10 Most Hated Classic Doctor Who Episodes
2. Time-Flight
The Talons of Weng-Chiang sees the villain, played by a white British actor, posing as a Chinese mystic, who kidnaps unsuspecting humans for their own ends. Time-Flight also sees the villain, played by a white British actor, posing as a Chinese mystic, who kidnaps unsuspecting humans for their own ends.
One is often deemed one of the greatest Doctor Who stories ever, while the other is one of the worst ever.
In spite of The Talons of Weng-Chiang's undeniable racism, it's still a confident production that has a compelling story at its heart. Time-Flight, on the other hand, is a woeful story about a missing plane, and some phallic-looking grey aliens.
Focusing a Doctor Who story around something as glamorous as the Concorde was a great PR move by producer John Nathan-Turner. However, the story itself is visibly lacking beyond the involvement of Concorde in the Master's plans.
As with the story that follows it (Arc of Infinity), the location footage looks brilliant. Not only that, but there's a delightful old-school feeling of a Pertwee serial in the Doctor investigating a real-world mystery engineered by the Master.
And yet, the crowbarred-in nature of the Concorde and the rubbish aliens means that Time-Fight is often second place in classic Who's bottom ten.