10 Awesome Doctor Who Episodes That You Can Only Watch Once

Any self-respecting fan will watch an episode of their favourite show over and over. Classic episodes inspire immediate desire to rewatch and reabsorb, just as fans will flock back to the cinema to see particularly good or even just important movies repeatedly. 

But that shouldn't always be the case.

Personally, I have a distinct memory of viewing Daleks In Manhattan with a group of Whovian friends. As soon as it finished the host excitedly proposed sticking it on again, but as I'm not one of those fans who requires a repetitive fix, I vetoed the idea.

Despite the aficionados' legendary penchant for analysis, there are some instalments of Doctor Who that can only really be watched once. You could delve into them again but you'd be putting yourself through hell. Either through the emotion-milking drama of a departing companion, or the tangled mess of a plot that seemed amazing first time round. Affection abounds for the multi-faced Time Lord, but revisiting a select bunch of his adventures can be heartbreaking for all manner of reasons.

There are entries here that may surprise you, as well as some that spring to mind immediately on seeing the title. Daleks In Manhattan isn't featured by the way. I could watch that combination of cityscapes and marauding pig men again and again. Well, one more time at least...

Now I know what you're thinking - Mindwarp? Far from awesome. Some strong elements certainly, such as Nabil Shaban's Sil and Brian Blessed BREAKING THE SOUND BARRIER AS KING YRCANOS!!! But overall Philip Martin's Trial Of A Time Lord segment plays like a bizarre Europudding version of Doctor Who.

What just about pushes the story into the realms of awesomeness is one particular episode, and an unexpected development. Nicola Bryant's problematic Peri had spent her travels squabbling with Colin Baker's sixth incarnation. There wasn't a huge amount of love out there for them at the time, yet at the end of the day they were the Doctor and his companion. We may not have held them in as high regard as Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen, but we still cared what happened to them.

Many a childhood was traumatized by the conclusion of the story, when Bryant suffered a horrible fate at the hands of the Mentors, her body appropriated by Christopher Ryan's amphibious dictator Kiv. It all turned out to be a manipulation of the Matrix, though this revelation was arguably too late to repair the tots' shattered minds. 

It's a brave soul who ventures back to rewatch Part Four of the campy alien romp.