Doctor Who isn't just the longest-running sci-fi series of all time, it's also one of
the most iconic. But just what makes the Doctor tick? From monsters to madmen to Moffat fan
theories, here's the untold truth of Doctor Who.
One reason Doctor Who has managed to last so long is the fact that it's not beholden
to one particular star. Early on in the show's history, the producers built in a process
to change the main actor and have it fit right in with the narrative: regeneration. By regenerating,
the Doctor can change to a new actor with a different personality, though he typically
retains most of his, or her, memories.
This whole idea came about because, by 1966, 58-year-old star William Hartnell was ready
to leave Doctor Who. Not only was his health on the downturn, but he didn't care for how
the show's style was evolving under the guidance of newly appointed producer Innes Lloyd and
story editor Gerry Davis. But how to continue Doctor Who if the lead actor walked out? By
killing him off, kinda. The show's creative staff came up with an idea: Whenever the centuries-old
Doctor grew exhausted and weak, he could "regenerate" and take on a new form, in a new body, provided
by a new actor, of course. That ability to freely recast its main character has helped
the show stay alive for decades.
This concept gives enough wiggle room to recast the role as needed, and though it's certainly
a risky move on the surface, it's been a key part of the show's longevity. So how'd they
come up with the idea? Well, by tripping on acid, of course. According to an internal
memo from the show's original creative team, regeneration was supposed to be a horrifying
experience where the Doctor re-lives some of the most unendurable moments of his long
life. The Doctor is forced to face everything he's done in the moment of regeneration. The
producers say:
"It's as if he has had the LSD drug and instead of experiencing the kicks, he has the hell
and dank horror which can be its effect."
Since 1963, the appearance of the Doctor has changed repeatedly, and the show itself has
evolved on a number of occasions. Arguably the only true constant in Doctor Who is the
TARDIS. Short for "Time and Relative Dimension in Space," the Doctor uses the bigger-on-the-inside
spaceship to whisk companions around space and time.
"It's bigger…!"
"Why, yes."
".... on the inside!" "I need to concentrate."
"But it's smaller…"
"Yes, I know where you’re going with this, but I need you to calm down."
"On the outside?"
"Well, you certainly got the essentials."
It looks like a blue police call box because, as a time-traveling alien, the Doctor needs
to be able to blend in while on Earth. Originally, the show's writers intended for the TARDIS
to have a different form each adventure, blending into whatever landscape or setting the Doctor
found himself in.
Unfortunately, the show's meager budget precluded the crew from changing the TARDIS every week,
and since they already had the blue police box, they stuck with that. Naturally, this
problem came with its own in-universe solution: in the show itself, the TARDIS is outfitted
with a camouflaging "chameleon circuit", one that happens to be perpetually broken. The
show has also hinted on a number of occasions that the Doctor could get it fixed if he wanted
to, but that he's actually kind of fond of the whole blue box look.
In 1963, Verity Lambert was hired as the first producer for Doctor Who, making her the first
ever female producer at the BBC. Lambert was in charge of the first two series of Doctor
Who and left the project in 1965, but her legacy lives on: after her start on Doctor
Who, Verity started her own television company, and worked on several shows over the ensuing
decades. Upon her passing in 2007, former Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies said:
"There are a hundred people in Cardiff working on Doctor Who and millions of viewers, in
particular many children, who love the programme that Verity helped create."
Her story, along with the saga that launched Doctor Who, was also chronicled in the TV
movie An Adventure in Space and Time.
Each time a new actor comes in to play a new version of the Doctor, they get a new sartorial
look. Christopher Eccleston's iteration wore a black leather jacket, while Matt Smith's
Doctor rocked a bow tie and occasionally a fez. The most famous Who costume accessory,
however, is undoubtedly the overlong, multi-colored scarf worn by the popular Fourth Doctor, played
by Tom Baker. When putting together this particular look for the first time, costume designer
James Acheson went to a fabric shop, bought several skeins of yarn, and handed them off
to Begonia Pope, the mother of a friend. He later explained:
"So I went to Begonia and I said, 'Look, start knitting.'"
He returned in a week's time to find that Pope had knitted a scarf that was "22 feet
long."
Pope had misunderstood the assignment, and thought Acheson wanted her to not just use
a little of every color, but use up every last bit of yarn. Acheson added:
"I think we shortened it a little bit, though."
Product placement isn't a modern day phenomenon, in fact, shows and consumer goods companies
have been working together for decades. Case in point: Fourth Doctor Tom Baker's stint
as a salesman for Prime Computers in the 1980s. Baker starred in a hilariously cheesy series
of commercials hawking the computer brand, in which he had to use Prime Computers to
save the world. The company was moderately popular in the 1980s, and peaked sometime
around 1988. Unfortunately, the company went defunct during the following decade, but luckily
the commercials still exist. Because who'd want to miss this?
Unlike other TV science-fiction stalwarts, Doctor Who has never expanded its universe
with a big-screen movie. Two Who-related films were released in the 1960s, but they are extremely
different from the TV series, to say the least. Seeking to capitalize on the merchandise-spawning
popularity of Doctor Who's most recognizable villains the Daleks, Amicus Productions bought
the movie rights to three Dalek-based Doctor Who adventures from the BBC and their creator,
Who writer Terry Nation.
Dr. Who and the Daleks and Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. are not an extension of the
main Doctor Who canon. In the films, the Doctor isn't a Time Lord from another planet who
travels around in the TARDIS, but rather a human doctor whose last name is Who, played
by horror legend Peter Cushing. Boasting full color when the television Doctor Who was still
airing in black and white, the first film was a hit, but the second one bombed, leading
Amicus to cancel plans for a third Dalek movie.
Oh well.
Thanks to the concept of regeneration, plenty of different actors have taken up the Doctor's
mantle, and some potential stars could have taken the franchise in very different directions.
According to The Times, Michael Jackson and Bill Cosby were at the top of the list to
play the Doctor in a 1988 film adaption that never materialized. These might seem like
some outside-the-box choices for the role, but remember, this was the late 1980s, Jackson
was trying to branch into film with efforts like Captain EO and Moonwalker, while Cosby
was in the midst of The Cosby Show's success.
Fans waited years for a female or black take on the iconic character, but it's amazing
to think the show could've embraced that diversity far earlier than it ultimately did.
Though he's softened his stance on Doctor Who as of late, Christopher Eccleston famously
disliked the show following his one-year stint as the Doctor when it relaunched in 2005 after
a 16-year break. The actor told the Daily Record he'd had enough with the show, and
once he realized he and the showrunners were never going to compromise over the creative
direction of the series, he decided to leave, leading to the first regeneration of the modern
era. Despite his quick exit, Eccleston still deserves a lot of credit for successfully
relaunching the show. The actor was actually invited back to the 50th anniversary special,
but negotiations broke down before a deal could be made. Eccleston's role was eventually
reworked to introduce John Hurt's War Doctor.
Introduced in the 2007 episode "Blink," the terrifying Weeping Angels are essentially
statues, only ones that can move at terrifying speeds, so long as nobody's looking at them.
Created by writer Steven Moffat, these unsettling creatures are actually based on a real-life
experience. While on vacation in the coastal English county of Dorset, Moffat walked past
a graveyard, and decided to have a look around. Inside, he found a statue of a weeping angel.
But here's where it gets weird. Years later, Moffat returned to the graveyard, but the
angel was nowhere to be seen. Moffat explained to the Oxford Union:
"There are two possible explanations. One is that weeping angels are real. The other
is that I somehow made up the weeping angel and it was never there."
He even did some research into the graveyard, and found no evidence that there was ever
a weeping angel statue there.
It's crazy to think, but Doctor Who has actually been around long enough that kids who watched
the series growing up are now old enough to actually be writing and producing the series.
And that's exactly what happened for ex-showrunner Steven Moffat. In 1995, when he was still
just a fan, Moffat posited a fan theory in a Doctor Who chat room. His idea was that
the universe developed the word "doctor" to describe a healer or peacemaker, based on
the legend of the Doctor's travels throughout time and space. Moffat admitted his theory
was stupid, but said he was rather proud of it anyway.
Fast forward 16 years, and Moffat is running Doctor Who. In the 2011 episode "A Good Man
Goes to War," Alex Kingston's River Song gives a speech to the Doctor that pretty much turns
Moffat's fan theory into canon.
"Doctor…the word for healer and wise man throughout the universe. We get that word
from you, you know."
Much the same way showrunner Steven Moffat relished the chance to make his fan theory
canon, Doctor Who star Peter Capaldi was also living out a childhood dream during his time
on the show. Capaldi was a hardcore Doctor Who fan as a teenager, and has made no secret
about the fact that the show is what inspired him to get into show business. Rather famously,
Capaldi was so obsessed with Doctor Who that he constantly bombarded the show's creative
team with fan mail, to the point that one of them once openly wished the Daleks would
exterminate him. Keith Miller, who ran the Doctor Who fan club at the time, wrote in
his book:
"He haunted my time running the fan club. He was quite indignant he wasn’t considered
for the post, and [the show's production secretary] Sarah [Newman] couldn't stand him."
After the departure of Peter Capaldi in 2017, Jodie Whittaker made history by becoming not
only the 13th actor to portray the Doctor in an official capacity, but also the first
woman. The regeneration coincided with a switch in backstage talent, too, as longtime showrunner
Steven Moffatt left the series in the hands of Chris Chibnall. For Chibnall, casting a
woman in the role was never a question of "should" but one of "who." According to the
BBC, Chibnall selected Whittaker after months of lists, conversations, auditions, and recalls,
but he always knew that his Doctor would be a woman.
But the road to Whittaker was a long one. In 1986, BBC head of drama Sydney Newman told
producers that the next Doctor ought to be a female. While Britcom stars Dawn French
and Joanna Lumley were briefly considered, Newman's suggestion was overruled. In the
end, Sylvester McCoy became Doctor number seven. Oscar winner Dame Judi Dench was later
considered to star in the show's mid-2000s reboot, ultimately losing out to Christopher
Eccleston.
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