Smell was a method of detecting chemicals and one of the five senses of human beings. (TV: The Evil of the Daleks) The quality detected was called an odour or scent.
Different types of creatures used different organs to smell; humans used the lining of their noses, insects used their antennae and Myxilinic frost-worms smelled from above the central mouth. (PROSE: The Colour of Darkness) Though their olfactory system was similar to a human's, the Gallifreyans could do a chemical analysis of the air using their sense of smell. (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Carnival of Monsters)
In many species, like humans, the olfactory system used the same parts of the brain as memory and emotion. This was a weakness that the Dreamspinner, Shas-Raklat, exploited by changing the Karagulan's perception of events in order to abduct their children for spare sensory parts. (PROSE: The Colour of Darkness)
On 26 March 2005, (PROSE: The Doctor Was Involved in the Dummy Massacre, Operation Mannequin) NickP was near the dummies when they began to die, ceasing their attack. NickP nearly hurled at the smell, which he compared to cabbage. (PROSE: Dummy Massacre)
Pungent smells could indicate poison or toxicity. (PROSE: Wish You Were Here) Some species, like Raxacoricofallapatorians or the Ameteli, could be identified by their distinct smell signatures, like bodily gasses or calcium decay. (TV: World War Three, COMIC: Love is in the Air)
According to Rose Tyler, the Doctor's familiar scent was graphite, lime, and diesel. (PROSE: The Turning of the Tide) Sometimes, after eating chips, Rose would have to wash the smell of grease out of her jeans. (PROSE: Meet Rose)
Dodgems on Earth released an acrid smell due to their usage of static electricity. When the First Doctor and his companions were trapped in the Dalek City, they used this fact to deduce a potential weakness of the Dalek War Machines. (TV: The Daleks) By the Last Great Time War, the Daleks did not produce a smell. (AUDIO: The Lords of Terror)
The Fourteenth Doctor could smell the imminent arrival of two space-gorillas named Claire and Claudine aboard the Dalek ship, claiming it smelled like ozone before a summer rain. The Supreme Dalek claimed that Daleks did not possess olfactory organs. (COMIC: Liberation of the Daleks)
Smell of time[]
The Ninth Doctor claimed that time had a smell. For instance, Rose Tyler's time, 2005, smelled of diesel, hair gel and satellite trails. (PROSE: Rose and the Snow Window) The Tenth Doctor claimed to have deduced that he and Donna Noble were in the 1920s from smell alone. The 1920s apparently smelled of grass and lemonade, with just a hint of mint. (TV: The Unicorn and the Wasp)
After travelling through time via a portal, the Fourth Doctor claimed to know the date and time through smell alone: it was Wednesday 30 June 1688. He was uncertain if it was 11 am or noon, as he "never could get the hang of the mornings". (AUDIO: The World Traders)
The Twelfth Doctor recognised Manhattan through smell. (COMIC: A Stitch in Time)
The Thirteenth Doctor could also smell the effects of time travel on someone who had been through the Time Vortex. (COMIC: A New Beginning)
A time puncture leading to 1812 St Petersburg smelled, to Rose Tyler, of greasy candle smoke. (PROSE: Rose and the Snow Window)
The Doctor was able to detect paradoxes by sniffing the air. (COMIC: Defender of the Daleks, Alternating Current)
After noticing his arrival at Wembley Stadium, the Fourteenth Doctor was able to smell that he had arrived on 30 July 1966 during the World Cup Final. (COMIC: Liberation of the Daleks)
Memories[]
While living on Bannerman Road, Sarah Jane Smith still recalled the smell of vanilla from a garden in San Martino in 1492. (TV: Death of the Doctor)
Flatulence[]
Sayings associated with farting included "[they] who smelt it dealt it", "[they] who said the rhyme committed the crime" and "[they] who said the verse made the atmosphere worse." (TV: From Raxacoricofallapatorius with Love) Humans also gave the nickname silent but deadly to a fart which was inaudible but still very smelly. ( TV: Revenge of the Slitheen)
Clyde Langer commented to Maria Jackson that the claim of what were apparently Luke Smith's real parents "[stank] like a Christmas dinner fart". (TV: The Lost Boy) Among the jokes he told in order to use laughter to defeat the Pied Piper was "What's invisible and smells like carrots? Rabbit farts." (TV: The Day of the Clown) Clyde later commented that an old shed next to Ashen Hill Manor smelt like "cucumber farts". (TV: The Eternity Trap)
The air in Solan's chamber stank of sweat and vaguely diseased flatulence. (PROSE: Sky Pirates!)
One type of anaesthetic smelt like somebody a very bad attack of flatulence. (PROSE: GodEngine)
Behind the scenes[]
In Kate Gordon's 2017 novel Twenty-five Memories of Viggo MacDuff, Jed moans to Connie Chase that the Beezus-juice "smells like the fart of an Abzorbaloff", a reference to the scene from Love & Monsters [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 2 (BBC One, 2006). in which the Abzorbaloff farts on Bliss' face, embedded into his posterior after being absorbed.