by Angela Lord

Created on: April 17, 2008   Last Updated: May 09, 2011

Doctor Who, an iconic figure on the British sci-fi scene, travels hrough time and space in the Tardis, a blue police telephone box, and has been a popular TV character in his many reincarnations over the years.

A Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey, with two hearts and numerous lives, he is currently portrayed in his youngest ever reincarnation by Matt Smith, who replaced David Tennant in the role.

He is accompanied by his redheaded assistant Amy Pond, played by 23-year-old Karen Gillan. She is married to Rory, who is played by Artthur Darvill.

The latest episode in the current series from the BBC, The Curse of the Black Spot, features a story of the high seas, which at first appears to take its inspiration from the Pirates of  the Caribbean. Crew members who become injured are marked with a black spot and spirited away by a siren, played by Lily Cole. In the end  she turns out to be a harmless hologram who is taking the injured to a sick bay for medical treatment.

On his travels through time and space, the doctor is armed only with quick wits, resourcefulness and a "sonic screwdriver", a handy tool with multiple uses including opening locked doors. Among the most famous of all his adversaries are the daleks.

In the original Sixties series, back in the days of black and white TV, low budgets and basic special effects, the daleks came armed with a sink plunger and could be temporarily avoided by running to the top floor of a building, as they were too clunky to negotiate the stairs.

The new-style daleks are more sophisticated - when faced with an uphill struggle, they have the power to levitate. They still have a weapon that looks like a suction pad on a stick, but this fiendish device is capable of suckering a man to death.

The studded metal casing is actually a protective shell for tiny squid-like creatures which live inside, building up their evil empire, plotting world domination and the extinction of the human race, and uttering their legendary catchphrase: "Exterminate! Exterminate!"

The current series of Dr Who is airing on Saturdays on BBC1 and is available on BBC iplayer.

The next episode in the series is written by Neil Gaiman, and is entitled: The Doctor's Wife. A trailer for the episode is can be viewed on the BBC website.

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