Episodes listed by popular vote - marks out of 5 using scores
from Outpost Gallifrey.
Series One is Red, Series
Two is Blue and Series Three is Green,
Series Four in Gold
#
Story
Writer
Director
Av
1
Human Nature / The Family of Blood
Paul Cornell
Charles Palmer
4.722
2
Blink
Steven Moffat
Hettie MacDonald
4.645
3
Dalek
Rob Shearman
Joe Ahearne
4.641
4
Army of Ghosts / Doomsday
RTD
Graeme Harper
4.598
5
Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead
Steven Moffat
Euros Lyn
4.576
6
Turn Left
RTD
-
4.543
7
The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances
Steven Moffat
James Hawes
4.542
8
Bad Wolf / The Parting of the Ways
RTD
Joe Ahearne
4.499
9
The Impossible Planet / The Satan Pit
Matt Jones
James Strong
4.479
10
School Reunion
Toby Whithouse
James Hawes
4.444
11
The Stolen Earth / Journey's End
RTD
Graeme Harper
4.378
12
The Girl in the Fireplace
Steven Moffat
Euros Lyn
4.331
13
The Unquiet Dead
Mark Gatiss
Euros Lyn
4.305
14
Father's Day
Paul Cornell
Joe Ahearne
4.293
15
Tooth and Claw
RTD
Euros Lyn
4.288
16
The Fires of Pompeii
James Moran
Colin Teague
4.249
17
The Christmas Invasion
RTD
James Hawes
4.204
18
Midnight
RTD
-
4.199
19
Utopia / Sound of Drums / Last of
Time Lords
RTD
Harper
4.104
20
The End of the World
RTD
Euros Lyn
4.066
21
The Age of Steel / Rise of the Cybermen
Tom MacRae
Graeme Harper
4.042
22
The Sontaran Stratagem / The Poison Sky
Helen Raynor
Douglas Mackinnon
4.008
23
Planet of the Ood
Keith Temple
Graeme Harper
3.973
24
Gridlock
RTD
Richard Clark
3.935
25
Rose
RTD
Keith Boak
3.925
26
Smith and Jones
RTD
Charles Palmer
3.913
27
The Lazarus Experiment
Stephen Greenhorn
Richard Clark
3.905
28
The Shakespeare Code
Gareth Roberts
Charles Palmer
3.877
29
42
Chris Chibnall
Graeme Harper
3.839
30
The Unicorn and the Wasp
Gareth Roberts
Graeme Harper
3.821
31
The Doctor's Daughter
Stephen Greenhorn
Alice Troughton
3.698
32
Daleks in Manhattan / Evolution of
the Daleks
Helen Raynor
James Strong
3.645
33
The Runaway Bride
RTD
Euros Lyn
3.657
34
Voyage of the Damned
RTD
James Strong
3.632
35
Aliens of London / WW3
RTD
Keith Boak
3.629
36
Partners in Crime
RTD
James Strong
3.603
37
The Idiots Lantern
Mark Gatiss
Euros Lyn
3.583
38
New Earth
RTD
James Hawes
3.470
39
Boom Town
RTD
Joe Ahearne
3.411
40
The Long Game
RTD
Brian Grant
3.382
41
Love & Monsters
RTD
Dan Zeff
3.292
42
Fear Her
Matthew Graham
Euros Lyn
3.163
Are These Results Fair?
On Outpost Gallifrey, after each episode is broadcast, the fans are asked
to rate the episode with a figure between 1 and 5. It is the norm for
about 3000 fans to vote within about a 24 hour period and I think this
is a superb barometer of opinion because, unlike End of Season Polls in
the DWM, all the ratings are subject to the same "wow" factor
because the viewer as just watched the episode. It is normally a statistical
fact that something seen more recently gets higher ratings (Sylvester
McCoy was voted the greatest Doctor of all time during the late 80s) so
this is a much more level playing field by always canvassing opinion straigh
after the broadcast.
Patterns and Two-Parters
What I find interesting is the fact that this table gives different results
to the ones in Doctor Who Magazine in which people are being asked
to measure their appreciation of the episodes in a different way.
In agreement with the Letter of the Week in the Radio Times following
the broadcast of Human Nature, 9 out of the top 13 episodes when
rated on their own are two-parters. Surely in the budget-conscious world
of BBC Wales they should have realised by now that the single-part stories
just don't hit the mark unless they're an exceptionally good piece of
writing.
I personally have to put the season finales in their own category when
looking at these tables because they include the kind of emotionally charged
content which simply isn't "allowed" during other stories. You
can't play any tricks on the viewer about companions (or even the Doctor)
dying during episode three, and nor to you want to blow all the massive
plot twists before the end. So with that in mind, it is wonderful to see
Human Nature, The Empty Child and The Impossible Planet
up where they belong in the hall of fame. It is a great shame that the
lower viewing figures for The Impossible Planet were used as ammunition
by RTD to back up his argument that stories should not be set on other
planets. This adventure was acclaimed by fans and norms alike and only
the hot weather kept people away from their screens, as also happened
with the hugely popular Blink.
Monsters
3 of the top 10 are Dalek stories and, although these monsters are undoubtedly
popular, the high ranking of these episodes is as much to do with emotional
mind-games played with the audience during end of season finales, as mentioned
above. When the Daleks returned in the rather badly conceived Manhattan
story, they dropped away down the list to outside the top 20. I personally
was sad to see the glorious return of the Cybermen so low down the list.
A magnificent portrayal and a very traditional story with lots of fan-pleasing
moments should have done better.
The Less-Well-Loved
In any list, there has to be a last place and unsurprisingly it's Fear
Her. Hopefully the new series won't sink this low again, with such
terrible acting, awful dialogue and lack of monsters. The newsreader's
speech about a "beacon of love" is perhaps the worst writing
in the history of the show and that really is saying something. Sadly
also down the bottom is Love & Monsters which, although not
everyone's cup of tea in terms of a Doctor Who story, wasn't actually
bad television in its own right, and should be higher on the list just
for innovation.
You might be interested to know that if Utopia, The Sound
of Drums and Last of the Time Lords were were rated in their
own right, they would be placed 6th, 15th and 30th respectively. This
is the first time in the new series that the season finale has not been
a ratings winner, and in fact was rated the worst episode of season three.
Old Versus New
Just for fun, I took some of the other random polls on OG and put them together
with the new series. I find some of these results astonishing.
#
Story
Writer
Director
Av
1
Human Nature / The Family of Blood
Paul Cornell
Charles Palmer
4.722
2
Blink
Steven Moffat
Hettie MacDonald
4.645
3
Dalek
Rob Shearman
Joe Ahearne
4.641
4
Army of Ghosts / Doomsday
RTD
Graeme Harper
4.598
5
The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances
Steven Moffat
James Hawes
4.542
6
Bad Wolf / Parting of the Ways
RTD
Joe Ahearne
4.499
7
Impossible Planet / The Satan Pit
Matt Jones
James Strong
4.479
8
School Reunion
Toby Whithouse
James Hawes
4.444
The Aztecs
4.438
Fury from the Deep
4.432
Inferno
4.416
Terror of The Zygons
4.411
The Silurians
4.336
9
The Girl in the Fireplace
Steven Moffat
Euros Lyn
4.331
10
The Unquiet Dead
Mark Gatiss
Euros Lyn
4.305
11
Father's Day
Paul Cornell
Joe Ahearne
4.293
12
Tooth and Claw
RTD
Euros Lyn
4.288
13
The Fires of Pompeii
James Moran
Colin Teague
4.249
14
The Christmas Invasion
RTD
James Hawes
4.204
An Unearthly Child
4.173
The Ambassadors of Death
4.146
15
Utopia / Sound of Drums / Last of
Time Lords
RTD
Harper
4.104
16
The End of the World
RTD
Euros Lyn
4.066
State of Decay
4.045
17
The Age of Steel / Rise of the Cybermen
Tom MacRae
Graeme Harper
4.042
The Five Doctors
4.034
18
The Sontaran Stratagem / The Poison Sky
Helen Raynor
Douglas Mackinnon
4.008
19
Planet of the Ood
Keith Temple
Graeme Harper
3.973
20
Gridlock
RTD
Richard Clark
3.935
21
Rose
RTD
Keith Boak
3.925
22
Smith and Jones
RTD
Charles Palmer
3.913
23
The Lazarus Experiment
Stephen Greenhorn
Richard Clark
3.905
Snakedance
3.892
24
The Shakespeare Code
Gareth Roberts
Charles Palmer
3.877
The Keeper of Traken
3.850
25
42
Chris Chibnall
Graeme Harper
3.839
26
Daleks in Manhattan / Evolution of
the Daleks
Helen Raynor
James Strong
3.645
27
The Runaway Bride
RTD
Euros Lyn
3.657
28
Voyage of the Damned
RTD
James Strong
3.632
29
Aliens of London / WW3
RTD
Keith Boak
3.629
30
Partners in Crime
RTD
James Strong
3.603
31
The Idiots Lantern
Mark Gatiss
Euros Lyn
3.583
The Sontaran Experiment
3.575
32
New Earth
RTD
James Hawes
3.470
33
Boom Town
RTD
Joe Ahearne
3.411
The Two Doctors
3.382
34
The Long Game
RTD
Brian Grant
3.382
35
Love & Monsters
RTD
Dan Zeff
3.292
36
Fear Her
Matthew Graham
Euros Lyn
3.163
Colony in Space
3.104
The TV Movie
2.851
Warriors of The Deep
2.648
Time-Flight
2.328
The above I find extraordinary and I'm not sure what it
really means. Do we have a warped view of the new series because it is
exciting and new? Are people overly critical of the old series? I can
honestly say I would rather sit and watch Warriors of the Deep,
despite its flaws, than any of the new series episodes at the bottom.
Do people honestly think Fear Her is better television than The
TV Movie? I mean, I know the McGann outing divides opinion, but seriously?
Chloe Webber versus Eric Roberts? No contest!
And School Reunion - a nostalgic look back at Sarah Jane - is
apparently better than actually seeing her in her hayday in Terror
of the Zygons? Very strange results indeed. The Christmas Invasion
is better than The Five Doctors?? Oh I give up.
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