Doctor Who: Every 11th Doctor Episode Ranked Worse To Best
30. The Beast Below
It may seem unfair to pick this fairly average story as one of the weaker Matt Smith episodes but even Steven Moffat has cited The Beast Below as the worst story that he penned during his time as showrunner. While it is by no means his worst - see The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe - it is by no means a good story.
A very Cockney Queen is in charge of a spaceship divided up into different counties which are powered by a space whale. There are plenty of interesting ideas there but they are either only touched on or bashed over the audience's head incessantly.
One of these very unsubtle themes explored is the idea of animal cruelty and the suffering they go through for human benefit in the form of the tortured space whale. As Moffat observes of his own creation it is indeed "a bit of a mess".