Doctor Who: 7 Great First Doctor Stories

By Chris Swanson /

1. An Unearthly Child (Story 001, 1963)

Of course this was going to be on the list. You knew it was. And well it should be. It€™s the first story; the one that started everything. We wouldn€™t have had the next fifty years without this one, and, thankfully, it€™s a really good story. It begins with Ian and Barbara, two high school teachers, talking about a student named Susan, who seems to know both more and less than she should. They get concerned about her, and make up excuses to follow her home, only to find out that see appears to live inside a junkyard; a junkyard that contains a police box and a strange old man known as the Doctor. Soon they€™re inside the police box and find themselves transported back to the Stone Age€ The first half-hour of this really is incredibly good TV that holds up well even today. Ian and Barbra come across as genuinely caring, Susan comes across as genuinely weird, and the Doctor€well, he€™s a dick. Plain and simple, he€™s a total dick. He kidnaps Ian and Barbra, refuses to lift a finger to do the right thing while in the past and almost kills a caveman in cold blood before Ian stops him. He€™s very much of an anti-hero and almost totally unlikeable, and in a way, you have to love him for that.Next time, 4 Great Second Doctor Stories!