As suggested by: Paddy01, shanye, StephanoBentos, Mark Tomlinson and others
time-travelling teenagers Bill (Alex Winter) and Ted (Keanu Reeves) had their first Excellent Adventure back in 1989, with the sole objective of passing a history class. Using popular time-travelling vehicle the phone booth, the pair kidnap various historical figures in order to save their grades, while air guitaring their way both backwards and forwards in time. Three years later, Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey saw evil robot doubles from the future threaten the success of their band, the Wyld Stallyns. A third instalment in the franchise is currently in development Photograph: Everett/Rex Features
As suggested by: RosaACaria, ZodKneelsFirst, AndrewJLeslie, ZenPop and others
A genetic disorder is behind the involuntary time-travelling of Henry DeTamble in Audrey Niffenegger's 2003 novel, The Time Traveler's Wife, which was adapted into a film six years later starring Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams. Henry travels both backwards and forwards within his own lifetime to destinations that hold some significance within his subconscious, always arriving naked and without any of his belongings. His timeline overlaps with that of the novel's titular wife, Clare Abshire, whom he first meets aged 28 - although, due to his time-travelling tendencies, she has known him since she was a little girl Photograph: Alan Markfield
As suggested by: Smurffuhrer, arfurarff, vikingbones
Another accidental time traveller is 11th-century wizard Catweazle, who was transported to 20th-century England in the British 1970s children's television series of the same name. Played by Geoffrey Bayldon and likened to real-life Wiccan Gerald Gardner, Catweazle was baffled by new technology, mistaking it for magic, and forced to hide from modern society in a disused water tower with help from a farmer's son. After successfully returning to his own time at the end of the first series, Catweazle found himself flung into the future once again for the second one, forming an unlikely alliance with nobility in the son of Lord and Lady Collingforth
Photograph: London Weekend Television/Rex
As suggested by: shinerbock, EndTheMadness, MANYANI, jacomes and others
Part of the BBC's Play for Today series, The Flipside of Dominick Hide saw Peter Firth (better known as Spooks' Sir Harry Pearce) in the role of Dominick, sent back through time from 2130 to the London of 1980. Officially investigating transport systems on the 'flipside' (the time before the time barrier had been broken), Dominick secretly uses his time-travelling capabilities to go in search of his great, great grandfather, while pursuing a relationship with flipside boutique owner Jane (Caroline Langrishe). The play was followed by a sequel two years later: Another Flip for Dominick Photograph: PR
As suggested by: fourfoot, JimdiGriz6, StephanoBentos
Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Capt Colter Stevens, who is not only sent to a different time but also an entirely different body in the techno-thriller film Source Code. On a military mission to discover the identity of a bomber, Stevens relives the last eight minutes of Sean Fentress's life on loop as he travels on a doomed commuter train to Chicago. Aside from the plot similarities to Quantum Leap, Scott Bakula (who played Dr Sam Beckett) also features as the voice of Stevens's father, even squeezing in his Quantum Leap catchphrase: 'Oh boy!' Photograph: Jonathan Wenk/PR
As suggested by: ThePlimptonPlopper, NzerDan, Bukharin, LoopyTunes and others
In probably the most morbid look at time travel so far, Frank, the six-foot rabbit who remains unseen to everyone but Donnie (Jake Gyllenhaal again) throughout the 2001 film Donnie Darko, reveals that he is simply from 'the future', before persuading Donnie to commit a series of crimes. Frank also sparks Donnie's interest in the topic of time travel, prompting him to read the fictional book The Philosophy of Time Travel by Roberta Sparrow (aka Grandma Death) Photograph: Cinetext/Allstar
As suggested by: MonnMoth, Gonzalo Cerezo, Psodal, stupidwise and others
Inspired by the 1962 French featurette La Jetée, Terry Gilliam's 12 Monkeys follows James Cole (Bruce Willis), a criminal reluctantly sent back from a post-apocalyptic future to the late 1990s to gather information about a man-made virus that has wiped out much of society, forcing the surviving 1% of the population to live underground. Unfortunately, the form of time travel engineered by scientists of the future proves to be less than accurate and Cole arrives six years earlier than planned, when he is promptly arrested and placed in a mental institution alongside Jeffrey Goines (Brad Pitt), the son of a famous virologist (Christopher Plummer) Photograph: Moviestore Collection/Rex
As suggested by: Flumpasaurus, selosra, normansmate
As protagonist of Douglas Adams's comic sci-fi series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Arthur Dent is perhaps the most unlikely of time travellers. Still wearing his dressing gown, Arthur journeys through the space-time continuum with the 'alien journalist' Ford Prefect after Earth is demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass. Across a 'trilogy' of five books, radio broadcasts, several stage shows, a TV series and a feature film, Arthur has become an iconic character, along with Marvin the Paranoid Android and Trillian, a woman Arthur met once at a party in Islington Photograph: BBC
As suggested by: jamie12, alice45
Kathleen Turner was Oscar-nominated for her role as Peggy Sue Bodell in Francis Ford Coppola's 1986 comedy Peggy Sue Got Married – the director's first box office success since Apocalypse Now. After fainting at a school reunion, Peggy Sue finds that she has travelled back to her senior year of high school, meeting her future husband (Nicolas Cage), old friends (including Jim Carrey) and her younger sister (Sofia Coppola), with the chance to change the decisions she made as a teenager Photograph: Moviestore Collection/Rex
As suggested by: missing yet again, winterof79, wayneji, Stephen Hudson
In an effort to avoid department cuts, time machine developer Tony Newman (James Darren) volunteers to be relocated in time as part of 'Project Tic-Toc' in 60s US TV series The Time Tunnel. Quickly followed into 'the swirling maze of past and future ages' by colleague Dr Phillips, the pair 'tumble helplessly towards a new fantastic adventure, somewhere along the infinite corridors of time', as each episode's introductory narration had it. While the time-travelling duo set about sharing their foresight with everyone from passengers on the Titanic to those living on volcanic island Krakatoa, the rest of their team must attempt to fix the Time Tunnel and bring Newman and Philips back to the present day Photograph: Moviestore Collection/Rex
