Classic Who (1963-1989) — the first 7 Doctors
William Hartnell through Sylvester McCoy. Classic Who trivia rewards dedicated fans of scarves, celery, and wobbly sets.
Q1.What is the name of the Doctor's spaceship?Tap to reveal
Answer: The TARDIS
Time And Relative Dimension In Space; stuck disguised as a 1960s police box.
Q2.What is the Doctor's home planet?Tap to reveal
Answer: Gallifrey
Home of the Time Lords; destroyed in the Time War, later revealed to survive.
Q3.Who was the First Doctor?Tap to reveal
Answer: William Hartnell
Premiered November 23, 1963.
Q4.Why is the TARDIS permanently stuck looking like a police box?Tap to reveal
Answer: Its chameleon circuit is broken
The disguise mechanism jammed in 1963 London and was never properly fixed.
Q5.Which Doctor is famous for his impossibly long multicolored scarf?Tap to reveal
Answer: The Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker)
Baker also holds the record as the longest-serving Doctor, from 1974 to 1981.
Q6.Who is the scientist who created the Daleks?Tap to reveal
Answer: Davros
Introduced in the 1975 serial 'Genesis of the Daleks', widely rated the best classic story.
Q7.What is the name of the Doctor's robot dog?Tap to reveal
Answer: K9
The tin companion debuted in 1977 and got his own spin-off attempts.
Q8.Who was the Doctor's very first companion, traveling with him from episode one?Tap to reveal
Answer: His granddaughter Susan Foreman
Susan's odd behavior at Coal Hill School kicks off the entire series.
Q9.Who played the Doctor in the one-off 1996 TV movie?Tap to reveal
Answer: Paul McGann
His Eighth Doctor got a single film but a long afterlife in audio dramas.
Modern Who (2005-present) — Eccleston onward
Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, Matt Smith, Peter Capaldi, Jodie Whittaker, Ncuti Gatwa. Modern Who has the wider audience.
Q1.What is the Doctor's iconic enemy race that says 'EXTERMINATE'?Tap to reveal
Answer: Daleks
Created by Davros; introduced in the show's second-ever serial in 1963.
Q2.What is the iconic enemy race of cybernetic warriors?Tap to reveal
Answer: Cybermen
Originally from the planet Mondas; first appeared in 1966.
Q3.How does a Time Lord cheat death?Tap to reveal
Answer: Regeneration (into a new body and personality)
Explains why the Doctor is played by different actors.
Q4.Who brought Doctor Who back as showrunner in 2005?Tap to reveal
Answer: Russell T Davies
He revived the show with Eccleston and returned again as showrunner in 2023.
Q5.Who played the Ninth Doctor?Tap to reveal
Answer: Christopher Eccleston
He relaunched the show in 2005 but stayed for only one series.
Q6.What neckwear does the Eleventh Doctor insist is 'cool'?Tap to reveal
Answer: A bow tie
Matt Smith's Doctor also briefly champions fezzes and Stetsons.
Q7.Which 2013 special united Tennant, Smith, and John Hurt for the 50th anniversary?Tap to reveal
Answer: 'The Day of the Doctor'
It rewrote the Time War ending and was simulcast in theaters worldwide.
Q8.Which incarnation did John Hurt play?Tap to reveal
Answer: The War Doctor
A hidden incarnation who fought in the Time War between McGann and Eccleston.
Q9.Who plays the Fifteenth Doctor?Tap to reveal
Answer: Ncuti Gatwa
He took over the TARDIS following the 2023 60th-anniversary specials.
Q10.What two-word phrase mysteriously follows Rose Tyler through series 1?Tap to reveal
Answer: Bad Wolf
The scattered words turn out to be a message Rose sends herself across time.
Companions and allies
Rose Tyler, Donna Noble, Amy Pond, Clara Oswald, River Song, Captain Jack. Companion arcs span seasons — and spin-offs.
Q1.Which Doctor was played by David Tennant initially?Tap to reveal
Answer: The Tenth Doctor
Played him 2005-2010; returned as the Fourteenth for the 60th anniversary in 2023.
Q2.Who is the first woman to play the lead role of the Doctor?Tap to reveal
Answer: Jodie Whittaker
Cast as the Thirteenth Doctor; debuted in 2018.
Q3.What is the Doctor's iconic gadget?Tap to reveal
Answer: The sonic screwdriver
First appeared in 1968; can do almost anything except work on wood.
Q4.Who played Rose Tyler, the first companion of the modern era?Tap to reveal
Answer: Billie Piper
The former pop star's casting was a headline moment for the 2005 revival.
Q5.What is River Song's relationship to the Doctor?Tap to reveal
Answer: She becomes his wife — and is Amy and Rory's daughter
Born Melody Pond, her timeline runs largely in reverse to the Doctor's.
Q6.Which companion's husband waited nearly 2,000 years outside a box for her?Tap to reveal
Answer: Amy Pond — her husband is Rory Williams
Rory's vigil earned him the nickname 'the Last Centurion'.
Q7.Which immortal companion got his own spin-off, Torchwood?Tap to reveal
Answer: Captain Jack Harkness
John Barrowman's con-man-turned-hero led four series of the adult spin-off.
Q8.Which classic-era companion returned in 2006 and got her own spin-off?Tap to reveal
Answer: Sarah Jane Smith
Elisabeth Sladen starred in The Sarah Jane Adventures until her death in 2011.
Q9.What nickname does the Eleventh Doctor give Clara Oswald?Tap to reveal
Answer: The Impossible Girl
He keeps meeting versions of her scattered across his own timeline.
Monsters and villains
Weeping Angels, the Silence, Sontarans, the Master in all incarnations. Sixty years of monsters designed to send kids behind the sofa.
Q1.Who is the Doctor's ongoing nemesis Time Lord?Tap to reveal
Answer: The Master
A renegade Time Lord who has also regenerated many times over the decades.
Q2.What is the rule for surviving the Weeping Angels?Tap to reveal
Answer: Don't blink — they can only move when no one is looking at them
Introduced in the 2007 episode 'Blink', regularly voted the show's scariest.
Q3.Who is Missy?Tap to reveal
Answer: A female incarnation of the Master
Michelle Gomez played her opposite Peter Capaldi's Twelfth Doctor.
Q4.What is the home planet of the Daleks?Tap to reveal
Answer: Skaro
The war-ruined world where Davros engineered them from the Kaled race.
Q5.What happens the moment you look away from one of the Silence?Tap to reveal
Answer: You instantly forget you ever saw it
Humans mark their own skin to count encounters they can't remember.
Q6.Which cloned warrior race looks famously like potatoes?Tap to reveal
Answer: The Sontarans
The reformed Sontaran nurse Strax becomes a recurring comic ally.
Q7.Which shape-shifting aliens can duplicate humans and keep the originals alive as templates?Tap to reveal
Answer: The Zygons
Introduced in 1975 and central to the 50th-anniversary story.
TARDIS, Time Lords, and behind the scenes
Two hearts, thirteen lives, a theme recorded with tape loops in 1963. The lore and production history round for superfans.
Q1.Who created Doctor Who?Tap to reveal
Answer: Sydney Newman, C.E. Webber, and Donald Wilson
The concept was developed at the BBC in 1963.
Q2.What does the acronym TARDIS stand for?Tap to reveal
Answer: Time And Relative Dimension In Space
Sometimes rendered as 'Dimensions' (plural) in certain episodes.
Q3.How many hearts does the Doctor have?Tap to reveal
Answer: Two
Binary vascular system — a standard Time Lord feature.
Q4.The Time War was fought between which two powers?Tap to reveal
Answer: The Time Lords and the Daleks
Its aftermath haunts every modern Doctor from Eccleston onward.
Q5.Under classic lore, how many regenerations does a Time Lord get?Tap to reveal
Answer: Twelve regenerations (thirteen lives)
The Eleventh Doctor was granted a whole new cycle at Trenzalore.
Q6.Who realized the iconic electronic theme music in 1963?Tap to reveal
Answer: Delia Derbyshire of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, from Ron Grainer's composition
She built it from manipulated tape loops years before synthesizers were common.
Q7.What was the title of the very first Doctor Who episode?Tap to reveal
Answer: 'An Unearthly Child'
It aired on November 23, 1963 — the day after President Kennedy's assassination.
Running Doctor Who trivia
Doctor Who fans divide by era. Mark classic vs modern clearly. Add a 'name the Doctor from a photo' visual round.
Trivio.NET has Doctor Who packs in the Series category.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many Doctors are there?
14 official Doctors (William Hartnell through Ncuti Gatwa), plus the War Doctor (John Hurt) — 15 if counting.
Should Doctor Who trivia mix classic and modern?
Mark clearly. Many modern fans skipped classic; many classic fans dropped modern. Era-specific rounds work best.
Where can I find Doctor Who trivia packs?
Trivio.NET's Series category has Doctor Who packs by era and Doctor.
What's the most-missed Doctor Who trivia?
Romana (II Time Lady companion), the Valeyard (anti-Doctor), and the TARDIS's true name (lost forever per show canon).
Where should a new fan start watching Doctor Who?
Most fans recommend the 2005 revival with Christopher Eccleston — it was designed as a fresh entry point. Classic serials can come later.
Is Doctor Who really the longest-running sci-fi show?
Yes — it premiered in 1963 and, despite a 1989-2005 hiatus, Guinness World Records lists it as the longest-running science-fiction TV series.
