Doctor Who: 15 Real Historical Characters The Doctor Has Met
A look at which historical figures that our favourite time lord has visited in Doctor Who.
The Doctor has been travelling across many time periods and planets, but as observers of the current season can testify, he also likes to spend a lot of time on Earth. The use of real life characters featuring in Doctor Who was at its peak during William Hartnell's original portrayal of the renegade from Gallifrey, when the show concentrated more on education than entertainment.
While the real life people were largely given the boot during the '70s and '80s, the reboot of Doctor Who for the new millennium saw a welcome return of historical figures gracing our favourite sci fi show. With the educational aspects mostly removed, we've largely been able to enjoy the trips through history while still learning gems of information we didn't before.
For the purposes of this list we have not included any famous people the Doctor has name dropped or suggested he has visited, so there's no Jimi Hendrix on this list I'm afraid. Implied characters, eg Chris Noth's Trump impersonation, are also excluded as are personalities who are somewhat disputed as to being fictitious or not. For the record, this writer reserves the right to add Robin Hood and Santa onto this list as he sees fit!
15. Marco Polo
The meeting with the first historical character that the Doctor visited in his adventures in time and space is sadly one that viewers can no longer see. Unfortunately the only prints of the seven part episode titled 'Marco Polo' were burned in the notorious BBC fires that saw so much iconic Who footage destroyed forever.
While much has been done to restore the story to life through audio recordings and original set photography, it's nothing short of a travesty that so many episodes are gone. The disappointment is increased by the fact that this was only the Doctor's fourth ever adventure and therefore holds an important place in the programme's history.
The story itself sees the Doctor, his granddaughter and companions encounter Marco Polo on the Himalayas in the 13th century. The adventures see them meet other important historical figures such as Kublai Khan as they become involved in a battle of wills as villainous forces attempt to overthrow the Mongol Empire.
But just like the empire itself, the episode is now no more than a lost memory.