Doctor Who is the longest-running science fiction television program in the world. It began life on November 23rd, 1963, the day after John F. Kennedy was assassinated. During its first 4-part story, the show found a small audience and earned modest ratings. But when the script for the second story (a 7-part historical) fell through at the last minute, the producers were forced to go with the only other script ready to film—"The Daleks". The mechanized menaces were instant hits and Dalekmania swept Britain, putting Doctor Who irrevocably on the map.

The titular character of the show was a mysterious 700-year-old time traveler wandering the universe in a 'borrowed' time machine called the TARDIS (which stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space). The TARDIS is larger on the inside than on the outside (as the inside exists in a different dimension than the out). The outside is supposed to blend in with whatever environment it lands in, but when the series begins, the Doctor had been on Earth for months and the TARDIS' chameleon circuit got stuck in the shape of a 1950s public Police call box.

The show ran for 3 years with William Hartnell starring as the Doctor (1963 - 1966), playing the character in equal parts grumpily irracible and caringly grand-paternal. Illness forced Hartnell to step down from the role, though, and character actor Patrick Troughton took over, introducing the concept of regeneration (one of the key factors in the series' longevity—it allowed for any number of actors to take the role, each playing the character his own way while still adhering to the qualities of his predecesors). Troughton's portrayal was markedly different from Hartnell's; the character became a wandering vagabond, as curious and full of wonder about the universe around him as a 10-year-old, but with great wisdom and experience behind him. Troughton remained in the part for 3 years as well (1966 - 1969).

The role was carried by 5 additional actors: Jon Pertwee (1970 - 1974), Tom Baker (1975 - 1981), Peter Davison (1982 - 1984), Colin Baker (1984 - 1986), and Sylvester McCoy (1987 - 1989). The series was finally cancelled at the end of its 26th Season.

In 1996, an attempt to revive the series was made in a television movie co-produced by the BBC and Fox Television, starring Paul McGann as the Doctor. The movie is pretty well regarded by Who fans everywhere to be bloody awful, though McGann's portrayal of the Doctor proved to be very popular.

The series languished for years, supported only by a series of novels and a monthly fan magazine. Around the turn of the millenium, though, a resurgence in activity happened, with new Who material coming out in the forms of a new line of novels (a very deep and complex series featuring McGann's Eighth Doctor); original full-cast audio dramas released on CD from Big Finish, starring Davison, C. Baker, McCoy and McGann plus a number of companion actors reprising their television roles; and animated adventures available on the BBC's website.

On September 24, 2003, just two months shy of the show's 40th Anniversary, the BBC made the shock announcement that Doctor Who would be going back into production, to be helmed by Queer as Folk creator Russell T. Davies, long acknowledged as a huge fan of the show. The new series starred Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor and Billie Piper as his companion Rose. Eccleston is known primarily in the US for his roles in Gone in 60 Seconds, Elizabeth, The Others, and 28 Days Later. He will also be starring in the upcoming film adaptation of The DaVinci Code. The new series, which featured a return of the Doctor's most deadly adversaries, the Daleks, was extremely successful, and before the end of its first 13-episode season, had been renewed for an additional two seasons.

Eccleston only played the role for one year, and stepping into the TARDIS as the 10th Doctor is David Tennant, known to American audiences for his recent starring role in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire as Barty Crouch, Jr. Tennant began his tenure with a 60-minute stand-alone episode broadcast on Christmas Day. The second season has equaled the success of the first, and featured the resurrection of the Cybermen. Billie Piper left at the end of Season Two, and Freema Agyeman was introduced as Martha Jones at the beginning of Season Three.

The third episode of Season Three, "Gridlock", first broadcast on April 14, 2007, is the 727th episode of Doctor Who, making it the science fiction television show with the most number of episodes in TV history, breaking the record of 726 previously held by the Star Trek franchise.

The Atlanta Gallifreyans: http://www.atlantagallifreyans.org/

The BBC's Doctor Who Homepage: http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/doctorwho/

Outpost Gallifrey: http://www.gallifreyone.com/

Big Finish: http://www.bigfinish.com/

The Doctor Who Store: http://www.doctorwhostore.com/