By cosmic coincidence, the anti-Huguenot Abbot of Amboise was a double of the First Doctor. The resemblance was so striking that Steven believed the holy man was the Doctor in disguise.
Mexican dictator Salamander bore a close resemblance to the Second Doctor – so much so that Time Lord and despot could easily impersonate each other.
One of the many pod-produced androids used by the Kraals in their invasion of Earth. So good that even the bad guys couldn’t tell the difference between the fake Doctor and the real deal.
The Doctor duplicated himself – and Leela – so that his double could be shrunk to microscopic size using the TARDIS’s dimensional stabiliser and injected into his own body to combat the Nucleus of the Swarm.
The Doctor tricked Pangol into creating an army of Doctor clones using the Tachyon Recreation Generator.
Using the body of an abducted human, megalomaniac space-cactus Meglos impersonated the Doctor – even when he started sprouting spikes.
The Gallifreyan temporal engineer based his new body on the Fifth Doctor.
The shape-shifting android briefly took on the Time Lord’s form.
A duplicate created by the Daleks in order to assassinate the High Council of Time Lords.
A robot double created by Sharaz Jek to face General Chellak’s firing squad.
Grown out of the Doctor’s severed hand by means of an instantaneous biological metacrisis.
Accidentally created when the Doctor touched a vat of living programmable matter the Flesh during a solar storm on 22nd-century Earth.
Justice Department Vehicle Number 6018 impersonated the Doctor so that he could be murdered by River Song on the shores of Lake Silencio and restore established history.
DOCTOR… WHO?
‘Doctor Who is required.’
WOTAN, The War Machines
The programme is called Doctor Who while the character is just ‘the Doctor’. That hasn’t stopped the name of the show popping up. A lot.
Other instances:
From An Unearthly Child to The War Games the end credits gave the name as ‘Dr. Who’ or ‘Doctor Who’. From Spearhead from Space to Logopolis it was ‘Doctor Who’. This changed to simply ‘The Doctor’ from Castrovalva onwards. When the show returned in 2005, it was back to ‘Doctor Who’ for the Ninth Doctor adventures. Since The Christmas Invasion, it’s been plain old ‘The Doctor’ again.
Bessie’s number plate was WHO 1 (although when the Seventh Doctor turned up in Battlefield someone had conveniently changed it to WHO 7!)
In K-9 and Company: A Girl’s Best Friend, Brendan asks ‘Who is the Doctor?’ to which K-9 replies, ‘Affirmative.’
The novelisation Doctor Who and the Zarbi refers to the Doctor as ‘Doctor Who’ throughout, as do the officially licensed comic strips that appeared in TV Comic, Countdown and TV Action during the 1960s and 1970s, and the annuals published by World Distributors during the same period.
It’s not actually Doctor Who, but in Carry on Screaming Doctor Watt gives his name to Constable Slobotham who asks, ‘Doctor Who, sir?’ The reply comes back: ‘Watt. Who was my uncle, or was – I haven’t seen him in ages.’
A DOCTOR OF WHAT?
Does the Doctor have any qualifications at all? It seems even he can’t make up his mind…
The First Doctor states that he’s not a doctor of medicine. (An Unearthly Child)
He also tells Kublai Khan that he cannot cure his pains as he’s not a doctor of medicine. (Marco Polo)
When Ian thanks him, rather sarcastically, for a thorough medical, the Doctor says it is a pity he didn’t get his degree. (The Rescue)
The Second Doctor thinks he was once a medical Doctor, having taken a degree in Glasgow in 1888 under Joseph Lister. (The Moonbase)
Then again, not long after that, he’s back to saying he’s not a medical doctor. (The Krotons)
The Third Doctor tells the Investigator on Solos that he is a doctor qualified in practically everything. (The Mutants) This claim is also made by the Fifth and Tenth Doctors. (Four to Doomsday, Utopia)
The Fourth Doctor defers to a real medical doctor on board the Ark, saying that his doctorate is purely honorary. (The Ark in Space)
The Doctor once again points out Harry’s credentials on Nerva Beacon, adding that he himself is a doctor of ‘many things’. (Revenge of the Cybermen)
Runcible (the Fatuous) thought the Doctor got expelled from the Prydonian Academy due to some sort of scandal. (The Deadly Assassin)
Romana claimed the Doctor scraped through to graduation with 51 per cent on his second attempt, information the Doctor believed was confidential. She, on the other hand, graduated with a triple first. (The Ribos Operation)
Drax thought it was good that the Doctor got his doctorate from the Academy. Like Drax, the Doctor was in ‘the year of ’92’. (The Armageddon Factor)
The Fourth Doctor received an honorary degree from St Cedd’s, Cambridge in 1960. (Shada)
The Doctor failed the TARDIS flying test. (The Shakespeare Code)
The Eleventh Doctor claims he has degrees in medicine and cheese-making. (The God Complex)
THE DOCTOR IS IN
‘Doctor. The word for healer and wise man throughout the universe. We get that word from you, you know?’
River Song, A Good Man Goes to War
The programme has featured some real doctors in its time – although not all of them have been particularly wise. Here’s a selection.