Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during World War II.

Biography
Winston first met the Doctor when he was a boy. On his fifth birthday, 30 November 1879, he encountered the Doctor in his fourth incarnation, who was posing as a Punch and Judy man at Winston's birthday party held at Blenheim Palace, as he was hunting Cybermats. (REF: The Brilliant Book 2011)

Winston then encountered the Doctor in his second incarnation at St. George's Prepatory School in Ascot in March 1882, who gave him lessons in Latin, though Winston was curious at the time as to why the Doctor taught him how to address a table in Latin. (REF: The Brilliant Book 2011)

Winston next met the Doctor in his tenth incarnation on 26 October 1895, as the Doctor was looking for Sontaran grenades. (Oddly, Winston claims to be twenty-one years old on this day. 26 October was actually the day in 1951 that he came to office as Prime Minister.) (REF: The Brilliant Book 2011)

Winston then went on to encounter the Third Doctor at Omdurman in the Sudan on 3 September 1878, who was battling mummies at the time. (REF: The Brilliant Book 2011)

One 11 January 1911, the TARDIS appeared again. However it was the First Doctor who stepped out of the doors, telling Churchill it was an honour to meet him. When Churchill informed him they had met before, the Doctor chuckled "That's the trouble with time travel". (REF: The Brilliant Book 2011)

At Chartwell in May 1931, Winston and his wife joined the Fifth Doctor for a game of cricket. (REF: The Brilliant Book 2011)

Winston was at Chartwell again on 16 November 1936, when he met the Doctor in his seventh incarnation, who informed Winston that that the King's lover, Mrs Wallis Simpson, was an alien. (REF: The Brilliant Book 2011)

The Doctor's eighth incarnation had Churchill's autograph which he obtained during the 100 years he spent on Earth. (EDA: The Tomorrow Windows)

At some point in 1940, two Daleks were presented to him by Edwin Bracewell as a man-made superweapon, which Churchill named 'ironsides'. Unsure what to make of them, he called the Eleventh Doctor's TARDIS's phone as a Dalek moved towards him. (DW: The Beast Below, Victory of the Daleks) By the time of the Doctor's arrival a month later he was sure he could use the 'ironsides' to win the war. The Doctor tried to make Churchill understand the Daleks' true nature, but he would not initially listen, as they would be a valuable asset against Nazi Germany. The Daleks showed their true intentions once the Doctor gave his 'testimony' and they created a new race of pure Daleks. These Daleks tried to destroy London by making it vulnerable to German bombers. The solution to defeating the Daleks lay with Bracewell, so he helped Amy Pond stop him from committing suicide and help them. In the following discussion, he told Bracewell "it's time to think big", giving him the idea to use modified Spitfires. Following the Daleks' escape, the Doctor removed all Bracewell's alien technology Churchill possessed. While he protested that it and the Doctor would win him the war in a day, the Doctor convinced him that he will come through without it and himself. He hugged the Doctor farewell and finally managed to take the TARDIS key he so desired, before Amy noticed and made him give it back. (DW: Victory of the Daleks)

Later, the showman Vorgenson captured Churchill with the Minimiser from 6th June 1944, whilst Churchill was organising the Normandy landings, bringing him to 2010. Vorgenson used him in a complicated plan to attract the Doctor to his show. Churchill was given a phone by the audience, and he called the Doctor. The Doctor arrived, but foiled Vorgenson's plan to trap him, sending Churchill back to his own time in the process. (SP: The Monsters Are Coming!)

Some time after those events, Bracewell found one of the final paintings by Vincent van Gogh in an attic in France. He showed Churchill the painting and, without understanding what it should mean, they recognised it as a message for the Doctor. Churchill tried to telephone the Doctor to alert him, but was diverted to River Song in the 52nd century, alerting her of its existence. (DW: The Pandorica Opens) Since the Doctor altered the timeline so that ultimately the painting did not come to exist, these events were stopped from ever occurring. (DW: The Big Bang)

At Buckingham Palace on 8 May 1945, Winston encountered the Doctor in his ninth incarnation. The Doctor took Winston on a trip in the TARDIS to Ancient Rome, where they encountered a creature disguised as one of Emperor Tiberius's reclining benches. Winston now realised why, back in 1882, he had been taught how to address a table in Latin. (REF: The Brilliant Book 2011)

The makers of EarthWorld believed that Churchill had famous seaside boxing matches. This was result of his speech "We will fight them on the beaches" and its distortion over time. (EDA: EarthWorld)

Other Timelines
In an alternate timeline in which Germany won World War II, Churchill was executed as a war criminal. (NA: Timewyrm: Exodus)

In a timeline in which the Doctor did not find the Ironsides, they successfully turned the tide of the war and took the fight to Germany. After the war was won, Churchil was pressured by Stalin and Truman into having the Ironsides destroyed by a nuclear bomb. (DWA: Doctor Who The Official Annual 2011)

Personality
Winston Churchill was a close friend of the Doctor having met him in several of his incarnations. However when the eleventh Doctor arrived he greeted him by having his men point guns at him, though he clearly had no intention of actually shooting him and the two of them acted as though this greeting was a sort of game. They also displayed their close friendship by hugging each other before the Doctor left.

Winston had an obsession with being able to pilot the Doctor's TARDIS, even stealing the TARDIS key at one point though he gave it back as soon as Amy noticed he'd taken it. He cared a great deal about his country and the lives of his citizens and was eager to use the TARDIS to save the lives of his people. However because he had no knowledge of the laws of time, the Doctor repeatedly refused to give him access to the TARDIS. Churchill was also a good and strong leader and the Doctor told him that many people saw him as a beacon of hope.

Behind the scenes

 * Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss decided to portray the Doctor and Churchill as old friends in Victory of the Daleks, rather than attempt to portray their first meeting.
 * Actor Ian McNeice had previously played Churchill in the Royal National Theatre's 2008 production of Never So Good.