All 15 Multi-Doctor TV Stories In Doctor Who Explained

Over the years, there have been several Doctor Who stories that feature more than one version of the Doctor. Many of the greatest Doctor Who stories of all time focused on the titular character crossing paths with themselves. However, some of these episodes or serials weren’t primarily concentrated on more than one Doctor together.

Some of these multi-Doctor stories only saw the Doctors overlap for a few scenes or even a brief moment, whereas others consumed the entire plot. While many of Doctor Who’s best companions also appeared, the main focus was that there were one or more incarnations of the Doctor.

15The Three Doctors

Featuring: The First, Second, & Third Doctors

“The Three Doctors” was the very first multi-Doctor story in Doctor Who. This serial marked the tenth anniversary of the show, in which the Third Doctor’s exile to Earth finally came to an end, and he crossed paths with his first two incarnations.

When the Time Lords faced a power issue, the President of Gallifrey broke their own laws, reached out across the time streams, and summoned the Second Doctor to assist his successor. However, when the two clashed, the Time Lords tried again and snatched the First Doctor out of a rose garden in the hopes that he could keep his future selves in order.

14The Five Doctors

Featuring: The First, Second, Third, Fourth, & Fifth Doctors

“The Five Doctors” was another anniversary story, but it was also a fantastic 90-minute-longDoctor Who charity special. This was the first time that every Doctor at that time appeared together in one episode. Tom Baker technically didn’t reprise his role, but the Fourth Doctor was there, and the show used archive footage from “Shada.”

Richard Hurndall also played the First Doctor, as William Hartnell passed away eight years before. Because of the strange Time Scoop device, the Doctors and their classic companions were swept up from across time and space and dropped into Gallifrey’s Death Zone. It was amazing to see so many Doctors all at once, as well as some of their very closest confidants together.

13The Two Doctors

Featuring: The Second & Sixth Doctor

“The Two Doctors” saw a rather unusual combination of the titular characters working together, the Second and Sixth Doctors. Patrick Troughton’s final Doctor Who episodes also included the first appearance of the Sontarans in Doctor Who for over seven years, too.

The Second and Sixth Doctors’ personalities were wildly different, but they also proved that regardless of their individual qualities, the Doctors always found trouble wherever they went.

When the Second Doctor and Jamie tried to stop the Sontarans from accessing time travel, the aliens fought back, which altered the Sixth Doctor’s memories of his past. Together, Peri and the Sixth Doctor went back to try and save their former self from the Sontarans’ tyranny. The Second and Sixth Doctors’ personalities were wildly different, but they also proved that regardless of their individual qualities, the Doctors always found trouble wherever they went.

12The Trial Of The Timelord

Featuring: The Sixth Doctor & The Valeyard

“The Trial of the Timelord” introduced Doctor Who’s the Valeyard to audiences as the Sixth Doctor was under trial on Gallifrey. The Valeyard’s true identity was never fully clarified, but the Master claimed that he was possibly “somewhere between [the Doctor’s] twelfth and final incarnation.” This was later disproved, but Doctor Who’s The Timeless Child storyline allowed for the Valeyard to be some version of the Doctor still.

Regardless of whether he was a direct incarnation of the Doctor or not, it was apparent that he was a part of the titular Time Lord. Colin Baker’s final serial, “The Trial of the Timelord,” pushed the Sixth Doctor to the extreme, and he tried to plead his case that his adventures through the universe weren’t as harmful to historical events as the Time Lords believed.

11Dimensions In Time

Featuring: The First To The Seventh Doctors

“Dimensions in Time” was another charity special for Children In Need, which starred the first seven incarnations of the Doctor. However, the First and Second Doctors did not appear on-screen, but they were frequently mentioned and were still crucial to the story. In this crossover story with the British soap opera Eastenders, the Rani captured the Doctors and displaced them in East London’s Albert Square across three time periods.

For British viewers familiar with Eastenders, this was a hilarious watch. The Doctors and their companion’s interactions with various iconic soap opera characters were fantastic, and the Rani’s chaos was on point for her. Although it was unclear whether “Dimensions in Time” was officially canon or not, the Doctors were eventually together in one place by its end.

10Time Crash

Featuring: The Fifth & Tenth Doctors

While the Titanic crashing into the Tenth Doctor’s TARDIS at the end of season 3’s finale was unexpected enough, “Time Crash” made things even more complicated by the Fifth Doctor’s sudden arrival. This was the first time Doctors were reunited from Doctor Who’s classic and modern eras, and their hilarious yet brief encounter was a great way for the show to do it.

As the TARDIS shields were down, when the Titanic crashed, both of the Doctors’ ships collided. “Time Crash” made excellent references to past Doctor Who stories like “Love and Monsters,” and it was a fabulous opportunity for newer generations of viewers to get familiar with the show’s classic characters.

9Journeys End

Featuring: The Tenth Doctor & The Metacrisis Doctor

“Journeys End” initially didn’t seem to be a multi-Doctor story until the latter half of the episode. After Donna touched the Doctor’s hand as the TARDIS burned, it grew into an identical copy of the Tenth Doctor – the Metacrisis. The creation of Doctor Who’s Metacrisis Doctor was a wonderful plot device that not only helped save the universe from the Daleks and the reality bomb, but it also paid off a previous storyline from “The Christmas Invasion.”

The Metacrisis was a part of Doctor Who’s DoctorDonna, with the mind of the Doctor and the humanity of Donna, and so he could live out his days with Rose.

During the first fifteen hours of the Tenth Doctor’s regeneration cycle, he lost his hand in a sword fight with the Sycorax leader on Christmas Day, and it was later returned to him by Captain Jack Harkness. The Metacrisis was a part of Doctor Who’s DoctorDonna, with the mind of the Doctor and the humanity of Donna, and so he could live out his days with Rose.

8The Day Of The Doctor

Featuring: The First To The Ninth Doctors, The Tenth & Eleventh Doctors, The War Doctor, & The Twelfth Doctor

The end of “The Name of the Doctor” set up one of Doctor Who’s biggest plot twists and introduced John Hurt as the War Doctor. The Eleventh Doctor stepped into his own time stream to find Clara, where he saw every past incarnation of himself, including the War Doctor. The War Doctor finally properly interacted with the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors in the Doctor Who 50th anniversary special “The Day Of The Doctor.”

The Day of the Doctor has a Rotten Tomatoes critics’ score of 100%.

The War Doctor was the version of the titular character who fought in the Time War. When the three leading Doctors of the episode found a way to save Gallifrey from destruction, they worked with all of their past selves again to freeze their home planet in time. However, they also saw the Twelfth Doctor come to their aid, too. The previous Doctors were shown through archive footage, except Tom Baker, who made a surprising cameo as the Curator.

7Listen

Featuring: The First & Twelfth Doctors

“Listen” wasn’t a multi-Doctor episode in the traditional sense, but more than one Doctor did appear. The episode delved back into the Doctor’s upbringing on Gallifrey and revisited the barn from “The Day of the Doctor,” where the War Doctor took the Moment. When Clara overheard a conversation about the Academy and the Time Lords, she realized she was in the Doctor’s timeline.

She quickly slipped under the Doctor’s childhood bed and instinctively grabbed his ankle when he climbed out. Although the Twelfth Doctor didn’t interact with his younger self, the episode still featured two distinct versions of the character. “Listen” was complex and mainly focused on Danny and Clara’s relationship, but it also provided some intriguing insight into the Doctor’s life before he was the Doctor.

6Twice Upon A Time

Featuring: The First & Twelfth Doctors

After the exciting appearance of the First Doctor at the end of “The Doctor Falls,” the following episode, “Twice Upon a Time,” the Twelfth Doctor found himself returned to the moment he first regenerated. David Bradley portrayed the First Doctor in “Twice Upon a Time,” after he played William Hartnell in An Adventure in Space and Time.

This was an intriguing concept for an episode, as not only was the Twelfth Doctor preparing to regenerate, but the First Doctor was as well. Together, the two Doctors worked to save the life of Alistair Lethbridge Stewart’s ancestor, Archibald, and they also faced the Testimony, which allowed the Twelfth Doctor to properly say goodbye to Clara and Bill before he regenerated.

5Fugitive Of The Judoon

Featuring: The Thirteenth & Fugitive Doctors

“Fugitive of the Judoon” was an interesting multi-Doctor story. After the Thirteenth Doctor met Ruth Clayton on Earth, she later discovered that the human was actually the Doctor as well, hidden by a Chameleon Arch. With the help of Yaz, Ryan, and Graham, the Doctor attempted to protect humanity from the Judoon’s search for a runaway criminal – Ruth.

The Thirteenth Doctor did not remember ever being Jo Martin’s Fugitive Doctor, nor the events that led her to work for the Division. However, the Fugitive Doctor didn’t have any memories of being the Thirteenth Doctor either, which complicated things even further. While the Judoon were sent off and the pair parted ways, they were both still clueless about which of their pasts were correct.

4The Timeless Children

Featuring: The Thirteenth & Fugitive Doctors

“The Timeless Children” reunited the Thirteenth and Fugitive Doctors for the second time. Doctor Who’s The Timeless Child storyline finally started to get answers as the Master’s anger got the better of him. Throughout the episode, the Master revealed that the Doctor was the template for the entire Time Lord race after they were discovered as an abandoned youth and experimented on back on Gallifrey.

The Thirteenth Doctor met the Fugitive Doctor inside the matrix. The Fugitive Doctor was presumed to be a vision, although she was confused by her sudden arrival, but she did offer priceless advice to her counterpart that helped her escape the Matrix. Through information provided by the Master and the presence of the Fugitive Doctor, it was determined that the former Ruth Clayton was likely one of the Doctor’s incarnations as the Timeless Child.

3Once, Upon Time

Featuring: The Thirteenth & Fugitive Doctors

The Thirteenth and Fugitive Doctors met for the third time in the Doctor Who Flux episode “Once, Upon Time.” After the Thirteenth Doctor threw herself into a time storm to try and save Yaz and Dan, her past, present, and future came undone. Inside the Temple of Atropos, the Doctor caught her reflection, shocked to see the Fugitive Doctor looking back at her.

The Thirteenth Doctor then realized that she was actually living out a memory of when she was her Fugitive incarnation. Throughout different points of the episode, the Doctor flickered between her only two known female presenting forms, while also jumping back and forth across time and space between memories, specifically how her Fugitive self caused the end of the Dark Times.

2The Power Of The Doctor

Featuring: The Thirteenth, First, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, & Fugitive Doctors

“The Power of the Doctor” was Jodie Whittaker’s final episode of Doctor Who as the Thirteenth Doctor. As the Master tried to steal the Doctor’s regenerations, the third time in Doctor Who history, Yaz, Dan, and the Thirteenth Doctor hopped through time and space in search of answers over a series of strange occurrences. After the Master took over the Doctor’s body, she awoke in a rocky landscape and was faced with several versions of her other selves.

“The Power of the Doctor” saw the return of the First, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Fugitive Doctors, all dressed in Gallifreyan robes. The other Doctors identified themselves as the Guardians of the Edge, encouraged her to embrace the end of her lifespan, and told her not to hold back on regenerating, which was a fascinating way to wrap up the Thirteenth Doctor’s run.

1The Giggle

Featuring: The Fourteenth & Fifteenth Doctors

“The Giggle” was a groundbreaking episode of Doctor Who because of Ncuti Gatwa’s unexpected official arrival as the Fifteenth Doctor. As the Fourteenth Doctor, Donna, Mel, and Kate tried to save the world from the tyrannous Toymaker manipulating the minds of humanity, the Doctor was fatally shot on UNIT’s helipad.

Doctor Who’s bi-generation was a first for the show and an astounding moment for the show.

However, in a shocking twist, the Fourteenth Doctor didn’t disappear, and the Fifteenth Doctor was literally pulled apart from him instead. Doctor Who’s bi-generation was a first for the show and an astounding moment for the show. The two Doctors worked together with their former companions to capture the Toymaker, a member of Doctor Who’s Pantheon of the Gods, before they parted ways in their individual TARDISes.