Doctor Who has been on and off the melody for nearly 54 years , and part of the key to the show ’s longevity is that the nightstick of its lead character can be passed from actor to actor , from the First Doctor , William Hartnell , all the room to the forthcoming 13th Doctor , Jodie Whittaker . But Doctor Who goes far beyond recasting — changing the lead character is a central part of the show itself .
Recasting a star doer to continue a democratic theatrical role is not a unique concept — just look at James Bond . But in 1966 , Doctor Who ’s creative team construct the change instantly into the fabric of the show itself , a power that allows the character to hightail it death by completely transform their body , both in physical form ( including grammatical gender , as we have sex now ) and in terms of personality . In doing so , Doctor Who has create a unusual young bequest for itself over the 51 years since William Hartnell ’s final story , “ The Tenth Planet , ” aired .
But the molding of Doctor Who ’s next star has its own story , too . Over the years the promulgation of who would play the next incarnation of the Doctor has germinate into a growing pageant , especially after the show ’s return to sieve in 2005 . Here ’s the weird , complicated history of how Doctor Who has announce the new trail over the years , from its tragic origins to the global event it ’s become today .
1966: Renewal
In 1966 , the producer of Doctor Who discover themselves in a troubling situation . While the show itself was strike new heights in popularity , its wind actor , William Hartnell , was suffering from a variety of health trouble , which led to clashes with the production faculty . This lead producer John Wiles to plan a revolutionary move for the series : replace the ailing Hartnell with a new actor .
Initially , there was croak to be little explanation for the change . chicanery planned to have a Modern Doctor appear during “ The Celestial Toymaker , ” a tale which opened with the Doctor being bend invisible by the titular being . When the Doctor returned to tangibleness , Wiles wanted him to come back with an entirely new actor , too , as if the Doctor had been altered in his absence . The BBC vetoed the approximation — and Wiles left while the story ’s production was in process — but Hartnell ’s deterioration meant his switch was still inevitable .
Just months afterward , Hartnell reached an amicable correspondence with new manufacturer Innes Lloyd to exit the show , and Doctor Who ’s script editor Gerry Davis decided to write Hartnell ’s outlet into the fiction of the series . He used the Doctor ’s alien subspecies , the Time Lords , to explicate that he could continually switch himself into a untested man when his body was go out , a process in the beginning dub as a “ Renewal . ” Patrick Troughton was pick to supervene upon Hartnell , and the fateful transition occurred in October 1966 during “ The Tenth Planet . ” The succession , in the first place mock up after the effect of an LSD misstep , saw an ailing First Doctor flop on the trading floor of the TARDIS , his cheek hazily transforming into that of a new , younger human being . Doctor Who ’s natural selection was insure , not just for the contiguous futurity , but for decade to come .
1970-1974: Defying Expectations
Going into the 1970s , Doctor Who confront more issue behind the scenes , after Troughton extract his desire to leave the show . That , plus spiraling dictated cost for the show ’s constantly - changing locations , led to the decision to set the next season of the show whole on Earth , giving the new Doctor a regular supporting cast in the form of paramilitary constitution UNIT , and a new military mission to support the Earth from even foreign occurrences . hand editor program Derrick Sherwin , acting as co - producer on the show , finally chose Jon Pertwee to replace Troughton — hoping the actor , known for his comical operation , would continue to develop the bumbling jokester persona Troughton had make for to the persona . Naturally , as nothing rarely choke as planned on Doctor Who , Pertwee go the exact opposite direction , wanting to cement himself as a more serious action hero .
After Pertwee ’s exit from the show , manufacturer ab initio were looking for an older , more Hartnell - esque role player to replace him . Instead , they resolve on Tom Baker , then the young actor to work the role . Baker ’s insertion would mostly cement the canon of “ Regeneration ” in Doctor Who , a term which was used for the first time to describe the process in Baker ’s first appearance in “ Planet of the Spiders , ” along with the revelation that it was a biological operation inherent to Time Lords ( although Troughton ’s Doctor had described it as something performed by the TARDIS ) . During Baker ’s first appearance , the Fourth Doctor also established that the now - traditional period of time of erratic behaviour post - regeneration was a common side effect of the Doctor ’s replacement — facts that pretty much still exist in the show as we know it today .
1981-1987: Troubled Times
Baker ’s departure , after serving a book - holding seven seasons as the Doctor , is really the first meter that a Doctor ’s departure caused a major media splash for the show — something new producer Jonathan Nathan - Turner , thirsty for attention while the show suffered trouble ratings at the spell of the ‘ fourscore , was more than glad to stoke . It was n’t all because of Baker ’s exit , though ; some of it was because of an argument we in 2017 are all too familiar with , after the actorcheekily told pressing that a fair sex could be the one to replace him . Nathan - Turner had no plans to actually cast a charwoman — Peter Davison had been chosen pretty quickly , although he was not the first choice — but the manufacturer let the story run rearing in the hope it would drum up new interest in the show .
Davison ’s substitute , Colin Baker , marked the first clock time a Doctor of the Church who had antecedently appeared in the show ( Colin had played Time Lord Commander Maxil in the 1983 fib “ Arc of Infinity ” ) returned for the lead role , something that would be reprise with Peter Capaldi ’s cast in 2014 . But while Baker ’s arrival on Doctor Who was amicable , his release was anything but .
Baker ’s sentence on the show as the Sixth Doctor was marred by production hiatuses and grow discontent at the show ’s darker content , as well as the decisiveness to skew his portraiture of the Doctor to a much colder , self - pore character . Baker was ultimately fired by the BBC 1 ’s controller , Michael Grade , who contemn Doctor Who to the detail that he wanted the show cancel . His exit was so pregnant that the actor was not even allowed back to film his regeneration sequence . This spark advance to the infamous moment in “ Time and the Rani ” where his renewal , Sylvester McCoy , made his debut as the Doctor lying face down in an incredibly unconvincing Colin Baker wig , which you’re able to see here :
1989-1996: The Wilderness Years
When Doctor Who was put on hiatus in 1989 , McCoy ’s stint as the Time Lord come to a bizarrely muted end . The series stop as the Doctor and current companion Ace stray off into the sunset , contemplating adventures fans would never get to see . Work had already begin on a twenty-seventh season of Dr. Who when it was set aside , but the series ’ cancelation meant that there were no real program to replace McCoy ’s Doctor as the “ final ” incarnation of the timeline .
The mid-‘90s saw several attempts to resurrect the show , let in a proposed American reboot pitched by Universal TV . That eventually laid the fundament for a standalone TV moving-picture show in 1996 , which was stand for to move as a backdoor archetype of a complete physician Who relaunch for American consultation . During script oeuvre by incoming writer Matthew Jacobs , however , it was decide to scrap the idea of a arrant redevelopment of Doctor Who ’s continuity and alternatively cast the movie as a good continuation of the television receiver show , which meant bring Sylvester McCoy back for a brief getting even so he could “ regenerate ” into the Doctor ’s next incarnation .
Paul McGann was the yield ’s first and only alternative for the role of the Eighth Doctor , despite initial hesitation from both Fox , which co - bring on the movie , and McGann himself , who was unsure if he could commit to the hypothesis of a TV series after the moving-picture show . They need n’t have worried ; the TV motion-picture show — simply titled Doctor Who — flop in America , despite firm rating in the UK , and future Who plans were scrapped . McGann remained an official Doctor , but the series was doomed to rest torpid for well-nigh a decade .
2005: The Return
medico Who ’s fall to TV after twelvemonth off was announced without a cast in place . While the British closet go on to ponder all sorts of weird potential medico for the new series ( epithet like comedians Eddie Izzard and Ken Dodd were bandied about ) , the BBC destine to rootle Doctor Who in a modernistic and self - serious step , and unveiled Christopher Eccleston — then best have it off for his office as Jesus Christ in The Second Coming — as the new Doctor in 2004 . Russell T Davies , the show ’s new executive manufacturer , later confirmed that Eccleston ’s Dr. would formally be the Ninth personification of the character , retconning a premature incarnation played by Richard E. Grant fora entanglement animation serial publication called Scream of the Shalka , resign to mark the show ’s 40th anniversary in 2003 .
None of that even address to the devotee reaction to the news — which was surprisingly livid , take Doctor Who had a recollective account of recasting the Doctor at that percentage point . Alarmed to have drop off the Ninth Doctor mere episodes into his footrace , fans took to the internet to share their Eumenides , which became so heated , democratic Who forum Outpost Gallifrey ( nowshut downand rebuild by former moderators asGallifrey Base , and often seen by British media as the best gauge of sports fan view ) shutter for several days to ward off toxicity from prepare any further .
Less than a month after Doctor Who come back to screens , David Tennant was announced as the Tenth Doctor , news which was unveiled in as wide-eyed a manner as his precursor : a press release . No fancied statements were needed .
2009-2017: The Event
Although Davies had bring Doctor Who back in 2005 , the bit of vagabond a new Time Lord only truly evolved into a grand spectacle under the auspices of now - go showrunner Steven Moffat . After Tennant , gone were the Clarence Shepard Day Jr. when a simple crush release or a newspaper clause sufficed to herald a raw Dr. Who run . all of a sudden , casting announcements work into major events , requiring ever - increasing amount of secretiveness and pageantry .
Matt Smith ’s casting announcement come in the midst of an episode of Doctor Who Confidential — the behind - the - scenes sister show that had accompanied the serial publication since its rejoinder in 2005 — that was air just days into 2009 , two month after Tennant had announce his exitwhile assume an award for the show . The setup boast a series of talk heads , including Tennant , discussing the history of regenerations on the show , the closed book identity of the new Doctor held a secret by participant , until all of a sudden a farsighted - hairy , lanky young man suddenly appeared on TV with the chyron “ Matt Smith — The Eleventh Doctor : ”
Peter Capaldi ’s unveiling went one footmark further into staring silliness with 2014 ’s Doctor Who Live : The Next Doctor , an actual live programme on the BBC , complete with random celebrity interviews to fill time up and a public audience , who welcomed a rather overwhelmed - looking Capaldi to the world with a laser show :
Thankfully , our in style molding alteration was a bit more subdued . Like Smith and Capaldi ’s debuts before her , the announcement that Jodie Whittaker would be the next Doctor was a telly upshot , but instead of the BBC piss a live announcement and trotting out the new Doctor to a screaming crowd , Whittaker made her debut as the Doctor in a short clip set within the show itself . It reveal the first woman to officially play the character reference in the show ’s history , and was aired after the BBC ’s coverage of the Men ’s Wimbledon final , as well as released online for international audiences .
In a mode , it ’s appropriate that one of the most groundbreaking casting proclamation for Doctor Who since the first decision to recast the lead theatrical role was made all the way back in 1966 is so singular to all the others which come before it . Here ’s to a future full of many more Doctors and their accompanying reveals — may they both be equally varied .
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