10 Best Doctor Who Episodes According To YOU
We’ve told you our favourites, but what about yours?
To celebrate Doctor Who's 60th anniversary year, WhoCulture has been recapping some of the greatest episodes of the show – but of course, these are just our opinions.
This time however, we’re doing something different – in this list, we’re going to count down the top ten greatest standalone NuWho episodes, as voted by the public on IMDb.
A few house rules before we begin: firstly, as stated, we’re only taking standalones into consideration for this one. No multi-parters! Often, the two halves of a story sit at very different places in the public ranking, and it wouldn't make sense to include one without the other. This means no gas mask children, no Mondasian Cybermen, and no River Song in the Library. Sorry Ellie.
Secondly, to make this list a little more exciting, we’re banning the two obvious frontrunners – Blink and Heaven Sent – which do indeed sit at number one and number two, respectively, in the public ranking.
All clear? Lovely. Let's get to it! There are quite a few surprising entrants here, so prepare to be surprised...
10. The Waters Of Mars
Rating: 8.8/10
We start off with an RTD classic.
The Waters of Mars takes Ten’s god complex, sets a fire under him, and watches him boil. Tennant gives one of his greatest performances in the role, jumping from his usual bouncy self to unhinged and desperate, to cold and downright unnerving.
All that angry staring aside, it's a top-tier episode elsewhere too. It gives us one of the best supporting casts ever in the doomed crew of Bowie Base One, and Lindsay Duncan couldn't have been a more suitable one-off companion for the story that was told. The Mars setting is beautifully realised, and a big up for "Gadget Gadget"!
The icing on the cake is an all-timer villain in the Flood, creatures that are absolutely bone-chilling both visually and conceptually. There are few episodes that sell a threat like this one does.
For such an important and memorable episode it's no surprise fans voted it near the top. In fact, the only surprise is that it isn't higher!