Fifth Doctor

Youthful in mind, manner and appearance, the Fifth Doctor expressed an interest in all things Victorian and Edwardian: cricket, tea, fair play, good manners, and a keen interest in science and exploration.

He was also a sensitive and profusely humane incarnation of the Doctor, who did not make himself an imposition, preferring to be honest, reserved, and honourable. However, the Doctor was also less willing to do what he thought was immoral, and became highly conflicted about what choices he could make in a crisis that were truly right. His hesitancy made him seemingly more fallible than many other incarnations, making those around him wonder if he was capable of resolving difficult situations. Nevertheless, he was one of the most overtly fearless incarnations, and frequently found himself right in the thick of battle.

Like his first two incarnations, the Doctor often travelled with multiple companions. However, his TARDIS was rarely as harmonious as those of his predecessors. Instead, he frequently found himself stuck between Tegan Jovanka's pessimism and Adric's arrogance or Turlough's antagonism. Stuck in the middle with him was usually Nyssa, who regularly had to stand as a voice of reason. Even after he seemingly was settled on just having one companion, he and Peri Brown found another companion, a pharaoh from Egypt called Erimem, and the Doctor once again slid into the role of the oft-maligned chaperone.

During his final adventure, the Doctor accidentally exposed himself and Peri to unrefined spectrox, contracting fatal spectrox toxaemia. Though he acquired an antidote, the Doctor had only enough for one person; he gave it to Peri. Not knowing if the disease could kill Time Lords for good, the Doctor gambled on regeneration saving his life, successfully regenerating into a new body after experiencing a vision of the Master and his former companions.

Alternate timelines
In an alternate timeline, the Doctor was able to save Adric. In another alternative timeline, the Doctor had his brain fried by a computer while substituting for a dead synch-op on the Sea Base in 2084. (PROSE: So Vile a Sin)

When the Cybermen allied with Rassilon to take over history, the TARDIS was caught in a time corridor that led the Doctor and Peri to a Skaro which was occupied by the Cybermen. (COMIC: Prologue: the Fifth Doctor) The Doctor announced to Peri that the Cybermen had wiped that Daleks from history, and the two ran from a unit erupting in energy. This timeline was eventually unwritten by Rassilon and the Twelfth Doctor. (COMIC: Supremacy of the Cybermen)

In an alternate timeline created by the influence of the Valeyard using the Dark Matrix, the Fifth Doctor was able to resist the Valeyard's influence for most of his life, but he eventually succumbed at what would have been his regeneration, taking the bat's milk antidote to the Spectrox toxaemia and letting Peri die in his place. This timeline was eventually undone by the Seventh Doctor. (PROSE: Matrix)

In one timeline, the Doctor died on Androzani Minor due to the Great Intelligence's interference. (TV: The Name of the Doctor) In a different alternative timeline, the Doctor never went to Androzani Minor. (PROSE: So Vile a Sin)

Casting
After the popular fourth incarnation, it was decided that the next incarnation should be played by an actor who was already firmly established in the British public's mind. Peter Davison was chosen, due in no small part to his popular and critically acclaimed role as Tristan Farnon in All Creatures Great and Small, a BBC series based on the books of James Herriot.

Richard Griffiths was considered for the role before Peter Davison was cast.

The age gap
Only 29 when cast, he remained "the youngest Doctor" until the 2009 hiring of 26-year-old Matt Smith. He was some eleven years younger than Tom Baker, the previous record holder, seven years younger than Paul McGann, and five years younger than future son-in-law, David Tennant. He was later recast as the Fifth Doctor in Time Crash in 2007, at which time he was 56, a year older than William Hartnell was during the filming of An Unearthly Child.

Bad hair years
To a degree never seen with any other regular character before or since, the Fifth Doctor was at the heart of a running continuity error. No make-up artist seemed to particularly care about the length of Davison's hair throughout season 19, despite the fact that it was known that serials were being recorded out of broadcast order.

Davison, a busy actor with other commitments, had his hair cut short at the beginning of Doctor Who's production blocks, because other projects like All Creatures Great and Small required it. For reasons unclear, he was then allowed to grow his hair several inches while filming as the Fifth Doctor. However, since the episodes aired out of order, his hair length quite obviously varied.

Were it not for the fact that most serials of season 19 narratively dovetailed into each other, it might be possible to simply believe that the character simply liked to go to the barber shop between stories. Unfortunately for this theory, Four to Doomsday was narratively tied to the beginning of Kinda, so the jarring hair growth can only be regarded as a production error.

Davison cut his hair prior to each season, and the production team allowed him to grow it throughout each of his production blocks. However, Snakedance was the final story of his tenure broadcast out of production order, and Arc of Infinity didn't obviously lead into it. Thus, although Davison was again allowed to grow his hair throughout the production of seasons 20 and 21, it never amounted to the kind of production error it was throughout season 19.

It's frequently remarked by Davison on DVD commentaries that real fans can tell the production order of episodes by the length of the Fifth Doctor's hair.

Brainy specs
In several DVD commentaries, Peter Davison claims he abandoned his half-moon glasses because Janet Fielding teased him when he used them. Fielding seemed to agree with this assessment on the commentary for Earthshock.

Celery
Davison agreed to wear a stick of celery on his lapel on the understanding that JNT would eventually have a writer explain the bizarre fashion statement. Though Davison thought the explanation would come earlier, the mystery was at last revealed in his final story. (DCOM: The Caves of Androzani) Ironically, Davison hated celery. When he was required to eat celery during the recording of Castrovalva, he found it deeply unpleasant. (DCOM: Castrovalva)