# Doctor Who Doctor Who is a British science fiction TV series that first aired on the BBC on November 23rd, 1963, following a time-travelling alien called The Doctor and their companions across space and time in a blue police box called the TARDIS. The show built one of the largest cult fandoms online, with fans self-identifying as Whovians and gathering on Tumblr, Twitter and Reddit around each new regeneration. ## Overview Doctor Who is a long-running British science fiction show about a nameless alien known only as The Doctor, a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey who travels through time and space in the TARDIS, a ship stuck in the shape of a 1960s London blue police box[3]. The Doctor is almost always paired with a human companion, and when the lead actor leaves, the character regenerates into a new body, letting the show recast without ending[2]. Online, the appeal is less about any one episode and more about the fandom that grew around 60 years of continuity, catchphrases like "Allons-y" and running jokes about crying at Donna Noble's exit[2]. Fans call themselves Whovians and cluster on Tumblr, Reddit's r/DoctorWho and Twitter, where every regeneration announcement turns into a days-long trending event[3]. ## How It Spread Doctor Who's early archive is famous for what's missing: the BBC wiped tapes to reuse them in the 1960s, erasing 106 episodes from the first two seasons, and fans have been hunting for surviving prints ever since[3]. In December 2011, two lost episodes, "Galaxy 4 part three" with William Hartnell and "The Underwater Menace part two" with Patrick Troughton, were shown at the British Film Institute's "Missing Believed Wiped" event after former TV engineer Terry Burnett found them at a school fete[1]. Casting news is when the fandom really lights up. When Matt Smith announced on June 1st, 2013 that he was leaving after four years as the Eleventh Doctor, Twitter filled with rumoured replacements including Benedict Cumberbatch, David Harewood and Helen Mirren before Peter Capaldi was unveiled on a live BBC special on August 4th, 2013[2]. The pattern repeated on July 16th, 2017, when the @bbcdoctorwho account posted a short teaser revealing Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor[4]; the tweet passed 114,000 likes and 71,300 retweets in 24 hours[3]. Official BBC accounts kept the fandom centralised on social media, with the Doctor Who Facebook page passing 2.5 million likes by August 2012[3]. ## How to Use Whovian in-jokes typically pull from a fixed set of references: quoting each Doctor's catchphrase ("Allons-y," "Fantastic," "Geronimo"), reacting to sad companion exits with Donna Noble memes, and using the TARDIS or Daleks as visual shorthand for time travel or extermination jokes[5]. Reaction images of specific Doctors, especially Tennant and Smith, are a common way to mark regeneration announcements or new-series trailers on Tumblr and Twitter[3]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Doctor Who? Doctor Who is a British sci-fi TV series about an alien Time Lord called The Doctor who travels through time and space in a blue police box called the TARDIS with human companions[3]. ### Where did Doctor Who come from? It launched on BBC television on November 23rd, 1963 with the episode "An Unearthly Child," starring William Hartnell as the First Doctor[3]. ### What does Doctor Who mean? The title is a running joke inside the show: when people ask the alien lead his name he answers "The Doctor," prompting the reply "Doctor who?"[5]. ### How do you use Doctor Who? Online, fans, self-identified as Whovians, use TARDIS, Dalek and specific-Doctor reaction images alongside catchphrases like "Allons-y" to react to regeneration news, sad companion exits and new trailers[3]. ### Is Doctor Who still popular? Yes. The BBC's Doctor Who Facebook page passed 2.5 million likes by August 2012, and each casting reveal, such as Jodie Whittaker in July 2017, still drives major spikes on Twitter[3]. ## References 1. [https://www.cnn.com/2011/12/12/showbiz/uk-dr-who/index.html?iref=allsearch]() 2. [https://www.buzzfeed.com/ellievhall/matt-smith-is-leaving-doctor-who]() 3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/subcultures/doctor-who]() 4. [https://twitter.com/bbcdoctorwho]() 5. [https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Doctor%20Who]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/doctor-who Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library