Every 'Doctor Who' Show & Spinoff Across Time And Space
The first Doctor Who series, simply named Doctor Who, premiered in 1963, introducing viewers to the good Doctor and his time-traveling TARDIS. Since then, there have been some fun Doctor Who series that expanded the wibbly wobbly universe, spanning over 50 years on air and over 1,000 episodes.
Doctor Who in its thirty-eighth season, made history in 2018 when Jodie Whittaker became the first female Doctor in the show's history. David Tennant, Christopher Eccleston, and Matt Smith are other notable actors who played The Doctor. Torchwood is also a popular series that follows Jack Harkness and a team of alien hunters.
In total, there are eight series in the Doctor Who franchise, some of which are animated or clip shows. Many characters and companions in the Doctor Who franchise appear in multiple series.
In this list, we're going to look at all the Doctor Who shows and find out once and for all which are the best in the Doctor Who TV universe. “Run!” to your nearest screen to revisit Doctor Who and vote up the best Doctor Who TV shows ever made, then check out this list of more shows like Doctor Who to watch and vote on.
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Main Characters: The Doctor, Susan Foreman, Ian Chesterton, Barbara Wright, Vicki, Steven Taylor, Katarina, Sara Kingdom, Dodo Chaplet, Polly, Ben Jackson, Jamie McCrimmon, Victoria Waterfield, Zoe Heriot, Liz Shaw, Jo Grant, Sarah Jane Smith, Harry Sullivan, The Master, Leela, K-9, Romana, Adric, Nyssa, Tegan Jovanka, Vislor Turlough, The Brigadier, Kamelion, Peri Brown, Jamie McCrimmon, Mel Bush, Ace, Grace Holloway, Rose Tyler, Donna Noble, Martha Jones, Jack Harkness, Astrid Peth, Jackson Lake, Christina de Souza, Adelaide Brooke, Wilfred Mott, Amy Pond, Rory Williams, Madge Arwell, Clara Oswald, Santa Claus, River Song, Nardole, Bill Potts, The Captain, Graham O'Brien, Ryan Sinclair, Yasmin Khan.
Theme Song: "Doctor Who Theme" composed by Ron Grainer.
What Made This Show Unique in the Franchise: One of the most popular science fiction series since it debuted in 1963 and in 2018, the Doctor travels the universe in a space ship called the TARDIS to save civilizations. Jodie Whittaker made history by becoming the first female Doctor.
An eccentric Time Lord travels through time and space to battle injustice across the universe.- Actors: Jodie Whittaker, Mandip Gill, John Bishop, Tosin Cole, Bradley Walsh
- Premiered: March 26, 2005
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- Torchwood
Main Characters: Jack Harkness, Gwen Cooper, Owen Harper, Toshiko Sato, Suzie Costello, Ianto Jones, Martha Jones, Rhys Williams, Rex Matheson, Esther Drummond, Oswald Danes.
Theme Song: "Torchwood Theme" composed by Murray Gold.
What Made This Show Unique in the Franchise: A small number of alien hunters comprise the Torchwood team. Jack Harkness – who first appeared in Doctor Who – is the immortal con-man who leads the team.
Investigators use advanced technology to solve crimes of both alien and human origin.- Actors: John Barrowman, Eve Myles, Burn Gorman, Naoko Mori, Gareth David-Lloyd
- Premiered: October 22, 2006
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Main Characters: Sarah Jane Smith, Maria Jackson, Luke Smith, Mr Smith, Clyde Langer, Rani Chandra, K9, Sky Smith.
Theme Song: "The Sarah Jane Adventures Theme" composed by Murray Gold.
What Made This Show Unique in the Franchise: Sarah Jane Smith uses her past experiences traveling time with The Doctor as a guide to her current work as an investigative journalist. Extraterrestrials are her focus and she and her team often protect the world from alien threats.
A journalist and her friends align to combat evil alien forces.- Actors: Elisabeth Sladen, Tommy Knight, Daniel Anthony, Alexander Armstrong, Juliet Cowan
- Premiered: September 24, 2007
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- Doctor Who: Fury From the Deep
Main Characters: Second Doctor, Jamie McCrimmon, Victoria Waterfield.
Theme Song: A revised arrangment of the "Doctor Who Theme" composed by Ron Grainer.
What Made This Show Unique in the Franchise: This was the completely missing serial from the fifth season of the series. The surviving audio was used to recreate the story as an animated miniseries.
Something bad is in a refinery's pipes.- Actors: Patrick Troughton, Frazer Hines, Victor Maddern, John Abineri, Roy Spencer
- Premiered: September 14, 2020
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Main Characters: Sarah Jane Smith, K·9.
Theme Song: "K-9 and Company Theme" composed by Fiachra Trench
Ian Levine.What Made This Show Unique in the Franchise: A pilot that never got picked up, Sarah Jane Smith and K-9 join forces the first time in the 1981 pilot "A Girl's Best Friend." The duo investigate a disappearance as rumors of witchcraft emerge.
K-9 and Company was a proposed television spin-off of the original programme run of Doctor Who. It was to feature former series regulars Sarah Jane Smith, an investigative journalist played by Elisabeth Sladen, and K-9, a robotic dog. Both characters had been companions of the Fourth Doctor, but they had not appeared together before. A single episode, "A Girl's Best Friend", was produced as a pilot for a proposed programme, but was not taken up. "A Girl's Best Friend" was broadcast by BBC1 as a Christmas special on 28 December 1981. The story was released on DVD on 16 June 2008 as a double pack with K-9's first Doctor Who story "The Invisible Enemy". Although a full series of K-9 and Company was not produced, the two characters did re-appear two years later in The Five Doctors, an episode of Doctor Who broadcast in 1983 celebrating the show's twentieth anniversary. Following the successful revival of Doctor Who in 2005, Sarah Jane Smith and K-9 would be re-introduced to the show in the second series episode "School Reunion", which aired in 2006.- Actors: Elisabeth Sladen, John Leeson, Bill Fraser
- Premiered: 1981
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Main Characters: Sarah Jane Smith, Luke Smith, Clyde Langer, Rani Chandra.
Theme Song: "Sarah Jane's Alien Files Theme" composed by Murray Gold.
What Made This Show Unique in the Franchise: Clips from The Sarah Jane Adventures – and rarely Doctor Who – are compiled to tell the tales of specific aliens.
Sarah Jane's Alien Files is a BBC series based on The Sarah Jane Adventures. It features Sarah Jane Smith, Luke Smith, Clyde Langer, and Rani Chandra entering data on aliens they have encountered during their adventures into Mr Smith, Sarah Jane's extraterrestrial computer, to benefit humanity in the event that Sarah Jane is no longer capable of defending the Earth against alien threats. Each episode is a clip show summarising the events of episodes in which the featured aliens appeared. The only new footage is the framing and narration, shot entirely on the series' standing attic set. Occasionally, brief clips from Doctor Who are included for context, such as in episode 6 when the Judoon are compared to the Cheetah People of Survival in that each humanoid species looks superficially like a non-humanoid terrestrial mammal. The series format was based upon the short "alien files" clips previously produced for the CBBC's The Sarah Jane Adventures website.- Actors: Elisabeth Sladen, Alexander Armstrong, John Leeson, Daniel Anthony, Anjli Mohindra
- Premiered: 2010
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