The 'Second Doctor' - The Cosmic Hobo

The Second Doctor is the name given to the second incarnation of the fictional character known as the Doctor seen on screen in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by character actor Patrick Troughton.

Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-old Time Lord alien from the planet Gallifrey who travels in time and space in his TARDIS, frequently with companions. When the Doctor is critically injured, he can regenerate his body; in doing so, his physical appearance and personality change.

Transformation into the Second Doctor, a figure who was the same essential character as the first but with a very different persona, was a turning point in the evolution of the series that became a critical element of the series' longevity.

The First Doctor grew progressively weaker while battling the Cybermen during the events of The Tenth Planet and eventually collapsed, seemingly from old age. His body renewed itself and transformed into the Second Doctor.

Initially, the relationship between the Second Doctor and his predecessor was unclear. In his first story, the Second Doctor referred to his predecessor in the third person as if he were a completely different person. His companions Ben and Polly are at first unsure how to treat him and it is only when a Dalek recognises him that they accept that he's the Doctor.

In the second story entitled The Highlanders, Jamie McCrimmon joined the TARDIS crew, and remained with the Second Doctor for the rest of his travels. Ben and Polly left together when the TARDIS landed at Gatwick Airport on the same day they originally left with the First Doctor. The Doctor and Jamie then became involved in a plot by the Daleks to gain both the "Human and Dalek Factors", which lead to them meeting Victoria Waterfield in the 19th century. The Doctor used the situation to engineer a Dalek civil war, that seemingly destroyed the Daleks forever, however, Victoria's father was among the casualties. Now an orphan, Victoria chose to accompany the Doctor and Jamie on their travels, but she was never able to completely come to terms with life in the TARDIS and the constant danger that resulted from it. She eventually chose to leave after the events of Fury from the Deep. The Doctor was then joined by Zoe Heriot, an extremely intelligent woman from the 21st century, who helped defeat the Cybermen attack on a space station known as the Wheel. She then stowed away in the TARDIS and, despite the Doctor's warnings about what she might encounter, chose to remain.

During his second incarnation, the Doctor confronted familiar foes such as the Daleks and the Cybermen, as well as new enemies such as the Great Intelligence and the Ice Warriors. It was during this time that he first met Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, in the tunnels of the London Underground. Following the defeat of the Great Intelligence, Lethbridge-Stewart was promoted to Brigadier and became the leader of the British contingent of UNIT, a military organisation tasked to investigate and defend the world from extraterrestrial threats. The Doctor reteamed with him to defeat an invasion of Cybermen in league with industrialist Tobias Vaughan.

The Second Doctor's time came to an end when the TARDIS landed in the middle of a warzone, created by a race of alien warlords who progressively brainwashed kidnapped humans into becoming soldiers for them. Although the Doctor was able to defeat their plan, he realised he would be unable to return the human subjects to their various original points in Earth's history. He therefore contacted the Time Lords, sacrificing his own freedom in the process. He was then put on trial by the Time Lords, for breaking their laws of non-interference. Despite the Doctor's argument that the Time Lords should use their great powers to help others, he was sentenced to exile on 20th century Earth, the Time Lords forcing his regeneration into the Third Doctor in the process. Jamie and Zoe were returned to their own time, with their memories of all but their first encounter with the Doctor wiped and the secret of the TARDIS was also taken from the Doctor.

He has been nicknamed the "Cosmic Hobo" as the impish Second Doctor appeared to be far more scruffy and child-like than his first incarnation. The Second Doctor is the first Doctor to put on an act, to hide what he's really thinking, to the point where even his companions are not sure where the act stops and the real Doctor begins.^{[citation needed]} In his first appearance, he claims that his destruction of the Daleks was a complete accident, but in fact it is clear that he had worked out a plan to defeat them much earlier.

Mercurial, clever, and always a few steps ahead of his enemies, at times he could be a calculating schemer who would not only manipulate people for the greater good but act like a bumbling fool in order to have others underestimate his true abilities. Some times, this appears simply as a joke, such as in The Tomb of the Cybermen, where he finishes the archaeologists' calculations behind their backs, but in other times, it seems much darker. In The Evil of the Daleks he coldly manipulates Jamie in trying to rescue Victoria (thus setting in motion the human factor tests) and is unsympathetic when Edward Waterfield tries to apologise for his collaboration with the Daleks. But despite the bluster and tendency to panic when events got out of control, the Second Doctor always acted heroically and morally in his desire to help the oppressed. More than any other perhaps, this incarnation of the Time Lord was a wolf in sheep's clothing.

This Doctor is associated with the catch phrases, "oh my giddy aunt!" and "when I say run, RUN!", and is noted for playing the recorder.