The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot
The Five Doctors Reboot is a 2013 comedy short film released on the BBC Red Button service after the broadcast of "The Day of the Doctor", the 50th anniversary special of the science fiction series Doctor Who. Writer and director Peter Davison stars alongside Sylvester McCoy, Colin Baker and Paul McGann, all of them former lead actors of the series.
The plot focuses on the fictionalised Davison, Baker and McCoy, who become disgruntled after not being invited to reprise their roles in "The Day of the Doctor", and attempt to trespass onto the set and secure roles in the episode. The Five Doctors Reboot features numerous cameo appearances from contemporary and former stars of the series such as Matt Smith, Jenna Coleman, Janet Fielding, John Barrowman and David Tennant, as well as executive producer Steven Moffat and his predecessor Russell T Davies. Filming took place across England, Wales and New Zealand.
The Five Doctors Reboot received acclaim from Doctor Who fans. It was nominated for the 2014 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, along with "The Day of the Doctor".
Plot
On Christmas Day 2012, Peter Davison watches the Doctor Who episode "The Snowmen" with his sons. They speculate as to whether Davison will be invited to return in the upcoming 50th anniversary special or if it will only feature the two most recent Doctors, David Tennant and Matt Smith. Davison dreams that he is invited back and given special treatment, but has a nightmare of Janet Fielding warning him that the production team doesn't want any of the old Doctors. Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy desperately await invitations to appear in the special. They try to contact executive producer Steven Moffat, who avoids their calls and deletes their voicemails.Davison reveals to Baker and McCoy that he has a contact working on the episode who can assist them. They consider involving Tom Baker in their plan, but his voicemail reveals he is stuck in the Time Vortex again. Paul McGann wants in on their plan. McCoy returns to New Zealand to continue filming on The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, but becomes bored and impulsively returns to England to join the others.
Davison's scheme involves the three of them picketing outside the BBC Television Centre. Meanwhile in New Zealand, McCoy's absence has disrupted a scene, though Ian McKellen admits to Peter Jackson that it might be "a slight improvement". In London, a passing John Barrowman abandons his secret wife and children to drive the trio to Cardiff, where Doctor Who production is based.
The former Doctors enter the Doctor Who Experience, steal their old costumes, and with the help of Tennant are able to infiltrate Roath Lock Studios and observe the filming of the special, "The Day of the Doctor". They take the place of three Dalek operators after locking them in their room. After a close call with some security guards which forces the trio to hide back on the set, they escape and catch a bus back to London. Davison deletes a voicemail from former Doctor Who executive producer Russell T Davies asking for a part in Davison's plan.
In post-production, Moffat deletes the scene with the three Daleks. However, when the editor reviews footage from the Under Gallery scene, he sees the former Doctors evaded the security guards by hiding under shrouds during filming. The editor conceals this from Moffat, ensuring that the former Doctors appear in the special.
Cast
In order of appearance :| Cast | Connection to Doctor Who | Ref. |
| Sean Pertwee | Son of Jon Pertwee | |
| Olivia Colman | Mother in "The Eleventh Hour" | |
| Peter Davison | Fifth Doctor; writer and director of The Five Doctors Reboot | |
| Louis Davison | Peter Davison's sons | |
| Joel Davison | Peter Davison's sons | |
| Jenna Coleman | Clara Oswald | |
| Matt Smith | Eleventh Doctor | |
| Steven Moffat | Executive producer and lead writer of Doctor Who | |
| Heddi-Joy Taylor-Welch | 2nd assistant director on "The Day of the Doctor" | |
| Louisa Cavell | Assistant director on "The Day of the Doctor" | |
| Lauren Kilcar | Costume assistant on "The Day of the Doctor" | |
| James DeHaviland | Doctor Who 2nd assistant director in 2006 and since 2008 | |
| Janet Fielding | Tegan Jovanka | |
| Sylvester McCoy | Seventh Doctor | |
| Colin Baker | Sixth Doctor | |
| Rhys Thomas | Comedian and Doctor Who fan | |
| Georgia Tennant | Jenny in "The Doctor's Daughter" ; daughter of Peter Davison and wife of David Tennant; producer of The Five Doctors Reboot | |
| Olivia Darnley | ||
| Niky Wardley | Tamsin Drew | |
| Marion Baker | Colin Baker's wife | |
| Katy Manning | Jo Grant | |
| Louise Jameson | Leela | |
| Carole Ann Ford | Susan Foreman | |
| Deborah Watling | Victoria Waterfield | |
| Sophie Aldred | Ace | |
| Sarah Sutton | Nyssa | |
| Lalla Ward | Romana II | |
| John Leeson | Voice of K-9 | |
| Anneke Wills | Polly | |
| Lisa Bowerman | Karra in Survival and Bernice Summerfield | |
| Matthew Waterhouse | Adric | |
| Paul McGann | Eighth Doctor | |
| Jon Culshaw | Voice actor and impressionist known for impersonating the Fourth Doctor on Dead Ringers; later voiced various characters in Big Finish Doctor Who productions | |
| Jemma Churchill | Lady Forleon in the Big Finish Doctor Who story Creatures of Beauty; later played Jean in "Village of the Angels" | |
| Lucy Baker | Colin Baker's daughters | |
| Bindy Baker | Colin Baker's daughters | |
| Lally Baker | Colin Baker's daughters | |
| Rosie Baker | Colin Baker's daughters | |
| Bruno du Bois | Second assistant director of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, featuring McCoy | |
| Peter Jackson | Director of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and Doctor Who fan | |
| Ian McKellen | Great Intelligence in "The Snowmen" ; Gandalf in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey | |
| John Barrowman | Jack Harkness | |
| Alice Knight | ||
| Sarah Churm | She played Sarah Braithwaite alongside Peter Davison in At Home with the Braithwaites. | |
| Olive Tennant | David and Georgia Tennant's daughter | |
| Nick Jordan | staff member at Doctor Who Experience | |
| Brad Kelly | General manager of the Doctor Who Experience | |
| David Tennant | Tenth Doctor; son-in-law of Peter Davison and husband of Georgia Tennant | |
| Richard Cookson | Script editor on "The Day of the Doctor" | |
| Elizabeth Morton | Peter Davison's wife | |
| Marcus Elliott | plays a security guard. Prolific supporting artist from the revival series | |
| Ty Tennant | Son of Georgia Tennant and David Tennant | |
| Barnaby Edwards | Principal Dalek operator, director of various Big Finish Doctor Who audio dramas | |
| Nicholas Pegg | Dalek operator, writer and director of various Big Finish Doctor Who audio dramas | |
| David Troughton | Son of Patrick Troughton ; Appeared in The Enemy of the World, The War Games, The Curse of Peladon and "Midnight" | |
| Nicholas Briggs | Post-2005 voice of the Daleks and Cybermen; executive producer of Big Finish Productions | |
| Frank Skinner | Comedian and Doctor Who fan. He later played Perkins in "Mummy on the Orient Express". | |
| Adam Paul Harvey | Former partner of Georgia Tennant | |
| Derek Ritchie | Script editor on "The Time of the Doctor" | |
| Michael Houghton | an editor in the Tom Baker and Davison eras, as well as on Davison's show A Very Peculiar Practice | |
| Dan Starkey | played Sontaran Commander Skorr in "The Sontaran Stratagem", has played the character Strax from 2011 to 2014 on television and since 2016 in Big Finish audios | |
| Russell T Davies | Executive producer and lead writer of Doctor Who | |
| Des Hughes | Line producer on "The Day of the Doctor" | |
| Gabriella Ricci | Production coordinator on "The Day of the Doctor" | |
| Sandra Cosfeld | Assistant Production Coordinator on "The Day of the Doctor" | |
| Christian Brassington | Played Alfred Stahlbaum in the Doctor Who audio drama The Silver Turk, writing partner of Georgia Tennant, and husband of Jennie Fava, who assistant directed the special and several series of Doctor Who. |
Jemma Redgrave and John Hurt appear via footage from "The Day of the Doctor". Both are uncredited.
On the BBC's website, all cast members are credited as playing themselves, apart from Marcus Elliott, Michael Houghton and Chido Nyashanu.
Production
The long-running British science fiction series Doctor Who has traditionally celebrated its past anniversaries with special "multi-Doctor" stories, where actors who played past incarnations of the lead character the Doctor reprise their roles. This was the case in The Three Doctors, "The Five Doctors" and Dimensions in Time. For the 50th anniversary special, "The Day of the Doctor", the Tenth Doctor was the only returning Doctor with a major role. Executive producer and writer Steven Moffat stated: "What we're not doing is the traditional massive reunion. It's a different kind of anniversary, and the spine of that is David and ."Peter Davison, who played the Fifth Doctor from 1981 to 1984, decided to produce his own "fan video" as a substitute for not being invited to appear in the special. He had previously produced skit videos in 2010 and 2011 for Gallifrey One—the 2011 video humorously chronicles his quest to get to the convention on time. Davison's original vision was a five-minute video involving the "classic" Doctor actors trying to get a part in the special. Davison bumped into Moffat at a party and offered him a role in the project. Moffat agreed, and after Davison sent through the script, gave him BBC funding and a camera crew. The film was Davison's first experience as a professional director. His daughter, Georgia Tennant, produced the film.
Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann came on board to play fictionalised versions of themselves. Davison enjoyed playing his "grumpy" alter ego. Of all the Doctor Who cast and crew members asked, only one individual turned down an offer to appear in the project. Davison wrote a scene where Tom Baker rejects the other characters' scheme, but when Baker failed to respond to his emails, Davison decided to jokingly explain his absence with a Doctor Who clip where the Fourth Doctor is trapped in the time vortex. The clip, originally from the unaired story Shada, had previously been used to cover Baker's absence from "The Five Doctors". Davison stated "there was a point when I did try Tom one more time and I thought 'I kind of hope he doesn't reply because I'd hate to lose this joke'". Impressionist Jon Culshaw voiced Baker. The availability of the remaining cast was "very limited", and they were not paid for their involvement.
On the production's hectic nature, Davison admitted "I've never worked so hard in my life as in that year - because I was writing the thing at night and we'd film something the next day". McCoy's real-life commitments to filming The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey inspired Davison to write a scene featuring director Peter Jackson which was recorded on The Hobbit
The Doctor Who production office were worried that the film's numerous references and in-jokes would alienate viewers, and proposed a shorter ten-minute-long edit which would be more accessible to new viewers. Davison rejected the suggestion, believing that the film was aimed more at fans of the classic series rather than the 2005 series. Per a compromise, about six minutes' worth of scenes were cut.
The film's title, The Five Doctors Reboot, is a reference to "The Five Doctors", the 20th anniversary special which aired during Davison's tenure. Six actors who lead the series as the Doctor made appearances in the film.
Reception
Davison was cautious of the Doctor Who fanbase's reaction to the project—"because we were sending up a lot of "—but fan reaction was universally positive.Ben Lawrence of The Telegraph praised the film, describing it as "a sweet, often funny homage to the show," concluding that it "was both a satisfying in-joke for Whovians and a naughty dig at the neediness of actors." Los Angeles Times Television Critic, Robert Lloyd, compared the film to "The Day of the Doctor" as "equally wonderful in its way". He praised the numerous cameo appearances, stating "one of the great pleasures of this madcap little self-deprecating celebratory half-hour is seeing who shows up and how". Patrick Mulkern of the Radio Times called it "sublime" and stated that the "lovingly crafted spoof... topped the evening". He also compared the trio of Davison, Baker and McCoy to the Three Stooges. Doctor Who researcher Mark Wright wrote that The Five Doctors Reboot "cannot be dismissed merely as a comedy sketch" and described it as a road movie.
James Aggas of Winter Is Coming wrote the film was "just a joy to watch". He praised the film's many comedy moments but stated that it demonstrated that the aging actors reprising their roles "might be better for something more humorous than in a genuine Doctor Who story". He noted that "while the Peter Davison we saw was clearly deeply upset about not appearing in The Day of the Doctor, I wonder how his real-life counterpart feels."
Commercial release
The Five Doctors Reboot was released on the BBC Red Button service after the broadcast of "The Day of the Doctor" on 23 November 2013.In September 2014, The Five Doctors Reboot was released on DVD and Blu-ray as part of the limited edition "50th Anniversary Collectors Edition" boxset. In March 2026, it will be released with new commentary on the Doctor Who: The Collection: Season 21 boxset.
Proposed sequel
In June 2014, McGann reportedly stated that production had begun on a sequel to The Five Doctors Reboot. However, in July, Colin Baker contradicted McGann by telling Flicks and the City: "All I know is when I last spoke to Peter, the reaction to Five-ish Doctors has been so positive that we discussed whether it was a good idea to do another one and we agreed that we didn’t want to do one that was a pale imitation of the first. That would be anti-climactic... We have to come up with a really good idea first. There’s a couple of possibilities floating around, but nothing is set in stone. Clearly doing one about the 51st anniversary isn’t going to be interesting. It’s got to be about something else."In April 2015 Davison said he would write a sequel if he came up with an idea that was "good enough" or "better" than the original. He noted that a major problem with a potential sequel is that The Five Doctors Reboot "had probably the best cast you can imagine... and it's very difficult to imagine getting that cast together again… and not paying them!" In July 2020 Baker agreed stating: "Everyone did it for nothing. So a sequel on a more commercial basis and the BBC probably wouldn’t let us do that."
At a Doctor Who convention in March 2023, Sylvester McCoy stated that there were plans to make a sequel for the show's 60th anniversary, but the BBC would not allow it. Davison stated that the planned sequel was scrapped as he would have been required to significantly compromise on the concept. He admitted that the sequel's concept was deemed "utterly unacceptable" by "those showed it to" and that "people don't appreciate some of the jokes", stating "It’s a different world now. And I am always – I wouldn’t say – pushing the boundaries. My sense of humour is maybe a little out of sync with the sense of humour that now exists".