The good thing about being a Doctor Who fan is that there are so many adventures to choose from. As Steven Moffat recently pointed out, we have access to (almost) every episode ever made – on our phones! So where should you go first?
1) The Daleks
Most Doctor Who fans will tell you that the very first Dalek story is a bona fide classic. This is the adventure that propelled the series to international fame, ably penned by veteran writer Terry Nation.
‘The Daleks’ is a hard story to fault. Even at its epic 7 episode length, it gallops apace, following the travellers through the unfolding mystery of the planet Skaro, the horrors of radiation sickness, and a final battle against the eponymous mutants. In fact, such was the success of this story, it was chosen to be adapted for the first ever Doctor Who movie starring Peter Cushing, and was later colourised by the BBC for the series’ 60th anniversary celebrations.
In short, ‘The Daleks’ is a masterpiece to which every Doctor Who fans owes an immense debt of gratitude.
2) The Daemons
Many Doctor Who fans would cite ‘The Daemons’ as being one of their favourite Third Doctor stories. This is a quirky, pseudo-supernatural adventure set in a quaint English village, and features the Time Lord’s arch enemy the Master at his gentlemanly, villainous best.
But ‘The Daemons’ is also the quintessential ‘UNIT family’ story. During the Jon Pertwee era, the series assembled a cosy gaggle of regulars to aid the Doctor on his adventures – namely his companion Jo Grant, the Brigadier, Sergeant Benton, Captain Yates, and (believe it or not) the Master himself, played by Roger Delgado. By all accounts, this was an immensely happy company, and their chemistry and camaraderie pops out of the screen – no more so than in ‘The Daemons.’
All of this was made possible by the producer Barry Letts, who penned this adventure under a pseudonym owing to BBC rules at the time. There really is nothing quite like ‘The Daemons‘ – it’s funny, frightening, frenetic, wonderfully weird and just the right length at a pithy five parts.
3) Genesis of the Daleks
There aren’t many things that Doctor Who fans agree on, but ‘Genesis of the Daleks’ might be one of them. This gritty six part story from 1975 frequently tops the fan charts for being one of the greatest adventures of all time, written once again by Terry Nation and introducing a brand new baddie in the form of Davros, creator of the Dalek race.
However, this is not a typical Doctor Who story. Intriguingly, this is one of the few in the series’ history that does not feature the TARDIS, with the Doctor and his friends having been teleported to Skaro by the Time Lords for a single purpose: to avert the creation of the Daleks. It all takes place against the backdrop of the endless Thaal-Kaled war, and it’s bleak. Very bleak.
But as any Doctor Who fan will tell you, it’s gripping too. ‘Genesis of the Daleks‘ is somewhere between a sci-fi dystopia and a political thriller, chronicling the underhand manoeuvres of the Kaleds as the demented Davros presses ahead with his plan to build the ultimate killing machine. This story also features one of the most memorable lines in the series’ history, which most Doctor Who fans can quote verbatim. Tell us, reader: does he have the right?
4) City of Death
If any Doctor Who fan ever tells you they don’t like ‘City of Death,’ contact UNIT immediately: they are clearly a Nestene duplicate, or a Sontaran clone. It’s very, very hard to hate on this classic from Hitchicker’s writer Douglas Adams. True, the special effects wouldn’t win any Oscars, but if we start criticising Classic Who for its low budget, we’ll be here all day. We don’t watch Doctor Who for the special effects; we watch it for the stories.
Still, the visuals do matter in ‘City of Death,’ to some extent. The production team managed to wrangle a few days’ location filming in Paris no less, and they milked the city for all its worth. True, this means there are a couple of over-long montages of the Doctor and Romana running past famous French landmarks, but it looks like a big budget movie, with a sublime soundtrack from Dudley Simpson. It has a spirit all of its own, like a good wine.
And speaking of big budget movies, ‘City of Death’ boasts Julian Glover as the story’s main villain – an actor who would later star in The Empire Strikes Back and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade – and he oozes oleaginous villainy as Scarlioni, last of the Jagaroth. After he’s finished chewing the scenery, the rest is devoured by Tom Baker at his improvising best, along with Tom Chadbon as ‘guest companion’ Duggan, plus of course Lalla Ward as the decorous Romana.
For those Doctor Who fans tiring of all the doom and gloom from the other stories on this list, ‘City of Death’ is like a breath of fresh air for you, for me, and for thousands of other people I could mention if I happened to have the Paris Telephone Directory on my person.
5) The Caves of Androzani
Finally, we couldn’t leave you without an entry from one of Doctor Who‘s most celebrated writers, Robert Holmes. Indeed, ‘The Caves of Androzani’ is one of his most popular stories, and is frequently cited by Doctor Who fans as being the greatest of the Fifth Doctor era. It may even be Holmes’ ‘magnum opus.’ It has everything: drama, double-crossing, deceit, a dodgy monster and (finally) an explanation as to why the Fifth Doctor wears a stick of celery on his lapel.
Do you ever overlook ‘The Caves of Androzani‘ on your epic Doctor Who marathons? Who knows, it may feel different this time…
So tell us, reader: as a Doctor Who fan, which stories would you add to this list? Let us know in the comments below.
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