The Fifth Doctor: Peter Davison

Peter Davison played a younger, milder, and sometimes much less confident Doctor. His casting was very much a reaction to Tom Baker's sometimes over-the-top performance; his characterization was based somewhat on the first Doctor's portrayal, playing a less physical Doctor, with Hartnell's tetchiness tempered by Davison's own youth and mild manner.

Other aspects of the show established links with the early years of the series: the Doctor again had three traveling companions, as in the first stories, two women and a young man. The stories also frequently had no pause between them, with the ending of one story leading into the next, something rarely seen since the early days of Doctor Who.

His first story was Castrovalva, broadcast in January of 1982, beginning the nineteenth season, and his last was Caves of Androzani, broadcast in March of 1984.

His twenty stories featured several stories with the Master, and also brought back other old enemies including the Daleks, the Black Guardian, the Sea Devils, and the Cybermen. The twentieth season, Davison's second, included the anniversary story The Five Doctors, which reunited Davison's Doctor with (most of) his predecessors.

Starting in the late 1990s, Davison reprised the role on an ongoing basis in the Big Finish audio stories featuring the fifth Doctor.

More recently, Peter Davison joined David Tennant in the 2007 Children in Need special Time Crash.

Look below for more photos and sound clips of Peter Davison as the fifth Doctor: