Portal:Doctor Who
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Doctor Who is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterrestrial being called the Doctor, part of a humanoid species called Time Lords. The Doctor travels in the universe and in time using a time travelling spaceship called the TARDIS, which externally appears as a British police box. While travelling, the Doctor works to save lives and liberate oppressed peoples by combating foes. The Doctor often travels with companions.
Beginning with William Hartnell, fourteen actors have headlined the series as the Doctor; as of 2023, Ncuti Gatwa leads the series as the Fifteenth Doctor. The transition from one actor to another is written into the plot of the series with the concept of regeneration into a new incarnation, a plot device in which, when a Time Lord is fatally injured, their cells regenerate and they are reincarnated. Each actor's portrayal is distinct, but all represent stages in the life of the same character and, together, they form a single lifetime with a single narrative. The time-travelling nature of the plot means that different incarnations of the Doctor occasionally meet. In 2017, Jodie Whittaker, as the Thirteenth Doctor, became the first woman to be cast in the lead role.
The series is a significant part of popular culture in Britain and elsewhere; it has gained a cult following. It has influenced generations of British television professionals, many of whom grew up watching the series. Fans of the series are sometimes referred to as Whovians. The series has been listed in Guinness World Records as the longest-running science-fiction television series in the world, as well as the "most successful" science-fiction series of all time, based on its overall broadcast ratings, DVD and book sales. (Full article...)
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Selected story
The Ark is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from March 5 to March 26, 1966.
The Doctor and his companions Steven Taylor and Dodo Chaplet arrive some ten million years into the future, on board a generation ship which is carrying the last of humanity away from an Earth that is about to fall into the Sun. However, the cold that Dodo has could prove devastating to these future humans and their servants, the Monoids.
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Did you know (auto-generated)
- ... that after being wiped by the BBC, all four episodes of the Doctor Who serial The Time Meddler were discovered in Nigeria in 1984?
- ... that "Mission to the Unknown" is the only Doctor Who serial not to feature the Doctor at all?
- ... that before writing The Space Museum, Glyn Jones had never seen Doctor Who?
- ... that Irish writer Dave Rudden has written a juvenile fantasy trilogy as well as several stories in the Doctor Who universe?
- ... that The Romans was the first Doctor Who serial with a humorous tone?
- ... that the fifteen bags of seaweed used as set dressing for the Doctor Who serial The Web Planet emanated an overpowering vegetable smell under the hot studio lights?
Selected quote
“ | On my travels to Cathay, Ian, I have come to believe many things I'd previously doubted. For instance, when I was a boy in Venice, they told me that in Cathay there was a stone that burned. I did not believe, but there is such a stone: I have seen it. And if stone burns, why not a caravan that flies? Birds fly; I have even seen fish that fly. You are asking me to believe that your caravan can defy the passage of the sun? Move not merely from one place to another, but from today into tomorrow, today to yesterday? No Ian, that I cannot believe. | ” |
— Marco Polo, Marco Polo |
Events
Date | Event |
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29 August 2022 | Another SMTV Live crossover episode |
1 January 2022 | 2022 specials |
December 2021 | Big Finish audio play The Year of Martha Jones [1] |
February 2022 | Second volume of the Big Finish audio play The Lone Centurion [2] |
May 2022 | Series 2 of the audio play Doctor Who: The Ninth Doctor Adventures |
More did you know?
- ... that the first episode of the first Doctor Who series had to be rerecorded because the TARDIS doors would not close?
- ... that the assassination of John F. Kennedy overshadowed the launch of the first season of Doctor Who?
- ... that the TARDIS's Fast Return Switch featured in the Doctor Who serial The Edge of Destruction appeared to have a label written in felt-tip pen?
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