Doctor Who

Doctor Who (also abbreviated to Dr. Who) is the title of a long-running BBC TV science fiction serial, first broadcast in November 1963. The weekly episodes recount the adventures of the principal character, a 'Time Lord' who is nameless although is often referred to as 'The Doctor', as he travels both through space and time in his TARDIS (the original series run was subtitled 'An adventure in space and time').

The TV series has had two main production runs. the first or 'classic' series ran from 1963 to 1989, the second began with a revival in 2005 and continues to run (as of November 2018). A TV movie featuring the character (co-produced by the BBC) was also made in 1996, although did not result in a full revival.

TARDIS
The Doctor's time and space machine is known as the TARDIS, an acronym for Time and Relative Dimensions in Space. The TARDIS has the characteristic of firstly taking the semblance of a 1960s police telephone box (originally intended to 'camouflage' it in 1960s London) and is also much larger on the inside than it is on the outside. This second characteristic habitually confounds the Doctor's companions and other characters who are invited in.

Companions
Although The Doctor's adventures take him to a number of planets and galaxies at various points in time, they also often involve Earth and its inhabitants and throughout the series he usually travels with one or more human companions. Some famous companions include:

Enemies

 * Daleks
 * Cybermen
 * The Master

Actors
The Doctor periodically undergoes a 'regeneration' process in which his human form is transformed. Although his character and appearance change, he usually retains his memory and certain character traits. This transformation was devised in order for the series to change the actor playing the role.


 * see also The 13 Doctors - a Who's Who. (BBC Genome Blog, 2018-10-05)