Colour blindness was a visual impairment that made it impossible for one to see or distinguish colours.

The Doctor was allegedly colour blind in their first two incarnations, which gave them monochromatic vision. The Doctor remained unaware of this fact until their third incarnation, for whom the colour blindness had disappeared. (PROSE: The Day of the Doctor) Indeed, the Third Doctor once remarked "how wonderful to have seen that particular planet in colour at last", after seeing it in a film starring Peter Cushing at a local cinema. (PROSE: A Visit to the Cinema) In another account however, the Third Doctor recalled noticing the colours of the rocks on Gallifrey in his childhood after meeting a hermit on the mountainside. (TV: The Time Monster)

The Dalek Survival Guide was aware of evidence which suggested that very early-model Daleks could only see in black and white, which was brought forward as a possible explanation for the "misunderstanding" that Daleks could not see the colour red. (PROSE: Dalek Survival Guide, What To Do If A Dalek Attacks You!)

Behind the scenes[]

The First and Second Doctor's alleged colour blindness is a clear in-joke directed at the fact that their respective tenures were all broadcast before the advent of colour TV.