8 Best Parodies Of Doctor Who

Published Oct 4, 2026, 1:30 PM EDT

Misty Layne started as an actor and sketch comedy writer before deciding to concentrate mainly on writing. Utilizing both her love of television and film and her behind-the-scenes knowledge, she began a website reviewing films in 2013, with a focus on horror and indie media. Eventually, she began writing about all things television and film for other sites as well. Misty shares a home with five cats, a ton of books, and a fairly impressive vinyl collection.
 

Sign in to your ScreenRant account

When a show has been on the air as long as Doctor Who, it becomes incredibly easy to spoof, and Doctor Who is one of the most-parodied shows in the universe. Between hilarious sketches by people with some connection to the show and musical mashups, Doctor Who pastiches over the decades range from the absurd to the intelligent (as all hilarious parodies should be). That's not surprising, given how easily recognizable many aspects of the show are, even to those who have never seen it.

It’s also been referenced hundreds of times in popular media, on shows like The Simpsons and in the Red Nose Day special featuring David Tennant and Catherine Tate, where her famous sketch character, Lauren, meets the Doctor. Most Doctor Who references and parodies include great detail in the set design and costumes, and they all demonstrate an excellent understanding of the Whoniverse. Plus, the Daleks feature in almost every one. The absolute best Doctor Who parodies all have something special about them.

End of Part One: "Doctor Eyes"

Image via MovieStillsDB

End of Part One was a British series that ran from 1979 to 1980. An attempt to recreate the radio sketch The Burkiss Way for television, the first season saw a couple being constantly bothered by various TV personalities; season 2 was just straight parodies of TV shows. One of those parodies was a quick spoof of Doctor Who called "Doctor Eyes."

The Doctor and Gloria (a parody of companion Romana) arrive on Chromakey Five in the TARDIS. The Doctor has impossibly large eyes, a parody of Tom Baker’s Doctor, who was well-known for making his eyes go wide. Also included are K9, the Daleks, the show’s infamously small budget at the time, and the way objects and characters on Doctor Who tended to be chromakeyed out. The whole thing only lasts about two minutes, but it’s easily one of the most comic send-ups out there.

Mad TV: "Doctor Whose Line Is It Anyway?"

MovieStillsDB

Some might not know that Saturday Night Live had a competitor from the late ‘90s through the first decade of the 2000s. Called Mad TV, it was based on the Mad humor magazine and featured comedy that was more low-brow and edgier than SNL. The cast included Orlando Jones, Alex Borstein, and Michael McDonald.

In season 4, episode 14, the show did an animated send-up of Doctor Who and Whose Line Is It Anyway? called "Doctor Whose Line Is It Anyway?" The spoof featured the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors, along with Wayne Brady, being kidnapped by the Daleks. Instead of killing them immediately, the Daleks forced the group to play improv games. Unsurprisingly, Brady (who was amusingly beloved by some of the Daleks) won. As silly as this parody might have been, it was also ridiculously funny.

Cult favorite TV show Community was all about parodying popular series and films. The season 3 episode "Biology 101" saw Abed (who made some of the show's best media references) panic after realizing his latest obsession, Cougartown Abbey, had only six episodes. Britta then introduces him to "Inspector Spacetime," a long-running show about a time-traveling Inspector who travels the universe in his red telephone box, an obvious send-up of Doctor Who.

Community not only showed hilarious clips from the fictional show, but in season 4's "Conventions of Space and Time," the entire study group attends an "Inspector Spacetime" convention where Abed meets another super fan, and Jeff is mistaken for an actor from the show. The fictional show became an unlikely, pseudo-cult hit, with dedicated websites and more. A web series was even created around it called Untitled Web Series About a Space Traveler Who Can Also Travel Through Time (UWSAASTWCATTT).

Robot Chicken: "Doctor Who Meets The Nerd"

Robot Chicken, created by Matthew Senreich and Seth Green, referenced Doctor Who a few times throughout its run, but in season 7’s episode "Walking Dead Lobster," the show did an actual parody called "Doctor Who Meets The Nerd." In it, one of the show’s recurring characters, The Nerd, stumbles upon the TARDIS as the Doctor is inviting a man named Eugene to run away with him on a grand adventure. The Nerd quickly knocks Eugene out to take his place.

Once he and the Doctor are on their way, The Nerd is hilariously unimpressed with everything. He compares the TARDIS to Snoopy’s doghouse, and once they land at their destination and he sees the people there, he begins asking how much the costumes cost. The parody pokes at several Doctor Who tropes, such as the show's tiny original budget and the fact that Daleks are little more than talking garbage cans. Before long, the Doctor has had enough and returns him to Earth.

French and Saunders: "The Silurian Disruption"

©BBC / Courtesy: Everett Collection

Iconic British comedic duo Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French made an unaired Doctor Who parody sketch for their show, French and Saunders, called "The Silurian Disruption." The spoof had French and Saunders appearing as extras playing Silurians at a trial for the Doctor (the set was reused from 1986’s "The Trial of a Time Lord"). The two fumble their way through a scene and get easily sidetracked.

Throughout the sketch, French and Saunders’ characters argue over the continuity of the in-sketch Doctor Who universe, eventually dragging other characters into the discussion before they finally stall the episode’s filming. While the parody wasn’t officially broadcast, it was released on the VHS version of The Curse of Fatal Death and the Special Edition DVD of Vengeance on Varos.

The Hillywood Show: "Doctor Who Parody"

MovieStillsDB

The Hillywood Show, created by sisters Hannah and Hilly Hindi, is well known for parodies of shows and films, including Supernatural, the Twilight series, and The Umbrella Academy. Their parodies typically feature reworked songs and keen attention to detail in the set design and costuming. In 2014, they made "Doctor Who Parody", which was a musical mashup of Doctor Who and "The Time Warp" from The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Featuring the Tenth Doctor, Rose Tyler, Martha Jones, and Donna Noble, the spoof was a rousing good time, made even better by the extras' phenomenal costumes. Not only were the Daleks there, but so were the Sisters of Plenitude, the Scarecrows, and even the Weeping Angels. The song was a riot, as was the part where the Doctor and Donna recreate the pantomime season from the season 4 episode "Partners in Crime." Overall, it’s one of the better Doctor Who parodies of the modern age.

The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot

In 2013, as Doctor Who was approaching its 50^th anniversary, Peter Davison, who played the Fifth Doctor, put together an incredible parody to celebrate. In The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot, Davison, Colin Baker (the Sixth Doctor), and Sylvester McCoy (the Seventh Doctor) are on a mission to be part of the BBC's legitimate 50^th anniversary special, "The Day of the Doctor." The short film was released after "The Day of the Doctor" on the BBC's Red Button service.

The uproarious spoof stars everyone and their mother, including Olivia Colman, Peter Jackson, Ian McKellen, John Barrowman, David Tennant, Georgia Moffett, Steven Moffat, and more. Besides being one of the best and most hilarious pastiches around, it was a fantastic way to celebrate Doctor Who's many years on the air.

Comic Relief: The Curse of Fatal Death

Comic Relief

Before Steven Moffat was even associated with Doctor Who, he wrote the script for The Curse of Fatal Death for the Comic Relief segment of 1999’s Red Nose Day celebration. This parody wins the award for the most regenerations of the Doctor in a single episode. Despite its humor, Moffat has stated that it was seen as a legitimate continuation of the series between Paul McGann's failed TV movie and the show's far-off 2005 reboot.

In it, the Doctor and his companion Emma, who are in love, end up in a castle where the Doctor and the Master have an absurd exchange about who bribed the castle's architect first to lay traps for the other. The Master ends up falling into his own trap door — repeatedly — and spends around 936 years crawling through sewers before he returns with the Daleks.

Things get even sillier from there, and it all ends with the Doctor, played by Rowan Atkinson, regenerating several times over into Richard E. Grant, Jim Broadbent, Hugh Grant, and Joanna Lumley. It’s among the best Doctor Who parodies (if not the best one) of all time.