Jodie Whittaker in Doctor Who episode The Legend of the Sea Devils
By
Craig Elvy
Published 24 minutes ago
Craig began contributing to Screen Rant in 2016 and has been ranting ever since, mostly to himself in a darkened room. After previously writing for various outlets, Craig's focus turned to TV and film, where a steady upbringing of science fiction and comic books finally became useful. Craig has previously been published by sites such as Den of Geek.
Craig is an approved critic on Rotten Tomatoes.
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It is broadly accepted that there has never been a bad Doctor Who. From William Hartnell to Ncuti Gatwa, each of the fourteen main actors played the Doctor in brilliant and surprising ways. None could accuse any individual among that elite club of being miscast or not throwing themselves into the part, and while Tom Baker, David Tennant and Matt Smith often get singled out as favorites, every single one of the Doctor's regenerations has resonated with fans in one way or another.
Doctor Who's casting has always been on-point, but different eras still vary significantly in terms of quality, and that's largely down to the quality of stories within each Doctor's tenure. While the likes of Jon Pertwee and Christopher Eccleston were blessed with one sterling script after another, other actors simply made the best of what they were given. Throughout Doctor Who's 60-year+ history, three actors in particular can claim to have been severely let down by the stories of their era.
3 Colin Baker
Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor in Doctor Who Attack of the Cybermen
Colin Baker was unquestionably the right actor to replace Peter Davison in the 1980s. Having already made a positive impact as Gallifrey's Commander Maxil, Baker was the logical and exciting next step Doctor Who needed. At least, he would have been if he had been given the same caliber of stories as his predecessors.
From Hartnell to Davison, each of Doctor Who's prior eras contained multiple classics. Quite unjustly, Colin Baker was the first actor not given anything that would trouble a list of Doctor Who's best episodes. It speaks volumes that the most memorable Sixth Doctor storyline was the "Trial of a Time Lord" arc, which was really just a season-long framing device rather than an actual episode. "Vengeance on Varos" is probably the highlight, but it's slim pickings.
And yet, Colin Baker somehow kept the ship afloat. The decision to introduce Baker's Sixth Doctor as cruel and abrasive made for a rocky start, but he improved over time, and in more recent years, has delivered some truly standout audio stories like "The Holy Terror."
2 Paul McGann
Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor in Doctor Who's The Night of the Doctor
If your first Eighth Doctor experience was "The Night of the Doctor", you'd have likely been wondering why this brilliantly brash, no-nonsense regeneration isn't celebrated with the same vigor as other Doctors from the classic era. Once you go back and watch Doctor Who's 1996 TV movie, the reason becomes all too clear.
After his success in Withnail and I, McGann was an inspired choice to succeed Sylvester McCoy in the TARDIS. Once again, Doctor Who's casting department held up its end of the bargain. The TV movie itself, on the other hand, devolved into a weird mashup of low-budget '90s fantasy and something vaguely resembling Doctor Who. Throughout the entire sorry affair, it feels like Paul McGann is the only person involved who has actually seen the show before.
McGann was the right Doctor at the wrong time, but like Colin Baker before him, redemption wasn't far away. Through Big Finish audios, Paul McGann was finally able to shape and develop his Eighth Doctor, establishing himself as a fan favorite in the process. McGann's offscreen success has proven just how misguided his '90s debut was in its tone, emphasis and execution.
1 Jodie Whittaker
Jodie Whittaker as the 13th Doctor in Doctor Who staring at something in shock
Between Christopher Eccleston and Peter Capaldi, every era of Doctor Who delivered at least a handful of truly excellent episodes. It seemed like the switch from multi-part stories to standalone episodes had paid off in terms of improving the overall quality of each Doctor's reign, but the bubble burst in Jodie Whittaker's era.
The Thirteenth Doctor's greatest hits include "Rosa," Spyfall" and "Fugitive of the Judoon," and while that's an enviable selection, it's hard to imagine those episodes standing out in any other era post-2005.
The amount of criticism Whittaker's seasons attract isn't entirely fair. The number of outright bad episodes in Doctor Who seasons 11 and 12 is no higher than during the Tennant or Smith years. The problem was a lack of memorable, top-tier outings to balance out the equation, with most Thirteenth Doctor stories falling somewhere between "decent" and "good."
The overarching narratives didn't help. Whittaker's era leaned heavily upon the long-running Timeless Child and Flux storylines, both of which were baffling in their own ways. The reputation of Thirteen's tenure suffered as a result, but through no fault of Whittaker's. Doctor Who's first full-time female Doctor was never anything less than effervescent, carrying unspectacular scripts with her charisma, energy and enthusiasm for the character.
It was Whittaker's homemade mid-pandemic video that ended up defining the Thirteenth Doctor. Slightly over a minute's worth of footage featuring an in-costume Jodie Whittaker messing about in a closet, all filmed entirely on her phone. It was a clip that proved the real power of the Thirteenth Doctor was Whittaker herself. Across her three seasons leading Doctor Who, she never gave anything less than 9/10, even when the material was a 6.
60
8.7/10
Doctor Who
10 stars 9 stars 8 stars 7 stars 6 stars 5 stars 4 stars 3 stars 2 stars 1 star Like Follow Followed TV-PG Drama Action Adventure Science Fiction Release Date 1963 - 1989-00-00 Network BBC One, BBC Television Directors Douglas Camfield, David Maloney, Christopher Barry, Michael E. Briant, Barry Letts, Michael Ferguson, Peter Moffatt, Richard Martin, Chris Clough, Lennie Mayne, Pennant Roberts, Ron Jones, Paddy Russell, Paul Bernard, Michael Hayes, Timothy Combe, Morris Barry, Graeme Harper, Gerald Blake, Hugh David, Mervyn Pinfield, Rodney Bennett, Waris Hussein, John Gorrie Writers Robert Holmes, Bob Baker, Malcolm Hulke, Dave Martin, David Whitaker, Brian Hayles, Robert Sloman, David Fisher, Dennis Spooner, Terrance Dicks, Eric Saward, John Lucarotti, Don Houghton, Chris Boucher, Ian Stuart Black, Louis Marks, Peter Grimwade, Henry Lincoln, Johnny Byrne, Mervyn Haisman, Jane Baker, Pip Baker, Robert Banks Stewart, Anthony ReadCast
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Barry Jackson
Gordon Lowery
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Brian Badcoe
Adam
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