Doctor Who is a show that has run for a mammoth 60 years. How have they done that without the need for continous franchise reboots in the same vein as Star Trek or James Bond? Well, luckily for the show’s original creators the idea of the show’s main character, The Doctor, is not human, which gave them a bit of a cheat code in that they could establish that their race could “regenerate” upon death. Remaining largely the same person but with certain characteristics put to the forefront above others and minor aspects of their general personality changed.
This has resulted in incarnations of the Doctor who all provoke wildly different opinions and all have their own fans based on one may believe best represents the core character of the Doctor. Ranking the Doctors has proved quite difficult to me and with some exceptions my list has changed quite a bit, before I’ve settled on this definitive one. Out of the thirteen main versions of the character we’ve seen, there’s only a clear two I think were poor for near enough the whole of their TV runs, and I don’t hold any ill will towards the actors themselves. But there’s still some versions that definitely have their drawbacks in my opinion. Without waffling on any further, here are my rankings of each incarnation of the Doctor on personal preference.
13. THIRTEENTH DOCTOR (JODIE WHITTAKER)
Believe me, nobody wanted to put the only female Doctor (and most recent Doctor) at the bottom less than me. But having thought it through I can’t have Thirteen anywhere but bottom. It has nothing to do with the fact she’s a woman. If anything, one positive thing about this incarnation was that it proved the Doctor can work as a woman without changing much. At the same time then, it’s disappointing that the first ever female Doctor had to be a version of the character so totally, depressingly lacking in much interest or charisma. Much of this is down to the writing, with Chris Chibnall very very rarely giving Whittaker much interesting material to properly sink her teeth into, nor indeed much actual character development. This version of the Doctor is like the CBBC version of the character, just happy and cheery all the time, with very little hint of a dark side or even an ego, and constantly talking to the audience in exposition, complete with several cringy catch phrases in a seeming desperate attempt by Chibnall and Co. to recapture the quirks of David Tennant and Matt Smith, but in embarassing fashion. Her character very rarely strayed beyond being CBBC David Tennant, and it wasn’t helped by her consistently rotten stories and being stuck in a bloated TARDIS crew.
But I also can’t lie and say Jodie Whittaker herself rose above her material. While certainly not a bad actress (see: Black Mirror, Broadchurch, Attack The Block) Jodie is genuinely probably the one actor/actress on this list who in my opinion lacks that certain charisma to play the character of the Doctor effectively. In her “dramatic” scenes she was very rarely as convincing as some of her Modern Who predeccesors, and in her comedic scenes she was very rarely funny, and came across as trying too hard. Sorry, but she was outshined even by Jo Martin’s Doctor in one episode of shared screen time, and even Mandip Gill as Yas seemed to be more interesting and displayed greater range at times. I feel part of the blame for Thirteen being so bland to watch has to fall on Whittaker then also.
12. SIXTH DOCTOR (COLIN BAKER)
For a long long time, I found it impossible to believe anyone could top Colin Baker’s clownish, sniping, pantomime Sixth Doctor as the worst (televised) version of the Doctor. From Six’s first story (the disastrous, embarassing The Twin Dilemma) it seems like producer John Nathan-Turner and Script Editor Eric Saward (two men obsessed with the tasteless in very different ways) were going out of their way to alienate their audience from their new leading man. Beyond merely post-regeneration instability, this version of the Doctor bickers with and even at one point assaults his companion Peri, acts like a coward, doesn’t save the day, treats everyone as beneath him, wears a stupid ghastly looking coat and generally acts like a panto-esque clown. Worse, quite a few of those traits seem to remain beyond the post-regeneration mania. He still spends most of Season 22 (his first full season) tediously stuck in the TARDIS acting like a right bellend to Peri, which still really holds back his character for most of the season, as did the consistently poor slow paced writing. And worse, he didn’t get long to redeem himself much as Colin Baker was disgracefully scapegoated and sacked from the role by the BBC after his 2nd season.
That leads me into why he now avoids bottom spot however. I do think Baker did at least have potential to portray a strong incarnation of the character were it not for the dreadful writing. When they toned down the 6/Peri dynamic in Season 23, it was clear they had a natural chemistry between them. More to the point, Mel worked even better with him initially when she replaced Peri, and by the time he was axed he was a lot more balanced and likable in the role, a good balance of blustering, egotistical, but very much still the hero, which we see in its full potential in several wonderful Big Finish Audio stories (which don’t count unfortunately towards this ranking, as it benefits some Doctors more than others who’ve done little Big Finish). I never got the sense of any potential for 13’s Doctor (and she got a long longer in the role) so that’s what separates the two in the end.
11. EIGHTH DOCTOR (PAUL MCGANN)
Pains me that based on the limited amount of TV material he has, I can’t rank McGann’s Doctor any higher than 11th. I feel based on what we’ve seen of him in the mini-episode Night Of The Doctor (where we finally got to see his regeneration into the War Doctor) and hear from his performances in Big Finish audios, McGann clearly had all the potential to play a truly excellent Doctor, coming across as comfortable, charismatic and confident as the likes of David Tennant. Disappointingly, when it comes to TV work alone, all we really have to go on with Eight is a mini-episode showcasing his regeneration and one failed TV Movie reboot in 1996, where he spent half the movie suffering from the usual cringe-worthy post-regeneration memory loss/hyper behaviour and then only settling in to the role by the end of what really was a piss poor production, with him also suffering from the writing of the Doctor all of a sudden developing the hots for his new companion, extremely at odds with the Doctor’s character even in Modern Who never mind Classic Who. Hopefully we get an Eighth Doctor TV series at some stage, and if we do I guarantee he’ll go far up this list in the future.
10. FIFTH DOCTOR (PETER DAVISON)
There’s nothing particularly bad necessarily about the Fifth Doctor, to the point where it feels odd ranking him this low. Peter Davison is certainly one of the most accomplished and strongest actors to take up the role, and his version of the Doctor certainly at least established something unique about the character (unlike, say, Thirteen) in that he was a lot more vulnerable than his predeccesors. Unfortunately, in a crowded TARDIS cast filled with mostly unlikable or boring companions and with generally poor writing throughout his era, his Doctor ended up more boring than anything else, very rarely doing anything of real weight beyond a select few stories and often being found just running around seeming exasperated.
At least unlike the two actors below him though, he at least got significantly more time to leave more of an impression. By his final season, Davison had finally grown into the role and was comfortable, given largely better material that challenged him as an actor in stories such as Resurrection of the Daleks and his masterful final story The Caves of Androzani. And he seemed to get a clear character arc at that point too, with the production team seemingly aware he was on his way out, with the ever increasing helpnessless in the face of vast numbers of death and destruction culminating in him heroically saving Peri at the cost of his own life in Androzani. Unfortunately, while he certainly went out on a high, it was a case of too little too late, and ultimately it’s the case that the Fifth Doctor spent a good 2/3’s of his era being very boring.
09. SEVENTH DOCTOR (SYLVESTER MCCOY)
Says it all about the state of the show in the 1980’s under JNT that all 3 of his Doctors rank in the bottom 5.
McCoy’s Doctor is always a tricky one to rank. Some would have Seven a lot lower than this, at the very bottom. Some would have him a lot higher as he’s certainly become a cult favourite over the years for his dark, manipulative nature hidden behind a mask of clownish behaviour (again, like Baker, a significant amount of this reappraisal comes from Big Finish). Really I think both McCoy’s fans and detractors have good points. McCoy himself, without any disrespect intended, is very comfortably the worst actor to have taken the lead role. His CV isn’t exactly glittering and he was mainly known (both before and after Doctor Who) for clownish, comedy roles. And that’s exactly what his Doctor was at the beginning. A complete clown. In fact, if McCoy was only in the role for his first Season, I’d have him extremely comfortably ranked rock bottom. His debut, Time and the Rani, gives us a Doctor somehow even more embarassing to watch and pantomime than Colin Baker’s, and though he settles down afterwards, he still doesn’t even seem like the Doctor in this Season. More like Sylvester McCoy playing himself (or more accurately his own comic persona) without even any hint of a dark side, ego or gravity to his performances (so…the Thirteenth Doctor…). He was also saddled with a companion in Mel who was tragically underwritten as she was about to leave the show, and became as much of a clownish embarassing to watch caricature as Seven himself was.
In his next two seasons however, once the production team seemed to finally have an idea of where to take the show following a couple of messy years behind the scenes, Seven’s character undergoes something of a switch into the darker, quieter and more manipulative incarnation described above. Suddenly, beginning with the classic Remembrance of the Daleks, McCoy’s Doctor very quickly goes from being the dirt worst incarnation of the character to a certainly very intriguing one that suits McCoy’s (limited) acting style very well. It’s sort of an updated version of Troughton’s incarnation with the dark side lurking beneath the clownish exterior, and the sense that he’s one step ahead of everyone else. Only this version is far darker, with Seven often resorting to various…well…fucked up methods in order to save the day at times, from blowing up Skaro in Remembrance to crushing his companion Ace’s faith in him in The Curse of Fenric. It’s a shame McCoy only got a grand total of 8 stories playing this version of the character on TV, because it is a very compelling and somewhat unique version of the Doctor. Regardless, even then I have the view that McCoy at times struggled when called upon to act intense, still highlighting his limitations as an actor. Regardless, for the reasons outlined above he still certainly portrayed a more interesting Doctor than his two predeccesors.
08. ELEVENTH DOCTOR (MATT SMITH)
Controversy alert! I’m fully aware that the Eleventh Doctor has a lot of fans, particularly in the United States where the show really started to take off big time for the first time since Tom Baker’s episodes aired on PBS. And I’d like to make it clear that much like post-S24 McCoy, I definitely don’t outright dislike Matt Smith’s version of the Doctor. In the main, he’s actually quite a fun one and managed to remain largely consistent throughout his 3 season run. At his best and when allowed to by the material, Smith does very well at embodying the Doctor’s utter alien nature with his quirks and his utter obliviousness to human nature, as well as managing to expertly portray the Doctor’s ancient age and long life behind his young looking exterior (actually better than his two predeccesors did in that area). At his worst (mostly during his final season, which was infamously a mess behind the scenes), Smith’s Doctor devolved into an annoying flanderised caricature who’d often go way over the top and rarely seemed to be taking anything seriously, and to be blunt often displayed a….weird attitude towards women.
Really, beyond his first series, there’s unfortunately only a select few performances where Smith’s Doctor really pulls off the balance between quirky and compelling (Impossible Astronaut, The Doctor’s Wife, A Good Man Goes To War, The Girl Who Waited, The God Complex, The Rings Of Akhaten, Name/Day of the Doctor, some of Time of the Doctor), which isn’t to say all of his purely comedic performances are bad (see the Craig episodes or The Doctor, The Widow & The Wardrobe for example where his infectious enthusiasm, connection with children and alien nature really eats up the screen), but unfortunately he can be quite annoying at various points post-S5, partially due to the writing of his character becoming increasingly over the top, while he was so much more balanced and interesting in his first series. Also, personal thing, but I just don’t think Smith exactly pulls of “intense” and similar to McCoy often ends up looking silly when he tries it.
07. FIRST DOCTOR (WILLIAM HARTNELL)
It’s a real shame the original Doctor is dismissed by many newer fans, without having even watched his era, as being some constantly grumpy and unlikable old sod who could never get his lines right and is completely different to every other version that followed him.
I find a lot of this to be extraordinarily unfair. Once you go back and actually watch his era, you will find that William Hartnell really did do an exceptional job as the original Doctor, and especially so if you can accept the fact that his character at the time was not conceived as necessarily alien or even the outright big blustering dick swinging hero of the show like most of his successors. Regardless, several of the Doctor’s most entertaining and interesting traits come from the first incarnation. His prickliness and hilariously rude attitude at times, his glee over the universe and new scientific/alien discoveries, but beneath it all his pure contempt for evil and senseless murder. It’s great to watch the original Doctor slowly morph from the mysterious and outright cold time traveller at the beginning of the show to the wise if still difficult central figure of the show, if not outright the hero, and Hartnell always carried this evolution off with apblomb. In fact, I have to say that I quite like that Hartnell’s Doctor isn’t the hero, with that mainly falling to his companions, in the case of Ian and Barbara and later Steven, as the audience naturally identifies with these characters a lot more, while the Doctor remains the quirky man of mystery who is the source of their travels.
So I’ve established I find the First Doctor fairly underrated by fandom, so what is he still doing so “low” down at 7th? Well truth be told it’s merely that the 6 above him are just better. I have no major issues with any of the Doctors from here on out, so it’s down to personal preference. I do have to say that while I do like One’s character evolution and even the fact that he’s not necessarily the hero of the show, it does weigh against him somewhat. Future incarnations would be a lot more outright interesting in their characterisation, have a lot more dramatic moments and displayed more identifiably alien traits. As well as having the advantage of no longer being a total mystery to the audience.
06. NINTH DOCTOR (CHRISTOPHER ECCLESTON)
This is a funny one. On the one hand, it’s a real shame Eccleston’s brilliant portrayal of the Doctor only lasted one season due to his less than amicable departure following a nightmare production. On the other, part of what makes the Ninth Doctor so good and memorable is that he only had one season, that season giving us an absolutely beautifully written and compelling character arc of his PTSD-stricken, war torn last of the time lords reconnecting with others once again thanks to travelling with Rose Tyler, as well as over time his more ruthless and vengeful side softening thanks to Rose’s human influnce. Culminating in his rare moment of happiness in The Doctor Dances, and him re-living that decision all over again in The Parting of the Ways and making a different one. It really is a stellar character arc, topped off by him dying in the act of saving his companion, after finding himself again, and giving the new show an opportunity to showcase and explain regeneration to the new audience.
Fittingly as the first Doctor of Modern Who, Nine is the most “innfective” Doctor since Hartnell’s, as he pretty much never is the one who saves the day, but as with his incarnation, that’s a strength, not a weakness. I really like the idea of the Doctor as someone who influences other more ordinary people to be the hero rather than himself.
So if Nine doesn’t quite crack my top 5 due to neither only staying for 1 season nor rarely being the hero, why does he just about miss out? Well really, for all the people who throw accusations at Ten or Three (who rank above him) supposedly being “too human” I actually thought this applied more to Nine than them. Everything from his rather generic attire to his general lack of identifiable “alienness” in any way makes him come across as more human than…practically every other Doctor actually. While Eccleston definitely has a lot of funny lines, I don’t think he ever embodied the Doctor’s more quirky or comedic side as some others, although he certainly portrayed his ruthlessness and egotistical (but undeniably heroic) sides pretty much perfectly.
05. THIRD DOCTOR (JON PERTWEE)
I can to an extent understand the criticism than the Third Doctor is more “James Bond” than the Doctor, with his gadgets, suave charm, ability in combat and “English Gentleman” attitude, but I think this can be wildly unfair and severely simplifies a lot of the Third Doctor’s character. Certainly, at times Three can be a bit over the top for the reasons stated above, but I overall think this version of the Doctor is an absolute blast, and a big reason because of Pertwee’s commanding and entertaining performance. The man is severely underrated when it comes to acting ability amongst all the actors on this list, and he manages to nail seemingly everything the script requires him too, from intense drama to dry humour to even the character’s silliest moments. His chemistry and dynamics with characters such as The Brigadier, Jo Grant and The Master also make his era one of the most consistent of all.
And for the people who say he doesn’t really feel like the Doctor? Bollocks to that. His addiction to science and fascination with the unknown, his vast knowledge and also his hilarious rudeness and combative attitude are all core traits of the Doctor’s and Pertwee nails of them. I definitely feel like Nine he’s not as believably alien as the top 4 on this list but he’s definitely the most underrated Doctor for me.
04. TENTH DOCTOR (DAVID TENNANT)
A lot reading this will be really annoyed I’ve not put Ten higher. Some more “traditionalist” fans will be pissed off he’s as high as 4th. I sort of see both viewpoints. I understand (similar to Three) Ten can sometimes be “too human” at times with his rather cringeworthy lovey-dovey storyline with Rose (which also completely ruined her character, incidentally) to using Martha as a “rebound” and too often referencing 2000’s Earth pop culture. But as with Three, these are minor problems in which is otherwise a consistently captivating and entertaining performance from one of the greatest and most charismatic actors of our time, David Tennant.
This role was what launched Tennant into instant superstardom, and his brilliant performance in the role combined with Modern Doctor Who being at its peak viewership and interest at this time (as well as a generally high quality of stories post-Series 2) made Tennant instantly (and still) the most popular and recognisable Doctor since Tom Baker (probably more so in just the UK alone). And while ,as I’ve already acknowledged, this version of the Doctor isn’t perfect, afffected at times by RTD’s obsession with soap opera and appealing to the mainstream, and he just doesn’t quite capture that alien mystique of my top 3, I can appreciate that the Tenth Doctor is just relentlessly great to watch on screen.
Similar to Three, I just think Tennant’s performance is the key to it. He clearly gets the character down to a tee, and even when he doesn’t get the greatest material (particularly in his first series) he manages to just make you believe in it almost. He nails every inch of drama, every moment he’s called to be intense, comedic, quirky, egotistical, strange, etc. Tennant just absolutely nails all of it. And despite the criticisms that he’s “too human” at times, I think for the most part he manages to be utterly believable as an alien out of touch with human social norms and with a legacy that’s bigger than most ordinary people, but not in an overtly forced way like we saw with the bottom two. In particular, watch Midnight for exactly what I’m talking about.
03. SECOND DOCTOR (PATRICK TROUGHTON)
It really speaks volumes that Patrick Troughton’s Doctor is almost universally considered one of the very best versions of the character considering such a huge chunk of his era is “missing” (though still existing in the form of reconstructions made from existing audio and pictures) and a big reason for that is that in many ways the Second Doctor is really the “definitive” version of the character as we know it today, in terms of how it’s influenced the character and multiple interpretations of the character going forward.
While William Hartnell undoubtedly did a great job in the role and captured the public imagination as the crotchety and mysterious but wise grandpa, Troughton’s interpretation (while still maintaining several aspects of Hartnell’s portrayal) that established the Doctor as a more outwardly heroic figure, while displaying more subtly alien edges. Troughton’s Doctor is often outwardly bumbling but always the smartest person in the room. He is more dedictated than before to fighting the evils of the universe, wheras Hartnell’s First Doctor more often than not felt like a bystander to events, which also shows some smart character evolution. He is the first Doctor to display quite a lot of very endearing quirks, which often mask his total competency and above-average intelligence.
It’s this version of the Doctor that inspired almost every one after him to some degree or another (with Pertwee’s maybe a sole exception), and Troughton always played the role with captivating, commanding and yet endearing presence which is obvious even through mere audio.
02. FOURTH DOCTOR (TOM BAKER)
Even though it was rather predictable given his iconic status and long lasting popularity, for many years (until my top pick came along of course) Tom Baker’s Doctor was comfortably at the top of my list and exactly what I thought the Doctor should definitively be.
OK, sure, as his lengthy 7 year tenure in the role went on, and as the quality of his writing generally went downhill post-Hinchcliffe, Baker went a tad off the rails in his performance, taking things less seriously on screen, getting away with far too much improvising and by his last season (due to creative differences with incoming Producer John Nathan-Turner) he visibly looked bored.
But none of that detracts from just how good and endlessly captivating and entertaining Baker was in the role. There’s a reason he stayed for 7 years. He put so much into the role, taking Troughton’s mix of quirky charm mixed with commanding presence and intelligence to another level. However what really makes Baker’s Doctor special is that he was arguably the first one to properly portray the Doctor as identifiably alien.
OK, each of the previous 3 Doctors had their elements which ensured they differed from at the very least present day humans, but the Fourth Doctor always gave of a sense of being “different” from humans in many other little ways, from his ridiculous long scarf to his obsession with jelly babies and some of the little things he would say, such as his speech about the admirable aspects of the human race in The Ark in Space or his laugh out loud “you’re a beautiful woman, probably” in the comedic classic City of Death. And absolutely all of this was believable, such was the incredible strength of Tom’s acting.
But so much more than that, I always utterly believed in Baker’s sense of anger and knowledge when confronted with evil, in a way that managed to leave all the other classic Doctors, even Troughton’s and Pertwee’s, in the dust. His Doctor, most noticeably during the golden era of Hinchcliffe/Holmes at the helm, also still had an edge to him, and could be utterly ruthless at times, while also retaining the character’s ego and occasional prickishness, which as I’ve said repeatedly throughout are as much essential (and alien) parts of the character as all the character’s endearing and warmer qualties. And the Fourth Doctor always had pretty much the perfect mix of both.
01. TWELFTH DOCTOR (PETER CAPALDI)
Yeah, I’m going there.
I remain utterly perplexed and saddened by the negativity the Twelfth Doctor seems to get from many quarters. When speaking to the more casual viewer, you tend to get people who either didn’t like him (mostly because he was very drastically different from Tennant and Smith) or thought he was a good actor but didn’t like the writing surrounding him (again, I suspect, because the style of storytelling was such a departure from previous years of modern Who)
It appears as if Capaldi’s Doctor appealed more to the hardcore or classic Doctor Who fans and that’s fine by me. Yes I accept that his Doctor may be less popular than Ten and Eleven, but this isn’t a popularity contest, hence why you see Eleven all the way down at No. 8 and Twelve as my very favourite.
Where do I start here? Well, the man at the helm. Even more so than David Tennant, Peter Capaldi is by far and away the best actor to take the role of The Doctor. He’s just unmatched at everything from his ability to command the screen to giving dramatic speeches, pulling off deeply subtle and brilliant expressions of character from just his facial expressions, perfect comedic timing and ability to even carry whole single episodes on his own.
But what’s also amazing about Twelve is his the evolution and range his character displays over the course of his 3 (agonisingly short) seasons in the role. He starts out as outwardly cold, erratic, overtly alien and distant compared to his 2 predeccesors (a consequence maybe of having spent 900 years defending a planet and ageing on his lonesome) but soon shows himself to be one of the most emotional and truly kind out of any of the Doctors when the chips are down, questioning his place in the universe and whether he truly is a good man now that he’s not burdened with being supposedly the last of the time lords, and also over time displaying his deep affection for his long time companion Clara. These moments are made even more special by appearing beyond his initially rude and at times coldly rational behaviour. For the best examples of this, see Mummy on the Orient Express and Thin Ice, the two episodes which really help both of his two main companions (Clara and Bill respectively) truly understand who he is deep down.
And throughout his era and especially as his character changes, I truly believe Capaldi’s Doctor is the only one to totally embody all the different characteristics of the prior 11 incarnations. He can be outwardly and often unknowingly rude and egotistical (like One, Three, Four, Six, Nine and Ten), has his own goofy quirks (like Two, Four, Seven, Ten and Eleven), displays the oblivious alienness and lack of ability to understand human social norms of the likes of Four and Eleven, can be an action hero like Three and Ten, displays the vulnerability of Five, has the occasional nasty streak of Four, Six and Ten and the manipualitve and all knowing nature often displayed by Two, Seven and Eleven. He absolutely IS the Doctor to me as I’ve always imagined, and it’s fair to say Capaldi and Steven Moffat as well absolutely nailed the character as two long time fans of the show.
If I had one minor complaint, it’s honestly that his character maybe takes too big of a leap from being Malcolm Tucker-esque in Series 8 in terms of his cutting and witty rudeness towards humans and rampant egotism to his character being more outwardly nice and goofy most of the time in Series 9, which felt like too big of a change overnight and a bit of a u-turn from Moffat following some audience division over how dark the new incarnation was. It’s a slight shame as early 12 is honestly my favourite and I wish they’d persisted with his rough edges while more subtly toning them down, just for consistency, and because…well…I just love the Doctor being a dick. But unlike some, it still doesn’t take away from the effectiveness of his character arc too much at all.
I love Peter Capaldi as an actor and his Doctor, he’s delivered some of the greatest acting performances I’ve ever seen anywhere while playing this role (particularly in Heaven Sent and The Doctor Falls) and I desperately hope that against what he’s said publicly he will return to the role in some form at some point.
The Circled Square 
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