<Tr> <Th> Affiliation </Th> <Td> The Doctor </Td> </Tr> <P> The sonic screwdriver is a multifunctional fictional tool in the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who and its spin - offs, used by the Doctor . Like the TARDIS, it has become one of the icons of the programme, and spin - off media such as The Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood have replicated its functions in devices such as the sonic lipstick, sonic blaster, sonic probe, and sonic modulator . </P> <P> The sonic screwdriver was first introduced in 1968 in the story Fury from the Deep, and used twice more (The Dominators and The War Games) during the Second Doctor's tenure . It became a popular tool for the Third Doctor and Fourth Doctor . It was finally written out of the series in 1982 due to the limitations it caused when writing for the show . It then featured briefly in the 1996 Doctor Who television movie, before making a full return in the 2005 continuation of the series . </P> <P> Throughout the programme, there have been many different versions of the sonic screwdriver, as with subsequent Doctors the design of it was changed . It has also been destroyed on a number of occasions, thus leading to the introduction of the next model . Not all iterations of the Doctor have used the sonic screwdriver on screen; the Fifth Doctor in fact opted not to replace his after it was destroyed . </P>

When did the doctor start using a sonic screwdriver