Article needs to have information about umbrellas in general, or at least umbrellas as used by companions and other recurring characters
These omissions are so great that the article's factual accuracy has been compromised. Check out the discussion page and revision history for further clues about what needs to be updated in this article.
Umbrellas offered hand-held shelter against the rain or snow. They were particularly associated with rainy climates on Earth, such as was found in the United Kingdom. The Doctor had several umbrellas over the course of their various incarnations, and, accordingly, flip-flopped on whether they kept an umbrella stand in the console room of the TARDIS.
History[]
Use by the Doctor[]
Second Doctor[]
The Second Doctor carried an umbrella on the Gond planet because of the "twin suns. It's probably hot." Then he used it as defence against vaporisation — which resulted in the umbrella being ruined. (TV: The Krotons)
In November 1688, he used an umbrella to shield himself from the rain in London. (AUDIO: The Glorious Revolution)
Third Doctor[]
The Third Doctor was in possession of an umbrella with a question mark handle. He used it to shelter himself and Sarah Jane Smith from the rain after landing in Fetchborough in the far future. (AUDIO: The House That Hoxx Built)
Fourth Doctor[]
While visiting Derbyshire in 1979, the Fourth Doctor warned Leela that she would need an umbrella. (AUDIO: Trail of the White Worm)
The Doctor used an umbrella to protect against the rain on the dark side of a planet in E-Space. (AUDIO: Chase the Night)
The Fourth Doctor occasionally kept a multi-coloured umbrella in his console room's hatstand. (TV: The Stones of Blood, Destiny of the Daleks)
Sixth Doctor[]
The Sixth Doctor occasionally carried a bright, multi-coloured umbrella. He took it with him on a relaxing lakeside fishing trip with Peri (TV: The Two Doctors) and whilst exploring Ravolox, where he used it in an attempt to protect himself from being stoned. (TV: The Mysterious Planet) He had it with him when he crash-landed on Lakertya and regenerated. (TV: Time and the Rani)
The Doctor took an umbrella with him to Veludia, but he lost it to the wind. (AUDIO: Maelstrom)
Seventh Doctor[]
The Seventh Doctor initially carried his previous incarnation's multi-coloured umbrella, at one point clumsily brandishing it as a weapon against the First Rani. He left it behind upon choosing his new outfit. (TV: Time and the Rani) Neglecting to retrieve it from the Rani's TARDIS after the events on Lakertya, he later realised that he had lost possession of it. Fortunately, the TARDIS wardrobe provided him with a suitable replacement. (PROSE: The Useful Pile)
After his regeneration stabilised, the Doctor generally continued to carry an umbrella as part of his day-to-day outfit, whether the occasion called for it or not. He initially carried a black umbrella with a whangee handle. (TV: Time and the Rani, Paradise Towers) This umbrella was damaged during the Doctor's visit to the Warehouse and he acquired a new one there. (AUDIO: The Warehouse, A Life of Crime) It had an elaborate handle in the shape of a large red question mark. (TV: Delta and the Bannermen)
On the planet Svartos, the Doctor saved himself from slipping off a sheer ice cliff by hanging from his umbrella. (TV: Dragonfire)
The Doctor was known to measure objects with his umbrella. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks)
The question-mark umbrella handle was known to split in half and unfold into a seat, allowing the Doctor to plant the umbrella into the ground and use it as a makeshift stool. (COMIC: Planet of the Dead, PROSE: Storm Harvest)
A secret compartment in the Doctor's umbrella concealed a vial of Gallifreyan restorative. (COMIC: The Forgotten)
The Doctor's umbrella was split in half by a closing door while on Belial; he quickly replaced it. (PROSE: Lucifer Rising)
When not in use, the Seventh Doctor's umbrella could often be seen resting on the hatstand in the TARDIS console room. (TV: Paradise Towers, etc.)
The Eighth Doctor gave this umbrella to Bernice Summerfield after their first adventure together, saying that she would need it due to the rain at St Oscar's University on Dellah. (PROSE: The Dying Days)
Eighth Doctor[]
According to Alan Turing, the Eighth Doctor carried a yellow and white umbrella with what Turing called a "very fine" maple-wood handle shaped like a duck's head. (PROSE: The Turing Test)
The Doctor found in the TARDIS a yellow umbrella with a question mark handle which contained a concealed sword blade. He claimed it had never been drawn, but was unsure if it was actually his. (PROSE: The Slow Empire)
Ninth Doctor[]
The Ninth Doctor kept a plain black umbrella in an umbrella stand, which the Master had a habit of leaving in the TARDIS's zeppelin hangar. (WC: Scream of the Shalka [+]Paul Cornell, BBCi animations (2003).)
Tenth Doctor[]
The Tenth Doctor used a yellow umbrella to defeat Glutonoid on Phijax IV. (COMIC: The Glutonoid Menace)
While the Tenth Doctor did not typically carry an umbrella, he appeared to make extensive use of the Sixth Doctor's multi-coloured version while on rainy Grått. (COMIC: The Whispering Gallery)
Eleventh Doctor[]
The Doctor compared the patchwork people Auntie and Uncle to his old umbrella. (TV: The Doctor's Wife)
He cryptically gave Clara Oswin Oswald an umbrella, which she deduced was to be used to pull down the TARDIS exterior staircase. (TV: The Snowmen)
The Doctor made uses of umbrellas on the Planet of the Rain Gods and also whilst travelling to and fro between the TARDIS and Caliburn House. (TV: Rain Gods, Hide)
Whilst wandering the TARDIS corridors, Clara Oswald came across a storage area and found the Seventh Doctor's whangee handled umbrella. (TV: Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS)
Twelfth Doctor[]
The Twelfth Doctor used a shield umbrella with Vulkanite to protect himself from the fires of Hyperion. (COMIC: The Hyperion Empire)
Fifteenth Doctor[]
The Fifteenth Doctor and his companion Ruby Sunday both held umbrellas, the Doctor's yellow and Ruby's red, as they danced in the rain on the famous Abbey Road while performing "Twist at the End" in 1963. (TV: The Devil's Chord [+]Doctor Who (BBC One and Disney+, 2024).)
Use by the Master[]
The Master carried a black umbrella to 22 November, 1963 when he interfered in the assassination of John F. Kennedy. He was holding it up, heedless of the the day being sunny, when he told investigator James Stevens he had to choose between endangering the fabric of history, or fulfilling the correct path of destiny by killing John F. Kennedy himself. In his account, Stevens noted the gesture had been "bizarre". (PROSE: Who Killed Kennedy)
Missy owned and made use of a black umbrella (TV: World Enough and Time) that was actually a sonic umbrella equivalent to the Twelfth Doctor's sonic screwdriver and Missy's previous incarnation's laser screwdriver. She was carrying the black umbrella when she was stabbed in the back by her past self, and seemingly permanently killed, on the colony ship. (TV: The Doctor Falls) The Spy Master later encountered by the Thirteenth Doctor had "gone classic" and was once more using a Tissue Compression Eliminator. (TV: Spyfall)
Use by other Time Lords[]
Irving Braxiatel sometimes carried an umbrella. (PROSE: Twilight of the Gods)
Use among humans[]
Tegan Jovanka considered buying a question-mark umbrella as a Christmas present for the Fifth Doctor, but she thought that it looked "a bit naff". (PROSE: Last Minute Shopping)
Charlie left his umbrella behind at the White Hart after a UNIT reunion. (AUDIO: Call to Arms)
Clara owned an umbrella, but found the Eleventh Doctor didn't have an umbrella stand in his control room. (TV: Hide)
Bill Potts grabbed an umbrella in preparation to use as a weapon against what she thought was an intruder in her bathroom. (TV: The Pilot)
As Ruby Sunday sat and looked over a photo album with her family, Mrs Flood stood on the roof above in the snow outside holding a white umbrella and declaring that it was a very happy ending for Ruby, but that the Doctor's story would end in absolute terror. (TV: Empire of Death [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 14 (BBC One and Disney+, 2024).)
Behind the scenes[]
- The Sixth Doctor's multi-coloured umbrella was an unplanned extra, which was hastily provided on the day of Colin Baker's first photocall as the Doctor to protect the costume from rain. Merchandisers who used these photographs for reference subsequently included the umbrella with the costume.