Today, we learn why the show is called Doctor Who if the character’s name is The Doctor.
In Pop Culture Questions Answered, I answer whatever questions you folks might have about movies, TV, music or whatever (feel free to e-mail questions to me at brian@pop culture references.com).
Reader Philip wrote in to ask about the famous British series, Doctor Who:
As many people I’m actually a fan of the TV-series Doctor Who but as many DW-fans outside of Great-Britain, I only know the “New Who”-era so it could be it is just me not knowing the classic show with my issue.
But one thing that I see is constantly being nitpicked and talked about in the fandom is that the character itself isn’t called Doctor Who but The Doctor and naming the character The Doctor is wrong. Some even call out others and pop culture references to confuse the show’s name for the character’s name (like in Big Bang Theory). On the one hand it is of course a bit stupid being too seriously and offensive nitpicking but I always wondered WHY the show is called “Doctor Who” if it isn’t even supposed to be the character’s (nick)name as some point out.
Simply put, the show is called Doctor Who because putting a question mark in the title looked weird, as the concept of the series is that when The Doctor introduces himself/herself as “The Doctor,” the response is “Doctor who?”
That basic joke really is the reason for the series having the name Doctor Who. Here’s a bunch of them from just the “New Who,” as Philip out it…
Still, very often the credits listed the character as “Doctor Who,” but, as Philip correctly noted (in a further part of his question that I didn’t copy over), it was David Tennant who got that changed for good. Tennant noted:
“It always bothered me,” he explains. “It struck me that ‘the Doctor’ was his name, whereas Doctor Who was the name of the show. He’s not called ‘Doctor Who’. His second name isn’t ‘Who.'”
“I talked to the producer. Obviously, I’ve got enough Asperger’s syndrome kicking around that I had to get that particular box ticked. It wasn’t contractual. I wasn’t going to the wall on it. But I think I’m right in saying there are certain copies of the DVD boxset that have the old version. It’s been corrected in the second pressing.
That IS the answer, Philip, but there’s a whole other twist to things that I’ll address today in a TV Legends Revealed!
EDITED TO ADD: Here is the TV Legends Revealed in question.
Thanks for the question, Philip!
If anyone else has a pop culture question, drop me a line at brian@popculturereferences.com
I read somewhere that the name came from a planning meeting. There was a suggestion that a character would be a professional man, such as a doctor and someone (who had apparently not been paying attention) asked “Doctor who?”.
Of course, such stories are often urban legends so I can’t say whether there is any truth in it (I’m still puzzled by the number of references I have seen to an alleged James Bond film called “Never say die”)
I will add that a number of novelisations refer to the character as “Doctor Who”, one episode was called “The Death of Doctor Who”, and in the story the War Machines, there is a line “Doctor Who is required, bring him here”.
Thx for the explanation. Makes a lot of sense, actually.
In the War Machines Wotan refers to him as Doctor Who The 2nd Doctor calls himself Doctor Von Wer, (German for Who)
Mpore importantly I, initially there was a Mystery about the Doctor, the first episode revealed he was an alien, his planet was described on a few occasionally by his granddaughter, and his companions talked about the fact that they knew nothing about him, we gradually learned he waves puoneer, a campaigner for themselves of other soecues, a hermit lived in his father’s estate,she was a Prydonian who failed at University, etc
The description “Mysterious traveller in Space and Time ” was an accurate description
I’m old enough to remember seeing the first series. Susan Foreman is introduced as the Dr’s grand-daughter. When they meet the Dr, one of Susan’s teachers (Ian) refers to him as ‘Dr Foreman’ asking him to open the doors of the Tardis and William Hartnell replies: ‘Eh? Doctor who? What’s he talking about?’, implying that his name is not Foreman. That’s all there is to it. The rest is speculation. This programme made a hug impression on me when I was 9 and I remembered most of this verbatim, but I did go and check it with ‘The Dr Who transcripts’, and so can you at: http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/1-1.htm
It’s near the beginning of episode 2.
The name comes from early productions notes have the Doctor as:
“DR. WHO A frail old man lost in space and time. They give him this name because they don’t know who he is. He seems not to remember where he has come from; he is suspicious and capable of sudden malignance; he seems to have some undefined enemy; he is searching for something as well as fleeing from something.”
https://web.archive.org/web/20170921194253/https://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/doctorwho/6403.shtml?page=txt
That’s the twist that I mentioned I was going to address in a TV Legends Revealed! 🙂
Here it is…
https://www.cbr.com/doctor-who-the-doctor-originally-called-doctor-who/