Robot Doctor

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Robot Doctor
Species:	Robot
First appearance:	The Chase [+]Loading...["The Chase (TV story)"]
Appearances:	AUDIO: Fugitive of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Fugitive of the Daleks (audio story)"]
Main actor:	Edmund Warwick
Main voice actor:	Stephen Noonan
Other actors:	William Hartnell

You may be looking for the android Fourth Doctor.

A Robot Dr Who (TV: The Chase ^[+]Loading...["The Chase (TV story)"]) referred to as the "Robot Doctor" by Vicki Pallister, Dodo Chaplet, and his own Dalek creators (AUDIO: Fugitive of the Daleks ^[+]Loading...["Fugitive of the Daleks (audio story)"]) was created by the Pursuer-Daleks to "infiltrate and kill" the circle of the First Doctor and his companions. (TV: The Chase ^[+]Loading...["The Chase (TV story)"])

Biography

Using their records of the Doctor, the robot was a highly accurate representation of the original Doctor, even down to the mannerisms and the way the Doctor spoke, but it was programmed by the Daleks to be loyal and to carry out its mission.

Vicki Pallister happened to stow away onboard the Dalek time machine when the Robot Dr Who was created. She alerted the real Doctor, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright to its existence. By that point, the robot had already duped Barbara into believing it was the real Doctor and nearly killed her. When the whole party met the Robot Dr Who, the timing of the meeting was such that Ian, Barbara and Vicki couldn't tell which was the real Doctor and which was the robot. In the confusion, Ian attacked the real Doctor. The robot kept up the pretence and tried to persuade Ian to kill the real Doctor by smashing his head with a rock.

Before Ian could do so, the robot made a fatal mistake and revealed that its knowledge of the Doctor's travelling was outdated by calling Vicki "Susan." Barbara immediately realised that it was, in fact, the robot, and prevented Ian from killing the real Doctor. The robot was subsequently destroyed in the fight with the Doctor and his companions. (TV: The Chase ^[+]Loading...["The Chase (TV story)"])

The robot was repaired and used again to trick Vicki. It told the Doctor to seek medical treatment, pretending to be ill. After recovering, it feigned having temporal amnesia. It behaved more like the Doctor in its deductions. It helped Vicki to escape the Daleks. It stopped Vicki from finding out that it had locked up Dodo Chaplet. Its cover was broken when it was injured by a Sioux arrow. When it got frozen on Vitros, Vicki told him the truth and debated with him about his being. It was captured by the Daleks and told it would be reprogrammed once examined to understand how it gained free will. It reverted to his core programming, and forced Dodo to use the telepathic circuits to get to a vulnerable point in Earth's history. It wanted to break the laws of Time. It set itself to selfdestruct to destroy a set of famous scientist. Vicki deactivated him. The Doctor dropped him off at Ambroise to become the Abbot of Amboise. (AUDIO: Fugitive of the Daleks ^[+]Loading...["Fugitive of the Daleks (audio story)"])

Legacy

Many years after she left the TARDIS, Vicki met the Eighth Doctor and mistakenly suspected him of being another robot duplicate of her friend. (PROSE: Apocrypha Bipedium ^[+]Loading...["Apocrypha Bipedium (short story)"])

Behind the scenes

• Edmund Warwick, previously employed upon occasion as William Hartnell's double, did not make for a very convincing "exact duplicate", although Hartnell did dub all the robot's lines (barring one instance of the robot saying "No," which was accidentally left undubbed).
• During the era of Doctor Who in which The Chase ^[+]Loading...["The Chase (TV story)"] took place, the Doctor was referred to as "Dr. Who" in the ending credits, though not in dialogue. The episode of The Chase in which the Daleks' impersonator of the Doctor appears has the title "The Death of Doctor Who", which presumably (and misleadingly) refers to the destruction of the robot.
• The Robot Doctor was listed as "Robot Dr Who" in the episode credits.
• He was the first robot clone of the Doctor, The Doctor would encounter another in The Android Invasion ^[+]Loading...["The Android Invasion (TV story)"].