Doctor Who: Every Doctor's DEFINITIVE Episode
What is every Doctor's magnus opus?
Picking a best episode for each Doctor is easy. But picking the episode that best defines them as a character is much harder.
A quintessential Doctor Who story isn’t necessarily the one fans like most, or the one with the highest IMDb rating. It’s the episode that captures who that Doctor is at their core, exploring their quirks and flaws, putting them against a memorable foe in a memorable setting, with a tight central concept. These episodes should have an ageless, classic energy – the kinds of stories you’d pop in front of someone and say ‘this is Doctor Who’.
A couple of ground rules: I’ll be including only the numbered Doctors, so no War or Fugitive Doctor (though I’m sure we can all agree that The Day of the Doctor is quintessential). I’ve also included Eight, as he’s a good chap who often gets left in limbo, and he does, in fact, have several stories to choose from.
I’m also including televised stories only – no expanded media!
15. The Aztecs (The First Doctor)
The Aztecs is an extraordinary bit of television, from its sumptuous costume design to its exploration of cultural intervention. It also just happens to contain William Hartnell's very best performance as the First Doctor.
From his moral outrage at Barbara's plan to interfere in history to his bemusement at becoming engaged, Hartnell nails every single ebb and flow of the First Doctor's arc throughout.
The relationship between the Doctor and Barbara is the beating heart of Doctor Who in its early years, and Hartnell and Jacqueline Hill are terrific here. The way that the Doctor tenderly suggests to Barbara that she's made a subtle difference by saving just one life is a touching moment that reveals to the audience that she's even changed the Doctor's mind when it comes to tampering with time.
It's not for nothing that over 40 years later, The Fires of Pompeii repeated many of the same beats with David Tennant and Catherine Tate!