Doctor Who: 3 Great Sixth Doctor TV Stories

By Chris Swanson /

1. Trial of a Time Lord (Story 143, 1986)

So this is a big, season-long arc of the sort Doctor Who only did a couple times during its run. In this story, the Doctor (a Time Lord) is put on trial. You can see where they got the title from. It€™s a 14 part epic comprised of four stories. Of those four, three are pretty good, and the not-great one, €œTerror of the Vervoids€, is at least acceptable. If you€™re looking for a place to showcase the Sixth Doctor, this is actually a pretty decent place to start. You get him at his arrogant best, going up against the Valeyard. You also get one incredibly fun villain in the form of Sil. Plus the first story introduces Sabalom Glitz, a Han Solo style character, and the second has BRIAN BLESSED playing€well, BRIAN BLESSED. Also, Peri gets offed€maybe. What€™s not to like? This was, sadly, the last story for the Sixth Doctor. That it was his last was not planned, and since Baker declined to return for a regeneration scene we must now accept that the character€™s last on screen words were, €œCarrot juice?! Carrot juice?! Carrot juice?!€ But you can€™t keep a good Doctor down, and Baker has been heavily involved in Big Finish€™s line of audio stories where he has proved that whatever failings his era of the series had, they had nothing to do with his ability as an actor. We€™ll explore those in another article.