Doctor Who

Doctor Who is a long-running British science fiction television program produced by the BBC about a mysterious time-travelling adventurer known as "the Doctor", who explores time and space in his TARDIS, a time machine that looks like an old police box. The program originally ran from 1963 to 1989. A TV-movie was made in 1996, and the program was successfully relaunched in 2005.

The original series aired in the US for many years on PBS stations; the seasons featuring the Fourth Doctor, Tom Baker, were rerun many times in some local markets. The new series, featuring the Tenth Doctor, David Tennant, is airing on Sci Fi.

Muppet Mentions
In the 2006 episode "Tooth and Claw", the Doctor tells his companion, Rose, that he's going to take her to the year 1979, to see Ian Dury in concert.

"1979, hell of a year! China invades Vietnam... The Muppet Movie -- love that film! -- Margaret Thatcher, uggghhh... Skylab falls to Earth -- with a little help from me, nearly took off my thumb. And I like my thumb, I need my thumb. I'm very attached to my thumb."

The Doctor and Rose leave the TARDIS, and discover that they're a century off course. "Eighteen-seventy-nine," the Doctor shrugs. "Same difference."

A Tutter doll is seen on Donna's desk during a flashback to her past with Lance in the 2006 Christmas special, "The Runaway Bride".

Connections
Several actors and crew members who have contributed to Muppet/Henson productions have connections to Doctor Who.


 * Douglas Adams was the script editor for Season 17 (1979), and wrote "The Pirate Planet" (1978) and "City of Death" (1979)
 * Michael Attwell played Isbur in "The Ice Warriors" (1967) and Bates in "Attack of the Cybermen" (1985).
 * Annette Badland played Margaret Blaine the Slitheen in "Aliens of London," "World War Three," and "Boom Town" (2005)
 * Tim Barker played Harold V in "The Happiness Patrol" (1988)
 * John Barrowman played Captain Jack Harkness in several episodes (2005-2007), and stars in the Torchwood spin-off (2006-2008)
 * Timothy Bateson played Binro the Heretic in "The Ribos Operation" (1978)
 * Geoffrey Bayldon played Organon in "The Creature from the Pit" (1979)
 * Robert Beatty played General Cutler in "The Tenth Planet" (1966)
 * Ailsa Berk provided monster choreography for episodes of the 2005 series.
 * Honor Blackman played Professor Lasky in "The Trial of a Time Lord" (1986)
 * David Bulbeck played a Foamasi in "The Leisure Hive" (1981), Castrovalvan in "Castrovalva" (1982), and a Lazar in "Terminus" (1983).
 * Peter Burroughs played a jester in "The King's Demons" (1983)
 * Navin Chowdhry played Indra Ganesh in "Aliens of London" and "World War Three" (2005)
 * John Cleese played an art critic in "City of Death" (1979)
 * Tim Condren performed stunts in "The Meddling Monk" (1965) and played a guerilla in "Day of the Daleks" (1972)
 * Graham Crowden played Soldeed in "The Horns of Nimon" (1979)
 * Ken Dodd played the Tollmaster in "Delta and the Bannerman" (1987)
 * Tracey Eddon doubled for Ace in "Return of the Daleks" (1988)
 * David Forman coordinated stunts for several episodes of the 2005 series
 * Stephen Garlick played Hippo Ibbotson in "Mawdryn Undead" (1983)
 * Mark Gatiss wrote "The Unquiet Dead" (2005) and "The Idiot's Lantern" (2006) and played Professor Lazarus in "The Lazarus Experiment" (2007).
 * Sheila Hancock played Helen A in "The Happiness Patrol" (1988)
 * Peter Hawkins performed Dalek and Cybermen voices in twelve stories from "The Daleks" (1963) to "The Wheel in Space" (1968)
 * Derek Jacobi played Professor Yano in "Utopia" (2007)
 * Michael Kilgarriff played the Cyber Controller in "The Tomb of the Cybermen" (1967) and "Attack of the Cybermen" (1985), an Ogron in "Frontier in Space" (1973) and the title character in "Robot" (1974).
 * Burt Kwouk played Lin Futu in "Four to Doomsday" (1981)
 * Hus Levant played Edwin Green in "The Mark of the Rani" (1985)
 * Hugh Lloyd played Goronwy in "Delta and the Bannerman" (1987)
 * Fulton MacKay played Dr. Quinn in "Dr. Who and the Silurians" (1970)
 * Steven Mackintosh played Gazak in "Timelash" (1985)
 * Jean Marsh played Joanna in "The Crusade" (1965), Sara Kingdom in "The Daleks' Master Plan" (1966), and Morgaine in "Battlefield" (1989)
 * Kylie Minogue played Astrid Peth in "Voyage of the Damned" (2007)
 * John Owens played Thorpe in "The Daemons" (1971)
 * Geoffrey Palmer played Edward Masters in "Doctor Who and the Silurians" (1970), the Adminstrator in "The Mutants" (1972), and Captain Hardraker in "Voyage of the Damned" (2007)
 * Victor Pemberton wrote "Fury from the Deep" (1968) and "The Pescatons" (1976)
 * Courtney Pine played himself in "Silver Nemesis" (1988)
 * Nigel Plaskitt played Unstoffe in "The Ribos Operation" (1978)
 * Hugh Quarshie played Solomon in "Daleks in Manhattan" and "Evolution of the Daleks" (2007)
 * Shane Rimmer played Seth Harper in "The Gunslingers" (1966)
 * Eric Roberts played the Master in Doctor Who (TV movie, 1996)
 * Michael Robbins played Richard Mace in "The Visitation" (1982)
 * Ricco Ross played the Ringmaster in "The Greatest Show in the Galaxy" (1987}
 * Deep Roy played Mr. Sin in "The Talons of Weng-Chiang" (1977) and Possicar delegate in "Trial of a Time Lord" (1986)
 * Cyril Shaps played John Viner in "The Tomb of the Cybermen" (1967), Dr. Lennox in "The Ambassadors of Death" (1970), Professor Hebert Clegg in "Planet of the Spiders" (1974), and Archimandrite in "The Androids of Tara" (1978)
 * Hugh Spight was a Dalek operator in "Remembrance of the Daleks" (1988)
 * Elizabeth Spriggs played Tabby in "Paradise Towers" (1987)
 * Gordon Sterne played Professor Heldorf in "The Ambassadors of Death" (1970)
 * Zoë Wanamaker played Cassandra in "The End of the World" (2005) and "New Earth" (2006)
 * Richard Wilson played Dr. Constantine in "The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances" (2005)