I'll second that. One of Tom's best even if it was in his last season and Adric was in it.

Ill name one from the modern era and one from the classic era

I love Gridlock. The range of characters, and a beautiful quasi-religious story full of hope.

And from the classic series, The Massacre of St Bartholomews Eve. Of course only heard the audio and read the novel but its a story with superb acting. A proper historical full of atmosphere and essentially a Doctor-lite story, but you just get carried away by the pure beauty of the story

I agree with Shoppy that the 7th Doctor is under-rated and with others on the following stories:
The Awakening.
Planet of Evil.
Image of the Fendahl.
Planet of the Spiders.
The Daemons.

And a couple of my own:
Keeper of Traken.
Logopolis.
I know they've got Nyssa, Adric and the comedy Master in them, but nonetheless, I like the stories themeselves.

I was watching The Idiots's Lantern the other day, and although the plot is rubbish, I think the dialogue is very good- very funny and witty, and the acting on David Tennant and Billie Piper's parts are probably the best in series 2

Battlefield and Silver Nemesis. Loved them on first broadcast, and still love them now.

Lots of stuff happens, and they go by quickly with little time to get bored. Some great actors among the amusingly poor ones, too. And now that I'm older, I have no idea why the explanation for the Cyber-Fleet's admirable hide-and-seek skills isn't recognised as one of the best cliffhangers ever: "They were invisible!" Sheer genius.

There is also something really appealing about Victory of the Daleks as well. Looked at objectively, it's a big mess, and the Bracewell-bomb stuff isn't very good, but I really enjoy it. My kids love the Jammy Dodger joke and 'I was promised tea".

And we all loved 'Dinosaurs on a Spaceship'.

Definitely Rings of Akhaten, one of my favorite episodes. Never understood why people hate it so much. It is very imaginative, original, creative, escapist and emotional. I liked singing and speech. It made episode recognizable. Also, many people complain on leaf but I think it's very creative solution. It's much better than solving problem with pure force.

As for others:
Unquiet Dead
Shakespeare Code (great historical episode with fantasy elements)
Gridlock
42
Partners in Crime
Planet of the Dead (never understood why people hate it, I enyojed it very much)
Beast Below (not great but still underrated)
Course of the Black Spot
Night Terrors (I was shocked when I saw it in the worst six episodes!!!)
The Doctor, the Window and the Wardrobe (not great but also not the worst in Matt Smith era)

And finally I'd like to mention Snowmen and Hide. These two episodes are not hated by fans but still haven't recieved enough recognition. They are both in my TOP 5.

I agree with all three - although I'm not sure Fendahl is so underrated, is it?

The Time Monster remains a very guilty pleasure. It's the ultimate Curate's Egg of Who. But bits of it are very good indeed.

Sadly, I have to disagree. As someone who'd watched the show since the mid-60s, I thought the McCoy era was the nadir of classic Who. In fact, I found it practically unwatchable. McCoy was incapable of doing anything except gurn. Ace, the oldest teenager in the universe, was a tedious and failed attempt at "street". And the scripts were atrocious. Even as a lifelong fan, I recognised the show had come to the end of its then-life and it was a relief when they put it out of our misery.

Hard to say what I would consider the most underrated story, from 2005 onwards I would offer Boom Town, Gridlock, Rise of the Cybermen/Age of Steel as ones, which I sense does not get as much appreciation but I really rate. Even saying that I am aware that there are a significant number of fans of these stories for it not to merit the most underrated story.
There is much more scope in classic Doctor Who, particulary black and white stories. An earlier poster cited The Sensorites, and I would offer The Rescue, The Romans and The Ark also. I like The Dominators from the Troughton era, it being much harder to find an underrated story from this era due to it's high quality. From later Doctors I perhaps rate The Android Invasion and The Ultimate Foe higher than is generally perceived.
Forcing myself to choose one to answer the thread question I would go for The Android Invasion actually

The Android Invasion is one of my favourites too, and like the other underrated gem from around then: Planet of Evil, suffered somewhat from being surrounded by outright classics. If you can look past the flaws in the plot, the disappointment of expecting to see the Brig one more time (and getting another guy in charge who just doesn't cut the mustard, it was great! Quaint English village where something strange was going on, the return (you think) of Benton and Harry, androids, aliens and the charming Sarah Jane at the height of her reign as top companion to the Doc, and not to forget the chemistry between the 2 leads, I don't know why it gets bagged so much.

The Savages. Absolutely and totally forgotten by everyone since 1966.

Sorry? What's that? Don't remember it...

The Daemons under rated? I think it is probably one of the most overrated stories that doesn't come from Season 13 or 14. It certainly isn't underrated

As for under rated stories I think the Space Pirates is enjoyable and I wonder what the reaction to it will be if it was recovered.

The Daemons' generally high standing comes mainly from the fact that the cast and crew had a wonderful time making that story.

But The Space Pirates being enjoyable? Well, we all like different things, and long may that continue, but I genuinely don't think you'll find many other lovers of The Space Pirates. I find it dull, dull dull...
One of the many things that hampers this story is that I can't take Caven seriously as a baddie when I know his first name is Maurice! And I was at school with a guy called Ian Warne - he was nothing like Donald Gee though...

The Space Museum gets a lot of grief, but that first episode with the time displacement is a good little mind-bender.

As for the tiresome story of the Moroks and the Xerons, the DVD extras explain that this story was conceived as a sort of self-parody of the conventional sci-fi device of a brutish oppressor civilisation and their hapless victims (Morons and Zeroes). I think it works if understood on that level, and it's interesting to think that the thing being parodied back then was attempted in a serious vein years later with the Dominators and the Dulcians. It's funny to watch Vicki trying to whip up some fighting spirit amongst the lackadaisical Xerons.

And what's more fun than the Doctor popping out of a Dalek?


The Space Pirates, though ... I'll never call that underrated!

Not by me!

I love The Savages. One of the more stand out stories from Hartnell's Era. Love it to bits.


I don't think The Daemons is one or the other, it is truly a brilliant story. Very different from some of the other Earthbound stories where the soldier shooting is confined mainly to the last episode.

As for The Space Pirates, can't help echo what has been said, it's a very dull story. The Doctor and Co don't turn up until three quarters of the way through the first episode. They spend the second episode locked in one room and the main villain doesn't even appear in that episode and it really is painfully slow.

Many years before JNT made an art of it, and judging by the surviving episode, it really is a case of style over substance. Not sure if it being recovered would really change my view of it.

Well it is not a truly brilliant episode in my opinion. I would rate it as possibly the worst Jon Pertwee story in my opinion and the one I enjoy the least. The only good thing in it are the regular cast.

Anyway I like things that people usually find dull anyway and I like slow stories. Slow stories are far superior in my opinion than stories that are rushed such as that dreadful series 4 final two parter (I know you like it so don't bother saying it, I hate it)

And I don't understand your point about the doctor's appearance or where he is in episodes. Successful episodes such as Blink has little appearance of the doctor and Web of Fear 2 doesn't have the doctor appearing at all. William Hartnell does not appear in one episode of both The Time Meddler and The Massacre. Evil of the Daleks is mostly set in a Victorian house from episode 2-5 and at some points has far too much focus on Jamie. The Mind Robber episode 1 was mostly in the console room, the Seeds of Doom for the first two episodes was set mostly in two rooms in the Antarctic. William Hartnell spent a reasonable amount of time in Agamemnon's tent. The Tenth Planet was largely focused on the Control Room. The Ark in Space had a large focus on the room where the people are hibernating. Jon Pertwee in Spearhead from Space spends over one episode in hospital (apart from the bit where he got kidnapped),

Well you know that old saying that you can film at entire episode in a lift and make it work if it's entertaining enough. Episode 2 of The Space Pirates is not really that entertaining like most of the story and moves at a dull pace also.

Slow stories can be good as well as long as they are entertaining. I like a lot of Classic Who stories that are slow. Just not this particular one.

Everyone to their own and as I've said before, it's great to be in a minority sometimes as I've found out for myself.

The Masque of Mandragora. Should be in the same sort of classic territory as others around it and yet it gets overlooked. And even on this thread - it is the first mention of it....

This one won't go down well. Paradise Towers has always been one that I've really enjoyed despite it's many flaws and lets face it, that story had many mostly with the casting. When you look past them at the story it holds up. It makes sense.

As I say the casting does the story no favours. Having girls that were obviously not kids saying "Red Kangs, Red Kangs, Red Kangs the best" and at times speaking in a way that a younger child would just didn't work. Had the cast been younger and thus making it more "lord of the flies" as I feel the writer meant it to be you have an entirely different look and feel about the show. Had the great Richard Briers not played the role like a demented Hitler camping it up and played it straight and with menace. The story again changed.
As I say this one won't go down well, but based on the "story" itself I think it's underrated . Good idea badly executed.

Agree 100%. I adore The Masque of Mandragora. It's almost flawless: 4th Doctor / Sarah on top form, a great supporting cast (John Laurimore is superb as Count Federico), a beautiful location beautifully shot, sumptuous interior sets, and a ripping yarn of political intrigue and creepy secret sects. I think maybe the lack of a proper "monster" is a possible reason it's not held in the same esteem as many of the other stories in the Philip Hinchcliffe years but it's always been one of my favourites, not only from the Hinchcliffe period but Doctor Who full stop.

As with The Awakening in Season 21, this story gets overshadowed because of the stronger stories later in the Season, such as The Deadly Assassin, The Robots Of Death and The Talons of Weng-Chiang.

Plus The Hand Of Fear, though one of the weaker stories of the Season, gets remembered for Sarah's last story so poor old Masque Of Mandragora often does get overlooked though I agree it's a very good story. It's one of my favourite Season openers from Tom Baker's Era.

Planet of the Daleks - this one, to me, really is up there with the best of the Dalek stories. It has everything you could wish for. Pertwee, invisible monsters, Thals, floating Daleks, a severe threat and a wonderful, OTT plot that is reminiscent of the Pertwee-era Doctor Who comic books. Good plotline, brainless fun and more Daleks than you could shake a sink plunger at.


Also The Happiness Patrol - such a wonderfully OTT and yet strangely realistic parody of the Thatcher years. I particularly like the Kandyman as Norman Tebbitt!

I've always had a soft spot for the six-part 'Keys of Marinus'. They had a very low budget and had to make five different sets for five different stories. They had a decent cast too.

I just want to agree with all your love for The Sensorites, The Crusade, and The Rings of Akhaten. They're all great stories in their own way.

And also Delta and the Bannermen. It's a lot of fun if you know enough about old-time BBC radio programmes to get all the in-jokes and references. (Unfortunately, many fans don't. I've actually seen not one but two complaints describing the Dick Barton theme as "Benny Hill music"!)