10 Most Overrated Doctor Who Episodes

Confession time: we’ve got a soft spot for The Rings of Akhaten. However, we must concede that, like many fans, that’s mainly due to the episode’s amazing speech. Few moments in the show manage to convey the burden of the Doctor’s immortality like this one, and Matt Smith, backed by a stirring choir, is the perfect Doctor to deliver it.

Take that scene away though, and The Rings of Akhaten is a bit slow at best, and boring at worst.

The central plot is split between Merry running away from her big performance, and the Doctor trying to ascertain what on earth is going on. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with a slow burn – look at episodes like Face the Raven and World Enough and Time – but in order to craft this kind of story, the core mystery has to provide enough intrigue to justify the time spent unravelling it, and this one doesn’t. And with the Doctor and Clara’s relationship not moving forward due to them spending a lot of time separated, you have to ask where the runtime even went.

And then... we have Clara’s magic story leaf.

The concept of using potential futures as a source of stories to feed the evil tellytubby sun is actually quite neat, but it doesn’t work. The Doctor literally pours his hearts out, reliving an extended lifetime of trauma, a moment that feels earned for such a long-running show. And that's beaten by a leaf? Tosh, we say. Tosh!

The Long Song is still a banger though.