The Fifth Doctor was an avid cricket fan, retained a knack for fencing, and was the second Doctor to wear question marks on his lapels/ person. He was a mix of all of his previous incarnations. He inherited the old man/ grump-at-times from his first, his outward charisma, his skills in Earth science from his third, and his sometimes overpowering charm from his fourth. The Fifth Doctor wore a stick of celery (Peter Davison hated celery), wore Victorian cricket whites, and even sometimes a white hat or half-moon glasses. The Fifth Doctor had a three year run (1981-1983), but he remained the youngest Doctor until Matt Smith (11th).

The Fifth Doctor was poisoned from unrefined spetrox,a chemical found on Androzani Minor in his final episode, The Caves of Androzani.