Since its inception in 1963, Doctor Who has, time and time again, earned its title not only as a British institution, but one of the best and longest-running TV series in the world.
But, perhaps daunted by its decades of history, plenty of fans who came to the series after its 2005 reboot have never delved into the much-loved classic era of the show. And that, dear reader, would be a mistake.
From the iconic first ever serial starring William Hartnell, to what’s remembered as the “golden years” under Tom Baker’s reign, to Sylvester McCoy’s emotional goodbye, some of the best ever Doctor Who stories ever sit in the classic era.
So, to celebrate our favourite time traveller’s rich history, Radio Times‘s team of Doctor Who superfans have made the most difficult of choices, ranking the best ever stories from the classic era.
Buckle in!
30. The Tenth Planet (1966)
Storyline: The Doctor, Ben and Polly land in 1986 at Snowcap, the South Pole base of International Space Command. The hectoring General Cutler and his staff are tracking atmospheric testing probe Zeus 4, when it is drawn off course by the arrival of a new planet. The Doctor realises this is Earth’s twin, Mondas, which has returned after drifting away to the edge of space many eons ago.
Its inhabitants – the Cybermen – send an attack force to Snowcap to seize control. Somehow Mondas is absorbing too much energy from Earth, which the aliens intend to destroy using the Snowcap’s own Z-bomb, before the tenth planet is itself annihilated. Humans will be transported and cybernetically enhanced. But the Cybermen are too late: they perish as Mondas melts.
RT said: With The Tenth Planet we get a palpable sense of the programme reaching towards the future. There’s the date and setting, of course. Back in 1966 the year 1986 must have seemed a long way off; and the high-tech, internationally staffed South Pole HQ was sophisticated territory for the series. The attack on Snowcap also establishes the base-under-siege template that would be immensely successful during the next few seasons.
The first Doctor’s grand finale has regrettably been lost in time, so his collapse and transformation inside the Tardis – accompanied by a nerve-jangling Radiophonic cacophony – exist now only in fragmented clips. For viewers in 1966 it was a blinding moment of magic. Unexpected. Unexplained. – Patrick Mulkern.
Read the full review and delve into the RT archive.
29. Earthshock (1982)
Storyline: In caves on Earth in 2526, a team of palaeontologists, troopers and eventually the Tardis crew come under attack from two deadly androids that are guarding a powerful bomb. The Doctor deactivates the device and traces its operators to deep space.
The Cybermen – concealed en masse in the hold of a freighter – are forced to rethink their attack plan and put the ship on a collision course with Earth. The freighter jumps time warps by some 65 million years and becomes the explosion that wiped out the dinosaurs. The Doctor is unable to save Adric who is still trapped on board.
RT said: Even today Earthshock packs a punch and I’ll never forget the visceral thrill – a proper knotted stomach – of seeing this story on first transmission.
Fan critics have quite rightly seized upon plot holes and logic leaps, but I’m happy to gloss over them. Earthshock is a career highpoint for JN-T, Saward and Grimwade. Apart from a few model shots and one day’s quarry filming, everything was achieved in one studio at Television Centre over just six days. Astonishing. – Patrick Mulkern.
Read the full review and delve into the RT archive.
28. The Stones of Blood (1978)
Storyline: Romana has her first taste of the Doctor’s “favourite planet”, Earth, when the quest for the Key to Time brings them to the Nine Travellers, a stone circle on Boscombe Moor. They befriend Professor Rumford and Vivien Fay who are surveying the circle, but soon fall foul of a Druidic sect worshipping a Celtic goddess, the Cailleach.
K-9 deduces that several stones are silicon-based globulin-deficients – blood-sucking Ogri who obey Miss Fay. She has been posing as the Cailleach, but is in fact Cessair of Diplos, a criminal who came to Earth 4,000 years ago. Aboard a hyperspace vessel near the circle, the Doctor unwittingly releases justice machines called the Megara, who proceed to put him on trial…
RT says: There’s fresh blood in the chalice as Doctor Who clocks up its 100th story: it’s a confident debut from writer David Fisher and an impressive one-off engagement for director Darrol Blake and designer John Stout. But while we appreciate what these new boys can do, The Stones of Blood is – refreshingly – a tale concerned primarily with women, as Graham Williams and Anthony Read make a concerted effort to bolster female roles in the series.
This 100th story doesn’t need to be big and blowsy; it’s an intriguing yarn with small stakes and vivid characters. It transports us with élan from an atmospheric English setting into a dazzling new dimension. Above all, The Stones of Blood gives Beatrix Lehmann a role to crown her career. She died nine months after transmission, but as Professor Emilia Rumford gained immortality. – Patrick Mulkern.
Read the full review and delve into the RT archive.
27. The Dalek Invasion of Earth (1964)
Storyline: The quartet arrive in London some time after the year 2164, and find a ruined city, men who have lost their humanity…and Daleks! They meet members of an underground resistance movement led by the disabled Dortmun, who is trying to develop an anti-Dalek explosive. It transpires that the Daleks have wiped out most of Earth’s population using germ bombs, and have subjugated the remainder into robotic serfdom, or as labourers in a Bedfordshire mining operation. But why..?
RT said: In this ground-breaking story Barbara and Ian are welcomed back to their planet with the sight of mind-ravaged men taking their own lives, a flattened capital and posters discouraging corpse disposal. Anyone thinking Doctor Who was kids’ stuff would have been shocked. With such mayhem abounding, there could only be one agency at work…
If the Daleks caused a stir with their debut, they whipped up a storm on their return, pushing the ratings over 12 million. And no wonder. It’s one thing to have the maniacal menaces gliding about in metal corridors, but quite another to have them skating past familiar landmarks, and along streets that could be the ones we live in.
For sheer breadth and scope, Dalek Invasion has it all – and for doomy, deadly serious sci-fi, Terry “Terror” Nation was in a league of his own. – Mark Braxton.
Read the full review and delve into the RT archive.
26. The Abominable Snowmen
Storyline: When the Tardis lands near a Tibetan monastery in 1935, the Doctor prepares to return to the monks of Det-Sen a holy bell or ghanta that he was given for safekeeping on a previous visit. But the expected “welcome of a lifetime” never materialises.
Instead the Doctor is accused by an English explorer called Travers of murdering his companion. In fact the killer was one of the Yeti – also encountered by Jamie and Victoria – which turn out to be robots manipulated by the Doctor’s former friend, Padmasambhava. The frail, centuries-old High Lama is possessed by a space-dwelling Great Intelligence planning to take over the Earth…
RT said: If The Abominable Snowmen were a stick of rock, it would have Doctor Who running through it. Few stories scream out the show’s name, and capture its appeal, quite so precisely. Here’s that list of ingredients: unusual setting; huge and threatening monster; creepy malefactor; clear storytelling; and that killer concurrence of personal peril with widespread jeopardy. Other adventures fit the mould, but not with such atmosphere and ingenuity.
Whatever synergy it was that fashioned such on-screen magic… travelling trio on indomitable form, unusual subject, formidable monsters… The Abominable Snowmen remains a revered standard-bearer for the show. – Mark Braxton.
Read the full review and delve into the RT archive.
25. Marco Polo
Storyline: In 1289, the travellers join the caravan of Venetian adventurer Marco Polo as he journeys from the frozen slopes of the Himalayas, through the scorched dunes of the Gobi and on to the palaces of Shang-tu and Peking. The explorer is in the service of “master of the world” Kublai Khan and intends to present him with the “magician’s caravan” (Tardis) in exchange for his freedom.
Among Polo’s other companions are the scheming Mongol warlord Tegana and Ping-Cho, a young girl betrothed to a 75-year-old man. On their odyssey they face many dangers including altitude sickness, dehydration and kidnapping.
RT said: After the tense and claustrophobic four-hander The Edge of Destruction, the fledgeling Who crew gave viewers variety by opening up the action in spectacular fashion. Indiana Jones-style route animations, journal entries and numerous scene changes all helped to convey a grand undertaking.
A flood of memorable exchanges ensures our attention rarely droops over nearly three hours: the tussles over the Tardis; Ian and Marco discussing the marvels of science and nature; teenagers Ping-Cho and Susan comparing the movements of fish in a pond to their friends; and the doddering Doctor apparently vying with a cantankerous, gout-ridden Khan in an infirmity contest.
Some consider the screenplay to be over-educational (I can’t see the harm in that, personally), and there’s inconsistency over the foreign characters adopting an accent (an enduring problem that can be found in today’s dramas). But the historical landscape was rarely mapped with such poetry and elegance. – Mark Braxton
Read the full review and delve into the RT archive.
24. The Time Meddler
Storyline: The Doctor and Vicki discover that Steven has survived the collapse of the Mechanoid city and found refuge in the Tardis. Their next landing site is a beach in Northumbria in the year 1066 – or is it? A wristwatch, gramophone player and futuristic cannon are among the anachronistic items that have mysteriously found their way back to the 11th century.
The answer lies with a Monk who’s recently moved into a monastery near a Saxon settlement. The Doctor realises the Monk is a time-traveller – indeed one of his own people – and that he’s planning to alter the course of Earth history by destroying the approaching Viking fleet. “He must be stopped!”
RT says: The Time Meddler is utterly delightful. For me, it’s the Doctor Who equivalent of comfort food. Innovation, wit and verve place the serial high above its contemporaries, making it feel in some respects almost modern. At the same time this is undeniably a slice of television antiquity.
As new companion Steven Taylor, Peter Purves arrived without any fanfare. A mild irritation to the Doctor, Steven instantly engages the viewer by scoffing at the old man’s claims about time travel. The concepts and acronym of the Tardis are explained fully for the first time since An Unearthly Child in 1963 – a welcome reminder but also a primer for revelations later in this adventure.
In a final flourish to round off the second season – as the throbbing theme music begins but before the credits roll – Camfield treats us to bleached-out close-ups of Steven, Vicki, then the Doctor gazing in wonder at the cosmos… Magical. – Patrick Mulkern.
Read the full review and delve into the RT archive.
23. The Daleks’ Master Plan
Storyline: Landing on the planet Kembel in the year 4000, the Doctor and his companions, Steven and Katarina, meet Space Security Service agent Bret Vyon. They discover that the Daleks are plotting – with other galactic representatives – to conquer the Earth, then the universe, using the “time destructor”. The travellers resolve to warn the terrestrial authorities but the Guardian of the Solar System, Mavic Chen, is also party to the Dalek scheme. So they make off in Chen’s spaceship, the Doctor having stolen the time destructor’s taranium core. Katarina later sacrifices herself when they are waylaid on the penal planet Desperus so that the Doctor’s mission can proceed…
To regain the taranium, Chen sends Sara Kingdom, another SSS agent, to locate the Doctor and his companions when they reach Earth. Oblivious to Chen’s betrayal, Kingdom shoots Vyon – her own brother – before being transported through space with the Doctor and Steven to the planet Mira, and from there to Kembel. A fake core fashioned by the Doctor allows them to escape Dalek clutches once more and, after interludes on Earth and involving the Doctor’s old adversary the Monk, they return to Kembel. Here, the Daleks turn on Chen and kill him, and the Doctor steals their time destructor and uses it to annihilate them. Sara ignores the Doctor’s warning that she should return to the Tardis, and is caught up in the doomsday weapon’s deadly rays.
RT said: Twelve episodes, contrasting alien environments, ancient Egypt, more than one returning enemy, a plot to overthrow the universe and the first death of a companion – followed by a second and third! Epic doesn’t even come close.
In Mavic Chen we had one of the great villains of Who. On paper, a ranting, Bondian cliché hell-bent on the acquisition of power. But on screen he’s way more subtle: Kevin Stoney imbues Chen with well-spoken malevolence, increasingly unhinged monomania and the weirdest pen grip possible.
William Hartnell gives one of his best performances as the Time Lord, from his customary, impish monologuing and harrumphing irritation to a spot of “cards-to-the-chest” cleverness and, on more than one occasion, utterly haunted helplessness. In episode nine Hartnell sounds quite poorly, but he carries on regardless. All credit to him for this: his outwitting of the Monk and the Daleks provides some of the story’s standout moments. – Mark Braxton.
Read the full review and delve into the RT archive.
22. The Ark in Space (1975)
Storyline: The Tardis takes the Doctor, Sarah and Harry to space station Nerva in orbit above Earth in the far future. A human elite has been preserved in Nerva’s cryogenic chambers while the Earth was bombarded by solar flares. But thousands of years have passed and Nerva is being infiltrated by Wirrn, pernicious insectile life forms who plan to feed on the human survivors…
RT said: In a clean break from Earth and the lollipop comfort of Unit, here’s a riveting horror story in a clinical sci-fi environment; add a dash of whimsy, and you have an appetising treat for more sophisticated viewers, even adults.
Despite his Harpo Marx meets Marty Feldman demeanour, Tom Baker sells the urgency of every situation. He is deliciously alien. “It may be irrational of me, but human beings are quite my favourite species.” He convincingly carries off his solo homage to “Homo sapiens… They’re indomitable!”
And typifying this sentiment is Vira, the only revived human to survive to the end. Wendy Williams plays her with a lovely blend of froideur and compassion. I adore the final shot when Vira turns on her heel, smiling for the first time, having accepted a bag of jelly babies from the departing Doctor. It subtly persuades us to accept his weird new persona too. – Patrick Mulkern
Read the full review and delve into the RT archive.
21. The Crusade
Storyline: Palestine, 1191: the Tardis lands in a wood outside Jaffa just as a band of Saracens launches an attack on Richard the Lionheart’s hunting party. The Doctor, Ian and Vicki take refuge in the city and find favour with the king, but Barbara is taken to Sultan Saladin’s encampment in Ramlah. Richard makes Ian a knight (Sir Ian of Jaffa) and despatches him to bargain for Barbara’s release. She, however, has been abducted by the sadistic emir of Lydda – El Akir…
RT said: The Crusade is arguably the first story where every aspect of the production works to perfection. Elegant dialogue and engaging performances are well served by Camfield’s assured, fluid direction. Barry Newbery surpasses himself with some outstanding sets – from the reasonably convincing woodland to the torch-lit, diaphanous draperies of the Saracen camp. The detailed Gothic chambers of King Richard’s palace are subtly enhanced by an echo effect on the soundtrack.
Of course, there has to be a villain and Walter Randall’s El Akir is the most sinister character in the series to date. The magnificent end of episode three sees Barbara thrown at his feet. She looks up, fearful but defiant, at his scarred face. Flailing himself with a small crop, he sneers, “The only pleasure left for you is death. And death is very far away.”
The Crusade was one of the earliest serials deemed worthy of publishing in book form (in 1966) – and now, judging by the remnants of the TV production on DVD, it’s easy to see this was an example of 1960s Doctor Who at its very best. – Patrick Mulkern.
Read the full review and delve into the RT archive.
20. An Unearthly Child (1963)
Storyline: London, 1963: at Coal Hill School, teachers Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright are concerned about 15-year-old pupil Susan Foreman, who is a genius in some subjects, terrible in others, and claims to live at 76 Totter’s Lane – a junkyard. Investigating her background, Ian and Barbara discover that Susan and her grandfather, known only as the Doctor, are visitors from “another time, another world”, and that their home, camouflaged as a police box, is in fact a space/time ship called the Tardis (an acronym for Time and Relative Dimension in Space).
The Doctor activates his vessel, unwittingly transporting everyone back to a freezing Palaeolithic landscape. They are seized by a tribe of cave dwellers desperate to rediscover the secret of fire. A power struggle is under way between two men, Kal and Za. Can the time travellers affect the outcome and escape the cave of skulls with their lives…?
RT said: A foggy night in London town. A spooky junkyard with a police box humming in the shadows. A schoolgirl with preternatural knowledge. A mysterious old man in Edwardian clothes stepping out of the darkness… The legend starts here.
The masterstroke right here at the beginning is the casting of William Hartnell, who delivers an entrancing performance as the first Doctor Who.
At the outset he is many things: elusive, wistful, condescending, reckless, even murderous… Above all, though, he is magical; the star of the show. One thing he decidedly is not is the hero. The protagonists are a chummy science master and an intuitive history teacher. And how wise of Doctor Who’s devisers to seize our attention by showing two educated grown-ups, the instantly likeable Ian and Barbara, stumbling upon, and having to process and accept, the mind-bending concepts at the core of the programme.
Meanwhile, Waris Hussein’s evocative, moody direction expertly overcomes the technical limitations of a small studio in Lime Grove.
The four travellers go through agonies in their first adventure. By the end, clothes are torn, faces are covered in grime and sweat. Never has time travel looked less appealing. Then, in the sanctuary of his “Ship”, the Doctor reveals he has little control over its functions. “I’m not a miracle worker,” he barks. Wherever would they go next?
RT billed Doctor Who throughout the 1960s as “an adventure in space and time”. This was only the beginning. – Patrick Mulkern.
Read the full review and delve into the RT archive.
19. Terror of the Autons (1971)
Storyline: A renegade Time Lord, known as the Master, arrives on Earth and uses a radio telescope to open a bridgehead for the Nestene Consciousness. Infiltrating a plastics factory, he manufactures a new batch of Autons, as well as an array of deadly domestic products: an engulfing armchair, a hideous troll doll and daffodils that emit a suffocating transparent film. At Unit, the Doctor reluctantly accepts the Brigadier’s offer of a new assistant, Jo Grant. Together they must face off the Master and a terrifying threat to mankind…
RT said: Vibrant colours. Sharp compositions. Fast narrative. Snappy dialogue… A cloak-flapping superhero and his saturnine nemesis… Yes, Terror of the Autons is Doctor Who as comic-strip adventure.
Jo is a joy and vivacious Katy Manning (then 24) a true find. She seems implausibly young to be a “secret agent”, but there’s no denying her pluck. She’s fibbed her way into a Unit post and locates the Master’s base within minutes. She’s clumsy, too, extinguishing the Doctor’s “steady-state micro-welding”. “Yer ham-fisted bun vendor!” he scolds – evidently in need of more polished putdowns. – Patrick Mulkern.
Read the full review and delve into the RT archive.
18. Terror of the Zygons (1975)
Storyline: A summons from the Brigadier brings the Doctor, Sarah and Harry to the Scottish village of Tulloch to investigate the destruction of North Sea oil rigs. The Doctor learns that the attacks have been carried out by the Skarasen, a huge cyborg controlled by Zygons from a spaceship hidden in Loch Ness.
Under heavy shelling, the shape-shifting aliens relocate their ship, only for the Doctor to activate its self-destruct. A last-ditch show of force in London by the surviving Zygon, Broton, is foiled, the Skarasen returns to Loch Ness and Harry chooses to stay on Earth.
RT says: There’s no procrastination in Terror of the Zygons. Army-obsessed Douglas Camfield sees to that. Just ten minutes in, we see the story’s pièce de résistance: the Zygon itself. All nodules and burst capillaries, it looks like Humpty Dumpty’s had a skin graft from an octopus. As dreamt up by James Acheson and John Friedlander, the Zygon is exquisitely horrible.
Two things stand out: the heart-warming togetherness of the three travellers, first seen tramping through the heather (Harry sporting the Doctor’s scarf and Sarah, his hat), and Tom Baker’s captivating performance as the Doc, talking once again through his hat (“Very well!”) and later, staring morosely into the middle distance as if utterly bored by terrestrial concerns.
It’s a shut-them-down and blow-it-up tale that, some may say, relegates it to a Zygon era. But such was its poise, power and punch that it gave us a magnificent monster on its debut, and a time team at its finale, and both at their absolute zenith. – Mark Braxton.
Read the full review and delve into the RT archive.
17. Doctor Who and the Silurians (1970)
Storyline: The Doctor and Liz are ordered by the Brigadier to investigate power losses and staff sickness at Wenley Moor underground nuclear research centre. Exploring adjacent caves where one potholer has been killed and another injured, the Doctor discovers a huge dinosaur and an intelligent race of bipedal reptiles or Silurians.
A scientist called Quinn has been helping the creatures in return for knowledge but is later murdered by one. It seems that power from the nuclear reactor has revived the Silurians after millions of years and now they want to reclaim the Earth from humans. As the Doctor struggles to achieve peace between the two races, a lethal Silurian virus is unleashed. Can he discover an antidote…?
RT said: The production crew has a lot to live up to after the filmic sheen and heightened scares of Jon Pertwee’s inaugural story. An unwieldy, seven-part structure and collision of studio and location work – now more visible than ever in living colour – don’t augur well. But there’s a depth and richness to Malcolm Hulke’s story, and Timothy Combe’s translation of it, that make the Silurians a standout.
Production shortcomings can’t spoil a gritty, provocative story, furnished by fine character actors (Fulton Mackay, Geoffrey Palmer and Peter Miles) and discerning content. The magic is best summed up by the episode four intro: when the fugitive Silurian bears down on the Doctor, the latter calmly offers his hand in friendship. It’s the kind of wrong-footing gesture that makes the Doctor so admirable. And the show so revolutionary. – Mark Braxton.
Read the full review and delve into the RT archive.
16. The Talons of Weng-Chiang (1977)
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Storyline: In fogbound Victorian London, a trail of disappearing women and gruesome murders points to the Palace Theatre music hall. Chinese stage magician Li H’sen Chang and his lethal dummy, Mr Sin, are allied to the Tong of the Black Scorpion and in the service of their lord, Weng-Chiang, a disfigured maniac lurking in the sewers.
The Doctor and Leela befriend the theatre owner Mr Jago and pathologist Professor Litefoot. They realise that Weng-Chiang is in fact Magnus Greel, a foe from the future using the missing women to recharge his life force and determined to recover his precious time cabinet…
RT said: The Talons of Weng-Chiang as a whole is a scriptwriting tour de force. With its theatrical milieu, florid dramatis personae and high horror quotient, it makes for Doctor Who at its most blatantly Grand Guignol.
It’s brought to life by a sparkling cast under the accomplished direction of David Maloney. The evocation of Victorian London is immaculate, as Maloney uses an authentic theatre (albeit in Northampton) and films along eastern stretches of the Thames that in the 1970s remained dismal middens (since redeveloped almost beyond recognition). His shots at night and in pallid, misty daylight are incredibly atmospheric. It’s galling to reflect that this would mark Maloney’s final curtain call on Doctor Who.
Without doubt, this story is Leela’s finest hour. She’s startling: knifing Mr Sin in the throat, then bouncing on Litefoot’s dining table and flying through his window. Ferocious and hilarious: pouncing on Greel with the cry “Die, bent face!” Fearless: “Kill me any way you wish. Unlike you, I am not afraid to die.” – Patrick Mulkern.
Read the full review and delve into the RT archive.
15. The Invasion (1968)
Storyline: In 1970s London, the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe befriend fashion photographer Isobel whose uncle, Professor Watkins, has mysteriously disappeared. He’s being forced to work for International Electromatics, an organisation with a monopoly on the world’s electronics, run by sinister Tobias Vaughn.
IE is under surveillance by Unit (United Nations Intelligence Taskforce), commanded by the Doctor’s old ally Lethbridge-Stewart, now a Brigadier. Unit provides military back-up for the Doctor’s investigations into IE. Vaughn is plotting with the Cybermen to subjugate the human race, and an advance legion is waiting in the sewers, ready to invade…
RT said: The Invasion is one of the pinnacles of 1960s Who – an exciting, elaborate adventure that placed extraordinary demands on cast and crew, and, despite its length, it still holds our attention today.
There’s scarcely a dull moment, with fast-moving set pieces and more filming than ever before – all placed in the capable hands of Douglas Camfield, a director renowned for military precision.
It also had an impact that would resonate throughout coming decades. Unit became the Doctor’s home in the 70s and has had regular assignments in Noughties Who and Torchwood. Plot elements (hypnotic control, sewers, even IE) were “borrowed” for Rise of the Cybermen (2006). And the Brigadier himself has survived for 40 years (last seen in The Sarah Jane Adventures in 2008), with Courtney becoming a cheerfully enthusiastic ambassador for the ongoing myth. – Patrick Mulkern.
Read the full review and delve into the RT archive.
14. The Evil of the Daleks (1967)
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Storyline: After the Tardis is stolen from Gatwick, the Doctor and Jamie’s investigations lead them to the antiques shop of the mysterious Edward Waterfield. He has laid an elaborate trap – and they are transported back in time to 1866, to a house in the Kent countryside. Waterfield and Theodore Maxtible, the owner of the house, are gentlemen-scientists whose experiments with mirrors and static electricity have accidentally attracted Daleks to their laboratory.
The Daleks coerce the Doctor into isolating the “human factor” – instincts and traits they will adapt to make themselves invincible – and Jamie must be the guinea pig. He’s set a series of challenges while rescuing Waterfield’s captive daughter, Victoria. Events move to Skaro, where the Doctor finally meets the Dalek Emperor and discovers the true evil behind the Dalek plan…
RT said: The Evil of the Daleks may feel inherently transitional, but it is also conclusive. In presenting the ultimate annihilation of the Daleks, it brings a four-year chapter to a close, with a long-awaited return to Skaro (complete with sound effects from 1963).
It’s undeniably an all-time classic too and, by virtue of outstanding production values, is arguably the most impressive of the 1960s Dalek serials. The story boasts an intriguing mystery, well-drawn characters, atmospheric settings and thrilling set-pieces. It utilises all three of the series’ milieux: modern day, period and alien planet.
Admittedly, the plot is overly elaborate, the Victorian segment an episode too long and the “scientific” principles are barking – but no matter. David Whitaker is blithely flexing his writing muscles. – Patrick Mulkern.
Read the full review and delve into the RT archive.
13. The War Games (1969)
Storyline: Thousands of soldiers from throughout history have been brainwashed and transported to another world where they must fight until an elite force is created. Humanoid Aliens governed by the War Lord believe that “man is the most vicious species of all” and can be used to conquer the galaxy.
Overseeing the scheme is the War Chief – one of the Doctor’s own race. A resistance force of de-processed soldiers seizes the Alien War Centre, but the Doctor needs to call upon the Time Lords to send everyone home.
RT said: The War Games was a ten-week march into the unknown for script editor Terrance Dicks and his buddy Malcolm Hulke, called to arms after two other projects collapsed. And it’s a monumental achievement. Their flexible format sustains interest and gradually ups the ante with new battlegrounds, soldiers and villains.
The scripts are rich in detail, yet many specifics are dispensed with. These “War Games” occur on an unnamed world run by unnamed Aliens from a nameless “Home Planet”, in collusion with another alien, whom we only know by his job description, “War Chief”. But, crucially, he’s a Time Lord. At last, the Doctor’s own race is given a name, and an air of omnipotence, courtesy of Derrick Sherwin.
It was the end of the second Doctor, the close of the black-and-white era, and a satisfying if open-ended conclusion to 60s Doctor Who. In 1969, the teatime slot was filled by a sparkling new sci-fi series from America – as BBC1 viewers got their first taste of Star Trek. – Patrick Mulkern
Read the full review and delve into the RT archive.
12. The Sea Devils (1972)
Storyline: The Doctor and Jo visit the Master who has been imprisoned on an island off the south coast. Hearing that three ships have sunk without trace in the area, the Doctor is determined to investigate but first must gain the support of Captain Hart at the naval research base, HMS Seaspite.
Reptile creatures – marine cousins of the Silurians – are waking from an ages-long sleep and the Master hopes to conspire with these “sea devils” to bring about mankind’s downfall. The Doctor advocates peace, but their leader is enraged by a naval attack: “We shall destroy man and reclaim the planet.”
RT said: Sometimes the appeal of Doctor Who is encapsulated by moments of horror and suspense – unsettling images that will stay with you for ever.
We’re halfway into the third Doctor’s era and The Sea Devils reaches an apex in ambition and quality. This could almost be the quintessential Pertwee story, but for the absence of Unit.
With suspenseful, imaginative scripts, Malcolm Hulke has provided a worthy sequel to The Silurians (1970) – even if these reptiles look nothing like their cave-dwelling cousins. “This is a different species, completely adapted to life under water,” says the Doctor.
The Sea Devils is one of those rare stories that get everything exactly right. Forget Jaws. It was this 1970s Doctor Who classic that gave British kids the shudders during their seaside holidays. – Patrick Mulkern.
Read the full review and delve into the RT archive.
11. The Daleks (1963/1964)
Storyline: The Tardis lands on the planet Skaro, five centuries after it has been laid waste by a neutronic war. The few survivors are mutations – the blond humanoid Thals who now favour pacifism; and the hideously atrophied Daleks who have retreated into armoured casings and espouse extermination. The Doctor’s party strives to retrieve the fluid link (a vital component from the Tardis mislaid in the Dalek city) and help the Thals fight for their own existence…
RT said: Yes! The Daleks debuted this early, in only the second Doctor Who story, and suddenly propelled the series into the ratings stratosphere, with the last four episodes hovering around the ten million mark. But, of course, no-one at the BBC had foreseen the impact the Daleks would have.
It’s easy to forget now the strength of Terry Nation’s scripts. Drawing on the atrocities of Nazism, his fired-up imagination pours into the drama, which explores the fallout from cataclysmic war, racial intolerance (“a dislike for the unlike” as Ian puts it) and, ultimately, the choice between pacifism and extermination.
Hartnell’s Doctor develops interestingly. In episode one, he’s impatient and selfish but seven weeks later he’s taking a moral stance and enjoys showing off his scientific prowess. When the Thals beg him for advice, he delivers a lovely parting shot: “Always search for truth. My truth is in the stars.” – Patrick Mulkern.
Read the full review and delve into the RT archive.
10. The Web of Fear (1968)
Storyline: The Tardis struggles to break free from a web-like substance that suspends it in space. Landing in the London Underground in the near future, the Doctor, Jamie and Victoria soon meet an old ally – Professor Travers, whom they met in Tibet 40 years earlier. He has inadvertently reactivated a Yeti and allowed the Intelligence to regain a foothold on Earth.
Mist has enveloped the capital, deadly fungus is seeping through the Tube system and the Yeti are on the attack. At a deep-level wartime fortress, it’s down to a team of scientists and soldiers, led by Colonel Lethbridge Stewart, to defeat this menace…
RT said: The Web of Fear is a tour de force for Douglas Camfield. He’s masterly at creeping terror (Victoria lost alone in the tunnels), shock-reveals (lurking Yeti, the fungus) and the spectacular battle in Covent Garden. He also polishes moody dialogue scenes – the Doctor explaining the Intelligence and secrets of the Tardis to the Colonel; possessed Travers revealing the Intelligence’s plan; and the row at Silverstein’s museum…
I love everything about The Web of Fear. It’s a tense, classy production – and genuinely nightmarish. – Patrick Mulkern.
Read the full review and delve into the RT archive.
9. The Tomb of the Cybermen (1967)
Storyline: On the deserted planet of Telos, the travellers find an archaeological team from Earth looking for the lost tomb of the Cybermen. Although the Doctor helps the party enter the tomb, he insists the Cybermen be left in hibernation.
However, expedition financier Klieg and his business partner Kaftan, both members of the Brotherhood of Logicians, intend to use the revived cyborgs to conquer the Earth. It turns out that the tomb is a trap to help the Cybermen repopulate and, when they have been awoken, the Controller and his minions launch Cybermat creatures to subdue the visitors…
RT said: Some story titles from the annals are uttered with hushed reverence and The Tomb of the Cybermen, heralding a golden age for the show, is no exception.
It deserves its reputation. Look at the ambition and scale of the thing: the brilliantly designed sets, including that dizzyingly tall hibernation chamber; the seamless integration of location filming and studio work; and the slow escalation of terror. – Mark Braxton.
Read the full review and delve into the RT archive.
8. The Seeds of Doom
Storyline: Two Krynoid seed pods are excavated in the Antarctic on 20th-century Earth. One infects a scientist called Winlett who is later killed in a bomb blast, while the other is stolen by Scorby and Keeler, two men employed by wealthy botanist Harrison Chase.
Following the pair back to Chase’s English mansion, the Doctor and Sarah are helpless to prevent the second pod contaminating Keeler. Nurtured by Chase, the new Krynoid grows rapidly. Can the Doctor prevent the next stage of its life cycle: the dissemination of its deadly pods across the globe?
RT said: Season 13 ends the way it began, with grit, attack and top-flight scares. A six-parter that never wilts for a moment is always something special, and Robert Banks Stewart offers another unusual invasion and stick-in-the-mind monster.
Overall it’s a rich, classy serving, with plenty of meat accompanying the vegetables. Robert Banks Stewart fully deserves his place in the show’s hall of fame. He may have only two Doctor Who stories to his name, but what belters they are. – Mark Braxton
Read the full review and delve into the RT archive.
7. The Daemons (1971)
Storyline: As archaeologist Professor Horner excavates an ancient burial mound in the village of Devil’s End, the Master, masquerading as the local vicar, leads a black magic ritual beneath the church. The forces unleashed from the barrow kill Horner and strike down the Doctor, so Benton and Yates fly in by helicopter. The recovering Doctor learns of the presence on Earth of Azal, the last of a powerful race of Dæmons. Azal intends either to transfer his powers to another, or to give the planet up as a lost cause and obliterate it…
RT said: It’s the scariest story of the Pertwee years, the abnormal five-episode structure works like a dream, and it all bears the imprint of the late, incontestably great Barry Letts.
The Dæmons brings to a close a masterful season, and not just because it’s full of the Master. I love the way that at the very end, the camera, from a dizzying vantage point, performs a breathtaking zoom out from the May Day revelry, as if to say: “There, beat that!” In some ways, they never have. – Mark Braxton.
Read the full review and delve into the RT archive.
6. Genesis of the Daleks (1975)
Storyline: The Time Lords divert the Doctor, Sarah and Harry to Skaro to thwart the creation of the Daleks, or influence their development into less aggressive creatures. They arrive during a grim war of attrition between the Thals and the Kaleds, whose chief scientist Davros is genetically engineering his race to survive as domineering Daleks. Not only is the travellers’ mission imperilled by bullets and bombs, radiation and mutations, they are also separated from the Time Ring that will transport them to safety…
RT said: Welcome to a hideous world of sudden death and twisted ambition in what is – let’s not debate it – Terry Nation’s finest hour for the series. His packed and pacy story is one elongated nightmare – vintage Who, then.
It may sound like overstatement, but Davros’s demise is positively Shakespearean. Such Coriolanus-like aggression and single-mindedness! Programming the Daleks to reject any other entity as superior makes it inevitable that Davros will be hoist with his own petard.
A Nation on fire… an assured captaincy by David Maloney… Genesis is the quintessence of Who: frightening, fantastic, unforgettable. – Mark Braxton.
Read the full review and delve into the RT archive.
5. Pyramids of Mars
Storyline: In Saqqara, 1911, Egyptologist Marcus Scarman breaks into a tomb from the First Dynasty of the Pharaohs, which is in fact the ancient prison of a malevolent alien – Sutekh, last of the Osirans. Landing in England at Scarman’s house (an old priory that once stood on the site of Unit HQ), the Doctor and Sarah must prevent the possessed Scarman and robotic Mummies from launching a war missile. It will destroy the Eye of Horus in a pyramid on Mars that is holding Sutekh at bay…
RT said: It’s a bona fide classic. A jewel in an era steeped in horror-genre pastiche. A plum script allied to grave performances, BBC period-drama values and Paddy Russell’s controlled direction result in what’s arguably the most polished production to date. This four-parter could be shown again today with a modern audience needing to make few allowances.
Like Sutekh himself, Pyramids of Mars remains perfectly preserved as decades pass. In 1976, it was voted the best story of season 13 by the fledgling Doctor Who Appreciation Society. It’s still high in fan polls and has an unshakeable appeal. – Patrick Mulkern
Read the full review and delve into the RT archive.
4. Spearhead from Space (1970)
Storyline: Some time in the near future, the newly transformed Doctor begins his exile on Earth. The United Nations Intelligence Taskforce (Unit), under the command of the Doctor’s old ally, the Brigadier, is monitoring meteorite showers that have fallen over Essex woodland. He recruits Cambridge scientist Dr Elizabeth Shaw to investigate the mystery.
With the Doctor’s help, they discover the meteorites are energy units containing an alien entity with an affinity for plastic. The Nestene Consciousness has taken control of the Auto Plastics factory to manufacture deadly Autons, including shop-window mannequins and facsimiles of people in power. When activated, they will take over the world…
RT said: “Shoes. Must find my shoes… Unhand me, madam,” are the Doctor’s first words, a sign that Jon Pertwee was cast for his funnyman skills. We see him singing in the shower and indulging in petty theft. He’s rude and childish, meek and bashful, and often walks with a waddling gait. It’s amusing to observe this short-lived schtick as Pertwee quickly determined to play it straight. The more familiar third Doctor, strident and authoritative, firmly arrived in the next story.
Nicholas Courtney returns as the Brigadier (after two appearances in 1968), exuding guile, charisma and gravitas. We believe him when he explains the threats to our planet. Unit deals with “the odd, the unexplained, anything on Earth… or even beyond”, though Dr Elizabeth Shaw remains sceptical: “I deal with facts, not science fiction.”
Spearhead from Space is Robert Holmes’s first truly great script. Not only does it expertly establish the revised format, it moves with swift remorseless precision – rather like the Auton we see crashing through bracken as it homes in on a missing energy unit. – Patrick Mulkern.
Read the full review and delve into the RT archive.
3. The Aztecs (1964)
Storyline: After the Tardis lands in 15th-century Mexico inside the tomb of high priest Yetaxa, the Aztec people believe the emerging Barbara to be Yetaxa’s reincarnation, and honour her as such. Happy to assume the role, Barbara sees an opportunity to end the more shocking aspects of Aztec civilisation, and angers high priest of sacrifice Tlotoxl in the process.
Finding a sympathetic audience in Autloc, the high priest of knowledge, she nevertheless struggles to maintain the deception. Meanwhile, the Doctor becomes enchanted by a woman called Cameca, Ian is drafted into fight-training and Susan is sent to a seminary to absorb the tenets of Aztec culture. Gradually, however, the visitors’ position becomes perilously untenable…
RT said: It’s a drama that grips from the word go. Within seconds of the Tardis landing and Barbara and Susan discovering Aztec artefacts, one woman praises and the other condemns the civilisation. That inherent contradiction of the Aztec people – enlightened and yet barbaric – creates ready-made tension and is an agenda from which the story rarely deviates.
Themes apart, the adventure belongs to Barbara, and to actress Jacqueline Hill. The history teacher is in her element, showing off her specialised knowledge and relishing her elevated position. Regal in her fantastic feathered costume, she looks like Ursula Andress in She and behaves like Sean Connery in The Man Who Would Be King. And our anticipation of her unveiling, heightened by the Doctor’s line “You can’t fight a whole way of life”, is no less dramatic for its predictability. – Mark Braxton
Read the full review and delve into the RT archive.
2. Inferno (1970)
Storyline: A project to penetrate the Earth’s crust and release a new energy source starts to cause concern when its mastermind, Professor Eric Stahlman, rejects all safety warnings. Despite the Doctor’s protestations about the terrible consequences for the planet, a green substance leaking from the drill head mutates those who touch it into heat-seeking, primordial creatures. An accident transports the Doctor and his Tardis console to a parallel world, where the Inferno project is closer to completion. Unable to prevent a catastrophe there, he is desperate to return to his own dimension and thwart a repetition…
RT said: We’re used to parallel-world stories in the modern era of Doctor Who, but in 1970 it was innovative, disorientating and shocking. The jackbooted, totalitarianism of “Sideways Earth” as visited by the Doctor is an officious, loveless world, full of Big Brotherly dogma – Nick Courtney, Carrie John and John Levene invest their mirror images with confounding malice.
Amid all the loss of temper and shouting-till-hoarse, there’s solid work from Olaf Pooley as the intractable professor, Derek Newark as sexist troubleshooter Sutton and Chris Benjamin as the eminently reasonable Sir Keith. And two small but lovely moments make this a memorable final story for Caroline John. – Patrick Mulkern
Read the full review and delve into the RT archive.
1. The Robots of Death (1977)
Storyline: The Tardis lands on Storm Mine Four, a sandminer vessel quarrying an alien world. When members of its robot-assisted human crew are killed, the Doctor and Leela become the prime suspects. Does Commander Uvanov know more than he is saying? Why is an undercover agent aboard? And could the unthinkable be true: that robots have been programmed to commit murder?
RT said: From the establishing shots of episode one, The Robots of Death means business. That low view of the rumbling sandminer, the semi-aerial introduction to the crew in the recreation area, the robots criss-crossing on deck… all immerse us in the situation with alacrity. And as both a plot tip-off and capsule review, Dask’s comment about their metallic servants (“They’re unbeatable, commander”) is a perfect statement of intent.
If I were forced to pick one Desert Island Who, I’d have no shame in naming this one. It’s as subtle as a mouse in the wainscoting, and as powerful as a fist-sized laser-blast through armour-plating. – Mark Braxton
Read the full review and delve into the RT archive.
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