Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor and Billie Piper as Rose Tyler, in a publicity still for the launch of the new Doctor Who in 2005.
Russell T. Davies had been a Doctor Who fan since childhood and had been trying to resurrect the show since he began his writing career. One of his first projects, Dark Season (1991), was almost a stealth teen revival of the show, featuring an eccentric, brainy protagonist (Marcie, played by Victoria Lambert) and her two "companions," one of whom was played by Kate Winslet, fighting an evil corporation trying to conquer the world with a killer AI. As Davies' star rose, he tried several times to relaunch the show, with the BBC strongly considering a proposal from him called Doctor Who 2000 in 1999 but demurring due to ongoing attempts to launch a feature film based on the franchise. It was only after the enormous success of Davies' Queer as Folk on Channel 4 that the BBC courted him seriously and agreed to revive Doctor Who, announcing the news in late 2003.
To revive the show, Davies decided to make sweeping changes to the format, many of which troubled long-time fans who'd been waiting a decade and a half for regular new episodes. He chose to model the show after contemporary American genre dramas like Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He decided 45-minute episodes could pack more story and worldbuilding in than the old 25-minute format, but he also decided to make most of the episodes standalones, compared to the old format of serials consisting of 4-6 episodes (with outliers of stories lasting up to 14 episodes). This meant mostly doing away with cliffhangers - a staple of the classic show - and wrapping up stories very quickly (after some consideration he did allow for a few two-parters, restoring the cliffhanger experience, albeit occasionally). A common complaint of Davies' initial run was that episodes were too fast-paced, hectic and difficult to follow. But he also integrated serialised storytelling, with each season having a mystery or story that unfolds in the background of the individual episode storylines, only coming to the fore at the end of each season.
David Tennant is the most popular actor to play the Doctor since the show's return. He played the Tenth Doctor from 2005 to 2010, subsequently returning for the 50th anniversary special in 2013. He then returned again for three special episodes celebrating the 60th anniversary in 2023, playing the Fourteenth Doctor.
He also decided to revamp the show's mythology. Between the original show and the new run, a vast "Time War" had taken place, in which the Doctor's homeworld of Gallifrey had been destroyed and his species, the Time Lords, rendered extinct. The Doctor is dealing with the stress of this event, leaving him somewhat more aloof than he was before, until he meets young London shop-worker Rose Tyler, whom reminds him of his sense of adventure and morality. As the first series unfolds, we learn that the Doctor's most enduring foes, the Daleks, were also destroyed in the Time War, but it's not too long before the Doctor starts encountering survivors of the conflict. Events culminate in the epic series finale, where he has to hold off an entire battle fleet of Daleks from destroying Earth.
One of Davies' masterstrokes was casting Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor. Eccleston was known mostly for very serious, intense roles in TV shows like Our Friends in the North and Cracker, and movies like Shallow Grave. Davies had worked with Eccleston on The Second Coming, a mini-series where Eccleston plays someone who may (or may not) be the Second Coming of Jesus, except this time around the Son of God has decided to incarnate in Manchester (where else?). For himself, Eccleston had wanted to try his hands at more comedic roles and being a role-model for children. His casting brought gravitas to the project. Davies was also impressed with the audition of Billie Piper, a former teen pop star who was looking to reinvent herself as an actress. Piper brought tabloid interest to the new show and cynicism about stunt casting, but her performance ultimately won over doubters.
Matt Smith played the Eleventh Doctor from 2010 to 2014. He remains the youngest and least-known actor to have played the role, but was a huge success, with the show achieving arguably its highest level of international success during his run. The role made Smith a star, paving the way for his later roles in The Crown and his ongoing role in House of the Dragon.
Many people, including those at the BBC, were worried about reviving the show. They feared the premise was too hokey and kids playing video games or watching reality shows or cooler US series wouldn't be interested. They needn't have worried. Doctor Who's return was an immense ratings success and, after some initial doubting, a critical one as well. The BBC, impressed with the show's performance, quickly commissioned another season, and almost immediately ran into a major problem.
Christopher Eccleston had not enjoyed filming, especially in the early going of the season, and had clashed badly with one of the directors. Eccleston felt he did not have sufficient backup from the producers and decided to quit (he almost changed his mind after the later blocks of filming went far more smoothly, but decided to stick to his guns). The story was threatening to leak to the media, so the BBC rushed out a press release which included quotes from Eccleston that he'd never said, leading to friction.
Peter Capaldi played the Twelfth Doctor from 2013 to 2017, with Jenna Coleman playing his companion Clara from 2012 to 2015. Although several of the show's most critically-acclaimed episodes aired during this tenure, the Capaldi era was criticised for being too adult and dark, and saw the show start to lose viewers, despite dealing with more interesting storylines.
Davies steadied the ship by convincing David Tennant - whom he'd worked with on a Casanova mini-series - to step in to replace Eccleston and quickly moved into production on the second series. However, it appears that attempts to mend fences with Eccleston, if any were made, were not successful. Though Eccleston later returned for some audio dramas and renewed his friendship with Billie Piper, he refused to consider returning to the show under Davies' stewardship (he did consider a request to return for the 50th anniversary celebrations under Steven Moffat, but ultimately demurred).
Despite that bump in the road, Doctor Who's return was extraordinarily successful. Since 2005, the revamped Doctor Who has aired 188 episodes across 14 seasons of television. It has managed to air at least one episode in every year since its return (though 2016 and 2019 only saw one episode apiece air for the whole year). Six actors have played the Doctor since the show's resurrection: Christopher Eccleston (2005), David Tennant (2005-10, 2022-23), Matt Smith (2010-14), Peter Capaldi (2013-17), Jodie Whittaker (2017-22) and Ncuti Gatwa (2023-present), although several alternate/"guest" incarnations of the Doctor have been played by actors including John Hurt and Jo Martin. In addition, all of the surviving earlier actors to have played the Doctor have made returning guest appearances, with the deceased ones returning via stock footage or being recast. At least sixteen regular "companion" characters have also starred in the show (depending on how you count them, there could be quite a few more). Three showrunners have helmed the show since its return: Russell T. Davies (2005-10, 2023-present), Steven Moffat (2010-17) and Chris Chibnall (2018-22).
The revamped show also resulted in three spin-off shows airing: Torchwood (2006-11), The Sarah Jane Adventures (2007-11) and Class (2016).
Jodie Whittaker played the Thirteenth Doctor from 2017 to 2022, the first woman to play the role long-term. Although her performance was praised, her era was contentious for inconsistent writing, dubious lore retcons, too many characters and, after a strong start, declining ratings.
Doctor Who has faced some stiff challenges since its return. The BBC considered cancelling the show when both Tennant and Davies decided to leave after a run of special episodes ending in 2010, but decided to give new actor Matt Smith and new showrunner Steven Moffat a chance, with both delivering the show to new heights of success. The show arguably achieved its cultural zenith during its 50th anniversary celebrations in 2013, with a special episode shown in cinemas around the world and the show making a breakthrough in the United States, albeit a relatively short-lived one. However, the show suffered from the BBC's declining fortunes through the 2010s, with the corporation's funding under severe strain. The show went from airing a season a year to sometimes splitting a season and its attendant specials across two or even three years. The episode count was gradually cut from 13 at the start of the decade to 10 by its end. The show was also buffeted by the arrival of streaming platforms, with first-run ratings gradually declining over the latter 2010s. Production problems caused by COVID badly impacted the end of Jodie Whittaker's era.
Critically, the revived era of the show was always somewhat divisive, but with the showing enjoying huge ratings, merchandising sales and popular success, this was not a major problem until ratings started falling during the Peter Capaldi era. Some critics and fan reviewers argued the show had become too dark and depressing during this period, and younger viewers did not relate as well to Capaldi playing an older version of the Doctor. However, there was widespread praise for occasional classic episodes (like Listen and Heaven Sent). Reviewers became more negative with the arrival of the Chris Chibnall era, with widespread criticism of the writing and characterisation, particularly the issues caused by a more crowded TARDIS crew (with four regular characters instead of just two, to try to lighten the workload on the actor playing the Doctor). There was also anger about the decision to retcon the Doctor's origin story, which was poorly-explained, even more poorly-explored and never really resolved. After an initial bump, this era saw ratings continue to decline.
Millie Gibson as Ruby Sunday and Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor, the incumbent TARDIS crew. Their era has seen Disney take over as co-financiers and international distributors for the franchise, but has had a mixed critical and commercial reception so far.
To reverse ailing fortunes, the BBC re-hired Russell T. Davies and entered into a co-production and international distribution deal with Disney+. First-run ratings on the BBC continued to decline, but Disney acknowledged the show had performed solidly for them (though not spectacularly). Critics continued to be divided, but there was at least universal agreement that the 8-episode seasons under the Disney deal were far too short to deliver satisfying story arcs, and a scheduling issue with new actor Ncuti Gatwa (that saw almost half his first season be made up of "Doctor-light" episodes) adversely impacted the show.
All sorts of rumours are now floating around regarding the show's future. A new eight-episode season, the fifteenth since its return (and forty-first in total), is in the can and will start airing on 12 April. A five-episode spin-off mini-series, The War Between the Land and the Sea, is also in the can and is expected to air in late 2025, completing the deal between the BBC and Disney+. Whether the deal will be renewed or not remains to be seen.
If the revamped Doctor Who does end here, it will have been a hell of a run, mostly very successful but with some missed opportunities. Given Doctor Who's universal and timeless themes, I'm pretty sure it will eventually return in some form or another, hopefully not taking another sixteen years to do so.
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