Doctor (Doctor Who) - "Doctor Who?"

"Doctor Who?"

In the first episode, Barbara addresses the Doctor as "Doctor Foreman", as this is the surname the Doctor's granddaughter Susan goes by, and the junkyard in which they find him bears the sign "I.M. Foreman". When addressed by Ian with this name in the next episode, the Doctor responds, "Eh? Doctor who? What's he talking about?" Later, when he realises that "Foreman" is not the Doctor's name, Ian asks Barbara, "Who is he? Doctor who?" (In an ultimately unused idea from documents written at the series' inception, Barbara and Ian would have subsequently referred to the Doctor as "Doctor Who", given their not knowing his name.)

Similarly, in the 2005 series premiere "Rose", when asked his name, the Doctor replies, "Just 'The Doctor'." New companion Rose Tyler later finds a website devoted to the Doctor on the Internet, run by a conspiracy theorist who has been tracking the Ninth Doctor's appearances throughout history, carrying the title "Doctor Who?" (see Doctor Who tie-in websites). The BBC launched a "real" version of this website with the idea that it is run by Mickey Smith, Rose's boyfriend (who has taken over the site following the death of its originator). Also, in the 2011 episode The Impossible Astronaut, Matilda, a nobleman's daughter, paints a semi-nude portrait of the Doctor. When her father comes charging in demanding to see him, she replies simply: "Doctor who?"

Although listed in the on-screen credits for nearly twenty years as "Doctor Who" or "Dr Who", the Doctor is never really called by that name in the series, except in a tongue-in-cheek manner. For example, in The Gunfighters the Doctor assumes the name of Doctor Caligari and subsequently responds to the question "Doctor Who?" with "yes, quite right". Also, question marks adorning his costuming in the 1980s seem to imply the "Who" moniker. The only real exceptions are the computer WOTAN in the serial The War Machines, which commands that "Doctor Who is required" and, towards the end of the Second Doctor serial Fury from the Deep, the Doctor is addressed as "Doctor Who" by Mr Harris during the dinner party. The Third Doctor's car, dubbed "Bessie", carried the plate WHO 1, the only ongoing reference to the "Doctor Who" enigma in the original series. The Third Doctor also later drove an outlandish vehicle called the "Whomobile" in publicity materials, but it is never referred to as such in the series, being simply known as "the Doctor's car" or "my car", as the Doctor puts it. The name "Doctor Who" is also used in the title of the serial Doctor Who and the Silurians, but this was a captioning error rather than an in-story mention. The only other time this occurs is in the title of Episode 5 of The Chase: "The Death of Doctor Who".

In the Fourth Doctor serial "The Armageddon Factor", the Doctor runs into a former class mate of his named Drax. Drax calls the Doctor Theta Sigma or "Thete" for short, an alias which is clarified as the Doctor's nickname at the Prydon Academy on Gallifrey in The Happiness Patrol.

In "The Christmas Invasion", the newly regenerated Doctor stumbles out of the TARDIS in a confused state in front of Jackie Tyler and Mickey. When Rose emerges from the TARDIS, she tells them that he is the Doctor, to which a confused Jackie replies "What do you mean that's the Doctor? Doctor Who?". The joke is used twice in "The Impossible Astronaut" by Matilda and, later, Canton Delaware. A similar version of this in-joke is told in the serials The Curse of Peladon, The Five Doctors and the audio commentary for Revelation of the Daleks reveals that Colin Baker tried to slip it into that serial when the Daleks fail to recognise him. In "The Girl in the Fireplace" (2006), Madame de Pompadour reads the Doctor's mind and remarks about his name, "Doctor who? It's more than just a secret, isn't it?"

In Series 7, "Asylum of the Daleks" the Doctor acknowledges the moniker with delight, after an episode in which a prisoner on the Dalek Asylum Planet wipes all Daleks' hive memory banks of any record of the Doctor. On entering the Dalek parliament, when asked to identify himself he says, "it's me, the Doctor, you know me, the oncoming storm, the Predator". The assembly of Daleks' response is: "Doctor who?". The Doctor returns to the TARDIS, dancing and revelling in the name Doctor Who.

In the podcast commentary on the BBC website, writer Steven Moffat suggests that, as the Doctor does not tell even his closest companions his name, there must be a "dreadful secret" about it. Within the same commentary, Moffat and actor Noel Clarke jokingly suggest his name to be "Curtis". Ironically, according to the in-vision commentary on the DVD release, David Tennant had to inform actress Sophia Myles (who played Madame de Pompadour) that she was not, in fact, revealing the Doctor's surname as she believed was the intent of the dialogue. In the 1996 telemovie, the recently regenerated and amnesiatic Eighth Doctor repeatedly screams to his reflection "Who am I?!" In "The Shakespeare Code", the Carrionite Lilith, unable to discover his true name, remarks, "Why would a man hide his title in such despair?" A psychically inspired human in "The Fires of Pompeii" remarks that his name "Doctor" is false and that his true name is in fact hidden. In Moffat's "Forest of the Dead", the character River Song reveals she knows the Doctor in his future, and it is implied that they shared a very intimate relationship. To gain his trust, she whispers something—inaudible to the audience—into his ear, which he later reveals was his real name. The Doctor states that there is "only one reason" he would reveal his name and that there is "only one time could".

The dialogue joke was also used in 1981's unsuccessful pilot for K-9 and Company, wherein the Fourth Doctor's robotic dog, K-9, is discovered by his former companion, Sarah Jane Smith, and describes itself as being a gift to her from "The Doctor". Supporting character Brendan Richards asks, "Who's the doctor?" to which K-9 replies with its catch-phrase, "Affirmative." The show's events were subsequently referred to in The Five Doctors and the 2006 Doctor Who episode, "School Reunion".

Doctor Who spin-off media, which are of uncertain canonicity, have suggested that the character uses the name "the Doctor" because his actual name is impossible for humans to pronounce. For instance in the novel Vanderdeken's Children, it's told that the Doctor already told Sam his real name which is entirely alien and virtually unpronounceable. This is also repeated by companion Peri Brown in the radio serial Slipback. The Faction Paradox encyclopaedia The Book of the War states that all renegades from the Homeworld/Gallifrey abandon their names to symbolise how they leave their culture. Similarly, the novel Lungbarrow reveals that the Doctor's name has been struck from the records of his family and therefore cannot be spoken.

The character played by Peter Cushing in the films Dr. Who and the Daleks and Daleks – Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. referred to himself as "Dr. Who". However, these films are not considered part of the same narrative continuity as the television series, as they were based upon two television serials featuring William Hartnell and made considerable alterations to the characters of the Doctor and his companions.

At the end of "Journey's End", Davros states "Never forget, Doctor, you did this. I name you forever, you are 'The Destroyer of Worlds".

"The Wedding of River Song" reveals that the Silence have been seeking to prevent the answer to the oldest question from being answered. The question is known as "The first question, the oldest question, the one seen in plain sight, the question that must never be answered or silence will fall. Doctor who?"