Doctor Who

Doctor Who is a long-running BBC science fiction television program starring the mysterious time-traveling adventurer known as "the Doctor" (not, as often popularly supposed, "Doctor Who"). With various traveling companions, he explores time and space in his TARDIS, a time machine that looks like an old police box, and periodically regenerates (allowing for frequent recasting; as of 2010 there have been eleven actors cast in the role).

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, and the seasons featuring Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor (The one with the dark curly hair who wore a very long scarf) were rerun many times in local markets. The show has also given birth to three spin-off TV series to date, as well as two 1960s theatrical films (where the character's name was "Dr. Who"), comics, audio plays, novels and webcasts.

Muppet Mentions

 * In the 2006 episode "Tooth and Claw", the Doctor tells his companion, Rose Tyler, that he's going to take her to the year 1979, to see Ian Dury in concert. "1979, hell of a year!" the Doctor exlaims. "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 companion Donna Noble's desk during a flashback to her past with Lance in the 2006 Christmas special, "The Runaway Bride".
 * A 2012 episode is called The Angels Take Manhattan, which echoes the title of the Muppets' third movie, The Muppets Take Manhattan.
 * The 2005 Ninth Doctor novel Winner Takes All, the Doctor jokes that Cookie Monster is actually an alien.
 * The 2007 DVD release of "Arc of Infinity" includes a behind-the-scenes feature, "Anti-Matter from Amsterdam". In an outtake of Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor, a hairdresser fixes Davison's hair as he remarks that it's "a bit Miss Piggy."
 * The 1995 Seventh Doctor novel Return of the Living Dad, the Doctor asks a serious minded character if she's ever considered abandoning her responsibilities and just making people happy. When she replies no, he comments "You must have hated The Muppet Movie."

The Dark Dimension
A direct-to-video film, referred to as The Dark Dimension, was planned to be released in 1993 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the series. The film was to have featured redesigned Cybermen (robotic creatures from the series) built by Jim Henson's Creature Shop. Nigel Johns and Chris Fitzgerald worked on the design and build of the creature. Test footage was shot over the course of three weeks, including model and title effects, but the film was never made.

Trivia

 * Muppet artist Amy Mebberson has frequently drawn mash-up art for Doctor Who and the Muppets at comic book conventions. (GALLERY)

Connections

 * Douglas Adams was the script editor for Season 17 (1979). He also wrote "The Pirate Planet" (1978) and "City of Death" (1979) and the never-completed "Shada", which would have aired in 1980
 * Lauren Ambrose appears in the spin-off Torchwood as Jilly Kitzinger in the fourth season "Miracle Day" (2011)
 * 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)
 * Bill Bailey played Droxil in "The Doctor, the Witch and the Wardrobe" (2011)
 * Frances Barber played Madame Korvarian in seven episodes of Series 6 (2011)
 * Tim Barker played Harold V in "The Happiness Patrol" (1988)
 * John Barrowman played Captain Jack Harkness in many episodes (2005-2010), and stars in the Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood (2006-present)
 * Timothy Bateson played Binro the Heretic in "The Ribos Operation" (1978)
 * Geoffrey Bayldon played Organon in "The Creature from the Pit" (1979), as well as an alternate universe version of the First Doctor in the audio dramas "Auld Mortality" (2003) and "A Storm of Angels" (2005).
 * 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)
 * Hugh Bonneville played Captain Avery in the episodes "The Curse of the Black Spot" and "A Good Man Goes to War" (2011)
 * Ben Browder played Isaac in "A Town Called Mercy" (2012)
 * David Bulbeck played a Foamasi in "The Leisure Hive" (1981), a 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).
 * James Corden played Craig Owens in "The Lodger" (2010) and "Closing Time" (2011)
 * Graham Crowden played Soldeed in "The Horns of Nimon" (1979)
 * Warwick Davis played Porridge in "Nightmare in Silver" (2013)
 * Ken Dodd played the Tollmaster in "Delta and the Bannerman" (1987)
 * Lindsay Duncan played Adelaide Brooke in "The Waters of Mars" (2009)
 * Christopher Eccleston played the Ninth Doctor (2005)
 * Tracey Eddon doubled for Ace in "Remembrance of the Daleks" (1988).
 * David Forman coordinated stunts for several episodes of the 2005 series.
 * John Franklyn-Robbins played the Time Lord in "Genesis of the Daleks," part one (1975)
 * Michael Gambon played Kazran Sardick in "A Christmas Carol" (2010)
 * Stephen Garlick played "Hippo" Ibbotson in "Mawdryn Undead" (1983)
 * Rupert Graves played John Riddell in "Dinosaurs on a Space Ship" (2012)
 * Mark Gatiss has written several episodes from 2005 onward (four to date) and played Professor Lazarus in "The Lazarus Experiment" (2007) and Gantok in "The Wedding of River Song." He has also written numerous Doctor Who novels, audio books, and spoofs.
 * Sheila Hancock played Helen A in "The Happiness Patrol" (1988)
 * Peter Hawkins performed Dalek and Cybermen voices in twelve stories from "The Daleks" (1963) through "The Wheel in Space" (1968).
 * John Hurt played the War Doctor in "The Name of the Doctor", "The Night of the Doctor" and "The Day of the Doctor" (2013)
 * Derek Jacobi played Professor Yana (aka The Master) in "Utopia" (2007) and did voice acting for Doctor Who spin-off adventures in other media.
 * Toby Jones played the Dream Lord in "Amy's Choice" (2010) and voiced Kotris in the audio drama series "Dark Eyes" (2012)
 * 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)
 * Hus Levant played Edwin Green in "The Mark of the Rani" (1985)
 * George Little played Haround ed-Din in "The Crusade" (1965)
 * Joanna Lumley played the Thirteenth Doctor in the BBC-produced charity spoof, "Curse of Fatal Death" (1993)
 * Fulton MacKay played Dr. Quinn in "Dr. Who and the Silurians" (1970)
 * Ian McKellen voiced the Great Intelligence in "The Snowmen" (2012)
 * Ian McNeice played Winston Churchill in "Victory of the Daleks," "The Pandorica Opens" (2010), and "The Wedding of River Song" (2011)
 * Steven Mackintosh played Gazak in "Timelash" (1985)
 * Jean Marsh played Joanna in "The Crusade" (1965), the Doctor's companion Sara Kingdom in "The Daleks' Master Plan" (1966), and Morgaine in "Battlefield" (1989)
 * Kylie Minogue played companion Astrid Peth in "Voyage of the Damned" (2007)
 * David Morrissey played Jackson Lake in "The Next Doctor" (2008)
 * Bill Nighy played Dr. Black in "Vincent and the Doctor" (2010)
 * John Owens played Thorpe in "The Dæmons" (1971)
 * Geoffrey Palmer played Edward Masters in "Doctor Who and the Silurians" (1970), the Administrator in "The Mutants" (1972), and Captain Hardraker in "Voyage of the Damned" (2007)
 * Bill Paterson played Professor Bracewell in "Victory of the Daleks" and "The Pandorica Opens" (2010)
 * Steve Pemberton played Strackman Lux in "Forest of the Dead" (2008)
 * Victor Pemberton wrote "Fury from the Deep" (1968) and audio drama "Doctor Who and the Pescatons" (1976), as well as appearing in a small role in "The Moonbase".
 * 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).
 * Diana Rigg played Mrs. Gillyflower in "The Crimson Horror" (2013)
 * Shane Rimmer played Seth Harper in "The Gunfighters" (1966)
 * 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 the Possicar delegate in "Trial of a Time Lord" (1986)
 * Thomas Sangster played Tim Latimer in "Human Nature" and "The Family of Blood" (2007) and voiced Kyle in "The Mind's Eye" (2007) and a miner in "The Bride of Peladon" (2008) audio dramas
 * Kerry Shale played Dr. Renfrew in "Day of the Moon" (2011)
 * Cyril Shaps played John Viner in "The Tomb of the Cybermen" (1967), Dr. Lennox in "The Ambassadors of Death" (1970), Professor Herbert Clegg in "Planet of the Spiders" (1974), and the 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)
 * Imelda Staunton voiced the Interface in "The Girl Who Waited" (2011)
 * Gordon Sterne played Professor Heldorf in "The Ambassadors of Death" (1970)
 * Russell Tovey played Midshipman Alonso Frame in "Voyage of the Damned" (2007) and "The End of Time" (2010)
 * Meredith Vieira played a newsreader in "The Wedding of River Song" (2011)
 * Zoë Wanamaker played Cassandra O'Brien in "The End of the World" (2005) and "New Earth" (2006)
 * David Warner played Professor Grisenko in "Cold War" (2013), as well as an alternate universe version of the Third Doctor in the audio dramas "Sympathy for the Devil" (2003) and "Masters of War" (2008).
 * Mark Williams played Brian Williams in "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" and "The Power of Three" (2012) and voiced Maxwell Edison in audio drama "The Eternal Summer" (2009)
 * Richard Wilson played Dr. Constantine in "The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances" (2005)