John Doe – on the name tag tied to the Seventh Doctor’s toe after his ‘death’ in San Francisco. (Doctor Who)
Doctor Foreman – mistakenly used by Ian Chesterton on their first meeting. (An Unearthly Child)
The Great Exterminator – how the Emperor Dalek addresses the Doctor. (The Parting of the Ways)
The Destroyer of Worlds – a title Davros used to describe the Doctor. (Journey’s End)
The Old One – according to Balazar, reader of the Books of Knowledge on Ravolox, much to the Doctor’s chagrin. (The Trial of a Time Lord)
The Oncoming Storm – one of the Daleks’ many names for their arch-enemy. (The Parting of the Ways)
The Predator – those Daleks really were petrified of the Doctor. (Asylum of the Daleks)
Prisoner 177781 – the designation given to the Doctor when he was arrested for looting during the evacuation of London. (Invasion of the Dinosaurs)
The Great Wizard Quiquaequod – a mystical moniker given by white witch Olive Hawthorne. (The Daemons)
Raggedy Man – Amy Pond’s nickname for the Eleventh Doctor. Also, the Raggedy Doctor. (Various)
Mr Spock – How Rose Tyler first introduces the Time Lord to Captain Jack Harkness. (The Empty Child)
Sweetie – River Song’s pet-name for her hubby. (From Silence in the Library)
Theta Sigma – The Doctor’s nickname while at the Academy. (The Armageddon Factor, The Happiness Patrol)
The Traveller from Beyond Time – how the Doctor is greeted by the Elders of the far future. (The Savages)
The Watcher – how the Doctor’s companions described his spectral future self. (Logopolis)
Doctor Who – by super computer WOTAN. (Also see ‘Doctor Who?’) (The War Machines)
Zeus – the First Doctor was mistaken for the Greek god by Achilles c.1200 BC (The Myth Makers)
ALL IN A TITLE
The Doctor has no problem adopting or being given titles as well as names. In his time he’s been an Examiner (twice – Power of the Daleks, The War Games), Chairman Delegate from Earth (The Curse of Peladon) and an Ajak (The Sun Makers).
JOHN WHO?
Just as Earth is the Doctor’s favourite planet, John Smith is his favourite alias. Here are just some of the many times he’s used it on his travels:
The First Doctor used it on his Shoreditch library card. (The Vampires of Venice)
The Second Doctor was introduced as John Smith on Space Station W3 – although in this case it was Jamie who gave him the nom de plume (The Wheel in Space). The Doctor had picked up the habit by the time of The War Games.
When asked his name at the end of Spearhead from Space, the Third Doctor replies (in typically Bondian fashion): ‘Smith. Doctor John Smith.’ In The Time Warrior, the Doctor introduces himself as John Smith to fellow scientist Professor Rubeish.
When filling out his hospital forms, the Seventh Doctor was given the name John Smith by Chang Lee. Coincidence? Probably, unless you’re one of those humans who always see patterns in things that aren’t there. (Doctor Who)
The psychic paper introduced the Ninth Doctor as Dr John Smith from the Ministry of Asteroids in The Empty Child.
The Tenth Doctor was particularly fond of the alias. He first used it signing on as a science teacher by the name of John Smith at Deffry Vale High School (School Reunion). He would later use it while pretending to be a patient at Royal Hope Hospital (Smith and Jones), posing as a health and safety officer investigating Adipose Industries (Partners in Crime) and impersonating a policeman (The Unicorn and the Wasp).
Unfortunately, the Tenth Doctor would come unstuck on an ill-fated bus trip on the planet Midnight. When he gave the name, his fellow passengers immediately recognised it as false. Luckily neither the memory-wiped Donna Noble (Journey’s End) nor Jackson Lake (The Next Doctor) had problems swallowing the alias.
The Doctor literally became John Smith – and a human to boot – when hiding from the Family of Blood in England, 1913 (Human Nature, The Family of Blood).
The name came in handy for the Ganger Doctor in The Almost People.
THE TIME LORD OATH
‘I swear to protect the ancient law of Gallifrey with all my might and main and will to the end of my days with justice and with honour temper my actions and my thoughts.’
Time Academy Induction Ceremony (Shada)
THE DOCTOR’S HEIGHT
Just how tall are each of the Doctor’s incarnations?
WHO GOES THERE
Sometimes you need more than barefaced cheek or psychic paper to get by in the universe. Here are just a number of the many disguises employed by our devious Doctor…
A regional officer of the Provinces (The Reign of Terror)
The Monk (The Time Meddler)
Zephon (The Daleks’ Master Plan)
A Redcoat (The Highlanders)
A washerwoman (The Highlanders)
A German doctor (The Highlanders)
A gypsy (The Underwater Menace)
Salamander (The Enemy of the World)
The Karkus (The Mind Robber)
An alien student (The War Games)
A British soldier (The War Games)
A technician (Inferno)
A Dalek (Frontier in Space)
A Spiridon (Planet of the Daleks)
A milkman (The Green Death)
A cleaning lady (The Green Death)
A medieval monk (The Time Warrior)
A robot knight (The Time Warrior)
A Thal guard (Genesis of the Daleks)
A robot mummy (Pyramids of Mars)
Himself – well, his android double at least (The Android Invasion)
Harrison Chase’s driver (The Seeds of Doom)
Hieronymous (The Masque of Mandragora)
A fellow Time Lord (The Deadly Assassin)
A soldier in the Graff Vynda-K’s personal guard (The Ribos Operation)
Meglos (Meglos)
A Sea Base guard (Warriors of the Deep)
A miner (The Mark of the Rani)
A waiter (Rose, Rise of the Cybermen)
A Roboform (The Runaway Bride)
John Smith (Human Nature, Family of Blood)
A Headless Monk (A Good Man Goes to War)
Sherlock Holmes (The Snowmen)
A Punch and Judy man (The Snowmen)
DOCTOR DOUBLES
The Doctor may be a unique individual but doubles of the great man turn up with alarming regularity.
Created by the Daleks to ‘infiltrate and kill’ the Doctor and his companions. This was the only Doctor double not to be played by the actor playing the Doctor himself. The robot Doctor was played by Edmund Warwick, who had previously been a stand-in for William Hartnell in The Dalek Invasion of Earth after the lead actor had injured himself. Hartnell did, however, dub the robot Doctor’s lines, as well as appearing in close-ups.