Whoniverse

The Whoniverse is a British media franchise and shared universe consisting of the BBC television series Doctor Who, its spin-offs, and other associated media. The shared universe nature was established by crossing over common plot elements, settings, cast, and characters, usually deriving from the main programme.

Doctor Who depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being with a human appearance. The Doctor explores the universe in a time-travelling space ship called the TARDIS. With various companions, they combat foes, work to save civilisations, and help people in need.

Doctor Who was first broadcast in 1963 and ran for 26 seasons until 1989, briefly returning in the form of a TV film in 1996. It was later revived in 2005, when the show's newfound success led to the commissioning of several spin-offs—Torchwood (2006–2011), The Sarah Jane Adventures (2007–2011), Class (2016), and The War Between the Land and the Sea (2025). Other spin-offs include the pilot K-9 and Company (1981) and non-BBC produced series K9 (2009–2010).

The franchise name, a portmanteau of the words "who" and "universe", was originally used to describe Doctor Who's production and fanbase. In 2023, the year of the show's sixtieth anniversary, the BBC adopted the name in an official capacity, making the Whoniverse the umbrella brand for all programmes connected to Doctor Who, including documentaries.

The majority of the Whoniverse's programmes have been commercially successful and generally received positive reviews. They have also inspired an extensive collection of book, comic and magazine publications, audio plays, films, video games, exhibitions, and stage plays.

Background

The earliest official usage of "Whoniverse" was in the introduction to the appendices of The Doctor Who Programme Guide Volume 2 by Jean-Marc Lofficier published May 1981 in its hardcover edition. The publicity blurb on the back of The Second Doctor Who Quiz Book by Nigel Robinson published in December 1983 also used the term. In his 1983 book Doctor Who: A Celebration; Two Decades Through Time and Space, Peter Haining called his final chapter "The Whoniverse". The section assembled factual information about all the episodes to date, but also gave information about fan clubs and ancillary entertainments related to the programme. Thus, the term Whoniverse referred to everything connected with the programme behind-the-scenes. In this meaning, standing exhibitions, discussions about the filming of episodes and even the fandom itself were considered part of the "Whoniverse". The term Whoniverse is still used with this definition today, including as the name of a Doctor Who convention in Australia.

The term began to appear in mainstream press coverage, placing greater emphasis on it as a fictional universe, following the popular success of the 2005 Doctor Who revival and the establishment of its spin-offs Torchwood (2006–2011) and The Sarah Jane Adventures (2007–2011).

Development

In October 2022, it was reported that the production company Bad Wolf had filed for a new subsidiary company, run by former Doctor Who executive producer Julie Gardner and former BBC head of drama Jane Tranter, called "Whoniverse1 LTD". On 17 January 2023, outlets reported that a new sign at Wolf Studios Wales possessed the tagline "Home of the Whoniverse".

On 30 October 2023, the BBC announced it would be using the term "Whoniverse" in an official capacity to describe all shows within the orbit of Doctor Who, and specifically their home on BBC iPlayer, including documentary programming. It had previously been announced that over eight hundred previous episodes would be available to stream on BBC iPlayer. A Whoniverse ident was also adopted to unify content within the Whoniverse collection.

Television

Untitled CBeebies animated spin-off

In June 2025, the BBC announced it was seeking a production company to work on an animated spin-off of Doctor Who for pre-school audiences to air on CBeebies. Production of the first 52-episode series is set to begin in January 2026. The 11-minute episodes are expected to air in two parts: the first 26 episodes from 2027–2028, and the remaining 26 from 2028–2029. In December 2025, the contract for production was awarded to Blue Zoo Animation Studio, with the 52 episodes to be split across two series.

Films

Stage plays

Independent video drama

There have been several independent video drama spin-offs, most licensing characters and concepts from writers of the classic series of Doctor Who. These have been released direct to video via videotape, DVD, Blu-ray, and online video formats.

Escape games

Musicals

In other media

Film and television

The Whoniverse version of Earth is referred to as Earth-5556 in the Marvel Multiverse.

References to the Whoniverse appear in The Inheritance Cycle fantasy novels by Christopher Paolini.

Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies cast John MacKay as John Logie Baird for the episode "The Giggle" (2023), reprising the role he played in Davies' ITV series Nolly earlier in 2023. Davies joked that this casting meant that all the television series he has written are set in the same universe.

Sylvia Trench from James Bond film series appeared in the episode "Joy to the World" (2024), portrayed by Niamh Marie Smith. Writer Steven Moffat stated that in his mind the character is intended to be the same character portrayed by Eunice Gayson in Dr. No (1962) and From Russia with Love (1963).

Video games

Doctor Who has had 19 video games ranging from computer and browser games, console and mobile. Doctor Who characters have appeared in other games such as Fall Guys, Minecraft, Lego Dimensions, PlayStation Home and LittleBigPlanet 3. The 1992 Doctor Who pinball machine was included in the 2012 pinball video game The Pinball Arcade.

Museums and exhibitions

There have been various Doctor Who–related exhibitions in the United Kingdom, including the now-closed exhibitions at:[citation needed]

• Land's End, Cornwall
• Blackpool
• Llangollen
• Kelvingrove Museum, Glasgow
• Coventry Transport Museum, Coventry
• Centre for Life, Newcastle upon Tyne
• Melbourne, Australia
• Kensington Olympia Two, London
• Longleat, which ran for 30 years
• Cardiff (the city where the series is filmed)

Merchandise

Since its beginnings, Doctor Who has generated hundreds of products related to the show, from toys and games to collectible picture cards and postage stamps. These include board games, card games, gamebooks, roleplaying games, action figures and a pinball game. Many games have been released that feature the Daleks.[citation needed]

See also

• List of science fiction universes

Notes

Bibliography

• Lofficier, Jean-Marc (1992). . Virgin Publishing (Target). ISBN0-426-20370-4.
• Haining, Peter (1983). Doctor Who: A Celebration; Two Decades Through Time and Space. W.H. Allen. ISBN978-0-491-03351-0.
• Kistler, Alan (2013). . Lyons Press. ISBN978-0-7627-9188-0.

Further reading

• Howe, David J; Walker, Stephen James (1998), Doctor Who: The Television Companion
• Wood, Tat (2007). About Time 6:Season 22-26, The TV Movie. Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN978-0-975-94465-3.

External links

• at