Doctor Who: 10 Best First Doctor Stories
He told you he would come back...
The first time The Doctor was introduced to audiences in 1963, he was a grumpy and temperamental old man that held no qualms about kidnapping two school teachers and forcing them to embark on adventures against their will. Whilst this premise sounds much stranger than it actually is, the 50+ years of excellent sci-fi television proves that there is at least some method to the madness, and has ensured that the show has managed to survive the numerous transformations, revisions and variations that it has undergone in the five decades since William Hartnell was in the lead role.
Whilst the classic episodes of Doctor Who are an entirely different kettle of fish to the new series, it's still fascinating to see the incredibly humble beginnings of this iconic show and see the origins of dozens of characters and monsters that have been firmly ingrained within British pop culture. Although this statement has been echoed countless times in countless places, the fact of the matter is that it's unlikely Doctor Who would be the show it currently is if Hartnell hadn't taken the role of the Doctor.
Disclaimer: I've only included episodes that are fully complete in the BBC archives. It's a little difficult to judge stories that only partially exist (or in some cases, not at all) in their original format, but I'd also highly recommend the animations and audio reconstructions that have been created in the intervening years.
Here's the very best of the beginning...
10. The Sensorites
After landing on a spaceship stranded in orbit over the "Sense-Sphere", the Doctor and his companions discover that the remaining crew are being menaced by a species of telepathic aliens known as the Sensorites. After the Sensorites take Susan as a hostage back to the planet, the situation only escalates as the TARDIS crew are called upon to assist the Sensorites in curing a disease that is wiping out the population.
The main highlight of this story is the opening episode: atmospheric, intriguing and genuinely unnerving at times (so long as you can look past the £3.50 budget). The way in which the main characters are slowly exposed to the situation by the frightened and confused crew is superb, and made all the more better by the eeriness of the black and white footage and quality acting from both the main and side cast. Granted, the tension is somewhat spoiled by the admittedly cheesy design and makeup of the Sensorites, but it still serves us a good example of how Doctor Who garnered a reputation as a terrifying show this early on in its run.
The main problem with this episode is that it is quite slow-paced and painfully drawn out over the course of six half-hour episodes. Although the criticism of having the plot spread too thin over multiple episodes could be made towards multiple stories throughout the entire series, this is one of the only stories where it really shows, and ultimately, The Sensorites could have benefited from being condensed into a four-part serial, but this doesn't detract from the more positive aspects of the story overall.
Even though the story pacing and make-up work of The Sensorites might seem sub-par when compared to other examples present in the early run of the series, the story still has its merits, and works as an adequate taster of Doctor Who in its infancy.