Cultural references to the Doctor Who universe/2020s

Cultural references to the Doctor Who universe by decade

Occasionally, elements of the Doctor Who universe are referenced in the broader popular culture. This page exists to throw a spotlight on some of these casual references made in television, comics, films and other media which happened during the 2020s.

In-universe references

These references functionally act as minor, unlicensed crossovers between the series and the DWU: some element of the Doctor Who universe makes a cameo, or is referenced, in such a way as to imply that it is real in the world of the story, or indeed that the story itself "unofficially" takes place in the Doctor Who universe.

Television

• In the episode "Down and Out" (2020) of The Expanse, "Who, Dr." is listed as one of Chrisjen Avasarala's contacts.
• In the episode Hayley Was a Girl Scout? (2022) of American Dad!, K9 appears at a robot convention.

Prose

• In the Star Wars novel Brotherhood (2022), the droid Huyang is rumoured to have arrived at the Jedi Temple in a "big blue box" thousands of years in the past. Huyang was voiced by David Tennant in Star Wars: The Clones Wars and this is a tacit reference to the TARDIS.
• Scott Sanford's 2022 Jenny Everywhere short story The Folly of Men, set in 1960s London, featured a "Captain Stewart" working for an international "Intelligence Taskforce". This is implicitly a younger version of Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, already working for UNIT. Jenny Cornelius comments that "in ten or twenty years you’ll have shot up the ranks, you’ll be a brigadier or something, and you’ll have no time to run around with me".

Video games

• Watch Dogs: Legion (2020) is set in a near-future London. A police box covered in graffiti is seen in an underground safehouse.

Out-of-universe references

These references are to Doctor Who (or one of its spin-offs) as works of fiction. They merely establish that fiction about the Doctor or the Daleks exists in the fictional universe of the story, as it does in the real world.

Television

• In Staged (2020), David Tennant plays a fictionalised version of himself; he has a small TARDIS in his garden.
• In the episode "Over the Hill with the Swords of a Thousand Men" (2020) of season 2 of The Boys, the character Frenchie wears a t-shirt featuring a cat version of the Thirteenth Doctor.
• In Season 22, Episode 23 (2020) of Holby City, John Barrowman and Jo Martin shared a scene as their characters Drew Nicholson-Heath and Max McGerry. In the scene, Nicholson-Heath briefly salutes McGerry and sarcastically remarks, "Doctor," referencing Martin's performance as an incarnation of the Doctor and in turn Barrowman's role as Jack Harkness (the both of them appeared in TV: Fugitive of the Judoon but did not share a scene). The scene was confirmed as an intentional reference in a behind-the-scenes video.
• The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020) was created by Doctor Who fan Mike Flanagan. Owen Sharma (Rahul Kohli) wore a bowtie and tweed jacket as an homage to the Eleventh Doctor. The final episode has the line "It's not a ghost story. It's a love story," which is a quote from Hide.

Mock SFX cover for Regression of the Daleks (SFX 336)

• Episode 4 of It's a Sin (2021) by Russell T Davies, a scene set in 1988 depicts the filming of Regression of the Daleks, a fictional serial of Doctor Who. The character Ritchie Tozer played Trooper Linden in the story. This is a tribute to Dursley McLinden, who played Mike Smith in Remembrance of the Daleks, raised money for AIDS-related charities, and died of the disease in 1995.
  • Issue 336 of SFX included an article about It's a Sin. The article featured a mock cover imagining Regression of the Daleks as a real episode in 1988.
• In the episode "Cupid's Errant Arrow" (2020) of Star Trek: Lower Decks, two characters use a tool that makes the noise of the sonic screwdriver.
• In the episode "This Is What It Takes" (2021) of Legacies, Landon say the therapy box is "bigger than it looks on the outside".
• In the episode "Rick & Morty's Thanksploitation Spectacular" (2021) of Rick and Morty, a character refers to Rick Sanchez as a "spiky-haired Doctor Who in a lab coat".
• Season 3 of Doom Patrol (2021) introduced the time travelling villain Madame Rogue (Laura De Mille) as played by Michelle Gomez. In the episode "Dada Patrol", Jane refers to her as "Doctor Who".
• In episode 4 of The Time Traveler's Wife (2022), written by Steven Moffat, Gomez questions if investing in stocks with knowledge of the futute will affect the Web of Time.
• The first shot of episode 6 of season 2 of Beforeigners shows a TARDIS fish tank decoration. One of the show's main themes is time travel and this episode features a rift in time.

Prose

• In the novel Piranesi (2020) by Susanna Clarke, a research paper is mentioned: ‘Timey-Wimey: Steven Moffat, Blink and J. W. Dunne’s theories of Time’, Journal of Space, Time and Everything, Volume 64: 42–68, University of Minnesota Press.
• In the novel Later (2021) by Stephen King, Jamie Conklin doesn't think Torchwood is cool but watches it because he gets to stay up an hour past his bedtime.
• In the novel Broadway Revival (2022) by Laura Frankos, Doctor Who was revived for its 100th anniversary in 2063 and ran for another ten years. Several episodes involved the Doctor encountering Rippers, a group of time travellers who conduct historical research in the past.

Video games

• In a 2020 update to Marvel Contest of Champions, Cosmic Ghost Rider mentioned a TV show with an orange wormhole with catchy electronic music. He also paraphrases a line from Blink: "You see, people think time is a linear progression of cause to effect, when in reality it's more like a big ball of time--".

Webcasts

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  A "Vote Saxon" poster among other advertisements. (Why The Web Is Such A Mess)
  The RealLifeLore video "If You Get Stranded in the Past, How to Tell What Year You’re In" included the TARDIS as a time machine.
• Tom Scott’s video "Why The Web Is Such A Mess" included a Vote Saxon poster. This video was posted on 23 November 2020, the 57th anniversary of Doctor Who.

Real world

• A 2020 New York Times article titled "What to Expect From Facebook, Twitter and YouTube on Election Day" included a graphic by Shira Inbar of three K9s representing Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
• The Dutch CoronaCheck website had a QR code that, when scanned, has the message: "River Song is a fictional character in the British science-fiction series Doctor Who. As a consequence of River and the Doctor both being time travellers, their adventures together are out-of-sync chronologically, resulting in surprising consequences for them and their unusual romantic life together. She often signals the Doctor by using the phrase “Hello Sweetie”."