Tardis

New to Doctor Who or returning after a break? Check out our guides designed to help you find your way!

READ MORE

Tardis
Advertisement
Tardis
RealWorld

Occasionally, elements of the Doctor Who universe are referenced in the broader popular culture. This page exists to throw a spotlight on some of these casual references made in television, comics, films and other media.

Television

  • In the last episode of season two of The Librarians you can find that The Librarian talks about time travel and a cloth is lifted away by Cassandra Cillian to show the TARDIS as a broken down artefact in a room full of time travelling artefact such as the Delorean from Back to the Future.
  • In an episode of the Disney Channel series, I Didn't Do It, a guest actor appears dressed as Matt Smith at a kids' party in order to best the super hero costume wearing regular...with a sonic screwdriver in his hand.
  • In Misfits, a UK sci fi series, a character has a Dalek toy on his desk.
    Rugrats

    Two Daleks are seen on a toy shelf in Rugrats.

  • In one episode of Rugrats, purple Dalek toys can be seen in the background on a shelf.
  • In House of Anubis (which featured Mina Anwar, Paul Antony-Barber and Rodger Barclay), a character had a 12" remote control Dalek and 2 12" figures in his bedroom; one was of a new series Cyberman and the other was of Dalek Sec after he had merged with Diagoras.
  • In Still Standing, the son proves he's a better geek by mentioning every actor who played the Doctor.
  • In House, Season 7 Episode 11... Dr. Taub mentions that he is awake at night watching TV at 3am because that's when Classic Doctor Who is playing on the BBC.
    Mr Bean

    Mr. Bean plays with a toy Dalek in the titular show.

  • In one episode of Mr. Bean, Mr. Bean plays around with toy animals in front of a diorama of Jesus's birth. He eventually begins to bring out a toy Dalek, and pretends that it killed a toy lamb.
  • In one episode of Liv & Maddie, Liv tries to get into the Brain Olympics by showing people that she's smart and references time travel. "He doesn't believe in time travel and he's like Doctor who?"
  • In one episode of Orphan Black, a picture of the TARDIS is seen in the background.
  • "Get Off My Cloud", the final episode of the third season of the BBC's anthology series Out of the Unknown was partly set in the subconscious mind of a science-fiction writer. It featured in-character appearances by the Daleks as fictional creations in the mind of the writer. (The episode's designer was Raymond Cusick, who was responsible for the original Dalek design.)
    File:Next Generation.JPG

    The names of the first six actors to play the Doctor appear in Star Trek: The Next Generation.

  • In one episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, the names of the first six Doctor actors (William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, and Colin Baker) are seen on a screen.
  • "Arrivederci Roma", the first episode of Channel 4's comedy programme Chelmsford 123, showed the TARDIS materialising in the background in one scene. The Doctor briefly stepped out before going back in and dematerialising.
  • One episode of American Dad features a cameo of a Doctor Who fan club. Most of its members wear scarves resembling that of the Fourth Doctor, while another member wears the Eighth Doctor's costume. A K9 prop also makes a cameo.
  • In The Venture Bros. The TARDIS appears in season 5, owned by St Cloud.
    Simpsonstombaker

    The Fourth Doctor appears in The Simpsons.

  • The Fourth Doctor has appeared several times in The Simpsons.
  • In an episode of Archer titled "Archer Vice:House Call", Archer asks how much the "stock" is worth in pounds. Cyril, confused, says that the weight is in kilogrammes and not in pounds. Archer then explains that he was talking about the currency called pounds but he gets interrupted by Malory. He then says "Exactly, as in 'Doctor Who' money."
  • "Green Courage", an episode of Fox Kids' children's action series Power Rangers Lost Galaxy, featured an on-screen note claiming that a meteoroid field that had just collided with a planet was located at "ten zero eleven zero zero, by zero two from galactic zero," in the constellation of Kasterborous. In TV: Pyramids of Mars, these coordinates are given as the location of Gallifrey.
  • In an episode of Supergirl, Winn is required to quickly hack a computer and compares the situation to Doctor Who. In the second episode of the series, Alex Danvers uses the codenames "Greyhound" and "Trap" in reference to the code names used by UNIT in Day of the Daleks.
    Futurama

    The Fourth Doctor appears in Futurama.

  • The Fourth Doctor appeared twice in Futurama.
  • Several episodes of the 2008 series The Middleman include references to Doctor Who. In one episode a character is identified as "Lethbridge-Stewart". Only twelve episodes were produced, with the decision made not to produce a thirteenth. That episode, The Doomsday Armageddon Apocalpyse, also contained several references to Doctor Who, most notably having the Middleman recite the First Doctor's farewell speech to Susan Foreman in The Dalek Invasion of Earth ("There must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties..."). The script for this unmade episode was performed by the cast in a "read through" at the 2009 San Diego ComicCon, and adapted into a graphic novel by Viper Comics, both with the Doctor's speech intact. Given the series' acknowledged debt to Doctor Who, the fact that the lead character is never referred to by name, only as "the Middleman", is probably a reference to the fact that the Doctor's real name is never revealed. (The final episode, however, does reveal the Middleman's real name.)
  • In the fifth episode of the second season of the ABC television series Better Off Ted, the scientists Phil and Lem name the small robot designed to clean up spills in their laboratory Chumbley.
    Better Off Ted

    A Dalek appears in Better Off Ted.

    This is the name that Vicki Pallister gives the robots that she, Steven Taylor and the First Doctor encounter in Galaxy 4. Later in the same episode, Phil and Lem enter a room full of used robot parts. A Dalek can be seen clearly in the corner nearest the door.
  • Several episodes of Leverage reference Doctor Who, including one in which Nathan Ford is asked what ID's he has on him so that he can board an airplane. He replies, "I've got a Peter Davidson, Sylvester McCoy and a Tom Baker." Sophie adds, "I've got a Sarah Jane Baker." Hardison pronounces them man and wife. Another episode had Hardison mentioning that he had been torrenting the latest episode of Doctor Who. In the episode "The 10 Li'l Grifters Job", one of the clients said she used to work at, "McGann, McCoy, and Baker".
    Dr

    Dr. Lazer Rage. (The Sarah Silverman Program)

  • In one episode of The Sarah Silverman Program, one character (Brian Spukowski, played by Brian Posehn) buys a DVD boxset of a science-fiction show called Dr. Lazer Rage. He later feels regret at buying the expensive boxset. Ninth Doctor actor Christopher Eccleston makes a cameo as "Dr. Lazer Rage" coming to life on the cover of the box. In the same episode, one character calls another from a blue telephone box. Interestingly, this is the only example of Eccleston participating in a guest appearance that directly references and parodies his involvement in Doctor Who.
  • The pilot for the 2000 series The Invisible Man contains at least four references: A doctor named Troughton, a business card reading I.M. Foreman and a magazine cover with the headlines "Time and Relative Dimensions in Space!" and "Playing the game of Rassilon!"
  • In Insecurity, a March 2012 episode of Young Justice, a police box, clearly looking like the Doctor's TARDIS, is seen as one of the ends of a Zeta-Beam conduit. A character enters the box and teleports to the Cave, the main setting for the heroes of the series. The design of the police box is comparatively detailed. It looks like the TARDIS as seen in The War Machines, because it bears an "out of order" sign. It's unclear how Warner Bros. would have been able to use the police box design legally. The appearance was not clearly parodic nor was it even historically accurate. The scene was set in America and the DC universe had never previously established the existence of British police boxes in the United States.
  • In Nightshifter, an episode of the series Supernatural, a character is convinced that a "mandroid" is responsible for several crimes and holds up a magazine with a Cyberman on its cover to illustrate his point. In "The Girl Next Door", Sam confronts a Kitsune with the name Amy Pond.
  • In the television cartoon, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, there is a recurring background earth pony named Dr. Hooves (formerly "Time Turner" and "Doctor Whooves") who bears a resemblance to the Tenth Doctor. His cutie mark is an hourglass. In the episode "The Super Speedy Cider Sqeezy 6000", Dr. Hooves can be seen wearing a tie similar to the Tenth Doctor's and operating an elaborate hourglass.
    My Little Pony

    Dr. Hooves, a parody of the Tenth Doctor, appears in My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.

    Another reference is seen on one of the covers of the official comic, in which Dr. Hooves can be seen wearing the Fourth Doctor's scarf, holding the fob watch, and standing in front of a statue that resembles a Weeping Angel, and a street light that bears a resemblance to the TARDIS. On top of all his official trading card says "Time Turner keeps Ponyville's clocks in sync, sets the hourglass for cider competitions, and takes care of all things timey-wimey." In the season 2 episode, "Sweet and Elite", pony versions of the Third, Fifth, and Eleventh Doctors are seen attending a party with Dr. Hooves. In the episode "One Bad Apple", Dr. Hooves wears a pear costume and a polka-dotted bowtie. It's also worth noting that various forms of the Doctor and possibly the Master have been seen in pony form. In the episode "It's Not Easy Being Breezies", he can be seen walking with a pony bearing a rose cutie mark while wearing 3D glasses. Dr. Hooves is among several background characters to take centre stage in the series' 100th episode, "Slice of Life", where his scientific background is explored. In "A Royal Problem", he has a bad dream about a statue. Official merchandise of Dr. Hooves such as t-shirts and collectible figures have been licensed by Hasbro.
  • The iCarly episode iPear Store introduces the character Trey as a romantic interest for the titular character, and then has the two go into a brief rendition of the "Who's on First?" sketch after Trey reveals that he's going to watch a Doctor Who marathon on television.
  • In Criminal Minds season 8 episode 23, Penelope Garcia, the BAU teams technical analyst, tells the team that she "found something stranger than a time-travelling police box". One episode shows Garcia and Dr. Reid dressed as the eleventh and fourth Doctors. In another, Reid defends Doctor Who after comparisons with Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure calling it "Bill & Ted's Excellent Ripoff"
  • Phineas and Ferb (in which Thomas Sangster voiced Ferb) made several references to Doctor Who, one example being a dimensionally transcendental room made possible by "a little British sci-fi technology."
  • In an episode of ABC Family's The Fosters, Callie and Mariana are at a party. At one point, Mariana is talking to a girl in a room that has black light. Graffiti is seen glowing on the wall behind the girls and right between their heads are the words "Bad Wolf" printed above a non-detailed drawing of what appears to be the TARDIS.
    Big Bang Theory

    Sheldon cosplays as the Fourth Doctor in The Big Bang Theory.

  • Doctor Who is referenced several times in episodes of The Big Bang Theory. In "The Dumpling Paradox", Sheldon tells Leonard that every Saturday, he awakens at 6:15 and watches Doctor Who. Later in the episode, he says that he will watch the last twenty-four minutes of Doctor Who, though at that point "it is more like 'Doctor Why Bother?'". In "The Justice League Recombination", Stuart is seen wearing a Fourth Doctor costume. In "The Beta Test Initiation", Penny, Amy, Sheldon, and Leonard are seen watching Doctor Who. Though the screen is not shown, you can hear parts of the episode. In "The Holographic Excitation", Raj announces he may have a TARDIS at his Halloween party. This TARDIS can be seen later on in the episode.
    Big Bang Theory 2

    The Doctor & A Dalek is one of Sheldon's favourite couples. (The Big Bang Theory)

    Also in the same episode, Sheldon and Amy are brainstorming couples costumes for the party, and one of the ideas seen on Sheldon's board is "The Doctor & a Dalek". Additionally, several TARDIS posters can be seen in Stuart's comic book store, as well as a Dalek in Leonard and Sheldon's apartment.
  • In an episode of South Park titled Funnybot, the Germans build a robot designed to be funny in reaction to being labelled unfunny. This robot looks and speaks like a Dalek, it even has a plunger and is found going on murder sprees saying, "Exterminate!"
  • In an episode of the Nickelodeon cartoon Sanjay and Craig, the snake, Craig, is talking into a walkie-talkie and speaking popular radio phrases — but one of the things he says is: "...wibbly wobbly timey wimey."
  • Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has made a number of references to Doctor Who. In the episode The Hub, a model TARDIS can be seen on top of a desk. In The Only Light in the Darkness, when the agents are asked the first thing they would like to see if stranded on an island, Jemma Simmons responds "the TARDIS." In other episodes, a holographic Dalek head can be seen on the Holo-table, and an image of a Dalek is displayed on Leo Fitz's monitor.
  • In the English dub for the 2011 anime Steins;Gate, Makise Kurisu, while in a conference discussing the possibility of time travel, mentions that while the idea of travelling through time in a little blue box may be charming, it (time travel) is completely impossible.
  • In 2016 animated Disney show Milo Murphy's Law the main character is a fan of a show called Dr. Zone's Files which depicts an oddly dressed time-travelling alien and is said to be running for 50 years, going through various incarnations. In the 2017 feature-length special "Missing Milo", part of the plot concerns the recovery of Dr. Zone's missing black-and-white pilot episode from 1965.
  • In Cartoon Network's Regular Show, the 2015 Halloween Special, "Terror Tales of the Park V", has the character Pops dressed up as the Fourth Doctor. In the 2016 short "Robot Rap Battle", bronze robots resembling eyeless, legged Daleks are among the audience members attending the titular event.
  • In "420", an episode of Family Guy, Brian says that ever since weed was legalised "crime is down, productivity is up and the ratings for Doctor Who is through the roof".
    FamilyGuy

    Hyperspace. (Family Guy)

    Another episode, the Star Wars Episode IV spoof "Blue Harvest", incorporated footage from the Tom Baker-era opening credits in the scene in which the Millennium Falcon enters hyperspace. In "Meg Stinks", Peter loses his hand and says he can regenerate, regrowing his hand similar to The Tenth Doctor in The Christmas Invasion. Then, the disarmed hand regrows into another version of Peter, Journeys End. In "Welcome Back, Carter", Peter names an owl "Doctor Hoo". Most notably, the episode "Inside Family Guy" contains a scene in which the Griffins are watching a TV episode called "Doctor Who Farted", where the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant providing his voice) attempts to cover up the fact that he passed gas inside his TARDIS.
  • Near the conclusion of the 2017 finale of The Flash, Cisco Ramone makes a request over a walkie-talkie to "reverse the polarity of the neutron flow".
  • In the 2017 DuckTales reboot, a Reaper appears after Louie sends Scrooge McDuck through different periods of time with a time machine (that looks similar to the Master's TARDIS.)
  • The favourite television series of Hugo the Duck from 2017 Netflix show Julie's Greenroom is Doctor Who. In addition, Hugo only speaks Duck, which another character can understand because he learned it at a performing arts school.

Films

  • In the Pixar film Cars 2, while a British spy trapped in the Big Ben was attempting to "turn back time" (as in the clock), she said, "If I can just reverse the polarity..." This was the Third Doctor's catchphrase.
  • In the early brick film The Magic Portal, the three main characters find themselves in a dimension that later found themselves being chased by Daleks after they heard a gunshoot.
  • In the Theory of Everything there are two Doctor Who references. 1) After Stephen is toasted for becoming an "esteemed and formidable Doctor...," someone says "Who?" and 2) Stephen rolls around on his wheelchair with a paper bag on his head, typing/saying EXTERMINATE. EXTERMINATE. In real-life, Stephen Hawking is a major Whovian. Who knew, right?
    Postman Pat

    One of Pat's replacements acts rather like a Dalek. (Postman Pat: The Movie)

  • In the 2014 film The Postman Pat Movie (which features David Tennant), one of Pat's replacements resembled and acted like a Dalek.
  • In the internet safety short film Caught on the Web (which also featured David Tennant), a Dalek poster could be seen inside the main character's bedroom.
  • In the film "A Street Cat Called Bob" (which featured Anthony Head, Nina Wadia, Sasha Dickens, Cleopatra Dickens, Rob Jarvis, Jill Winternitz, Daniel Fearn and Frances Ashman), when one of the characters created a scarf for the titular character, she referred to him being "Doctor Who's twin".

Comics

Adventure Time

  • In one issue, after Jake failed to fix a broken time machine, he stated it didn't do "the timey wimey thing" anymore.

Marvel UK

  • Marvel UK created more than one character who appeared in titles owned by the company, including Doctor Who Magazine. The characters of the Special Executive (troubleshooters employed by the Time Lords, who had appeared in 4-D War and Black Sun Rising) appeared with Captain Britain in the "Jaspers' Warp" storyline written by the Special Executive's creator, Alan Moore.
  • The Doctor Who comics version of Merlin appeared briefly in Captain Britain in a sequence demonstrating that Merlin had several alternate appearances and personalities that he could adopt as he saw fit. The Doctor has also appeared in cameos in several prose novels based in the Marvel Universe.
    Death's Head giant

    Death's Head. (COMIC: The Crossroads of Time

  • In The Crossroads of Time, published in Doctor Who Magazine, the Seventh Doctor ran into (literally) Death's Head, who was thrown from the Transformers Generation 1 universe into the Time Vortex; he sent Death's Head to the future Earth of Dragon's Claws (a Marvel UK title that may be set in the Doctor Who universe, since Dogbolter and Keepsake are both residents of this Earth). Later, the Doctor guest-starred in Death's Head's comic book from Marvel UK, a crossover that ended with the Doctor depositing Death's Head in the main Marvel universe (Earth-616) atop the Fantastic Four's headquarters, Fours Freedom Plaza - providing a direct link between the Doctor Who universe and Marvel's universe. Death's Head himself interacted with mainstream superheroes from the Marvel universe, which provides another, indirect, link between the mainstream Marvel Universe and the Doctor Who universe.
  • Both Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four and Alistaire Stuart of Britain's Weird Happenings Organisation (WHO, a nod to Doctor Who) have obliquely mentioned being friends of the Doctor.
  • In an issue of The Spectacular Spider-Man concerning paradoxes, alternate realities and time travel, the words "BAD WOLF" are grafittied on an alley wall.

DC Comics/Wildstorm

2000 AD

  • The 2000AD strip Caballistics, Inc. features Doctor Who references so often that they are practically part of the series' format. However, it also depicted a character clearly intended to be Tom Baker being murdered by Scottish nationalist demons. This would appear to undermine the frequent suggestion by Caballistics, Inc fans that the series is unofficially set in the Doctor Who universe.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Sergio Bonelli Editore

Prose

  • In Christopher Paolini's novel, Brisingr, a reference is made to a 'lonely god' 'adrift on the seas of time.' Paolini later admitted in the acknowledgements that he is a massive Doctor Who fan and that he believes the Doctor might have visited his world of Alagaësia at some point. In the sequel to this novel, Inheritance, the herbalist Angela begins to tell another character what she has inscribed on her blue hat- "Raxacori- Oh, never mind. It wouldn't mean anything to you anyway." Also, someone mentions having seen rooms that are bigger on the inside.
  • In the novel High Wizardry by Diane Duane, part of the Young Wizards series, a "Mysterious Stranger" helps the protagonist out of a sticky situation. He seems oddly familiar.
  • Barbara Hambly's Star Trek novel Ishmael contains references to Doctor Who and cameo appearances by the Second Doctor, the Fourth Doctor and Leela.
  • Lady Jennifer Buckingham from The War Games appears in the second volume of Kim Newman's crossover-intensive Anno Dracula universe. Charles Beauregard, the hero of several Anno Dracula stories, is referred to in All-Consuming Fire. One of Newman's books in the Dark Future series makes references to an alternative timeline, ultra-nationalist, pro-English version of the Doctor Who television series in which the Doctor visits famous events in English history while fighting off extraterrestrial threats to the Crown. Newman's Life's Lottery, a playful exploration of the concept of alternate universes, references Inferno in some detail (and a character fantasises somewhat colourfully about Jo Grant).
  • Michael Moorcock, an admirer of Doctor Who, had "Doctor Who" and a Dalek appear, amongst many other fictional characters, in his The Condition of Muzak.
  • Richard Calder's Dead trilogy features numerous dark alternative time lines involved in a sex war between men and woman. At least one features a version of Doctor Who. The last scene of the final volume, Dead Things, shows the young protagonist watching a scene of the "Daleks exterminating the slave girls of Skaro" on television.
  • The Red Dwarf novels have a number of references. Kryten, for example, owns a sonic screwdriver.
  • The Bunny Suicides book, Bunny Suicides return, involves a Doctor Who themed suicide.
  • In the The Serpent's Shadow the British character Sadie tried to create a Shabti out of a Thermos, which resulted in it flying around, yelling "Exterminate". In another part of this series, a challenge posed to Sadie is completed by stalling a huntress with tales of "fearsome" jellybabies, similar to the fourth doctor.

Video games

Borderlands 2

  • A random citizen will sometimes say "I'm missing the new episode of Constable What!", a parody of Doctor Who.
  • After blowing up the dam in a mission, Jack will list four names of workers killed in the flooding, all of which are the names of the first four actors playing the Doctor in Doctor Who. These are William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, and Tom Baker.
  • At the beginning of the game Claptrap is injured and states that he must find a Doctor, then turns away to say "Allons-y!", a catchphrase by the 10th Doctor.
  • The NPCs constantly knocking on walls in Sanctuary seem to be doing so in a similar beat and fashion to the subliminally-controlled humans in the Doctor Who episode "The Sound of Drums." The Master also refers to Captain Jack Harkness as "Handsome Jack" in that episode.
  • ECHOs found in Lynchwood bandits named 'John' and 'Barrowman' reference Doctor Who and Torchwood actor John Barrowman, who plays Jack Harkness.
  • There is a skin for Maya called Rose Tailor, a play on Rose Tyler.
  • In the Bloodshot Ramparts, there is a small platform aside a crane that has a teddy bear with a bow tie and 3-D glasses, referring to both the 10th and the 11th Doctor.
  • Hyperion robots can often be heard uttering "Deleted!" which is a popular phrase of the Cybermen.
  • In the character selection screen, CL4P-TP sometimes says, "I need to pee," which will trigger him to go into the outhouse. Said outhouse will then vanish, and pop back up, much in the same manner of the Doctor's TARDIS.
  • The character Maya was given to the Order of the Impending Storm, a play off of the nickname Oncoming Storm, given to the Doctor by the Daleks.
  • During the final mission in which you kill Handsome Jack. He has a pocket watch which reveals his true identity, similar to the Fob Watch owned by Time Lords.
  • During the Quest “Fake Geek Guy” in Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep, Tiny Tina asks Mr. Torgue a question which is a clear reference to Doctor Who. The question she asks is: “In the 23rd episode of the 15th season of Blue Box Adventures. What is the name of the ship that abducts the Blue Box?”

Fallout 2

  • The TARDIS can be found in the Desert, although it disappears after a while.
    Fallout

    The TARDIS appears in Fallout 2.

  • A speaking cyborg by the name of K9 is a recruitable companion. It refers to the player character as "Master", whenever it is an active member of the party.

Fallout New Vegas

  • In the Z-43 Innovative Toxins Plant in one building, a man in a suit with a skeleton rather than a head says, "Hey, who turned out the lights?" referring to the episode Silence in the Library.
  • An NCR Emergency Radio Broadcast references The Doctor, and the BBC. ("Bravo Bravo Charlie, the Doctor is coming")

Lemmings 2: The Tribes

  • The exit for the "Shadow Tribe" level is clearly the TARDIS.
    Lemmings 2

    The exit for one of the levels in Lemmings 2: The Tribes is the TARDIS.

Team Fortress 2

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney

  • In Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney during the Turnabout Serenade case, Trucy Wright states that her hat is "like a little universe! Bigger on the inside than on the outside!" At this, Apollo muses that this reminds him of a sci-fi show he used to watch.

Westerado

  • There is a building called the "Buffalo Express" which resembles the TARDIS, (Tiny on the outside, bigger on the inside)
  • The player also says "Wibbly Wobbly...", which is then finished off by the postman who says " Timey Wimey, yes."
    Westerado

    Stone angels are scattered around Westerado.

  • Stone angels are scattered around the map, all of them look as if they're weeping.
  • The player can also go up to a stone angel, which will show a text box saying, " Is it... weeping?" However, this will only work on certain stone angels.

High School Story

  • In the Quest It's a Winterful Life part 5, Nishan, when asking if anything unusual happened to your main character lately, asks if you have "met a handsome doctor in a blue booth?"

Web Comics

Homestuck

  • In the webcomic's 8th soundtrack album release, AlterniaBound, the song, Arisen Anew, themed around Aradia, The Maid of Time's, regeneration, uses an audio clip of the Tenth Doctor's famous "Wibbly wobbly... time-y wimey... stuff" quote from the episode Blink.
  • The webcomic's main antagonist, Lord English, is a parody of the 4th Doctor. Additionally, his past-self, Caliborn, has theming based-around the number 11 and dresses like the 11th Doctor, including the suspenders and infamous bowtie.

Out-of-universe references

A number of TV series have made reference to the Doctor Who franchise itself:

  • Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory has said that he wakes up and watches Doctor Who every Saturday morning.
    Stuart 4th Doc

    Stuart dressed as the Fourth Doctor. (The Big Bang Theory)

  • The Big Bang Theory also featured a costume contest hosted by the character Stuart Bloom (who owns the comic book store) dressed up in Fourth Doctor garb.
  • In another episode of The Big Bang Theory, a poster of Vincent Van Gogh's "The Pandorica Opens" can be seen prominently displayed in a comic book shop.
  • And yet another episode of The Big Bang Theory had a copy of Doctor Who Magazine Special Edition: The 2017 Yearbook on Sheldon's table.
  • A 2009 episode of NCIS, "Power Down", includes the character of McGee comparing the unexpectedly spacious interior of a cargo container to the TARDIS. McGee briefly explains the meaning to his co-worker, DiNozzo, who replies with "Doctor Who - who watches that?"
  • A reference to Doctor Who also occurs in the CSI: New York episode "Time's Up". Flack says "Paging Doctor Who." Later in the episode, the time travel machine makes a noise very much like the noise the TARDIS makes.
  • The 13 May 2010 episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is titled "Doctor Who."
  • In the Lead Balloon episode "Karma," Rick Spleen believes he could put himself up for the part of the Doctor.
  • In the 20 August 2010 episode of Eureka on SyFy ("Stoned") Zane, while searching through government files mentions TARDIS blueprints as something he might be searching for.
  • In the episode "I Do Again" of Eureka, Zoe refers to her Aunt Lexi's boyfriend as her 'gorgeous Doctor WHO', meaning he's a doctor with the World Health Organisation, however, Vincent mistakes it as a reference to Doctor Who, exclaiming that he loves the tv show.
  • In the Eureka episode "Reprise", Zane call Jo's house as a TARDIS house, referring to how the house is bigger on the inside.
  • In the Disney Channel series Sonny with a Chance, two characters are trapped in a phone box and the title character asks why they built another time machine.
  • In the Disney Channel series The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, the title characters once travelled to a parallel universe via a phone box.
    Vicar of Dibley

    A Dalek attends a wedding as a bridesmaid. (The Vicar of Dibley)

  • In the Christmas special in which the title character of The Vicar of Dibley got married, her bridesmaids were dressed as the Tenth Doctor and two Daleks.
  • In the comedy show Coupling (made by Doctor Who show runner Steven Moffat), the character of Oliver runs a science fiction bookstore with a replica Dalek. In one scene he has a package that shouts 'Exterminate'.
  • In the UK version of Who|various references to Doctor Who}} throughout (created by Russell T Davies), the character of Vince makes various references to Doctor Who throughout the programme, and is bought a replica of K9 for his birthday. In episode three, a guy he brings home for a one-night stand lands up instead watching his Genesis of the Daleks tapes. In the same episode, Cameron comments on "the one with the shop dummies" and "that one with the maggots". He said the show scared him as a kid.
  • The comedy Spaced (starring and written by Simon Pegg and Jessica Hynes) features a comic book store. The door to its back room is painted to look like the TARDIS doors.
  • In the American comedy Community, the character Abed Nadeer compares himself to various science fiction characters, including K9, while describing himself as a dispassionate observer of those around him.
  • Community would later make frequent references to the fictional TV show Inspector Space Time, an obvious parody of Doctor Who. A British programme, Inspector Space Time is said to be the oldest sci-fi show on television, dating from 1962, centring around "The Inspector" and his companion, who travel through Time and Space in a telephone booth. The main recurring villains are mechanical Dalek-like creatures named Blorgons, and a brief glimpse of the opening credit sequence is strikingly similar to the Doctor Who credits from the Ninth/Tenth Doctor. In an episode of season four, Abed wears a TARDIS shirt, indicating that he was also a fan of the real Who.
  • In the American comedy See Dad Run, Joe (one of the main characters) was going to a sci-fi convention to meet his hero the Time Lord, an inter-galactic dimension jumper who travels in a cosmic elevator and wears a bowtie.
  • In the British comedy Genie in the House, Max (one of the main characters) ended up getting a portable reading lamp Philip (another of the main characters) had invented clamped to his head. He then remarked about why else he'd walk around looking like a Dalek, and that if he didn't find Philip soon he might as well exterminate him.
  • The British comedy Outnumbered (which starred Claire Skinner, Samantha Bond, David Troughton and Mark Benton) has made several references to Doctor Who. The first was when Ben (one of the main characters) ended up stating that he was scared. While listing all the stuff he could be scared of, he asked, "What about those Krillitane bat-things from Doctor Who?" In another episode, Pete and Jake (a couple of other main characters) were flipping through TV shows that Jake liked but Pete didn't approve of and ended up with Doctor Who Confidential, which Pete didn't like because he compared it to something people like but don't want to know what went through the making of it. Ben later referenced it in a third episode when he walked into the kitchen saying, "Doctor, there is no escape! Exterminate!".
  • In an episode of the British TV series "The Story of Tracy Beaker" (which featured Ciaran Joyce, Sonny Muslim, Clive Rowe, Nisha Nayar, Morgan Hopkins, Roderick Smith, Richard Elfyn, Julian Lewis Jones, Madeleine Rakic-Platt, Simon Ludders, Phylip Harries, Gareth Wyn Griffiths, Amy Starling, Victoria Pugh, Brendan Charleson and Claire Cage), Elaine (one of the main characters) had tried driving the kids at the care home she worked at away from the TV by using a puppet theatre. After showing it to the kids and asking them what they thought it was, Rio (one of the kids) asked "Is it a TARDIS?".
    Tracy Beaker Returns

    A Doctor Who poster is seen in Toby's room. (Tracy Beaker Returns)

Advertisement