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Over the centuries, London has witnessed countless events—devastating fires, wartime bombings, deadly plagues, the notorious Jack the Ripper, political upheavals, and royal dramas. It’s no wonder that 'Doctor Who,' the UK’s premier time-travel series and the longest-running sci-fi TV show, frequently highlights the city in its episodes.
Since its debut in 1963 with 'An Unearthly Child,' 'The Doctor,' the two-hearted, centuries-spanning Time Lord, has repeatedly returned to London, with Shoreditch in East London playing a prominent role in the show’s early days.
Although 'Doctor Who' has been filmed in Cardiff since its 2005 revival, the Welsh city often stands in for London. Over the years, numerous iconic London landmarks have been depicted as secret bases, destroyed, or both, adding to the show’s dramatic flair.
In 2013, Londonist meticulously created a map tracking every London visit by the Doctor, which has since been updated to include Peter Capaldi, Jodie Whittaker, and Ncuti Gatwa’s tenure as the Time Lord. The site has pledged to continue updating the map once Gatwa officially steps into the TARDIS in May.
Jonn Elledge, the mastermind behind the original map, has an exceptional understanding of maps, as highlighted in his forthcoming book, A History Of The World In 47 Borders.
Charting six decades of time travel across a single city offers Whovians intriguing insights into questions they never thought to ask. For example, if you’ve ever wondered how often the Doctor has visited Heathrow Airport, the answer is surprisingly only once—during the Fifth Doctor’s (Peter Davison) 1982 quest to locate a missing Concorde, which he discovered 140 million years in the past.
Only two Doctor incarnations are absent from the map. Paul McGann’s Eighth Doctor primarily appeared in San Francisco, while Peter Cushing’s Dr. (not Doctor) Who—the sole instance where the character was explicitly named Dr. Who—has been excluded as non-canon.
When the first episode aired in 1963, no one could have imagined that decades later, this quirky tale of a cantankerous time-traveler would still captivate and inspire audiences worldwide.
The upcoming season of Doctor Who, starring Gatwa as the latest incarnation of the Doctor, is set to debut on BBC in the UK and Disney+ in the U.S. starting May 10, 2024.
