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The Doctor has lived many lives - many more than you might've realised.
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00:00Between 1963 and 2024, there have been 14 actors to play the 15 main incarnations of the Doctor.
00:08In that time, there's also been timeless children, fugitives, warriors, dreamlords,
00:12valiards and curators. In other words, there are an insane amount of Doctors and so much history
00:18to explore, whether you're new to the show or just want a refresh. I'm Ellie for Who Culture
00:23and this is every version of the Doctor explained. The First Doctor, First Appearance 1963
00:30The First Doctor was an enigmatic and short-tempered figure who took some time to warm up to his fellow
00:36travellers. He and his granddaughter Susan had left their unnamed at the time home planet for an
00:41undisclosed reason and ended up in London 1963. The First Doctor was sometimes stern, but mostly
00:47had an impish sense of mischief that was teased out by his human companions. The positive influence
00:53of Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright helped mould him into the hero that audiences recognise today.
00:59Key moments in his life include the first encounters with the Daleks and the Toymaker and saving the
01:04entire galaxy from the Dalek Time Destructor. Eventually, the First Doctor's body gave in to
01:09old age after a gruelling encounter with the Cybermen and he regenerated inside the TARDIS.
01:15The Second Doctor, First Appearance 1966
01:19The Second Doctor was even more impish than his predecessor, but he also had a dark and
01:24manipulative side. This is the Doctor who experimented on his companion Jamie McCrimmon in
01:30an admittedly well-intentional attempt to defeat the Daleks once and for all. Not only did Patrick
01:35Troughton face the Daleks many times, but also the Cybermen, more so than any of his successors in fact,
01:41clocking up four stories across his three years in the role. Other notable highlights of the Second
01:46Doctor era are the introduction of the Ice Warriors and the first encounter with the Time Lords,
01:51the latter of which changed Doctor Who lore forever. It was the Time Lords who punished the
01:55Second Doctor for his frequent space-time meddling by forcibly regenerating him and stranding him on
02:01Earth. The Third Doctor, First Appearance 1970
02:05The Doctor was exiled to Earth for much of his third incarnation and became much more of an action
02:12hero than the two Doctors before him. He was employed by the United Nations Intelligence Task
02:17Force as a scientific advisor, although he often clashed with his boss, the stern yet respectable
02:22Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart. The Doctor and the Brigadier would become best of friends and remained
02:27loyal to each other until the Brig's death in 2011. The same is true of Sarah Jane Smith, who first
02:33met
02:33the Doctor in his third incarnation and would become the most beloved companion in the history of the show.
02:38One of the Doctor's other best friends slash enemies, the Master, was also introduced during
02:43the Third Doctor era. The dynamic between John Pertwee's Doctor and Roger Delgado's Master has
02:49rarely been equaled in future incarnations. The Third Doctor's life came to an end when he exposed
02:54himself to fatal levels of radiation to destroy an enormous spider known as the Great One. He
03:00regenerated on the floor of Unit Headquarters as the Brigadier and Sarah Jane looked on.
03:05The Fourth Doctor – First Appearance 1974
03:09After his regeneration, the Fourth Doctor set off in the TARDIS to explore all of time and space once
03:15more. A bohemian wanderer, the Fourth Doctor never stayed in one place for too long, despite having
03:20more seasons under his scarf than any other Doctor. He had a wittiness and a wildness about him not seen
03:26in previous Doctors, traits that have remained, even slightly, in every subsequent incarnation.
03:31Highlights of the Fourth Doctor's time in the TARDIS include his ascension to the position of Lord
03:36President of Gallifrey – he didn't last long – some proper fleshing out of Gallifrey and the Time
03:41Lords, and inadvertently burning the real Mona Lisa. After many years of adventuring, the Fourth
03:46Doctor regenerated after falling from the Pharos radio telescope, thanks to the machinations of the
03:52Master. As he died, he merged with a mysterious manifestation of himself known as the Watcher,
03:57a creature about which we still know very little, creating his next incarnation.
04:02The Morbius Doctor's First Appearance 1976
04:06Doctor Who appeared to reveal eight previously unseen incarnations of the Doctor in a notorious
04:12moment from the 1976 serial The Brain of Morbius. Battling the renegade Time Lord Morbius,
04:18the Fourth Doctor flashed back through his previous lives, and then began cycling through faces the audience
04:23had never seen before. Each Morbius Doctor was played by a member of the Doctor Who production
04:27team, from producer Philip Hinchcliffe to former floor manager and future director Graham Harper.
04:33The intent was to imply that these Doctors came before the First Doctor, though this wouldn't be
04:37truly acknowledged on screen until the 2020 episode The Timeless Children.
04:42The Fifth Doctor – First Appearance 1981
04:46The Fifth Doctor was the most youthful incarnation in the classic Doctor Who era. But rather than write this
04:52Doctor as a young adventurer with a zest for life, the Fifth Doctor was often written as an insecure
04:57and indecisive character. This often meant that his stories ended with catastrophic amounts of
05:02bloodshed due to the Doctor's inability to find another way. He was one of the only Doctors to have
05:07a companion die on his watch, with boy genius Adric meeting his maker in the story Earthshock.
05:12He did, however, put his youthful frame to good use and even took time out of adventuring to enjoy a
05:18spot
05:18of cricket. The Fifth Doctor finally got his act together in the caves of Andrazani when he risked
05:23everything to save new companion Perry from a deadly sickness. Having secured enough of the
05:29cure to save only his companion and not himself, he bravely gave his life for her and began the
05:34process of regenerating, which perhaps due to the poison's effects felt a lot different than normal.
05:40The Sixth Doctor – First Appearance 1984
05:43The Sixth Doctor was far more confident and bombastic than his predecessor. He had a strong
05:49moral code and wasn't afraid to speak truth to power. Though this caused some to view him as pompous
05:55and unpleasant, the Sixth Doctor was also very progressive. During his era, he spoke out against
06:00the dehumanising effects of reality television in Vengeance on Varos, advocated for a plant-based diet
06:06in Revelation of the Daleks, and exposed corruption at the heart of Gallifreyan society in The Trial of a
06:12Time Lord. Sixth's tenure also saw the introduction of Melanie Bush, who is currently battling evil
06:17once again alongside the Fifteenth Doctor. This noble incarnation of the Doctor had an
06:21underwhelming exit when he appeared to regenerate after falling off his exercise bike during an attack
06:27on the TARDIS. This rushed ending was due to Colin Baker's untimely firing and subsequent refusal to
06:33return for anything less than a full season. Seventh Doctor Sylvester McCoy donned a wig in his place.
06:39The Valiard. First appearance, 1986. The Trial of a Time Lord revealed another mysterious
06:46incarnation of the Doctor, the Valiard. The exact nature of how the Valiard came to be was never
06:51fully explained in the show, perhaps due to how tumultuous the making of this season was.
06:56Going by what's said on screen, the Valiard is a distillation of the Doctor's darkest urges that
07:02originates somewhere between their twelfth and final incarnation. The Master is the one who revealed
07:07this information and they're far from being a reliable source, however. The Valiard did confirm
07:11this to the Sixth Doctor, though, and warned him that he was inevitable. Huh, anyone else just think
07:16of Thanos? I am inevitable. Anyway, it remains to be seen whether or not we'll see the Valiard again
07:22in one form or another. He could feasibly appear any time before the end of the Doctor's life,
07:27so who knows when he might pop up again.
07:29The Seventh Doctor. First appearance, 1987.
07:34Sylvester McCoy's Seventh Doctor started out as a clownish character with a darker edge,
07:39not unlike Patrick Troughton's Second Doctor. However, he soon hardened into the most manipulative
07:44and direct of the Doctor's incarnations. This was a Doctor who was sick of seeing evil win and
07:49resolved to do something about it. One of the most notable moments in the Seventh Doctor's life was
07:54when he destroyed Scarrow, the home planet of the Daleks. Given that the Fourth Doctor had
07:59previously refused to destroy the Daleks at the point of their creation, this demonstrates how
08:03tortured an incarnation Seven truly was. In the end, what toppled this almighty Doctor was a lack
08:08of gun control and America's healthcare system. He was shot down in an alley and died on the operating
08:13table, forcing him to regenerate into his eighth face.
08:17The Eighth Doctor. First appearance, 1996.
08:21The Eighth Doctor was a breath of fresh air, handsome, romantic, and possessing a zest for
08:26life and thirst for adventure. Paul McGann's incarnation would have revitalized the character
08:31on TV, had the powers that be decided to continue with him. While The Eighth Doctor's TV adventures
08:36never went further than the 1996 TV movie, he's had parallel lives in books, comic strips,
08:42and audio dramas. And that's where he truly found his audience. Eventually, in 2013, it was revealed
08:48that the Eighth Doctor regenerated at the height of the Time War, after his attempts to save a
08:53crashing freighter went horribly wrong. Deciding that the universe was no longer in need of a
08:57Doctor, he regenerated into a warrior. Doctor Who initially skipped over Eighth's regeneration,
09:03however, kicking off the 2005 revival with the Ninth Doctor fully formed.
09:07The Ninth Doctor. First appearance, 2005.
09:11The Ninth Doctor was a bruised and battered veteran of the Time War. Unable to see another path,
09:17it was the Doctor who ended the war by annihilating both the Time Lords and the Daleks in one fell
09:22swoop. This made him the last of his kind. Not unlike the First Doctor, the Ninth incarnation was
09:28standoffish and had little time for humans. The positive influence of Rose Tyler brought him out
09:33of his shell, however, and helped him learn how to be the Doctor again. By the end of his life,
09:37the previously lonely Ninth Doctor had a proper gang of companions, including Rose, Mickey,
09:42Captain Jack Harkness, and the tragic Linda with a Y. After Rose absorbed the heart of the TARDIS to
09:48save the Doctor and Jack from the Daleks, the Ninth Doctor took the powers of the Vortex from
09:52her to save her life. Overwhelmed by the energy coursing through his body, he regenerated once
09:58again. The Tenth Doctor. First appearance, 2005. The Tenth Doctor was far breezier than his
10:05predecessor, but only because he'd found a way to repress his Time War trauma. This version of the
10:09Doctor is the most overt ladies' man, copping off with companions, Australian pop stars,
10:14and Zygons left, right, and centre. The Tenth Doctor also introduced the idea that the last
10:19of the Time Lords can be a bit of a dick without a companion. From drowning all the little Rachnos
10:24babies to trying to defy the Lords of Time themselves, the Tenth Doctor had a real dark streak
10:29when left to his own devices. This Doctor's era saw the introduction of Donna Noble, as well as the
10:34grand return of the Time Lords, who temporarily found a way to escape the destruction of the Time War.
10:39After sending them and their leader, Rassilon, back into hell, Ten regenerated after absorbing
10:44fatal amounts of radiation that would otherwise have killed Wilfred Mott, Donna's grandfather.
10:49Doctor Moon. First appearance, 2008. You didn't expect that one, did you?
10:54Now, it's never been confirmed in the episodes themselves, but Colin Salmon's Doctor Moon
10:59from Silence in the Library slash Forest of the Dead is actually a future incarnation of the Doctor.
11:04A Doctor Who magazine feature called Showrunner Showdown revealed that Stephen Moffat,
11:08who created Doctor Moon, emailed Russell T. Davis in 2008 to explain that, in his head,
11:14Doctor Moon was a representation of a future Doctor who had died in River Song's arms.
11:19Aww.
11:20According to Moffat, when River dies in Forest of the Dead and lives on in the Library's computer
11:24as a data ghost, she learns that that dying Doctor has popped his mind inside a moon to watch over
11:30her,
11:30worrying she'll get lonely.
11:32Oh my god, I can't handle it, it's so cute.
11:33Now, will we ever see Doctor Moon ever again?
11:35Well, possibly not, but even if we don't, it does certainly change your perception of his character, doesn't it?
11:41The Metacrisis Doctor. First appearance, 2008.
11:45The Metacrisis Doctor was a genetic hybrid built from the combined DNA of Donna Noble
11:50and the Tenth Doctor's severed, pickled hand, which he had lost in a sword fight in the 2005 Christmas special.
11:56This half-human, half-Timelord clone of the Tenth Doctor eventually triggered a catastrophic explosion
12:02that practically destroyed the New Dalek Empire.
12:04The Tenth Doctor was furious with his counterpart, which was a bit rich considering the whole Ragnos drowning incident,
12:11and he exiled the Metacrisis Doctor to live in a parallel Earth with Rose Tyler,
12:15believing that she could make him a better man.
12:18The Eleventh Doctor. First appearance, 2010.
12:21The Eleventh Doctor started out as a shy, nerdy kid with the memories and experiences of a man who was
12:28centuries old.
12:29This changed through time as his relationship with River Song, the best character,
12:33made him much more confident and dangerously close to being described as laddish.
12:38Eleven had one of the longest lives a Doctor has ever had.
12:41He learned the truth that River Song was the daughter of his companion, Amy Pond,
12:45visited his own tomb, and became so feared that his greatest foes assembled to seal him inside the Pandorica.
12:52Alongside two previous incarnations, he also ended the Time War by saving Gallifrey,
12:57freeing himself from the guilt of having initially destroyed it.
13:00Though this was the first Doctor to run out of lives,
13:02he was given an explosive new regeneration cycle by the Time Lords,
13:06allowing him to regenerate into his next incarnation.
13:10The Dream Lord. First appearance, 2010.
13:13The Dream Lord was a manifestation of the Eleventh Doctor's darkest impulses and thoughts,
13:19who was brought to life by psychic pollen trapped inside the TARDIS Time Rotor.
13:23The Eleventh Doctor was able to defeat him by identifying which of the Dream Lord's realities were real and which
13:29were tricks.
13:30Played by Toby Jones, this darker version of the Doctor shared much in common with the Valiard,
13:35and they could potentially even be one and the same.
13:37The Valiard was supposed to come into being between the Doctor's twelfth and final incarnation.
13:41The War Doctor, plus the Tenth Doctor's extra regeneration in the Stolen Earth,
13:45meant that Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor was actually the Thirteenth Doctor.
13:49I mean, even if it was never the original intent, it's terrific headcanon.
13:54The War Doctor. First appearance, 2013.
13:57The War Doctor was who the Eighth Doctor chose to regenerate into during the Time War.
14:02He committed many dark acts, including pressing the button that destroyed Gallifrey and the Daleks on the final day of
14:08the battle.
14:08In the day of the Doctor, his successors feared the War Doctor at first,
14:12but soon realised they actually had a lot in common,
14:14and that there was a soft centre beneath his grizzled, battered exterior.
14:18The rehabilitation of the War Doctor, and the three Doctors reconciling their dark past,
14:22is at the core of Doctor Who's 50th anniversary special,
14:25and it's lent real emotional heft by the casting of the late John Hurt.
14:29After he saved Gallifrey with his past and future selves,
14:32the War Doctor's body couldn't take much more, and he regenerated into the Ninth Doctor.
14:37The Curator. First appearance, 2013.
14:41First appearing in the closing moments of the Day of the Doctor,
14:45the Curator is a version of the Doctor from some point in the far future.
14:48Retired from adventuring, they settled on the face of the Fourth Doctor
14:52in order to revisit one of the, quote,
14:54old favourites, and set about curating the secret undergallery,
14:58hidden beneath the National Gallery in London's Trafalgar Square.
15:01Knowing the Eleventh Doctor's future,
15:03the Curator provided him with some encouragement to seek out Gallifrey.
15:06This enigmatic and enchanting scene between Tom Baker and Matt Smith
15:10was one of the highlights of the 50th anniversary special.
15:13Memorably booming, that Gallifrey falls no more.
15:16Tom Baker's second incarnation of the Doctor set the show off on its next 50 years.
15:22The Twelfth Doctor. First appearance, 2013.
15:25The Twelfth Doctor had a bit of an existential crisis post-regeneration,
15:29asking the question of whether or not he was a good man.
15:32This was likely due to being the first face of a new regeneration cycle,
15:36as well as the fact that Twelfth was much older than the previous few Doctors.
15:40Ultimately, it didn't matter, because he proved time and time again
15:43that he was the same hero he always was.
15:46Peter Capaldi's Doctor started off gruffer and more aloof than his predecessors,
15:50but that just hid his softer side.
15:52He went to some very dark places,
15:54even turning against his own people in order to save Clara Oswald,
15:58demonstrating that this is a Doctor you do not want on your bad side.
16:02Twelfth fell in a battle with the Cybermen on a Mondasian colony ship,
16:06but in an unprecedented move, he refused to regenerate.
16:09One last adventure with his first incarnation and his new friend Bill Potts
16:13convinced him that the universe still needed a Doctor.
16:16The Thirteenth Doctor. First appearance, 2017.
16:20The Thirteenth Doctor was an entirely clean break from the trauma of the Time War,
16:25and was arguably the most vibrant and full-of-life incarnation since the Eighth Doctor.
16:30This didn't last for long, however, as the Master revealed the Doctor's hidden past,
16:34that she was actually a member of a mysterious unknown species
16:37found at the edge of the universe by explorer Tectaeun,
16:40who took her in and raised her on Gallifrey.
16:43So determined was the Thirteenth Doctor to learn more about her history
16:46that Tectaeun, who wished to keep certain knowledge a secret,
16:49unleashed the powerful flux to try and stop her,
16:52which nearly destroyed the entire universe.
16:54The Thirteenth Doctor had one last battle with the Master,
16:57during which she was forcibly regenerated into her arch-enemy's body.
17:01After refusing the process, Thirteen was shot by the Master,
17:04and regenerated into a very familiar face indeed.
17:07The Fugitive Doctor. First appearance, 2020.
17:12Joe Martin's Fugitive Doctor was discovered hiding in modern-day Gloucester
17:16by the Thirteenth Doctor and the FAM.
17:18This incarnation of the Doctor had worked for the shadowy Time Lord Organisation Division,
17:23which operated outside established Time Lord code.
17:26However, the Fugitive Doctor had grown weary of the immoral work she was asked to do.
17:31Turning her back on Division, she used a chameleon arch to change her biology
17:35and hide out on Earth as Ruth, a charming tour guide.
17:38Ruth lived in Gloucester for an undisclosed amount of time with the Fugitive Doctor's companion, Lee,
17:43until the Jadoon, plus a Gallifreyan operative known as Gat, arrived to bring her in.
17:48The Thirteenth Doctor refused to believe that Ruth was an incarnation from before the First Doctor,
17:53but she soon learned that this was the truth.
17:56The Timeless Children. First appearance, 2020.
18:00It's arguable that all seven Timeless Children don't count as versions of the Doctor,
18:05as they hadn't yet assumed the title.
18:07However, they do represent the Doctor as a child.
18:09The Timeless Child was how the Doctor was originally known when she was discovered by Tectayun.
18:14A being of unknown origin, the Timeless Child had the ability to regenerate infinitely
18:19and was experimented upon by Tectayun,
18:22who ultimately unlocked the secret of regeneration
18:24and spliced that DNA into certain Gallifreyans who renamed themselves Time Lords.
18:30Tectayun's experiments resulted in at least seven separate incarnations of the Doctor.
18:34It's unclear how long each of these children lasted,
18:37but what is clear is that Tectayun isn't winning any Mother of the Year prizes anytime soon.
18:42The Fourteenth Doctor. First appearance, 2022.
18:46The Fourteenth Doctor had the face of his tenth incarnation,
18:49but this wasn't another Metacrisis situation.
18:52Fourteen was reunited with Donna Noble,
18:55who still had repressed Time Lord energy within her after absorbing part of the Metacrisis.
18:59However, Donna was able to pass on some of this burden to her daughter, Rose,
19:04which prevented her from burning up.
19:05With Donna safe and sound, her and Fourteen travelled together for a brief time.
19:10They arrived at the edge of creation, where the Doctor invoked Superstition,
19:13an action that allowed myth and fantasy to flood the Doctor Who universe.
19:17Ultimately, the Doctor was shot dead by the Toymaker,
19:19but rather than regenerating, the Fourteenth Doctor bi-generated,
19:23a myth that was made possible thanks to his earlier actions.
19:26Bi-generation resulted in both the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Doctors existing simultaneously.
19:31Fifteen jetted off to see the universe, while Fourteen, weary from centuries of battle,
19:36retired with Donna and her family.
19:38This was why the Tenth Doctor's face returned.
19:41It was a reminder that he needed to stop.
19:44The Fifteenth Doctor. First appearance, 2023.
19:48The Fifteenth Doctor barely had time to catch his breath,
19:51before jumping in to help his previous incarnation defeat the Toymaker in a game of catch.
19:56Once the Toymaker was defeated, Fifteen encouraged his past self to take some time off
20:00and process centuries of grief and trauma.
20:03And then he flew off in his TARDIS for brand new adventures.
20:06Only one of the Fifteenth Doctor's adventures has aired so far.
20:10He faced the Goblin King, met new companion Ruby Sunday,
20:13and feels like a reinvigorated version of the character.
20:16Still unmistakably the Doctor, but with a renewed vigour and lust for life,
20:21which promises to make his era incredibly exciting.
20:25Well, that concludes this list, but if you want some more Doctor information,
20:29why not check out how every Doctor Who got cast?
20:32In the meantime, I've been Ellie for Who Culture,
20:34and in the words of Riversong herself, goodbye, sweeties.
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