Diving Into Doctor Who
Photo: BBC
In 1963, the Doctor, the time-traveling hero of the BBC's Doctor Who, stole the Tardis and set off on an adventure that would last over half a century. During that time, audiences have seen Doctors of all shapes, sizes, genders, and varying levels of politeness. And in much the same way, the show’s audience has grown to encompass a larger and more diverse crowd over the decades.
From boomers to Gen Z, from sci-fi fans to horror hounds, the Doctor Who fan base stretches across time and space. Their tastes in pop culture are far from identical, ranging all over the map. But despite these widely varying preferences for everything from movies to books and music, some interesting common threads connect them all. To celebrate Jodie Whittaker’s return as the 13th Doctor this month, we’re digging up everything we can find about Doctor Who devotees on Ranker Insights.
HOW DOES AMERICA FEEL ABOUT DOCTOR WHO?
Photo: Ranker
NOTE: On the map, blue represents upvotes, while red represents downvotes. The darker blue a region is, the more positively people there feel about Doctor Who; the darker red it is (or, in this case, the more purple it is), the more negatively people feel.
The largest concentration of Doctor Who fans can be found in the Mountain/Central region, which includes states like Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and Wyoming. In these areas, over 73% of the population would follow the Doctor wherever she or he may roam.
The West is also home to fans of the good Doctor, but to a lesser degree: only 59% of West Coasters would be willing to board a Tardis. The Midwest, Northeast, and Southern states all share a majority interest in the British series, but the positive/negative feelings split is only slightly over 50%.
FANS’ TOP TV SHOWS
Photo: BBC
Fans of Doctor Who are 6X more likely to enjoy Netflix's Stranger Things than the average person. The streaming service’s sci-fi juggernaut is a big hit with Whovians, who no doubt appreciate the 1980’s nostalgia and its depiction of events outside our own dimension.
Doctor Who fans are also 3X more likely to enjoy CW's Legends of Tomorrow and CBS' Star Trek: Discovery, both of which represent fan-favorite properties that have remained popular for decades, much like Doctor Who. Not only that, but they’re also very similar in genre to the BBC show: science-fiction with an adventure fantasy twist.
DOCTOR WHO FANS AT THE MOVIES
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Doctor Who fans are 3X more likely to enjoy both Star Trek: Into the Darkness, the second installment in the J.J. Abrams-led reboot, and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy (we’re guessing we don’t have to draw the parallels between these movies and Doctor Who for you). But it’s not just epic sci-fi action that draws in Whovians — they’re just as likely to be fans of the heartwarming Disney kids’ flick Big Hero 6.
WHAT ELSE DO THEY LOVE?
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Doctor Who fans’ love of culture across the pond doesn’t stop with television — they love their Brit-pop music, too. They’re more likely (4X) to love David Bowie than other artists, particularly his album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.
As far as video games go, Who fans tend to enjoy strategy-based games like Civilization IV, Civilization V, Minecraft, and Portal, all of which they are 3X more likely to love.
In the literary world, fans are 4X more likely to enjoy Douglas Adams’s The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but other Brit books with a sci-fi slant such as Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and H.G. Wells's The Time Machine are also fairly popular with Whovians.
Finally, followers of the Doctor are 5X more likely to be loyal to the BBC and BBC America, generally favoring that network above all others.
FINAL FINDINGS
Photo: BBC