Doctor Who: Every Version Of The Doctor Explained

Doctor Who is often likened to James Bond. They're both major institutions that are threaded into the fabric of British identity. Both also change their lead actor quite frequently.

However, while there have only been six actors to play James Bond between 1962 and 2024, there have been 14 actors to play the 15 officially numbered incarnations of the Doctor in almost that exact same window of time.

And that's not all either. Alongside the Doctor, there have also been Timeless Children, Fugitives, Warriors, Dream Lords, Valeyards, and Curators. Adding those into the mix more than doubles the number of Doctors seen onscreen. 

This list will be focusing on every incarnation seen in the TV show. There'll be no theatre Doctors like Trevor Martin or David Banks. No Comic Relief Doctors like Rowan Atkinson or Joanna Lumley. Nor will there be chancers like David Burton, the jobbing actor who claimed to be the Eighth Doctor before Paul McGann was cast.

Before going any further, a quick honourable mention for David Warner's Unbound Doctor from Big Finish, the best Doctor we never saw on telly.

The First Doctor was an enigmatic and short-tempered figure who took some time to warm to his fellow travellers. He and his granddaughter Susan had left their unnamed (at the time) home planet for an undisclosed reason, and ended up in London 1963.

The First Doctor was sometimes stern, but mostly had an impish sense of mischief that was teased out by his human companions. The positive influence of Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright helped mould him into the hero that audiences recognise today.

Key moments in the his life include the first encounters with the Daleks and the Toymaker, and saving the entire galaxy from the Dalek Time Destructor.

Eventually, the First Doctor's body gave into old age after a gruelling encounter with the Cybermen, and he regenerated inside the TARDIS.