The TARDIS sound comes from Doctor Who, the long-running BBC science-fiction series that began in 1963, where the TARDIS is the Doctor's time-travelling police box. Its wheezing materialisation noise plays whenever the ship arrives or leaves, and over decades of episodes it has become one of television's most recognisable sounds. Fans have carried it into YouTube edits, TikTok videos, memes and reaction clips, where it instantly signals time travel, a sudden entrance or a jump to another place.