Doctor Who: 10 Best First Doctor Stories

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.