The eighth Doctor, played by Paul McGann holds the unfortunate distinction of being the Doctor with the least screen time of them all. He only appeared in the Doctor Who TV movie, which aired in May of 1996 in both the US and the UK.

This first new Doctor in several years was in some ways a very traditional Doctor -- his costume was the first in several regenerations to have the Edwardian feel of the earlier Doctors. Gone were the brighter colors and the overuse of question marks which the Doctor wore starting in the early 80s, and growing progressively worse as the decade wore on.

McGann's Doctor had the quirky behavior and abrupt mood changes of the fourth Doctor, combined with an almost child-like enthusiasm at times.

However, two major changes to the Doctor's character and the traditions of the original series were introduced in the TV movie, both of which were very controversial amongst fans at the time: one was the kiss between the Doctor and his "companion" for the story, Grace, and the other was the apparent revelation that the Doctor was half human.

This element of the Doctor's character has been continued in the new series with both the ninth and the tenth Doctor showing romantic interest in their companion Rose Tyler. While I was very opposed to the idea of the Doctor being sexually attracted to a human back in 1996, I now consider the half human aspect as far more controversial and I'm glad it has been ignored (at least so far) in the new series.

Despite his brief on-screen tenure, the eighth Doctor has gone on to several years' worth of adventures in the BBC Books 8th Doctor novels, as well as the excellent Big Finish audio dramas, which fortunately gave Paul McGann the chance to really do justice to the part.

Here are a few pictures of the eighth Doctor. On the left is a publicity still for the TV movie, which is modeled after a famous still of the first Doctor from The Dalek Masterplan. On the right is a picture of the Doctor immediately after regenerating.

The third image is from a few minutes later, as the Doctor experiences post-regenerative trauma and memory loss.

And to the right is the eighth Doctor in full possession of his faculties.

Due to popular demand, I've added the the opening theme, and the closing theme from the telemovie. The opening theme also includes the voice-over by the eighth Doctor. I've also included the synthesized "rough cut" of the theme which Philip Segal previewed at a convention before the movie aired.