Doctor Who (TV story)

Doctor Who was a 1996 Doctor Who made-for-TV movie. It was an attempt to relaunch the Doctor Who television franchise in the UK and abroad.

The film was co-produced by the BBC and Fox networks. Filmed in Canada, the telemovie introduced Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor and was his only on-screen performance in the role. The telemovie won a in 1996 for best television presentation.

The film was broadcast on Fox in America on 14 May 1996 and on BBC1 on 27 May 1996. The week of it's premiere, Jon Pertwee, who played the Third Doctor, passed away.

This movie would be the only televised apperance of both the Eighth Doctor and his version of the TARDIS. The movie DOES take place within the cannon of the following revived series and the previous; the Eighth Doctor appears in holograms used created by Infostamps and the Atraxi.

Synopsis
The Seventh Doctor is charged with transporting the remains of his fellow Time Lord, the Master, back to their home planet. But he is surprised to discover that his old enemy is not quite dead. The arrival of a new Master not only costs the Doctor a life, but it spells near disaster for the Earth. Only the new Doctor can stop the Master and save the planet.

Plot


The Master has been exterminated by the Daleks on Skaro for his terrible deeds. "As part of his final, and some what unusual, request", the Master asked that the Seventh Doctor escort his ashes back to Gallifrey for proper burial. However, the Doctor still does not trust the Master, even in death, and locks the container holding his ashes inside another box, just in case. After returning to the main control room, the Doctor enjoys a book as he eats a bowl of jelly babies and listens to a soft song a gramophone; his destination is Gallifrey, the Rasilon Era.

Meanwhile, the casket containing the Master's ashes cracks open and a transparent serpent-like creature housing the Master's consciousness slithers out. A symbolic warning occurs as the record begins skipping and the Doctor's cup of tea crashes to the floor. Unseen by the Doctor, the Master quickly slithers into the TARDIS console, causing it to malfunction as sparks fly out of it. The Doctor tries to fix it, but is unsuccessful. This forces him to make an emergency landing. Concerned that the Master may have had a hand in this, the Doctor quickly returns to where he left the ashes, to see the box cracked open. The Doctor looks on with a shocked and worried expression.

Meanwhile on Earth, San Francisco, December 30th, 1999, two local Chinese-American gangs are having a shoot-out, reducing one to just Chang Lee. When the other gangsters prepares to fire on him, the TARDIS materialisation wind picks up and it appears in front of Lee. The gang fruitlessly fires at the TARDIS, emptying their guns. While they reload, the Doctor exits the TARDIS only to be shot by the gangsters, who flee upon hearing police sirens. Lee runs to the Doctor's side. The Doctor tries to warn Lee about the Master, who has slipped through the TARDIS keyhole. However, Lee doesn't turn around in time to see him. He quickly runs to get an ambulance and accompanies the Doctor to Walker General Hospital. Unseen, the Master stows away in the ambulance.

At the hospital, a surgeon removes the bullets, but the Doctor's two hearts cause confusion for the medical team. They assume he is fibrillating and that the X-rays showing two hearts is a double exposure. A cardiologist, Dr. Grace Holloway, is summoned from her visit to the opera, and attempts to stabilize the Doctor's heartbeat. Regaining consciousness, the Doctor tries to stop the operation by explaining he has two hearts, but is anaesthetised. The Doctor's anatomy confuses Grace, and he appears to die in the middle of the operation. When Grace tries to comfort Lee with the death of the Doctor, she realises he doesn't know him. Lee runs off with the Doctor's possessions. Around the same time, the Master has hitched a ride to the home of one of the ambulance workers, Bruce, by hiding in his jacket.

The Doctor is put in the morgue after the attendants make spa jokes to his seemingly dead body. Elsewhere, the Master has entered Bruce's body, killing him and taking it for himself. Later that night, as Pete, a morgue attendant, watches the 1931 film version of Frankenstein, the Doctor undergoes his seventh regeneration and begins banging on the door, attracting Pete's attention. When Pete arrives to see what is the source of the sound, the Eighth Doctor knocks the metal door off its hinges. He is clad in just a shroud, a sight mirrored by the image in the movie. Pete faints while the Doctor stumbles into a deserted wing of the hospital where he sees himself in broken pieces of mirror and cries out, "Who am I?"

The next morning, the Doctor, after going through numerous hospital lockers, steals the Wild Bill Hickok costume that Pete's co-worker, Ted, intended to wear to the hospital's New Year's Eve costume party. Meanwhile, Chang Lee goes through the Doctor's possessions, finding his sonic screwdriver, pocket watch, jelly babies, a yo-yo, and TARDIS key. Elsewhere, Bruce's wife Miranda awakes to find, unbeknownst to her, the Master staring out the window. As the Master talks to himself about Bruce's body not lasting long and his need to find the Doctor, she asks him to come back to bed. However after her failed attempts to be seductive, she realises the Master isn't Bruce when she sees the cat-like eyes the Master acquired in his time on Cheetah World. The Master strangles her. At the hospital, the Doctor recognises Grace (who has quit her hospital job after an argument with the hospital administrator over covering up the surgery), and follows her to her car. He removes the surgical probe which Grace had left in him the previous night, a sight which convinces her that this strange man is in fact her supposedly dead patient.

"Bruce" goes to the hospital, where he learns that the Doctor died during surgery and that his body is missing, and Lee has taken his possessions. Grace takes the Doctor to her house, where she discovers that her boyfriend has left her and taken some of her furniture to boot. She listens to the Doctor's hearts, and takes a sample of his blood, while the Doctor's spotty memory begins to return with anecdotes about Puccini and Leonardo da Vinci.

Elsewhere, Chang Lee uses the TARDIS key to enter the TARDIS. There he encounters the Master, who (through some unknown method) entered before him. After hypnotising Lee into giving him the Doctor's possessions, the Master lies to him and convinces him the Doctor has taken his original body and used his past lives to commit terrible deeds. (Among the lies were the Doctor being Genghis Khan.) The Master and Chang Lee go to the TARDIS's Cloister Room, where the Master uses Chang Lee's human eyes to open the Eye of Harmony, the TARDIS' power source. In the meantime, the Doctor regains his memories. In a fit of enthusiasm, the Doctor announces, "I am the Doctor!" and kisses Grace. In the Cloister Room, the Master sees a series of images: the old Doctor, the new Doctor, and a human retina. The last causes him to assert, "The Doctor is half-human." Just as the Master sees an image of Grace, the Doctor becomes aware of the Master's actions, and shuts his own eyes, blocking the images they see coming from the Eye of Harmony.

The Doctor explains the Master's plan: he hopes to force the Doctor to look into the Eye of Harmony, which will allow him to take over the Doctor's body. However, if the Eye is not closed by midnight the entire planet will be sucked into it. The Doctor will need a beryllium atomic clock to fix the TARDIS before then. Grace finds all this quite improbable, and calls an ambulance for the Doctor (whom she now suspects to be insane). A television news report informs the Doctor of strange weather phenomena, and of a beryllium atomic clock about to be inaugurated at the Institute for Technological Advancement and Research (ITAR).

When the ambulance arrives, the EMT is the Master, and the unseen driver is Chang Lee. The Doctor asks to be taken to ITAR. Grace is still sceptical, but indicates for the driver to play along. However, a sudden stop at a traffic jam makes the Master lose the sunglasses which were hiding his inhuman eyes, and the Doctor recognises him. His identity revealed, the Master spits a burning viscous substance on Grace's arm, but the Doctor temporarily blinds him with a fire extinguisher. He and Grace escape into the stopped traffic. While talking with a policeman, the Doctor steals his gun and bluffs him into giving up his motorcycle. On the motorcycle, Grace realises that the Doctor's improbable story is true. Chang Lee and the Master pursue the Doctor and Grace, but Chang Lee takes a shortcut and arrives at ITAR before the Doctor does.

Grace, a board member of ITAR, introduces the Doctor to Professor Wagg, creator of the clock. As the Doctor tells Professor Wagg "a secret" ("I'm half-human, on my mother's side"), he surreptitiously removes Wagg's security pass. Grace and the Doctor steal a small component from the clock. They spot the Master and Chang Lee in the crowd, but escape by lowering themselves from a fire hose. They flee on the motorcycle, and arrive at the TARDIS, where the Doctor remembers that he keeps a spare key in the cubbyhole above the letter "P" in "Police box." They enter the TARDIS, where the Cloister Bell is ringing. The Doctor is able to close the Eye of Harmony; however, a quick temporal scan confirms that the Eye has been open too long, and the Earth is still in danger. The only solution is to take the TARDIS back to a time before the Eye was opened — but since the Eye was open so long, the TARDIS now has no power. The Doctor attempts to jump-start the TARDIS by drawing energy directly from the Eye. While working under the console, the Doctor wonders why Grace is not helping and looks up to see Grace's eyes have turned black. She has been taken over by the Master's will. Grace knocks the Doctor out.

The Doctor awakens to find himself strapped to a gurney in the Cloister Room. Chang Lee and the possessed Grace chain the Doctor to a balcony, under the supervision of the Master (who has decided to "dress for the occasion" in Gallifreyan robes). Per the Doctor's slight manipulation, the Master inadvertently contradicts his earlier lies to Lee by claiming to have used all his lives. Chang Lee now believes the Doctor and refuses to help the Master. Rather than waste more time by hypnotising Lee again, the Master breaks his neck. The Doctor comments that only Grace is left to open the Eye, but her eyes are not human. The Master taunts the Doctor and removes his influence on Grace as he kisses her, then forces her to look into the Eye. As the Master begins to absorb the Doctor's life energy, the Doctor implores Grace to return to the console room and jump-start the TARDIS.

As the Earth celebrates the approaching new year, Grace manages to start the TARDIS one second before midnight. The TARDIS enters a temporal orbit. She returns to the Cloister Room and frees the Doctor, but the Master attacks them both. He throws her off the balcony, killing her. The Doctor and the Master struggle over the open Eye, and the Master falls in; the Doctor attempts to save him, but the Master rejects his hand and is sucked into the Eye.

The TARDIS slips back in time before midnight. Energy travels from the Eye to the bodies of Grace and Chang Lee, reviving them, and the Eye closes. They return to the console room where, through a high-tech dome, the Doctor shows them alien galaxies and his home planet. Deciding where to leave them, the Doctor asks if they wish to be deposited back on the 29th. While Grace would rather not live through the day again, Lee knows he won't survive it; instead, the Doctor takes them to exactly the first minute of 2000 in a city park. The Doctor allows Lee to keep the bags of gold dust the Master originally bribed him with, and tells him not to be in San Francisco next Christmas. The Doctor asks Grace to travel with him, but she refuses and asks if the Doctor will stay with her. However, both know he won't and they kiss. Grace thanks the Doctor, but he retorts "No, thank you, doctor." The Doctor leaves in the TARDIS, off to a new adventure. He settles back in his armchair in the TARDIS control room to continue reading H G Wells' novel: The Time Machine. The gramophone record that he is listening to suddenly starts skipping (again). As the TARDIS continues on its flight, all the Doctor says is "Oh no, not again!"

Cast

 * The Doctor - Paul McGann
 * The Doctor - Sylvester McCoy
 * Bruce/The Master - Eric Roberts
 * Grace Holloway - Daphne Ashbrook
 * Chang Lee - Yee Jee Tso
 * Salinger - John Novak
 * Dr. Swift - Michael David Simms
 * Wheeler - Catherine Lough
 * Curtis - Dolores Drake
 * Pete - Will Sasso
 * Gareth - Jeremy Radick
 * Miranda - Eliza Roberts
 * Motorcycle Policeman - Bill Croft
 * Professor Wagg - Dave Hurtubise
 * Ted - Joel Wirkunnen
 * Security Guard - Dee Jay Jackson
 * The Old Master - Gordon Tipple
 * News Anchor - Mi-Jung Lee
 * News Anchor - Joanna Piros

Production

 * For production see Doctor Who (1996)/Production

Foods and beverages

 * In the TARDIS the Seventh Doctor has a bowl of jelly babies, together with a cup of tea and The Time Machine by H. G. Wells. The Seventh Doctor is shown eating a jelly baby on screen for the only time in his history.
 * When Gareth asks for what's in the Doctor's hand, the Doctor presents him a jelly baby. He earlier offered jelly babies to a policeman, and had jelly babies amongst his possessions claimed at the hospital by Chang.
 * Grace takes a glass of champagne at Professor Wagg's party.

Gallifrey

 * "Rassilon Era" appears on the TARDIS' console and screen.
 * The Seal of Rassilon is featured extensively throughout the TARDIS.
 * The Master uses the Eye of Harmony to spy on the Doctor and to transfer his lives.
 * Both the Doctor (in his narration) and the Master reaffirm that Time Lords can regenerate twelve times.

Individuals

 * The Master, the Doctor and Grace name-drop throughout this story by referring to Marie Curie ("does she kiss as good as me?"), Sigmund Freud, and Genghis Khan. (The Master also corrects Grace's grammar to "as well as you").
 * Grace obviously likes Madame Butterfly, and the Doctor has met its composer.
 * The Seventh Doctor's x-ray reveals the presence of two hearts.

Technology

 * The Doctor reminisces about having his sonic screwdriver.
 * The Doctor also asks Grace for the neutron ram.
 * The Doctor describes the chameleon circuit to Grace as a cloaking device, but admits he likes the TARDIS as a police box.

The Doctor's TARDIS

 * The odd-shaped TARDIS key, glimpsed on previous occasions, appears. It is revealed that the Yale lock opening seen on the door is in fact a false front for the real keyhole underneath.
 * There is a small cubby-hole above the 'P' in the 'POLICE PUBLIC CALL BOX' sign above the doors, in which the Doctor keeps a spare key.

Story notes

 * The telefilm features a redesigned console room with a library and gothic architecture. Although this attracted criticism from fandom, in DW: Time Crash, it would be established that the console room design can be changed like a desktop theme. The Tom Baker era previously also established that the TARDIS has more than one console room (DW: The Masque of Mandragora, et al) and that the interior can be reconfigured (DW: Logopolis). DW: The Eleventh Hour would later establish that the TARDIS herself can design a new control room while undergoing internal repairs, while DW: The Doctor's Wife revealed that all the past console rooms - including, presumably, this one - continue to exist within the TARDIS archive.
 * During production and its airing, it was referred to only as "Doctor Who." Philip Segal later told a convention audience that if fans wanted a distinct title for the TV Movie, they could call it "Enemy Within", but this name was never used in any official capacity. A wholly unofficial subtitle, Out of the Ashes, was given to the film by some fan groups; it subsequently was used in this capacity by the A Brief History of Time (Travel) website and by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in an online documentary promoting the 2005 series revival. The only on-screen title that appears is Doctor Who, making this technically the first story of the franchise to not carry an on-screen title; the 2005 Children in Need Special and 2009 Sarah Jane Adventures Comic Relief special, From Raxacoricofallapatorius With Love, are the only other examples to date of this.
 * British-born television producer Philip Segal had a longtime ambition to produce Doctor Who. While working at various American production companies, including Steven Spielberg's Amblin, he attempted to develop a Doctor Who series or film. Eventually he arranged a co-production between Universal Pictures and the BBC. The script went through several different forms, including some which would have started Doctor Who continuity over again.
 * The eventual script by Matthew Jacobs continued from the BBC series, including a substantial role for Sylvester McCoy, the previous player of the role of the Doctor.
 * Doctor Who: Regeneration details the development of this story (and many of the previous attempts).
 * For the 'international release' (i.e., everywhere outside of the UK) the opening sequence within the TARDIS has the caption "Based on the series originally broadcast on the BBC". It is standard practice for American productions to give screen credit to a series/character creator, so this title card is used in lieu of crediting Sydney Newman or any of the others involved in the creation of the original series. Contrary to later practice, Terry Nation does not receive screen credit for the Daleks, who are referenced and heard but not seen.
 * Ron Grainer, the late composer of the Doctor Who Theme, is not given screen credit for his work. Only John Debney, commissioned to arrange the theme and compose new incidental music, is given main credit; this led to the mistaken impression that Debney also composed the Doctor Who Theme. (It was reported that Debney wanted to create a new theme, but was overridden by Segal). There is also screen credit given for "additional music" by John Sponsler and Louis Serbe. Similarly, the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and Delia Derbyshire are uncredited for their creation of the TARDIS sound effect.
 * At the time of broadcast/release there was significant reaction to the Doctor kissing Grace as this was the first overtly romantic scene involving the Doctor. The later revival series, however, would incorporate more of these elements.
 * Promotional advertisements for the telefilm shown on the Fox network incorporated footage from the opening sequence of the first episode of The Trial of a Time Lord - specifically the TARDIS being drawn into the giant space station - even though this footage does not appear anywhere in the telefilm. The arrangement of the Doctor Who theme heard during these ads doesn't correspond with the Debney arrangement heard in the film, either.
 * Neither Paul McGann nor Sylvester McCoy are actually credited on screen next to any character name. However the press kit for the film gives the official credits as being as 'The Doctor' and 'The Old Doctor' respectively — and these are also the credits given in Radio Times. Although not used on screen, this is the last time the lead character is credited as 'The Doctor' until the 2006 season, as the 2005 revival reverts to the old 'Doctor Who' credit line.
 * The version of 1931's Frankenstein excerpted here is not the current restored version, but the earlier censored print that was commonly circulated on TV prior to the 1980s; this is evident from the fact Dr. Frankenstein's dialogue "Now I know what it feels like to be God" is not heard in the scene shown during the regeneration sequence. However, this portion of the film is still visible, just not audible.
 * Sylvester McCoy has in recent years been critical of aspects of this film, telling the premiere episode of Doctor Who Confidential that the film should not have featured him, but should have started with Paul McGann's Doctor and saved the story of how the regeneration occurred for an episode of the resulting series, if one had been commissioned.
 * This is the first televised Doctor Who to feature narration (one of the characters addressing the audience in voiceover) since DW: The Deadly Assassin — although William Hartnell's pre-credits sample from the The Dalek Invasion of Earth in The Five Doctors was re-contextualisd so that it could be read as bit of omniscient narration. In this instance, the Eighth Doctor sets the scene during the pre-credits sequence and immediately thereafter. This device would be used in each of the first five series of the BBC Wales series, in the following episodes: Father's Day, Army of Ghosts, The Family of Blood, Forest of the Dead, The End of Time and Cold Blood.
 * It was originally intended that the opening narration would be by the Old Master, in which he requested that the Doctor transport his remains back to Gallifrey, but although Gordon Tipple recorded this voice-over, it was never used in the final version of the TV Movie. Tipple retained an on-screen credit despite no longer having any lines.
 * Radio Times credits Bill Croft (Motorcycle Policeman) as 'Motorcycle Cop', Dee Jay Jackson (Security Guard) as 'Security Man', and Joanna Piros (News Anchor) as 'Co-anchor'.
 * According to press coverage at the time, the redesigned TARDIS console room set — clearly intended to have been an ongoing "standing set" in a series — cost $1 million to build.
 * Of the regenerations actually depicted on screen, this was the first to show the Doctor undergoing the change while completely alone. This would next occur with the Tenth Doctor's regeneration in DW: The End of Time. (Two other regenerations, that of the Second Doctor after DW: The War Games and the regeneration of the Eighth Doctor into the Ninth Doctor, were never shown on screen so it is not known if they occurred in the presence of others).
 * This is the only Doctor Who story to be entirely shot on 35mm.
 * The original script called for Bruce's body to start visibly decaying after the Master's possession; This was later dropped when the prosthetics caused Eric Roberts severe skin irritation.
 * In the original script, the Doctor's father was given a longer reference, and named "Ulysses", a plot element later taken up in some of Eighth Doctor Adventures novels, most notably EDA: The Gallifrey Chronicles.
 * When the Eighth Doctor says he has thirteen lives he isn't really saying it as he in actual fact says 'twelve'. In an issue of Doctor Who Magazine it is revealed that Paul McGann had to redub the line to say thirteen rather than the incorrect twelve.

Ratings

 * BBC1: 9.08 million viewers.
 * Fox: 5.6 million viewers/9 share.

Awards

 * At the 1997 ceremony, Doctor Who took home a statuette for "Best Single Genre Television Presentation", and Paul McGann lost in the category of "Best Genre TV Actor".

Rumours
Many fan rumours surrounded the production.
 * One suggested that a futuristically-redesigned version of the Daleks might appear. Ultimately, the Daleks are only heard, not seen, in the pre-credits opening sequence and are name-dropped by the Doctor later in the film.
 * This movie had the working title The Enemy Within. Executive producer Philip Segal suggested to fans that if they wanted a title for the movie other than just Doctor Who, they could refer to it as Enemy Within. However neither Enemy Within nor The Enemy Within was ever used as a working title during production.
 * Gunshot wounds caused the Doctor's regeneration. Dialogue clearly indicates that the first bullet did no damage and the second was removed during a rather minor procedure. The Doctor's "death" was caused inadvertently during the exploratory heart surgery that followed.
 * The Doctor opens the Eye of Harmony. It doesn't happen - only Grace and Chang Lee open the eye.
 * Fox chose to renew/commission (variations of the myth) the science fiction series rather than commission a new Doctor Who series from the movie. Space debuted in the fall of 1995 and was cancelled after a single season, with the final episode airing only a few weeks after the Doctor Who TV movie.
 * One reason why the film received such low ratings on Fox is because it had been scheduled opposite the final episode of the popular sitcom Roseanne. This one's almost true. Doctor Who didn't air against the final episode of Roseanne. It transmitted opposite the narratively crucial and well-publicised episode of Roseanne in which 's character had a heart attack.

Filming locations

 * The story was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada from 15 January to 21 February 1996. This was the first Doctor Who production mounted completely outside of the UK, and the last to be mounted in a major way outside Europe until the production of Planet of the Dead in the Middle East in 2009.
 * Ogden Avenue (No 1998), Vancouver, Canada
 * Plaza of Nations, Vancouver, Canada
 * East Georgia Street (No 218, rear), Vancouver, Canada
 * Keefer Street (No 222), Vancouver, Canada
 * Carrall Street/Keefer Street, Vancouver, Canada
 * Waterfront Road, Vancouver, Canada
 * Hadden Park, Vancouver, Canada
 * British Columbia Children's Hospital, 4480 Oak Street, Vancouver, Canada
 * East Georgia Street (alley), Vancouver, Canada (Alley where the TARDIS materialises)
 * Golden Crown Centre (car park), 211 East Georgia Street, Vancouver
 * Andy Livingstone Park, Vancouver, Canada
 * Eastlake Drive (no 8651), Burnaby, Canada (Location of studio)

Continuity

 * The Doctor says that the anaesthetic almost killed him, similar to how aspirin would do the same. (DW: The Mind of Evil)
 * There are multiple prequels to this story:
 * NA: Lungbarrow sets up events for this story (including why the TARDIS interior looks the way it does, why the Doctor now has a sonic screwdriver and why the Doctor was rescuing the Master).
 * EDA: The Eight Doctors also has a trail scene of the Master.
 * VG: Destiny of the Doctors also appears to lead into the TV movie, with the Master being imprisoned by a hostile force. He indicated that who ever has captured him was in the "game" he and The Graak had been playing, and one of the enemies in Destiny of the Doctors was a Dalek.
 * The Master previously attempted to use the Eye of Harmony (DW: The Deadly Assassin).
 * The Master's statement that the Doctor made him waste all his lives has some grounding in MA: The Dark Path.
 * The cloister room, last seen DW: Logopolis, makes a return appearance.
 * Pete is depicted watching the 1931 film version of Frankenstein as the Doctor undergoes his seventh regeneration. The First Doctor encountered an android version of Frankenstein's Monster at the Festival of Ghana in 1996. (DW: The Chase) Later in his eighth incarnation, the Doctor would meet Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein, at the Villa Diodati near Lake Geneva in Switzerland in June 1816. She subsequently became his companion, travelling with him for years. (BFA: Mary's Story)
 * In an alternative timeline in which the Nazis won World War II, the Seventh Doctor regenerated for the same reason, only in Nazi Germany in 1955. His next incarnation was an alternative version of the Eighth Doctor who used the alias "Johann Schmidt." (BFA: Colditz, BFA: Klein's Story)

For the Doctor

 * Doctor Who occurs after ST: Notre Dame de Temps
 * Doctor Who occurs contemporaneously with PDA: Millennium Shock, MA: Millennial Rites, DWM: Plastic Millennium, IW: The Panda Invasion and part of TW: ''Fragments
 * Doctor Who occurs before EDA: The Eight Doctors

For the Master

 * Doctor Who occurs after (parts of) EDA: The Eight Doctors
 * Doctor Who occurs before (parts of) EDA: The Eight Doctors

Home video and audio releases
Despite the fact that the 1996 tele-film was made for American broadcast, it was until recently the only non-missing story which had not received a North American home video release in any format. Joint BBC/Universal ownership was problematic for North American publication, because the BBC are obliged to use Warner Brothers, and not Universal, for their Doctor Who DVD distribution. In August 2010 it was announced by Dan Hall, the commissioning editor of the Classic Doctor Who DVD range, that Universal had agreed on the release of the TV Movie outside the UK (including North America). Release finally occurred on 8th February 2011.

Several of the featurettes on the 2001 UK DVD were produced specifically for US audiences, and provided British home audiences with a look into the way Doctor Who was marketed in America.

Some snippets of footage from the movie have made their way onto Region 1 DVDs. In 2003, a special 40th anniversary music video that included footage from the film was added to a number of classic-series DVDs. In July 2009, the Region 1 DVD release of Planet of the Dead included an unedited edition of Doctor Who Confidential that includes part of a dialogue scene from the film. The Next Doctor, also released to DVD in Region 1 in 2009, includes a short piece of footage from the film.

A special edition DVD release was released 2010 in the UK as part of the Revisitations box set, with additional special features. It is this version that was also released to North America/Region 1 in February 2011.

2001
Released to DVD in the UK as Doctor Who: The Movie, this release was the fourth release of 2001.

It was released:
 * Region 2 13 August 2001
 * PAL - BBC DVD BBCDVD1043

Contents:
 * Philip Segal - Talks about the making of the telemovie.
 * Electronic Press Kit - Cast & crew interviews/behind the scenes footage/tour of the TARDIS set.
 * Alternate/Extended Scenes
 * Music Feature - Songs from the story.
 * Music-only Option
 * Trailers
 * Photo Gallery
 * Production Subtitles
 * Easter Egg- Hit left on the "Play Movie" option and the logo on the main menu page becomes illuminated. Hit select and you get a dedication caption to Jon Pertwee who died shortly before the UK TV premier of the 8th Doctor TV movie.
 * Commentary: Geoffrey Sax

Rear Credits:
 * By Matthew Jacobs
 * Executive Producers: Alex Beaton & Philip Segal
 * Executive Producer for the BBC: Jo Wright
 * Produced: Peter V. Ware
 * Co-Producer: Matthew Jacobs
 * Director: Geoffrey Sax
 * Incidental Music: John Debney, John Sponsler & Louis Febre

Notes:
 * The 'Based on the BBC Television series' caption used for the US broadcast has been removed from the DVD.
 * Editing for the DVD release was completed by the Doctor Who Restoration Team.

2010
A 2 disc version was released in October 2010 in the UK and on 8 February 2011 in North America. It includes the following extras:


 * Electronic Press Kit - Cast & crew interviews/behind the scenes footage/tour of the TARDIS set (from the 2001 release)
 * Alternate/Extended Scenes (from the 2001 release)
 * Audio commentary by director Geoffrey Sax.
 * Second audio commentary by Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann, moderated by Nicholas Briggs
 * Isolated music soundtrack.
 * Four musical tracks taken from the soundtrack, including the song heard on the Doctor's record player.
 * The Seven Year Hitch - detailing Philip Segal's efforts to get Doctor Who back on air (which began before production of Season 26 had concluded).
 * Paul McGann's audition video, featuring two takes of him performing a scene from the early, rejected script for the film, set on Gallifrey.
 * FX test reels, including early concepts for the opening credits and a proposed redesign of the Daleks.
 * The Wilderness Years - The world of Doctor Who in between Survival and the TV Movie, featuring footage from several BBV and Reeltime Pictures productions.
 * Who Peter part 2 - 1989-2009
 * Stripped for Action - the Eighth Doctor
 * Tomorrow's Times - the Eighth Doctor
 * The Doctor's Strange Love - fans discuss the film
 * BBC trailers promoting the film
 * Radio Times listings (PDF)

VHS releases
This story was released as Doctor Who.

It was released:
 * UK May 1996
 * PAL - BBC Video BBCV5882
 * Australia/NZ November 1996

Notes: This story was released in an edited form with the operating scene and gang gun battle trimmed; the latter was considered to be inappropriate in light of the shootings that had taken place at the primary school in Dunblane, Scotland, earlier that year.

Laserdisc
This story was released by Universal Home Video in Hong Kong in 1997.

Soundtrack

 * see: Doctor Who - Original Soundtrack Recording

Press kit
To promote the film among North American media, Fox issued a small, coil-bound press booklet detailing the film and also explaining a bit of the history of Doctor Who.

Contents

 * Introduction, a brief explanation of the film and the concept.
 * Main credits: This is the only place where Paul McGann and Sylvester McCoy are actually credited as The Doctor and The Old Doctor, respectively, or Eric Roberts as The Master, Daphne Ashbrook as Grace Holloway, and Yee Jee Tso as Chang Lee, as they are not credited with their character names in the televised film. As in the film, John Debney receives sole music credit, with no reference made to Ron Grainer. Also, although it is common practice for US productions to credit a creator(s) for the characters, no individuals are credited in this way for Doctor Who.
 * Production Notes: A primer on the concept of Doctor Who, including explanations of what regeneration is all about, what Time Lords are, The Master, etc., and includes actor comments on their characters.
 * About the Production: More on the making of the film, plus a discussion of the new TARDIS design, including a reference to the interior being covered by "round bells" (!).
 * History: Brief primer on the history of the series back to 1963.
 * Facts: Fast facts about the Doctor and the series. Interestingly, it makes reference to the Guinness Book of Records naming it the world's longest running SF series, even though official recognition of this would not occur until 2007. According to this section, the TV movie is the 696th instalment of the television series.
 * Biographies: cast and crew biographies for the main actors.