Doctor Who parodies
From Tardis Wiki, the free Doctor Who reference
As a cultural phenomenon for nearly half a century, Doctor Who has been both the target of parody, as well as the frame of reference for satire of other subjects.
Television
1970s
- An episode of the children's variety series Crackerjack featured "Hello, My Dalek" including Don Maclean as a Tom Baker-ish Doctor Why and Peter Glaze as a portly Brigadier. The sketch takes place within the TARDIS which has landed on top of the Post Office Tower. Harry is absent having been despatched to hospital to have his duffelcoat removed. There's a cameo from a Dalek with a eyestalk in a fixed rampant position.
- An episode of "Emu's Broadcasting Company" (aka EBC1) featured puppeteer Rod Hull and his permanently attached avian sidekick Emu as a gestalt Doctor battling the Deadly Dustbins (with their war cry "Rubbish! Rubbish!"). The TARDIS in this segment was seen to be a red UK telephone kiosk.
- An episode of the London Weekend Television sketch show "End Of Part One" (directed by Geoffrey Sax) featured a spoof called Doctor Eyes. Fred Harris played the Doctor who's shot thru his contract, and is quickly replaced by Tony Aitken. Sue Holderness played a Romana-like Gloria
- An episode of Spike Milligan's "Q" series featured the sketch "Pakistani Daleks" in which a turban wearing Dalek is shown living in a surburban home, with a human wife, Dalek child, granny and dog. The chant "Put them in the curry" followed the extermination of the latter two
1980s
- A 1986 installment of The Lenny Henry Show included a sketch with Henry as the Doctor, battling the Cybermen and their leader Thatchos, a Cyberman version of Margaret Thatcher, complete with bouvant hair and purse.
- In a sketch from French & Saunders, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders appeared as extras playing Silurians on the actual set of The Trial of a Time Lord until all concerned, including the extras got bogged down in a discussion of (made-up) Doctor Who Universe continuity. The two eventually bring the filming of an episode to a halt. Though it was never aired, the sketch was included with the home release of the later The Curse of Fatal Death.
- An episode of Victoria Wood As Seen On TV featured Jim Broadbent as a Tom Baker-ish Doctor vs. an old nemesis called Crayola (a brand of wax crayon)
1990s
- The Curse of Fatal Death, a multi-part sketch broadcast as part of the Comic Relief charity telethon in 1999, starred Rowan Atkinson as the Ninth Doctor, Richard E. Grant as the Tenth Doctor, Jim Broadbent as the Eleventh Doctor, Hugh Grant as the Twelfth Doctor, and Joanna Lumley as the female Thirteenth Doctor.
2000s
- The comic impressions show Dead Ringers has featured a number of Who related sketches in it's radio and TV incarnations. The earliest examples feature Jon Culshaw making spoof phones calls retailers and service providers in the guise of the fourth Doctor. Radio sketches include calling B&Q to get a quote for a Sonic Screwdriver, enquiring of a taxi to take him to Gallifrey and calling Nasa for the loan of a space shuttle. In the TV version Culshaw appears in costume as Doctor 4 and attempts to buy a transdimensional wardrobe from a furniture shop.
- Other Dead Ringers sketches include Phil Cornwall as Christopher Eccleston in which the actor returns home to find his family are disappointed by his role as The Doctor- because they're Star Trek fans. Eccleston's mum was supposed to have made his prominent 'Ferrengi' ears. Another sketch features Culshaw and Jan Ravens in character as the Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler in which they compain about the overloud background music and elect to read their own subtitles. In a multi-Doctor sketch the 10th Doctor spends christmas with his some of his former incarnations and tries, unsuccessfully, to get them to watch the Christmas Special. It also features Culshaw as the 4th Doctor, with Cornwall as the 9th, and another of the team (Mark Perry?) as the second and 7th Doctors.
- In 2005 The Chaser's War on Everything, a current affairs satire program produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) aired a parody song sung by Andrew Hansen (a self declared Doctor Who fan). The song featured Hansen as a Doctor Who fan (from the 'Woolongong Doctor Who Fan Club') playing a Doctor Who tribute song based on the Doctor Who theme singing about how if you're a fan of Doctor Who, you're a social outcast. All actors who played the Doctor were mentioned (including David Tennant who had at the time just been announced to the public as the Tenth Doctor, Peter Cushing and Richard E. Grant). As well as Robert Holmes, (with references to Scream of the Shalka and various companions.)
- The Christmas 2006 episode of The Vicar of Dibley featured a Doctor Who-themed wedding, including actual BBC Dalek props, as well as a bridesmaid dressed in David Tennant's Tenth Doctor costume. A previous episode of the same series also had the suggestion that a wedding dress should be decorated with hearts, each one containing a different image of the Doctor's various incarnations.
- The 2007 "Extra Special Series Finale" of the comedy series Extras featured Ricky Gervais as struggling actor Andy Millman, playing an alien villain opposite David Tennant in a fictional Doctor Who story. The finale showed a brief excerpt from his death scene.
In the special, Ricky is reluctantly cast as a slug-like alien called Shlong. David Tennant reprises his role as the Doctor in a cameo appearance. A brief clip of the episode is shown in which the Doctor and an unidentified companion, a female police constable are attacked by Shlong. The Doctor describes the attack as "hyper-podulating", a manipulation of "molluskian glang valves to internally vibrate our DNA", a process that will turn its victims into slugs in roughly thirty seconds. Shlong is quickly dispatched when the Doctor throws table salt on him.
- In a 2010 episode of Harry and Paul, starring Harry Enfield and Paul Whithouse, they performed a sketch called 'Rockin' the TARDIS', or 'Doctor Who: The ITV Years'. The Doctor (Harry) and his companion (Paul) crash land on the planet Woompa-woof', the planet of gay people. Suddenly, three three-breasted woman come along and start dancing with the Doctor and his companion. The whole sketch is played out like a cheaply made sitcom.
Comics
1970s
- The UK edition of Mad Magazine issue 161, released September 1975, featured a comic strip called Doctor Ooh. In the strip Doctor Ooh and his companions Hairy and Squarer battle technobabble and a self-knitting scarf. After the previous three Doctor Oohs fail to solve any problems, the day is saved by the film version of Doctor Ooh with his movie magic.
1990s
- In 1996, comic magazine Viz featured a one-off strip called Doctor Poo. In it the Doctor and his assistant Jamie search time and space for a safe place the Doctor can use the toilet. After being menaced by he Cybermen, Sea Devils, and the Master, the Doctor finally arrives at Davros' private loo on Skaro. This spoof was also published as a Flash cartoon on the magazine's website.
2000s
- In March 2007, the first issue of BeanoMAX was published. The Daleks featured in the Balloonatics comic strip and The Invasion of Bash Street comic strip.
Other
1970s
- Doctor Poo (not to be confused with the comic strip of the same title described above) was an Australian comedy radio series which ran for over 400 episodes from 1979 to 1981.
1980s
- Doctor Why, a 1986 game for the ZX Spectrum home computer, featured Doctor Why and his other incarnations Doctor What, Doctor Where, and Doctor When hung over after a night of heavy drinking. The Doctors must each recover their TRYDIS in order to find the jelly baby of infinite wisdom.
2000s
- The 2003 stage show Bottom Live 2003: Weapons Grade Y-Fronts Tour featured a time-travelling portaloo called the "Turdis."
- The Chuckle Brothers starred in a 2006 comedy stage show spoofing Doctor Who, entitled Doctor What and the Return of the Garlics.
