A great departure from his world-weary previous incarnation, the Eighth Doctor is dressed as a nineteenth century gentleman in a dark frock coat and light coloured pants. A silver waistcoat with a grey cravat neatly tucked under the winged collar of his shirt round out his appearance, but his long swept back, unkempt hair reveals him as an eccentric.

The eighth incarnation of the Doctor came into being through the most traumatic and violent regeneration that he has ever had to experience. Shot down by a Chinatown gang execution squad, he was rushed to hospital, where his double heartbeat was misdiagnosed as a dangerous heart fibrillation. The Doctor was anaesthetised and subjected to a heart probe but the heart specialist became lost in his alien physiology. The probe snapped off and became lost in his body. As far as those attempting to save his life were concerned, he died in the operating room. The anaesthesia somehow restricted the regnerative process and it was nearly two hours later before his body convulsed and regenerated. He was, by this time, lying in the morgue.

Far more emotional than previous incarnations, the Doctor now has no hesitation about displaying his emotions, sometimes even willing to entertain romantic notions with his companions, although in an innocent, almost childlike manner. The Doctor seems to have picked up some new traits as well. He is an accomplished sleight-of-hand artist and pick-pocket, he may draw asside a notable figure to tell a secret of no importance while swiping his security pass or nip a policeman's gun while offering him a jelly baby.

Much of the time Doctor appears to be one step behind his adversaries, only occasionally letting slip the disturbing notion that he knows far more than he's letting on. Sometimes he displays the disconcerting ability to view the threads of time surrounding a person to tell them a little something about themselves that no one else could know. The Doctor's theories and ideas may sound like fantastic, whimsical rubbish when first heard but invariably they prove true. While undeniably brilliant, his tendency to enthusiasically rattle out his plans like a deluded madman often tends to frighten those unfamiliar with him. Once proven, however, the Doctor gains faithful followers from his skeptics.