Oh I do love lists... and with such a long absence for the show I've had plenty of time to ponder over them too! I seldom post in the Doctor Who section any more, so I'll make this one count
For the sake of context...
11 - The Unquiet Dead (S1), 12 - The Crimson Horror (S7), 13 - Tooth and Claw (S2), 14 - Planet of the Ood (S4), 15 - Gridlock (S3), 16 - The Girl Who Waited (S6), 17 - A Town Called Mercy (S7), 18 - Vincent and the Doctor (S5), 19 - Father's Day (S1), 20 - Let's Kill Hitler (2013 S)
10 -
Dalek (Series 1)
This was my introduction to the Daleks, unless you count that KitKat advert from many years back! It was a brilliant story and a clever way of introducing the Daleks to a whole new generation.
09 -
The Beast Below (Series 5)
Many would say I've gone mad for including this one, but for some reason I absolutely love it! This is despite loathing it the first time I saw it - I think it was the unusual feel to the episode as we settled into the Moffat era, whilst The Eleventh Hour had carefully retained many elements of the RTD era. I just really like the story here, and the only shame is that we haven't had a further adventure on Starship UK. I love the concept, and Liz 10 is brilliant too!
08 -
The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit (Series 2)
This was really innovative stuff in my opinion, and is quite underrated - or at least largely forgotten. Part of the power of the story lies in the thought-provoking villain, who even by the end doesn't get wholly explained - but as a creative decision, not because the story was too crammed already (ahem, Silence, Big Bang). I think some more interaction with The Beast would have made this a classic, as the teases of psychological insight we get to the characters is second-to-none, even by Doctor Who's standards. It's the closest we've come to having a proper mind game story I feel... and no, I'm not including the abysmal Nightmare in Silver from Series 7 - that has nothing on this!
07 -
The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances (Series 1)
That image of a spaceship tethered to Big Ben in the middle of the Blitz... one of the most striking in Doctor Who history. It's very much the feel of the story as a whole with its creepy gas-mask child, it's authentic war setting and array of brilliant characters. Moffat always delivered the plot whilst overseer-RTD delivered the heart. Never was that more evident than here in a fantastic story that has such a happy ending, it'll likely be revered as the highlight of the Eccleston era, and quite rightly so.
06 -
Midnight (Series 4)
The fourth series was so strong, and I loved Catherine Tate as Donna to pieces. A shame she's not in this one as it means she has such a small presence in my top ten despite being my favourite companion. I guess that in itself is a testament to the quality of Midnight, which I actually prefer to the previous annual-creepfest-entry that was
Blink. Whilst the angels were an interesting concept and good at making you jump, it's not quite so much fun when you know where the jumps are. Midnight isn't at all about jumps, but in its own way its big on scares. It's eerie, it's character-driven, and it's claustrophobic. Everyone involved gives a sublime performance and there is so much going on between all the characters it's definitely worth a rewatch!
05 -
Asylum of the Daleks (Series 7)
In Nu-Who the Daleks were always arguably at their best in Series 1. Whilst by Series 7 their simple chill-factor had been diminished, AotD offered up some new ideas for them that will hopefully be exploited more in future. From little details such as how the New Paradigm Daleks have become integrated into the background of the Dalek 'community' (they'd better not just phase them out!) to the shock revelations that Oswin is actually a Dalek, and is actually dead, and is actually the girl we'll come to know as Clara... this was just a load of fun. It had a fair few problems along the way (the Amy infertility plot was so typically Moffat - I really don't care, because you write it in and are done with it in less than five minutes. It develops your also-stupid divorce plot, rather than actually developing your characters!) but it was Daleks, opening a series, on Skaro! It felt a real treat, and a highlight of the very uneven Series 7.
04 -
A Christmas Carol (Series 6)
The only Christmas special I feel is worthy to be on this list, there is something simply brilliant about it! A Christmas Carol has always been part of my annual Christmas line-up whether it be with Muppets, Mickey, Jim Carrey or Patrick Stewart. It's so nice to see Doctor Who get one, sort of. Michael Gambon delivered a sterling performance here, and Katherine Jenkins delivered a beautiful acting
and singing performance. Matt Smith was perfect here though - not yet being overly written as a caricature like he was later on and not as uneven as earlier on either. If there was ever a Doctor who was more at home in a world of Christmas, it's the Eleventh...as this weird but wonderful story proved!
03 -
The Doctor's Wife (Series 6)
One of the few stories that really sounds like it'd be awful fanfiction on the tin, but it was done with a lot of heart - something you won't hear me say particularly often about the Moffat era. If
Blink was the novelty special of the RTD era I suspect this might be the equivelent in the Moffat era. Suranne Jones was brilliantly cast...as the TARDIS no less! That sentence alone absolutely sums up why this episode deserves such a high position.
02 -
The Stolen Earth/Journey's End (Series 4)
It is the first part of this story that carries and deserves the victory of holding 2nd place. Journey's End was plagued with a lot of issues that probably actually make it one of the most disappointing conclusions in a lot of ways. What didn't help was the immense strength of the first part. We had en masse Daleks attacking contemporary Earth, which not only gave us the first formiddable Daleks since the first series but also teased a new direction for the series that was ultimately never explored. The real strength though was the assembling of the Children of Time...the coming together of all of the companions might read like something out of a fanfiction, but here it was. In the moment it was simply superb, and on rewatches the sense of adrenaline the episode gives has not been bested yet. The Stolen Earth was the ultimate testament to the terrific characters that Russell T Davies wrote, whilst Journey's End was the ultimate testament to the frustration you felt when the story itself wasn't up to scratch. If Tennant had legitimately regenerated here I have no doubt that this would have been the most successful and talked about story in Doctor Who history.
01 -
Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways (Series 1)
Admittedly the first half is let down a bit by some now-dated gameshow elements - unlike the Powell Estate scenes they have no longevity because it's 21st Century games in a 201st Century setting mostly! Aside from that though we got a regeneration story, with Daleks! It was the most dignified and natural-feeling regeneration of NuWho so far. The Daleks themselves were a formidable and relentless foe, whilst the Emperor Dalek with his God complex is severely underrated as one of the best big bad's that NuWho has produced. The Bad Wolf reveal was dangled until the very last, with the revelation that the Emperor Dalek not knowing either being suitable chilling in a way the show wouldn't match until the eerie 'Silence Will Fall' voice went unexplained in Series 5. The base-under-siege finale was powerful stuff that gave Eccleston a fine departure, gave Rose plenty to do in one of her best ever episodes, and Captain Jack all the building blocks for Torchwood. The episode was unforgiving and spared no characters, and spanning two time periods whilst exploring the effects the Doctor has had across a century on Earth without even being there are a much more innovative and interesting way of exploring time travel than a lot of the timey-wimey content we get now.
