Doctor Who: EVERY Series Opener Ranked Worst To Best

Smith and Jones is an iconic opener, built around the central image of a hospital on the Moon, and the simple premise of space policemen hunting down a non-human fugitive. Space policemen who happen to look like rhinos!

It doesn’t do much beyond that – and, as such, feels a tad stretched out, with the occasional dead moment. The scene of the Doctor shaking radiation out of his shoes was funny... but it also drags on just a bit too long.

For the most part though, it’s so compelling that it doesn’t matter. Martha is a more than worthy match for the Doctor, Anne Reid is terrific as the blood-sucking Florence Finnegan, and the Judoon are just the right amount of weird – silly but scary, and instantly quotable to boot. “PREPARE TO BE CATALOGUED!”

Likewise, the twist of Florence absorbing the Doctor’s blood, thinking he was human, is simple but effective, and neatly preempts the arrival of an actual human Doctor later in the series.

We also end on a solid little cliffhanger, of sorts – something that will become a recurring feature as we work through the top ten!