Guinness World Records

The Guinness World Records, established in 1955, is an organisation which holds the responsibility for adjudicating and cataloguing record breaking achievements. Guinness publishes a book each year with a selection of records, which itself holds the record for "the best-selling copyrighted title of all time".

Throughout its history, the Doctor Who universe has been recognised several times by Guinness World Records.

Current records
Doctor Who not only holds the record for the "longest running science fiction TV series", but also "most successful sci-fi TV show". The latter of which is based on a number of factors including DVD sales, internet views and beats its closest rival Star Trek which is classified as separate series. 

Previous records
In November 2013, The 50th anniversary special of Doctor Who, The Day of the Doctor, was simultaneously broadcast in 94 countries, as well as over 1,500 cinemas worldwide. As such Doctor Who was recognised as setting the record for the largest international simulcast for a television drama.

This record was broken by CSI: Crime Scene Investigation in March 2015, and is currently held by Game of Thrones. 

1990s

 * In 1996, the press kit issued by the Fox Network to promote the 1996 tele-movie Doctor Who contained the statement that the series as a whole had been recognised by Guinness as the world's longest running science fiction series. Guinness had not, at the time, made any official recognition.

2000s

 * The 2001 Guinness World Records included BBC Worldwide's range of original Doctor Who novels was "the largest fictional series [of novels] built around one principal character".
 * With over 100 novels, across two ranges between 1996 and 2005, BBC Worldwide was set up by Nuala Buffini and nurtured by Stephen Cole (who also oversaw BBC Video and audio production). The series later came under the control of Benn Dunn and creative consultant Justin Richards.


 * The 2007 Guinness World Records listed Doctor Who as the "longest running science fiction series in the world". It beat the American hit Stargate which in its 10th year held the world record for "longest-running science fiction show (consecutive)".
 * On 26 August 2007, the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester made an attempt at the record for largest gathering of Daleks. To set a record, Guinness required there to be at least fifty individuals in costumes which closely resemble Daleks. On 1 November, the new record was declared at seventy Daleks.
 * On Sunday 26 July 2009 Guinness World Records recognised Doctor Who as "the most successful sci-fi series [in the world]". Guinness granted the award on the basis of broadcast ratings, DVD sales, book sales merchandise sales and iTunes traffic. Showrunner Russell T Davies accepted the honour on behalf of Doctor Who creator Verity Lambert in San Diego at Comic-Con, a comic book and art fair event.
 * "It is too good a show to have just one record," said Guinness editor in chief Craig Glenday. "It's hard to quantify illegal downloads, but we included those as well," Glenday said.

2010s

 * The 2010 Guinness World Records listed Doctor Who as the "most successful Science Fiction television series in the world".
 * In Guinness World Records 2010 Torchwood: Children of Earth is recognised as the highest rated sci-fi mini-series of 2009, based on the review score of 80/100 on the website metacritic.com, which aggregates review scores from across the web. The parent show of Torchwood, Doctor Who, is recognised with its own two-page spread.
 * In 2013, The Day of the Doctor was listed a the largest TV drama simulcast.

2020s

 * In 2022, William Russell's cameo appearance as Ian Chesterton in The Power of the Doctor was recognised as the longest gap between appearances of a television character still played by the same actor, with his previous appearance being in 1965's The Chase.