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Doctor Who aired for the first time on 23 November 1963 in an episode titled An Unearthly Child and a television institution was born. It was broadcast on the BBC on a Saturday afternoon between Juke Box Jury and Grandstand and is still going strong today, celebrating its 60th anniversary.<\/p>\n
The fact that The Doctor can regenerate has allowed numerous other actors to fill the Time Lord’s shoes over the decades.<\/p>\n
While Ncuti Gatwa has officially been announced as the 15th Doctor, prior to him getting the key to the TARDIS, there is a little matter of the hugely anticipated anniversary specials which begin to air this weekend.<\/p>\n
Over the next three Saturdays, the BBC is running feature-length specials\u00a0<\/em>The Star Beast, Wild Blue Yonder, and The Giggle featuring David Tennant playing the Doctor. Having previously portrayed the 10th incarnation this time, he is back as the 14th Doctor.<\/p>\n As he prepares to once more save the world, Express TV takes a look at all the actors who have taken up residence in the famous blue police box.<\/p>\n William Hartnell was a well-known and respected star of stage and screen by the time he was cast in Doctor Who at the age of 55.<\/p>\n The producer Verity Lambert had seen him in the film This Sporting Life, and approached him about the role, mainly on the strength of that performance.<\/p>\n It is well documented that he was initially uncertain about accepting a part in what was pitched to him as a children’s series due to his success in films.<\/p>\n In later years, he revealed he took the role because it led him away from the gruff, military parts in which he had become typecast, and, having two grandchildren of his own, he came to relish particularly the attention and affection that playing the character brought him from children.<\/p>\n Although his shock of long white hair is iconic, Hartnell actually wore a wig as his own hair was much shorter and neater as was the style of the day. His costume wasn’t even BBC property and was hired by Nathans, a theatrical costuming company.<\/strong><\/p>\n His health began to deteriorate during his time on the show and undiagnosed arteriosclerosis began to affect his ability to learn his lines.<\/p>\n This left him with no option but to leave the role in 1966 which is when the producers came up with the idea of regeneration. This character trait has allowed the Doctor to continue on with numerous faces over the decades.<\/p>\n He reprised the role only once during the tenth-anniversary story The Three Doctors, although his failing memory meant that he read his lines from cue cards.<\/p>\n It would be his final acting job and he died on April 23, 1975. Many of his Doctor Who episodes are missing from the archives as a result of the then-standard practice of discarding old shows.<\/p>\n Much like his predecessor, Patrick Troughton was a well-established star when he accepted the role of Doctor Who having appeared in numerous TV shows, including The Count of Monte Cristo, Ivanhoe, Sherlock Holmes, No Hiding Place, The Saint, and Z-Cars.\u00a0<\/p>\n He faced tremendous pressure taking on the role as the continued survival of the show depended on audiences accepting another actor in the part.<\/p>\n Producer Innes Lloyd later stated that Hartnell had approved of the choice, saying, “There’s only one man in England who can take over, and that’s Patrick Troughton”.<\/p>\n His Doctor persona was described as a “cosmic hobo” in the mould of Charlie Chaplin which differentiated him from Hartnell’s incarnation.<\/p>\n He was also the first Doctor to have his face appear in the opening titles of the show, something which became a regular part of the credits after this.<\/p>\n Troughton, who was 46 years old when he was cast, found the filming schedule, which at the time comprised 40 to 44 episodes per year, gruelling, and decided to leave the series in 1969. This decision was also motivated in part by fear of being typecast, which he later spoke about in interviews. However, he returned to the show three times after formally departing. Firstly, in the tenth anniversary special The Three Doctors, in 1983, he reluctantly agreed to appear in the 20th anniversary special The Five Doctors at the request of series producer John Nathan-Turner.<\/p>\n He also agreed to appear one more time as the Second Doctor, alongside Colin Baker’s Sixth Doctor in The Two Doctors in 1985. He died two years later on March 28, 1987.<\/p>\n <\/sup><\/p>\n Jon Pertwee, who came from a theatrical family and had enjoyed great success prior to the show, was 51 when he landed the role of Doctor Who.<\/p>\n He took over in 1970 and he played the character as an active crusader with a penchant for action and fancy clothes with his dandy look and bouffant hair being instantly recognisable.<\/p>\n While he still had his trusty TARDIS, in a budget-cutting exercise by the BBC, the character had been exiled to Earth by the Time Lords for much of his tenure and instead served as the scientific adviser to Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and UNIT.<\/p>\n Jon stayed in the role for five seasons which was a longer stint than either of his predecessors in the role, although he ultimately appeared in fewer episodes than William Hartnell as the production schedule had been reduced.<\/p>\n However, in early 1974, he announced he was stepping down as the Doctor to resume his stage career but, much like Trouthon before him, he also cited potential typecasting as the reason for leaving.<\/p>\n Much later he admitted that the catalyst for his departure was the death of his good friend and co-star Roger Delgado who played the Doctor’s arch nemesis The Master along with the departures of co-star Katy Manning and producer Barry Letts. He was also dealing with chronic back pain at the time.<\/p>\n He went on to play another much-loved character on children’s television – Worzel Gummidge.<\/p>\n He reprised the role of The Doctor in the 20th-anniversary story The Five Doctors in 1983 and the Children in Need story Dimensions in Time and also in two radio adventures and on stage in Doctor Who \u2013 The Ultimate Adventure. He died at the age of 76 on May 20, 1996.<\/p>\n Tom Baker played the Doctor from 1974-1981 and created one of the most iconic looks for the character with his oversized multi-coloured scarf which has become part of Doctor Who lore.<\/p>\n Aged 40 when he was cast and unlike his predecessors, he wasn’t hugely well known at the time. He was working on a construction site as acting jobs were scarce, but he immediately proved a hit in the role and audience-viewing figures for his first few years returned to those of the early sixties.<\/p>\n <\/sup><\/p>\n “When I was doing Doctor Who, it was the realisation of all my childhood fantasies… so I took to it like a duck to water, and I still do. Doctor Who was more important than life to me\u2014I used to dread the end of rehearsal… that’s why I can’t stay away from it,” he said in 2017.<\/p>\n He declined to appear in the 20th-anniversary special The Five Doctors (1983) because it wasn’t long since he’d left and he “didn’t want to play 20 percent of the part” and be “a feed for other Doctors”.<\/p>\n However, he did reprise the role briefly for the 30th anniversary charity special, Dimensions in Time (1993).<\/p>\n He also stunned fans when he appeared in the 50th Anniversary special Day Of the Doctor playing the character of The Curator.<\/p>\n Peter Davison became the youngest actor to play Doctor Who when he was cast at the age of 29. He was already familiar to audiences for his role as Tristan Farnon in All Creatures Great And Small and indeed it was this role that brought him to the attention of Doctor Who producers.<\/p>\n On the advice of the second Doctor actor Patrick Troughton, he only signed a contract for three years as he too feared being typecast. His outfit was notable for the stick of celery he wore on his lapel.<\/p>\n In his time on the show, his Doctor encountered many of the Doctor’s best-known adversaries, including the Cybermen the Daleks and Davros, much to fans’ delight.<\/p>\n Since leaving the show, he has returned to the franchise several times in various formats, and in 1993, he once again played the Fifth Doctor in the multi-doctor charity special Dimensions in Time. He also appeared in a minisode called Time Crash, which was a special episode written by Steven Moffat for Children in Need in 2007.<\/p>\n Most recently he reprised the role last year in Jodie Whittaker’s final episode.<\/p>\n Colin Baker had previously played the part of Commander Maxil in the Peter Davison-era Doctor Who story, Arc of Infinity in 1983 before he was cast in the titular role. Aged 41 when he was cast, his Doctor was notable for his irascible nature and extremely colourful outfit.<\/p>\n He had a difficult tenure as the Doctor. He was not an immediate hit with audiences after the character attempted to strangle his companion, Peri Brown which seemed to go against everything the Doctor stood for. He was also unfortunately caught in the middle of internal wranglings in the BBC. The Controller of BBC1 at the time, Michael Grade, criticised the programme, saying it had become overly violent. Grade later admitted in several interviews that he “hated” the series, which he described as a “very clunky studio show”.<\/p>\n Colin’s run was interrupted by an 18-month hiatus which was announced in February 1985, midway through transmission of his first full season. It then returned in September 1986 but the season featured a reduction in episodes and was produced as a 14-episode-long serial called The Trial of a Time Lord. <\/p>\n Ultimate, he was removed from the role after starring in only eleven stories. After his sacking, he was offered a single four-part story that would end in his character’s regeneration, but he refused the offer and didn’t return for the regeneration scene into the seventh Doctor. He has subsequently made peace with all that happened however and still records audiobooks as the character and frequently contributes to shows about Doctor Who.<\/p>\n Scottish actor Sylvester, who was 44 when he took over the role, is notable for being the final actor to play the Doctor in the original run.<\/p>\n He got off to an ignominious start when he was forced to don a blonde curly wig for his regeneration scene after Sixth Doctor Colin Baker refused to return to hand over the role.<\/p>\n The series was in a state of flux during his time on the show. Previously known as a comedic actor, his Doctor was originally whimsical and witty but after complaints that it had become too lightweight, he ended up one of the darkest incarnations ever. Indeed, unearthed audition footage shown on Talking Doctor Who shows that he had a much lighter vision for the role than what it became.<\/p>\n He stayed until the show was axed in 1989 and then returned for the 1993 charity special Dimensions in Time. He also reprised the role in the Doctor Who television movie starring Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor in 1996. Most recently, he appeared as the Seventh Doctor in Jodie Whittaker’s final episode The Power Of The Doctor last year.<\/p>\n After several years off air, fans were delighted to hear that a movie was being made as a back-door pilot for a possible new series following the show’s cancellation in 1989. The project was a joint venture between the BBC, Universal Studios and the Fox Broadcasting Network.<\/p>\n The Monocled Mutineer star Paul McGann eventually landed the role and signed a contract for the TV show should it come to fruition.<\/p>\n The film was shown on 14 May 1996 in the US and on 27 May 1996 in the UK, and although it proved very successful in the UK, ratings were very low in the United States and the option for a series wasn’t picked up.<\/p>\n This wouldn’t be the last we would see of McGann’s Doctor, as he returned to a more battle-weary and grizzled incarnation of the role to show the characters’ regeneration into the War Doctor as part of the 50th-anniversary celebrations in 2013. He also regularly voices the character in audiobooks.<\/p>\n Although John Hurt wasn’t introduced as The War Doctor until Doctor Who’s 50th-anniversary special in 2013 in the Whoniverse canon, he falls between Doctors Eight and Nine.<\/p>\n Oscar-nominated and BAFTA-winning star John was a screen legend when he took on the role for the one-off episode and at the age of 73, he remains the oldest actor ever to take on the role.<\/p>\n His origins were shown in a minisode The Night Of The Doctor which showed Paul McGann’s eighth Doctor regenerate into him. Although he only appeared briefly on screen, John also reprised the role for Big Finish Productions in a series of audio stories starting from 2015 to 2017, completing twelve episodes over four box sets. He died on January 25, 2017.<\/p>\n In 2005, Doctor Who fans finally had their wish granted as the series was rebooted with acclaimed actor Christopher Eccleston in the lead role. His incarnation of the Doctor was far more laid back than what had gone before with his battered leather jacket and casual attire.<\/p>\n He won a National Television Award and received nominations for a Broadcasting Press Guild Award and BAFTA Cymru Award for his performance but left after just one series.<\/p>\n While the reasons for his departure had been widely debated, when asked if he had enjoyed working on Doctor Who during a BBC radio interview on 11 June 2005, he responded by saying: “Mixed, but that’s a long story.”<\/p>\n Years later he would say that he left the show because he “didn’t enjoy the environment or the culture that the cast and crew had to work in”, but that he was proud of having played the role. In a subsequent interview, he admitted, “My relationship with my three immediate superiors \u2013 the showrunner, the producer, and co-producer \u2013 broke down irreparably during the first block of filming and it never recovered.” While he has yet to return to the role on screen he has returned to voice the Ninth Doctor in audiobooks in recent years.<\/p>\n David Tennant’s tenure as The Doctor needs no introduction. Even people who aren’t fans of the show are aware of the fact that he is one of the most popular actors ever to play the role and frequently tops “best Doctor ever” polls.<\/p>\n Having lost Christoper Eccleston after just one season, producers were desperate to find an actor who could retain the audience on the newly relaunched show. Although David had been working steadily, including a cheeky turn playing Casanova in 2005, he wasn’t such a big name that he would overshadow the show.<\/p>\n He was introduced slowly appearing for just 20 seconds following the Ninth Doctor’s regeneration. His first full episode as the Doctor, barring an appearance in a minisode during the 2005 Children in Need show, was the 2005 Christmas Special, The Christmas Invasion. However, even then the character spent most of the episode in bed following the regeneration and fans only got to see him in action for the final few minutes.<\/p>\n From this inauspicious start, he went on to appear in the 2006, 2007, and 2008 series. Rather than a traditional series run, 2009 and early 2010 featured a series of four specials due to his other filming commitments. He left the show in 2010 and his last line was famously “I don’t want to go!”<\/p>\n It has proved a prophetic quote as in 2013, he reprised his role as the Tenth Doctor for the 50th anniversary special, The Day of the Doctor and he is returning to play the Fourteenth Doctor for the three forthcoming 60th-anniversary specials. At just 28 when he was cast as the eleventh Doctor, Matt Smith became the youngest actor ever to play the role taking the title from Fifth Doctor Peter Davison.<\/p>\n Remarking on his casting at the time Executive Producer Steven Moffat said during the official announcement: “The Doctor is a very special part, and it takes a very special actor to play him. You need to be old and young at the same time, a boffin and an action hero, a cheeky schoolboy and the wise old man of the universe. As soon as Matt walked through the door, and blew us away with a bold and brand new take on the Time Lord, we knew we had our man.”<\/p>\n Smith said of the character, “The Doctor is excited and fascinated by the tiniest of things. By everything. By every single thing. That’s what’s wonderful about him as a character. It’s why children like him, I think. Because he doesn’t dismiss anything. He’s not cynical. He’s open to every single facet of the universe.” Despite the popularity of David Tennant, Matt quickly made the role his own and his quirky energy proved perfect for the role.<\/p>\n However, he revealed in a 2018 appearance on Desert Island Discs that he nearly turned down the role. His final episode was the 2013 Christmas special and reflecting upon his decision to leave in a 2016 interview, he expressed regret for not staying longer, stating that he would have liked to work longer with co-star Jenna Coleman. <\/sup><\/p>\n Peter Capaldi was a lifelong Doctor Who fan when he was revealed as the Twelfth Doctor in 2013.<\/p>\n He had previously guest starred in the show during David Tennant’s era playing Lobus Caecilius in the 2008 episode, The Fires of Pompeii. He also played civil servant John Frobisher in the 2009 Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood: Children of Earth. Despite his love of the show, he admitted that he had to seriously consider the increased level of visibility that would come with the part.<\/p>\n In an interview with Entertainment Weekly. he said he had been invited to audition for the role of the Eighth Doctor in 1995 prior to the production of the 1996 TV film, stating: “I didn’t go. I loved the show so much, and I didn’t think I would get it, and I didn’t want to just be part of a big cull of actors.” The look of Capaldi’s Doctor very much drew from Jon Pertwee’s Third Doctor and by the end of his tenure his hair was also in a similar bouffant style to his predecessor.<\/p>\n One huge difference between his Doctor and others was the use of sonic sunglasses instead of the traditional sonic screwdriver.<\/p>\n His last appearance as the Doctor was in the 2017 Christmas special.<\/p>\n Jodie Whittaker made history when she was announced as the Thirteenth Doctor on July 16 2017 becoming the first female to play the role.<\/p>\n Following the announcement, she urged fans not to be afraid of her gender, saying “Doctor Who represents everything that’s exciting about change. The fans have lived through so many changes, and this is only a new, different one, not a fearful one.”<\/p>\n While her performance was widely praised her tenure as Doctor was marred by clunky writing and massive scheduling upheaval.<\/p>\n The show was moved to a Sunday from the traditional Saturday night slot it had resided in for years. The Christmas specials were also abandoned in favour of New Year’s Day specials instead.<\/p>\n After three series and three specials, Jodie departed the role last year and in her final scenes she also achieved another first – becoming the first-ever pregnant Doctor. After her final scenes aired, she revealed she had actually been expecting her youngest child while filming them.<\/p>\n While the origins of the Fugitive Doctor, played by Jo Martin, remain a mystery since she first appeared during Jodie Whittaker’s tenure as Doctor Who, she slots in here for the purposes of this article.<\/p>\n It was confirmed in the 2021 episode Once Upon Time that she is a past incarnation of the Doctor, from a period that was, at some point, erased from the Doctor’s memory.<\/p>\n However, it is still unknown specifically where this incarnation fits in and many believe that it pre-dates even William Hartnell’s Doctor.<\/p>\n Jo Martin was already a fan favourite with BBC viewers thanks to her role as neurosurgeon Max McGeery in the now defunct Holby City when she guest starred as tour guide Ruth Clayton in a 2020 episode.<\/p>\n As the episode progressed, fans were stunned to realise that actually, this was another version of the Doctor. She had been hiding on earth from the Time Lords, for whom she had been compelled to work as part of the mysterious Division.<\/p>\n So far she has had four on-screen appearances and is due to appear in a series of audio adventures so she may yet pop up in future episodes, although whether fans will get an explanation about her origins remains to be seen.<\/p>\n David Tennant’s return to the show was one of the worst-kept secrets in television and while he and producers refused to confirm it, no one was really surprised when Jodie Whittaker regenerated into him.<\/p>\n What was surprising was the fact that instead of playing his original Tenth Doctor role this incarnation is officially the Fourteenth.<\/p>\n David has returned to the show for the three-anniversary special which will air over the coming weeks alongside Catherine Tate as his companion Donna Noble.<\/p>\n Fans recently got a taster of what his new version of the Doctor will be like during a Children In Need minisode Genesis Of The Daleks.<\/p>\n At the end of the specials, he will regenerate into Sex Education star Ncuti Gatwa who will play the Fifteenth Doctor.<\/p>\n Special mention must go to Richard Hurndall, David Bradley and Peter Cushing who have also inhabited the role of the Doctor in some form.<\/p>\n Following the death of William Hartnell in 1977, Richard Hurndall was drafted in to fill his not-inconsiderable shoes in the 20th anniversary special The Five Doctors.<\/p>\n David Bradley has also stepped into Hartnell’s shoes. Having played him in An Adventure In Space and Time which told the story of the creation of Doctor Who, he was subsequently drafted in to play the First Doctor in several episodes of the show and regularly pops up in the role.<\/p>\nWilliam Hartnell – First Doctor<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nPatrick Troughton – Second Doctor<\/h2>\n
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<\/sup><\/p>\nJon Pertwee – Third Doctor<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nTom Baker – Fourth Doctor<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nPeter Davison – Fifth Doctor<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nColin Baker – Sixth Doctor<\/h2>\n
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<\/sup><\/p>\nSylvester McCoy – Seventh Doctor<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nPaul McGann – Eighth Doctor<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nJohn Hurt – The War Doctor<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nChristopher Eccleston – Ninth Doctor<\/h2>\n
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<\/sup><\/p>\nDavid Tennant – Tenth Doctor<\/h2>\n
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<\/sup><\/p>\nMatt Smith – Eleventh Doctor<\/h2>\n
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<\/sup><\/cite><\/p>\nPeter Capaldi – Twelfth Doctor<\/h2>\n
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<\/sup><\/p>\nJodie Whittaker – Thirteenth Doctor<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nJo Martin – Fugitive Doctor<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nDavid Tennant (again) – Fourteenth Doctor<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nRichard Hurdall\/David Bradley\/Peter Cushing – special mentions<\/h2>\n
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