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  • 21 Aug, 2019

  • By, Wikipedia

List Of Doctor Who Episodes (1963–1989)

Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. As of 22 June 2024, 883 episodes of Doctor Who have aired. This includes one television movie and multiple specials, and encompasses 311 stories over 40 seasons, starting in 1963. Additionally, four charity specials and two animated serials have also been aired. The programme's high episode count has resulted in Doctor Who holding the world record for the highest number of episodes of a science-fiction programme.

Doctor Who ceased production in 1989 after 695 episodes. A one-off TV movie was produced in the US in 1996, before the series resumed in 2005. The original series (1963–1989), generally consists of multi-episode serials; in the early seasons, and occasionally through its run, serials tend to link together, one story leading directly into the next. The 2005 revival trades the earlier serial format for a run of self-contained episodes, interspersed with occasional multi-part stories and structured into loose story arcs.

For the first two seasons of Doctor Who and most of the third (1963–1966), each episode carries its own title; the show displays no titles for overarching serials until The Savages, at which point the episodic titles cease. The titles below, for these early serials, are those in most common circulation, used for commercial releases and in resources such as the Doctor Who Reference Guide and the BBC's classic episode guide. With the show's revival in 2005, the programme returned to individual episode titles.

Due to the BBC's 1970s junking policy, 97 episodes of Doctor Who from the 1960s are no longer known to exist. As a result, 26 serials are currently incomplete, with one or more episodes represented only by audio, which in many cases is in addition to clips or still frames. For commercial release, some episodes have been reconstructed using off-air audio recordings, paired to surviving visuals or newly commissioned animation.

The story numbers below are meant as a guide to placement in the overall context of the programme. There is some dispute, for instance, about whether to count season 23's The Trial of a Time Lord as one or as four serials, and whether the unfinished serial Shada should be included. The numbering scheme in this list follows the official website's episode guide. Other sources, such as the Region 1 classic Doctor Who DVD releases, use different numbering schemes, which diverge after the 108th story, The Horns of Nimon (1979–1980).

Series overview

The following table dictates the season or series in question for the programme as a whole.

Regular seasons

Season / SeriesDoctorEpisodesSerialsOriginally aired (UK)Average viewers
(millions)
Average AI
First airedLast aired
Classic era
Season 1First Doctor42823 November 1963 (1963-11-23)12 September 1964 (1964-09-12)8.0859
Season 239931 October 1964 (1964-10-31)24 July 1965 (1965-07-24)10.4654
Season 3451011 September 1965 (1965-09-11)16 July 1966 (1966-07-16)7.6549
Season 4Second Doctor43910 September 1966 (1966-09-10)1 July 1967 (1967-07-01)7.1049
Season 54072 September 1967 (1967-09-02)1 June 1968 (1968-06-01)7.2353
Season 644710 August 1968 (1968-08-10)21 June 1969 (1969-06-21)6.3854
Season 7Third Doctor2543 January 1970 (1970-01-03)20 June 1970 (1970-06-20)7.1759
Season 82552 January 1971 (1971-01-02)19 June 1971 (1971-06-19)7.96
Season 92651 January 1972 (1972-01-01)24 June 1972 (1972-06-24)8.30
Season 1026530 December 1972 (1972-12-30)23 June 1973 (1973-06-23)8.87
Season 1126515 December 1973 (1973-12-15)8 June 1974 (1974-06-08)8.7860
Season 12Fourth Doctor20528 December 1974 (1974-12-28)10 May 1975 (1975-05-10)10.0056
Season 1326630 August 1975 (1975-08-30)6 March 1976 (1976-03-06)10.1457
Season 142664 September 1976 (1976-09-04)2 April 1977 (1977-04-02)11.0859
Season 152663 September 1977 (1977-09-03)11 March 1978 (1978-03-11)8.9862
Season 162662 September 1978 (1978-09-02)24 February 1979 (1979-02-24)8.6164
Season 172051 September 1979 (1979-09-01)12 January 1980 (1980-01-12)11.2165
Season 1828730 August 1980 (1980-08-30)21 March 1981 (1981-03-21)5.8263
Season 19Fifth Doctor2674 January 1982 (1982-01-04)30 March 1982 (1982-03-30)9.24
Season 202263 January 1983 (1983-01-03)16 March 1983 (1983-03-16)7.0367
Season 212475 January 1984 (1984-01-05)30 March 1984 (1984-03-30)7.1465
Season 22Sixth Doctor1365 January 1985 (1985-01-05)30 March 1985 (1985-03-30)7.1264
Season 231416 September 1986 (1986-09-06)6 December 1986 (1986-12-06)4.8169
Season 24Seventh Doctor1447 September 1987 (1987-09-07)7 December 1987 (1987-12-07)4.9460
Season 251445 October 1988 (1988-10-05)4 January 1989 (1989-01-04)5.3468
Season 261446 September 1989 (1989-09-06)6 December 1989 (1989-12-06)4.1568
Revived era
Series 1Ninth Doctor131026 March 2005 (2005-03-26)18 June 2005 (2005-06-18)7.9582
Series 2Tenth Doctor131015 April 2006 (2006-04-15)8 July 2006 (2006-07-08)7.7184
Series 313931 March 2007 (2007-03-31)30 June 2007 (2007-06-30)7.5586
Series 413105 April 2008 (2008-04-05)5 July 2008 (2008-07-05)8.0588
Series 5Eleventh Doctor13103 April 2010 (2010-04-03)26 June 2010 (2010-06-26)7.7386
Series 6131123 April 2011 (2011-04-23)1 October 2011 (2011-10-01)7.5286
Series 713131 September 2012 (2012-09-01)18 May 2013 (2013-05-18)7.4486
Series 8Twelfth Doctor121123 August 2014 (2014-08-23)8 November 2014 (2014-11-08)7.2683
Series 912919 September 2015 (2015-09-19)5 December 2015 (2015-12-05)6.0382
Series 10121115 April 2017 (2017-04-15)1 July 2017 (2017-07-01)5.4683
Series 11Thirteenth Doctor10107 October 2018 (2018-10-07)9 December 2018 (2018-12-09)7.9681
Series 121081 January 2020 (2020-01-01)1 March 2020 (2020-03-01)5.4080
Series 136131 October 2021 (2021-10-31)5 December 2021 (2021-12-05)4.9577
Series 14Fifteenth Doctor8711 May 2024 (2024-05-11)22 June 2024 (2024-06-22)3.71
Series 158TBA2025 (2025)TBATBATBA

Specials

Special(s)DoctorEpisodesOriginally airedAverage viewers
(millions)
Average AI
20th anniversaryFifth Doctor125 November 1983 (1983-11-25)7.7075
Television movieEighth Doctor112 May 1996 (1996-05-12)9.0875
2005 ChristmasTenth Doctor125 December 2005 (2005-12-25)9.8484
2006 Christmas125 December 2006 (2006-12-25)9.3584
2007 Christmas125 December 2007 (2007-12-25)13.3186
2008–2010 specials525 December 2008 – 1 January 2010 (2008-12-25 – 2010-01-01)11.5088
2010 ChristmasEleventh Doctor125 December 2010 (2010-12-25)12.1183
2011 Christmas125 December 2011 (2011-12-25)10.7784
2012 Christmas125 December 2012 (2012-12-25)9.8787
2013 specials223 November – 25 December 2013 (2013-11-23 – 2013-12-25)11.9786
2014 ChristmasTwelfth Doctor125 December 2014 (2014-12-25)8.2882
2015 Christmas125 December 2015 (2015-12-25)7.6982
2016 Christmas125 December 2016 (2016-12-25)7.8382
2017 Christmas125 December 2017 (2017-12-25)7.9281
2019 New YearThirteenth Doctor11 January 2019 (2019-01-01)7.1380
2020 New Year1 January 2020 (2020-01-01)6.8982
2021 New Year11 January 2021 (2021-01-01)6.3679
2022 specials31 January – 23 October 2022 (2022-01-01 – 2022-10-23)4.3978
2023 specialsFourteenth Doctor325 November – 9 December 2023 (2023-11-25 – 2023-12-09)7.2084
2023 ChristmasFifteenth Doctor125 December 2023 (2023-12-25)7.4982
2024 Christmas125 December 2024 (2024-12-25)TBATBA