One of my Christmas presents, I can’t recall which pet gave it to me, is a book of Doctor Who paper dolls. Those of you who know Doctor Who will know that this British sci-fi show started in 1963 as a children’s show starring William Hartnell as Doctor Who.

Many different actors have played “The Doctor” and their different appearances have been explained by the unique idea that he regenerates his body every so many years. This book of paper dolls which was released in 2017 features Doctors one through twelve and a number of his human companions mostly from the rebooted series which returned after a break of several years in 2005. I’ll share just a few of them here.

The Doctors:

I remember the First Doctor from when the show began in 1963. I thought that he was a rather grumpy old man. I didn’t see Doctor Who for some years and it took me a while until I understood the Regeneration theory. By this time Tom Baker was playing the Fourth Doctor. I loved his outfit, his bouncy, curly hair and his relaxed attitude although he was, like most of the Doctors, a bit of a know it all. 

I stopped watching the show again a short way into Colin Baker’s term as the Sixth Doctor. I didn’t like his character and I didn’t even bother with the Seventh Doctor. I still haven’t seen many of these episodes. I was not hopeful about the movie revival with the Eighth Doctor. I watched it but didn’t really take to him, maybe if they had kept him on for the TV series I would have. I seriously started to watch again when the show was rebooted in 2005. I never like it when a new Doctor comes in but I did like Doctors Nine through Twelve once I got used to them.  

The Companions:

The Doctor has had many companions, they used to be called assistants in the early days, starting with his granddaughter Susan and her teachers Ian and Barbara. The book does not portray all of them which is a pity.  Here are a few of them, mostly from the rebooted series. 

Sarah Jane Smith was the companion of the Third and Fourth Doctors and later appeared with the Tenth Doctor as well as her own series “The Sarah Jane Chronicles”. Elisabeth Sladen died in 2011 of cancer.

Romana II played by Lalla Ward travelled with the Fourth Doctor. She and Tom Baker were briefly married.

Rose Tyler, played by Billie Piper, travelled with the Ninth and Tenth Doctors in the rebooted series.

Martha Jones played by Freema Aygeman, travelled with the Tenth Doctor and also appeared in some episodes of spin-off series Torchwood. Freema later had a recurring role in the British version of “Law and Order”.

Donna Noble, played by comedienne Catherine Tate, travelled with the Tenth Doctor. Catherine Tate has her own comedy series.

Amelia/Amy Pond, played by Karen Gillan travelled with the Eleventh Doctor. I never quite understood why she was Amelia as a child and Amy as an adult.

 

As you can see it is a well-illustrated paper doll book although I probably would not cut these out. It would be nice if there was another edition featuring some of the other characters. I’d love to see Harry Sullivan, Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart, Leela, Rory and Captain Jack to mention a few; and maybe a Dalek or two.