Everyone has their favourite Doctor, but just who has portrayed the Time Lord in Doctor Who?
It should be noted that we are only including the iterations where actors who play The Doctor are in the canon of the BBC series.
This means that we are not including actors such as Peter Cushing, who portrayed the character Dr. Who in the non-canon films Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965) and Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. (1966).
So, where do they all fall in the timeline of the series – in real life and in the story?
Doctor Who actors in production order
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The following actors have portrayed incarnations of The Doctor across the entire life of Doctor Who, here presented in the order in which they played the character in the real-life production.
- William Hartnell as The First Doctor
- Patrick Troughton as The Second Doctor
- Jon Pertwee as The Third Doctor
- Tom Baker as The Fourth Doctor
- Various as The Morbius Doctors
- Adrian Gibbs as The Watcher
- Peter Davison as The Fifth Doctor
- Richard Hurndall as The First Doctor
- Colin Baker as The Sixth Doctor
- Michael Jayston as The Valeyard
- Sylvester McCoy as The Seventh Doctor
- Paul McGann as The Eighth Doctor
- Christopher Eccleston as The Ninth Doctor
- David Tennant as The Tenth Doctor
- David Tennant as The Meta-Crisis Doctor
- Matt Smith as The Eleventh Doctor
- Toby Jones as The Dream Lord
- John Hurt as The War Doctor
- Tom Baker as The Curator
- Peter Capaldi as The Twelfth Doctor
- Michael Jones as child First Doctor
- David Bradley as The First Doctor
- Jodie Whittaker as The Thirteenth Doctor
- Jo Martin as The Fugitive Doctor
- Evan McCabe as Brendan
- Various as The Timeless Children
- Sacha Dhawan as The Master Doctor
- David Tennant as The Fourteenth Doctor
- Ncuti Gatwa as The Fifteenth Doctor
We’re sure there will be many more twists and turns in the series in future that mean more actors shall be added in due course.
Doctor Who actors in chronological order by story
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The following actors have portrayed The Doctor in the canon of the BBC series and these are in chronological order by the show’s own timeline.
- Various as The Timeless Children
- Evan McCabe as Brendan
- Jo Martin as The Fugitive Doctor
- Various as The Morbius Doctors
- Michael Jones as child First Doctor
- William Hartnell, Richard Hurndall, and David Bradley as The First Doctor
- Patrick Troughton as The Second Doctor
- Jon Pertwee as The Third Doctor
- Tom Baker as The Fourth Doctor
- Adrian Gibbs as The Watcher
- Peter Davison as The Fifth Doctor
- Colin Baker as The Sixth Doctor
- Sylvester McCoy as The Seventh Doctor
- Paul McGann as The Eighth Doctor
- John Hurt as The War Doctor
- Christopher Eccleston as The Ninth Doctor
- David Tennant as The Tenth Doctor
- David Tennant as The Meta-Crisis Doctor
- Matt Smith as The Eleventh Doctor
- Toby Jones as The Dream Lord
- Peter Capaldi as The Twelfth Doctor
- Michael Jayston as The Valeyard
- Jodie Whittaker as The Thirteenth Doctor
- Sacha Dhawan as The Master Doctor
- David Tennant as The Fourteenth Doctor
- Ncuti Gatwa as The Fifteenth Doctor
- Tom Baker as The Curator
Who knows which Doctors past, present and future will appear in upcoming episodes…
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