And she quickly put it to work, using it to defuse the DNA bombs that had been implanted into her and her new mates, scan the alien gathering coils, and trigger a teleport device rescued from the abandoned Stenza pod. It had a removable burgundy emitter head which the Doctor would change with others, each performing a different function. This version has even more functions including detecting security traps, remote detonation of mines, opening doors and restraints, creating ignitions sparks and again removing screws and fixings. The sonic screwdriver's inability to work on wood is clarified in " In the Forest of the Night" (2014), when the Doctor states that the sonic screwdriver works by manipulating the moving parts in various machinery: since plant tissue lacks said moving parts, it is unaffected by the sonic screwdriver. In the last episode of Series 9, the Doctor received a new sonic screwdriver from the TARDIS in place of the temporary sonic sunglasses.

I may even paint over it to make it unique for ME as the Doctor (ever played dress-up to a convention of sorts? She hammered, soldered, glued, chiselled, welded, poured and, finally, froze it all into place, creating a sonic screwdriver like no other. Despite the Doctor's claim not to give his screwdriver to anyone, he gives one to his own doppelgänger in " The Rebel Flesh", and gives his to Rory Williams in " The Girl Who Waited" after having either given or loaned one to him for use in " A Good Man Goes to War" and loaning him one in " The Big Bang". The War Doctor's sonic screwdriver prop was created by modifying a Fourth Doctor's sonic screwdriver replica toy.A model of sonic screwdriver, going through multiple modifications, was used by the Third, Fourth and Fifth Doctors. The playable characters form this premium pack represented almost every model of sonic screwdriver encountered in the DWU. The Doctor didn’t replace the sonic for ages – the next time we saw one was when the Seventh Doctor used a similar model to seal a casket containing the Master’s remains. Anakin has an interest thread for this in the junkyard and yes it is a solid metal version of what was seen in the Thunderbirds episode.

Eric Saward later explained in a 2005 DVD interview [5] that this was done on the instructions of producer John Nathan-Turner. There is technology the sonic is unable to interface with, such as wood, or the isomorphic controls seen in "A Christmas Carol".The More Short Trips short story "Special Weapons", set late in season 24, indicates that the Seventh Doctor has a sonic screwdriver. This model served the Tenth Doctor too, but when it was severely damaged soon after his regeneration, it was time for a major change! In the Eighth Doctor Adventures novel Alien Bodies, the Time Lord Homunculette has a sonic monkey wrench. Aside from being a tool, the sonic screwdriver can be used and considered as a defensive weapon, which is effective for a few types of assault weapons, but not designed to kill or injure living things as the only way it can really hurt or incapacitate an organism is by emitting painful bursts of sound, or, as of " Day of the Moon" (2011) by blasting a green wave of energy to incapacitate a target, though only the Eleventh and Twelfth's sonic has been shown to do the latter.

Erasing alien encoding inside people's brains by having them don the glasses for a few minutes ("Before the Flood"). The Third Doctor's sonic screwdriver is a modified prop from the Gerry Anderson film Thunderbirds Are Go, where it appeared as a screwdriver of the non-sonic variety. A metal version of the sonic screwdriver produced by Wow Stuff mounts a functional set of changeable flat and Phillips heads under a removable cover as well as providing light and sound effects.The Sixth Doctor uses his fingernails as a stand-in for the screwdriver as an escape method in The Nowhere Place. In " Doomsday" (2006), the Doctor states that the sonic screwdriver does not kill, wound or maim; however, it is sometimes brandished in a threatening manner, such as in " The Christmas Invasion" (2005), " The Impossible Planet" (2006), " The Runaway Bride" (2006), " The Lazarus Experiment" (2007), " The Day of the Doctor" (2013), and The Infinite Quest (2007).

In the series 6 episode " The Girl Who Waited", future Amy Pond has a "Sonic Probe" that she made herself.

In " The Woman Who Fell to Earth", the Thirteenth Doctor is depicted constructing a new sonic screwdriver out of scrap metal and an orange glowing device from an alien travel capsule. The Fourth Doctor found lots of inventive new uses for his favourite device – everything from detonating land mines and creating holes in force-fields to safe-cracking and setting off fire alarms. The sonic screwdriver made its first appearance in the serial Fury from the Deep (1968), written by Victor Pemberton. In the 1979 serial City of Death, Count Scarlioni's henchmen use a "sonic knife" to cut the glass in front of the Mona Lisa.