The Doctor in popular culture and mythology

By the 21st century and beyond, the Doctor had become a significant figure in Earth's popular culture variably as a real-life celebrity, a character in fiction, a myth or legend or alternatively as a total unknown.

As a real person
Most accounts regarding the Doctor seem to portray them as a real person. By the end of the 2000s, the Doctor had made appearances on television in multiple incarnations with the Second Doctor even able to call himself famous during the first part of his exile on Earth in the 20th century. (COMIC: Action in Exile et al.)

Intentionally or otherwise, sightings of the Doctor were recorded throughout human history, (TV: Rose, Love & Monsters) with the Ninth Doctor acknowledging that he had been "noticed" after visiting the planet "lots of times". (TV: Aliens of London) The Fifth Doctor acknowledged that groups of "fan[s]" such as LINDA were established to follow him. (TV: Time Crash) Generally going only by "the Doctor", they were found in history books, on the internet, (TV: Aliens of London) in political diaries, conspiracy theories and ghost stories. (TV: Rose) They also had a habit of making relationships with numerous historical figures, both amicable and hostile. (TV: Tooth and Claw, Victory of the Daleks, The Day of the Doctor) As Jac observed, the Doctor tended to make "a lot of noise" and "love[d] to make an entrance." (TV: The Magician's Apprentice)

As observed by Bridget Sinclair, a member of LINDA, the "single constant factor" associated with "all these different Doctors" who came and went was a "faux police box" which kept "cropping up throughout history". (TV: Love & Monsters)

In 1562, Queen Elizabeth I of England had a picnic with the Tenth Doctor who, believing her to be a Zygon in disguise, proposed to her to expose the imposter only to find that she was the real Elizabeth. After an encounter with the Eleventh Doctor and the War Doctor, the Doctor and the Queen were married. Following the Doctor's departure, the Queen left instructions that the Doctor be appointed Curator of the Under Gallery of the National Gallery. Among the contents of the National Gallery was a painting depicting the Queen and her husband, the Tenth Doctor. As a result of their relationship, the Doctor indicated that her epihtet, "the Virgin Queen" was no longer applicable. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)

Contemporary accounts recorded that, during the reign of King Charles II, an "unnamed Doctor", actually the Eleventh Doctor, was imprisoned without trial in the Tower of London by the King, only to be retrieved by a "magical sphere" two nights later. (TV: The Impossible Astronaut)

In 1879, Queen Victoria of Great Britain, after being saved from a Lupine Wavelength Haemovariform, knighted the Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler as "Sir Doctor of TARDIS" and "Dame Rose of the Powell Estate". She then exiled them both from the British Empire, and founded the Torchwood Institute to defend the Empire from aliens including the Doctor, who was named in the Torchwood Foundation Charter as an "enemy of the Crown". (TV: Tooth and Claw) In 1899, the Torchwood branch in Cardiff observed numerous references to "the Doctor" made by Jack Harkness in conversations with strangers in various drinking dens. (TV: Fragments)

In 1883, a sketch recorded that the Ninth Doctor was present on the coast of Sumatra the day that Krakatoa exploded. (TV: Rose)

In April 1912, a record and photograph put the Ninth Doctor as a friend of the Daniels family, who cancelled their trip aboard the ill-fated RMS Titanic. (TV: Rose, AUDIO: Battle Scars)

In an attempt to "wave" at Amy Pond and Rory Williams, the Eleventh Doctor made a cameo in a Laurel and Hardy movie. (TV: The Impossible Astronaut)

"A long time ago", the Doctor made an oath to guard the body of for 1000 years. After this he transported her to the Vault beneath St Luke's University. (TV: Extremis) In late 2016, he had apparently been lecturing at the university for over fifty years, although some rumours said he had been there for over 70. He gave no name during this time, and so was known simply as "the Doctor". (TV: The Pilot)

As recorded in a photograph preserved by the Washington public archive, the Ninth Doctor was witness to the assassination of John F. Kennedy, President of the United States on 22 November 1963. (TV: Rose)

During their second incarnation's exile, the Doctor lived in luxury at the Carlton Grange Hotel and was very prolific in the public eye. The Doctor acted as a lecturer for a time at London University. (COMIC: The Brotherhood) He also appeared as a guest on the television show Explain My Mystery after becoming famous for his incredible exploits to help solve the mysteries of the viewers. (COMIC: The Night Walkers)

Rowan Cartwright was easily able to contact him after reading the headline "TIME AND SPACE TRAVELLER RESIDING IN LONDON" in the Daily Record (COMIC: The Mark of Terror) and the Brotherhood were able to land a helicopter on top of the hotel and kidnap him with relative ease. (COMIC: The Brotherhood) During his trial with the Time Lords, the Second Doctor argued against his exile on Earth by explainign that he was "known on Earth… things might get very awkward for [him]"; the Time Lords reassured him that this would not be a concern because his appearance would be changed before he began his exile. (TV: The War Games) Indeed, after his forced regeneration into his next incarnation and throughout his subsequent involvement with UNIT, the Doctor faded into obscurity. (TV: Spearhead from Space et al.)

On 30 December 1996, the Seventh Doctor was admitted to San Francisco Walker General Hospital after sustaining a gunshot wound. As a result of exploratory surgery performed by Grace Holloway, who was unfamiliar with Gallifreyan physiology, the Doctor died with his regeneration being delayed by anaesthetic. As he had no identification on him, the Doctor's corpse was tagged as John Doe and taken to the morgue before vanishing; in actuality, the Doctor regenerated into the Eighth Doctor, who broke out of the hospital. (TV: Doctor Who)

By 2005, Clive Finch had collected records of all incarnations of the Doctor, with the exception of the War Doctor, up to the Thirteenth Doctor, as well as two potential Doctors. He shown a particular interest in the Ninth Doctor as he operated a website, whoisdoctorwho.co.uk, which hosted an image of this incarnation. Following her encounter with this Doctor, Rose Tyler found this website by searching "Doctor Blue Box" on search-wise.net and sought Clive out for his insight. (TV: Rose, PROSE: Rose)

By March 2006, the British government recognised the Doctor as the ultimate expert in extra-terrestrial affairs, though this did not mean that all employees were aware of him. In the past year, Mickey Smith read up on the Doctor, finding him by "look[ing] deep enough" on the internet and in the history books, "followed by a list of the dead." It was also through this research that Mickey learnt of the Doctor's association with UNIT.

After a Slitheen spacecraft crashed into Big Ben and landed in the River Thames, the government's Emergency Protocols were activated, leading their software to automatically search all communications for keywords, including "doctor". As a result, when Jackie Tyler called 08081 570980 to report that her daughter was with a man calling himself "the Doctor" with a blue box known as a TARDIS, a red alert was sounded at 10 Downing Street and the police were sent to collect him. Escorted to Downing Street, the Ninth Doctor was photographed by press with Rose Tyler when they arrived at 10 Downing Street to aid the situation with other alien experts. (TV: Aliens of London) One such photograph was part of the Torchwood file acquired by Victor Kennedy. (TV: Love & Monsters)

On 25 December 2006, during the Sycorax invasion of Earth, the Queen's Christmas speech was cancelled in favour of a message from Prime Minister Harriet Jones in which she pleaded for the Doctor's help in dealing with the crisis. (TV: The Christmas Invasion)

On that night, following the destruction of the Sycorax spaceship above Earth, the Tenth Doctor was caught in a photograph taken in Trafalgar Square by Ursula Blake. Along with Colin Skinner, Ursula was a member of a group which studied the Doctor, though she was not aware she had caught his image until Skinner pointed it out. After realising this, she posted the image to her "obscure, little" blog, My Invasion Blog. Elton Pope, who had seen the Doctor in his house as a child, found the image on Ursula's blog, having been inspired to search for him by the Sycorax invasion. Meeting with Ursula, Elton joined her group, which he named LINDA. Though they were aware of "different Doctors", (TV: Love & Monsters) the Tenth Doctor was of particular interest to LINDA, who hosted a drawing of him on their website. (WC: Tardisode 10)

By early 2007, numerous images of the Doctor, the TARDIS, and by association Rose Tyler had been recorded, though evidence pertaining to this companion in the Torchwood files were lacking due to corruption from the Bad Wolf virus. Nevertheless, Victor Kennedy, actually an alien from the planet Clom, came into the possession of Torchwood files, several photographs as well a video recording of the Tenth Doctor and Rose entering the TARDIS before cutting out, while an audio recording of the TARDIS dematerialising remained.

In March, Victor Kennedy took over LINDA as he pursued the Doctor. Some time after, a police box was sighted in Woolwich as the Doctor and Rose hunted a Hoix. (TV: Love & Monsters)

Later that year, Torchwood One successfully captured the Tenth Doctor in London, only to be destroyed in the Battle of Canary Wharf. (TV: The Sound of Drums) With only Torchwood Two (TV: Everything Changes) and Cardiff's Torchwood Three remaining, Jack Harkness moved to rebuild the Insitute to honour the Doctor. (TV: The Sound of Drums)

In 2008, the Tenth Doctor was named and pictured along with Martha Jones and Captain Jack Harkness on BBC News 24 by a newsreader because of the fact, under the guise of British Prime Minister Harold Saxon, ordered a nationwide hunt for the trio on the grounds of suspected terrorism. (TV: The Sound of Drums)

On Christmas 2008, Queen Elizabeth II, gave her thanks from afar to the Tenth Doctor as he saved Buckingham Palace from the spaceship Titanic. (TV: Voyage of the Damned) By that point, she was counted as an acquiantance of the Doctor, having shared tea and scones with him. (TV: The Beast Below)

For a brief period while he was pursuing Cybermen in April 2011, the Eleventh Doctor worked, under the name "The Doctor", at a branch of Sanderson & Grainger in Colchester, during which time he had an amicable relationship with his colleagues. (TV: Closing Time)

In 2012, the Tenth Doctor was caught on camera taking the Olympic Torch from a fallen torchbearer during the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games. Huw Edwards, a commentator for BBC News 24 who reported as the Doctor enthusiastically lit the Olympic Flame, described him as a "mystery man" and noted "we've no idea who he is." (TV: Fear Her)

By the mid-2010s, UNIT developed an algorithm to trace the Doctor's appearances, generating probabilities based on crisis points, anomalies, anachronisms and keywords, detecting him in San Martino, Troy, multiple instances in New York and three possible versions of Atlantis. It was through consulting this algorithm, with the crisis points removed, that Clara Oswald found the Doctor in Essex in 1138. (TV: The Magician's Apprentice)

By early 2020, C, head of MI6, had read files pertaining to the Doctor but was under the mistaken belief that they were "[always] a man", failing to recognise the Thirteenth Doctor as such. (TV: Spyfall)

In 2119, Alice O'Donnell counted herself as a "fan" of the Doctor, noting to the Twelfth Doctor that she followed his exploits as well as being aware of his companions. UNIT was still in existence by this time, and the Doctor remained in contact with them. (TV: Under the Lake/Before the Flood)

By 33rd century, Queen Elizabeth X of Starship UK was well aware of the Doctor and his relationships with the British Royal Family. When she met the Eleventh Doctor, she acknowledged his history with Elizabeth I, Victoria, Elizabeth II and Henry XII. (TV: The Beast Below)

Non-fiction works about the Doctor
In 1913, John Smith, a human identity adopted by the Tenth Doctor while hiding from the Family of Blood, wrote A Journal of Impossible Things, an illustrated record of the dreams he experienced while working as a teacher at Farringham School for Boys. Though John and his colleague, Joan Redfern, believed that the book was derived from his imagination, his dreams were actually the experiences of the Doctor.

Once the Doctor's Time Lord persona returned, (TV: Human Nature/The Family of Blood) he left the book to Joan, who apparently annotated it with a detailed chronicle of her love story with a strange visitor from beyond the stars. In the 21st century, this annotated version of the book fell in possession of her great-granddaughter, Verity Newman, who used it as the basis for her own book of the same name, insisting that the journal was "not just a story" and that every word of it was true. A copy of this book was acquired by the Doctor, who had it signed by Verity for "the Doctor", leading her to recognise him on sight. (TV: The End of Time) The Eleventh Doctor kept this copy in the TARDIS drawing room. (GAME: TARDIS)

Who Killed Kennedy was a non-fiction book by the journalist James Stevens and his co-author David Bishop. Stevens began writing the book on 22 January 1996, completing it shortly before his disappearance in April of that year. Using his notes from October 1969 to September 1971, Stevens wrote an exposé detailing his investigations of the Doctor, UNIT, Department C19 and the numerous alien invasions which befell Earth during the late 1960s and early 1970s. (PROSE: Who Killed Kennedy)

The Shakespeare Notebooks
The Shakespeare Notebooks were described by a later 21st century publication as a record kept by William Shakespeare over several years, a scrapbook containing early drafts of key scenes and moments from his plays, as well as other observations, and previously unknown material, including several sonnets.

The foreword of the Notebooks mentions a "doctor" and Shakespeare notes that after being freed from the influence of the Carrionites, he came to realise that several other strangers who had influenced his life could be the same individual. He summarises the Notebooks as "volume wherein I do draw together every incident and encounter that may perchance have involved or been influenced by the Doctor" although he admits his recollections are only existent within his dreams and fading memory. The 21st century collection of the Notebooks observe that the "doctor" figure appears in many guises throughout as a magician, physician, academic, colleague and friend, or merely as "the Man" or "He". It also speculates that the Notebooks themselves formed the basis of an epic work in which Shakespeare planned to present the adventures of this character but also notes that his background is "never fully explained, assuming he ever existed".

However, the later collection of this work also expresses doubt as to whether Shakespeare was the true author and encourages the reader to "determine whether [...] the Notebooks are indeed genuine, or an elaborate hoax" (PROSE: Preface to the First Edition) citing several anachronisms to give credence to this theory. (PROSE: The Tempest - A Work in Progress, Troilus and Cressida)

Doctor Who


Doctor Who was a BBC science fiction series first broadcast at 5:15 pm on Saturday 30 November 1963. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks, PROSE: Who Killed Kennedy) In 1963, a TV announcer introduced the first episode. Ace had the television on in Mrs Smith's house but rushed out of the room in time to only hear the first syllable of the name. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks)

In 2007, a poster advertising a Doctor Who exhibition could be seen in Cardiff. (TV: Everything Changes)

In the 2010s, when the Earth became overgrown with trees a London bus had an advertisement for Doctor Who on its side. It featured the TARDIS and individuals closely resembling the Twelfth Doctor and Clara Oswald. An unknown source rated the show four stars out of five commenting "A-MAZE-ING ENTERTAINMENT!". (TV: In the Forest of the Night)

Peter Cushing films
A character called Doctor Who played by Peter Cushing appeared in three films, two of which featured the Daleks including Daleks: Invasion Earth and a 1980 science fiction film called Prey for a Miracle. (PROSE: A Visit to the Cinema, Salvation, The Day of the Doctor, We Are the Enemy)

The Doctor was personally involved in the Dalek films as he lent Cushing his coat for the part as they were close friends. UNIT stored VHS tapes of the two films in the Black Archive which the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors both enjoyed whilst there. (PROSE: The Day of the Doctor)

Prey for a Miracle was inspired by the UFO / gods scare caused by the Latter-Day Pantheon in New York City during March and April 1965. A film critic for the magazine Film in Focus commented upon the film's release in November 1980 that it was far from being the "rational, methodical investigation into the events of 1965" which was required. He criticised the film's director, a newcomer named Anthony Jones, for buying "wholesale into notions of alien shape-changers and government conspiracies", which resulted in the film devolving into a B-movie.

The critic added that the film's "fair cast does its best with a script that veers from the turgid to the unbelievable". The veteran science fiction and horror star Peter Cushing played the lead role of "the mysterious government adviser, Doctor Who". However, the critic noted that Cushing's "endearingly eccentric professor [was] as fictional as the rest of Prey for a Miracle" as what little was known about the real life "Doctor" suggested that he was "a shadowy, manipulative figure". (PROSE: Salvation)

Doctor Who Discovers


Doctor Who Discovers was a series of educational children's books written by the Fourth Doctor during his time working with UNIT.

The intended title for the series was The Doctor, Who Discovers... but the publishing company misprinted the title, resulting in the author being mistakenly credited as "Doctor Who".

The Doctor completed five books in the series. He began work on the sixth, Doctor Who Discovers Historical Mysteries, but left it unfinished until a robot sent by the publishers from the 64th century invaded the TARDIS to forcefully remind the Fifth Doctor of his contractual obligation. (AUDIO: The Kingmaker)

Doctor
Doctor was a series of short stories and novels which were written by Sarah Jane Smith and published from 1994 to 2003, adapted from her adventures with the Doctor. The short stories were published by the Metropolitan from January 1994 to November 1997 starting with Operation Golden Age. The novels were published by Virgin Publishing and from 1997 to 2003 starting with Noah's Ark. The Daleks and the Kraals were both directly referred to in titles, Dalek Dawn and The Kraal Invasion respectively.

The series of books made Sarah a best-selling author and Amblin Entertainment were allegedly interested in producing one or more films based on the series.

In Moving On, the last story of the series, the character of the Doctor was "almost peripheral" to the plot which was a great change from the previous installments which had attracted criticisms that "the Doctor was a dominant male lead whose accomplices were feeble caricatures of helpless women". (PROSE: Moving On)

Other works
After her encounter with the newly regenerated Eleventh Doctor in 1996, Amy Pond created numerous "cartoons" depicting "the Raggedy Doctor", leading to the Doctor being recognised as such by several Leadworth residents when he returned in 2008. (TV: The Eleventh Hour)

In 2102, Zoe Heriot began writing stories based on the adventures of the Doctor. She began with The Dominators - Episode 1. (PROSE: Dream a Little Dream for Me)

In an alternate timeline, circa 2493, Vicki Pallister novelised some of her adventures with the First Doctor, for example she had works published titled Vicki and the Zarbi, Vicki and the Crusaders and Vicki and the Space Museum. She also wrote about the time she and Steven Taylor first met. (AUDIO: The Crash of the UK-201)

Completely fictional
In an account that gave no indication the Doctor was ever real, from 19 September to 24 October 1964, a six-part Doctor Who story entitled The Outlaws was first broadcast, starring actor William Hartnell as a version of the First Doctor, William Russell in a dual role as companion Ian Chesterton and Robin Hood, Jacqueline Hill as Barbara Wright and Carole Ann Ford as Susan Foreman.

There was coverage of the story in Doctor Who Magazine, Radio Times, Gallifrey Guardian, Doctor Who - A Celebration, The Discontinuity Guide and Doctor Who: The Television Companion.

A novelisation of the story called The Thief of Sherwood was also published that was written by the original writer Godfrey Porter. The Daleks had appeared by 1964 and Tom Baker was the Doctor for some of the 1970s. (PROSE: The Thief of Sherwood)

As a myth or legend
Shortly before his death in March 2005, conspiracy theorist Clive Finch observed to Rose Tyler that the Doctor was "a legend woven throughout history". "When disaster comes, he's there. He brings the storm in his wake and he has one constant companion (death)."

- Clive Finch.

Unaware of the Doctor's alien longevity or nature as a time traveller, Clive believed that the appearances of the Ninth Doctor were of a lineage of identical men, and that the title of doctor was passed down from father to son. (TV: Rose)

Colin Skinner, a member of LINDA, was of the view that the Doctor was not a man, rather a "collection of archetypes", including King, fool, stranger, and thief, which were found in "mythological structures". (TV: Love & Monsters)

In 64 AD, during the reign of Emperor Nero, the First Doctor visited Rome. (TV: The Romans) In 79 AD, the Tenth Doctor was convinced by Donna Noble to save the Caecilius family from the eruption at Pompeii. After their departure, the family kept a carving of the pair and the TARDIS, whom they respected as household gods. (TV: The Fires of Pompeii) In both instances, the appearance of a "blue box" was reported and was recalled as late as 451. (PROSE: Combat Magicks)

In the 14th century, it was said that a demon fell from the sky only to be intercepted by a "sainted physician" in a blue box, who smote the demon before disappearing. This was remembered by an English church convent, who depicted the box in a stained glass called the Legend of the Blue Box. The church and its glass stood as late as 2009, when the Woman recalled the story to Wilfred Mott. (TV: The End of Time)

As a complete unknown
The Doctor guessed that the energy from the cracks in time had erased events such as the CyberKing walking over London in the Victorian era, and the 2009 Dalek invasion of Earth, the latter being one of Earth's most publicly visible invasions. (TV: Flesh and Stone) Clive Finch, a man who Rose Tyler met while researching the Ninth Doctor, similarly theorised that cracks in time were erasing peoples' memories of previous alien encounters. (PROSE: Rose)

In 2012, Henry van Statten, who claimed to own the internet, failed to recognise the Ninth Doctor or the Dalek which he named "Metaltron". (TV: Dalek)

By the year 100,000,000,000,000, shortly before the end of the universe, the Tenth Doctor and the TARDIS were not recognised by the distant descendants of Earth humans who resided on Malcassairo. He said that he thought the end of the universe was a "bit humbling" after learning there were no legends and "not even a myth" about him. (TV: Utopia)

The Year That Never Was
During the Year That Never Was, Martha Jones, companion to the Tenth Doctor, travelled the Earth spreading word about the Doctor to the people she met while the Doctor himself was held captive aboard the aircraft carrier Valiant by, who had seized control of the planet with the Toclafane. A year following the Toclafane invasion, Martha was captured and brought aboard the Valiant, where she revealed her and the Doctor's plan to exploit the Archangel Network, which the Master had used to influence the minds of humanity via a psychic field. At that point, the population was compelled to chant the word "Doctor" repeatedly, resulting in the psychic field rejuvenating him, leading to the destruction of the paradox machine and thus the negation of the Year That Never Was, the memory of which was retained only by those who were aboard the Valiant, the eye of the storm. (TV: Last of the Time Lords)

Meta-fiction universes
Several different universes existed where the Doctor's adventures were prominently presented in a science fiction series called Doctor Who.

In a version of history where the Great Houses were fictional the Houses came to regard Lawrence Burton as the Enemy because he wrote their very existence in works such as Against Nature, ensuring the continuation of the War in Heaven just to make interesting stories. (PROSE: We Are the Enemy)

In one universe which the Eighth Doctor and Izzy Sinclair visited on 12 October 1979, Tom Baker played the Doctor. He managed to defeat Beep the Meep with his endless rambling by reminding Beep of his old foe, the Fourth Doctor. The Eighth Doctor learnt the truth when he was given a copy of DWM 1 which featured Tom Baker's Doctor and a Dalek on the cover. (COMIC: TV Action!)

In another universe that the Eleventh Doctor visited in 2013, Matt Smith played the Doctor. Tom Baker and Peter Davison had played previous incarnations and the Doctor recommended Peter Capaldi to Steven as a future possibility. Elisabeth Sladen played Sarah Jane Smith.

While in this universe, the Doctor defeated a Cyberman from his universe with the help of Ally, gave some autographs, placed second in a cosplay competition and actually made it onto the set of the programme. The TARDIS was caught dematerialising on camera with one member of the crew voicing their happiness at the amount of money this was saving.

Other characters and monsters that resembled those from the Doctor's universe included Amy Pond, Rory Williams, Azmael, Romulus Sylvest, Remus Sylvest, Mestor, Sontarans, Ice Warriors, Zygons, Peg dolls, K9, Krotons, Robot Yeti, K1, Dums, Vocs, Smilers, Sea Devils and Raxacoricovarlonpatorians. (COMIC: The Girl Who Loved Doctor Who)

The failure of Doctor Who
There also existed alternate timelines and parallel universe where Doctor Who was concieved as an idea but never reached the point of public consumption. (PROSE: All Our Christmases, AUDIO: Deadline)

whoisdoctorwho.co.uk
The website whoisdoctorwho.co.uk had a list of sightings of the Doctor from which people had ostensibly been submitting to Clive Finch, a conspiracy theorist character from TV: Rose, who had pictures of Ninth Doctor on the website, asking if anyone had seen him. These sightings were mostly of the Ninth Doctor, both alone and accompanied by a blonde girl. Notably, the two are seen in the background of a photograph taken of Charles Dickens in Cardiff in 1869, referring to the events of TV: The Unquiet Dead.