Doctor-lite

Doctor-lite or companion-lite is a classification given to stories in which the Doctor and/or his companions are deliberately de-emphasized in the narrative. Though most commonly associated with the production necessities of the BBC Wales version of the programme, there have been non-televised stories which have elected to tell Doctor-lite stories purely for dramatic purposes.

Doctor-lite episodes are not usually considered to be parts of serials of the 1963 version in which the Doctor or his companions do not appear. Rather, they are entire stories in which the Doctor and/or his companions make only a minor appearance. Companion-lite stories are likewise not those in which the Doctor is traveling without a companion. Rather, they are ones in which a companion is established as being an ongoing resident of the Doctor's TARDIS, but sidelined from the main action of a story.

The term came into vogue with the broadcast of Love & Monsters, the first intentionally Doctor-lite episode of the televised programme. Monsters was followed by Blink and Midnight, and the companion-lite episode, Turn Left. All of these were deliberately written so as to allow for double banking, a process which enables two separate stories to be recorded simultaneously because of the reduced need for the main cast.

Though the term may have been a product of the BBC Wales version of the television programme, the concept certainly pre-dates the 2005 series. A famous example of a Doctor-lite story in print is the novel, Who Killed Kennedy.