...what did the Doctor do? I assume it was just Time Lord business as usual on Gallifrey, but has there ever been a solid concrete mention of what he did? You know, besides stare into Time Vortexes (Vorticies?) and father x number of children.

I'm only wondering because all of the talk of the regeneration limit, now that he's hitting or has hit the magic number depending on how all this wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey works out, if the 13 lives thing were hypothetically fact, he sure has been burning through them in the last 50 years for a man who spent the previous near-millennia in the same body.

(BTW, sorry if this is a research failure on my part, but sod it, I'm asking knowledgeable fans of the show... this IS my research).

From William Harnell's first appearance to now hs not just been 50 years. At one point The Second Doctor mentioned he was 200 and something and now he's 1000 and something.

That makes sense. It would be fantastic to have some sort of timeline detailing how long he was a particular incarnation for. Thanks Sora.

Note to self: Watch more Classic Who.

Unfortunately the programme hasn't been consistent — McCoy thought he was 953 in his first adventure but for some reason Eccleston had regressed to 900, Tennant was 903 and Smith only 907. It's likely the Doctor estimates a lot.

It's alright . You really should watch more Classic Who, as to quote the 9th doctor Classic Who is "Fantastic"

I think the Doctor has been 900 and something for several centuries now. It must be something to do with turning 1000

I don't think we'll ever learn too much about the Doctor's life before he left Gallifrey, and I don't what to know exactly how long he lived in each incarnation. It ties to many things up that I think should be left open-ended.

The Doctor likes to lie about his age.

we also don't know if he means Earth-type years, Gallifreyan years (whatever they are) or interspatial timey-wimey non-linear years = age. Or something. He probably lies anyway, even if he's kept track himself.

That is avery good point, which actually bothers me in many sci-fi/alien stories. A year is something that only exists on Earth, why would aliens use them to quantify their age?
In the case of the doctor it's a little less improbable, because he clearly interacts with humans a lot, and prefers to use their terminology.
But nonetheless, years must seem quite irrelevant to him, so it makes sense that he doesn't keep track the way humans do.

This is a good starting point:
http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/The_Doctor's_age

There is a good infographic about with info on how long each incarnation lived for, but I can't seem to find it.

I don't there's been much said about Time Lords having jobs or particular responsibilities about from Presidents and councils and stuff, I guess any such background material will probably be in books rather than the TV show, and so therefore subject to contradiction at any time.

I've always assumed they were like university academics - teaching, writing books and articles going for promotion.

Pretty much this! I always thought he got bored with a life of observing and maintaining the equilibrium of the galaxy and wanted to get involved or at least go and see it all first hand! He couldn't officially take a Time Capsule (TARDIS was apparently the name made up by Susan), so he stole one!

The Seventh Doctor said he was 953, but then the Ninth said he was 900.

The Eleventh Doctor had 200 years we didn't see, claiming to be 1100+ years. A while later he said he was 1200+, and in the last Series he said he was 1000+.

I don't think he knows how old he is, he just picks a random number every so often, and then a while later vainly knocks off a few hundred years.

We don't know how long the Eighth Doctor's incarnation was around for. If we believe the spin-off media to be canon (some do, some do not) he (the Eighth Doctor) is supposed to have been around for several hundred years, which would mean the Doctors current age is closer to 2,000 years than 1,000 years.

Also does he use Earth years or Gallifreyan years or both (and does that where the discrepancies come from)?

What I know for certain is that although it's been 50 years from Hartnell to Capaldi for the viewer, for the Doctor it's been significantly longer, as 90% of the Doctor's life is not seen on TV.

As for what the First Doctor did on Gallifrey before stealing the Tardis I don't think we'll ever know.

The first mention of the Doctors age was in Tomb of the Cybermen when the 2nd Doctor said he was 450 years old.

He's been very lax about looking after himself lately, going through 3 lives in 7 years, compared with 9 in 900...

Every planet has years - it's the duration it takes the planet to orbit it's star.
An Earth day is 24 hours and there are 365.242 days in a year
A Mars day is 24 hours and 40 minutes. A year on Mars is the same as 686.98 Earth days.

Having said that, age doesn't just depend on the measure you are using - just ask any lady in her early 40's it's a safe bet that she'll say 39 and a 17 year old will say 18

We are of course assuming that we have been following the Doctor in "real time" Who (no pun intended) knows what time has passed between some of the stories. Not that it's much help, but I have a signed photo of the second Doctor reading his 500 years diary so I've always assumed that he was between 400 and 500 years old in that incarnation.

That doesn't help, as he could be using the diary to plan his next 500 years, not look back at the last 500... Besides, the only use a time traveller would have for a diary is to work out where in time he should be, not where he is now...

Well The Doctor's now 1100 apparently, so 11 has been around for about 200 years. Just thought I mention it since it hasn't been said yet.

Actually I mentioned it, but no worries.

1200 is the oldest age he's mentioned so far.

Whoops, my apologies!


Oh yes, thanks for reminding me. Was that in the last series? I still need to rewatch most of 7b.

A Town called Mercy.


He was back to saying he was a 1000 by The Snowman though.

I think it is a double edged sword, on I. e hand as a fan of love to know every detail of how long, how, why , who? .
but we risk getting I. to star trek realms where every minute detail is published

and verified, tying the writers hands at every turn, in the old trek, writers had to consult a huge encyclopedia before doing anything, it got so bogged down they had to reboot, if the fans knkw it all already you are up against it from the start, far better to leave it all vague and open to interpretation, anyway Im in the pub so have a good night all