I’m very excited for some new Doctor Who later this year! In the meantime, here is Every Doctor Who Series Ranked, Since 2005.
This Ranking is Best to Worst:
Series 2
David Tennant’s first series is by far the best of the lot (for now!). We see the return of Sarah Jane, the Cybermen, and end on an incredible clash between Darleks and Cybermen, with a heartbreaking tragedy to top it all off.
Russell T. Davies sets up several other TV shows with some of these episodes, including Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures.
Series 3
Martha Jones is one of the best companions we’ve had since 2005, and her series running around with The Doctor was exciting, pretty dark in places, and deserves the number two spot on this list (although it’s pretty close to beating Series 2, depending on how I’m feeling).
This is the series that introduces The Master to modern audiences, with John Simm performing one of the best versions of The Doctor’s foe.
Series 1
This is the series my Mum all but forced me to watch, but after episode 1, Rose, I was hooked! I was 7 years-old and found my first major obsession.
Christopher Eccleston is sometimes forgotten in discussions about who the best Doctor was, but I think he’s pretty high up that list. Grief-stricken and angry, Rose grounds him and makes him realise he can continue saving the universe without losing himself.
Series 10
Steven Moffatt wrote Series 10 with the intention of introducing the show to new audiences, and does an amazing job! It really felt like a beginning, but had enough links to familiar names and faces for long-term fans to enjoy too.
Bill is my favourite companion, and I wish we had more episodes with her, but what we got was fantastic. It was a tragic ending, and very dark, but that was essential to making the return of John Simm even more impactful.
Series 4
With the three episodes of David Tennant and Catherine Tate returning to reprise their roles coming very soon, a rewatch of this series is essential!
There is little better than watching the on-screen chemistry between these two! The Doctor needed a friend, one with no romantic strings attacked, and Donna was that friend. It’s an incredible series with lots of laughs, as well as its fair share of darker episodes. And boy, does it end with a bang!
Series 5
I wasn’t sure about Matt Smith when he was announced as the next Doctor, and Steven Moffatt was taking the reigns as lead writer for the series, but I shouldn’t have been worried. Immediately, we have a Doctor who has the silliness of Patrick Troughton but the internal anger of Christopher Eccleston, which makes for a facinating new take on the character.
Also, we finally start getting more River Song, previously introduced by Steven Moffatt in the two-parter from series 4, Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead.
And talking of series ending with a bang…!
Series 9
After his first series as The Doctor, I was concerned Peter Capaldi’s next series would also be a dissapointment. And, although it has its flaws, I did really enjoy this series: especially the first two-parter.
Series 6
This series is all about who River Song is. Moffatt had been building to this for a long time, and had a lot of questions to answer. There were some great reveals and exciting moments, but on the whole I felt like he had overcomplicated it a bit. This might have been because he was having to write himself out of a difficult corner – on the whole it wasn’t bad!
Series 7
Never before have we seen a switch of companions mid-series, so this series felt a little disjointed. There’s the odd gem here, but it’s all about the build up towards the 50th Anniversary episode, and then Matt Smith’s final episode as The Doctor, so the series struggles to live up to that hype.
Series 13
Jodie Whittaker’s final series is one complete storyline called The Flux, and it’s by far the best of Chibnall’s work as the lead writer on Doctor Who. It had a disapointing, anti-climatic ending, but the build-up was pretty great.
Series 8
I don’t really want to talk about series 8… This is Peter Capaldi’s first series as The Doctor, and while he was great, the writing really wasn’t. Sure, Missy was a cool addition to the canon, but in general there was very little substance to these episodes.
Series 12
Talking of interesting additons to the canon… Probably the most controversial series of Doctor Who, Jodie Whittaker’s second series was an improvement on Chibnall’s first attempt, but it still fell short of what many of us wanted from the show.
The best part was Sacha Dhawan’s Master! He was fantastic, and I wish we could see more of him, with hopefully better storylines.
Series 11
Chris Chibnall was trying to do what Steven Moffatt did with series 10; create a series that could introduce new viewers to the show, but this did not work nearly as well.
Jodie Whittaker was a fun, energetic Doctor, who put her own spin on the Tennant-like character, but where she was really let down was with the writing. The episodes were disjointed, with little to no character development for any of the main cast.
By Series 13, we finally start seeing improvements on all the things this series got wrong, but by then we were saying goodbye to these characters.
