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Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. As of 15 November 2009, 754 individual episodes, including one television movie of Doctor Who have been aired, encompassing 201 stories. Additionally, four charity specials and one animated serial have been aired, and two short sequences – A Fix with Sontarans and Attack of the Graske – were produced and involved the interaction of a viewer (the former was a segment of Jim'll Fix It, while the latter was a fully-interactive adventure). The show's high episode count resulted in Doctor Who holding the world record for the highest number of episodes for a science-fiction programme. For comparison, the record holder for the highest number of consecutive episodes, Stargate SG-1, aired 214 episodes.

Each serial up to 1989's Survival, with the exception of one cutaway and one special, was a multi-episode story; the characters in the column after the serial titles indicate the code used by the production team to designate the serial (where applicable) and are followed either by the titles of the individual episodes where given or by the number of episodes otherwise. Unless otherwise noted, episodes in this period are 25 minutes long.

Starting with the 2005 revival, the production team abandoned the traditional serial format for a largely self-contained episodic format with occasional multi-part story and loose story arcs, similar to the style of American dramas such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer or The X-Files. Unless otherwise noted, the new episodes are 45 minutes long.

Additionally, some other subsets of serials and episodes exist. Some are unmade: they were proposed for a variety of reasons, some reaching post-production, but not broadcast. Some episodes from the 1960s are missing due to the BBC's 1970s junking policy, and thus their serials are incomplete. Also, in the first two seasons and most of the third, each episode of a serial had an individual title; no serial had an overall onscreen title until The Savages. The serial titles given below are the most common title for the serials as a whole, used in sources such as the Doctor Who Reference Guide and the BBC's classic episode guide, and are generally those used for commercial release. The practice of individually titled episodes resurfaced with the show's 2005 revival, when Doctor Who's serial nature was abandoned in favour of an episodic format.

The three-digit story numbers are not official designations but are merely to serve as a guide to where the story stands in the overall context of the programme. There is some dispute about, for example, whether to count Season 23's The Trial of a Time Lord as one or four serials, and whether the uncompleted Shada should be included. The numbering scheme used here reflects internal practice of describing "Planet of the Dead" (2009) as the 200th story, used in the official magazine's 407th issue. Other sources, such as the Region 1 DVDs of classic Doctor Who serials, use different numbering schemes which diverge after the 108th story, The Horns of Nimon (1979–1980).

During the early seasons of the programme most serials are linked together, one usually leading directly into the next – although there are some breaks, such as between the Season Two finale The Time Meddler and the Season Three premiere Galaxy 4.

First Doctor
The first televised incarnation of The Doctor was portrayed by William Hartnell. During Hartnell's tenure, the Doctor visited a mixture of both stories set in the future and historical events that had no extraterrestrial influence, such as fifteenth century Mesoamerica. In his last story, The Tenth Planet, the Doctor gradually grew weaker to the point of collapsing at the end of Episode Four, leading to his regeneration.

Season 1 (1963–1964)
Verity Lambert was producer with David Whitaker serving as script editor.

Season 2 (1964–1965)
Dennis Spooner replaced David Whitaker as script editor after The Dalek Invasion of Earth, and edited the remainder of the season apart from The Time Meddler, which was edited by Donald Tosh.

Season 3 (1965–1966)
John Wiles replaced Verity Lambert as producer after Mission to the Unknown. Innes Lloyd, in turn, replaced Wiles after The Ark. Donald Tosh continued as script editor until The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve, which was also script-edited by his replacement, Gerry Davis. The practice of giving each individual episode a different title was abandoned after The Gunfighters, near the end of the season.

Second Doctor
The Second Doctor was portrayed by Patrick Troughton, whose serials were more action-oriented. He retained the role until the last episode of The War Games when members of the Doctor's race, the Time Lords, put him on trial for breaking the laws of time.

Season 4 (1966–1967), continued
Peter Bryant joined as associate producer for The Faceless Ones, and replaced Gerry Davis as script editor for the last four episodes of The Evil of the Daleks.

Season 5 (1967–1968)
Victor Pemberton was script editor for The Tomb of the Cybermen, with Peter Bryant as producer. After this, Bryant resumed the role of script editor, with Innes Lloyd returning as producer, until The Web of Fear when Bryant took over from Lloyd as producer. Derrick Sherwin replaced Bryant as script editor at the same time.

Season 6 (1968–1969)
Terrance Dicks took over from Derrick Sherwin as script editor from The Invasion, with Sherwin resuming the role for The Space Pirates. Derrick Sherwin took over as producer from Peter Bryant for The War Games.

Third Doctor
The Third Doctor was portrayed by Jon Pertwee. Sentenced to exile on Earth and forcibly regenerated at the end of The War Games, the Doctor spends his time working for UNIT. After The Three Doctors, The Time Lords repeal his exile, however the Doctor still worked closely with UNIT from time to time.

Season 7 (1970)
Barry Letts took over as producer from Derrick Sherwin after Spearhead from Space. From this season onwards the programme was produced in colour, although some episodes now exist only in black and white.

Season 8 (1971)
This season forms a loose arc with the introduction of the Master, who is the villain in each of the season's storylines.

Fourth Doctor
The Fourth Doctor was portrayed by Tom Baker, and is to date the longest-serving Doctor, having held the role for seven seasons.

Season 12 (1974–75)
Barry Letts served as producer for Robot, after which he was succeeded by Philip Hinchcliffe. Robert Holmes took over from Terrance Dicks as script editor. All serials in this season continue directly one after the other, tracing one single problematic voyage of the TARDIS crew. Despite the continuity, each serial is considered its own standalone story.

Season 15 (1977–78)
Graham Williams took over as producer from Philip Hinchcliffe. Robert Holmes was replaced as script editor by Anthony Read, during The Sun Makers.

Season 16 (1978–79)
Douglas Adams took over as script editor from Anthony Read for The Armageddon Factor. Season 16 consists of one long story arc encompassing six separate, linked stories. This season is referred to by the umbrella title The Key to Time and has been released on DVD under this title.

Season 18 (1980–81)
John Nathan-Turner replaced Graham Williams as producer. Barry Letts returned, as executive producer, for just this season. Christopher H. Bidmead replaced Douglas Adams as script editor. In a return to the format of early seasons, virtually all serials from Seasons 18 through 20 are linked together, often running directly into each other.

Season 18 forms a loose story arc dealing with the theme of entropy. Full Circle, State of Decay, and Warriors' Gate trace the Doctor's adventures in E-Space; they were released as VHS and DVDs set with the umbrella title The E-Space Trilogy.

Fifth Doctor
The Fifth Doctor was portrayed by Peter Davison.

Season 19 (1982)
Antony Root took over from Bidmead as script editor for Four to Doomsday and The Visitation, after which he was replaced by Eric Saward. The show moved from its traditional once-weekly Saturday broadcast to being broadcast twice-weekly on Monday and Tuesday.

Castrovalva, together with the previous two serials, The Keeper of Traken and Logopolis, form a loose trilogy involving the return of the Master. They were released on DVD under the banner title New Beginnings.

Season 20 (1983)
To commemorate the twentieth season, the stories in this season involve the return of previous villains. Mawdryn Undead, Terminus and Enlightenment involve the Black Guardian's plot to kill the Doctor; they were released individually on VHS as parts of The Black Guardian Trilogy.

Sixth Doctor
The Sixth Doctor was portrayed by Colin Baker.

Season 22 (1985)
The series moved back to Saturday broadcasts. All episodes were 45 minutes long, though all of the episodes also exist in 25-minute versions.

Season 23 (1986)
After an 18-month production hiatus, the series returned. Eric Saward was script editor up to part eight, when Nathan-Turner unofficially took over script editing the remainder of the season because of Saward's departure. The whole season is titled as The Trial of a Time Lord, and is split into four segments. Episode length returned to 25 minutes, but with only fourteen episodes, making this season approximately half the length of the previous fifteen seasons.

Seventh Doctor
The Seventh Doctor was portrayed by Sylvester McCoy.

Season 24 (1987)
Andrew Cartmel took over as script editor.

Season 26 (1989)
The final season continued to push the series towards a darker approach, focusing this time more on Ace's personal life as well as The Doctor's past and manipulations. This season sets the tone for the Virgin New Adventures novels that follow.