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Here Be Dragons co-curated by Cressida Cowell and Toothless - opens 13 July. Admission included with ticket to the Galleries

1001 Stories Collection

Doctor Who

1001 Dr Who
Added on 09th July 2020

Creator Sydney Newman (original series), Russell T. Davies (reboot)
First shown 1963, BBC

Science fiction
1001

Step inside the TARDIS and travel with the Doctor in this highly popular science fiction TV series.

Story

The Doctor is a rogue Time Lord from Galifrey who travels the universe seeking out trouble and saving the world in his stolen time machine, the TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimension in Space). He always has at least one companion with him, usually someone he meets on his travels and they are often human as he has a soft spot for Earth. The TARDIS is famously bigger on the inside, but its camouflage system is broken so on the outside it always looks like a 1960s police box. When The Doctor ‘dies’ he is reincarnated and another actor takes on the role. Thirteen different actors have played The Doctor so far, and in 2018 Jodie Whittaker became the first woman Doctor.

Why we chose it

Watching Doctor Who from behind the sofa was part of a 1960s childhood. When the series was cancelled in 1989 the Doctor lived on in novels and audio plays. He returned in 2005 and found a new and equally enthusiastic audience.

Where it came from

Doctor Who was created in the 1960s to fill a gap in the BBC schedule. They were looking for a family friendly, educational, science fiction series. The series was very popular to begin with but it was cancelled in 1989 due to a decline in viewers. In 2005 Russell T. Davies brought it back and January 2020 saw the start of its 12th season since the reboot, making it 37 series in total.

Where it went next

There have been two Dr Who feature films, Dr Who and the Daleks (1965) and Dalek’s Invasion Earth 2150AD (1966) and a number of stage plays in the 1970s and 80s. Comic books, novels and audio plays continued and added to the story.

Associated stories

The series has also sparked several spin offs and movies including The Sarah Jane Chronicles for CBBC and Torchwood for more adult audiences. There have been stage plays, radio plays, behind the scenes shows, animations, museum exhibitions, books, comics, toys and games created around the series which has an enormous fan following across the world.

This Story was dedicated in our 1001 Stories Quest appeal in 2018 to raise funds for the capital redevelopment of The Story Museum
To Alex from Rachel & Tim
For our son, whose imagination knows no bounds, and for whom fantasy is as important as reality

Added on 09th July 2020

Creator Sydney Newman (original series), Russell T. Davies (reboot)
First shown 1963, BBC

Science fiction
1001