Doctor Who: Every Doctor's Definitive Seasons

The Sixth Doctor: Season 22

It seems almost unfair picking a definitive season for the Sixth Doctor, considering he only featured in two full seasons during his turbulent tenure. However, it has to be said that Season 22 is clearly the better of the two, despite Season 23 still being a good run with The Trial of a Time Lord storyline.

A lot of the Sixth Doctor's more iconic traits appear throughout Season 22, particularly his more egotistical, arrogant, and short tempered persona (although, there was clear signs that he had a huge heart). Along with this, there was the unique decision to make the overall tone of this short-lived era darker, and violent, much like a lot of the video nasties making the rounds at the time.

Sure, perhaps this was a step too far, but it's always interesting witnessing Doctor Who take a fresh direction, especially when it pushes various boundaries in how it tells stories. That, and it's nice to have a shocking moment from time to time, like Lytton getting his hands crushed by the Cybermen, those guards who fell into a bath of acid, and pretty much the entirety of Revelation of the Daleks (which remains my favourite Davros story, and one of Terry Molloy's greatest performances as the evil Kaled scientist).

Also, it was welcoming to see Patrick Troughton return for a multi-Doctor story written by Robert Holmes. It was certainly a change to see the concept used outside of the anniversary period, demonstrating it didn't have to be a limited element, and could be explored further as an individual story within any given season.