List of Doctor Who cast members

William Hartnell, Carole Ann Ford, William Russell and Jacqueline Hill first appeared as the Doctor, Susan Foreman, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright respectively in the show's debut serial; An Unearthly Child. Ford departed in The Dalek Invasion of Earth in 1964 and was replaced by Maureen O'Brien playing a character called Vicki. Russell and Hill departed together the following year in The Chase and were subsequently replaced by Peter Purves as Steven Taylor. Adrienne Hill took over from O'Brien for a short period of time as Katarina. Jean Marsh subsequently played the character of Sara Kingdom also for a short period of time before being replaced by Jackie Lane as Dodo Chaplet in The Ark in 1966. Purves and Lane stepped down from their roles at around the same time and were replaced by Anneke Wills and Michael Craze who played Polly and Ben Jackson. Patrick Troughton took over from Hartnell in the fourth season as the Second Doctor and starred alongside Wills and Craze and, after they stepped down, Deborah Watling, Frazer Hines and Wendy Padbury who respectively played Victoria Waterfield, Jamie McCrimmon and Zoe Heriot. At the end of The War Games, Troughton was replaced by Jon Pertwee who began his run as the Third Doctor alongside Caroline John as Liz Shaw in the 1970 serial; Spearhead from Space. John departed in Inferno and Katy Manning as Jo Grant, her replacement, appeared in the following serial Terror of the Autons. Throughout Pertwee's run, Nicholas Courtney, Richard Franklin and John Levene made regular appearances as The Brigadier, Mike Yates and Sergeant Benton respectively.

Katy Manning stepped down from the role of Jo Grant at the end of the tenth season in The Green Death. She was replaced by Elisabeth Sladen in The Time Warrior as Sarah Jane Smith. Jon Pertwee was subsequently replaced by Tom Baker at the end of Season 11 in Planet of the Spiders. Nicholas Courtney and John Levene reprised their roles as the Brigadier and Sergeant Benton numerous times during Baker's run. The Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane were joined on their adventures by Harry Sullivan, played by Ian Marter, before he left them in Terror of the Zygons. After one more season, Sladen left the role of Sarah Jane Smith in the 1976 serial; The Hand of Fear. Louise Jameson debuted in The Face of Evil portraying a character called Leela. They were joined by K-9 in The Invisible Enemy, a robotic dog voiced by John Leeson and, on a few occasions; David Brierly. Jameson was replaced by Mary Tamm, who played Romana, a Time Lady and one of the Doctor's own species. Tamm stayed on for just one season before her character regenerated in Destiny of the Daleks and was portrayed by Lalla Ward. Baker, Ward and Leeson were joined by Matthew Waterhouse, the actor who played Adric, in Full Circle. Romana and K-9 departed together in Warriors' Gate. The 1981 serial Logopolis was the first to introduce Sarah Sutton and Janet Fielding as Nyssa and Tegan Jovanka respectively, but the last to star Tom Baker as the Doctor.

Peter Davison starred as the Fifth Doctor starting in the nineteenth season alongside Matthew Waterhouse, Sarah Sutton and Janet Fielding, before Waterhouse departed when Adric was dramatically killed off in Earthshock. In Mawdryn Undead, a new companion called Vislor Turlough was introduced, played by Mark Strickson. Sutton stepped down from the role of Nyssa in Terminus and Kamelion, an unusual robotic character voiced by Gerald Flood, was introduced in The King's Demons.

For The Five Doctors – the show's 20th anniversary special – Carole Ann Ford, Nicholas Courtney, Elisabeth Sladen, Lalla Ward, Wendy Padbury, Caroline John, Richard Franklin, John Leeson and Frazer Hines reprised their roles as, respectively, Susan Foreman, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Sarah Jane Smith, Romana, Zoe Heriot, Liz Shaw, Mike Yates, K-9 and Jamie McCrimmon.[1] The special was broadcast between the twentieth and twenty-first seasons.[2]

Davison, Fielding and Strickson continued on until Fielding stepped down from the role in Resurrection of the Daleks. She was replaced in Planet of Fire by Nicola Bryant as Peri Brown, a serial which also marked the final appearance of Strickson and Flood. Davison was replaced by Colin Baker in The Caves of Androzani and Bryant was replaced with Bonnie Langford as Mel Bush, a few years later, after her character was killed off in Mindwarp. Sylvester McCoy took over from Baker in Time and the Rani and Langford was replaced by Sophie Aldred as Ace at the end of the twenty-fourth season. The series was axed in 1989, but a TV Movie was made in 1996 which saw Paul McGann taking over from McCoy and Daphne Ashbrook making her first and only appearance as Grace Holloway.[3]

Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper made their debut appearances as The Doctor and Rose Tyler in the first episode of the revived series. Eccleston made his final appearance at the end of the first series, in which he was replaced by David Tennant.[4] The following series saw Piper stepping down of her role in "Doomsday".[5] Freema Agyeman and Catherine Tate appeared as regular companions in the third and fourth series', playing Martha Jones and Donna Noble respectively. David Tennant departed in the two-part story "The End of Time" with Matt Smith replacing him as the Doctor.[6][7] In the following fifth series, he was joined by Karen Gillan as Amy Pond.[8] The fifth series also saw the introduction of Rory Williams, played by Arthur Darvill. Both Gillan and Darvill left their roles at the end of the first part of the seventh series.[9] They were replaced by Jenna Coleman who made her first regular appearance in "The Bells of Saint John" as Clara Oswald.[10] Smith departed from his role as the Doctor in "The Time of the Doctor" in 2013.[11]

"Starring" cast members are here defined as actors whose names appear in the opening titles sequence.

Peter Capaldi made his first regular appearance as the Twelfth Doctor in "Deep Breath".[15] Jenna Coleman continued her role as Clara Oswald alongside this incarnation during the eighth series in 2014. Both Capaldi and Coleman reprised their roles as the Doctor and Clara during the ninth series in 2015, with Coleman departing at the end of that year.[16] Coleman was replaced by Pearl Mackie, who was introduced as Bill Potts.[17] Jodie Whittaker took over the lead role of the Doctor from Peter Capaldi in the 2017 Christmas special "Twice Upon a Time".[18] Her first series as the Thirteenth Doctor began its broadcast in late 2018. Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole and Mandip Gill replaced Mackie and Matt Lucas as the companions for the show.[19]

"Starring" cast members are here defined as actors whose names appear in the opening titles sequence.