Now that hype for the upcoming Doctor Who specials is building up, it’s time to take a look back at all the Doctors in order. Except … in this show nothing is EVER in order.
We meet different incarnations of the Doctor at all sorts of different points during the continuity of the show. With some of them, it’s never even been officially confirmed where they fall in the line of Doctors! So we’ll list them in the order you’ll encounter them when you watch the show for the first time. (Also, this list isn’t counting the Big Finish audio stories, as good as they are, sorry!)
The First Doctor
Played by: William Hartnell (1963–1966, 1972–1973), Richard Hurndall (1983), David Bradley (2017-present)
The Doctor who started it all. Curious viewers tuning into the BBC’s new sci-fi show back in 1963 were instantly taken with William Hartnell’s Doctor (he wasn’t the First Doctor yet!) He was a grumpy old man, but he had a soft side that his human companions brought out.
William Hartnell passed away in 1975, so ever since then different actors have played him whenever a newer Doctor encounters the First. Richard Hurndall took the role for 1983’s The Five Doctors, and David Bradley (who also played Hartnell himself in the BBC’s making-of-Doctor Who drama An Adventure in Space and Time) plays him now.
The Second Doctor
Played by: Patrick Troughton (1966-1969)
When it came time for Hartnell to step down from Doctor Who the writers hit upon a brilliant idea. Why not work the process of recasting the actor into the very fabric of the character? Thus “regeneration” was born and it’s kept the show fresh for over 60 years! Not bad going.
Eyebrows were raised when Troughton replaced Hartnell and one Radio Times reader compared him to Coco the Clown. But these days the Second Doctor is plenty of people’s favorite.
The Third Doctor
Played by: Jon Pertwee (1970-1974, 1993)
When the Second Doctor was forced to regenerate by other Time Lords, the Third Doctor was the result. He was quite different from the previous two Doctors: much more of an action hero, though he was also a man of science.
He was the first Doctor to appear on TV screens in color, which was all the better for showing off his array of fabulous outfits.
The Fourth Doctor
Played by: Tom Baker (1974-1981, 1993, 2017)
Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor was arguably the most famous one before David Tennant came along. And in the minds of some older fans, he still is THE definitive Doctor.
He’s returned to the Who franchise to reprise his role a couple of times now, including in the unpopular 1993 charity special Dimensions in Time. But enough about that. In 2017 he said, “When I was doing Doctor Who, it was the realization 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.” Many fans feel the same way.
The Fifth Doctor
Played by: Peter Davison (1982-1984, 1993, 2007, 2022)
After Tom Baker left the role of the Doctor, the producers wanted to cast someone as unlike him as possible. They settled on Peter Davison, who at that point was most famous for the TV series All Creatures Great and Small.
Davison proved to be one of the most popular and beloved Doctors … especially if you’re David Tennant. Tennant married Davison’s daughter Georgia, who herself was on the show, and now Davison is grandfather to their kids!
The Sixth Doctor
Played by: Colin Baker (1984-1986, 1993, 2022)
The Sixth Doctor was Colin Baker, no relation to Tom. Six began life with a bang, immediately trying to strangle his companion Peri thanks to an unstable regeneration process. (She was okay, don’t worry.)
Six was a more complicated and confusing Doctor than some of his predecessors, and he didn’t quite connect with a lot of fans. He has plenty now, though! It was a surprise but also a delight to see him pop up in 2022’s The Power of the Doctor.
The Valeyard
Played by: Michael Jayston (1986)
Now THIS guy was presented as a future incarnation of the Doctor in the episode “The Mysterious Planet.” And he wasn’t a very nice one. Later Doctor Who audio adventures and books tried to explain him a little more, but he’s yet to appear in an episode of the rebooted show.
The Seventh Doctor
Played by: Sylvester McCoy (1987-1989, 1993, 1996, 2022)
Poor Sylvester McCoy, he might have been the last ever Doctor if things had worked out differently. At the point when he was cast the show was on a major decline, and he couldn’t save it from its cancellation in 1989.
But everything worked out in the end. McCoy’s stories are much more fondly viewed now. And the Seventh Doctor got to not only appear alongside some other Doctors in “The Power of the Doctor”, but also get some closure with his one-time companion Ace.
The Eighth Doctor
Played by: Paul McGann (1996, 2013, 2022)
Doctor Who may have been cancelled but it wasn’t dead. The 1996 TV movie saw Sylvester McCoy briefly return as the Doctor and then regenerate into the dashing Paul McGann. But alas, McGann wasn’t to get his own full series.
He lives on as one of the most popular Doctors thanks to the Big Finish audio stories, however. Then come 2013 he appeared in the minisode “The Night of the Doctor” to celebrate the show’s 50th anniversary, and a decade later appeared in “The Power of the Doctor”!
The Ninth Doctor
Played by: Christopher Eccleston (2005)
Doctor Who was rebooted in 2005 with Russell T. Davies as the showrunner and Christopher Eccleston as the new Doctor. Eccleston was an unlikely choice, as he was associated with “serious” shows rather than silly old BBC sci-fi adventures. But he brought a whole new energy to the role and indeed the whole franchise.
Without the huge success that was the Ninth Doctor, we probably wouldn’t have had …
The Tenth Doctor
Played by: David Tennant (2005-2010, 2013)
David Tennant blew everyone away with his portrayal of the Tenth Doctor. He was so popular that he stayed in the role for five years, and then returned for an encore during the show’s 50th anniversary celebrations. However, his regeneration stuck: the Tenth Doctor is no more.
“But isn’t David Tennant the Doctor right now?” I hear you cry. Well, hold on, all will be explained …
The Eleventh Doctor
Played by: Matt Smith (2010-2014)
Could anyone possibly live up to David Tennant’s performance as the Doctor after he left? Yep, Matt Smith could. He won everyone over with his very first episode, the appropriately named “The Eleventh Hour”.
Matt Smith’s last appearance was a brief but important cameo in the episode Deep Breath and he hasn’t been back on the show since. But maybe one day!
The War Doctor
Played by: John Hurt (2013)
Now, the War Doctor is a bit of a tricky one. Chronologically, he comes after the Eighth Doctor, but we didn’t meet him until his introduction in the Eleventh Doctor episode “The Name of the Doctor”.
The 50th-anniversary episode “The Day of the Doctor” was all about where War came from and the actions he took during the Time War, the event that hung over every Doctor in the rebooted series.
The Curator
Played by: Tom Baker (2013)
At the very end of “The Day of the Doctor”, we met the Curator, an elderly version of the Doctor who’d chosen to revisit some of his “old favorite” faces. He and the Eleventh Doctor share a touching scene that lets us know that this character we love will last forever.
The Twelfth Doctor
Played by: Peter Capaldi (2013-2017)
“The Day of the Doctor” also gave fans a very quick early look at Peter Capaldi’s Twelfth Doctor, since he’d already been cast by then. They got to meet him properly in the season eight opener, “Deep Breath”.
Capaldi had actually been in Doctor Who already as a side character alongside David Tennant in the episode “The Fires of Pompeii”, but the writers came up with a neat explanation as to why we’d seen this particular Doctor’s face before.
The Thirteenth Doctor
Played by: Jodie Whittaker (2017-2022)
In 2017 came a long-awaited moment: finally, finally a woman was playing the Doctor! And Jodie Whittaker was perfect, even if fans weren’t always keen on the scripts she was given.
Lots changed about the show during the Thirteenth Doctor’s tenure. For example, completely out of the blue we met …
The Fugitive Doctor
Played by: Jo Martin (2020-2022)
The episode “Fugitive of the Judoon” suddenly dropped a brand new Doctor into the show! This was the Fugitive Doctor, the second-ever female Doctor and the first Black one.
Much about the Fugitive Doctor is still shrouded in mystery. We don’t even know for certain where she falls in the regeneration cycle. But wouldn’t she be an ideal candidate for a spinoff show?
The Fourteenth Doctor
Played by: David Tennant (2022-2023)
Everyone got a huge shock at the end of “The Power of the Doctor” when the Doctor regenerated into David Tennant again. Yep, the Fourteenth Doctor is a revisit of an old face, like the Curator. But how in Gallifrey did this happen? Well, we’ll just have to wait to find out.
The Fifteenth Doctor
Played by: Ncuti Gatwa (2023-?)
After the Fourteenth Doctor we’re getting Sex Education star Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth! He showed up in trailers for the upcoming specials, so we’re going to meet him a little earlier than we thought as well.
It seems likely that Gatwa will do at least two seasons of the show, and after that, who knows? But we do know that Doctor Who is always changing and evolving.
(featured image: BBC)
