26th March 2025 marked 20 years of the revived Doctor Who series. To celebrate such a big milestone of my favourite show, I began a rewatch on that day of the entire New Who run, beginning with Christopher Eccleston's Ninth Doctor. Just this afternoon, I finished that marathon at the conclusion of Ncuti Gatwa's tenure as the Fifteenth Doctor.

Along the way, I ranked every episode in order of how much I liked it. You may be thinking that I've done this before, and you'd be right, I did indeed count down my favourite episodes back in 2017! However, I didn't rewatch every episode in the lead up to that, so I can say this time round, every single episode has had a fresh viewing, and it's prompted some significant changes from last time (from memory, I've purposely not referred back to the old one as I don't want my opinions to be swayed!).

I'll be revealing my order from least favourite up to favourite, and I hope you can join in along the way to share your thoughts! What I will say is that spouting unnecessary hatred for any Doctor, companion or showrunner isn't welcome in this thread, as I'll be celebrating episodes and moments from every single era of New Who, and even the weakest episodes have something worth watching for - that's why Doctor Who is such a magical show, no concept or episode is without merit entirely.

I'll start this countdown on Sunday as I'm super busy tomorrow but wanted to get this up in advance! Take your predictions, root for your favourites, and let's relive 20 years of the best show in time and space.

I've also used a spreadsheet made by PigginTeaBreak on Twitter (and modified slightly by me) to rate every episode out of 10 (with 11 for my favourite) and calculate averages for a number of different categories. I won't be revealing each score as I go, as I find them a little arbitrary, but to give you an indicator:

By Series

8.6 Series 1 [Eccleston]

7.5 Series 2 [Tennant]

8.3 Series 3 [Tennant]

9.1 Series 4 [Tennant]

8.0 Series 5 [Smith]

6.9 Series 6 [Smith]

5.5 Series 7 [Smith]

7.3 Series 8 [Capaldi]

6.8 Series 9 [Capaldi]

7.3 Series 10 [Capaldi]

6.3 Series 11 [Whittaker]

6.6 Series 12 [Whittaker]

7.4 Series 13 / Flux [Whittaker]

9.0 60th Anniversary Specials [Tennant]

8.4 Season 1 [Gatwa]

8.6 Season 2 [Gatwa]

Worth noting in the above list who the most consistent Doctors are - Gatwa and Capaldi's series don't vary that much! I'm surprised that both of Gatwa's seasons have a higher average than Smith's first one or Tennant's first two, but the reasoning for that will become clear soon...

I will be here and enjoying every last minute of this ranking but if you rank Rings of Arkatan anything other than bottom 10 we will be having words...

168 Dinosaurs on a Spaceship

Series 7 Episode 2

Doctor: 11th

Companion: Amy Pond, Rory Williams

Also featuring: Brian Williams

First aired: 8th September 2012

Writer: Chris Chibnall

We have a different last placer than before! I'm not sure if this is a hot take or not but I've always been quite cold on this episode, and I feel I appreciate it less and less with each rewatch. It feels like a concept that began with an episode title and was marketed pretty much entirely on that, and it's a let down on most fronts. The dinosaurs are a minor part of the episode in the end, which I assume is a CGI budget thing, and the ultimate threat of Solomon feels quite hollow and not really fleshed out enough. It's no wonder when the cast is overstuffed for no real reason - I don't get why Nefertiti and Riddell had to be there, two entirely unrelated characters that are introduced in a rushed segment at the start, and then never seen again...! The humour of the robots is largely lost on me too, sadly. The conclusion isn't satisfying either as the Doctor leaves Solomon to face certain death, which feels out of character. That said, no Doctor Who episode is all bad, as I said in the opening post, and the redeeming feature of this is the main cast, who can make anything watchable, and Rory's dad Brian is easy to like, but I wish we'd gotten to know him initially in another, less busy story.

Yeah Dinosaurs On A Spaceship feels like the writers went what if we had dinosaurs on a spaceship and didn't write a fully fleshed out plot around that...and a busy cast and the doctor doing a really un-doctor like thing.

Awww really enjoy Dinosaurs on a Spaceship! It's what i'd call a fun romp episode.

I think for me the worst a Who story can be is boring - so I think Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos takes my bottom spot of new who... End of Time too is a story which I just don't enjoy and the second episode is just soooo long!

Also Can You Hear Me?, Sleep No More and Orphan 55 probably round out my bottom 5. With Space Babies, The Devil's Chord, It Take's You Away and Legend of the Sea Devils not far off.

Edited 10 hours ago10 hr by ElectroBoy

33 minutes ago, ElectroBoy said:

Awww really enjoy Dinosaurs on a Spaceship! It's what i'd call a fun romp episode.

I think for me the worst a Who story can be is boring - so I think Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos takes my bottom spot of new who... End of Time too is a story which I just don't enjoy and the second episode is just soooo long!

Also Can You Hear Me?, Sleep No More and Orphan 55 probably round out my bottom 5. With Space Babies, The Devil's Chord, It Take's You Away and Legend of the Sea Devils not far off.

I can see it's trying to be somewhat fun but it misses the mark really. I think we could've done with an episode beforehand where the Doctor meets Nefertiti and Riddell if they really had to be a part of this one, and the robots were soooo dire...!

There aren't many I find outright boring but there's definitely a few that fit such a description coming up...!

Thanks for the comments so far guys!

Oh that’s not-

Cancel this immediately x

Dinosaurs really does get a hard time I think. Some questionable moments, sure. But it’s not the absolute worst of NuWho to me. Plenty fun moments and a bit of escapism especially following on from quite a heavy hitter in Asylum.

I definitely agree dinosaurs biggest flaws was too much was going on and not enough was really fleshed out, Brian should of been introduced a lot sooner too potentially somewhere in season 6

167 Nightmare in Silver

Series 7 Episode 12

Doctor: 11th

Companion: Clara Oswald

First aired: 11th May 2013

Writer: Neil Gaiman

I'll be saying a lot about series 7B as we go through this I'm sure, but Nightmare in Silver finishing second to last sets the tone unfortunately. In addition to a generally unexciting TARDIS team of the 11th Doctor and Clara (through no fault of Matt Smith or Jenna Coleman's), we have a Cyberman episode that felt like it focused more on a chess game that the Doctor was effectively playing against himself. Whilst Matt Smith gives a great, contrasting performance when the Cyber-Planner is in control of the Doctor, it's not really riveting viewing for me. The side characters aren't memorable or compelling, and I didn't really care for Angie or Artie a great deal. As for the Cybermen, when they're done well, they're a phenomenal villain, but this episode sadly loses the essence of the Cybermen and makes them into overpowered robots, effectively. The actual design of the Cybermen is cool though and I do like the refreshed look that the rest of the Moffat era enjoyed.

Nightmare in Silver definitely deserves to be down here! They could’ve done so much with the introduction of the new Cybermen (given that was already relegated to a penultimate episode with no grandstanding), and no matter how much Gaiman tries to spin it that his script was chopped to pieces, the whole chess match scenes that took up FAR too much of the episode were so incredibly boring. Flush.

166 In the Forest of the Night

Series 8 Episode 10

Doctor: 12th

Companion: Clara Oswald

Also featuring: Danny Pink, Missy

First aired: 25th October 2014

Writer: Frank Cottrell-Boyce

One of the things I really love about series 8 is how consistent it is...mostly. This episode is the only major exception to that consistency. Clara and Danny wake up from an overnight school trip to a museum to find that London, and the planet, has now been covered entirely by forests. Suspending disbelief isn't such an issue, it's an important part of watching any show that isn't set in the "real" world. The issue is that there's no real threat to the episode, which makes it a little dull and slow at points. The conclusion of the trees ultimately existing to protect the planet from solar flares, and them simply disappearing as the planet returns to normal, feels a little anti-climactic with no real reward for the viewer. The bigger issue I have is with Maebh, not her character in itself, but the fact the Doctor encourages Maebh NOT to take her medication so she can continue to hear the voices of the creatures responsible for the trees is slightly crazy and sends out a harmful message to impressionable viewers feeling wary of taking daily medication. It's a rare moment of me finding the message really wonky and not particularly thought through. That said, it does have some nice character moments between the Doctor, Clara and Danny, particularly just before the opening moments of the finale, and the rest of the kids have some good comedic relief, but it's not enough to save an episode with a pretty rubbish message that also manages to be really quite dull. (oh and the scene of Maebh's sister returning is really really bad)

1 hour ago, Calum said:

Nightmare in Silver definitely deserves to be down here! They could’ve done so much with the introduction of the new Cybermen (given that was already relegated to a penultimate episode with no grandstanding), and no matter how much Gaiman tries to spin it that his script was chopped to pieces, the whole chess match scenes that took up FAR too much of the episode were so incredibly boring. Flush.

I think this bothers me too - a new Cyberman design felt strangely muted in the grand scheme of 7B! It should've been a big thing, but for the second series in a row they basically play second fiddle to something or someone else in the penultimate episode...

(Joseph this is just gonna be me parroting what we talk about on the daily xx)

but In the Forest of the Night is iconic for 12's 'Mr Pink was looking after you? Well that explains why you're lost' line alone

Just now, Calum said:

(Joseph this is just gonna be me parroting what we talk about on the daily xx)

but In the Forest of the Night is iconic for 12's 'Mr Pink was looking after you? Well that explains why you're lost' line alone

Honestly it would've been more entertaining to watch 12 having to manage the schoolkids in the TARDIS for 45 minutes...!!

(moments like that saved Forest from last place so full credit to some good comedic writing and delivery x)

also the fact Tsuranga hasn't popped up yet is giving me second hand embarrassment