How many episodes were in the first series of the 2005 revival? The first series contained 13 episodes. It began with Rose on 26 March 2005 and concluded with The Parting of the Ways on 18 June.
The series marked Doctor Who's return to episodic television after the original programme ended in 1989. Christopher Eccleston played the Ninth Doctor, with Billie Piper as Rose Tyler. The regular run mixed standalone adventures with a season-long mystery built around the phrase “Bad Wolf.”
The series is sometimes described as having ten stories rather than thirteen episodes. That is because several installments formed two-part stories, including Aliens of London and World War Three, The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances, and Bad Wolf and The Parting of the Ways. The episode total remains 13.
Russell T Davies served as showrunner and wrote eight of the episodes. The successful revival restored Doctor Who as a major BBC series and established the shorter, mostly self-contained episode format used by the modern programme.