The Ninth Doctor and The Parting of the Ways

The Ninth Doctor’s era came to a dramatic conclusion on 18 June, 2005 in The Parting of the Ways. It was the first time for over twenty years that we’d seen the actor playing the Doctor hand over with a regeneration scene in the course of a series and so anticipation in advance of the episode was understandably huge!

The adventure didn’t disappoint and after seeing a vast army of Daleks defeated the Ninth Doctor saved Rose Tyler’s life, but at a cost. His body was irretrievably damaged and following a brief farewell conversation in the TARDIS, he began to regenerate…

The Ninth Doctor was the first Doctor for a new generation of viewers and he was markedly different to the Time Lord’s previous personas. He appeared less eccentric than earlier Doctors, dressing in fairly unremarkable clothes and speaking with a northern accent that gave him a down-to-earth quality. His attitude towards humans (‘stupid apes!’) was harsher than usual and his stance on not getting involved with companions’ home lives – ‘I don’t do families’ – changed when he met Rose’s mum. ‘Nine hundred years of time and space,’ he mused after one particularly painful meeting with Jackie Tyler, ‘and I've never been slapped by someone's mother…’

But he could be dark and brooding; an individual still haunted by the Time War and his part in it. This seemed to make the Ninth Doctor determined to live for the moment. ‘All that counts is here and now…’ he once told Rose. And yet he could switch from sombre gravitas to an almost childish happiness, always eager to meet new species and experience all of time and space. ‘This is what I travel for,’ he once enthused, ‘To see history happening right in front of us!

The Ninth Doctor appeared in 13 episodes and you can revisit them all right now! You’ll find some great clips, including an interview with Christopher Eccleston – the Ninth Doctor – galleries, fact files and much more. And on our Ninth Doctor page you can discover more about the character and the actor that brought him to life plus you’ll also be able download wallpapers featuring moments from his era.

Or why not simply step back in time 8 years and revisit the episode where he regenerated, taking another look at trailers that led up to the end of the Ninth Doctor and The Parting of the Ways…