Doctor Who: Every Version Of The Doctor Explained
15. The Eighth Doctor (First Appearance: 1996)
The Eighth Doctor was a breath of fresh air. Handsome, romantic, and possessing a zest for life and thirst for adventure, Paul McGann's incarnation would've revitalised the character on TV – had the powers-that-be decided to continue with him.
While the Eighth Doctor's TV adventures never went further than the 1996 TV Movie, he's had parallel lives in books, comic strips, and audio dramas, and that's where he truly found his audience.
Eventually, in 2013, it was revealed that the Eighth Doctor regenerated at the height of the Time War, after his attempts to save a crashing freighter went horribly wrong. Deciding that the universe was no longer in need of a Doctor, he regenerated into a warrior.
Doctor Who initially skipped over Eight's regeneration however, kicking off the 2005 revival with the Ninth Doctor fully formed.