War Doctor

The Doctor

The War Doctor
Doctor Who character
File:War-Doctor.jpg
First appearance	"The Name of the Doctor"
Portrayed by	John Hurt
Preceded by	Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann)
Succeeded by	Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston)
Information
Appearances	3 stories (3 episodes)

The War Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the long-running BBC science fiction television programme Doctor Who. He is portrayed by John Hurt. The character is unusual in that although he precedes Christopher Eccleston's Ninth Doctor in the show's chronology, his first onscreen appearance came eight years after Eccleston's, having been retroactively created by showrunner Steven Moffat for productions celebrating Doctor Who's 50th anniversary.

Within the programme's narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-old alien, a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey, who travels in time and space in his TARDIS, frequently with companions. When the Doctor is critically injured, he can regenerate his body but in doing so gains a new physical appearance and with it, a distinct new personality. Due to the events of the Time War, the Eighth Doctor (portrayed by Paul McGann) is forced to engineer his regeneration deliberately in order to become a "warrior" (shown in mini-episode "The Night of the Doctor"). He is then credited as the "War Doctor".

Costume

John Hurt will portray the War Doctor

In "The Name of the Doctor", Hurt's character appears old and bedraggled, wearing a distressed leather overcoat and a waistcoat. Costume designer Howard Burden said that Hurt's character is a "dark Doctor" existing between the Doctor's eighth and ninth incarnations. As shown immediately after his regeneration during the events of "The Night of the Doctor", it appears that this Doctor actually regenerated to a young age, and seems to have aged far more than any previous incarnation (other than the first) during his life. He is also seen to use a new redesigned screwdriver with a red light, as opposed to the classic series silver-blue sonic screwdriver, a model previously used by the Eighth Doctor.

Appearances

The War Doctor first appears at the conclusion of the series seven finale "The Name of the Doctor" where the Eleventh Doctor and companion Clara Oswald are trapped in the Doctor's timeline. They see several previous incarnations and spot a figure in the shadows which Clara does not recognise from the Doctor's past. The Doctor tells her that he is yet another version of himself, but not as "The Doctor". He explains that his chosen name is a promise he made to himself, and that the stranger is his secret: "the one who broke the promise". Hurt's character then addresses the Doctor saying, "What I did, I did without choice... in the name of peace and sanity," to which the Doctor replies, "But not in the name of 'The Doctor'". As the Doctor carries Clara away, the stranger turns around and an onscreen caption appears: "Introducing John Hurt as The Doctor".

Hurt's incarnation next appears briefly in the mini-episode "The Night of the Doctor", in which the events that led to his existence are revealed. The Eighth Doctor is broken-hearted at his failure to save a young pilot, Cass, who, in the context of the ongoing Time War, rejected his help due to his being a Time Lord. Now determined to influence the war, he deliberately controls his own regeneration into the War Doctor using an elixir made by the Sisterhood of Karn. After his regeneration, he rejects his name, declaring himself "Doctor no more", and accepts his role as a "warrior" in the ongoing war.

The War Doctor is set to return on 23 November 2013 in the programme's 50th anniversary special "The Day of the Doctor", where he will "bring an ancient battle to its devastating conclusion".