Doctor Who

Warning: mkdir() [function.mkdir]: Permission denied in /home/webs/affiliatelib2/CacheManager.php on line 12

Warning: mkdir() [function.mkdir]: No such file or directory in /home/webs/affiliatelib2/CacheManager.php on line 12

Warning: fopen(/home/templatecore2cache//*cluesnet.com/82/821e30342f9ce556e6efe2cab353bc99dcb6be97.tc2cache) [function.fopen]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/webs/affiliatelib2/CacheManager.php on line 130

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /home/webs/affiliatelib2/CacheManager.php on line 131

Warning: fclose(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /home/webs/affiliatelib2/CacheManager.php on line 132

{{Infobox Television || show_name = Doctor Who | image = ] | caption = Current ''Doctor Who'' [title sequence | format = [Science fiction [drama | picture_format = [405-line black & white (1963–1967)[576i black & white (1968–1969)[PAL 625-line colour (1970–1989)720x576 [16:9 (2005–present) | runtime = 25 min. (1963–1984, 1986–1989)45 min. (1985, 2005–present)various other lengths | country = {{UK--> | network = [BBC Television, later renamed [BBC One | on_demand = [BBC iPlayer, [Virgin Media | first_aired '''Original Series:''
23 November [ | last_aired =
6 December [
'''Television Movie:'''
12 May [
'''Current Series:'''
26 March [ – present | creator = [Sydney Newman[C. E. Webber[Donald Wilson (writer and producer) | starring = '''[List of actors who have played the Doctor'''(currently [David Tennant)
'''[Companion (Doctor Who)''' | num_episodes = 737 (as of 30 June [) | list_episodes = List of Doctor Who serials | opentheme= [Doctor Who theme music | endtheme= Doctor Who theme music (reprise) | imdb_id= 0056751 | website= http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho | tv_com_id = 355 | related = ''[Torchwood''
''[The Sarah Jane Adventures'' |--> Doctor Who is a long-running award-winning United Kingdom science fiction on television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a mysterious time travel known as "Doctor (Doctor Who)" who travels in his time ship, the TARDIS, which appears from the exterior to be a blue Police box. With his companion (Doctor Who), he explores time and space, solving problems and righting wrongs.

The programme is listed in Guinness World Records as the longest-running science fiction television show in the world{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/5390372.stm | title=Dr Who 'longest-running sci-fi' | publisher=[BBC News | date=[2006-09-28 | accessdate=2006-09-30 --> and is also a significant part of [Culture of the United Kingdom [popular culture.{{cite web | title=ICONS. A Portrait of England | url=http://www.icons.org.uk/theicons/collection/doctor-who | accessdate=2007-11-10 | -->{{cite news | first = Caitlin | last = Moran | authorlink = Caitlin Moran | title = Doctor Who is simply masterful | url = http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article1989181.ece | work = [The Times | publisher = [News Corporation | date = [2007-06-30 | accessdate = 2007-07-01 | quote = ''Doctor Who'' is as thrilling and as loved as ''Jolene'', or bread and cheese, or honeysuckle, or Friday. It’s quintessential to being British. --> It has been recognised for its imaginative stories, creative low-budget [special effects during its original run, and pioneering use of electronic music (originally produced by the [BBC Radiophonic Workshop). In Britain and elsewhere, the show has become a [cult television favourite and has influenced generations of British television professionals, many of whom grew up watching the series. It has received [#Awards from critics and the public as one of the finest British television programmes, including the [British Academy Television Awards for [British Academy Television Award for Best Drama Series in 2006.

The programme originally ran from 1963 to 1989. A Doctor Who (1996 film) was made in 1996 as a backdoor pilot for a new series (which never entered production), and the programme was successfully History of Doctor Who#The 2000s in 2005, produced in-house by BBC Wales. Some development money for the new series is contributed by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), which is credited as a co-producer, although they do not have creative input into the show. Doctor Who has also spawned Doctor Who spin-offs in multiple media, including the current television programmes Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures.

The show's lead role is currently portrayed by David Tennant. A Voyage of the Damned (Doctor Who) will air in December 2007 with Kylie Minogue co-starring, and a List of Doctor Who serials#Series 4 (2008), scheduled to air in 2008, has been commissioned.{{cite web| | title = Series Four confirmed | work = Doctor Who - News | publisher = [BBC | date = 22 March [ | url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/news/cult/news/drwho/2007/03/22/41793.shtml | accessdate = 2007-03-22 --> Catherine Tate will be returning to Doctor Who for the fourth series as the Doctor's latest companion, reprising her role of Donna Noble from the The Runaway Bride (Doctor Who). It has also been confirmed that Freema Agyeman will return midway through the fourth series to reprise her role of Martha Jones, following a multi-episode guest portrayal of the character in the Doctor Who spin-off series, Torchwood.

It has been confirmed by the BBC that after a 2008 Christmas special, Doctor Who will return for three specials featuring David Tennant during 2009 before a full length series five, which has been commissioned for 2010.{{cite news | last = | first = | coauthors = | title = Series Five | work = Doctor Who: News | pages = | language = | publisher = BBC | date = 2007-09-03 | url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/news/cult/news/drwho/2007/09/03/48471.shtm | accessdate = 2007-09-03 -->

History Doctor Who first appeared on BBC television at 5:15 pm (Greenwich Mean Time) on 23 November 1963,Howe, Stammers, Walker (1994), p. 54 following discussions and plans that had been in progress for a year. The BBC television drama, Sydney Newman, was mainly responsible for developing it, with the first format document for the series being written by Newman along with the Head of the Script Department (later Head of Serials) Donald Wilson (writer and producer) and staff writer C. E. Webber. Writer Anthony Coburn, script editor David Whitaker (screenwriter) and initial Television producer Verity Lambert also heavily contributed to the development of the series.Howe, Stammers, Walker (1994), pp. 157–230 ("Production Diary")Newman is often given sole creator credit for the series. Some reference works such as The Complete Encyclopedia of Television Programs 1947–1979 by Vincent Terrace erroneously credit Terry Nation with creating Doctor Who, due to the way his name is credited in the two Peter Cushing films. The series' title theme was composed by Ron Grainer and realised by Delia Derbyshire of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.Richards, p. 23 The programme was originally intended to appeal to both children and adults.Howe, Stammers, Walker (1992), p. 3The BBC drama department's Serials division produced the programme for twenty-six series, broadcast on BBC One. Viewing numbers that had fallen (though comparably increased at some points), a decline in the public perception of the show and a less prominent transmission slot saw production suspended in 1989 by Jonathan Powell, Controller of BBC One.{{cite web]|quote=But Mr Grade was not at the helm when Doctor Who was finally retired for good in 1989 - that decision fell to the then BBC1 controller, Jonathan Powell.|date=2005-06-21 (as series co-star [Sophie Aldred reported in the documentary Doctor Who: More Than 30 Years in the TARDIS), the BBC said the series would return.

While in-house production had ceased, the BBC was hopeful of finding an independent production company to relaunch the show. Philip Segal, a British expatriate who worked for Columbia Pictures' television arm in the United States, approached the BBC about such a venture. Segal's negotiations eventually led to a television movie. Doctor Who (1996 film) was broadcast on the Fox Broadcasting Company in 1996 as a co-production between Fox, Universal Studios, the BBC, and BBC Worldwide. Although the film was successful in the UK (with 9.1 million viewers), it was less so in the United States and did not lead to a series.

Doctor Who spin-offs media such as novels and audio plays provided new stories, but as a television programme Doctor Who remained dormant until 2003. In September of that year, BBC Television announced the in-house production of a new series after several years of unsuccessful attempts by BBC Worldwide to find backing for a feature film version. The new incarnation of the series is executively produced by writer Russell T Davies and BBC Wales Head of Drama/BBC Television Controller of Drama Commissioning Julie Gardner. It has been sold to many other countries worldwide (see #Viewership).

The new series debuted with the episode Rose (Doctor Who) on BBC One on 26 March 2005. There have been two further series in 2006 and 2007, and Christmas Day specials in 2005 and 2006. A Christmas special for 2007 has been commissioned and will feature a guest appearance from Kylie Minogue. This will be followed by a fourth series to be shown in 2008.There will be a rest year in 2009, with no new series, although David Tennant will star in 3 specials in that year. A fifth series is planned for 2010. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/entertainment/6976178.stm BBC news

Public consciousness The programme rapidly became a national institution, the subject of countless jokes, newspaper mentions and other popular culture references.{{cite web|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/454592/index.html|title=Doctor Who (1963–89, 2005–)|first=Anthony|last=Clark|publisher=Screenonline|quote=The official fans have never amounted to more than a fraction of the audience. Doctor Who achieved the status of an institution as well as a cult.|accessdate=2007-03-21--> Many renowned actors asked for or were offered and accepted [Celebrity appearances in Doctor Who in various stories.

With popularity came controversy over the show's suitability for children. Moral campaigner Mary Whitehouse repeatedly complained to the BBC in the 1970s over what she saw as the show's frightening or gory content. The programme became even more popular - especially with children. John Nathan-Turner, who produced the series during the 1980s, was heard to say that he looked forward to Whitehouse's comments, as the show's ratings would increase soon after she had made them. During the 1970s, the Radio Times, the BBC's listings magazine, announced that a child's mother said the theme music terrified her son. The Radio Times was apologetic, but the theme music remained.

There were more complaints about the programme's content than its music. During Jon Pertwee's List of Doctor Who serials#Season 8 (1971) as the Doctor, in the serial "Terror of the Autons" (1971), images of murderous plastic dolls, daffodils killing unsuspecting victims and blank-featured android policemen marked the apex of the show's ability to frighten children. Other notable moments in that decade included the Doctor apparently being drowned by Chancellor Goth in "The Deadly Assassin" (1976), and the allegedly negative portrayal of Chinese people in "The Talons of Weng-Chiang" (1977).

It has been said that watching Doctor Who from a position of safety "behind the sofa" (as the Doctor Who exhibition at the Museum of the Moving Image in London was titled) and peering cautiously out to see if the frightening part was over is one of the great shared experiences of British childhood. The phrase has become commonly used in association with the programme and occasionally elsewhere.

used between 1980 and 1989.A BBC audience research survey conducted in 1972 found that by their own definition of "any act(s) which may cause physical and / or psychological injury, hurt or death to persons, animals or property, whether intentional or accidental", Doctor Who was the most violent of all the drama programmes the corporation then produced. The same report found that 3% of the surveyed audience regarded the show as "very unsuitable" for family viewing. However, responding to the findings of the survey in The Times newspaper, journalist Philip Howard maintained that: "to compare the violence of Dr Who, sired by a horse-laugh out of a nightmare, with the more realistic violence of other television series, where actors who look like human beings bleed paint that looks like blood, is like comparing Monopoly (game) with the property market in London: both are fantasies, but one is meant to be taken seriously."

The image of the TARDIS has become firmly linked to the show in the public's consciousness. In 1996, the BBC applied for a trademark to use the TARDIS' blue police box design in merchandising associated with Doctor Who. In 1998, the Metropolitan Police filed an objection to the trademark claim; in 2002 the UK Intellectual Property Office ruled in favour of the BBC, indicating that the police box image was more associated with Doctor Who than with the police.

The 21st-century revival of the programme has become the centrepiece of BBC One's Saturday schedule, and has "defined the channel". In 2007, Caitlin Moran, television reviewer for The Times, wrote that Doctor Who is "quintessential to being British".

Episodes Doctor Who originally ran for List of Doctor Who serials on BBC1, from 23 November 1963 until 6 December 1989. During the original run, each weekly episode formed part of a story (or "Serial (radio and television)") — usually of four to six parts in earlier years and three to four in later years. Three notable exceptions were the epic The Daleks' Master Plan, which aired in twelve episodes (plus an earlier one-episode teaser, "Mission to the Unknown", featuring none of the regular cast);The Daleks' Master Plan. Writers Terry Nation and Dennis Spooner, Director Douglas Camfield, Producer John Wiles. Doctor Who. BBC. BBC1, London. November 13 1965–January 29 1966. the 10-episode serial The War Games The War Games. Writers Malcolm Hulke and Terrance Dicks, Director David Maloney, Producer Derrick Sherwin. Doctor Who. BBC. BBC1, London. 19 April 1969–21 June 1969. and The Trial of a Time Lord which ran for 14 episodes (containing, according to BBC serial codes three stories, two four-parters and a six-part finale, but in both the re-edited feature compilation versions and the novelisations four stories, three four-parters and a two-part finale often referred to by individual titles; the preliminary stories are connected by framing sequences which become the focus of the last two episodes) during List of Doctor Who serials#Season 23 (1986).The Trial of a Time Lord. Writers Robert Holmes (scriptwriter), Philip Martin (screenwriter) and Pip and Jane Baker, Directors Nicholas Mallett, Ron Jones (television director) and Chris Clough, Producer John Nathan-Turner. Doctor Who. BBC. BBC1, London. 6 September 1986–6 December 1986. Occasionally serials were loosely connected by a storyline, such as List of Doctor Who serials#Season 16 (1978–79) quest for the Key to Time or List of Doctor Who serials#Season 18 (1980–81) journey through E-Space and the theme of entropy.

The programme was intended to be educational and for family viewing on the early Saturday evening schedule. Initially, it alternated stories set in the past, which would teach younger audience members about history, with stories set either in the future or in outer space to teach them about science. This was also reflected in the Doctor's original companions, one of whom was a science teacher and another a history teacher.

However, science fiction stories came to dominate the programme and the "historicals", which were not popular with the production team, were dropped after The Highlanders (Doctor Who) (1967). While the show continued to use historical settings, they were generally used as a backdrop for science fiction tales, with one exception: Black Orchid (Doctor Who) set in 1920s Britain.Black Orchid (Doctor Who). Writer Terence Dudley, Director Ron Jones (television director), Producer John Nathan-Turner. Doctor Who. BBC. BBC1, London. 1 March 1982–2 March 1982.

The early stories were more serial-like in nature, with the narrative of one story flowing into the next, and each episode having its own title, although produced as distinct stories with their own production codes. Following The Gunfighters (1966), however, each serial was given its own title, with the individual parts simply being assigned episode numbers. What to name these earlier stories is often Doctor Who story title debate.

Writers during the original run included Terry Nation, Henry Lincoln, Douglas Adams, Robert Holmes (scriptwriter), Terrance Dicks, Dennis Spooner, Eric Saward, Malcolm Hulke, Christopher H. Bidmead, Stephen Gallagher, Brian Hayles, Chris Boucher, Peter Grimwade, Marc Platt and Ben Aaronovitch.

The serial format changed for the List of Doctor Who serials#Ninth Doctor .28Christopher Eccleston.29, with each series consisting of thirteen 45-minute, self-contained episodes (60 minutes with adverts on commercial channels overseas). This includes three two-parters and a loose story arc per season whose elements are brought together in the season finale. Like the original serial format in the William Hartnell era, two-part episodes have separate titles.

737 Doctor Who instalments have been televised since 1963, ranging from 25-minute episodes (the most common format), to 45-minute episodes (for Resurrection of the Daleks in the 1984 series, a single season in 1985, and the revival), to two feature-length productions (1983's "The Five Doctors" and the Doctor Who (1996 film)), to the two 60-minute Christmas specials produced for the revival.

The current series is recorded in 576i25 Betacam#Digital Betacam wide-screen format and then filmizing to give a 25p image in post-production using a Snell and Wilcox Alchemist Platinum.

Missing episodes Between about 1967 and 1978, large amounts of older material stored in the BBC's various video tape and film libraries were either destroyedThe tapes, based on a 405-line broadcast standard, were rendered obsolete when UK television changed to a 625-line signal in preparation for the soon-to-begin colour transmissions or simply Wiping (magnetic tape). This included many old episodes of Doctor Who, mostly stories featuring the first three Doctors — William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee. Following consolidations and recoveries the archives are complete from the programme's move to colour television (starting from Jon Pertwee's time as the Doctor), although a few Pertwee episodes have required substantial restoration; a handful have been recovered only as black and white films, and several survive in colour only as NTSC copies recovered from North America (a few of which are domestic, off-air Betamax tape recordings, not transmission quality). In all, List of incomplete Doctor Who serials of 253 episodes produced during the first six years of the programme are not held in the BBC's archives. It has been reported that in 1972 almost all episodes then made were known to exist at the BBC,{{cite web|url=http://www.purpleville.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/rtwebsite/archive.htm|title=BBC Archive Holdings|first=Richard|last=Molesworth|publisher=Doctor Who Restoration Team|quote=the videotapes began to be wiped, or re-used, until the formation of the BBC’s Film and Videotape Library in 1978 put a stop to this particular practice.|accessdate=2007-04-30-->

Some episodes have been returned to the BBC from the archives of other countries who bought copies for broadcast, or by private individuals who got them by various means. Early colour videotape recordings made off-air by fans have also been retrieved, as well as excerpts filmed off the television screen onto 8 mm [cine film and clips that were shown on other programmes. Audio versions of all of the lost episodes exist from home viewers who made tape recordings of the show.

In addition to these, there are off-screen photographs made by photographer John Cura, who was hired by various production personnel to document many of their programmes during the 1950s and 1960s, including Doctor Who. These have been used in fan reconstructions of the serials. These amateur reconstructions have been tolerated by the BBC, provided they are not sold for profit and are distributed as low quality VHS copies.

One of the most sought-after lost episodes is Part Four of the last William Hartnell serial, The Tenth Planet (1966), which ends with the First Doctor transforming into the Second Doctor. The only portion of this in existence, barring a few poor quality silent 8 mm clips, is the few seconds of the regeneration scene, thanks to it having been shown on the children's magazine show Blue Peter. With the approval of the BBC, efforts are now under way to restore as many of the episodes as possible from the extant material.Starting in the early 1990s, the BBC began to release audio recordings of missing serials on cassette and compact disc, with linking narration provided by former series actors. "Official" reconstructions have also been released by the BBC on VHS, on MP3 CD-ROM and as a special feature on a DVD. The BBC, in conjunction with animation studio Cosgrove Hall has reconstructed the missing Episodes 1 and 4 of The Invasion (Doctor Who) (1968) in animated form, using remastered audio tracks and the comprehensive stage notes for the original filming, for the serial's DVD release in November 2006. Although no similar reconstructions have been announced as of early 2007, Cosgrove Hall has expressed an interest in animating more lost episodes in the future,Flash Frames, a featurette included on the DVD release of The Invasion (Doctor Who), BBC Video, 2006. despite the announcement in April 2007 that this project is on indefinite hiatus.

In April 2006, Blue Peter launched a challenge to find these missing episodes with the promise of a full scale Dalek model.{{cite web| year =April 2006 | url =http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/bluepeter/content/articles/2006/04/19/doctor_who_feature.shtml | title =Blue Peter — Missing Doctor Who tapes | publisher =[bbc.co.uk | accessdate =2006-04-24 -->

Characters The Doctor , Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann, Christopher Eccleston and David TennantThe character of the Doctor was initially shrouded in mystery. All that was known about him in the programme's early days was that he was an eccentric alien traveller of great intelligence who battled injustice while exploring time and space in an unreliable old time machine called the TARDIS. The TARDIS is much larger on the inside than on the outside Now an entry in the Oxford English Dictionary the word "TARDIS" is often used to describe anything that appears larger on the inside than its exterior implies. and, due to a chronic malfunction, is stuck in the shape of a 1950s-style British police box.

However, not only did the initially irascible and slightly sinister Doctor quickly mellow into a more compassionate figure, it was eventually revealed that he had been on the run from his own people, the Time Lords of the planet Gallifrey.

As a Time Lord, the Doctor has the ability to "Regeneration (Doctor Who)" his body when near death. Introduced into the storyline as a way of continuing the series when the writers were faced with the departure of lead actor William Hartnell in 1966, it has continued to be a major element of the series, allowing for the recasting of the lead actor when the need arises. The serial The Deadly Assassin established that a Time Lord can regenerate twelve times, for a total of thirteen incarnations (although at least one Time Lord, The Master (Doctor Who), has managed to circumvent this and at last count was into his 15th incarnation, at least). To date, the Doctor has gone through this process and its resulting after-effects on nine occasions, with each of his incarnations having his own quirks and abilities but otherwise sharing the memories and experience of the previous incarnation:

First Doctor, played by William Hartnell (1963–1966)

Second Doctor, played by Patrick Troughton (1966–1969)

Third Doctor, played by Jon Pertwee (1970–1974)

Fourth Doctor, played by Tom Baker (1974–1981)

Fifth Doctor, played by Peter Davison (1982–1984)

Sixth Doctor, played by Colin Baker (1984–1986)

Seventh Doctor, played by Sylvester McCoy (1987–1989, 1996)

Eighth Doctor, played by Paul McGann (1996)

Ninth Doctor, played by Christopher Eccleston (2005)

Tenth Doctor, played by David Tennant (2005-)

Other actors have also played the Doctor, though rarely more than once (see the list of actors who have played the Doctor for details).

Despite these shifts in personality, the Doctor has always remained an intensely curious and highly moral adventurer, who would rather solve problems with his wits than through violence.

Throughout the programme's long history certain controversial revelations about the Doctor have been made. For example, in The Brain of Morbius (1976), it was hinted that the First Doctor may not have been the Doctor's first incarnation (although the other faces depicted may have been incarnations of the Time Lord Morbius); during the Seventh Doctor's era it was hinted that the Doctor was more than just an ordinary Time Lord. In the Eighth Doctor movie, it was suggested that the Doctor was "half human", though the canonicity of this is highly contested. The very first episode, An Unearthly Child, revealed that the First Doctor has a granddaughter, Susan Foreman, and in "Fear Her" (2006), he remarked that he had, in the past, been a father. The 2005 series revealed that the Ninth Doctor thought he had become the last surviving Time Lord, and that his home planet had been destroyed.

Companions The Doctor almost always shares his adventures with up to three companion (Doctor Who), and since 1963 more than 35 actors and actresses have featured in these roles. The First Doctor's original companions were his grand-daughter Susan Foreman (Carole Ann Ford) and school teachers Barbara Wright (Doctor Who) (Jacqueline Hill) and Ian Chesterton (William Russell (actor)). The only episode of the original series in which the Doctor travels alone was The Deadly Assassin. One can also make an argument that Liz Shaw of the seventh series does not qualify as a true companion as she never travelled in the TARDIS, although the Doctor himself did not travel during that period. This would put her in the same category as Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, Captain Mike Yates, and Sergeant Benton (UNIT regulars). Officially, however, she is considered a companion.

The companion provides a audience surrogate with whom the audience can identify and to further the story by asking questions and getting into trouble. The Doctor regularly gains new companions and loses old ones; sometimes they return home or find new causes — or loves — on worlds they have visited. Some have even died during the course of the series.

"Companion" is more generally used as a technical term in fandom; the press normally refers to them either as companions or assistants. The series does not apply the term consistently to those travelling with the Doctor, with him just as often introducing them simply as his friends. In the 2005 series, the Ninth Doctor states he "employed Rose Tyler as his companion" and then was promptly asked if it was sexual.

Despite the fact that the majority of the Doctor's companions are young, attractive females, the production team for the 1963–1989 series maintained a long-standing taboo against any overt romantic involvement in the TARDIS. The taboo was controversially broken in the 1996 television film when the Eighth Doctor was shown kissing companion Grace Holloway. The 2005 series played with this idea by having various characters think that the Ninth Doctor and Rose (played by Billie Piper) were a couple, which they vehemently denied although the contrary was strongly suggested by the 2005 series finale and in numerous episodes following the Tenth Doctor's regeneration (see also Doctor (Doctor Who)#Romance). The idea of a possible involvement was suggested again in "Smith and Jones (Doctor Who)", when the Tenth Doctor kisses his soon-to-be new companion Martha Jones, although the Doctor insists that the kiss was simply for the purpose of 'genetic transfer'.

Previous companions have reappeared in the series, usually for anniversary specials. One former companion, Sarah Jane Smith (played by Elisabeth Sladen), together with the robotic dog K-9 (Doctor Who), appeared in School Reunion (Doctor Who) of the 2006 series more than twenty years after their last appearances in the 20th Anniversary story "The Five Doctors" (1983). Afterwards, the character was featured in the spinoff series The Sarah Jane Adventures.

The most recent companions of the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) are Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman), and Jack Harkness (John Barrowman), both of whom depart at the end of "Last of the Time Lords". Catherine Tate will reprise her role as Donna Noble from the 2006 Christmas special, becoming the Doctor's companion for the entire run of the fourth series. Agyeman will appear as Martha Jones in three episodes of the spin-off series Torchwood before returning to Doctor Who halfway through the fourth series.

Adversaries s are perhaps the best-known adversaries faced by the Doctor.When Sydney Newman commissioned the series, he specifically did not want to perpetuate the cliché of the "bug-eyed monster" of science fiction. However, list of Doctor Who monsters and aliens were a staple of Doctor Who almost from the beginning and were popular with audiences.

Notable adversaries of the Doctor in the original series include the Autons, the Cyberman, the Sontarans, the Zygons, the Sea Devil (Doctor Who), the Silurian (Doctor Who), the Ice Warriors, the List of Doctor Who monsters and aliens#Wirrn, the Yeti (Doctor Who), Master (Doctor Who) (a Time Lord with a thirst for universal conquest), and, most notably, the Daleks. This continued with the resurrection of the series in 2005, which has featured the Daleks, the Cybermen, the Master and, less-prominently, the Autons and the Macra. The new series has also introduced new monsters, including the Slitheen, the Ood, and the Judoon.

Daleks Of all the monsters and villains, the ones that have most secured the series' place in the public's imagination are the Daleks. The Daleks are Kaled mutants in tank-like mechanical armour shells from the planet Skaro. Their chief role in the great scheme of things, as they frequently remark in their instantly recognizable metallic voices, is to "Exterminate!" all beings inferior to themselves, even destroying the Time Lords in the often referenced but never shown Time War (Doctor Who). Davros, the Daleks' creator, became a recurring villain after he was introduced in Genesis of the Daleks, in which the Time Lords send the Doctor back to either destroy the Daleks, avert their creation, or tamper with their genetic structure to make them less warlike.

The Daleks were created by writer Terry Nation (who intended them as an allegory of the Nazism) and BBC designer Raymond Cusick. The Daleks' début in the programme's second serial, The Daleks (1963–64), caused a tremendous reaction in the viewing figures and the public, putting Doctor Who on the cultural map. A Dalek appeared on a postage stamp celebrating British popular culture in 1999, photographed by Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon.

Music Theme music The original 1963 radiophonic arrangement of the Doctor Who theme is widely regarded as a significant and innovative piece of electronic music, and Doctor Who was the first television series in the world to have a theme entirely realised through electronic means.

The original theme was composed by Ron Grainer and realised by Delia Derbyshire at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, with assistance from Dick Mills. The various parts were built up by creating tape loops of an individually struck piano string and individual test oscillators and filters. The Derbyshire arrangement served, with minor edits, as the theme tune up to the end of List of Doctor Who serials#Season 17 (1979-80) (1979–80).

A more modern and dynamic arrangement was composed by Peter Howell for List of Doctor Who serials#Season 18 (1980-81) (1980), which was in turn replaced by Dominic Glynn's arrangement for Season 23's The Trial of a Time Lord (1986). Keff McCulloch provided the new arrangement for the Seventh Doctor's era which lasted from List of Doctor Who serials#Season 24 (1987) (1987) until the series' suspension in 1989. For the new series in 2005, Murray Gold provided a new arrangement which featured samples from the 1963 original with further elements added; in the 2005 Christmas episode "The Christmas Invasion", Gold introduced a modified closing credits arrangement that has been used ever since.

In the early 1970s, Jon Pertwee, who had played the Third Doctor, recorded a version of the Doctor Who theme with spoken lyrics, titled, "Who Is The Doctor". In 1988 the band The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu (later known as The KLF) released the single "Doctorin' the Tardis" under the name The Timelords, which reached No. 1 in the UK and No. 2 in Australia. Others who have covered or reinterpreted the theme include Orbital (band), Pink Floyd, the Australian string ensemble Fourplay Electric String Quartet, New Zealand punk band Blam Blam Blam, The Pogues, and the comedians Bill Bailey and Mitch Benn, and satirised on The Chaser's War on Everything. A reggae/ska version of the Dr Who theme tune was released on the Explosion label in 1969 by Bongo Herman and Les. The theme tune has also appeared on many compilation CDs and has made its way into mobile phone ring tones. Fans have also produced and distributed their own remixes of the theme.

Incidental music Most of the innovative incidental music for Doctor Who has been specially commissioned from freelance composers, although in the early years some episodes also used Royalty free music, as well as occasional excerpts from original recordings or cover versions of songs by popular music acts such as The Beatles and The Beach Boys.

The incidental music for the first Doctor Who adventure, An Unearthly Child, was written by Norman Kay (composer). Many of the stories of the William Hartnell period were scored by electronic music pioneer Tristram Cary, whose Doctor Who credits include The Daleks, Marco Polo (Doctor Who), The Daleks' Master Plan, The Gunfighters and The Mutants. Other composers in this early period were included Richard Rodney Bennett, Carey Blyton and Geoffrey Burgon.

The most frequent musical contributor during the first fifteen years was Dudley Simpson, who is also well known for his theme and incidental music for Blake's 7. Simpson's first Doctor Who score was Planet of Giants (1964) and he went on to write music for many adventures of the Sixties and Seventies, including most of the stories of the Jon Pertwee / Tom Baker periods, ending with The Horns of Nimon (1979). He also made a cameo appearance in The Talons of Weng-Chiang (as a music-hall conductor).

Beginning with The Leisure Hive (1980), the task of creating incidental music was assigned to the Radiophonic Workshop. Paddy Kingsland and Peter Howell contributed many scores in this period and other contributors included Roger Limb, Malcolm Clarke and Jonathan Gibbs (composer).

The Radiophonic Workshop was dropped after the The Trial of a Time Lord season, and Keff McCulloch took over as the series' main composer, with Dominic Glynn and Mark Ayres also contributing scores.

All the incidental music for both the Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant series has been composed by Murray Gold and has been performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales from the 2005 Christmas episode The Christmas Invasion onwards. Both series have featured occasional use of excerpts of pop music from the Eighties, Nineties and early 2000s.

A Doctor Who: Original Television Soundtrack for the new series was released on 4 December 2006 by Silva Screen Records.{{cite web]-[07-17 | url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/news/cult/news/drwho/2006/07/17/33953.shtml | title = Who soundtrack soon | publisher = [bbc.co.uk | accessdate = 2006-08-04 -->{{cite web|year =2006-11-01| accessdate = 2006-12-04--> And it has been confirmed, in DWM 387, that Volume 2 will be released pre series 4, due to heavy fan demand. Music from Series 3 will be released on the 5th of November 2007 by [Silva Screen Records.

"Special sound" Doctor Who's science-fiction themes and settings meant that many sound effects had to be specially created for the series, although some common sound effects (such as crowds, horses and jungle noises) were sourced from stock recordings. Because Doctor Who began several years before the advent of the first mass-produced synthesisers, much of the equipment used to create electronic sound effects in the early days was custom-built by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and until the early 1970s audio effects were realised using a combination of electronic and radiophonic techniques.

Almost all of the original sound effects and audio backgrounds during the 1960s were realised by the Radiophonic Workshop's Brian Hodgson, who worked on Doctor Who from its inception until the middle of Jon Pertwee's tenure in the early 1970s, when he was succeeded by Dick Mills. Hodgson created hundreds of pieces of "special sound" ranging from ray-gun blasts to dinosaurs, but without doubt his best known sound effects are the sound of the TARDIS as it de-materialises and re-appears, and the voices of the Daleks.

The basic audio source Hodgson used for the TARDIS effect was the sound of his house keys being scraped up and down along the strings of an old gutted piano, and played backwards. The famous Dalek voice effect was obtained by passing the actors' voices through a device called a ring modulator, and it was further enhanced by exploiting the distortion inherent in the microphones and amplifiers then in use. However, the precise sonic character of the Daleks' voices varied somewhat over time because the original frequency settings used on the ring modulator were never noted down.

Viewership is iconic in British popular culture.Doctor Who has always appeared on the BBC's mainstream BBC One channel, drawing audiences of many millions of viewers. It was most popular in the late 1970s, with audiences frequently as high as 12 million. During the ITV network strike of 1979, viewership peaked at 16 million. No first-run episode of Doctor Who has ever drawn fewer than three million viewers on BBC One, although its late 1980s performance of three to five million viewers was seen as poor at the time and was, according to the BBC Board of Control, a leading cause of the programme's 1989 suspension. Some fans considered this disingenuous, since the programme was scheduled against the soap opera Coronation Street, the most popular show at the time. The BBC One broadcast of "Rose (Doctor Who)", the first episode of the 2005 revival, drew an average audience of 10.81 million, third highest for BBC One that week and seventh across all channels. The 2005 series had an average audience of 7.91 million viewers, the 2006 series achieved an average audience of about 7.85 million, and the 2007 series achieved 7.54 million in the context of declining year-to-year viewership for all television channels. The 2006 episode "Rise of the Cybermen" managed sixth place in the charts across the week with 9.22 million viewers. The all-time highest chart placing for an episode of ''Doctor Who'' is fifth, for episode two of ''[The Ark in Space'' in 1975.

The programme also gained a Doctor Who in Australia, possibly as a result of the close connection between the BBC and Australia's major public broadcaster, Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The latest repeat of the classic series in Australia ran from September 2003 to February 2006, and the revived series has also been shown on ABC and UK.TV.

The series also has a fan base in the United States, where it was shown in syndication from the 1970s to the 1990s, particularly on PBS stations (see Doctor Who in America). New Zealand was the first country outside the UK to screen Doctor Who beginning in September 1964, and continued to screen the series for many years, including the new series from 2005. In Canada, the series debuted in January 1965, but the CBC only aired the first twenty-six episodes. TVOntario picked up the show in the 1976 beginning with The Three Doctors and aired it through to Season 24 in 1991. TVO's schedule ran several years behind the BBC's throughout this period. In the 1970s TVO airings were bookended by a host who would introduce the episode and then, after the episode concluded, try to place it in an educational context in keeping with TVO's status as an educational channel. The airing of The Talons of Weng Chiang resulted in controversy for TVOntario as a result of accusations that the story was racism. Consequently the story was not rebroadcast. CBC began showing the series again in 2005.

Only four episodes have ever had their premiere showings on channels other than BBC One. The 1983 twentieth anniversary special "The Five Doctors" had its début on November 23 (the actual date of the anniversary) on the Chicago PBS station WTTW-TV in the United States and various other PBS members two days prior to its BBC One broadcast. The 1988 story Silver Nemesis was broadcast with all three episodes edited together in compilation form on TVNZ in New Zealand in November, after the first episode had been shown in the UK but before the final two instalments had aired there. Finally, the 1996 television film premièred on 12 May 1996 on CITV-TV in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, fifteen days before the BBC One showing, and two days before it aired on Fox Broadcasting Company in the US.

A wide selection of serials is available from BBC Video on VHS and DVD, on sale in the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States. Every fully extant serial has been released on VHS, and BBC Worldwide continues to regularly release serials on DVD. The 2005 series is also available in its entirety on Universal Media Disc for the PlayStation Portable

As of September 2007, the revived series had been, or was currently, broadcast weekly in Australia (ABC), Belgium (Één TV Station), Brazil (People+Arts), Canada in English on (CBC Television) and in French on (Ztélé), Denmark (Danmarks Radio), Finland (Yleisradio), France (France 4), Hong Kong (Asia Television Limited) and BBC Entertainment, Hungary (RTL Klub-owned COOL TV), Ireland (TV3), Israel (Yes Stars 2), Italy (Jimmy (Italian television channel)), Japan (BS-2, a channel of NHK), Malaysia (Astro (satellite TV)), the Netherlands (Nederland 3), New Zealand (Prime Television New Zealand), Norway (Norsk Rikskringkasting), Poland (TVP 1),

BBC - Doctor Who - The Official Site
MMVIII. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

BBC - Doctor Who - The Classic Series
The official website with news, episode guide, cast video diaries, "the making of Doctor Who", Dalek game, image galleries, wallpapers, downloadable audio clips and footage from ...

Doctor Who Exhibitions Cardiff, Earls Court, Land's End, Blackpool ...
Doctor Who Exhibitions in Earls Court, Cardiff, Land's End, Blackpool Doctor Who Museum displaying Daleks, Cybermen and many other original costumes

Doctor Who Exhibition Earls Court - Dalek Tardis Cybermen Ood Boe ...
Doctor Who Exhibitions in Earls Court, Cardiff, Land's End, Blackpool Doctor Who Museum displaying Daleks, Cybermen and many other original costumes

Doctor Who Online
Offers news and reviews, with forums, episode guides, audio interviews and links.

DOCTOR WHO
Doctor Who episode and video guides,the 30th Anniversary Episode Dimensions in Time, Doctor Who humor and the new Doctor Who previews and trailers

Doctor Who Locations
Utilises Google Maps to provide details of various filming locations used in the series.

Doctor Who - New Merseyside Exhibition
Now see exhibits from the Series 3 episode ‘Blink', including a screaming Angel! Doctor Who Up Close at Manchester now extended to 6th January 2008 by popular demand!

Doctor Who - Radio Times
Your complete guide to Doctor Who, including episode, cast and crew information, video clips, photo galleries, transmission details, features and more. A must for fans.

Doctor Who | SCIFI.COM
Official site for the TV channel broadcasting the new series in America. Includes episode guides, character profiles, a gallery and message boards.