Task Search
Checklists
How creative can you get with your first free checklist?
Episodes
Doctor Who has ran in several different formats over its 51 year span. For many years in the 60s and 70s, a single story would be split into anywhere between 2 and 12 episodes at a time. For example, the 1963 story "The Edge of Destruction" had two parts whereas the 1969 story "The War Games" is made up of 10 episodes, with the First Doctor Story, The Daleks Master Plan consisting of 12 episodes. Occasionally due to scheduling issues, some stories would be changed from a four part story into a two part story. This happened with episodes such as the 1984 story "Resurrection of the Daleks" due to BBC1's Olympics coverage. This story format ran up until 1989. A one-off TV movie was aired in 1996, in the hopes of sparking a revival.
Modern Doctor Who: 2005-present
Doctor Who was brought back in March 2005 with a 13 episode series, each episode 45 minutes in length, as well as a 60 minute Christmas Special. Most episodes were standalone, apart from 3 two-parters. The show was helmed by Russel T Davies with Christopher Eccleston as the 9th incarnation of The Doctor and Billie Piper as the new companion, Rose Tyler.
In 2006, Series 2 stared a new Doctor, David Tennant. He remained The Doctor for Series 3 and 4, all with largely the same format as Series 1. He had several different companions during his tenure. In 2009, instead of a full series, four special episodes were aired throughout the year, with longer runtimes. Tennant left the role on New Years Day 2010, in the last of the specials.
The were some big changes to the show in 2010. Series 5 not only saw Matt Smith take on the role as the new Doctor, but Russel T Davies passed on the showrunner title to Steven Moffat. The show was rebooted with new titles, logo, TARDIS, Sonic Screwdriver, amoungst others. The 13 episode and Christmas special format remained for Series 5. Series 6 was split, with seven episodes of the main run in the spring of 2011, then the remaing six airing in the Autumn. Series 7 was again split, with 5 episodes of the main run airing in Autumn 2012, ushering out the previous companions, then 8 episodes in Spring 2013. On November 23rd 2013, to celebrate the show's 50th anniversary, a special feature length episode was aired simultaniously around the world, with 3D showings at cinemas, as well as airing on TV. Matt Smith left the show in the 2013 Christmas Special.
Peter Capaldi joined the show as The Doctor in 2014 for Series 8. The Series semi-rebooted the show from Matt Smith's era. The Series aired in the Autumn, for a 12 episode run, the first of which was feature length, the rest returned to the usual 45 minute run time. Again, a Christmas Special was also aired that year. Series 9 is expected to return in Autumn 2015. It is as of yet unclear if it will be a 12 or 13 episode run. A Christmas Special is expected to follow.