"Doctor Who" - The Russell T Davies Years Quiz

Answer: Christopher Eccleston

Keen for a familiar face to lead this revival, Davies cast Christopher Eccleston in the title role. An established film and television actor with such roles as "Our Friends in the North" (1996), "Elizabeth" (1998) and "Gone in 60 Seconds" (2000) under his belt (amongst many others), Eccleston brought a Northern charm to his character, but lasted only thirteen episodes (the length of the first series) before announcing his departure from the role, citing a fear of typecasting as a factor.

In terms of screen time, the Eighth Doctor received a mere 90 minutes or so in the 1996 "Doctor Who" television film, and the beginning of the revived series opens with a brand new incarnation of the Doctor. It wouldn't be until 2013, during the 50th anniversary celebrations, that this gap in the Doctor's life would be filled in.

Answer: Eight

A whopping eight out of thirteen episodes were scripted by showrunner Davies: "Rose", "The End of the World", "Aliens of London", "World War Three", "The Long Game", "Boom Town", "Bad Wolf" and "The Parting of the Ways". Meanwhile, the remaining five were written by Mark Gatiss ("The Unquiet Dead"), Robert Shearman ("Dalek"), Paul Cornell ("Father's Day") and Steven Moffat ("The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances"). Davies would later go on to have writing credits for a total 30 episodes across his tenure - exactly half the number of episodes produced during that time.

Answer: "New teeth, that's weird."

The Ninth Doctor's regeneration was triggered by absorbing the Time Vortex from Rose, who herself absorbed it from the TARDIS in an effort to return to the Doctor. With his body beginning its innate repair process, the Doctor explained the concept of regeneration to Rose (and, in a way, to new viewers of the programme), saying that he would be healed but would look completely different.

As regeneration energy spewed forth from his head and hands, Christopher Eccleston's Ninth disappeared and David "Ten" Tennant emerged, commenting briefly on his new teeth before remembering that they were previously discussing visiting the planet called Barcelona.

Answer: Cybermen

Introduced earlier in Series 2 in "Rise of the Cybermen" and "The Age of Steel", the new Cybermen from a parallel Earth were a veritable upgrade from their classic series counterparts. With the titular ghostly army revealing themselves to be Cybermen from across the void between the two Earths, it seemed that they would be the "big bad" of the final episode.

However, a late reveal of a small band of Daleks ramped up the stakes, as the Battle of Canary Wharf began. Unfortunately, this was where we said goodbye to Rose, who became trapped on the parallel Earth when the Daleks and Cybermen were sucked into the void.

Answer: Chris Chibnall

"42" was Chibnall's only offering during the Davies era, the events of which took place aboard a doomed spaceship on a 42-minute headlong collision course with an angry sun. Later Chibnall scripts would be produced in 2010 ("The Hungry Earth" and "Cold Blood") and 2012 ("Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" and "The Power of Three"), before taking over the showrunning duties from 2018.

In the intervening years, Chibnall saw significant success with his drama "Broadchurch", which featured our very own David Tennant.

Answer: Captain Jack Harkness

When we last saw Captain Jack, he had been killed by a Dalek and then brought back to life by a Time Vortex-controlling Rose. Seemingly left for dead, Jack's adventures continued off-screen in the spin-off "Torchwood", created by Davies (and, incidentally, a series to which Chris Chibnall also contributed a few episodes). Fast forward to Series 3's "Utopia" and Jack joined the team once again, slightly annoyed at having been abandoned by the Doctor but nonetheless pleased to have found him.

At the conclusion of "The Last of the Time Lords", Jack parted ways with the TARDIS once again, and later reappeared at the end of Series 4 and again in Davies' and Tennant's final episode.

Answer: "The Runaway Bride"

Tate's Donna appeared at the very end of "Last of the Time Lords", having appeared in the TARDIS from nowhere. Dressed for her wedding day, the Doctor and Donna thwarted an alien arachnid menace in 2007's Christmas special, "The Runaway Bride". Her character then became a fully-fledged companion in Series 4, starting with "Partners in Crime". Sadly, like Freema Agyeman before her, Tate's time in the TARDIS lasted only one series, though she did feature, along with many others, in the Davies/Tennant swansong.

Answer: Alex Kingston

Steven Moffat's "Silence in the Library" and "Forest of the Dead" saw the introduction of River Song, a character who seemed to know a lot about the Doctor. It was revealed that the pair's timelines were heading in opposite directions - River, having already known the Doctor for a very long while, was meeting him at the very point that he was meeting her for the first time.

This led to an unusual dynamic between the two - River obviously trusted the Doctor far more than he trusted her, having known him for longer, and going as far as whispering his real name into his ear to confirm her significance to him. Though she was introduced at the tail end of the Davies era, her story was very much continued into the Moffat years.

Answer: "Midnight"

Due to tight production schedules, some episodes during the Davies era were written with the intention of being light on our central characters to facilitate simultaneous filming (eg, "Love and Monsters" featured very little of the Doctor and Rose; "Blink" focused mainly on Sally Sparrow with the Doctor and Martha appearing only briefly throughout).

In Series 4, both "Midnight" and "Turn Left" were the 'light' episodes - the former featured more of the Doctor than Donna, and vice versa. While "Midnight" mostly stood alone, "Turn Left" presented an alternative reality in which Donna and the Doctor never met one another (which had catastrophic consequences for Earth) and set up the events to come in the final two episodes of the series.

Answer: "The End of Time: Part Two"

From Christmas 2008 to New Year's Day 2010, only five episodes were produced in an interim 'specials' series. Incidentally, these five would be the last to feature David Tennant's Tenth Doctor in a regular capacity. With guest stars like David Morrissey, Michelle Ryan, Lindsay Duncan and Bernard Cribbins joining the Doctor on these final adventures, both Tennant and Davies went out on a high.

In the final two-part story, "The End of Time", the Master returned from the dead to wreak havoc once more.

The Doctor's death began after saving his companion Wilf from a dose of lethal radiation. What followed was a rather explosive regeneration inside the TARDIS as the Eleventh Doctor stepped forward, played by Matt Smith.