Doctor Who has been running, on and off, for 60 years, making it one of the longest running fiction television series of all time. It predates even the original Star Trek by a couple years. For many fans, particularly if you’re an American under 40, you’re likely to only be familiar with the revival series that launched in 2005 and have only a passing familiarity with the 1963-1989 original run of the show.
That’s where this guide comes in handy. It’s intended for those who have some familiarity with the revival, be they devoted fans or casual viewers, who are interested in this classic run of the show. While classic Doctor Who contains some of the best science fiction ever put to air on television there are a few caveats before we dive in.
Classic Who, particularly in the 1960s and early 1970s, has a very different feel from modern television. Like most British telly of the time, Doctor Who was staged like a play and often has a different pace from the revival episodes. That’s also because the classic run ran in serialized form; The serials are anywhere between two and ten half-hour or 45 minute episodes, usually in the four to six episode range. There also might be some moments, characters, behaviors, and so forth that may not have aged well. That happens with old television and while it should not detract you from watching this show, you should keep that in mind.
As you might be aware if you’re a New Who fan, each Doctor has a different look, personality, and story tone. You are likely to find one or two you like more than the others. It is not recommended to watch the show in chronological order, in part because that is somewhat impossible for reasons we will get into, but also because episode quality might be inconsistent. An all time classic might be followed by a total dud (Looking at you, “The Twin Dilemma”), or a very bad episode might be so unintentionally funny and charming that it swings back around to being something that you might want to check out (Hello, “The Horns of Nimon”).
The first serial of the entire series, “An Unearthly Child,” starts off with a great first episode but the rest of the serial is skippable. Instead, you might want to sample some of the stories here, get an idea of which Doctor and companions you like the most, and start with more of those stories. The ‘60s episodes like “An Unearthly Child” might be less accessible to a modern viewing audience unfamiliar with old British television than the 70s and 80s episodes. If you want to watch the show chronologically, though, all power to you.
As an aside, you might also want to dive in with a companion podcast that also goes over the episodes, particularly if you like hearing what long-time fans have to say about what you’re watching or if you’re interested in trivia and behind the scenes minutiae. My favorite review podcast is the irreverent Review of Death, while Radio Free Skaro is a casual and informative news and trivia podcast. For YouTubers, Josh Snares is a valuable source for 1960s Who and the history of the missing episodes, while Clever Dick Films has created extremely detailed documentaries about the history of the show via each Doctor.
The recommendations below aren’t exactly original picks, and many of them factor highly in the latest run of reader’s poll results from Doctor Who magazine. They are, however, fan consensus classics for a reason.
The classic run of Doctor Who can be streamed in the United States on BritBox, and almost all complete serials were recently made available for free ad supported streaming on Tubi.
The First Doctor
When we first encounter the Doctor in 1963’s “An Unearthly Child,” he’s played by William Hartnell. The Doctor first comes across as a man of mystery with a temperament and demeanor that makes him seem like a borderline sinister and morally grey figure. This is best depicted when he effectively kidnaps two of his first three companions in Episode 1. In one scene, the Doctor is stopped from killing an injured caveman by his reluctant companion Ian Chesterton.
There are flashes of the upstanding man of ethics in the second serial “The Daleks,” wherein the audience is introduced to the Doctor’s oldest enemy. This serial made Doctor Who a success in the United Kingdom, and the Daleks themselves are nearly fully formed into the omnicidal maniacs they are best remembered as right from the jump. The Doctor’s disgust at their plans to kill the peaceful Thals with radiation is the first instance of the Doctor As We Know Them. “The Daleks” is a good serial, if a bit overlong, especially the middle bits.
Much of the First Doctor’s run is split between two types of serials — historical pieces where the Doctor and his friends encounter real figures from Earth’s past like Marco Polo, and sci-fi installments like “The Daleks.” This made sense given that the show was originally developed with an all ages demographic and educational story elements in mind, and because the Doctor’s first companions were his own granddaughter Susan, history teacher Barbara, and science teacher Ian.
The show was led in its early years by Verity Lambert, the youngest and only female producer at the BBC at the time. While there is no one specific creator of Doctor Who, the trio of BBC drama department head Sidney Newman, writer C.E. Webber, and script department head Donald Wilson developed the show’s original outline, and Newman and Lambert in particular shaped the show into what it ultimately became once it was on the air. For a dramatized version of the early years of the show, the 2013 BBC television film An Adventure in Space in Time is worth a watch, and is streaming on Britbox.
While the First Doctor starts out very alien indeed, he eventually comes into his own as a kind and just, and often quite cunning and quirky, champion for good. That’s best exemplified in a great starting point for watching his serials in “The Time Meddler.” In this serial, the Doctor is joined by Vicki and Steven, his first companions who are willing and excited to explore time and space with him, and are more than capable of having their own adventures and investigations.
The group lands on the Northumbrian coast in 1066 shortly before the Battle of Hastings, and find a monastery housing a mysterious monk who is more than he seems. That monk is really a Time Lord, and he has his own TARDIS. He’s been meddling with the timeline and now plans to destroy a viking fleet to alter the course of history. Not only is this a well told, briskly paced four episode serial (even when it seems like some of the characters are walking in circles), but it is also the only surviving full-length serial featuring both Steven and Vicki, an underrated companion pair.
Unlike “The Daleks,” Hartnell’s portrayal is fully formed here. No longer the conniving old man we meet in “An Unearthly Child,” but a moralist who refuses to let the Monk destroy Earth’s timeline with his shenanigans. “The Time Meddler” is one of Hartnell’s best stories, an important milestone in the show, and one not to be missed if you want to see the inklings of the Doctor as more than just a scientist with a magic box.
Sadly, a significant amount of William Hartnell’s stories as the First Doctor are missing or incomplete. Britbox does not have many of those incomplete serials, so you’ll get a truncated idea of some companions and the First Doctor’s characterization. If you’d like more information on the missing episodes of Doctor Who from both Hartnell and Troughton’s run, check out Josh Snares’ channel and his videos on the missing episodes and how some of them have returned.
Watch this first: The Time Meddler
Then watch: The Daleks, The Aztecs, The Dalek Invasion of Earth
The Second Doctor
At the end of “The Tenth Planet,” the First Doctor collapses of old age in the Antarctic snow after his first-ever encounter with the Cybermen. As his companions Ben and Polly watch, the old man we have known for three years suddenly changes into a much younger face. This is the introduction to the Second Doctor, and TARDIS and Monk aside, the first inkling we get that the Doctor is no ordinary hero.
Patrick Troughton’s Second Doctor is just as clever as his first incarnation, but has a more light-hearted approach to him. Often referred to as the “cosmic hobo,” this Doctor often pretended to be bumbling and silly before revealing his cunning streak, and was also more actively heroic than his predecessor. For much of his run, the Second Doctor is accompanied by his faithful companion Jamie McCrimmon, a Scottish highlander warrior from the 18th century who becomes his foil and friend in a humorous double act that contrasted with some of the other companions that joined them.
Sadly, many of Troughton’s stories are missing, but several classics survive or have been recovered over the years. Among these is the classic “Tomb of the Cybermen,” which returned to the BBC in 1992. The Doctor, Jamie, and their new friend Victoria land on the planet Telos, where they meet an expedition who are trying to uncover the remains of the Cybermen. While the group plans to use the Cybermen for their own means, the cyborgs do not obey others so easily. The serial is tense and well-paced, but some of the characterization, particularly that of the group’s Black strongman Toberman, age less well.
“The Enemy of the World“ is the most recent serial to be restored in full by a recovery in 2013. In it, the crew land in future Earth only to discover that a wannabe dictator who is an exact double of the Doctoris troubling the planet with extreme natural disasters. Troughton, in a double role, expertly pulls off Salamander as a completely different character from the Doctor, and showcases his range. Unfortunately, the Brownface makeup that Troughton wears play the part has also not aged especially well.
A few missing or incomplete serials worth a mention include “The Web of Fear,” which introduces Colonel (later Brigadier) Lethbridge-Stewart, soon to become an important ally to the Doctor, and “Fury from the Deep,” where the Doctor uses his handy sonic screwdriver for the first time.
The Second Doctor’s tenure ends with the epic “The War Games,” where the Doctor, Jamie, and their plucky genius friend Zoe stumble upon a planet where soldiers from throughout Earth’s history are forced into never-ending battles with one another. As with “The Time Meddler,” the individual responsible for this historical madness is another of the Doctor’s own people, The War Lord.
After defeating him, the Doctor is forced to call open the Time Lords, named here for the first time, to put the soldiers back in their rightful place, but only at great cost to himself and his friends. The Doctor, you see, didn’t leave his planet on the best terms and didn’t exactly have permission to “borrow” the TARDIS when he left. The last we see of the freewheeling cosmic hobo is him being forced into a regeneration, spinning in a blank void, as the show ends the ‘60s and its monochrome period in a shocking finale.
Watch this first: The Tomb of the Cybermen
Then watch: The Enemy of the World, The Mind Robber, The War Games
The Third Doctor
After being punished and forcefully regenerated by the Time Lords and his friends returned to their own time, the Doctor is exiled to Earth in a new body and in color as the 1970s begin.
Jon Pertwee’s Third Doctor is a suave man of action, not afraid to take down baddies with martial arts moves. Here, Doctor Who is the closest it will ever get to James Bond or a Japanese tokusatsu series, as the threats mostly come to him and his UNIT allies as opposed to the other way around.
The era starts with one of the strongest debuts for a Doctor ever in “Spearhead from Space,” which re-introduces Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart, first seen near the end of the Second Doctor’s run, and the “UNIT family.” The serial was also the only one shot entirely on film as opposed to a combination of film and videotape, which means it has been upconverted to true HD and looks fabulous. “Spearhead” is also the first appearance of the Autons, the killer mannequins who later became the first villains in the revival series. At the end of his first season is “Inferno,” a compelling what-if story in which the Doctor visits an ambitious project to harness energy from the Earth’s core, and is then transported to an alternate reality where his UNIT friends are soldiers in an authoritarian world.
The next season’s premiere “Terror of the Autons” brings two important characters into the Doctor Who universe — the Doctor’s Time Lord arch-enemy the Master, a foil played wonderfully by Roger Delgado, and the new companion, the quirky and often underestimated Jo Grant. The Master becomes a regular cast member of the show over the next few serials, appearing often with new schemes. One of the best of these stories is “The Daemons,” a pastoral and suspenseful tale where the Master, disguised as a local chaplain, resurrects a demon-like alien whose species has been using the Earth as an experiment for centuries and may destroy the planet.
The Third Doctor’s era also sees the first anniversary special and multi-Doctor team-up in “The Three Doctors,” where the Second and Third Doctors (and an ailing William Hartnell, appearing on a screen in his final acting appearance) stop the legendary Time Lord Omega from destroying Time Lord civilization. That episode is an engaging romp where it’s a lot of fun to see Pertwee and Troughton act together as their very different takes on the same character. At the end of this episode, the Time Lords free the Third Doctor from his exile, and stories begin to take place off Earth once more.
The Master ends his recurring role with “Frontier in Space,” the last serial featuring Roger Delgado before he was killed in a car accident shortly before transmission, and Jo departs in “The Green Death.” These departures pave the way for the introduction of one of the most beloved companions of the whole show, the precocious and adventurous journalist Sarah Jane Smith (played by Elizabeth Sladen) in “The Time Warrior.” That historical/sci-fi hybrid serial sees a lone delegate from the warrior Sontaran race who crashes in medieval England just as the Doctor and crew arrive in an area investigating missing modern day scientists who may have been brought to the period.
After being exposed to deadly radiation on another world at the end of the solid “Planet of the Spiders,” the Doctor staggers out of the TARDIS onto the floor of his UNIT laboratory as Sarah Jane and the Brig watch their friend transform. Thus ends one of the best and most beloved runs of the show before one even better takes over.
Watch this first: Spearhead from Space
Then watch: Inferno, The Daemons, The Three Doctors
The Fourth Doctor
For decades, the man who most people around the world associated with Doctor Who was a tall, curly haired Liverpudlian with a never-ending scarf and a zany personality that belied his heroics, ethics, and temper. Welcome to the world of Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor. For some fans, Doctor Who was never better than Four’s early adventures overseen by showrunner Philip Hinchcliffe and script editor and sometime writer Robert Holmes. Baker had the longest run of any Doctor, playing the role between 1974 to 1981, and his era had high highs and … let’s just say silly lows, and many changes of tone and style.
The Fourth Doctor bounds into action with first serial “Robot,” where he must stop an evil scientist from using an advanced (for 1974) robot to steal nuclear codes and pull a Dr. Evil with them. Not the most high concert plot to introduce a new Doctor, but it works to establish Four as a very different character from Three. Sarah Jane and UNIT surgeon Dr. Harry Sullivan are subsequently along for the ride for some of the best television this show has ever produced.
That includes “Genesis of the Daleks,” the show’s finest 90 minutes, where the Doctor is assigned by the Time Lords to either stop the Daleks from being created or from being a menace that would destroy the universe. The Doctor and friends encounter the authoritarian, jackbooted teutonic Kaleds and their leader, the evil scientist Davros, who turn themselves into the dreaded Dalek mutants. When the Doctor finally gets a chance to wipe out the Daleks at the moment of their creation, he hesitates, and asks himself if he ethically has the right to wipe out an entire life form, even one as villainous as the Daleks.
“Genesis of the Daleks” shows the dichotomy of the Fourth Doctor — he’s a flighty goofball quick with a snappy joke, whose pockets are stuffed with yo-yos and junk, who also has a great moral center and will always do what is right, even at his own expense. While the Daleks aren’t destroyed at the end of the serial, they are set back, and the events might be the first shots of the Time War that devastates both the Daleks and Time Lords come the revival series.
The Fourth Doctor’s run was when Doctor Who first became a cult classic in the United States, after a failed attempt earlier in the ‘70s to introduce the Third Doctor to first-run syndication. On PBS stations across the country, Tom Baker and Elizabeth Sladen became cult heroes, even as the show was sometimes aired early in the morning, sometimes in omnibus editions that combined a six episode serial into one “Whovie.”
There’s more classics as the Hinchcliffe/Holmes era continues. Chief among these is “Pyramids of Mars,” where the Doctor and Sarah Jane land in an old estate in Edwardian England and encounter a mysterious Egyptian man who worships a god named Sutekh who turns out to be an alien whose species influenced ancient Egyptian mythology. Although an attempt is made to escape to the present, the Doctor and Sarah Jane return only to find their home time ruined. Now, they must destroy Sutekh in 1911 in order to save the Earth. Other classics of the Sarah Jane era include “The Ark in Space,” “The Brain of Morbius,” and “The Seeds of Doom.”
After the departure of Sladen, the Doctor is joined by Leela, a “noble savage” descendant of a doomed interstellar survey team, for a season and a half. Their adventures are highlighted by “The Robots of Death,” where they discover a murder mystery on board a giant mining vehicle filled with robots that were written with Isaac Asimov’s rules of robotics in mind. Leela then made way for Romana, a Time Lady who first joined the Doctor for the “Key to Time” arc in Season 16. Smarter than the Doctor and a capable TARDIS pilot, but with less field experience, Romana basically became the show’s second lead and more of an equal partner to the Doctor than a human sidekick normally would. Romana was played by Mary Tamm for the “Key to Time” serials before regenerating into her much better remembered second incarnation played by Lalla Ward.
“City of Death,” the highest rated serial in the Classic era, is also a very popular and accessible starting point for the entire series. The Paris-based adventure in which the Doctor and Romana uncover an alien plot to steal the Mona Lisa gives newcomers a taste of the serialized nature of the show with a hilarious script co-written by script editor Douglas Adams, soon to leave the show for his own Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Another Romana II era highlight is “The Horns of Nimon,” a pretty bad serial featuring a convoluted plot about minotaur-like creatures on another world. It is by no means good, but Graham Crowden, playing Skonnon leader Soldeed, steals the show with his hammy overacting. In the finale, he doesn’t chew the scenery, it’s more like he swallows it whole like a duck would, while Lalla Ward delivers her lines completely straight. If you came to Doctor Who for the cheese, “The Horns of Nimon” is what you’re looking for.
After parting with Romana in a pocket universe, the Fourth Doctor’s long run finally comes to an end with “Logopolis.” The Master was too popular an antagonist to disappear from the show after Delgado died, and he returned a few more times with different actors playing his burned-out body before Anthony Ainley took over for the remainder of the show’s run. In this serial, the Doctor and the Master form an uneasy truce to save the universe in heat death, which unfortunately ends in tragedy for the Fourth Doctor.
Watch this first: City of Death
Then watch: Genesis of the Daleks, Pyramids of Mars, The Robots of Death
The Fifth Doctor
The Fourth Doctor sure knew how to make an exit when he finally went — falling off a radio telescope in “Logopolis” and regenerating surrounded by his friends as the ghostly Watcher merges into him. Then, he turns into Peter Davison, the youngest actor to play the Doctor at the time. Wearing a cricket outfit and a stalk of celery on his lapel, the Fifth Doctor was dashing and capable, but was often as much at risk of being captured as his companions were.
The Fifth Doctor was first accompanied by the trio inherited from his predecessor — the calm and collected scientist Nyssa, teen know-it-all Adric, and the boisterous Tegan Jovanka. The quartet of characters acted as a small ensemble, and played off each other well in early stories like “Castrovalva.” In that story, the group and the newly regenerated Doctor find themselves trapped by the Master in the M.C. Escher-inspired town of the same name. In the high-concept “Kinda,” Tegan becomes possessed by the Mara, a snake-like being who feeds off dreams, and it returns in the later “Snakedance.”
The biggest stunner of the era, and possibly the series as a whole comes in “Earthshock,” in which the Doctor and crew encounter a freighter in the near future, and he is surprised to find the Cybermen are watching them in a plot to take over the Earth. The climax of the series is a shock, as one of the Doctor’s companions makes a decision that ripples throughout the rest of this era. “Earthshock” is tense, and it’s one of the first times in the series’ history where you aren’t sure how the Doctor is going to get out of this jam.
After “Earthshock,” the ensemble splinters, although Tegan remains a relative constant throughout this run. The 20th anniversary serial “The Five Doctors” sees the return of the second and third Doctors, plus a new actor for the first to replace the late William Hartnell. Footage from the incomplete Douglas Adams story “Shada” represents the Fourth in place of new material from the uninterested Tom Baker. This story is a classic, and sees the Doctors, a handful of returning companions, and a bevy of classic villains caught in a Time Scoop. The Master is promised a new regeneration cycle if he saves the Doctor from whoever has trapped all the incarnations, but he has his own motives. This feature length story is a solid introduction to all five Doctors if you’ve chosen to skip around, and Davison is very much not on the wayside as the incumbent Doctor in a stuffed cast.
The Fifth Doctor’s swan song “The Caves of Androzani” is also his best moment, and a highlight for the show as a whole. Five and his new companion Peri stumble onto a war torn planet, where they are accidentally exposed to a toxin that will kill both of them unless an antidote is found. The serial becomes a frantic race against time, one that ends on a somber note.
Watch this first: Earthshock
Then watch: Kinda, The Five Doctors, The Caves of Androzani
The Sixth Doctor
The Fifth Doctor ended his run with one of the greatest serials in the history of Doctor Who, selflessly giving the last bit of antidote to his new friend Peri Brown at the expense of his current incarnation. Alas, just a week later, the Sixth Doctor began his own run ends with the Doctor with one of the worst serials of the show’s history. I am not recommending readers to watch “The Twin Dilemma” and no fellow Who fan would begrudge me from doing so.
It is a shame that, more often than not, Colin Baker was not given scripts that matched his talent and his own take on the character. Unlike the friendly Doctors of the last few incarnations, the Sixth Doctor is a prickly and smug man whose jokes are often more sarcastic and acid tongued than ever before. Beneath this darker interior layer remains a Doctor with a moral and ethical code who is always on the side of justice, even when justice may not be on his.
This is the most tumultuous era in the show’s history. First, serials were changed from a typical four 25-minute episode length to two 45-minute ones, an experiment dropped by the time the Seventh Doctor debuts. The show’s quality had dipped, the ratings were solid but beginning to suffer when compared to better-looking American imports airing on other networks, and the new controller of BBC 1 was not a fan of the show.
Facing budget cuts, the BBC made the decision to halt production of the show in 1985. Doctor Who was lucky that it had one of the first and most passionate fandoms, who rallied around the show and set up campaigns to save their favorite program. After fan outcry, the show resumed production 18 months later in late 1986 with an ambitious whole-season arc called “The Trial of a Time Lord” before the Sixth Doctor’s era came to an abrupt end after the decision was made to replace Baker.
There are gems in Baker’s truncated run, though. “The Two Doctors” is a fun romp that sees one final return by the Second Doctor and Jamie before Troughton’s death in 1987, as Two and Five team up to stop a geneticist from stealing the secrets of time travel. “The Revelation of the Daleks” was Baker’s only on-screen meeting with the Daleks, wherein Davros is forcibly turning humans into Daleks, in a great horror twist on the recurring Dalek story beats. “The Mark of the Rani” is not a recommended episode, but it might be worth a peak to see Dynasty star Kate O’Mara ham it up as the brilliant and evil Time Lady the Rani.
“The Trial of a Time Lord” is a bit of a mess, both in story and production. For instance, the new companion Mel is introduced as already traveling with the Doctor in the near future, but joins him at the end of the saga without any proper introduction. The epic should be watched at least once though, and the viewer should keep in the back of their head that the show, too, was on trial.
In the years following Colin Baker’s undignified departure from the role, he has reprised his character in the Big Finish audio drama range, finally giving him good material to sink his teeth into and interesting companions that match the character’s personality. While his television tenure may be disappointing, don’t write off the Sixth Doctor entirely. His best work was yet to come.
When Doctor Who returned in 1987, however, it would be with a new, very different Doctor as the show goes into its final classic era.
Watch this first: Revelation of the Daleks
Then watch: Vengeance on Varos, The Two Doctors
The Seventh Doctor
Sylvester McCoy’s Seventh Doctor has an ignominious beginning with the mediocre “Time and the Rani,” but the character comes to his own as his era goes on. While the first season with Mel has its moments, it is often very kitschy and dinner theater (or rather, pantomime) in nature and may be off-putting for American fans not familiar with British light entertainment.
In its final two seasons, Doctor Who begins an increase in quality, once McCoy becomes comfortable in his role and unveils a more Machiavellian chessmaster side to his goofy spoon-playing Doctor. The Seventh Doctor becomes a man who should not be underestimated despite appearances. Nor should his final classic companion Ace, the prototype for the modern companion who gleefully runs towards danger instead of from it, often with a can of her homemade explosive Nitro 9.
In “Remembrance of the Daleks,” the Doctor returns to Coal Hill School and the Foreman junkyard in London, where the show began in 1963 to uncover a powerful relic he left there when he departed with Ian, Barbara, and Susan all those years ago. The Daleks, however, have also been tipped off to the device, and plan to make off with it by any means necessary. The serial goes all out with new Dalek types and effects, including, at long last, the Daleks mastering their problem getting up staircases by hovering. Ace also beats a Dalek to death with a baseball bat for daring to call her small, in one of the most badass companion moments in the show’s history.
The Seventh Doctor’s best, most accessible and easily recommended stories come from his last two seasons, particularly the final one — three of the four serials in Season 26 come recommended. “Ghost Light,” set in Victorian times, and “The Curse of Fenric,” set during World War II, bid farewell to the classic historical-sci-fi hybrid format with two winning serials. “Fenric” even has some timey-wimey shenanigans with Ace confronting her estranged mother in a way she was not expecting.
We get to know Ace’s backstory better than a lot of other companions, best exemplified by the unintended series finale “Survival.” If Doctor Who had to go on hiatus — borderline canceled more like — at least it went out on a high note. In this story, we return to present day England, eventually a regular setting for the revival episodes, as Ace and the Doctor discover that the Master is behind her friends disappearing to a land of cat people. The show ends with an iconic image — the Doctor appearing behind Ace, and the two then walking out of frame towards the TARDIS, with more work to do.
And more work there was, just not on screen. Doctor Who aired its last original episode in its classic run on November 15, 1989, only a few days away from its 26th anniversary. The show was done in by its falling ratings and public interest, even as the show was getting better. There was no outcry comparable to what happened in 1985, and the BBC said the show was merely resting. McCoy’s Doctor would continue his adventures in a series of popular books, the Virgin New Adventures. But the Doctor wouldn’t return to television permanently until 2005. Unless I’m forgetting something. Oh, right.
Watch this first: Remembrance of the Daleks
Then watch: The Happiness Patrol, The Curse of Fenric, Survival
The Eighth Doctor
Oh, the Eighth Doctor: What could have been. In the United States in the 1990s, Doctor Who was not the cultural touchstone it was in Britain or the sci-fi phenomenon it is now. The show was maybe one of the nerdiest interests you could have as an American, up there with Warhammer or model trains (not a rip on either of those things, that’s just how they were perceived). It was remembered by American fans, though, and had enough of a presence that Fox became interested in producing a television movie in 1996. The story of how the movie came to Fox is its own story, best covered by the Radio Times and Clever Dick Productions’ video on the period between the Eighth Doctor’s swan song “Survival” and the Ninth Doctor’s debut “Rose”.
There is only one TV story with Eight and it’s that TV movie. It’s okay. Fine enough. Paul McGann is fantastic, and he affirms himself as a great choice for a new Doctor. The sets, particularly of the TARDIS, are beautiful. Unfortunately, though, the plot is too campy and convoluted, and it keeps throwing references in the audience’s face hoping to keep new and experienced fans engaged while losing both. With a few tweaks from this obvious pilot movie, a new Doctor Who show starring McGann might have worked. If only the movie wasn’t a ratings flop in the U.S., which it was. That meant McGann’s promising new era was over before it even got started.
Except, that’s where the audio dramas come in. Big Finish Productions obtained the license to create official Doctor Who audio stories in 1999, and have been making them since, with various Doctors and old and new companions. The Eighth Doctor first appeared in 2001’s “Storm Warning,” the series premiere McGann never got. In it, he meets the Edwardian adventurer Charley Pollard, who is doomed to die in the wreck of the R101 airship in 1930.
But, the Doctor plucks her out of time and sets in motion a series of stories rippling from this decision to meddle with historical record to save her. That includes the amazing “The Chimes of Midnight,” where the pair discover both a murder mystery at an upper crust mansion, and a bizarre time distortion that is connected to Charley. If you want to experience McGann at his best, and don’t mind listening to audio dramas, you will fall in love with the Eighth Doctor through Big Finish.
After the TV movie, it took until 2005 for Doctor Who to return to television, and it eventually became bigger than it ever had before. The revived show is a direct continuation of the classic series complete with the proper numbering of Doctors (even when that becomes complicated by later storylines) and plenty of callbacks and returning characters from the original run. If you’ve watched the show since it returned, hopefully we’ve been able to catch you up with the first 26 years of adventures.
Classic Doctor Who logo cover image courtesy of BritBox and the BBC
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