From Let's Talk Network Wiki

Random

The number of incarnations of The Doctor in BBC sci-fi series Doctor Who is eleven. As a Time Lord, the Doctor has the ability toregeneratehis body when near death. Introduced into the storyline as a way of continuing the series when the writers were faced with the departure of lead actorWilliam Hartnellin 1966, it has continued to be a major element of the series, allowing for the recasting of the lead actor when the need arises. The serialThe Deadly Assassinestablished that a Time Lord can regenerate twelve times, for a total of thirteen incarnations (although at least one Time Lord,the Master, has managed to circumvent this inThe Keeper of Traken, 1981.) To date, the Doctor has gone through this process and its resulting after-effects on ten occasions, with each of his incarnations having his own quirks and abilities but otherwise sharing the memories and experience of the previous incarnations.