Doctor Who: Every Doctor's DEFINITIVE Episode

2. Wild Blue Yonder (The Fourteenth Doctor)

Fourteen’s era is strange by design. We've got three episodes to pick from, and there's really only one correct choice. The Star Beast is a nostalgia fest, and The Giggle is an episode that belongs more to Fifteen and the Toymaker than Fourteen.

But even within a theoretical larger pool of episodes, it still feels like Wild Blue Yonder would qualify as quintessential Fourteen. This episode is the only story of the three that's actually about Fourteen (not Ten, and not Fifteen), and actually does something unique with this Doctor.

Stripped of spectacle, nostalgia and plot clutter, the episode becomes a character study of a man who has, after an exceedingly long life, finally reached his breaking point. For real this time. It presents a Doctor that is distinct from Ten in terms of personality, with the lived experience of Eleven through Thirteen visible in the way he conducts himself.

Moreover, Doctor Who really shines when it's devoid of clutter. Hello Heaven Sent, Midnight, Boom, and many others. Wild Blue Yonder follows suit. Two actors, four characters, one spooky spaceship and a high-concept threat. The Not-Things are perfect for this story – they require no explanation, no answer, and they're simply there to frighten, taunt, and probe our protagonists into giving us that juicy trauma dump.

Tennant and Tate remind us why they were so electric as a partnership in the noughties, masterfully playing both these menacing, uncanny creatures as well as the older, more mature versions of their characters. This is nostalgia done right. Don't put these two in front of viewers and expect them to clap – show us why we missed them, and tell us how they've grown.

If Fourteen exists for any reason, it's this episode. Without it, the 60th anniversary specials would be severely lacking in any sort of substance.