Doctor Who is the name of the British science fiction drama series that was first broadcast on November 23rd 1963, and follows the adventures of the time-traveller known as The Doctor.

To date, Doctor Who has been produced for television in three distinct versions:

The classic series, running from 1963 to 1989, lasted some 26 seasons, spanning the adventures of seven different incarnations of the Doctor, played by William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker and, finally, Sylvester McCoy.

The TV movie, a joint production between Fox Television, Universal Studios and the BBC, was first broadcast in the US on June 14th 1996, starred Paul McGann as the eighth Doctor. Despite hopes that it might result in the commissioning of further stories, an ongoing series did not follow.

Finally, the new series, launched on the 26th March 2005, introduced Christopher Eccleston as the ninth and David Tennant as the tenth Doctor. With a fifth season confirmed, the series is considered to be more popular than either of its predecessors.

The series spawned 2 motion pictures starring Peter Cushing in 1965 and 1966 and a number of unmade motion pictures and other TV projects.

Doctor Who the Brand

Beyond the small screen, the Doctor Who brand has been successfully exploited in a number of media (two motion pictures plus animations, books, comics, audios, radio broadcasts and webcasts) and across a number of commercial franchises. Throughout its history, the logo used by the current TV series has been adopted by merchandise, although with the launch of a new series in 2005 a new approach was taken. The new series logo is used only to promote merchandise directly associated with the current TV show, while the logo in use prior to the new series has been retained for merchandise making use of characters and situations relating to the classic series and the 1996 TV movie.

Dr Who and the TARDIS are ©BBC 1963, 2007; All other material is copyright ©2007 its respective authors. Unless otherwise stated all authors assert their write to be identified as such.