Doctor Who is a BBC science-fiction television series which is frequently referred to in the television series Leverage. In the series the Doctor, a 900-year-old Time Lord, travels through time and space with one or more human companions, frequently attractive young women. His ship is the TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimension in Space), a sentient device which appears to be a 1950's blue British police box, the result of a broken circuit that allows the machine to disguise itself. At times, the Doctor goes where the mood takes him (such as to visit Vincent Van Gogh) or where he is summoned (such as to help Churchill during WWII), and at times the TARDIS seems to take him where he needs to go (such as to Pompeii shortly before the volcano). Self-described as brilliant, he typically finds himself helping the people he encounters at his destination as they battle a variety of alien life forms, the most famous being the xenophobic pepper-pot-shaped Daleks.

The Doctor, the last of his kind from a planet called Gallifrey, is capable of regeneration, a process developed to allow the show to change the actor in the role. Originally played by William Hartnell from 1963 to 1966, the current Doctor (the Fifteenth) is Ncuti Gatwa, who took on the role in 2023. Well-known Doctors include Sylvester McCoy (Seventh Doctor), Tom Baker (Fourth Doctor and the longest in the role), Matt Smith (Eleventh Doctor), and David Tennant (Tenth and Fourteenth Doctors).

The show premiered in 1963, and ran until 1989, followed by a television film in 1996 (with Paul McGann as the one-night-only Eighth Doctor). It was revived in 2005, later evolving into a co-production with Disney in 2023 (the series' 60th anniversary).

It is a world-wide hit, a multi-generational cultural phenomenon in the UK, and the longest running sci-fi show of all time. It is broadcast in the US via the Disney+ streaming service.

References

Leverage

Season 1

• The Bank Shot Job: Hardison expresses his frustration at the time it took to illegally download the latest episode of Doctor Who.
• The Mile High Job: Nate uses the alias Tom Baker (The Fourth Doctor) and Sophie uses the alias Sarah Jane, one of the fourth Doctor's companions. The other aliases available to Nate were Peter Davison (Fifth) and Sylvester McCoy (Seventh).
• The 12-Step Job: Nate re-uses the alias of Tom Baker. Parker uses the alias Rose, the Ninth and Tenth Doctor's companion.

Season 2

• The Two Live Crew Job: Parker says that when the Mona Lisa was stolen in 1911, the conman who stole it made 6 identical copies, Nate says they were put on the black market, each buyer thinking they're getting the real thing. This is not what happened when the Mona Lisa was stolen, it is the plan of the Doctor Who alien Scaroth in the 1979 story The City of Death, except all 6 of his Mona Lisa copies were painted by Leonardo DaVinci.

Season 3

• The Three-Card Monte Job: Eliot and Hardison use the aliases Moffat and Davies. These are nods to Steven Moffat and Russell T. Davies, two of the executive producers of Doctor Who.

Season 4

• The Ten Li'l Grifters Job: The attorney who hires Nate describes being fired from the law firm McGann, McCoy and Baker, referencing four of the actors (there being two actors with the surname Baker) who played the Doctor.
• The Radio Job: Parker insists that Nate's father used a time machine to travel back to 1962 while a modified Doctor Who theme plays in the background. In the same scene, Hardison explains he is wearing a bowtie because "bowties are cool," one of the Eleventh Doctor's catch-phrases.

Season 5

• The First Contact Job: A reporter dressed very much in the style of the Eleventh Doctor sits in the front row during the press conference late in the episode.
• The Frame Up Job: Sophie and Sterling are Agents Smith and Tennant, referencing the actors playing the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) and the Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith).
• The White Rabbit Job: Sophie introduces herself as Sally Sparrow, a character seen in the Tenth Doctor's episode, "Blink", written by Steven Moffat (see below).
• The Long Goodbye Job: Parker introduces herself as Agent Tennant, referencing the character previously played by Sterling in The Frame Up Job.

Leverage: Redemption

Season One

• The Panamanian Monkey Job: Sophie and Hardison present themselves as MI-6 agents Jo Grant and Alastair Lethbridge-Stewart. Grant was one of the Third Doctor's companions in the 1970s, and Brigadier General Alastair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart frequently worked with the Doctor as a liaison from an organization called UNIT.
• The Card Game Job: Breanna uses the alias Billie Potts, a reference to Bill Potts, a companion of the Twelfth Doctor.
• The Muddy Waters Job: All of Hardison's aliases on his mail are references to Doctor Who. "D. Tennant" references David Tennant who played the Tenth Doctor; "Tom Baker" is the actor who played the Fourth Doctor; "River Song" is a recurring Doctor Who character who became the Doctor's wife.

Season Two

• The Debutante Job: Hardison and Parker are shown dressed up in Doctor Who paraphernalia (Parker is dressed as the Thirteenth Doctor, and Hardison is shown wearing the Fourth Doctor’s iconic scarf) in a Halloween photo with Eliot.
• The Date Night Job: Hardison says, “We are Parker and Hardison. Pardison. Always and anywhere. Time and space mean nothing to us.” Parker responds, saying, “We’re like the Doctor. We’re like two Doctors. Like a Christmas special with multiple Doctors.”
• The Work Study Job: When pretending to be a Ph.D. student, Breanna says her recommendations are Dr. Tennant and Dr. Whittaker, referencing David Tennant and Jodie Whittaker, who played the 10th and 13th Doctors in Doctor Who.
• The Belly of the Beast Job: While working at her new job, Jenna receives a notification of a meeting with Lethbridge Stewart (a cover for the Leverage crew). She immediately recognizes the name as a character from Doctor Who and notifies her boss, finding it suspicious. This is the only time on the show someone has recognized an alias from Doctor Who. Also in this episode Brimley tells someone named Mulligan to keep an eye on Jenna when she goes down to IT. Carey Mulligan plays Sally Sparrow in the previously mentioned Tenth Doctor's episode, "Blink". That episode is similar to this in that the main cast barely shows up.

Notes

• Steven Moffat, the executive producer of Doctor Who from 2009-2017 created the role of Jane Christie, played by Gina Bellman in the British situation comedy "Coupling." He later produced a modern-day revival of "Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", in which Bellman played Jekyll's wife. It was her work in this series that brought her to the attention of John Rogers, and resulted in her being offered the role of Sophie Devereaux.
• Mark A. Sheppard, who plays Sterling, made a guest appearance in the two-part season six opener "The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon".