- 19/06/2025
Doctor Who is a great gig. But when ya gotta go, ya gotta go. So why did each Doctor decide to call it quits?
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00:00Playing the Doctor is the role of a lifetime, but it's hardly the most glamorous of gigs,
00:05spending most of the year in rainy old Cardiff, running around quarries and steel mills after
00:09dark. It's a physical demanding part, with 60 years of pressure on top. It's also a strange
00:15job in that you know you'll one day have to pass the torch. There have been a variety of reasons
00:20why the stars of the show have come down with a severe case of the glowy face, so let's take a
00:25look at them. I'm Ellie for Who Culture, and this is why every lead actor left Doctor Who.
00:30Number 13. William Hartnell. When William Hartnell agreed to play the Doctor in the early 60s,
00:35the concept of regeneration didn't even exist. This was a family programme about a madman with a box.
00:41Nobody involved thought that Doctor Who would spawn an unprecedented 60-year run, but sadly,
00:46several problems necessitated a plot device that would allow the show to switch leads. Hartnell
00:50was no spring chicken, and as his health deteriorated, it became difficult for him to keep up with Doctor
00:55Who's gruelling production schedule. He suffered from a condition which hardens the artery walls
01:00and restricts blood flow, which would often cause him to forget or mix up his lines. Combined with
01:05the fact that Hartnell didn't get along with producer John Wiles, who replaced original producer
01:10Verity Lambert in 1965, the idea was floated to recast him during The Celestial Toymaker. The Doctor
01:16would be invisible for most of the narrative, only to return with a brand new face. Though this idea
01:21wasn't used here, a similar concept of renewal, because actually the term regeneration wasn't
01:26invented until later on, was devised for the 10th planet, by which point Hartnell's health had
01:30declined so much that it was difficult for him to just keep going. The first Doctor changed his face
01:35on the 29th of October 1966, and Doctor Who continued under a new lead actor.
01:42Number 12. Patrick Troughton. Patrick Troughton reportedly thought that regeneration
01:46was a naff concept. He said,
01:48I don't think it was a particularly good idea of the BBC to replace Billy. I thought it was pretty
01:53silly, really. However, he was eventually persuaded to take the leap. I would imagine
01:57that the consistent paycheck probably played a role in that decision. Like Hartnell, Troughton
02:01found Doctor Who's production schedule highly demanding. With dozens of episodes being produced
02:05per year, it's easy to see why. This is largely what influenced his decision to exit the role in
02:101969, with three seasons under his belt. After he left, Troughton advised Fifth Doctor Peter Davison
02:17to also follow the three-year model, in effort to avoid being typecast. And over the years,
02:22this has become something of an unwritten rule that many Doctors abide by, intentionally or not.
02:27Number 11. John Pertwee. The Third Doctor's era brought big change to Doctor Who. The show was
02:32now in colour, the Doctor was stranded on Earth working with his unit family, and iconic characters
02:37like The Master, Sarah Jane Smith, and Joe Grant were introduced. They say that nobody likes change,
02:43but in this case, it was a big hit, with Doctor Who enjoying something of a renaissance after
02:48ratings had dipped towards the latter end of Troughton's run. This success might be why Pertwee
02:52remained in the role for longer than either of his predecessors, completing five full seasons instead
02:57of the usual three. An incredibly positive tenure overall then, but one that was tinged with sadness
03:03by the time it concluded. After the tragic death of his good friend and master actor Roger Delgado
03:08in 1973, Pertwee was motivated to head for the exit. Various cast and crew members were also leaving
03:14the show, and Pertwee decided it was time for him to do the same. His request for a significant pay
03:19rise had also been declined, which further reinforced his decision. 1974's Planet of the Spiders was the
03:24first story to use the term regeneration to describe the Doctor's face-changing process,
03:29and it was here where Pertwee bowed out of the role. Number 10, Tom Baker. Tom Baker is the
03:34longest-serving Doctor to date, but in hindsight, the man himself thinks that he might have stayed
03:39a bit too long. The actor has cited the early part of his tenure under producer Philip Hinchcliffe
03:44as his favourite period of the show, but confessed that he grew more and more frustrated when John
03:48Nathan Turner took the reins in 1980. Nathan Turner added a lot more characters to each story,
03:53and Baker felt that the short 25-minute episode format meant that most of these characters ended up
03:58being useless. John Nathan Turner and I did not see eye to eye about very much, he said in 2014,
04:03and he continued to say, I think I should have gone when John was taking over to liberate him to
04:08recast. Maybe I did one series too many. In a separate interview, Baker stated that Nathan Turner
04:13quote, diminished him in the role, and that he was annoyed by the addition of question marks to the
04:18Doctor's collar. The tension ultimately proved too much, and by the time 1981 rolled around, Baker had
04:23decided that his time as the Doctor was over. Number 9, Peter Davison. As previously mentioned,
04:28Peter Davison wanted to stick to a three-year stint after listening to Patrick Troughton's advice
04:33about not being typecast, so that's exactly what he did. However, there may be a little bit more to
04:38the story than that. Though Davison was happy with his final season in 1984, he found the middle part of
04:44his run rather frustrating, clashing with Nathan Turner over various creative decisions. Davison wished to
04:49bring more levity to his Doctor, which his superior consistently shot down. Davison had also noted how
04:55long Tom Baker stayed in the role, and was concerned that staying any longer than three years might
04:59affect his future job opportunities. And so, the fifth Doctor regenerated on the 16th of March 1984,
05:05almost three years to the day since his first appearance at the end of Logopolis.
05:10Number 8, Colin Baker. Colin Baker was at the helm for one of the most turbulent periods in Doctor Who
05:15history. In 1985, the show was put on hiatus due to concerns about its quality and its levels of
05:21violence. BBC executive Michael Grade believed Doctor Who felt cheap compared to the likes of
05:26Star Wars and E.T. saying,
05:28What we were serving up as science fiction was garbage. Bit harsh. I wouldn't exactly say that's
05:32a fair comparison, but we get the point. Though Doctor Who did return after its hiatus with the
05:37season-long story Trial of a Time Lord, it wasn't long before Baker himself had a target on his back.
05:42With higher-ups still not convinced by the show's quality or ratings, they removed him from the
05:47role. Though he was offered a final adventure that would conclude with the sixth Doctor's
05:51departure, Baker refused to return for anything less than a full season. And as a result, he wasn't
05:56even present for his own regeneration scene, with Sylvester McCoy instead adorning a blonde curly wig.
06:02Number 7, Sylvester McCoy. Unlike most of his fellow Time Lords, Sylvester McCoy never technically
06:07left Doctor Who, nor was he fired. He was simply unlucky enough to be the Doctor in 1989, the year
06:14in which production of the show was suspended. It's a shame too, because McCoy had settled into
06:18a solid groove towards the end of his era, with he and Sophie Aldred proving a winning combination.
06:23Unfortunately, public perception of Doctor Who was at an all-time low, and with viewership declining,
06:28the plug was pulled. Regardless, McCoy was still the incumbent Doctor for the 1993 charity
06:33special Dimensions in Time, and the start of the 1996 TV movie. Writer Matthew Jacobs wished to link
06:39the movie directly to the classic series, and so it was decided to depict the seventh Doctor's
06:44regeneration. Number 6, Paul McGann. Based on their original runs, Paul McGann is the shortest-serving
06:50Doctor of all time, less than 90 minutes in total. But at first, it was hoped that he'd get to play the
06:55character for a lot longer than that. The TV movie was intended to kickstart a new series of Doctor Who,
07:01a co-production between the BBC and Fox. But despite strong UK ratings, it underperformed in
07:07North America, and Fox chose not to go any further. Like McCoy then, McGann never technically left
07:12Doctor Who. He was simply the star of the show at a time when it ran out of steam. No more on-screen
07:17appearances were green-lit, though he did reprise the role in the 2001 big Finnish audio drama Storm
07:23Warning, marking the beginning of an incredibly successful run in Doctor Who's expanded universe.
07:27In 2003, it was announced that one Russell T. Davis had been hired to showrun a new series of
07:33Doctor Who. Though Davis decided that the new series would continue where the TV movie left off,
07:38he intended to be careful with his acknowledgement of the show's past so as to make it as newcomer
07:43friendly as possible. And to that end, a new Doctor was brought in to lead the charge,
07:47and McGann was left without a regeneration scene until 2013 Minnesota, The Night of the Doctor.
07:52Number 5, Christopher Eccleston.
07:54Though precise details are scarce, Christopher Eccleston did not have the best of times
07:58shooting his first and only series of Doctor Who. Production on Block 1, comprising Rose,
08:03Aliens of London and World War 3, was reportedly chaotic, not least because it fell behind schedule.
08:09This tallies with comments that Eccleston has made in the years since, where he's explained that
08:14poor management on the part of the showrunners was the main catalyst for his decision to exit
08:18after just 13 episodes. He said,
08:20I left because my relationship with the showrunner and the producer broke down. I left because of
08:25the politics of the show. I left only because of those three individuals and the way they were
08:29running the show. It's unclear how bad things got at the time, but Eccleston's recent statement that
08:34the only way he'd consider returning to Doctor Who was if current producers Russell T. Davis,
08:39Jane Tranter, Phil Collinson and Julie Gardner were sacked is damning, considering those four were in
08:45charge back in 2005. On a more positive note, Eccleston loves playing the Doctor and has shown
08:50a great willingness to engage with fans on the convention circuit. He also returned to voice
08:55the Ninth Doctor on audio from 2021 onwards. Number 4, David Tennant. Eccleston may have lit
09:01the torch, but it was David Tennant who ran with it. Under his watch, Doctor Who became the most
09:05dominant show on British television, with the Tenth Doctor achieving some phenomenally high viewing
09:10figures throughout his run, including what is still the most-watched New Who episode of all time,
09:152007 Christmas special, Voyage of the Damned. Unlike the last few Doctors, Tennant's departure
09:20wasn't surrounded by any sort of drama. In October 2008, he made the announcement himself,
09:26stating that he didn't want to outstay his welcome, and that, quote,
09:29if I don't take a deep breath and move on now, I never will. It was a very tough choice to arrive at,
09:34and Tennant did consider staying on for one more series under new showrunner Stephen Moffat.
09:39The BBC would have gladly kept him too, considering his popularity. In fact,
09:43Moffat has since claimed that there might have been plans to consider ending Doctor Who,
09:47and that it was a, quote, huge question whether it could continue without Tennant.
09:51There's no doubt he's iconic in the role, and since regenerating in 2010, he's barely kept away.
09:56He's been highly active in expanded media, and returned to play the Doctor on screen in both
10:01the 50th and 60th anniversaries. Tennant always knew that the deal for the 60th anniversary was for
10:06three specials and no more. But based on how things ended, we'll no doubt be seeing him again
10:11in the future. Let's be honest. Number three, Matt Smith. Matt Smith was able to build on the
10:16success of the Tennant era, giving the show an international appeal to complement its dominance
10:20of British screens. And as was the case with his predecessor, there was no trouble surrounding
10:25his departure. He just decided to move on. From the beginning, Smith had hinted to Stephen
10:29Moffat that he wanted to stay for no more than three series. The news was announced in June 2013,
10:34half a year before his regeneration in the upcoming Christmas special. Smith stated that it had been
10:39an honour to play the Doctor, and that, quote, when you gotta go, you gotta go. Like other incarnations,
10:45the show's tough production schedule also played a part in his decision. It wasn't an easy choice to
10:50make, though, and Smith has confessed that he would have gladly done another year, and that he regrets
10:54not getting a full series with Jenna Coleman. Recently, he's also hinted that he wasn't entirely happy
10:59with his final episode. Unsurprisingly, then, he's more than game for a return to the show.
11:04Though many were hoping he'd appear in the 60th anniversary, Smith is young enough that
11:08there's no doubt that we'll see him play the Doctor on screen at least one more time.
11:12Number 2, Peter Capaldi. Peter Capaldi actually played two other characters in the Hooniverse
11:17before he was cast as the main attraction. Kykilius in 2008's The Fires of Pompeii,
11:22and John Frobisher in Tortured Children of Earth. Rather than these past lives being ignored
11:27during the 12th Doctor's reign, this identity crisis formed a core part of his arc. Despite ratings
11:32dipping from the Tennant and Smith eras, Capaldi enjoyed three strong series in the role before
11:37regenerating in the 2017 Christmas special. This was actually a last-minute adjustment,
11:41with the original plan being for him to bow out at the end of Series 10 in July. As for why he left?
11:47Again, this was another case of the actor deciding to call it quits. Though incoming showrunner Chris
11:51Chibnall did try and persuade him to stay, and Capaldi did consider it, he opted out, saying that he
11:56wanted to leave while he was still enjoying it. He's also indicated that the workload was a factor.
12:01In 2018, he candidly stated,
12:03To be at the centre of that brand is a lot of work. It was hard to maintain that level of
12:07commitment with that schedule any longer. I tried my best to make the Doctor come alive.
12:12This also might explain why he's not so keen on a return. His response when asked about the
12:16possibility was a simple no. But fingers crossed he changes his mind in the future.
12:21Number 1, Jodie Whittaker. Chris Chibnall and Jodie Whittaker were the first showrunner
12:25Doctor duo to make the three series rule into a joint agreement. Upon announcing their exits in
12:312021, Chibnall explained,
12:33Jodie and I made a three series and out pact with each other at the start of this once-in-a-lifetime
12:37blast. So now our shift is done. We're handing back the TARDIS keys. Whittaker echoed this sentiment,
12:43stating that they always knew they wanted to, quote, pass on the baton together. Because her
12:47regeneration is still so fresh at this point, it's too early for any other potential reasons to come
12:52to light, as has been the case with other Doctors. That said, Whittaker thoroughly enjoyed her time
12:57at the helm and has already confessed she'd be, quote, very happy to put on my Doctor's coat again.
13:02And with New Who's 20th anniversary approaching in 2025, who knows what might happen? Who knows?
13:09And that's everything for this list, but for more behind-the-scenes gossip, why not check out
13:1310 Doctor Who mistakes confirmed by the creators. In the meantime, I've been Ellie for Who Culture,
13:18and in the words of Riversong herself, goodbye, sweeties.
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