TARDIS
| TARDIS | |
|---|---|
| Doctor Who television series element | |
The Doctor's TARDIS as it has appeared since 2018 | |
| Publisher | BBC |
| First appearance | An Unearthly Child (1963) |
| Created by | |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| In-universe information | |
| Type | Time machine/spacecraft |
| Function | Travels through time and space |
| Traits and abilities | Can change its outer dimensions and inner layout, impregnable, telepathic |
| Affiliation | |
The TARDIS (/ˈtɑːrdɪs/; acronym for "Time And Relative Dimension(s) In Space") is a fictional hybrid of a time machine and spacecraft that appears in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who and its various spin-offs. While a TARDIS is capable of disguising itself, the exterior appearance of the Doctor's TARDIS typically mimics a police box, an obsolete type of telephone kiosk that was once commonly seen on streets in Britain in the 1940s and 50s. Its interior is shown as being much larger than its exterior, commonly described as being "bigger on the inside".
Due to the significance of Doctor Who in popular British culture, the shape of the police box is now more strongly associated with the TARDIS than its real-world inspiration. The name and design of the TARDIS is a registered trademark of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), although the design was originally created by the Metropolitan Police Service.