Happy Birthday, Doctor!

[DanaC]

Fifty years today The Doctor first stepped onto British tv screens. Accompanied by his otherworldly granddaughter, Susan, the cantankerous, untrustworthy explorer and scientist began a journey that is still going on today.

From Hartnell:



To Matt Smith:

(contains spoilers for Name of the Doctor if you havent seen it)




And Peter Capaldi still to come:




Just to throw some additional context in here: that last video where Capaldi is named and introduced as the 12th Doctor should give some sense of the level of attention this gets in the UK.

As Smith recently said: if you find someone in the Uk who hasn't watched Doctor Who, ten to a penny they can still tell you what a Dalek is.

Fifty years and stronger than ever. Even in the 'wilderness years' when it was off the tv, novels and comic books were being written (much like with Star Trek and other sci-fi franchises) and it spawned a whole fan-led audio craze, which became a booming professional audio mini-industry, with some of those people going on to bring the show back the tv screen. And in the 1990s an ill-fated tv movie made sure there was at least one tv outing for the Doctor during the 1990s.

Every decade from the 1960s to the present is represented. Fifty years, 11 Doctors, many companionas, countless producers, writers, directors, actors... yet, no matter how much he changes, the core of the Doctor remains constant.

Happy Birthday, Doctor!