I remember when he was announced in 2013 and I was like meh because all I've watched is the modern series and I was used to the young actors. But i've been watching repeats of Capaldis episode and I think I like them, his white puffy hair and his rude banter and Eccleston like charm its just so amazing I love it.

So which other Doctor(s) did you feel this way about?

Not sure that I've ever felt strongly negative about a Doctor at the start, but just wanted to give you huge respect for coming on here and making your comment about how your views changed.

Colin Baker. On TV he very rarely got to shine, but then I listened to some of his Big Finish stuff and it felt like the gap that had been left by his era had been filled by something even better. His BF portrayal was still arrogant and rude, but also a lot more witty and odd and overall more likable.

Paul McGann is another one BF gave me more appreciation for, but I never really hated him, I just barely noticed him because of the terrible movie he had.

I'm not sure if Matt Smith counts because I liked him by the first episode. But I thought I would dislike him even more than Tennant's Doctor coming up, until The Eleventh Hour had me sold.

And Patrick Troughton is one I wasn't quite as attached to at a younger age, but began to appreciate more and more as I got older.

The only Doctors I've ever really disliked are Colin Baker's (just the TV one), Sylvester McCoy's first season one (but I'd watched some of his later stories first) and David Tennant's. Otherwise I usually find myself warming to a Doctor from the start.

The 1st doctor, when i aas first watching i wasn't his biggest fan. But he definitely grew on me.

Colin Baker without a doubt.

As the man who took over from my favourite Doctor, he was never going to popular, but then he decided to be unpopular anyway and I hated him the whole time he played The Doctor.

However, as the years have passed and I've rewatched his stuff I've really grown to his Doctor and I can see the finer sides of his character. Still not keen on his first story persona, but looking at his later stories he really is a superb Doctor.

I disagree he's arrogant and rude in the BF Stories. For me, he plays a much more subtle and calmer version of his TV Version.

William Hartnell I didn't really dislike initially but wasn't that keen on because I was used to Tom Baker and Peter Davison at the time I started watching him. That he played such a radically different and less agreeable character to those two alone was quite a challenge but like Colin Baker I got used to him eventually and saw past the grumpy facade.

Christopher Eccleston I do like better than I did initially but I'm still not a fan of his Doctor.

Never even disliked a Doctor, but by some distance my change in perception over the years has been Hartnell. The Five Faces of Doctor Who repeats intrigued me and Season 19 turned me into a huge fan, but when I got the chance to watch bootleg stuff in the Mid Eighties, I concentrated mainly upon Tom's era. Had already warmed to Troughton because of the 3/5/2 Doctors, but was fairly dismissive of the First Doctor.

Lost in Time and The Beginning DVDs changed that. The more I saw of Hartnell the more I thought he was blinking marvellous. It's a favourite era now;the sheer verve and experimentation of that era is wonderful, and even when it failed, it failed trying darn hard. It's an ongoing process as not bothered with recons before, but recently 'seen' The Massacre....and The Savages and been very impressed indeed.

In brief; superb groundbreaking era, great Doctor. Billyboy is a fixture in my Top 5 Doctors list these days.

I definitely agree. While I enjoyed every incarnation of the Doctor to some degree, Colin's doctor was deliberately made to be unlikable at the start and I never really warmed to him. Then Big Finish came along and he became one of my favourites.

There was a really interesting BF (can't remember the name) when he played an early version of his Doctor and a later version of his Doctor and deliberately made the earlier one more acerbic and arrogant than the later one. You could tell that he'd changed!

Originally Colin Baker. As the series went on, I began to like him more and more.

Quick slightly OT PS from the above....when I met fellow fans in Mid 80s there were a few who were very dismissive of my Doctor (Davison) and would bang on about Pertwee a lot which put me a bit on the defensive. When they'd opine Davision was "too human and not eccentric enough" I'd say hey, what about Pertwee then? His era is not all that! But I was young and foolish then (rather than middle aged and foolish) and whilst I think after his first couple of years his era was good but less consistent, also grown v fond of the sometimes arrogant, abrupt and patronising grey haired begger.

(which sort of reflects the OP's opinion on Peter C, really!)

I don't think I've ever really hated a Doctor on first sight. I always enjoy a good post-regeneration romp! I even enjoyed The Twin Dilemma simply because the 6th Doctor was so totally bonkers throughout the whole story (Colin remains one of my personal favorite Doctors).

I think I've grown to love the 2nd Doctor more as I've seen more of his stories. He always seemed to be referenced positively by later Doctor's - almost like he was the Doctor's Doctor. And now I can see why.

I'm currently watching season 1 and its reminded how much I loved the 9th Doctor!

Colin I guess, but in the end I was gutted he was replaced.

I remember seeing Matt in that Next Doctor doc they did and just immediately went "no! not a chance! he is going to ruin it"
i stuck it out and watched Eleventh Hour and i was umming and arrig over him as he would do something and i love him but he would do something else and id dislike him.
when he did the Pandorica speech is when i finally loved 11

I know which story you mean, it was called The Wrong Doctor(s?) and I really liked that one because as you say, it highlighted just how much he'd changed. There was another BF story too where he pointed how badly he'd been at the start of his sixth incarnation, not sure which one it was but it proved a point.

Didn't like capaldi his first series, grew to like him in season 9 as he added layers to his character. Never liked mccoy or colin baker ever. Opposite for tom baker, got bored of him the last 2 series.

It's not so much there in the more serious stories, but in the comedic ones like The One Doctor and Doctor Who and the Pirates, his arrogance and social missteps are still around, but played to a much more humourous effect (like Capaldi's Doctor) which puts him in a much more likable light about it. It's definitely very tame compared to the in-your-face manner that the TV show tried to put across that this Doctor wasn't a very nice guy.

Matt Smith.

David was and will always be my Doctor. When he announced he was leaving I was gutted. When I watched The Eleventh Hour I despised Matt for no other reason than he wasn't David Tennant.

Took me a whole series to get over myself, I stuck with it, all the while moaning about how much I hated Matt Smith and how bad he was etc etc.

By about half way through series 6 I'd really warmed to him, rewatched series 5 and realised that actually I bloody loved him as the doctor.

Now I love him almost as much as I do David.

I've never hated any of the leads in the role, so instead I base it on how long it took before I could really accept them in the role.

With Eccleston it was pretty much immediate. He was my first Doctor, and all I really knew. He's stood the test of time too, remaining one of my two joint favourites.

Tennant took a lot longer to grow to like, especially after his treatment of Harriet Jones in his first story. He was 'the replacement' for me for a while, and his forced-feeling romance with Rose didn't help me to like his character quickly. It all changed come The Runaway Bride - Rose was out the way, and RTD delivered consistency with the 'no second chances' aspect of the character when he killed the Racnoss children. The story allowed him to be fun, sad, dramatic and he bounced off Catherine Tate brilliantly. It took a whole series to like him, and he was always at his best with Donna, though without his companions his character was actually rather dull - as the Specials proved.

Smith settled into the role quicker than Tennant for me, and by the end of Series 5 I really rather liked him. It probably helped that I wasn't overly attached to his predecessor, but Vincent and the Doctor, The Lodger, The Pandorica Opens, The Big Bang and A Christmas Carol was an incredibly diverse range of stories - some of Smith's best ever, and one of the strongest consecutive runs of episodes in the past decade. This was largely in part down to Smith. Whilst Tennant's Doctor depended on decent characters all around him to remain interesting, Smith became the main attraction. As soon as he'd settled into the role and found his niche, he was a lot of fun to watch.

Capaldi had a tough job of succeeding two similar and popular Doctor's, with one that is very different and a less conventional protagonist. He rose to the challenge admirably though and whilst the stories felt a little too 'business as usual' for him, his turbulent friendship with Clara made him interesting, and his volatility kept him always changeable. By less than half way through Series 8, he'd settled in and was the Doctor. He's still never sat still for too long and keeps things constantly feeling refreshed, which is brilliant. He's a rather unpredictable Doctor as they go, but it's no bad thing - making him one of the strongest leads the show has had.

Colin Baker...hated him and I thought it was sloppy casting. However, after his first season I had the very good fortune to meet him and had a personal 1:1 chat for about an hour. He was a fantastic man and told me about his portrayal and how he was being deliberately obnoxious in order to develop a distinct and eventually more likeable character. From Attack of the Cybermen onwards, I could see exactly what he was doing and thought he was wonderful.

The only thing that really annoyed me about him in the end was how his Doctor introduced himself 'I am known as the Doctor' (emphasis on the word 'known) I much prefer simply, 'hello, I'm the Doctor' then dealing with subsequent 'doctor of what?, questions.

I'm afraid I have never really warmed to Sylvester McCoy's Doctor, although I think he himself is a smashing guy.

I don't know if anyone else has had this, this is a bit of a spin on the question asked.

With McCoy, it wasn't so much that I initially disliked him as a Doctor, I actually sort of linked him to how poor a lot of his first two Seasons were and therefore thought he was not kind of good with it though as I said I did like his Doctor.

Now I can separate the two and for me, McCoy shines quite a lot, even through his poorest stories. Listening to the Big Finish stories where he has some decent material to work with, you see how much his Doctor was wasted on TV.

Time and the Rani was the day I pretty much switched off. Hated McCoys portrayal, his clowning and overacting was cringing. I never warmed to him!

Everyone to their own but after his first season the clowning did fade quite drastically. He was much better in Seasons 25 and 26.

Can understand anyone who turned off during Season 24. Was a truly dire Season.

David Tennant.

As a first time Who viewer in 2005, I wasn't yet that familiar with the concept of the regeneration aspect of the show. Having become totally charmed and hooked by Eccleston, I was adamant that a change of lead would ruin the show and that Tennant would be rubbish. Never have I been so wrong about anything.