User:WaltK/List of actors who portrayed the Doctor

Main incarnations

First Doctor

Television

• William Hartnell

Hartnell originated the role of the Doctor on television, appearing from its very first episode, An Unearthly Child ^[+]Loading...["An Unearthly Child (TV story)"], on 23 November 1963. He played the role for the first three seasons, and for the first two serials of the fourth season. The end of the latter serial, The Tenth Planet ^[+]Loading...["The Tenth Planet (TV story)"], broadcast in 1966, saw his departure from the role when his Doctor underwent his first on screen regeneration. Hartnell would reprise the role for a final time in the first episode of the show's 10th anniversary serial, The Three Doctors ^[+]Loading...["The Three Doctors (TV story)"], just three years before his death.

• Richard Hurndall

Hurndall stepped into the role for the only time in the 20th anniversary serial, The Five Doctors ^[+]Loading...["The Five Doctors (TV story)"], as Hartnell had long-since passed away by this point. Hurndell was the first actor to inherit the role of a previously-established incarnation.

• David Bradley

Bradley had initially played William Hartnell himself in the 2013 docudrama An Adventure in Space and Time ^[+]Loading...["An Adventure in Space and Time (TV story)"], before going on to portray the First Doctor himself in the 2017 television stories The Doctor Falls and Twice Upon a Time, becoming the third actor to play the incarnation on screen. He subsequently went on to become the First Doctor's primary voice actor for Big Finish Productions. He later appeared on screen again in The Power of the Doctor as one incarnation of the "Guardians of the Edge", a manifestation within the Doctor's mind who switches between the appearances of various past incarnations.

Voice actors

• Michael Gough

Gough briefly dubbed over one of William Hartnell's lines in a scene where the Doctor impersonates Gough's character, the Toymaker, in the 1966 serial, The Celestial Toymaker ^[+]Loading...["The Celestial Toymaker (TV story)"].

• David Coker

Coker recorded new dialogue for both the First and Second Doctors in the 1997 video game, Destiny of the Doctors ^[+]Loading...["Destiny of the Doctors (video game)"].

• Joe Bassett

Bassett voiced a younger version of the First Doctor in the 2003 Big Finish audio story, Master ^[+]Loading...["Master (audio story)"].

• John Guilor

to be added

• William Russell

Russell, who previously played the First Doctor's companion, Ian Chesterton, voiced the Doctor himself in a handful of Big Finish audios from 2013 to 2016, specifically; The Light at the End ^[+]Loading...["The Light at the End (audio story)"], Domain of the Voord ^[+]Loading...["Domain of the Voord (audio story)"], The Doctor's Tale ^[+]Loading...["The Doctor's Tale (audio story)"], The Age of Endurance ^[+]Loading...["The Age of Endurance (audio story)"], and The Fifth Traveller ^[+]Loading...["The Fifth Traveller (audio story)"].

• Peter Purves

Purves, who previously played the First Doctor's companion, Steven Taylor, voiced the Doctor himself in a multitude of Big Finish audios, primarily those in The Early Years series.

• Anneke Wills

to be added

• Stephen Noonan

Noonan has voiced the Doctor in a handful of stories in Big Finish's The First Doctor Adventures series, standing in for David Bradley.

Second Doctor

to be added

Third Doctor

to be added

Fourth Doctor

to be added

Fifth Doctor

to be added

Sixth Doctor

to be added

Seventh Doctor

to be added

Eighth Doctor

to be added

War Doctor

• John Hurt

The first and primary actor to play him on screen, in the 2013 stories The Name of the Doctor, The Night of the Doctor, and The Day of the Doctor. Hurt also reprised the role in Big Finish Productions' line of War Doctor audios, from 2015 and until his death in 2017.

• Paul McGann

Returning to play the Eighth Doctor for his final adventure in the 2013 webcast, The Night of the Doctor, McGann briefly served as the faceless body double of the newly regenerated War Doctor in the story's final few seconds.

Ninth Doctor

to be added

Tenth Doctor

• David Tennant

Tennant first appeared as the Tenth Doctor in the final moments of 2005's The Parting of the Ways and continued to play the character until the end of the 2009/2010 festive special, The End of Time. He later reprised the role again for the 50th anniversary special, The Day of the Doctor, and again for various Big Finish audio stories.

Eleventh Doctor

• Matt Smith

The main actor to portray the role on screen, beginning with the final scene in The End of Time: Part 2 and until The Time of the Doctor, a tenure which spanned across Series 5 through 7. He also made a cameo toward the end of his immediate successor's first story, Deep Breath.

• Daniel Anthony

Anthony briefly acted as the Eleventh Doctor for just a few seconds in The Sarah Jane Adventures serial, Death of the Doctor, during a scene where the Doctor briefly spoke through Anthony's character Clyde Langer. Anthony's single line of dialogue was overdubbed by Matt Smith during the scene.

Twelfth Doctor

to be added

Thirteenth Doctor

• Jodie Whittaker

The main actor to portray the role on screen, beginning with the final scene of Twice Upon a Time.

• Debra Stephenson

Voiced her in the webcast Doctors Assemble!

Fourteenth Doctor

• David Tennant

Tennant returned to the role of the Doctor at the end of the 2022 television story, The Power of the Doctor ^[+]Loading...["The Power of the Doctor (TV story)"], in a new incarnation who narratively bares a striking physical resemblance to the Tenth Doctor, whom Tennant also played. He starred as the Doctor in the subsequent 60th Anniversary Specials, comprising The Star Beast ^[+]Loading...["The Star Beast (TV story)"], Wild Blue Yonder ^[+]Loading...["Wild Blue Yonder (TV story)"], and The Giggle ^[+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"].

Fifteenth Doctor

• Ncuti Gatwa

Gatwa first appeared as the Doctor during the climax of the third 60th Anniversary Special, The Giggle ^[+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"], after his Doctor bi-generated from his predecessor. He is the current actor in the role.

Ambiguous and unplaced incarnations

The Valeyard

to be added

The Timeless Child

to be added

Fugitive Doctor

to be added