Feature Sci-Fi 

All the Doctor Who Doctors ranked by height

Screen OD staff

Who is the tallest Doctor Who Doctor?

It may not have been a question you’ve asked yourself before, but now you’re here, I’m sure you’d like to find out.

With some time to wait before the 60th anniversary episodes of the show are aired in November 2023 starring David Tennant as the Fourteenth, and even longer until we see Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth with Millie Gibson as Ruby Sunday by his side, we thought we’d rank all the Doctors by height – because, well, why not?

So, who is the tallest person ever to have portrayed the Doctor? And what’s more, are you the same height as any of the Doctor Who lead actors from the last 60 years of the BBC science fiction hit?

It’s time to get out the tape measure TV fans and embark on a journey in space, and time and distance as we go in search for the heights of every actor and rank them all by height…

Note: We have used the heights listed for the actors on their IMDB profiles.

Who is the tallest Doctor from Doctor Who?

15. Jodie Whittaker

5 feet 5 inches (167 centimetres)

Jodie Whittaker was the first woman to take on the role of the Doctor full-time and starred in Doctor Who as the Thirteenth Doctor for three seasons, totalling 31 episodes. Whittaker’s first episode was on the 7th of October 2018 and her final show, The Power of the Doctor aired on the 23rd of October 2022.

14. Sylvester McCoy

5 feet 6 inches (168 centimetres)

Sylvester McCoy played the Seventh Doctor, the last of the classic series before the show was cancelled in 1989. McCoy joined the series at the age of 42 on the 7th of September 1987 and left in December 1989. In total, he was in 12 stories across 42 episodes in three seasons of the show.

13. William Hartnell

5 feet 8 inches (173 centimetres)

William Hartnell was the first person to play the Doctor, first entering the TARDIS in An Unearthly Child which broadcast on the 23rd November 1963. Hartnell, aged 55 when he took on the role was in the show for four seasons and was in 134 episodes of Doctor Who that made up 29 stories. Hartnell left in October 1966.

12. Patrick Troughton

5 feet 8 inches (173 centimetres)

Patrick Troughton played the Second incarnation of the Doctor and joined the show in November 1966 and left in June 1969. The actor was 46 years old when he first appeared in Doctor Who and starred in a total of 21 stories with 119 episodes across three seasons of Who.

11. Ncuti Gatwa

5 feet 8 inches (173 centimetres)

Ncuti Gatwa is the Fifteenth Doctor and the most recent addition to the Doctor Who family. He will begin his full-time tenure in the TARDIS at the end of 2023 when he takes control of the TARDIS and travels the universe with his new companion Ruby Sunday played by former Coronation Street star Millie Gibson.

10. Paul McGann

5 feet 8.5inches (174 centimetres)

Paul McGann played the Eighth Doctor and has only had one solo performance in the lead role on screen as the star of the 1996 TV movie of the show that sat between the classic series and the rebooted Russell T Davies era in 2005. He has also appeared in the mini-episode The Night of the Doctor and alongside other Doctors in The Power of the Doctor in 2022.

9. John Hurt

5 feet 8.5inches (175 centimetres)

Although he has never had his own series, John Hurt’s War Doctor fits as an incarnation of the Time Lord between that of Paul McGann’s Eight and Christopher Eccleston’s Nine. He appears in 2013’s The Name of the Doctor, mini-episode The Night of the Doctor and in the 50th anniversary The Day of the Doctor.

8. Matt Smith

5 feet 11.5inches (182 centimetres)

Matt Smith took on the role of the Doctor in April 2010 at the age of 27 and played the Eleventh incarnation of the Doctor until he was succeeded by Peter Capaldi’s Twelfth Doctor at Christmas in 2013. In total, he was the Doctor for 44 episodes of the show across three seasons.

7. Christopher Eccleston

6 feet (183 centimetres)

Christopher Eccleston played the Ninth Doctor and was the first Doctor of the new Who era which Russell T Davies brought to our screens in 2005. He was 41 when his single season rand for 13 episodes between April and June 2005 before he was succeeded by David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor.

6. Peter Capaldi

6 feet (183 centimetres)

Peter Capaldi played the Twelfth Doctor and followed on from Matt Smith in the series, taking over control of the TARDIS in August 2014 and staying in the series for 40 episodes and three seasons until he regenerated into Jodie Whittaker’s Thirteenth Doctor on Christmas Day 2017.

5. Colin Baker

6 feet (183 centimetres)

Colin Baker is one of two Bakers to have assumed the role of the Doctor, with this Baker playing the Sixth incarnation of Doctor Who between March 1984 and December 1986 and racking up three seasons on the show and a total of 31 episodes across 8 stories.

4. David Tennant

6 feet 1 inches (185 centimetres)

David Tennant played the Tenth Doctor between 2005 and 2010 and also returned to play the Fourteenth Doctor in the Doctor Who 60th-anniversary specials in 2023. During Tennant’s initial run in the TARDIS, he racked up 47 episodes across three seasons from Christmas Day 2005 to New Year’s Day 2010.

3. Peter Davison

6 feet 1 inches (185 centimetres)

Peter Davison played the Fifth Doctor between January 1982 and March 1984. During his time on the show he played the lead role for a total of three seasons and totted up 20 stories across 69 episodes of the show. He is also now the father-in-law of David Tennant after his daughter Georgia Tennat (Moffet) married the Tenth Doctor actor.

2. Jon Pertwee

6 feet 2.5 inches (189 centimetres)

Jon Pertwee played the Third Doctor on the BBC science fiction show between January 1970 and June 1974, He was the lead actor for a total of five seasons and during that time he enjoyed 24 stories across a whopping 128 episodes of the show.

1. Tom Baker

6 feet 3 inches (191 centimetres)

Tom Baker is one the best-known and best-loved Doctors ever to have taken charge of the TARDIS and was the Fourth Doctor for an enormous seven seasons of the show between 1974 and 1981 – he is also the tallest it turns out. Baker, who joined Doctor Who when he was 40 years old had 41 stories and was the lead actor for 172 episodes.

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