Ninth Doctor's sonic screwdriver

After the destruction of his last model, the Ninth Doctor built himself a new sonic screwdriver. This one had a creamy light grey handle with a "cracked-porcelain" texture matching elements on his TARDIS console and rings around the roundels on the control room walls, silver metal at both the bottom of the handle and the top, and was capped off with a black pommel. Its emitter was blue and sat atop a silver metal section attached to a transparent tube containing black and red wires twisted around each other in the centre that was hidden inside the handle until extended by the slider on the side. The Doctor used this model far more frequently than his previous incarnations had done before. (TV: Rose, et al.) The Tenth Doctor also used this model, as he liked tinkering with technology to make devices he needed.

This version was burnt out by accident after the Tenth Doctor used it to modify an X-ray output to over 5000%, however, and he replaced it with a similar one with a flatter slider, two yellow wires in the tube instead of the black and red ones, and a greyer handle, (TV: Smith and Jones) though it reverted to its cream handle during his time with Queen Elizabeth (TV: The Day of the Doctor) and appeared to have a blue handle following his regeneration. (TV: The Eleventh Hour) The model underwent several changes in colouration, some inadvertent. (COMIC: Laundro-Room of Doom) This version of the sonic screwdriver was also the first to be shown to have a direct connection to the Doctor's TARDIS (TV: Aliens of London) and could be used to override its functions. (TV: Utopia) The Tenth Doctor had this screwdriver on his person during his regeneration, but it was damaged repeatedly afterwards, leading to many malfunctions. Despite the damage, the Eleventh Doctor used it to overload technology in an attempt to alert the Atraxi to Prisoner Zero's location. This fried it into useless, charred metal, much to his growing annoyance and anger. (TV: The Eleventh Hour) It was later recovered by Charlie Sato, and taken to the Vault. (AUDIO: The Turn of the Screw)

In one alternate universe, the Tenth Doctor used a sonic toothbrush instead of a sonic screwdriver. When the prime Tenth Doctor's universe was effected by the Continuity Cap, the two devices briefly swapped places, much to the chagrin of the "prime" Doctor, who needed his screwdriver. (COMIC: )

Multiple versions of these screwdrivers were kept in the Twelfth Doctor's office at St Luke's University. (TV: The Pilot)

Security

 * Opening a door. (TV: Aliens of London)
 * Freeing the Ninth Doctor from his manacles. (TV: The Long Game)
 * Unlocking handcuffs. (TV: The Doctor Dances, Planet of the Dead, The Eleventh Hour)
 * Locking and unlocking a hatch in Cybus Industries (TV: The Age of Steel)
 * Unlocking a taxi door and window. (TV: The Runaway Bride)
 * Hacking into the H.C. Clements website. (TV: The Runaway Bride)
 * Bypassing the key needed to access the secret basement in H.C. Clements. (TV: The Runaway Bride)
 * Opening air-tight seals. (TV: Gridlock)
 * Unsuccessfully activating emergency by-pass switches. (TV: Gridlock)
 * Bypassing and turning off security systems. (TV: The Lazarus Experiment)
 * Disabling security orbs. (COMIC: Wrath of the Warrior)
 * Trying unsuccessfully to hack into New New York's police communications to call for help. (TV: Gridlock)
 * Destroying a security camera. (TV: Bad Wolf, The Sound of Drums)
 * Opening and closing the Titanic's doors. (TV: Voyage of the Damned)
 * Disabling emergency exit alarms and locks, but causing sparks as a result. (TV: Partners in Crime)
 * Controlling a cable cart; also locking it in a "sonic cage" to prevent anything but another sonic device from controlling it. (TV: Partners in Crime)
 * Breaking into a silo on the Ood-Sphere. (TV: Planet of the Ood)
 * Fusing a lock shut, forcing it to be broken down. (TV: Planet of the Ood)
 * Temporarily turning off lethal security beams. (TV: The Doctor's Daughter)
 * Opening the casing of a cleaning robot. (COMIC: Carnage Zoo)
 * Opening bus doors. (TV: Planet of the Dead)
 * Accessing Bowie Base One's records on the Flood infection. (TV: The Waters of Mars)
 * Unlocking the door to Adelaide Brooke's house. (TV: The Waters of Mars)
 * Switching the Hesperus' power off. (TV: The End of Time)
 * Locking Prisoner Zero in the room it was hiding in. (TV: The Eleventh Hour)

Medical

 * Acting as a medical scanner and diagnostic tool. (TV: The Empty Child)
 * Dislodging and reinserting teeth. (COMIC: The Lodger)
 * Partially reversing the Abzorbaloff's absorption of Ursula Blake. (TV: Love & Monsters)
 * Confusing the antibodies of a living planet. (COMIC: Lonely Planet)
 * Building a DNA scanning device. (TV: Daleks in Manhattan)
 * Scanning for fluctuating DNA, specifically that of Professor Lazarus. (TV: The Lazarus Experiment)

Diagnostic

 * Detecting and stopping telepathic signals. (TV: Rose)
 * Scanning a life form for information, specifically Donna Noble. (TV: The Runaway Bride)
 * Scanning the Eleventh Doctor to confirm his identity as a future incarnation (COMIC: Four Doctors)
 * Detecting heated water. (COMIC: The Halls of Sacrifice)
 * Scanning shadows for the presence of Vashta Nerada. (TV: Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead)
 * Checking Crusader 50's control console for faults. (TV: Midnight)
 * Scanning for Infostamps. (TV: The Next Doctor)
 * Scanning the Eleventh Doctor to identify if he was an imposter. (COMIC: Four Doctors)
 * Tracing distress signals. (COMIC: The Ghost Factory)
 * Scanning slime. (COMIC: Doomsilk)
 * Scanning the President of Earth for alien influence. (COMIC: Return of the Klytode)
 * Detecting and illuminating ultraviolet characters. (PROSE: The Game of Death)
 * Detecting the arrival of spacecraft. (PROSE: The Pictures of Emptiness)
 * Picking up traces of psychic spoor. (COMIC: Mortal Beloved)
 * Detecting time traces. (TV: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith)
 * Detecting the progress of the War Doctor's calculation in his iteration of the sonic screwdriver. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)
 * Scanning a crack in Amelia Pond's wall. (TV: The Eleventh Hour)

Technology

 * Destroying the controls of a lift. (TV: Rose)
 * Establishing an interface with a computer. (TV: The End of the World)
 * Controlling a lift. (TV: World War Three)
 * Causing rain via atmospheric excitation. (COMIC: Death to the Doctor!)
 * Obtaining money from a cash machine. (TV: The Long Game)
 * Opening a panel to Satellite Five's mainframe. (TV: The Long Game)
 * Obtaining access to Satellite Five's core computer. (TV: The Long Game)
 * Charging from a battery. (TV: Father's Day)
 * Reversing teleport devices. (TV: Boom Town)
 * Destroying a television camera. (TV: Bad Wolf)
 * Dematerialising the TARDIS and initialising TARDIS processes from outside the craft. (TV: The Parting of the Ways)
 * Blowing up a remote control Christmas tree. (TV: The Christmas Invasion)
 * Re-establishing the time window's connection to a space ship in the future. (TV: The Girl in the Fireplace)
 * De-activating a living graphite scribble. (TV: Fear Her)
 * Reversing an anti-gravity umbrella. (COMIC: Smart Bombs)
 * Detonating an explosive device. (TV: Doomsday)
 * Disassembling pistols and causing them to fall to pieces in their wielders' hands. (PROSE: Peacemaker)
 * Calling immediately a number in a phone box without the need of pressing number buttons. (TV: The Runaway Bride)
 * Getting money from a cash machine, at both regular and extra-high rates of ejection. (TV: The Runaway Bride)
 * Detonating the head of a roboform. (TV: The Runaway Bride)
 * Searching a phone for an app or a feature. (TV: The Runaway Bride)
 * Scanning through hospital records, specifically to find any patient suffering from strange symptoms (an alien in disguise). (TV: Smith and Jones)
 * Partially activating ventilation air ducts. (TV: Gridlock)
 * Sending out a signal to tell the Daleks where he was. (TV: Evolution of the Daleks)
 * Reversing the polarity of Lazarus' machine, sending an energy pulse out to knock Lazarus unconscious and revert him to human form. (TV: The Lazarus Experiment)
 * Disabling robotic flies. (COMIC: Exhausting Evil)
 * Modifying hearing aids. (COMIC: The Screaming Prison)
 * Reversing teleport feeds. (COMIC: Warriors' Revenge)
 * Giving mobile phones the ability to call across time and space. (TV: 42, Planet of the Dead, The Doctor's Daughter)
 * Completing the propulsion system for the ship destined for Utopia (TV: Utopia)
 * Fusing the TARDIS' navigational coordinates, allowing only travel between its current position and the previous one. The fusion was imperfect; at least 18 months before or after take-off were allowed as destinations. (TV: The Sound of Drums)
 * Fixing and upgrading Jack Harkness' vortex manipulator. (TV: The Sound of Drums)
 * Rewiring a television/portrait to show ship's systems. (TV: Voyage of the Damned)
 * Looping temporal energy of a fraxis pod back into a zygma drive. (COMIC: Blooms of Doom!)
 * Shattering robot assassins. (COMIC: A Suitable Showdown)
 * Disabling a Sontaran teleport. (TV: The Sontaran Stratagem)
 * Unsuccessfully trying to bypass the Sontarans' control of the ATMOS, forcing the Doctor to use reverse-psychology with the machine to avoid drowning. (TV: The Sontaran Stratagem)
 * Changing the destination of a Sontaran teleport. (TV: The Poison Sky)
 * Opening a broadcast channel on a Sontaran ship in order to communicate (TV: The Poison Sky)
 * Changing the "channel" on a broadcast when the Sontarans began chanting. (TV: The Poison Sky)
 * Building a terraforming device to ignite the poisonous clouds. (TV: The Poison Sky)
 * Accessing hidden areas on a holographic map. (TV: The Doctor's Daughter)
 * Unintentionally showing a hologram of Donna Noble. (TV: Forest of the Dead)
 * Tinting a helmet visor and increasing the mesh density of a spacesuit. (TV: Forest of the Dead)
 * Disabling the Crusader 50's entertainment system. (TV: Midnight)
 * Modifying a gravity converter. (COMIC: Skydive!)
 * Disabling a Cyrronak robot. (COMIC: Highway Robbery)
 * Cancelling out a phonic blast. (COMIC: We Will Rock You)
 * Repairing an overloading distribution box. (PROSE: The Graves of Mordane)
 * Downloading a journal. (PROSE: The Colour of Darkness)
 * Remotely controlling environmental controls. (PROSE: The Game of Death)
 * Overriding Gadget's controller and increasing the robot's speed to the point where it left trails of flames behind. (TV: The Waters of Mars)
 * Activating the memory-erasing device in the Black Archive. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)
 * Disabling a shimmer. (TV: The End of Time)
 * Helping repair the Hesperus. (TV: The End of Time)
 * Remotely controlling the TARDIS to change its course, saving the Doctor and his vessel the fate of colliding into Big Ben. (TV: The Eleventh Hour)
 * Opening a "crack in space-time". (TV: The Eleventh Hour)
 * Switching a radio between several international channels to determine that the Atraxi were broadcasting their warning for Prisoner Zero to surrender or be destroyed along with the "human residence" to the entire Earth. (TV: The Eleventh Hour)
 * Trying to set off multiple technological resources on Earth to draw the attention of the Atraxi; however, due to the damage it had sustained from Prisoner Zero and continued abuse, this action overtaxed the screwdriver and caused its components to fail, which ultimately led to it burning up and exploding with a large burst of sparks. (TV: The Eleventh Hour)

Amplification

 * Setting up a resonation pattern in concrete. (TV: The Doctor Dances)
 * Increasing the radiation output of a device such as an x-ray scanner; this action burned out the screwdriver. (TV: Smith and Jones)
 * Producing hypersonic sound waves which led to the death of the mutated Richard Lazarus, in conjunction with a pipe organ. (TV: The Lazarus Experiment)
 * Destroying the Robot Santas with sound (used in conjunction with a professional sound system). (TV: The Runaway Bride)
 * Used with Miss Foster's sonic pen to create an ultra-high frequency. (TV: Partners in Crime)

Utility

 * Corroding thin metal (e.g. barbed wire) so that it crumbled into rust. (TV: The Doctor Dances)
 * Re-connecting barbed wire. (TV: The Doctor Dances)
 * Fixing a hairstyle in place. (PROSE: Rose and the Snow Window)
 * Igniting swamp gas. (COMIC: The Hunt of Doom)
 * Stopping the emergence of Mirrorlings from mirrors. (COMIC: Mirror Image)
 * Lighting a candle. (TV: The Girl in the Fireplace)
 * Cutting rope. (TV: The Age of Steel)
 * Illuminating Rose Tyler. (COMIC: Warfreekz!)
 * Partially cracking glass so it could be smashed with the tiniest press of a finger. (TV: Army of Ghosts)
 * Creating a force field of sound that can deflect bullets harmlessly away from the Doctor. (PROSE: Peacemaker)
 * Creating a force field strong enough to deflect a shot from Tharlot's sonic cannon. (COMIC: Agent Provocateur)
 * Cutting a spider web. (TV: The Runaway Bride)
 * Overloading Cybermen. (COMIC: The Power of the Cybermen)
 * Crashing an aircar. (COMIC: Time of the Cybermen)
 * Trying to strip off pieces of Dalekanium. (TV: Evolution of the Daleks)
 * Lighting a Bunsen burner from a distance. (TV: Evolution of the Daleks)
 * Melting hardened asphalt into heated tarmac, and reversing the process, so as to catch animals in a road. (PROSE: The Last Dodo)
 * Sinking a ship. (COMIC: Second Wave)
 * Resonating a floor to destroy it, via crystal gems. (COMIC: Operation Lock-up)
 * Melting chocolate by increasing the resonance frequency of a torch. (COMIC: Crimes and Punishment)
 * As a soldering iron to make perception filters using TARDIS keys. (TV: The Sound of Drums)
 * Uncorking a champagne bottle. (TV: Voyage of the Damned)
 * Knocking over stone tablets. (TV: The Fires of Pompeii)
 * Cutting rope holding Donna to a sacrificial altar. (TV: The Fires of Pompeii)
 * Putting horseshoes onto horses. (AUDIO: Death and the Queen)
 * Creating a stasis beam. (COMIC: School of the Dead)
 * Teleporting a Graske to the other side of the universe. (TV: Music of the Spheres)
 * Teleporting onto a Nim spacecraft. (COMIC: The Day the Earth Was Sold, The King of Earth)
 * As a sonic toothbrush. (COMIC: The Continuity Cap)
 * Shattering ice. (COMIC: Arctic Eclipse)
 * Blowing up a fire hydrant. (COMIC: Creature Feature)
 * Atmospheric excitation to cause rain. (COMIC: Mudshock)
 * Tickling a lion with sonic waves. (PROSE: The Slitheen Excursion)
 * Tinting the Doctor's glasses, effectively making them sunglasses. (TV: Planet of the Dead)
 * Stopping and winding up a winch. (TV: Planet of the Dead)
 * Incapacitating a Gizou. (COMIC: Fugitive)
 * Making toast and butter. (AUDIO: Dead Air)
 * As an actual screwdriver, without touching the screws. (TV: Dreamland, The Doctor's Daughter)
 * Combining power with the Eleventh Doctor and War Doctors' sonic screwdrivers to create a sonic force field to blast back and destroy an attacking Dalek in the Time War. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)

The sonic screwdriver prop

 * For unexplained reasons, the Tenth Doctor's sonic screwdriver had a green casing in The Infinite Quest.
 * There are two main versions of the Tenth Doctor's sonic screwdriver — one which has a slide feature with button, and one which does not slide and has a fixed button. The two prop types varied each episode.

Concept art

 * Early conceptual art of the first modern era sonic screwdriver features 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.
 * Dan Walker redesigned the sonic screwdriver, devising how it looks when used by the Ninth and Tenth Doctors. "We hit upon the idea of spark plugs, which in themselves are very iconic," Walker stated. "Initially, we started off quite techy, with retractable elements that would interface with an unlimited number of devices." Despite his work on redesigning the device, Walker wasn't allowed to take one of the sonic screwdriver props home with him. (ImageFX magazine, October 2008, pp. 63 & 64)

Attack of the Graske

 * In Attack of the Graske, the Tenth Doctor appears to break the fourth wall by noting the player at home's been watching his adventures. Later, he points the sonic screwdriver at the television screen, transferring its powers to the player's digital remote control.

Other matters

 * In the animated title sequence of the first series of Totally Doctor Who, the Tenth Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to fire a blue burst of energy which blows off the hand of a Cyberman.
 * Doctor Who: Legacy mobile game contains a premium pack called "Sonic Adventure", which is centred around finding various sonic devices used by different incarnations of the Doctor and by several other characters. The playable characters form this premium pack represented almost every model of sonic screwdriver encountered in the DWU.