Doctor Who may be the longest-running science-fiction TV show in the world, but it doesn’t have too many spin-offs to show for it. Look at Star Trek, which arrived three years later and has become famous for offshoots scattered across its timeline. As streaming options have exploded, so have more and more starships — you can hardly move for new adventures on the final frontier.
The BBC and its new production partner Disney Plus have Paramount’s commitment to its major space property in its sights as Doctor Who enters a new age.
Before returning to the franchise he rebooted for modern audiences in 2005, showrunner Russell T. Davies talked up the potential of the Whoniverse matching that great interconnected Disney success story, the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Now’s the chance for Davies and Doctor to show what they can do. As he warms up for a massive year for the Doctor, the showrunner has talked about the phenomenon reaching its “next stage” with multiple spin-offs on the event horizon.
A challenge for Doctor Who spin-offs has always been the flexibility of the core format. There’s no need for a ‘Next Generation’ when the only constants are an immortal Time Lord and their timeless spacecraft. But the format also throws up endless possibilities. The broadening of the universe that happened on audio and TV during and beyond Davies’s earlier spell running the show hinted at the vast potential.
Come on, Disney Plus — these are the spin-offs to pick up before the worlds of Doctor Who expand.
The Sarah Jane Adventures
A jewel in Doctor Who’s crown-off, The Sarah Jane Adventures may be more child-focused than the main show, but there’s still plenty to enjoy for fans of all ages.
The chance to continue the adventures of the Doctor’s greatest companion was irresistible. Companion Sarah Jane, played by Elizabeth Sladen, bridged the third and fourth Doctors in the show’s classic run and was vital to the show’s 1970s peak. Her exit in Season 14 was legendarily abrupt, but you can’t keep a good companion away from cosmic adventures.
These adventures caught up with the intrepid journalist after her reintroduction in the main show episode School Reunion. That wasn’t an audition or back-door pilot — every fan knew Sarah was a tremendous asset to every incarnation of the Doctor. True enough, five seasons saw her successfully foiling threats to Earth with her school kid crew of Rani, Clyde, Maria, and her adopted son Luke. Robot dog K9 was present and correct once a few rights issues were resolved, and he returned from stabilizing a black hole.
The Sarah Jane Adventures enhanced the main show, following up on alien threats introduced there and crossing over for event episodes. Adventures’ two-part stories mined unexpected levels of comedy and terror, including two fantastic appearances of the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors that should be on every fan’s radar.
K-9 and Company
Sarah Jane was so popular the BBC had attempted a spin-off with her starring — although in this attempt, she was reduced to ‘company’ behind a talking dog. Only the pilot of the proposed series K-9 and Company was made. A Girl’s Best Friend, broadcast as a Christmas special on December 28, 1981, saw the reporter and hound uncover a deadly coven in the English countryside. The format was a dry run for the much more successful Sarah Jane Adventures but is worth including as Doctor Who’s first spin-off.
Behind the scenes, it was a practical way to deal with K-9. Although the two had never shared space in the TARDIS, sending the robot dog to live with Sarah Jane Smith set up the pair’s return in the Doctor Who revival.
Torchwood
With a children’s spin-off sorted, Captain Jack Harkness took the show into post-watershed adventures. Torchwood is now regarded as the most versatile and interesting spin-off, but it took a while to get there. Like the parent show, fans will find a different Torchwood to suit their tastes. The first two series recovered from an awkward tone to settle into an anthology of exciting and downright strange sci-fi tales. The show peaked with the extraordinary five-part mini-series Children of Earth, devised by Russell T Davies and starring future Doctor Peter Capaldi.
Having handed the reins of the main show to Steven Moffat, Russell T. Davies headed to the U.S. and provided the show’s final hurrah. The 10-episode miniseries Torchwood: Miracle Day wasn’t the success everyone hoped for, even as its killer concept (what if people stopped dying one day?) mined dark and unforgettable material.
K9
No, not the James Belushi pet vehicle, but it is that pesky robot dog again. K9 has won a legion of fans over the years, and the fact that he could be rebuilt or recreated meant he was immortal. Think Captain Jack with less social life and a deadlier nose.
As you might have noticed from Doctor Who credits, the writers who created iconic aliens in the classic show retained the rights. Just as the Daleks appear courtesy of Terry Nation, and the Sontarans are credited to Robert Holmes, the K9 concept belonged to Bob Baker after he and Dave Martin introduced the robot in 1977’s The Invisible Enemy.
Baker had wanted to create a spin-off focusing on the metal canine for some time, and it eventually emerged as an Australian-produced series, although set in London in 2050. The BBC passed up the opportunity to be involved, and as they had the rights to K-9’s design, the pooch got a rounded new look (and bigger ears). The series follows kids Starkey, Jorjie, and Darius, who, along with Professor Gryffen, experiment with a Space-Time Manipulator, bringing alien threats to the capital and K-9 in pursuit. London and Earth had new protectors, and thanks to John Leeson returning to voice the character he originated in the 1970s, there was some continuity. Only 26 episodes of 25 minutes have been made so far, but there should be more. Before Baker died in 2021, he had completed scripts for a new K9 series and movie.
The Curse of Fatal Death
Alright, it’s a long shot, but this low-budget Doctor Who spoof deserves a shoutout for showing how beloved an institution the show is. Future showrunner Steven Moffat penned it for the BBC’s Comic Relief fundraiser in 1999. Its four short episodes lovingly poke fun at the show’s history, six years before it returned as an institution. It’s tons of fun and surprisingly good at predicting the direction the Doctor would take in the 21st century.
The Dalek movies
In the early 1960s, the Daleks were bigger than Doctor Who. The show’s second serial took the TARDIS crew to Skaro in December 1963, introducing the evil pepperpots that would become not just the Doctor’s arch-enemy but one of the most iconic monsters in sci-fi.
Dalekmania erupted simultaneously with Beatlemania, and just like the Fab Four, the Children of Skaro headed to the movies. The Doctor, played by the ever-brilliant Peter Cushing, and his companions, are a bit different on film. Just think of them as variants while you marvel at the big-screen Daleks, which have never looked better than in the glorious Technicolor retelling of their first two TV appearances. The first movie has the TARDIS landing on Skaro, and the second jumps to the aliens’ invasion of London in 2050.
Class
A short-lived spin-off, but it’s well worth a look. It felt like years since the show had branched out, and Class showed how times had changed. After kid and adult-oriented offshoots, Class was firmly YA.
A Monster Calls author and showrunner Patrick Ness returned the focus to Coal Hill Academy, the school that appeared in the very first episode of Doctor Who. These adventures followed six students and teachers as they dealt with the challenges of everyday life and the increased threat of alien invasion after the Doctor’s time travel had thinned the barriers of space and time.
Quickly finding its feet, Class went down well with those who saw it, but poor viewing figures in Britain scuppered it as the BBC refocused its channels and program-making. A spot on Disney Plus would give its eight episodes a chance to capture the audience it deserves as it builds to an epic cliffhanger.
Doctor Who Confidential
Another long shot, especially considering it’s been challenging to watch full-length episodes of these behind-the-scenes shows since they were broadcast. Home media releases of Doctor Who included chopped-down versions as extras, but Disney Plus could return them to their full glory.
Confidential was a vital documentary for the first six years of the revived series — an invaluable record of the show’s return. Impressively, it also featured three unique versions of the main show’s famous theme tune.