Ginger (trait)

Ginger, sometimes shortened to ginge, was the state of having red hair — or simply someone with red hair. Both the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors expressed disappointment immediately after regeneration that they were not ginger. (TV: The Christmas Invasion, The End of Time) The Doctor briefly received this wish when an accident caused his consciousness to be switched with Amy Pond. (COMIC: Body Snatched) The Dream Lord commented that the Doctor "love[d] a red head". (TV: Amy's Choice)

Atlanteans had red hair. (PROSE: The Lost Ones)

Morag had red hair. (PROSE: The Sons of Grekk)

King Richard II of England had red-golden hair. (AUDIO: The Doctor's Tale)

Cinder, a companion of the War Doctor, was known by that name because of her red hair. (PROSE: Engines of War)

Amy Pond once considered the possibility that she might have had children with the equally red-headed Vincent van Gogh. "If we had got married," she told the Eleventh Doctor, "our kids would have had very, very red hair," to which he replied, "the ultimate ginger". Wistfully, she confirmed, "the ultimate ginge." (TV: Vincent and the Doctor)

The Doctor called the Teselecta, which at the time was in the form of Amy Pond, a "big ginge" when it failed to answer the identity of the First Question, which the Doctor was anxious to find out. (TV: Let's Kill Hitler)

Behind the scenes

 * Though it has never been used pejoratively by the writing staff of televised Doctor Who, ginger was misunderstood by some of the original viewers of The End of Time. Not understanding that the Eleventh Doctor was actually lamenting not being a redhead, some viewers balked at what they took to be an insult. The BBC were forced to release a statement assuring the public that there was no "anti-ginger" campaign being waged by the Doctor Who production office, pointing out that two consecutive companions had in fact been ginger. Viewers in 2010 needn't have worried; the series employed a redhead in a starring role almost continuously from March 2008 to September 2012.
 * Karen Gillan has had to explain the term "ginger" in several American TV interviews, such as on Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.