[Susan Foreman]

The eleventh in an occasional series:

'Doctor Who' as featured in other medium

References in the American drama series 'Leverage'

Now, it could be argued that (because they are mostly names) they are nothing more than a coincidence

However... there are a LOT of coincidences within the show!

Leverage: Season 1

• The Bank Shot Job: Hardison expresses his frustration at the time it took to illegally download the latest episode of Doctor Who.
• The Mile High Job: Nate uses the alias Tom Baker (The Fourth Doctor) and Sophie uses the alias Sarah Jane, one of the fourth Doctor's companions. The other aliases available to Nate were Peter Davison (the Fifth Doctor) and Sylvester McCoy (The Seventh).
• The 12-Step Job: Nate re-uses the alias of Tom Baker. Parker uses the alias Rose, the ninth and tenth Doctor's companion.

Season 2

• The Two Live Crew Job: Parker says that when the Mona Lisa was stolen in 1911, the conman who stole it made 6 identical copies, Nate says they were put on the black market, each buyer thinking they're getting the real thing. This is not what happened when the Mona Lisa was stolen, it is the plan of the Doctor Who alien Scaroth in the 1979 story The City of Death, except all 6 of his Mona Lisa copies were painted by Leonardo DaVinci.

Season 3

• The Three-Card Monte Job: Eliot and Hardison use the aliases Moffat and Davies. These are nods to Steven Moffat and Russell T. Davies, two of the executive producers of Doctor Who.

Season 4

• The Ten Li'l Grifters Job: The attorney who hires Nate describes being fired from the law firm McGann, McCoy and Baker, referencing four of the actors (there being two actors with the surname Baker) who played the Doctor.
• The Radio Job: Parker insists that Nate's father used a time machine to travel back to 1962 while a modified Doctor Who theme plays in the background. In the same scene, Hardison explains he is wearing a bowtie because "bowties are cool," one of the Eleventh Doctor's catch-phrases.

Season 5

• The First Contact Job: A reporter dressed very much in the style of the Eleventh Doctor sits in the front row during the press conference late in the episode.
• The Frame Up Job: Sophie and Sterling are Agents Smith and Tennant, referencing the actors playing the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) and the Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith).
• The White Rabbit Job: Sophie introduces herself as Sally Sparrow, a character seen in the Tenth Doctor's episode, "Blink", written by Steven Moffat (see below).
• The Long Goodbye Job: Parker introduces herself as Agent Tennant, referencing the character previously played by Sterling in The Frame Up Job.

Leverage: Redemption - Season One

• The Panamanian Monkey Job: Sophie and Hardison present themselves as MI-6 agents Jo Grant and Alastair Lethbridge-Stewart. Grant was one of the Third Doctor's companions in the 1970s, and Brigadier General Alastair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart frequently worked with the Doctor as a liaison from an organization called UNIT.
• The Card Game Job: Breanna uses the alias Billie Potts, a reference to Bill Potts, a companion of the Twelfth Doctor.
• The Muddy Waters Job: All of Hardison's aliases on his mail are references to Doctor Who. "D. Tennant" references David Tennant who played the Tenth Doctor; "Tom Baker" is the actor who played the Fourth Doctor; "River Song" is a recurring Doctor Who character who became the Doctor's wife.

Season Two

• The Debutante Job: Hardison and Parker are shown dressed up in Doctor Who paraphernalia (Parker is dressed as the thirteenth Doctor, and Hardison is shown wearing the fourth Doctor’s iconic scarf) in a Halloween photo with Eliot.
• The Date Night Job: Hardison says, “We are Parker and Hardison. Pardison. Always and anywhere. Time and space mean nothing to us.” Parker responds, saying, “We’re like the Doctor. We’re like two Doctors. Like a Christmas special with multiple Doctors.”
• The Work Study Job: When pretending to be a Ph.D. student, Breanna says her recommendations are Dr. Tennant and Dr. Whittaker, referencing David Tennant and Jodie Whittaker, who played the 10th and 13th Doctor in Doctor Who.
• The Belly of the Beast Job: While working at her new job, Jenna receives a notification of a meeting with Lefbridge Stewart (a cover for the Leverage crew). She immediately recognizes the name as a character from Doctor Who and notifies her boss, finding it suspicious. This is the only time on the show someone has recognized an alias from Doctor Who.

https://leverage.fandom.com/wiki/Doctor_Who