Doctor Who: 10 Most Underrated Eleventh Doctor Episodes
4. Journey To The Centre Of The TARDIS
We don't often get to have a rummage around the inside of the TARDIS, exploring its twisting corridors, countless side rooms, and undiscovered dangers. In fact, the Doctor's beloved machine is rarely factored into the plot at all, and is mostly just used as a means for the characters to arrive at the setting of the episode.
That's fine and all, but it does mean that there's a lot of untapped potential in a TARDIS-set story, and we got a taste of that potential in 2013's grossly underrated Journey To The Centre Of The TARDIS.
The premise is simple enough: Clara is lost inside the TARDIS, and the Doctor - along with a group of salvage workers - must attempt to track her down. That basic setup is just an excuse for writer Stephen Thompson to dig deep inside the bowels of the famous time machine, and that's exactly what he does: beautiful sets like the pure white engine room and the dusty old library really sell the majesty and great age of the TARDIS in a way that we've never truly understood before.
It's a real treat for fans of the show, and TARDIS aside, there's some solid guest acting here, with the messy dynamic between the three brothers actually proving pretty engaging, as well as a rug-pull twist involving the time-zombie creatures and a terrific showdown between the Doctor and Clara atop a steep, foggy cliff.
It's not the most complex or sophisticated of episodes, but Journey To The Centre Of The TARDIS is one of the most pure fun rides in the Eleventh Doctor's era.