Doctor Who: 10 Things Everyone Always Gets Wrong About The Doctor

"Doctor Who is the name of the show, the Doctor is the name of the character" is to Doctor Who fans what "Frankenstein is the name of the scientist" is to horror fans. But is that really true?

From 1963 to 1981, the character was credited as both "Dr. Who" and "Doctor Who". In The War Machines, the super-intelligent computer WOTAN states that "Doctor Who is required", while the Second Doctor refers to himself as Doctor Who (albeit in German) in The Highlanders. Doctor Who and the Silurians is the literal name for the Jon Pertwee serial, while a large number of Target novelisations refer to the character as Doctor Who.

When the show returned in 2005, Christopher Eccleston was credited as "Doctor Who", but when David Tennant was cast, he insisted on being credited as "The Doctor", because he's a massive fanboy. Although he was also a massive fanboy, Capaldi didn't insist on reverting his credit, but wonderfully referred to the character as Doctor Who in press interviews.

However, arguably the clearest answer to this debate came in The Name of the Doctor, which asserted that "the Doctor" is the name that was chosen. Not that that will stop countless people calling the Doctor "Doctor Who" in years to come!