who is he?
for most of you who have always loved sci-fi,i bet you know lots about this fictional doctor,with the two hearts.i read a of novels about him but recently i got to watch the tv series and i must confess i fell totally in love with it dudes.

HISTORY
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a mysterious alien time-traveller known as "the Doctor" who travels in his space and time-ship, the TARDIS, which appears from the exterior to be a blue 1950s police box. With his companions, he explores time and space, solving problems, facing monsters and righting wrongs.

The programme is listed in Guinness World Records as the longest-running science fiction television show in the world[1] and is also a significant part of British popular culture.[2][3][4] It has been recognised for its imaginative stories, creative low-budget special effects during its original run, and pioneering use of electronic music (originally produced by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop). In Britain and elsewhere, the show has become a cult television favourite and has influenced generations of British television professionals, many of whom grew up watching the series. It has received recognition from critics and the public as one of the finest British television programmes, including the BAFTA Award for Best Drama Series in 2006.

The programme originally ran from 1963 to 1989. After an unsuccessful attempt to revive regular production with a backdoor pilot in the form of a 1996 television film, the programme was successfully relaunched in 2005, produced in-house by BBC Wales in Cardiff. Some development money for the new series is contributed by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), which is credited as a co-producer. Doctor Who has also spawned spin-offs in multiple media, including the current television programmes Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures, and the 1981 pilot episode K-9 and Company.

The show's lead character is currently portrayed by David Tennant. In the programme's most recent series, which ran from April 5 to July 5, 2008,[5] Catherine Tate played the Doctor's companion, reprising her role of Donna Noble from the 2006 Christmas special.[6] Another Christmas special will air in 2008, followed by four more specials in 2009; the next full series has been confirmed for airing in 2010.[7]


History proper
Doctor Who first appeared on BBC television at 5:15 pm(GMT) on 23 November 1963,[8] following discussions and plans that had been in progress for a year. The Head of Drama, Sydney Newman, was mainly responsible for developing it, with the first format document for the series being written by Newman along with the Head of the Script Department (later Head of Serials) Donald Wilson and staff writer C. E. Webber. Writer Anthony Coburn, story editor David Whitaker and initial producer Verity Lambert also heavily contributed to the development of the series.[9][10][11] The series' title theme was composed by Ron Grainer and realised by Delia Derbyshire of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.[12] The programme was originally intended to appeal to a family audience.[13] The BBC drama department's Serials division produced the programme for 26 series, broadcast on BBC One. Viewing numbers that had fallen (though comparably increased at some points), a decline in the public perception of the show and a less prominent transmission slot saw production suspended in 1989 by Jonathan Powell, Controller of BBC One.[14] Although it was effectively cancelled (as series co-star Sophie Aldred reported in the documentary Doctor Who: More Than 30 Years in the TARDIS), the BBC said the series would return.

While in-house production had ceased, the BBC was hopeful of finding an independent production company to relaunch the show. Philip Segal, a British expatriate who worked for Columbia Pictures' television arm in the United States, approached the BBC about such a venture. Segal's negotiations eventually led to a television movie. The Doctor Who television movie was broadcast on the Fox Network in 1996 as a co-production between Fox, Universal Pictures, the BBC, and BBC Worldwide. Although the film was successful in the UK (with 9.1 million viewers), it was less so in the United States and did not lead to a series.

Licensed media such as novels and audio plays provided new stories, but as a television programme Doctor Who remained dormant until 2003. In September of that year, BBC Television announced the in-house production of a new series after several years of unsuccessful attempts by BBC Worldwide to find backing for a feature film version. The executive producers of the new incarnation of the series are writer Russell T Davies and BBC Wales Head of Drama/BBC Television Controller of Drama Commissioning Julie Gardner. It has been sold to many other countries worldwide (see Viewership).

The new series debuted with the episode "Rose" on BBC One on 26 March 2005. There have been two further series in 2006 and 2007, and Christmas Day specials in 2005, 2006 and 2007. The fourth series began on BBC One on 5 April 2008. There will be a rest year in 2009, with no new series, although David Tennant will star in 4 specials in that year. After the 2008 Christmas special and four special episodes in 2009, a fifth full-length series is planned for Spring 2010,[15] with Steven Moffat replacing Davies as head writer and executive producer.[16]

The 2005-present version of Doctor Who is considered a direct continuation of the 1963-89 series, as is the 1996 telefilm. This differs from other series relaunches that have either been reimaginings or reboots (e.g., Battlestar Galactica and Bionic Woman) or series taking place in the same universe as the original but with a totally new cast of characters (e.g., Star Trek: The Next Generation and spin-offs).

Character
The character of the Doctor was initially shrouded in mystery. All that was known about him in the programme's early days was that he was an eccentric alien traveller of great intelligence who battled injustice while exploring time and space in an unreliable old time machine called the TARDIS, an acronym for Time And Relative Dimension(s) In Space. The TARDIS is much larger on the inside than on the outside[40], and, due to a malfunction of its Chameleon Circuit, is stuck in the shape of a 1950s-style British police box.

However, not only did the initially irascible and slightly sinister Doctor quickly mellow into a more compassionate figure, it was eventually revealed that he had been on the run from his own people, the Time Lords of the planet Gallifrey.

As a Time Lord, the Doctor has the ability to regenerate his body when near death. Introduced into the storyline as a way of continuing the series when the writers were faced with the departure of lead actor William Hartnell in 1966, it has continued to be a major element of the series, allowing for the recasting of the lead actor when the need arises. The serial The Deadly Assassin established that a Time Lord can regenerate twelve times, for a total of thirteen incarnations (although at least one Time Lord, The Master, has managed to circumvent this). To date, the Doctor has gone through this process and its resulting after-effects on nine occasions, with each of his incarnations having his own quirks and abilities but otherwise sharing the memories and experience of the previous incarnations:
First Doctor, played by William Hartnell (1963–1966)
Second Doctor, played by Patrick Troughton (1966–1969)
Third Doctor, played by Jon Pertwee (1970–1974)
Fourth Doctor, played by Tom Baker (1974–1981)
Fifth Doctor, played by Peter Davison (1981–1984)
Sixth Doctor, played by Colin Baker (1984–1986)
Seventh Doctor, played by Sylvester McCoy (1987–1989, 1996)[41][42][43]
Eighth Doctor, played by Paul McGann (1996)
Ninth Doctor, played by Christopher Eccleston (2005)
Tenth Doctor, played by David Tennant (2005–) [15]

see the first pics below for a picture of the actos who have dacted in his capacity as "The Doc"

God do im love this series.only problem i got, cant get to buy it here in Ondo State.Well will try to get it somehow so what do youguys think about the girl.i mean martha jones, pretty oii,yeah thot you would agree with me.so fans post.

Hate Dr Who!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm watching Doctor Who and I love it. Yeah, Martha Jones is very pretty. She actually appeared in Season 2 as a yoruba girl called Adeola. I've almost finished season 3. I hear they've completed season 4 on the BBC. The new season won't be until next year.

Hey zik how old are you? . . . .

Raymond88:

Hey zik how old are you? . . . .

Why?

I loved Doctor Who as a kid and I am enjoying the new series but the writing is very uneven.

I prefer the Stephen Moffat episodes.