Doctor Who : episode guide

• 1st Doctor • William Hartnell • 1963–1966 (134 episodes)
• 2nd Doctor • Patrick Troughton • 1966–1969 (119 episodes)
• 3rd Doctor • Jon Pertwee • 1970–1974 (128 episodes)
• 4th Doctor • Tom Baker • 1974–1981 (172+6 episodes)
• 5th Doctor • Peter Davdison • 1982–1984 (72+1 episodes)
• 6th Doctor • Colin Baker • 1984–1986 (31 episodes)
• 7th Doctor • Sylvester McCoy • 1987–1989 (42 episodes)/li>
• First Interregnum • 1989–1996 (1 episode)
• 8th Doctor • Paul McGann • 1996 (1 film)
• Second Interregnum • 1996–2005 (1 episode)
• 9th Doctor • Christopher Ecclestone • 2005 (13 episodes)
• 10th Doctor • David Tennant • 2006–2009
• 11th Doctor • Matt Smith • 2010–2013
• 12th Doctor • Peter Capaldi • 2014–2017
• 13th Doctor • Jodie Whittaker • 2018–

Rating: 1
[ unmissable | great stuff | worth watching | mind candy | waste of time | unfinishable ]

Season 1

• A. 23-Nov-63. 100,000 BC. (4 25 minute episodes; episode 1: An Unearthly Child; episodes 2–4: The Tribe of Gum)
  • Two schoolteachers, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright, are worried about a brilliant pupil, Susan, so follow her home [a more innocent age, clearly]. They discover her eccentric grandfather and a police box in a junkyard. The grumpy old man shanghais them all off into the Stone Age, where they find a tribe desperately trying to rediscover the secret of fire.
• B. 21-Dec-63. The Daleks. (7)
  • The Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara travel to the devastated radioactive planet of Skaro, where they meet violent destructive robot Daleks, and noble blond humanoid Thals. Bickering amongst themselves, they help the Thaals destroy the Daleks.
• C. 8-Feb-64. The Edge of Destruction. (2)
  • The Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara are trapped in the Tardis under a strange destructive influence. The Doctor realises the value of Barbara and Ian.
• D. 22-Feb-64. Marco Polo. (7)
• E. 11-Apr-64. The Keys of Marinus. (6)
  • The Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara have to collect four keys from around the planet before Marinus will give them access to the Tardis. (Each of the one episode ‘plot coupon’ adventures could easily have been a whole story.)
• F. 23-May-64. The Aztecs. (4)
  • The Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara travel to the time of the Incas. Barbara is mistaken for a god, and tries to stop human sacrifice. The Doctor accidentally gets engaged. And Ian shows his warrior abilities. Poor use is made of a solar eclipse.
• G. 20-Jun-64. The Sensorites. (6)
  • The Tardis materialises inside an Earth spaceship held captive by the Sensorites who (justifiably) fear they may be exploited for their mineral wealth. The Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara must convince the Sensorites to release the ship, and solve the puzzle of the deadly Sensorite illness.
• H. 8-Aug-64. The Reign of Terror. (6)
  • The Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara arrive in revolutionary France, and only just manage to keep their heads attached.

Season 2

• J. 31-Oct-64. Planet of Giants. (3)
  • The Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara are shrunk to one inch high due to a malfunction, yet still need to prevent a deadly insecticide from being released.
• K. 21-Nov-64. The Dalek Invasion of Earth. (6)
  • The Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara arrive in London in 2164, and help the beleaguered natives fight off a Dalek invasion. Susan leaves.
  • The Doctor: Susan, my beloved 16-year-old grand-daughter, I am leaving you stranded in this post-apocalyptic hell-hole with just the clothes on your back, so that you can help rebuild civilisation.
    Susan: Thank you Grandfather for forcing this choice on me, and not letting me make my own decisions.
• L. 2-Jan-65. The Rescue. (2)
  • The Doctor, Ian and Barbara land on Dido. They find a pair of humans waiting for rescue after an attack by natives killed their crewmates. But all is not as it seems, and the true villain is unmasked. Vicki joins.
  • The Doctor: I do miss my beloved 16-year-old grand-daughter, who I recently left stranded in a post-apocalyptic hell-hole. Vicki, don’t go back to Earth. Instead, please join me to stop me feeling lonely, and come on adventures where you will keep nearly being killed.
    Barbara and Ian: I do hope Vicki decides not to go back to home to 25th century Earth where she would be safe, but instead joins us on our adventures where we keep nearly being killed, as we try to persuade the Doctor to take us back home to 20th century Earth where we will be safe.
    Vicki: sounds good; since my father was recently brutally murdered, maybe adventures where I keep nearly being killed will help me completely forget that trauma.

• M. 16-Jan-65. The Romans. (4)
  • The Doctor, Vicki, Ian and Barbara arrive in ancient Rome. The Doctor is mistaken for a famous lyre player and makes Nero jealous; Barbara and Ian are taken as slaves; the Doctor inspires Nero to burn down Rome.
• N. 13-Feb-65. The Web Planet. (6)
  • The Doctor, Vicki, Ian and Barbara help the enslaved/exiled bee-like Menoptra regain their planet from the Animus-controlled ant-like Z-a-a-a-r-r-r-b-i-i-i.
• P. 27-Mar-65. The Crusades. (4)
  • The Doctor, Vicki, Ian and Barbara meet up with Richard the Lionheart on a crusade. The Doctor and Vicki play dress up; King Richard knights Ian; Barbara has a hard time as a captive of various Saracens.
• Q. 24-Apr-65. The Space Museum. (4)
  • The Doctor, Vicki, Ian and Barbara see their future selves exhibited in the Moroks space museum, so need to foment revolution to stop that happening.
• R. 22-May-65. The Chase. (6)
  • The Daleks build a time machine, and chase the Doctor, Vicki, Ian and Barbara through time in order to ex-ter-mi-nate! them. They are captured by the Mechonoids, and meet Steven. The Mechonoids battle the Dalek squad to mutual annihilation. Ian and Barbara use the Dalek time machine to return to Earth, 1965.
• S. 3-Jul-65. The Time Meddler. (4)
  • The Doctor, Vicki, and Steven must stop the Meddling Monk, another time traveller, from changing history in 1066.

Season 3

• T. 11-Sep-65. Galaxy Four. (4)
  • The Doctor, Vicki, and Steven materialise on a planet soon to explode, and must decide whether to aid the humanoid Drahvins, or the hideous alien Rills and their Chumblie robots.
• T/A. 9-Oct-65. Mission to the Unknown. (1)
  • Foreshadowing the Dalek Masterplan with none of the regulars present.
• U. 16-Oct-65. The Myth Makers. (4)
• [Vicki leaves]
• V. 13-Nov-65. The Dalek Masterplan. (12)
• W. 5-Feb-66. The Massacre. (4)
  • [Dodo joins]
• X. 5-Mar-66. The Ark. (4)
  • The Doctor, Steven, and Dodo find themselves in the very far future on a giant spaceship taking the last humans and Monoids from a doomed Earth, to a new home. Dodo infects them all with her cold, but the Doctor cures it. They rematerialise back on the ship 700 years later, when the ship is near their new home, to discover the Monoids have enslaved the humans.
• Y. 2-Apr-66. The Celestial Toymaker. (4)
• Z. 30-Apr-66. The Gunfighters. (4)
  • The Doctor, Steven, and Dodo arrive in Tombstone Arizona just in time for a famous gunfight. The Clantons mistake the Doctor for Doc Holliday. There is a lot of singing.
• AA. 28-May-66. The Savages. (4)
  • [Steven leaves]
• BB. 25-Jun-66. The War Machines. (4)
  • The Doctor and Dodo arrive in London 1966, just as the computer WOTAN is switched on and decides to take over the world. Dodo leaves with less than zero fanfare. Polly and Ben help the Doctor defeat WOTAN, then join him.

Season 4

• CC. 10-Sep-66. The Smugglers. (4)
• DD. 8-Oct-66. The Tenth Planet. (4)
  • The Doctor, Polly and Ben arrive at the South Pole in 1986, where they have to battle invading Cybermen. The Doctor regenerates.

Rating: 1
[ unmissable | great stuff | worth watching | mind candy | waste of time | unfinishable ]

Season 4 ctd

• EE. 5-Nov-66. The Power of the Daleks. (6)
  • The regenerated Doctor, Polly and Ben arrive at the human colony of Vulcan. There is a rebellion underway, complicated by the discovery of some cunning Daleks in an old space capsule. Lots of Daleks. And the humans seem to have forgotten the earlier Dalek invasion of Earth. Dalek #1: “Wait. No more than three Daleks to be seen together at any one time.”
• FF. 17-Dec-66. The Highlanders. (4)
  • [Jamie joins]
• GG. 14-Jan-67. The Underwater Menace. (4)
  • The Doctor, Polly, Ben and Jamie arrive in the underwater world of Atlantis. They must stop themselves being sacrificed to the goddess Amdo, Polly from being turned into a fish, and mad scientist Zaroff from destroying the world.
• HH. 11-Feb-67. The Moonbase. (4)
  • The Doctor, Polly, Ben and Jamie arrive at the Earth weather control station on the Moon in 2070. They must foil an attempt by the Cybermen to seize control of the device and wipe out all life on Earth. The staff know the history of the 1986 Cyber-invasion (The Tenth Planet) but think the Cybermen were wiped out then, so can't be here now.
• JJ. 11-Mar-67. The Macra Terror. (4)
  • The Doctor, Polly, Ben and Jamie arrive at a happy human colony, whose people deny the existence of strange giant crabs roaming the night.
• KK. 8-Apr-67. The Faceless Ones. (6)
• The Doctor, Polly, Ben and Jamie arrive at Gatwick Airport, where strange things are going on with Chameleon Tours flights. Once the Doctor has defeated the alien kidnappers, Polly and Ben realise this is the same day they originally left Earth, and decide to go back to their old lives. (So this alien incursion is happening at exactly the same time as The War Machines incursion in central London!)
• LL. 20-May-67. The Evil of the Daleks. (7)
• The Doctor and Jamie chase the stolen TARDIS, and end up back in Victorian times, as the Daleks try to find the Human Factor. The chase continues to Skaro and the Dalek Emperor. They recover the TARDIS, and Victoria joins them.

Season 5

• MM. 2-Sep-67. Tomb of the Cybermen. (4)
• The Doctor, Jamie and Victoria come across a team of future archaeologists who waken a collection of frozen Cybermen.
• NN. 30-Sep-67. The Abominable Snowmen. (6)
• The Doctor, Jamie and Victoria come across a group of monks in the frozen Himalayas, being terrorised by robot Yeti under the control of the Great Intelligence.
• OO. 11-Nov-67. The Ice Warriors. (6)
• The Doctor, Jamie and Victoria come across a team of future scientists who waken a collection of frozen Ice Warriors.
• PP. 23-Dec-67. The Enemy of the World. (6)
  • The Doctor, Jamie and Victoria arrive in 2018, to find an evil dictator, Salamander, is the Doctor’s double.
• QQ. 3-Feb-68. The Web of Fear. (6)
  • The Doctor, Jamie and Victoria arrive in the London Underground, to discover the Great Intelligence is using the Yeti along with a malignant web; they help a Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart defeat the enemy.
• RR. 16-Mar-68. Fury from the Deep. (6)
  • The Doctor, Jamie and Victoria arrive at a North Sea gas refinery on the coast of England. The refinery is being taken over by sentient seaweed. Victoria’s screams are the defence. Victoria leaves.
• SS. 27-Apr-68. The Wheel in Space. (6)
  • [Zoe joins]

Season 6

• TT. 10-Aug-68. The Dominators. (5)
  • The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe have to save the peaceful Dulcians from having their planet destroyed by the invading Dominators and their Quark robots.
• UU. 14-Sep-68. The Mind Robber. (5)
  • The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe find themselves in a land of fiction, in danger of becoming fictional themselves.

• VV. 2-Nov-68. The Invasion. (8)
  • The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe work with the Brigadier and UNIT to defeat the Cybermen.
• WW. 28-Dec-68. The Krotons. (4)
  • The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe discover the robot Krotons have enslaved the humanoid Gonds, draining their mental energy. The Doctor defeats the Krotons with Chemistry.
• XX. 25-Jan-69. The Seeds of Death. (6)
  • The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe discover that the Ice Warriors have hijacked the lunar transmat station as part of their plot to conquer the Earth. Fortunately oxygen-sucking fungi can be defeated by rain.
• YY. 8-Mar-69. The Space Pirates. (6)
• ZZ. 19-Apr-69. The War Games. (10)
  • The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe find themselves in war zones from WWI, the American Civil War, even the Romans in Britain; they need to stop the War Lord who is experimenting on humans. The Doctor has to call on the Time Lords for help; they do, but then put him on trial, erase Jamie and Zoe’s memories and send them home, regenerate the Doctor, and banish him to Earth.

Rating: 2
[ unmissable | great stuff | worth watching | mind candy | waste of time | unfinishable ]

Season 7

• AAA. 3-Jan-70. Spearhead from Space. (4)
• BBB. 31-Jan-70. The Silurians. (7)
• CCC. 21-Mar-70. The Ambassadors of Death . (7)
• DDD. 9-May-70. Inferno. (7)

Season 8

• EEE. 2-Jan-71. Terror of the Autons. (4)
  • Jo joins the Doctor, opposing the Master and the sentient plastic Auton robots.
• FFF. 30-Jan-71. The Mind of Evil. (6)
  • The Doctor and Jo oppose the Master's plan to start a world war by disrupting a peace conference and using prisoners to steal a nuclear missile.
• GGG. 13-Mar-71. The Claws of Axos. (4)
  • Aliens land and offer the world free energy and unlimited food, but they have an ulterior motive, and are being helped by the Master.
• HHH. 10-Apr-71. Colony in Space. (6)
  • The Time Lords send the Doctor and Jo to a colony planet, where miners and colonists are in conflict, to stop the Master aqcuiring an ancient superweapon.

• JJJ. 22-May-71. The Dæmons. (5)
  • The Master awakens an ancient being, wanting its power; but the being may end up destroying the Earth instead.

Season 9

• KKK. 1-Jan-72. The Day of the Daleks. (4)
• LLL. 29-Jan-72. The Curse of Peladon. (4)
• MMM. 26-Feb-72. The Sea Devils. (6)
• NNN. 8-Apr-72. The Mutants. (6)
• OOO. 20-May-72. The Time Monster. (6)

Season 10

• RRR. 30-Dec-72. The Three Doctors. (4)
  • The Time Lords need help from the Doctor, all three of him.
• PPP. 27-Jan-73. Carnival of Monsters. (4)
  • The Doctor and Jo find themselves inside a miniscope full of monsters.
• QQQ. 24-Feb-73. Frontier in Space. (6)
  • The Doctor and Jo need to stop a war between Earth and the Ogrons, being formented by the Master on behalf of the Daleks.
• SSS. 7-Apr-73. Planet of the Daleks. (6)
  • The Doctor is injured by the Master, and need to recuperate; Jo leaves him to recover and discovers more Daleks in a jungle.
• TTT. 19-May-73. The Green Death. (6)
  • Giant maggots and mad computers in Wales. Jo leaves.

Season 11

• UUU. 15-Dec-73. The Time Warrior. (4)
• WWW. 12-Jan-74. Invasion of the Dinosaurs. (6)
• XXX. 23-Feb-74. Death to the Daleks. (4)
• YYY. 23-Mar-74. The Monster of Peladon. (6)
• ZZZ. 4-May-74. Planet of the Spiders. (6)

Rating: 3
[ unmissable | great stuff | worth watching | mind candy | waste of time | unfinishable ]

Season 12

• 4A. 28-Dec-74. Robot. (4)
  • The Doctor regenerates. He, Sarah Jane and UNIT need to stop an indestructible robot and a bunch of fascists from destroying the world.
• 4B. 25-Jan-75. The Ark in Space. (4)
  • The Doctor, Sarah Jane and Harry rescue the frozen remnants of the human race from giant insects.
• 4C. 22-Feb-75. The Sontaran Experiment. (2)
  • The Doctor, Sarah Jane and Harry interrupt a Sontaran experimenting on humans to gather information prior to an invasion.
• 4D. 8-Mar-75. Genesis of the Daleks. (6)
  • The Doctor, Sarah Jane and Harry are sent back by the Time Lords to stop Davros developing the Daleks; they fail.
• 4E. 19-Apr-75. Revenge of the Cybermen. (4)
  • The Doctor, Sarah Jane and Harry are back on the Ark, but many thousands of years earlier than before, foiling the Cybermen and their Cybermat plague.

Season 13

• 4F. 30-Aug-75. Terror of the Zygons. (4)
• 4H. 27-Sep-75. Planet of Evil. (4)
• 4G. 25-Oct-75. The Pyramids of Mars. (4)
• 4J. 22-Nov-75. The Android Invasion. (4)
• 4K. 3-Jan-76. The Brain of Morbius. (4)
• 4L. 31-Jan-76. The Seeds of Doom. (6)

Season 14

• 4M. 4-Sep-76. The Masque of Mandragora. (4)
  • The Doctor and Sarah Jane are swept to Renaissance Italy by the Mandragora Helix.
• 4N. 2-Oct-76. The Hand of Fear. (4)
  • The Doctor and Sarah Jane find a stone hand in the BBC chalk pit; the hand regenerates and threatens a nuclear reactor; Sarah Jane leaves.
• 4P. 30-Oct-76. The Deadly Assassin. (4)
  • The Doctor is accused of assassinating the President of the Times Lords (but it's really the Master).
• 4Q. 1-Jan-77. The Face of Evil. (4)
  • The Doctor meets the Savateem, a warrior tribe, and discovers a giant sculpture of his head is part of their mythology: he is the Evil One. Leela helps him.
• 4R. 29-Jan-77. The Robots of Death. (4)
  • The Doctor and Leela travel to a giant mining vessel, where robots are attacking the crew.
• 4S. 26-Feb-77. The Talons of Weng-Chiang. (6)
  • The Doctor and Leela find something horrible under the streets of Victorian London.

Season 15

• 4V. 03-Sep-77. Horror of Fang Rock. (4)
• 4T. 1-Oct-77. The Invisible Enemy. (4)
• 4X.29-Oct-77. Image of the Fendahl. (4)
• 4W. 26-Nov-77. The Sunmakers. (4)
• 4Y. 7-Jan-78. Underworld. (4)
• 4Z. 4-Feb-78. The Invasion of Time. (6)

Rating: 4
[ unmissable | great stuff | worth watching | mind candy | waste of time | unfinishable ]

Season 16

• The Search for the Key to Time
  • 5A. 2-Sep-78. The Ribos Operation . (4)
  • 5B. 30-Sep-78. The Pirate Planet . (4)
  • 5C. 28-Oct-78. The Stones of Blood . (4)
  • 5D. 25-Nov-78. The Androids of Tara . (4)
  • 5E. 23-Dec-78. The Power of Kroll . (4)
  • 5F.20-Jan-79. The Armageddon Factor . (6)

Season 17

• 5J. 1-Sep-79. Destiny of the Daleks. (4)
  • Romana regenerates. She and the Doctor find themselves on Skaro, as the Daleks attempt to find Davros to help them in their battle against the Movellans.
• 5H. 29-Sep-79. City of Death. (4)
  • The Doctor and Romana are in Paris, trying to thwart a Jagaroth attempting to build a time machine funded by seven Mona Lisas.
• 5G. 27-Oct-79. The Creature from the Pit. (4)
  • The Doctor, Romana and K9 find themselves on a vegetation-rich but metal-poor planet, where Lady Adrasta throws her enemies into a pit to be eaten by a monster, who turns out to be the Ambassador for a metal-rich but vegetation-poor planet. A neutron star gets covered in aluminium.
• 5K. 24-Nov-79. Nightmare of Eden. (4)
  • The Doctor, Romana and K9 have to separate two intermeshed spaceships and expose a dangerous drug trader, while avoiding customs agents and monster mandrils.
• 5L. 22-Dec-79. The Horns of Nimon. (4)
  • The Doctor, Romana and K9 discover the war-like Skonnos sending tribute to the Nimon in the labyrinth, in exchange for technological power. But the Nimon intends invasion instead.
• 5M. (never broadcast) Shada. (6)
  • The Doctor, Romana and K9 visit retired timelord Professor Chronotis in Cambridge. Meanwhile, Skagra is after a Gallifreyan book Chronotis has, that will lead him to arch-criminal Salyavin and let him take over the universe.

Season 18

• 5N. 30-Aug-80. The Leisure Hive. (4)
  • The Doctor, Romana and K9 go on holiday, but find an old war brewing; the Doctor gets very old; he recovers.
• 5Q. 27-Sep-80. Meglos. (4)
  • The team travel to an old friend of the Doctor’s, but find he has been impersonated by a cactus, which gets him in trouble.
• The E-Space Trilogy
  • 5R. 25-Oct-80. Full Circle. (4)
    • The team unwittingly travel to E-space, and find a planet with a trapped spacecraft crew, and some swamp monsters; Adric stows away in the Tardis.
  • 5P. 22-Nov-80. State of Decay. (4)
    • The team find a trio of vampire-like creatures ruling over villagers; their castle looks suspiciously spaceworthy.
  • 5S. 3-Jan-81. Warriors’ Gate. (4)
    • Trying to return to normal space, the team find a group of lion-like creatures enslaved by spacers; Romana and K9 stay behind to avoid having to return to Gallifrey.
• 5T. 31-Jan-81. The Keeper of Traken. (4)
  • How the Master gets round the limit in number of regenerations; Nyssa joins the team.
• 5V. 28-Feb-81. Logopolis. (4)
  • The Doctor needs the help of the Logopolis mathematicians, but the Master is one step ahead. Tegan accidentally stows away in the Tardis. Back on Earth, the Doctor falls off a radio telescope, and has to regenerate.

Rating: 4
[ unmissable | great stuff | worth watching | mind candy | waste of time | unfinishable ]

Season 19

• 5Z. 4-Jan-82. Castrovalva. (4)
  • A newly regenerated Doctor needs help from Adric, Tegan and Nyssa inside an Escher-like city.
• 5W. 18-Jan-82. Four to Doomsday. (4)
  • The team find a huge spacecraft with collections of ancient human cultures on its way to destroy the Earth.
• 5Y. 1-Feb-82. Kinda. (4)
  • The team find a planet of peaceful jungle people threatened by a colonising expedition slowly going mad.
• 5X. 15-Feb-82. The Visitation. (4)
  • The team discover an alien plot to use the Great Plague to destroy all life on Earth; they save the day by burning down London.
• 6A. 1-Mar-82. Black Orchid. (2)
  • The Doctor plays cricket; Tegan does the Charleston; Nyssa has a doppleganger; a disfigured explorer threatens them all.
• 6B. 8-Mar-82. Earthshock. (4)
  • The team find a huge spacecraft full of Cybermen on its way to destroy future Earth. In attempting to stop them, the craft is sent back 65M years, wiping out the dinosaurs, and killing Adric.
• 6C. 22-Mar-82. Time-Flight. (4)
  • The Doctor, Tegan and Nyssa go back to the Cretaceous to recover Concorde from the Master; Tegan is left behind at Heathrow.

Season 20

• 6E. 3-Jan-83. Arc of Infinity. (4)
• 6D. 18-Jan-83. Snakedance. (4)
• The Guardian Trilogy
  • 6F. 1-Feb-83. Mawdryn Undead. (4)
  • 6G. 14/15-Feb-83. Terminus. (4)
  • 6H. 1-Mar-83. Enlightenment. (4)
• 6J. 15-Mar-83. The King’s Demons. (4)

20th Anniversary Special

• 6K. 25-Nov-83. The Five Doctors. (1 episode, 90 mins)
  • The Time Scoop gathers several incarnations of The Doctor and his enemies to Gallifrey, where they encounter the legendary Rassilon. (Clever use of unbroadcast Shada footage to portray the fourth doctor.)

Season 21

• 6L. 5-Jan-84. Warriors of the Deep. (4)
• 6M. 19-Jan-84. The Awakening. (2)
  • The Doctor, Tegan and Turlough arrive in an English village where a Civil War re-enactment has got out of hand, thanks to the Malus.
• 6N. 26-Jan-84. Frontios. (4)
• 6P. 8-Feb-84. Resurrection of the Daleks. (2|4)
  • The Doctor, Tegan and Turlough get caught in the Dalek Time Corridor, and have to stop the Daleks from rescuing Davros to cure a Dalek plague. An enormous number of people are shot dead. Tegan leaves. (Broadcast as 2x45 min episodes; also exists as 4x25 min episodes.)
• 6Q. 23-Feb-84. Planet of Fire. (4)
• 6R. 8-Mar-84. The Caves of Androzani. (4)

Rating: 5
[ unmissable | great stuff | worth watching | mind candy | waste of time | unfinishable ]

Season 21 ctd

• 6S. 22-Mar-84. The Twin Dilemma. (4)

Season 22

• 6T. 5-Jan-85. Attack of the Cybermen. (2)
  • The Doctor, still wobbly from his regeneration, and Peri travel to Earth where they discover sewers full of time-travelling Cybermen trying to stop the destruction of their home planet next year (as happened in The Tenth Planet). Nearly everyone dies.
• 6V. 19-Jan-85. Vengeance on Varos. (2)
  • The Doctor and Peri travel to ex-penal planet Varos, where the population watch live streamed torture and executions, to find that Sil is cheating them out of a fair price for a valuable mineral.
• 6X. 2-Feb-85. The Mark of the Rani. (2)
  • The Doctor and Peri travel to Industrial Revolution England and meet George Stephenson. They discover the Rani is stealing brain fluid from the locals, turning them violent, while the Master is trying to convince her to help him defeat the Doctor.
• 6W. 16-Feb-85. The Two Doctors. (3)
  • The 2nd Doctor and Jamie are caught up in a plot to give the Sontarans time travel. The Doctor and Peri get entangled in the plot, and help them out.
• 6Y. 9-Mar-85. Timelash. (2)
  • The Doctor and Peri travel to Karfel, where the 3rd Doctor and Jo Grant had a prior (undocumented) adventure. They discover the planet is under the rule of the mirror-shy dictator Borad, who is provoking a war with a neighbouring race.
• 6Z. 23-Mar-85. Revelation of the Daleks. (2)
  • The Doctor and Peri travel to Necros to attend a funeral. But it is a trap by Davros, who is turning cryogenically preserved people into Daleks and food.

Season 23

• 7A. 6-Sep-86. Trial of a Time Lord: The Mysterious Planet. (4)
  • The Doctor and Peri visit Earth 500 years after a catastrophe; they have to stop tech pirate Sabalom Glitz stealing a Black Light energy source needed by dwellers in the underground, being used as a totem by the tribe above.
• 7B. 4-Oct-86. Trial of a Time Lord: Mindwarp. (4)
  • The Doctor and Peri re-encounter Sil, and his boss who needs a body transplant. The Doctor fails to save Peri.
• 7C. 1-Nov-86. Trial of a Time Lord: Terror of the Vervoids. (4)
  • The Doctor and Mel battle the Vervoids on a cruise spaceliner. The Doctor commits genocide.
• 7C. 29-Nov-86. Trial of a Time Lord: The Ultimate Foe. (2)
  • The Doctor and the Master battle the Valeyard in the Matrix.

Rating: 3
[ unmissable | great stuff | worth watching | mind candy | waste of time | unfinishable ]

With the introduction of Ace and decent scripts, the later McCoy episodes were even beginning to be worth watching again (in particular, Remembrance of the Daleks, Silver Nemesis and Battlefield) just as the *!#$* BBC quietly dropped the series!

Season 24

• 7D. 07-Sep-87. Time and the Rani. (4)
  • The Doctor regenerates. He and Mel are captured by the Rani, who needs the Doctor’s knowledge of time to take over the universe.
• 7E. 5-Oct-87. Paradise Towers. (4)
  • The Doctor and Mel find Paradise Towers to be a post-apocalyptic hell-hole of Red and Blue Kangs, cannibalistic Rezzies, fascist Caretakers, and murderous Cleaner robots. They must fight the Great Architect to put things to rights. Build high for happiness!
• 7F. 2-Nov-87. Delta and the Bannermen. (3)
  • The Doctor and Mel have to prevent the mercenary Bannermen killing Delta, the queen and last survivor of the Chimeron, in a 1959 holiday camp in Wales. An uneasy combination of slapstick humour and genocide.
• 7G. 23-Nov-87. Dragonfire. (3)
  • The Doctor and Mel arrive at Iceworld, where a 3000 year old murderer thirsts for revenge against his home world. They foil his plans with help from slippery Sabalom Glitz and Ace. Mel leaves with Glitz; Ace stays with the Doctor.

Season 25

• 7H. 5-Oct-88. Remembrance of the Daleks. (4)
• 7L. 2-Nov-88. The Happiness Patrol. (3)
• 7K. 23-Nov-88. Silver Nemesis. (3)
• 7J. 14-Dec-88. The Greatest Show in the Galaxy. (4)

Season 26

• 7N. 6-Sep-89. Battlefield. (4)
  • The Doctor and Brigadier Bambera battle Arthurian knights from another dimension; Ace nearly drowns.
• 7Q. 4-Oct-89. Ghost Light. (3)
  • The Doctor takes Ace back to the haunted house in Perivale that so terrified her younger self 100 years in the future.
• 7M. 25-Oct-89. The Curse of Fenric. (4)
  • The Doctor and Ace visit a WWII codebreaking station, where Russians are trying to steal a booby-trapped computer, and an ancient curse of underwater haemovores is threatening them all.
• 7P. 22-Nov-89. Survival. (3)
  • The Doctor and Ace visit Perivale, where strange cats are abducting her friends, taking them to the dying planet of the Cheetah People, where the Master is trapped.

• 26 November 1993. Dimensions in Time.
  A dull 10 minute special (shown in two parts) for Children in Need.
  

Rating: 3
[ unmissable | great stuff | worth watching | mind candy | waste of time | unfinishable ]

• 27 May 1996. The TV Movie. (1)
• 14 Nov 2013. The Night of the Doctor. (mini episode special)
  • The Doctor regenerates, into the War Doctor

• 12 March 1999. The Curse of the Fatal Death .

  A wonderful 20 minute spoof special (shown in four parts) for Comic Relief’s Red Nose Day , with Rowan Atkinson (and Richard E. Grant, and Jim Broadbent, and Hugh Grant, and Joanna Lumley) as the Doctor, Jonathan Pryce as the Master, Julia Sawalha as the Companion.

  script by Steven Moffat

Rating: 2
[ unmissable | great stuff | worth watching | mind candy | waste of time | unfinishable ]

New Season 1

1. 26 March 2005 • Rose
2. 2 April 2005 • The End of the World
3. 9 April 2005 • The Unquiet Dead
4. 16 April 2005 • Aliens in London , part I
5. 23 April 2005 • World War Three , part II
6. 30 April 2005 • Dalek
7. 7 May 2005 • The Long Game
8. 14 May 2005 • Father’s Day
9. 21 May 2005 • The Empty Child , part I
10. 28 May 2005 • The Doctor Dances , part II
11. 4 June 2005 • Boom Town
12. 11 June 2005 • Bad Wolf , part I
13. 18 June 2005 • The Parting of the Ways , part II

Season review: He’s Back. And it’s About Time

A marvellous return after so many years away! Doctor Who has been updated for the 21st Century, with more jokes, faster glitzier action, and bling daleks, yet it remains true to the spirit of the show, and brings out the moral ambiguity surrounding the Doctor and his actions very well. There were moans early on in the run about the single-episode stories, and lack of cliff-hangers, but it gradually became clear that the entire season is one long intertwined story, as events in earlier episodes have consequences in later ones.

The BBC, in its characteristic infinite wisdom, managed to defuse the shock ending of the last episode in a premature announcement. But at least they have commissioned not only a second, but a third season (plus the obligatory Christmas specials). The full plaudits must go to Russell T. Davies and his team, who have demonstrated a deep love and respect for the format, whilst simultaneously achieving a viable updating. Keep up the good work!

reviewed 19 June 2005

Rating: 2
[ unmissable | great stuff | worth watching | mind candy | waste of time | unfinishable ]

New Season 2

• 25 December 2005 • Christmas special – The Christmas Invasion • The Doctor recovers from regeneration as Earth is attacked by the Sycorax; he thinks PM Harriet Jones looks tired.

1. 15 April 2006 • New Earth • Cat nun nurses
2. 22 April 2006 • Tooth and Claw • Queen Victoria and the werewolf
3. 29 April 2006 • School Reunion • Sarah Jane and K9
4. 6 May 2006 • The Girl in the Fireplace • Madame de Pompadour
5. 13 May 2006 • Rise of the Cybermen • Alternate History Cybermen, part I
6. 20 May 2006 • The Age of Steel • Alternate History Cybermen, part II
7. 27 May 2006 • The Idiot’s Lantern • Coronation TVs turn evil
8. 3 June 2006 • The Impossible Planet • Trapped by a black hole ...
9. 10 June 2006 • The Satan Pit • ... and something nasty down the pit
10. 17 June 2006 • Love & Monsters • The Abzorbaloff uses a team of Doctor watchers
11. 24 June 2006 • Fear Her • During the 2012 Olympics, a lonely girl draws her friends away
12. 1 July 2006 • Army of Ghosts • The Cybermen break through to our dimension
13. 8 July 2006 • Doomsday • Cybermen vs Daleks

Season review: Regenerated

The good work has been kept up! A new doctor, a new season, but the same quality. Again, the season itself is a long arc, building to a shattering climax, with some excellent, some moving, some funny, and some quirky episodes along the way.

School Reunion deserves special mention, with the return of Sarah Jane handled very well, raising questions never previously addressed (just what does happen to Companions when they are returned to mundania, and how do they feel about it?), and foreshadowing events in the season finale. Then Rise of the Cybermen has the terrifying metal men precision-stomping menacingly around Alternate London, “upgrading” everyone, finally breaking through to our side in Army of Ghosts, in a scene that fits the episode itself, yet with a witty little reference to the very first Tomb of the Cybermen story from 1967. It’s this kind of continuity that raises the new seasons above the previous (dare I say, “original”?) ones.

The new seasons have easily survived a changing Doctor – but will they survive a change in Companion? That remains to be seen – but I have confidence in the vision and integrity of the new directors. Roll on the Christmas Special and season “3”!

reviewed 9 July 2006

New Season 3

• 25 December 2006 • Christmas special – The Runaway Bride

1. 31 March 2007 • Smith and Jones • introducing Martha
2. 7 April 2007 • The Shakespeare Code • Love’s Labours Won
3. 14 April 2007 • Gridlock • life in the slow lanes
4. 21 April 2007 • Daleks in Manhattan • the Depression just got even worse ...
5. 28 April 2007 • Evolution of the Daleks • ... a Dalek-Human hybrid find little favour with either side
6. 5 May 2007 • The Lazarus Experiment • the Fountain of Youth ... it never helps
7. 19 May 2007 • 42 • falling into the sun in real time
8. 26 May 2007 • Human Nature • The Doctor hides by becoming human ...
9. 2 June 2007 • The Family of Blood • ... but the baddies find him anyway
10. 9 June 2007 • Blink • DVD Easter Eggs save the day from the statues
11. 16 June 2007 • Utopia • 100 trillion years in the future at the end of the Universe, and Jack’s back
12. 23 June 2007 • The Sound of Drums • The Master as PM
13. 30 June 2007 • Last of the Time Lords • Martha saves the world

Season review: Masterful

A new companion, a new season – same great stories. It is interesting that a change of Companion has resulted in more press-hysteria than the previous season’s change of Doctor, but it has been managed successfully, with the now-trademark inclusion of the consequences of these events. In last season’s School Reunion we saw how Companions could be devastated by losing the Doctor, now we see the long-term effect on the Doctor of losing a Companion.

The now to be expected arc running covertly through the season was again expertly done, with earlier slight references to Mr Saxon turning out to be heralding the return of the Master. (Interesting the way the portrayal of evil has changed: from hypnotic eyes and goatee beards, to singing pop songs!)

Some great episodes. The Shakespeare Code had some great one-liners, as Martha settles into her new role. I particularly liked Blink , with its clever use of the Doctor having a conversation across the years via DVD Easter Eggs (and speaking the same words in two different conversations!), and its use of classic horror tropes to get you scared of garden statues. 42 , whilst action-packed, suffers that irritating cliche: in 42 minutes we’ll fall into the sun, but if we get rescued in 41 minutes 59 seconds there will be no discernible problems at all. Although there is some screaming and running about, Martha is an effective Companion with a more important role than most: in the Human Nature/Family of Blood two-parter she’s in charge of the situation while the Doctor hides as a human ( "God, you’re rubbish as a human!" ), and in the season finale she has to walk right round the world to save it from the Master.

Roll on season "4".

reviewed 30 June 2007

New Season 4

• 25 December 2007 • Christmas special – Voyage of the Damned

1. 5 April 2008 • Parners in Crime • Donna Noble returns; the fat just walks away
2. 12 April 2008 • The Fires of Pompeii • to warn, or not to warn?
3. 19 April 2008 • Planet of the Ood • the secret behind the servile Ood
4. 26 April 2008 • The Sontaran Strategem • Dr Martha Jones of UNIT calls for help against the Sontarans...
5. 3 May 2008 • The Poison Sky • ... and the Sontarans (just) lose
6. 10 May 2008 • The Doctor’s Daughter • turns out to be a soldier
7. 17 May 2008 • The Unicorn and the Wasp • Agatha Christie investigates an alien monster
8. 31 May 2008 • Silence in the Library • the Library has no people, but plenty of shadows...
9. 7 June 2008 • River’s Run • ... how to save the Saved, now including Donna?
10. 14 June 2008 • Midnight • The Doctor goes on a tour bus: what could possibly go wrong?
11. 21 June 2008 • Turn Left • what if Donna had never met the Doctor?
12. 28 June 2008 • The Stolen Earth • the Daleks steal 27 planets...
13. 5 July 2008 • Journey’s End • ... the gang’s all here

Season review: a Companion isn’t just for Christmas

Yet another new companion, as Catherine Tate returns as Donna Noble from The Runaway Bride Christmas Special, and she has made the doomsayers eat their words. She has shone as an actress, and provided added depth as a "grown up" Companion, willing and able to stand up to the Doctor over some of his dodgier moral attitudes, and most definitely isn’t all gooily in love with him.

There aren’t really any bad episodes this season, and there are some real corkers. Each new season continues to add further complexity, depth and layers, as the actions, people, and consequences of earlier episodes come back to have more and more significance. The three episode climax is just marvellous, showing us the consequences of no Doctor, bringing in all the history (eg, when Davros meets Sarah Jane again, recalling their first meeting in Genesis of the Daleks in 1975!), and with a doubly tragic ending for the Doctor that fully brings home the tragedy of being an immortal living in a world of ephemeral beings. Superb.

There’s to be a one year hiatus, broken only by a few special episodes, before the next full season. Definitely worth waiting for.

[One fact that is boggling me. Elisabeth Sladen, who I well remember in her Sarah Jane original incarnation, is now over 60. 60 used to be old . People don’t age like they used to. (Or is this just me experiencing the other side of the "policemen looking younger" coin?)]

reviewed 5 July 2008

New Season 4a: The Specials

• 25 December 2008 • Christmas special – The Next Doctor

1. 11 April 2009 • Planet of the Dead – a bus in the desert
2. 15 November 2009 • Waters of Mars – the beginning of the end
3. 25 December 2009 • The End of Time part I – the Master race
4. 1 January 2010 • The End of Time part II – knock four times

Season review: a Special season

We don’t get a proper season this year, only a handful of specials (although, truth to tell, we haven’t had a proper season, one that lasts for more than 13-odd episodes, for over two decades now, but that’s typical for UK TV series). However, these specials add up to a grand finale regeneration of the 10th Doctor.

The 2008 Christmas special is just a tease. It was already known beforehand that David Tennant was being replaced, so, is this it? No. But it is fun figuring out what is going on.

The four main specials leading to the regeneration start with a "Summer Holiday" romp (ameliorated with swarms of killer bugs) that ends with a prophecy of the Doctor’s death: "he will knock four times". Then things steadily get darker, as the companionless Doctor seems to crack under the strain of isolation and knowing of his impending death.

As well as a farewell to David Tennant, the season is a farewell to Russell T Davies, and he wraps up the last episode with a big pink bow, as the Doctor gets his final "reward": to say goodbye to everyone from the last five years before he dies, or rather regenerates. It is a powerful journey getting there.

Here’s looking forward to the new season, with new Doctor Matt Smith, new companion Karen Gillan, and new master scriptwriter Steven Moffat.

reviewed 1 January 2010

New Season 5

1. 3 April 2010 • The Eleventh Hour • 20 minutes to save the Earth
2. 10 April 2010 • The Beast Below • where are Spaceship UK’s engines?
3. 17 April 2010 • Victory of the Daleks • khaki Daleks in WWII London okay; Smartie Daleks in space, not okay
4. 24 April 2010 • The Time of Angels (part I) • River Song and Weeping Angels: don’t blink! ...
5. 1 May 2010 • Flesh and Stone (part II) • ... the Angels get in Amy’s head: don’t look!
6. 8 May 2010 • Vampires in Venice • Rory joins the team
7. 15 May 2010 • Amy’s Choice • the Doctor, or Rory?
8. 22 May 2010 • The Hungry Earth (part I) • the Silurians return ...
9. 29 May 2010 • Cold Blood (part II) • ... a chance for peaceful co-existance?
10. 5 June 2010 • Vincent and the Doctor • Starry Night, with monsters – "Is this how time normally passes? Really slowly? In the right order?"
11. 12 June 2010 • The Lodger • no escape from football!
12. 19 June 2010 • The Pandorica Opens (part I) • the universe ends ...
13. 26 June 2010 • The Big Bang (part II) • ... "I suppose this means you and I never get born at all. Twice in my case."

Season review: something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue

New logo, new Doctor. It took me about 10 seconds to forget David Tennant. Matt Smith is the Doctor.

Karen Gillan as Amy Pond is a great Companion, not just there as a foil, but often advancing the plot in her own right, particularly at the end of the season. Rory starts off appearing to be mere comic relief, but develops into a much more significant role.

It’s not perfect. I have definitely not come to terms with the new dalek design. Now, it’s not because I don’t like change – I loved the new "bling" daleks, and the khaki "Dad’s Army" daleks were just weird. But these bigger, cheerfully coloured ones don’t have the same solid menacing feel – they seem more like merchandising opportunities. However, Steven Moffet is so good with messing with our minds that I fully expect to have to eat my words at some point when canary yellow becomes the new sinister.

But apart from that very minor quibble, this season is a real blast. Old friends and older enemies return, in surprising circumstances. There are massive changes of scale and pace, from universe-wide destruction to domestic scenes, from terror and trauma to comedy, without this feeling bitty. There are links into previous seasons, and non-obvious links within this season (the crack is made so obvious that it helps hide some of the other links – I never guessed the significance of the Doctor’s words to Amy in the forest of episode 5!)

Despite the fact that the universal mega-disaster is resolved (and how do you top destruction of the entire universe throughout its entire history?), the reason for the disaster happening in the first place is still a mystery. So roll on next season!

reviewed 26 June 2010

New Season 6

• 25 December 2010 • Christmas special – A Christmas Carol

1. 23 April 2011 • The Impossible Astronaut (part I) • There’s nobody there...
2. 30 April 2011 • Day of the Moon (part II) • ... tricking the Silence
3. 7 May 2011 • The Curse of the Black Spot • Yo, ho, ho, said the emergency medical hologram
4. 14 May 2011 • The Doctor’s Wife • ... is probably not who you were thinking
5. 21 May 2011 • The Rebel Flesh (part I) • your plastic pal...
6. 28 May 2011 • The Almost People (part II) • ... who’s not fun to be with
7. 4 June 2011 • A Good Man Goes to War • the real Amy’s baby is kidnapped
8. 27 Aug 2011 • Let’s Kill Hitler • the genesis of Melody Pond
9. 3 Sept 2011 • Night Terrors • a spooky doll’s house
10. 10 Sept 2011 • The Girl Who Waited • Amy waits for rescue .... and waits ... and waits
11. 17 Sept 2011 • The God Complex • running through hotel corridors
12. 24 Sept 2011 • Closing Time • Craig goes shopping
13. 1 Oct 2011 • The Wedding of River Song • in which all becomes "clear"

Season review: Rule number one – The Doctor lies

What a corker!

A long arc which started with the Doctor being killed, and ends with the Doctor being killed in the very same scene (being a time travel show helps a lot for things like this). In between we learn quite a lot about the characters, especially River Song.

There are some cracking episodes. The highlight must be The Girl Who Waited – with two Amys, one 36 years older than the other. Fantastic acting from Karen Gillan, and a real heartwrenching script. Other highlights include Let’s Kill Hitler (which has very little Hitler in it, considering) and The Wedding of River Song. Rory has transformed from bumbling clown to plausible action hero very believably (since he’s had to go through several hells to get there: "We’re dead, aren’t we? The lift fell and we’re dead. We’re dead. Again."). Non-arc episodes like The Curse of the Black Spot and Closing Time help keep the tone whiplashing around terror, comedy, pathos, and more terror, in a great way.

This season included a mid-year hiatus, accompanied by a massive mid-season revelation and cliffhanger.

And the final revelation of "the question hidden in plain sight" is sheer genius – I never saw it coming, and yet is is just so obvious!

reviewed 1 Oct 2011

New Season 7

• 25 December 2011 • Christmas special – The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe • saccharine in the woods

1. 1 September 2012 • Asylum of the Daleks • The planet where the Daleks exile the Daleks they are afraid of...
2. 8 September 2012 • Dinosaurs on a Spaceship • Dinosaurs ... on a Spaceship!
3. 15 September 2012 • A Town Called Mercy • The Doctor in a Stetson
4. 22 September 2012 • The Power of Three • The Doctor goes domestic, studying alien black cubes
5. 29 September 2012 • The Angels Take Manhattan • Amy and Rory make a choice

Then there is a mid season hiatus…

• 25 December 2012 • Christmas special – The Snowmen • The new companion – or is she …?

Another hiatus…

6. 30 March 2013 • The Bells of Saint John • The new companion, for real, gets uploaded; it looks like she might die...
7. 6 April 2013 • The Rings of Akhaten • A young girl is about to be sacrified; Clara wants to save her
8. 13 April 2013 • Cold War • Ice Warriors on a Soviet submarine
9. 20 April 2013 • Hide • A psychic and a haunted house
10. 27 April 2013 • Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS • great episode, until the horrible reset ending
11. 4 May 2013 • The Crimson Horror • Vastra, Jenny and Strax in Victorian Yorkshire
12. 11 May 2013 • Nightmare in Silver • Clara’s babysitting charges, Cybermen, and two dei ex machina
13. 18 May 2013 • The Name of the Doctor • The Impossible Girl explained

Season review: goodbye Ponds, hello Impossible Girl

A mixed bag, with some amazing episodes, and some clunkers.

The first half of the season we still had Amy and Rory, up until their traumatic departure in the excellent The Angels Take Manhattan. All good stuff. Then a mid-year hiatus, with new companion Clara introduced in the Christmas special. Or maybe not.

Then the second half of the season. Clara settled in quickly, but there were some scrappy scripts. The Rings of Akhaten was a bit dull and pointless, and Cold War was tedious. Things started to get better, then Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS, which was promising some interesting plot arc, had an appalling "reset" at the end. The Crimson Horror demonstrates why Vastra, Jenny and Strax really should have their own series. Nightmare in Silver had an early literal deus ex machina that was amusing, and a final one that was teeth-grindingly awful (why not do that sooner, before people died?). Yet all the weaknesses were made up for by the pure fangasm of a season finale, explaining Clara (including her incarnations in Asylum of the Daleks and The Snowmen), and knitting everything together.

reviewed 18 May 2013

New Season 7 specials

• 23 November 2013 • 50th anniversary special – The Day of the Doctor • Three doctors fill in the second interregnum

• 25 December 2013 • Christmas special – The Time of the Doctor • Matt Smith bows out, very slowly

New Season 8

1. 23 August 2014 • Deep Breath • a T.Rex in Victorian London, along with Vastra, Jenny, and Strax
2. 30 August 2014 • Into the Dalek • Impossible Voyage
3. 6 September 2014 • Robot of Sherwood • but surely Robin Hood is fictional?
4. 13 September 2014 • Listen • why fear the creature under the bed?
5. 20 September 2014 • Time Heist • robbing the unrobbable bank, but why?
6. 27 September 2014 • The Caretaker • John Smith, caretaker, doesn’t like soldiers
7. 4 October 2014 • Kill the Moon • oh dear, so many unnecessary mistakes
8. 11 October 2014 • Mummy on the Orient Express • 66 seconds to say goodbye to Clara
9. 18 October 2014 • Flatline • 2D invaders make the Tardis a lot smaller on the outside
10. 25 October 2014 • In the Forest of the Night • suddenly, trees! thousands of them
11. 1 November 2014 • Dark Water • Clara demands the Doctor save Danny Pink
12. 8 November 2014 • Death in Heaven • the Doctor battles the Master and Cybermen

Season review: I kissed the Master, and I liked it

We are back to the days when the Doctor was a grownup, not one of the lads. Peter Capaldi is an older, grimmer, angrier Doctor, and a better actor, adding depth to the character, and pulling better performances from Jenna Coleman (Clara), too.

There were a few clunkers of episodes this season, and it was a pity it started with one. Despite the ever-welcome presence of Vastra, Jenny, and Strax (when are they getting their own series?), Deep Breath was just trying too hard. And the less said about Kill the Moon, the better.

The little arc teasers running through the season culminated in a two part finale, with its grandiose, but rather sick, premise. Since I found Danny Pink rather uncharismatic, I couldn’t get that upset by his part in the finale, only with its shattering conclusion (see what happens when you aren’t honest with each other?).

Then the finale lost its nerve, with that little advert for the Christmas special.

reviewed 8 November 2014

New Season 9

• 25 December 2014 • Christmas special – Last Christmas • The Doctor and Clara at a North Pole science station, with Santa Claus

1. 19 September 2015 • The Magician’s Apprentice • A dying Davros asks to see the Doctor; Clara and Missy are exterminated…
2. 26 September 2015 • The Witch’s Familiar • …Davros tricks the Doctor; the Doctor tricks Davros
3. 3 October 2015 • Under the Lake • the Doctor and Clara fight ghosts underwater…
4. 10 October 2015 • Before the Flood • …the Doctor goes back in time to stop the ghostly invasion
5. 17 October 2015 • The Girl Who Died • The Doctor and Clara stop an alien Viking invasion; Ashildr dies…
6. 24 October 2015 • The Woman Who Lived • …Highwayman Ashildr and the Doctor foil an alien invasion
7. 31 October 2015 • The Zygon Invasion • The Zygons are in revolt; Osgood returns; Clara is assimilated…
8. 7 November 2015 • The Zygon Inversion • …Zygon Clara interrogates captured Clara, and encounters the Osgood Box
9. 14 November 2015 • Sleep No More • Mr Sandman, send me a nightmare
10. 21 November 2015 • Face the Raven • A trap is set for the Doctor, but Clara falls into it…
11. 28 November 2015 • Heaven Sent • …the Doctor goes to the future the long way round…
12. 5 December 2015 • Hell Bent • …and destroys the Universe for Clara

Season review: goodbye, Impossible Girl

This was another excellent season. The inclusion of many two-part stories, and the agonising three part finale, added a lot of depth to the events.

We knew beforehand that this was Clara’s final season (there are few true surprises any more), but the question was, when and how would she leave? And, of course, the writers played with this, with Clara apparently getting exterminated, and Zygonised, and… When the end came, it was heart-rending, and although there was a small cop-out, it wasn’t a complete cop-out.

It is clear that Clara really is the Doctor’s moral compass, particularly given what transpires in the season finale. What will he do without her?

Best of all, the finale acknowledged that what the Doctor did to Donna Noble to “save” her was simply wrong.

reviewed 5 December 2015

New Season 10

• 25 December 2015 • Christmas special – The Husbands of River Song • The Doctor meets River Song for the last time; River Song meets the Doctor for the first time; we all meet Nardole.

I include the 2015 Christmas special in the 10 season, as there was no Doctor Who in 2016 except for:

• 25 December 2016 • Christmas special – The Return of Doctor Mysterio • The Doctor and Nardole meet a real superhero in New York.

1. 15 April 2017 • The Pilot • The Doctor and Nardole are hiding out at St Luke's University in Bristol; the Doctor decides to tutor Bill Potts.
2. 22 April 2017 • Smile • The Doctor takes Bill to the 1814 frost fair on the Thames; there's something monstrous lurking beneath the ice.
3. 29 April 2017 • Thin Ice • The Doctor takes Bill to a gleaming future city, full of smiling robots and skulls.
4. 6 May 2017 • Knock Knock • Bill and some student friends are looking for a place to live; an old house is remarkably cheap, but the creaking wood and the forbidden tower should have clued them in. [More like an X-files episode!]
5. 13 May 2017 • Oxygen • The Doctor and Bill answer a distress call at a space mining station; can the Doctor save Bill from the spacesuits, and at what cost?
6. 20 May 2017 • Extremis • The Pope drops in to ask the Doctor for help reading a haunted book, but the Doctor can't read very well at the moment.
7. 27 May 2017 • The Pyramid at the End of the World • The UN Secretary General drops in to ask the Doctor for help about the strange appearance of a pyramid; it naturally presages an alien invasion…
8. 3 Jun 2017 • The Lie of the Land • … the alien Monks have taken over, helped by the Doctor, and only Bill can save the world. With just a hint of Missy.
9. 10 Jun 2017 • Empress of Mars • A troop of Victorian soldiers on Mars meet Ice Warriors; the Doctor needs to intervene
10. 17 Jun 2017 • The Eaters of Light • What really happened to the Ninth Legion in Scotland.
11. 24 Jun 2017 • World Enough and Time • The Doctor, Bill and Nardole are trapped on a large spaceship near a black hole; when Bill is captured, she knows to wait for the Doctor, but why is it taking him so long to arrive?
12. 1 July 2017 • The Doctor Falls • The Cybermen ascendant; the Master v Missy; Bill transformed; the Doctor refusing to regenerate.

Season review: hello Bill, goodbye

This was yet another excellent season. The underlying arc of the mysterious contents of the vault, and the agonising two part finale, made this a great season.

Bill is an excellent companion, not giving the Doctor an inch, and bringing a fresh perspective to the role of companion. Nardole grows over the season from an apparent buffoon to a crucial part of the team. And the Missy sub-plot plays out to a completely unexpected conclusion.

The final few seconds of the last episode, where The Doctor turns up, are a great set-up for the next Christmas special.

reviewed 1 July 2017

New Season 11

1. 7 October 2018 • The Woman Who Fell to Earth • how the latest regeneration of the Doctor met her new companions in Sheffield
2. 14 October 2018 • The Ghost Monument • the new companions help two pilots racing to the Ghost Monument
3. 21 October 2018 • Rosa • making sure Rosa Parks gets on the right bus
4. 28 October 2018 • Arachnids in the UK • all's not right in a big Sheffield hotel
5. 18 November 2018 • Kerblam! • The Doctor receives a distress call from an automated warehouse
6. 25 November 2018 • The Witchfinders • The Doctor and companions get mixed up with witches and King James I
7. 2 December 2018 • It Takes You Away • a blind girl in Norway can see the mirrors in her house lead to another world
8. 9 December 2018 • The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos • how to stop aliens turning the Earth into a marble

• 1 January 2019 • New Year special – Resolution • an old enemy returns, to Sheffield.

Season review: New Doctor, new gender

The hype surrounding the first female Doctor put this season under quite a hostile microscope. Despite the pressure, Jodie Whittaker is very much the Doctor: funny, clever, passionate, brave, wise, curious, compassionate, and definitely In Charge.

I was initially concerned that the inclusion of an older male companion, Graham, would be used by some writers to have a man in charge "really". But I shouldn't have worried: Graham just naturally treats the Doctor as the boss, with no hint of resentment or wounded male pride. And by the time we get to The Witchfinders, in sexist 1612 England, Graham has to pretend to be the one in charge, and is palpably embarrassed about this.

In one sense, this season goes back to the roots of the original concept: interweaving alien with historical episodes. The historical episodes are done well; surprisingly, some of the alien episodes are a bit incoherent. However, the writers are clearly enjoying the large palette of companions, allowing side plots galore.

To cement the idea we are now in A Different World, the end of year special was on New Year's Day, not on Christmas Day. And to cement the idea we are still in The Same Old World Actually, we got a Dalek story! But that is the only episode for 2019; we have to wait until 2020 for new season 12.

reviewed 1 January 2019

New Season 12

1. 1 January 2020 • Spyfall, Part I • MI6 contact the Doctor for help
2. 5 January 2020 • Spyfall, Part II • The Doctor and Ada Lovelace tackle the Master in WWII
3. 12 January 2020 • Orphan 55 • Tranquility Spa is overrun by Dregs
4. 19 January 2020 • Nicola Tesla's Night of Terror • The alien Skithra want Tesla to fix their spaceship
5. 26 January 2020 • Fugitive of the Judoon • The Doctor meets a different Doctor, fleeing the Judoon
6. 2 February 2020 • Praxeus • An alien plague likes microplastics
7. 9 February 2020 • Can You Hear Me? • The Companions have nightmares; are these cries for help?
8. 16 February 2020 • The Haunting of Villa Diodati • A Cyberman becomes the inspiration for Mary Shelley's novel
9. 23 February 2020 • Ascension of the Cybermen • The Doctor and team go to the far future to fight the Cybermen
10. 1 March 2020 • The Timeless Children • The Master reveals a shocking truth about the Doctor

Season review: What? What?!

Having established the new Doctor in the previous season, this season pulls out all the stops, with deeper, darker storylines (and some environmental preaching).

I really like the way the companions are treated in this season: they are not just there to be rescued, or to have things explained. The Doctor sends them off on little side projects: it’s a real team effort. And by the end of the season, the Doctor realises this has put them in real danger. The last two episodes are a constant breathless roller coaster, adding new perils while also explaining loose ends from earlier episodes, with no clear way out. And the ending is just, well, what?

Superb.

reviewed 1 March 2020