space-time portals, something the Tenth Doctor indicated were easy to create. (PROSE: Made of Steel)

Using his Academy Student Identification Code "Theta Sigma", the Doctor sent a letter to his then-tutor and head of Prydon Academy Borusa regarding his Interim Academy Report. In it, the Doctor takes issue with some of Borusa's comments in the report such as his supposed "tonal problems" and "propensity for vulgar facetiousness". This letter was one of the earliest items of correspondence from the Doctor's life. It was stored in the Academy Archives and reproduced with their permission in The Time Lord Letters. (PROSE: "Academic Progress")

At the Academy, the Doctor and the Master joined the "Gallifrey Academy Hot Five" band, with the Doctor playing the lead perigosto. (PROSE: Deadly Reunion) He was also part of the same zero-grav hyperball team as Padrac. (AUDIO: The Eleven)

The Doctor worked as a Scrutationary Archivist in the Bureau of Possible Events, (PROSE: Lungbarrow) and rose high in the ranks of the Time Lords, (PROSE: The Eight Doctors) until he was considered a "superior" on Gallifrey by some, (COMIC: Flashback) with his second incarnation claiming to have held a seat on the High Council during the "latter years of [his] first incarnation". (PROSE: World Game) He also made powerful enemies due to his controversial views on the Time Lords' non-interference policy, even being accused of being a meddler. (AUDIO: The Beginning) He also lost popularity when he voiced his opinions on evil being a genuine force to his contemporaries, who found "such black and white notions of morality" to be "archaic". (PROSE: Strange England)

The Doctor learned of the existence of the miniscopes and was outraged by their cruelty to the specimens within. He campaigned to have them banned and, despite the non-interference policy of the Time Lords, was successful. (TV: Carnival of Monsters) His role in banning the use of miniscopes was known throughout nine galaxies. (PROSE: The Empire of Glass) He also successfully campaigned on Gallifrey to ban a chemical of Time Lord invention which converted vertebrae blood into acid, the formula for which he was never able to forget. (PROSE: The Age of Ambition) He also served as an ambassador for the Time Lords. (PROSE: The Exiles)

A handwritten note signed by the Doctor regarding his intentions to steal a TARDIS and explore after having "enough of monitoring and analysis" was discovered in the Time Capsule Storage Bays beneath the Citadel by a technician who immediately informed the Castellan, albeit too late to stop the TARDIS from leaving Gallifrey. However, since the stolen TARDIS was in the Repair Section, The Time Lord Letters noted that a considerable amount of time could have elapsed before the note was noticed. (PROSE: "Missing TARDIS")

Reputation as a renegade
While travelling alone, the First Doctor was found by the Time Lords, and placed into a "celestial retirement", during which he was scolded for meddling in history during his visit to Paris in August 1572. (PROSE: The Massacre) His retirement was eventually ended. (PROSE: The Meeting)

In their second incarnation, the Doctor was placed on trial for breaching the non-interference policy after contacting them for their help in clearing up the aftermath of the War Games, (TV: The War Games) officially recorded as occurring in Year 309906. (TV: The Deadly Assassin, AUDIO: Neverland, PROSE: A Brief History of Time Lords) The full transcript of the Doctor's telepathic message was preserved in the Panopticon Archives and later reproduced in The Time Lord Letters. (PROSE: "A Plea for Help") A written deposition in which he made his case for interference was also stored in the Panopticon Archives and was also reproduced in part in The Time Lord Letters. (PROSE: "A Case for the Defence") The trial resulted in the Doctor's companions Jamie McCrimmon and Zoe Heriot having their memory of their travels wiped. The Doctor was also exiled and forced to regenerate (TV: The War Games) although both of these sentences were postponed as the Doctor temporarily acted as a "hired gun" of the Celestial Intervention Agency (PROSE: World Game) His association with the agency ended when they decided they needed to cover up their visit to Space Station Camera. (PROSE: A Brief History of Time Lords)

During his exile, the Third Doctor was allowed briefly offworld to go on missions for them. Among them were his visit to Uxarieus to defeat who had stolen information on the Doomsday Weapon, (TV: Colony in Space) his first visit to Peladon to ensure they joined the Galactic Federation (TV: The Curse of Peladon) and his visit to Solos. (TV: The Mutants) After he helped save Gallifrey with his two previous incarnations during the Omega crisis his knowledge of the TARDIS was returned to him and his exile was lifted with him being free to roam the universe once again. (TV: The Three Doctors)

After foiling a plan by the Master and the Daleks to start a war between Humans and Draconians the Doctor sent a message to the Time Lords from 2540 via the TARDIS telepathic circuits requesting that they help him send the TARDIS after the Dalek ship to wherever the Dalek army was waiting as he was close to collapse himself. The message was received and acted upon by Castellan Terrynate who stored the correspondence in the Panopticon Archives (TV: Frontier in Space, PROSE: "Telepathic Directions") and sent the TARDIS to Spiridon. (TV: Planet of the Daleks) The message was later reproduced in The Time Lord Letters. (PROSE: "Telepathic Directions")

Early in his travels with Sarah Jane Smith and Harry Sullivan the Fourth Doctor was tasked with a Time Lord, either Ferain or Valyes, (PROSE: Lungbarrow, AUDIO: Ascension) with averting the creation of the Daleks. He failed (TV: Genesis of the Daleks) and some people including the Eleventh Doctor considered this the "first shot" of the Last Great Time War. (COMIC: Hunters of the Burning Stone)

After the Doctor defeated Morbius on Karn after the Time Lords directed the TARDIS there without his approval, he sent a handwritten letter to the High Council which was delivered by trans-portal rather than than the usual telepathic method. In it, he made clear that he would have been happy to help should they have asked him while noting he was unhappy with Sarah almost being killed during the course of the adventure. This letter was reproduced in The Time Lord Letters. (PROSE: "Interference")

The Fourth Doctor later returned to Gallifrey after experiencing premonitions of the President's death, the Doctor left a handwritten note addressed to the Castellan of the Chancellery Guard warning them of potential threat. The note was delivered by Commander Hilred to Castellan Spandrell. (TV: The Deadly Assassin, PROSE: "Returning Home") A translated version was printed in The Time Lord Letters. (PROSE: "Returning Home") The President was assassinated by Goth and the Doctor was framed for the crime by him and. During his trail for this crime he invoked Article 17 of the Constitution of the Time Lords which was a "guarantee of liberty" and stated that no candidate for the presidency could be debarred or restrained from presenting their claim. During the subsequent investigation the real culprits were discovered and Goth was killed leaving the Doctor as the sole candidate in the election meaning he was effectively Lord President-elect although he left that night (TV: The Deadly Assassin) When he returned and found Gallifrey without a President the Doctor was inducted officially as Lord President during which time he defeated the Sontarans and the Vardans in their invasion of Gallifrey. The Doctor left again soon afterwards, resigning the position to High Chancellor Borusa. (TV: The Invasion of Time) The Fifth Doctor later discovered his fourth incarnation's term had been stricken from the record. (AUDIO: Time in Offfice)

The Doctor returned to Gallifrey with Nyssa when it was discovered that somebody was using his biodata to attempt to free Omega from his anti-matter universe. Upon his arrival, he was detained by Commander Maxil and briefly issued with a Warrant of Termination to prevent Omega's return. Councillor Hedin was uncovered as the traitor but he was killed during the incident. (TV: Arc of Infinity) After President Borusa's involvement in the Death Zone affair was discovered and he was granted "immortality" by Rassilon, the High Council used its emergency powers to bestow the title of President upon the Fifth Doctor but he did not want it and immediately left in his TARDIS with Tegan Jovanka and Vislor Turlough, granting Flavia the title of Acting President until his return. (TV: THe Five Doctors) The Doctor was eventually forced to return to his responsibilities, however. During his tenure his companion Tegan served as Earth Ambassador to Gallifrey and sat on the High Council to avoid getting her memory wiped. (AUDIO: Time in Office)

The Doctor's tenure as President was looked upon with disdain by some. At the time of Romana III's first Reaffirmation Ceremony the Doctor's was the shortest stint of any President. Fremest, the Chancellor of Time Past, was of the opinion a Time Lord didn't deserve the title until at least a century or "maybe even not until their first Reaffirmation". Djarshar, the Chancellor of Time Future, looked thought little of the Prydonian Chapter calling them "Renegades, fugitives and lunatics" before highlighting the Doctor as "the most insolent of all of them". (PROSE: The Ancestor Cell)

Soon after his regeneration, the Sixth Doctor sent a message to the Coordinator of the Panopticon Archives from August 2100 informing them of Azmael's death. It detailed Azmael's help in defeating Mestor and the Gastropods during their occupation of Jaconda with the request he be written into the Gallifreyan Book of Honours and that his surviving Data Extract be uploaded to the APC Net so he could live on and be remembered in some fashion. The message was reproduced in The Time Lord Letters. (PROSE: "In Tribute")

The Sixth Doctor was put on trial by the Time Lords as a result of the significant loss of human life that occurred in the prosecution's first evidence during an impartial inquiry into his behaviour. (TV: The Mysterious Planet) The charges were later trumped up to genocide. (TV: Terror of the Vervoids) The Valeyard was promised by the High Council the Doctor's remaining regenerations if he suceeded in prosecuting him. The charges were eventually dropped. (TV: The Ultimate Foe) The final document from the trial proceedings, a statement from the Doctor from after the trial had ended was reproduced in The Time Lord Letters. In it, the Doctor left no doubt over his feelings about the incident by reiterating a speech from the trial about the society's corruption. He also offered to take the helm of the position of President once again if nobody suitable on Gallifrey could be found. (PROSE: "A Statement of Discontent")

The Sixth and Eighth Doctors began a Presidential Inquiry into the matter. Borusa was released from his punishment by Rassilon per the Eighth Doctor's request so that he might lead a Council of Administration. This period was known as the Borusa Interregnum. Due to transmitting extracts of the trial on Public Access Television, there was insurrection in the Capitol, fuelled by the Celestial Intervention Agency. (PROSE: The Eight Doctors)

During the Last Great Time War


During the Last Great Time War, the War Doctor not only thought himself unworthy of the name of "the Doctor", (TV: The Day of the Doctor) dispatching the moniker immediately after regeneration, (TV: The Night of the Doctor) along with the "philosophies and ideals" shared with it, (PROSE: The Day of the Doctor) in favour of the title of "Warrior", (PROSE: The Stranger) but also of any identity at all, eventually leaving it to others to choose how they wished to address him, (PROSE: Engines of War) as he did not carry a name "as a rule". (AUDIO: The Eternity Cage) He would show great irritation, and even extreme bouts of anger, if anyone called him by his former title, especially if they did so after he committed what he considered an atrocity. (AUDIO: The Innocent, The Thousand Worlds, The Neverwhen, Eye of Harmony, The Enigma Dimension; COMIC: Kill God, Physician, Heal Thyself, The Clockwise War; PROSE: The Third Wise Man)

Before joining the Time War fully, the Eighth Doctor told Ohila he'd "like to think" that his name and "good man" were synonymous with each other. When he chose to regenerate into a warrior, he cited his opinion "I don't suppose there's any need for a doctor any more". (TV: The Night of the Doctor)

On the last day of the Time War, General Kenossium called the meeting of the Doctor's war, tenth and eleventh incarnations all in one place at the same time "all my worst nightmares at once". He had previously called the War Doctor a "mad fool". (TV: The Day of the Doctor)

After the Time War
The Doctor did not have significant contact with Time Lord society that they would remember until their eleventh incarnation where he learnt that Gallifrey was not destroyed but locked away in a pocket universe. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)

The Question, "Doctor who?", a transmission being broadcast across all of time and space, making it the "oldest question in the universe," used as a code by the Time Lords on Gallifrey who were sealed inside a pocket universe. They were transmitting the message through a crack in time on the planet Trenzalore, asking the Doctor to speak his true name in order to let them know that it was safe to emerge from the pocket universe. Along with the Question, the Time Lords also transmitted a Truth Field which enveloped the town of Christmas so that the Doctor could not lie if he were to answer the Question. This prompted a siege on the planet by a host of alien races who wanted to prevent the start of another time war, but they were held off for almost 900 years by a combination of the Doctor and a force field that had been put in place by the Papal Mainframe.

The conflict on Trenzalore eventually boiled down to the point that only the Daleks remained at war with the Church and the Doctor. The Doctor, having run out of regenerations and convinced of his foreseen death on the planet, intended to let the Daleks kill him, but Clara Oswald believed that the future could be changed and implored the Time Lords to help the Doctor. Ultimately, she became the one to answer the Question, although she stated that the Doctor's real name was simply "the Doctor," and that the meaning behind that answer was a sufficient-enough reason for the Time Lords to give him their support, which they then did by changing the future and granting the Doctor a brand new regenerative cycle, thereby allowing him to defeat the Daleks and survive the battle. (TV: The Time of the Doctor)

For his part in the Time War, the Twelfth Doctor was acknowledged as a "war hero" by General Kenossium. It was for this reason that Gallifreyan soldiers, some of whom had served with the Doctor, chose to side with the Twelfth Doctor against Lord President Rassilon in a coup. (TV: Hell Bent)

As a work of fiction
By Year 10639.5 of the Rassilon Era there were some on Gallifrey who believed the Doctor to be a fictional creation. Elucidator Ziggi was among them and and wrote a book of the subject titled Doctor Who?: In Search of the Old Times Fraud. In a later interview he elaborated on this by saying that the Doctor was a "figment of the mythic imagination" and "a convenient hero figure who [existed to] plug gaps in the understanding of the past". He cited the fact he was "supposed to" have launched the Hand of Omega, killed a great president and foiled the Sontaran invasion of Gallifrey before concluding that the Doctor was never real but a made-up story for children. (COMIC: The Final Chapter)

As a myth or legend
According to some accounts, the Doctor was a reincarnation of the Other, one of the legendary Founding Fathers of Gallifrey. He threw himself into the Prime Distributor of the Looms to be re-Loomed ten million years later to the House of Lungbarrow as the Doctor.

The Other was influential during the Dark Times on Gallifrey after the cult of Pythia had ended. (PROSE: Lungbarrow)

Scholars later called documents concerning Rassilon, Omega and the Other the ROO texts. (PROSE: Goth Opera) A minor Gallifreyan festival known as Otherstide was celebrated yearly in his honour. It coincided with the Doctor's birthday. (PROSE: Lungbarrow, AUDIO: Cold Fusion) Secret societies on Gallifrey were dedicated to the worship of Rassilon, Omega, and the Other. (AUDIO: Intervention Earth)

A comparable but different account showed the Master claiming that the Doctor had originally been the Timeless Child, the adopted child of Gallifrey's founder Tecteun. The Timeless Child was erased fro the official histories by the early Time Lords, who wanted a "noble creation myth", finding the idea that their regeneration had been stolen from another species via experimenting on a child less than edifying. (TV: The Timeless Children) However, the image of the Timeless Child remained buried in all the memories of the Time Lords, (TV: Spyfall) and most of the Timeless Child's history was recorded deep in the Matrix, although parts of their story involving the Division were redacted, with only the allegorical images of Brendan Bildbriain's life remaining. (TV: The Timeless Children)

The Father of Time, whom the First Doctor later nearly recognised as his own future self, was known by him on sight when he materialised inside the TARDIS. (COMIC: The Test of Time)

As a complete unknown
The Doctor did not have an impressive career at school, passing his qualifying exams to become a Time Lord with only 51% — the lowest possible pass mark — on his second attempt. (TV: The Ribos Operation) However, this was a deliberate ploy to not to draw undue attention to himself, so he could eventually leave Gallifrey. (PROSE: Tears of the Oracle)

Other realities
In an alternate timeline created by the Black Guardian as revenge on the Doctor, the First Doctor never left Gallifrey, eventually becoming Lord President and forming an alliance with the Dalek Empire. The Seventh Doctor, Benny, and Ace, with instructions from the White Guardian, were able to retrieve the Key to Time to set the timeline straight. (COMIC: Time & Time Again)

In a parallel universe, the First Doctor pursued a career as an author. He wrote the first science fiction historical romance, An Adventurer in Time and Space with the Possibility Generator. His other works included A Journey to Ice-Askar, The Winter Star and An Exciting Adventure with the Hassites. His stories were popular with generations of Gallifreyan children. (AUDIO: Auld Mortality) The Doctor eventually left Gallifrey and became a renegade. (AUDIO: Auld Mortality, A Storm of Angels)

Skaro and the Daleks
Having been sent on an ultimately unsuccessful mission to prevent the creation of the Daleks, the Fourth Doctor encountered the Kaleds, the Thals and the first Daleks presented by their creator Davros. Most notably, Davros became aware that the Doctor was an enemy of future Daleks, only to be seemingly killed by his own creations soon after, (TV: Genesis of the Daleks) actually being placed in suspended animation. (TV: Destiny of the Daleks)

From his perspective, the First Doctor first visited Skaro with Susan Foreman, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright. Encountering both the Daleks and the Thals, he helped the former species defeat the latter, who intended to destroy them. (TV: The Daleks) Over the following generations up to 2540, a legend recalled a figure known as the Doctor with three companions, arriving in what he called a TARDIS when the Thals were in their greatest peril. (TV: Planet of the Daleks)

The Ninth Doctor recalled that he was known as "the Oncoming Storm" in the ancient legends of Skaro. (TV: The Parting of the Ways)

Recognising the First Doctor's role in delaying the conquest of Earth, the Daleks pursued him and his companions through time in an attempt to kill him. (TV: The Chase)

The Fifth Doctor was recognised by the Daleks as they moved to retrieve Davros following the Dalek-Movellan War. (TV: Resurrection of the Daleks)

The Sixth Doctor was recognised by Daleks created by Davros on Necros. However, contemporary Daleks loyal to the Supreme Dalek failed to recognise him, observing that his image did not compute with the known appearance of the Doctor. (TV: Revelation of the Daleks)

During the Shoreditch Incident, the Seventh Doctor was recognised by both Davros' Imperial Daleks and the Renegade Daleks led by the Supreme Dalek. When confronted by the Doctor, Davros observed that he had "changed again". (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks)

The "Metaltron", a survivor of the Last Great Time War, recognised the Ninth Doctor as an enemy when he identified himself. (TV: Dalek) Similarily, the Cult of Skaro identified the image of the Tenth Doctor as an enemy. (TV: Army of Ghosts)

The Daleks were among the Inforarium's most dangerous clientele who purchased information regarding the Doctor. (HOMEVID: The Inforarium)

The Eleventh Doctor found that, having accessed the Dalek pathweb, Oswin Oswald hadremoved the memory of the Doctor from the Dalek race. (TV: Asylum of the Daleks) Ultimately, however, the Daleks regained their knowledge of the Doctor, having harvested information on him from the cadaver of Tasha Lem. (TV: The Time of the Doctor)

During the conflict with the Combined Galactic Resistance, the Dalek that would be named Rusty recognised the Twelfth Doctor on sight. (TV: Into the Dalek)

A reconnaissance scout Dalek, suggested by the Thirteenth Doctor to be the first out of Skaro, knew the Doctor as an enemy but failed to recognise her before she identified herself. (TV: Resolution)

Cybermen
In the late 20th century, the Faction's Cyber-Planner recognised the Second Doctor and Jamie McCrimmon from Planet 14. (TV: The Invasion)

In 2526, CyberNeomorphs descended from the Mondasians had video records the Doctor, recalling the encounter with the First Doctor in 1986, the Second Doctor on Telos, and the Fourth Doctor's thwarting of their attempt to destroy Voga. The Cyber-Leader identified the Fifth Doctor as a new incarnation. (TV: Earthshock)

The Sixth Doctor was recognised by the CyberNeomorphs on his return to Telos. (TV: Attack of the Cybermen)

The Seventh Doctor was recognised on sight by CyberIsomorphs. (TV: Silver Nemesis)

The Cybermen were among the Inforarium's most dangerous clientele who purchased information regarding the Doctor. (HOMEVID: The Inforarium)

Gharusa Prime


A holo-show broadcast in the form of minisodes called Doctor Who? existed in the 38th century and was especially popular on Gharusa Prime. Its main characters were the Doctor played by Slist Fayflut Marteveerthon Slitheen in a skin suit of the Ninth Doctor and his companion Penny, actually another disguised Slitheen. Fans of the series were called Doctorians and a group called the Doctor Who Appreciation Society existed, to which Yani Mamora belonged.

The Doctor was a Time Lord from Gallifrey who left his homeworld to defend from alien threats. He seemed to favour Gharusa Prime over other planets and had been voted Cosmopolitan's sexiest planetary saviour nine years running by 3764. He had also released an autobiography titled Doctor's Orders.

When a Raxas Alliance peace conference was held on Clix and the Doctor attended with his real counterpart's companion, a kidnapped Rose Tyler, his true identity was unmasked. The real Ninth Doctor used a data-virus to remove all trace of the fake Doctor and the show from the Galactic Net, making it cease to exist. (COMIC: Doctormania)

As President of the Universe


In a parallel universe, after a Great War, the Doctor was left as Ruler of the Universe as everybody before him in the line of succession had been killed. This was much to the anger and displeasure to many races and people, many of whom didn't trust him, and whenever he met any of these individuals they would mock or deride him for his actions during the Great War. (AUDIO: The Library in the Body)

After the Doctor began taking up his presidential duties more seriously, the Doctor had Ebbis as a spokesperson, who defended his actions to the press including a radio host who thought of the Doctor as a bad politician. (AUDIO: Asking for a Friend)

Towards the end of his tenure, the Doctor became increasingly frustrated as his enemies surrendered as soon as he asked them to instead of giving him a good fight. (AUDIO: Truant) He was eventually impeached in a rigged vote of the Parliament of the Universe which was headed by the Mother Superior and replaced by the Master. He left and travelled with Bernice Summerfield to her universe soon afterwards. (AUDIO: The True Saviour of the Universe)

Others
According to River Song, "doctor" was the word for "healer" and "wise man" across the universe because of the Doctor's prominent presence as a force for good in it. After the Battle of Demons Run, she asked him what might the meaning of the word become if he carried on the same way, acknowledging that to the people of the Gamma Forests it already meant "mighty warrior". (TV: A Good Man Goes to War)

Wanting to be left alone, (HOMEVID: The Inforarium) the Eleventh Doctor erased himself from every database in the universe, making sure that no one had ever heard of him. (TV: Dinosaurs on a Spaceship, The Angels Take Manhattan, Nightmare in Silver) Though he could not remove the information about him from the Inforarium's data banks, he managed to reverse engineer the memory-proofing ability of the Silence so that no one could retain any knowledge that they gained about him from there. (HOMEVID: The Inforarium)

The Abzorbaloff, a native of the planet Clom, studied the Doctor. With a particular interest in the Tenth Doctor, he came to Earth to search for him, wishing to absorb his immense experience and knowledge and take the TARDIS. (TV: Love & Monsters) The Family of Blood hunted the Doctor as they sought a Time Lord to increase their limited lifespans. (TV: Human Nature/The Family of Blood)

In 2009, General Staal of the Tenth Sontaran Battle Fleet recognised "doctor" as the name of a "facechanger" and enemy of the Sontarans who led the battle in the Last Great Time War, an object of shame for the Sontarans as they were forbidden from taking part in it. He took pride in capturing the TARDIS, the Doctor's "infamous vessel". (TV: The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky)

The Inforarium sold information about the Doctor to the Sontarans, among their more dangerous clientele. (HOMEVID: The Inforarium)

After River Song's death, the Doctor and Donna Noble decided to leave her diary in the biography section of the Library where it remained for a time (TV: Forest of the Dead) before it was retrieved by Nardole after the Twelfth Doctor's night on Darillium. (TV: Extremis) River used it to record their adventures together with the book itself acting as an indicator to where the Doctor was in their personal timeline. (TV: Silence in the Library et al.) Among other things such as detailed information on alien species, the diary contained pictures of all the Doctor's incarnations, (TV: The Time of Angels) including the War Doctor. (TV: The Husbands of River Song)

Doctor Who?
The comic strip series Doctor Who? often broke the fourth wall to various extents, or otherwise referred to the Doctor's in-universe fame. Several strips were played off as the Doctor speaking directly to the reader and answering a question from the fandom. Furthermore, one strip showcased the existence of an Annual Gallifreyan Doctor Who Con, attended by several of the Doctor's actual incarnations (including Dr. Who!).

A Fix with Sontarans
The in-universe half of the now-infamous sketch A Fix with Sontarans featured a brief reference to Doctor Who existing in-universe, as Gareth Jenkins explains his knowledge of the TARDIS's controls as thanks to his having carefully watched the Doctor doing it on telly. Interestingly, one of the most important switches in the plot of the skit, the one which releases a Sontaran-killing gas, was not present in any actual Doctor Who story in the real world.

whoisdoctorwho.co.uk
The website whoisdoctorwho.co.uk had a list of sightings of the Doctor which people had ostensibly been submitting to Clive Finch, a conspiracy theorist character from TV: Rose, who had pictures of Ninth Doctor on the website, asking if anyone had seen him. These sightings were mostly of the Ninth Doctor, both alone and accompanied by a blonde girl. Notably, the two are seen in the background of a photograph taken of Charles Dickens in Cardiff in 1869, referring to the events of TV: The Unquiet Dead. However, as the content was partially user-generated, this website-original prose is not considered valid on this Wiki.

The Doctor Who Fun Book
Several parodical stories in 1987's The Doctor Who Fun Book presented contradictory looks at the production and fandom of Doctor Who, at different "levels" of metafiction.

The first of these was NOTVALID: Introduction, where a bemused Peter Davison had to deal with a fan asking him for "Tom Baker's autograph".

By far the most significant dive into the Doctor's role in human culture and mythology was NOTVALID: Who Was 'Ere!, which dealt with Dicky Howett and Tim Quinn's investigation into appearances made by the Doctor on Earth earlier than in November 1963 (a reference to An Unearthly Child). Together, Howett and Quinn first unearth the tomb of pharaoh Andicapp, where a papyrus from "circa 1000 BC" is found. It depicts a stylised version of the Fifth Doctor fighting a Cyberman. A cave painting of the First Doctor, Ben and Polly fleeing from a wooly rhinoceros, and dated as "at least 300 00⅓ years old" is found in the caves of Norwich. A police box is visible on the Bayeux Tapestry — but "they didn't have police boxes in 1066, did they?" A North American Totem depicting a Dalek and the Doctor's TARDIS (among other creatures) is also taken as evidence that the Doctor beat Christopher Columbus to the New World by Quinn and Howett.

NOTVALID: A Life in the Day of a Doctor Who Production, meanwhile, was a parody of a behind-the-scenes making-of documentary which claimed to be a sneak peek into the future, as the making-of documentary of the 2003 Doctor Who Fortieth Anniversay Special. NOTVALID: Untitled 2, meanwhile, featured a version of Louise Jameson getting into character as Leela to the extent that she murdered several people in real life using her prop knife while on her way to work.

NOTVALID: Doctor Who 3 - The Third Motion Picture was a metafictional continuation of the adventures of Dr. Who and Susan from Dr. Who and the Daleks framed as the rediscovered lost script for a third "Dalek movie", which Peter Cushing had previous attempted to suppress and indeed destroy. The typed script became increasingly ludicrous and fourth-wall-breaking, culminating in Susan realising that she was a fictional character and the Scriptwriter's play thing, and reaching out into the real world to slay the Scriptwriter, hence ending the franchise and liberating her and her companions from his authorial power.

In the comic NOTVALID: The Final Script, Melanie Bush is somehow reading a copy of The Doctor Who Fun Book itself. In that story, a reference is also made to the Peter Cushing movies, as the Doctor comically cites Roberta Tovey as one of his defeated enemies.

NOTVALID: Outta Space, the metafictional epilogue to the book, featured Mr Howett and Mr Quinn as characters having just finished writing and illustrating every single page of The Doctor Who Fun Book — meaning they must now reluctantly return to their usual job; working the huge bellows which produces the TARDIS's "Vworp! Vworp!" sound every time it dematerialises!

The parodical short story NOTVALID: TARDIS Stolen! dealt with the Gallifrey Gazette's coverage of the flight of the First Doctor from Gallifrey, and also suggested that during his Academy days, the Doctor did some stage acting work, including in a school production of The Army Game.

Dez Skinn's nightmares
In NOTVALID: The Origin of Doctor Who Magazine, a special The Daft Dimension-branded comic story printed in 2019's DWM 544 in honor of Doctor Who Magazine's 40th anniversary, a fictionalised look at Dez Skinn's creation of the magazine was provided. In the story, Televisual Comic had previously been printing the Doctor Who comics; upon that book's loss of their licence, Skinn, the protagonist, intends to take the idea of a Doctor Who comic book to his bosses at Marvel UK.

Before it gives a relatively realistic account of the creation of the well-known Doctor Who Weekly as it really existed, the story briefly segues into a nightmare sequence where the protagonist attempts to pitch the idea to Stan Lee and to Wayfleet Publications, resulting in the creation of two horrendously inaccurate retools of Doctor Who, Lee's superheroic Timelord (where the titular character is a sonic sceptre-wielding human whose secret identity is a lowercase-D doctor) and Lionel Bluster-Outrage's pre-school-oriented Sergeant Who's Jelly Baby Adventures (starring "Sergeant Who").

Real world cultural impact
As the titular star of Doctor Who, the character of the Doctor has been parodied or referenced since the programme's inception in the 1960s.

Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor is among the most recognisable and most referenced incarnation of the character, especially in the United States. For example, the Doctor resembled their fourth imcarnation for all of their several appearances on The Simpsons. Baker's Doctor has also appeared twice in and the opening titles from his era was used in  when a ship entered hyperspace. The Fourth Doctor's scarf was a staple of the character and has often been used to reference Doctor Who such as when Sheldon cosplayed the character in.