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Doctor Who is a great gig. But when ya gotta go, ya gotta go. So why did each Doctor decide to call it quits?
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00:00Playing the Doctor is the role of a lifetime, but it's hardly the most glamorous of gigs,
00:05spending most of the year in rainy old Cardiff, running around quarries and steel mills after
00:09dark. It's a physical demanding part, with 60 years of pressure on top. It's also a strange
00:15job in that you know you'll one day have to pass the torch. There have been a variety of reasons
00:20why the stars of the show have come down with a severe case of the glowy face, so let's take a
00:25look at them. I'm Ellie for Who Culture, and this is why every lead actor left Doctor Who.
00:30Number 13. William Hartnell. When William Hartnell agreed to play the Doctor in the early 60s,
00:35the concept of regeneration didn't even exist. This was a family program about a madman with a box.
00:41Nobody involved thought that Doctor Who would spawn an unprecedented 60-year run, but sadly,
00:46several problems necessitated a plot device that would allow the show to switch leads. Hartnell
00:50was no spring chicken, and as his health deteriorated, it became difficult for him to keep up with Doctor
00:55Who's gruelling production schedule. He suffered from a condition which hardens the artery walls
01:00and restricts blood flow, which would often cause him to forget or mix up his lines. Combined with
01:05the fact that Hartnell didn't get along with producer John Wiles, who replaced original producer
01:10Verity Lambert in 1965, the idea was floated to recast him during The Celestial Toymaker. The Doctor
01:16would be invisible for most of the narrative, only to return with a brand new face. Though this idea
01:21wasn't used here, a similar concept of renewal, because actually the term regeneration wasn't
01:26invented until later on, was devised for the 10th planet, by which point Hartnell's health had
01:30declined so much that it was difficult for him to just keep going. The first Doctor changed his face
01:35on the 29th of October 1966, and Doctor Who continued under a new lead actor.
01:42Number 12. Patrick Troughton. Patrick Troughton reportedly thought that regeneration
01:46was a naff concept. He said,
01:48I don't think it was a particularly good idea of the BBC to replace Billy. I thought it was pretty
01:53silly, really. However, he was eventually persuaded to take the leap. I would imagine
01:57that the consistent paycheck probably played a role in that decision. Like Hartnell, Troughton
02:01found Doctor Who's production schedule highly demanding. With dozens of episodes being produced
02:05per year, it's easy to see why. This is largely what influenced his decision to exit the role in
02:101969, with three seasons under his belt. After he left, Troughton advised Fifth Doctor, Peter Davison,
02:17to also follow the three-year model, in effort to avoid being typecast. And over the years,
02:21this has become something of an unwritten rule that many Doctors abide by, intentionally or not.
02:27Number 11. John Pertwee. The Third Doctor's era brought big change to Doctor Who. The show was
02:32now in colour, the Doctor was stranded on Earth working with his unit family, and iconic characters
02:37like The Master, Sarah Jane Smith, and Joe Grant were introduced. They say that nobody likes change,
02:43but in this case, it was a big hit, with Doctor Who enjoying something of a renaissance after ratings
02:48had dipped towards the latter end of Troughton's run. This success might be why Pertwee remained in
02:53the role for longer than either of his predecessors, completing five full seasons instead of the usual
02:58three. An incredibly positive tenure overall then, but one that was tinged with sadness by the time it
03:04concluded. After the tragic death of his good friend and master actor Roger Delgado in 1973,
03:09Pertwee was motivated to head for the exit. Various cast and crew members were also leaving
03:14the show, and Pertwee decided it was time for him to do the same. His request for a significant pay
03:19rise had also been declined, which further reinforced his decision. 1974's Planet of the Spiders was the
03:24first story to use the term regeneration to describe the Doctor's face-changing process,
03:29and it was here where Pertwee bowed out of the role. Number 10, Tom Baker. Tom Baker is the
03:34longest-serving Doctor to date, but in hindsight, the man himself thinks that he might have stayed
03:39a bit too long. The actor has cited the early part of his tenure under producer Philip Hinchcliffe
03:44as his favourite period of the show, but confessed that he grew more and more frustrated when John
03:48Nathan Turner took the reins in 1980. Nathan Turner added a lot more characters to each story,
03:53and Baker felt that the short 25-minute episode format meant that most of these characters ended up
03:58being useless. John Nathan Turner and I did not see eye-to-eye about very much, he said in 2014,
04:03and he continued to say, I think I should have gone when John was taking over to liberate him
04:07to recast. Maybe I did one series too many. In a separate interview, Baker stated that Nathan
04:12Turner, quote, diminished him in the role, and that he was annoyed by the addition of question marks to
04:18the Doctor's collar. The tension ultimately proved too much, and by the time 1981 rolled around,
04:22Baker had decided that his time as the Doctor was over. Number 9, Peter Davison. As previously mentioned,
04:28Peter Davison wanted to stick to a three-year stint after listening to Patrick Troughton's advice
04:33about not being typecast, so that's exactly what he did. However, there may be a little bit more to
04:38the story than that. Though Davison was happy with his final season in 1984, he found the middle part
04:44of his run rather frustrating, clashing with Nathan Turner over various creative decisions. Davison wished
04:49to bring more levity to his Doctor, which his superior consistently shot down. Davison had also noted
04:54how long Tom Baker stayed in the role, and was concerned that staying any longer than three
04:58years might affect his future job opportunities. And so, the fifth Doctor regenerated on the 16th
05:03of March 1984, almost three years to the day since his first appearance at the end of Logopolis.
05:10Number 8, Colin Baker. Colin Baker was at the helm for one of the most turbulent periods in Doctor Who
05:15history. In 1985, the show was put on hiatus due to concerns about its quality and its levels of violence.
05:21BBC executive Michael Grade believed Doctor Who felt cheap compared to the likes of Star Wars and
05:27E.T. saying,
05:28What we were serving up as science fiction was garbage. Bit harsh. I wouldn't exactly say that's a fair
05:33comparison, but we get the point. Though Doctor Who did return after its hiatus with the season-long
05:37story Trial of a Time Lord, it wasn't long before Baker himself had a target on his back. With higher
05:43ups still not convinced by the show's quality or ratings, they removed him from the role. Though he was
05:48offered a final adventure that would conclude with the sixth Doctor's departure, Baker refused to return
05:53for anything less than a full season. And as a result, he wasn't even present for his own regeneration
05:58scene, with Sylvester McCoy instead adorning a blonde curly wig.
06:02Number 7, Sylvester McCoy. Unlike most of his fellow Time Lords, Sylvester McCoy never technically
06:07left Doctor Who, nor was he fired. He was simply unlucky enough to be the Doctor in 1989, the year in which
06:14production of the show was suspended. It's a shame too, because McCoy had settled into a solid groove
06:19towards the end of his era, with he and Sophie Aldred proving a winning combination. Unfortunately,
06:24public perception of Doctor Who was at an all-time low, and with viewership declining, the plug was
06:29pulled. Regardless, McCoy was still the incumbent Doctor for the 1993 charity special Dimensions in
06:35Time, and the start of the 1996 TV movie. Writer Matthew Jacobs wished to link the movie directly
06:40to the classic series, and so it was decided to depict the seventh Doctor's regeneration.
06:45Number 6, Paul McGann. Based on their original runs, Paul McGann is the shortest-serving Doctor
06:50of all time, less than 90 minutes in total. But at first, it was hoped that he'd get to play the
06:55character for a lot longer than that. The TV movie was intended to kickstart a new series of Doctor Who,
07:01a co-production between the BBC and Fox. But despite strong UK ratings, it underperformed in North
07:07America, and Fox chose not to go any further. Like McCoy then, McGann never technically left
07:12Doctor Who. He was simply the star of the show at a time when it ran out of steam. No more on-screen
07:17appearances were green-lit, though he did reprise the role in the 2001 Big Finish audio drama Storm
07:23Warning, marking the beginning of an incredibly successful run in Doctor Who's expanded universe.
07:28In 2003, it was announced that one Russell T. Davis had been hired to showrun a new series of
07:33Doctor Who. Though Davis decided that the new series would continue where the TV movie left
07:38off, he intended to be careful with his acknowledgement of the show's past so as to
07:41make it as newcomer-friendly as possible. And to that end, a new Doctor was brought in to lead the
07:46charge. And McGann was left without a regeneration scene until 2013 Minnesota, The Night of the Doctor.
07:52Number 5, Christopher Eccleston. Though precise details are scarce, Christopher Eccleston did not have
07:57the best of times shooting his first and only series of Doctor Who. Production on Block 1,
08:02comprising Rose, Aliens of London and World War 3, was reportedly chaotic, not least because it fell
08:08behind schedule. This tallies with comments that Eccleston has made in the years since, where he's
08:13explained that poor management on the part of the showrunners was the main catalyst for his decision
08:18to exit after just 13 episodes. He said,
08:20I left because my relationship with the showrunner and the producer broke down. I left because of the
08:25politics of the show. I left only because of those three individuals and the way they were running the
08:29show. It's unclear how bad things got at the time, but Eccleston's recent statement that the only way
08:35he'd consider returning to Doctor Who was if current producers Russell T. Davis, Jane Tranter,
08:40Phil Collinson and Julie Gardner were sacked is damning, considering those four were in charge back
08:45in 2005. On a more positive note, Eccleston loves playing the Doctor and has shown a great
08:50willingness to engage with fans on the convention circuit. He also returned to voice the Ninth Doctor
08:55on audio from 2021 onwards. Number four, David Tennant. Eccleston may have lit the torch,
09:01but it was David Tennant who ran with it. Under his watch, Doctor Who became the most dominant show
09:06on British television, with the Tenth Doctor achieving some phenomenally high viewing figures
09:11throughout his run, including what is still the most-watched New Who episode of all time,
09:152007 Christmas special, Voyage of the Damned. Unlike the last few Doctors, Tennant's departure
09:20wasn't surrounded by any sort of drama. In October 2008, he made the announcement himself,
09:26stating that he didn't want to outstay his welcome, and that, quote,
09:29if I don't take a deep breath and move on now, I never will. It was a very tough choice to arrive
09:34at, and Tennant did consider staying on for one more series under new showrunner Stephen Moffat.
09:39The BBC would have gladly kept him too, considering his popularity. In fact, Moffat has since claimed
09:44that there might have been plans to consider ending Doctor Who, and that it was a, quote,
09:48huge question whether it could continue without Tennant. There's no doubt he's iconic in the
09:53role, and since regenerating in 2010, he's barely kept away. He's been highly active in expanded media
09:59and returned to play the Doctor on screen in both the 50th and 60th anniversaries. Tennant always
10:04knew that the deal for the 60th anniversary was for three specials and no more, but based on how
10:09things ended, we'll no doubt be seeing him again in the future. Let's be honest.
10:12Number 3. Matt Smith
10:14Matt Smith was able to build on the success of the Tennant era, giving the show an international
10:19appeal to complement its dominance of British screens. And as was the case with his predecessor,
10:23there was no trouble surrounding his departure. He just decided to move on. From the beginning,
10:28Smith had hinted to Stephen Moffat that he wanted to stay for no more than three series. The news was
10:33announced in June 2013, half a year before his regeneration in the upcoming Christmas special.
10:38Smith stated that it had been an honour to play the Doctor, and that, quote,
10:42when you gotta go, you gotta go. Like other incarnations, the show's tough production
10:46schedule also played a part in his decision. It wasn't an easy choice to make though,
10:50and Smith has confessed that he would have gladly done another year, and that he regrets not getting
10:55a full series with Jenna Coleman. Recently, he's also hinted that he wasn't entirely happy with his
10:59final episode. Unsurprisingly then, he's more than game for a return to the show. Though many were
11:04hoping he'd appear in the 60th anniversary, Smith is young enough that there's no doubt that we'll see him
11:09play the Doctor on screen at least one more time. Number two, Peter Capaldi.
11:14Peter Capaldi actually played two other characters in the Hooniverse before he was cast as the main
11:19attraction. Kykilius in 2008's The Fires of Pompeii, and John Frobisher in Tortured Children of Earth.
11:24Rather than these past lives being ignored during the 12th Doctor's reign, this identity crisis formed
11:30a core part of his arc. Despite ratings dipping from the Tennant and Smith eras, Capaldi enjoyed three
11:35strong series in the role before regenerating in the 2017 Christmas special. This was actually a
11:40last minute adjustment, with the original plan being for him to bow out at the end of series 10
11:45in July. As for why he left? Again, this was another case of the actor deciding to call it quits.
11:50Though incoming showrunner Chris Chibnall did try and persuade him to stay, and Capaldi did consider
11:55it, he opted out, saying that he wanted to leave while he was still enjoying it. He's also indicated
11:59that the workload was a factor. In 2018, he candidly stated,
12:03To be at the centre of that brand is a lot of work. It was hard to maintain that level of
12:07commitment with that schedule any longer. I tried my best to make the Doctor come alive.
12:12This also might explain why he's not so keen on a return. His response when asked about the
12:16possibility was a simple no. But fingers crossed he changes his mind in the future.
12:21Number 1. Jodie Whittaker
12:23Chris Chibnall and Jodie Whittaker were the first showrunner Doctor duo to make the three series rule
12:28into a joint agreement. Upon announcing their exits in 2021, Chibnall explained,
12:33Jodie and I made a three series and out pact with each other at the start of this once-in-a-lifetime
12:37blast. So now our shift is done. We're handing back the TARDIS keys. Whittaker echoed this sentiment,
12:43stating that they always knew they wanted to, quote, pass on the baton together. Because her
12:47regeneration is still so fresh at this point, it's too early for any other potential reasons to come
12:52to light, as has been the case with other Doctors. That said, Whittaker thoroughly enjoyed her time at the
12:57helm and has already confessed she'd be, quote, very happy to put on my Doctor's coat again.
13:02And with New Who's 20th anniversary approaching in 2025, who knows what might happen? Who knows?
13:09And that's everything for this list, but for more behind-the-scenes gossip,
13:12why not check out 10 Doctor Who mistakes confirmed by the creators?
13:16In the meantime, I've been Ellie for WhoCulture, and in the words of Riversong herself,
13:20goodbye, sweeties.
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