Seeing that the McCoy Era gets equal negativity on here as much as the Sixth Doctor, it seems obvious to go down the same road, especially as a lot of his era has been, sometimes with good reason, consistently derided on here.

So what good points, few as there are, can we make on the Seventh Doctor's Era?

Well I know this isn't a universal view but I would say McCoy himself. He never really puts in a bad performance for me and as I've said many times on here he stands out in the worst stories, especially in Season 24. Paradise Towers is a typical example of The Doctor being the only normal character there when everyone else is just crazy and Mel is at a real low point.

Then there's The Doctor/ Ace relationship, surely the best since The Fourth Doctor and Sarah. Some of the banter, especially in unpopular stories like Silver Nemesis is just superb.

Finally, despite the fact the stories themselves aren't that popular(bar a few exceptions) the fact they are at least original and free of the continuity laden shows of the early 80s stories should also be applauded. I think Season 26 is just awesome in this regard and is free of the silliness of the previous two Seasons.

I could go on but would like to open the floor on this one. Remember, we've discussed the negative stuff pretty much to death. Let's be positive for once as we did with Doc Six.

Know you can do this guys!

I liked the 7th Doctor era with Curse of Fenric, Greatest Show in the Galaxy, Battlefield and Silver Nemesis amongst my favourite stories.

I started watching Dr Who in the early 70's with Jon Pertwee and then Tom Baker, but lost interest in the Peter Davision era, but started getting back into Who with the Happiness Patrol.

Positives about the McCoy era? Hrm. The special effects work in Dragonfire, the Special Weapons Dalek, Daleks blasting things, Nicholas Parsons and... erm... that JN-T vetoed Lungbarrow?

My favourite Doctor for many reasons. He's great, and gets a really awesome era too. One of the most innovative and creative.

I'm afraid the only positive thing I can say about the McCoy era is that, thankfully, it didn't last too long and comprised relatively few episodes.

Er, that's about all, alas...

I like McCoy. he's different from his predecessor which is how Who should be and I think he's good in the role.Arguably there is more development of his Doctor than any other as well.
He an Ace make a great team as well,in that there is real affection but also some justified mistrust along with it.
There's no getting away from the fact though that he suffered from some of the worst writing of any Doctor, Delta and the Bannermen oh god what was that about.

I find Delta and the Bannermen relatively easy to follow and inoffensive actually. It could have done without Ken Dodd though. If I got strapped into a chair and told I absolutely had to sit through a McCoy story one more time but got a choice, I'd probably go for that over a supposed 'classic' like Remembrance of the Daleks.

I think McCoy had a great look. He was interesting, bold casting. Although my perceptions of the show are not greatly coloured by nostalgia generally, him being the Doctor during my childhood did shape my impression of what the Doctor should be to some extent. This may be why I have never been too into the 10th Doctor, who has always been slightly too orthodox a heroic figure for my taste. McCoy was a small, powerful, slightly creepy man, and in some way is still something of a prototype for the character in my mind.

When I first started watching the 1st Doctor on the old UK Gold repeats he became my favourite, at that point in time, and it was possibily, with hindsight, because I saw similar traits in him to the 7th Doc. Sometimes silly or mischievous, but also somewhat broody and mysterious, and occasionally creepy. And he doesn't look heroic. In fact, they both possess traits that have been relatively absent from 21st century Doctor Who. It's possibly the reason I didn't take to the Doctor Who relaunch until the Moffat era (I never disliked it but it didn't capture my interest to make a special effort to watch it). The Doctor wasn't my idea of the Doctor, although their interpretation is as valid as any other.

So the 7th Doctor has maybe been something of a blueprint for the character for me.

Story-wise, a lot of the serials have been getting reappraised recently, and rightly so. There were some very good ones. Consistency was a problem, but that's true of nearly all Doctor Who eras, including the 21st century series.

Ghost Light has some of the finest scripts ever written for Doctor Who and good, atmospheric production.

Curse of Fenric is a very good template for Doctor Who.

Delta and the Bannermen also has very good scripts (just not in the style and tone a lot of Doctor Who fans want) and is stylistically interesting.

Remembrance of the Daleks is a good action story, and one of the better Dalek serials.

Serials like Paradise Towers, The Happiness Patrol and The Greatest Show in the Galaxy (the last of which is easily the best) were bold, interesting ideas. They weren't afraid to mix up the formula and try and do something different.

There was a cartoonish element to a lot of it, and that offends some Doctor Who fans to the core but I'm okay with it. I'm of the school that feels Doctor Who can be done in any style. The only criteria for me is if it is good. It can be Love & Monsters or it can be Midnight. Just neither one of them solely, forever.

The thing about Ken Dodd though, is would you find his performance beyond the pail if you didn't know who Ken Dodd was? He fits into the script. It's not like he was playing a serious character. It can be distracting to cast a very famous actor in a role but Dodd did a manful job. I couldn't really separate Perkins from Frank Skinner in Mummy on the Orient Express. There's better and worse example of 'stunt casting' and I think Ken Dodd is one of the okay ones. He fit his role.

No disrespect - but McCoys era was my "I give up!" period.
But, as this is a thread to give it a chance......

McCoy was a whimsical character to begin with - and turned out to be a bit of a dark horse didn't he? He revealed that he knew things about the past and future in a 'dark way' of saying it. And it always left me perplexed!
That story: Delta & the Bannermen was a huge parody of Hi De Hi mixed with Mars Attacks in my eye - but it was very good fun!
Remembrance of the Daleks was my favourite - The Doctor and Ace were well suited as companions, the SFX were OK, and the story was quite fun too.
I quite enjoyed Battlefield and Curse of Fenric too......they all seemed to be filmed (OB'd) throughout though..... cheap!
And I missed those Tardis scenes we used to get in previous series!
I blame the BBC for Doctor 7's demise in all honesty!

PS:: Don't forget - the BBC had already reduced budgets, to spend on EastEnders!