Doctor Who: Every Series 1 Episode Ranked Worst To Best
3. Father's Day
The first series of NuWho is littered with cautionary warnings about time and space travel, about what can’t and shouldn’t be done - unless you want to cause a paradox and unravel the timey-wimey ball of yarn that is history.
No less does this take centre stage than with the unbelievably good Father’s Day. Playing off Rose’s absent father, it’s only a matter of time before the Doctor’s companion asks if she can meet him.
Despite the Doctor's warnings, Rose can’t help but get directly involved. She saves her father's life and introduces the Reapers, monsters that, in the Doctor’s words, “sterilise the wound” when the timeline is damaged. It’s such a cool concept, and it's a shame that only the expanded media has seen the Reapers show up again.
Eccleston rightfully shifts into the background, but plays an important role in knowing more than he lets on, and the subtlety of his performance is highly underrated.
That being said, the true heartbeat of Father's Day is Billie Piper’s Rose and her chemistry alongside her Father (Shaun Dingwall) which is poignant and heart-wrenching. It’s near impossible not to well up when Pete Tyler gets to say goodbye to his daughter, all grown up, and sacrifice himself to restore natural order. Wonderful.