Doctor Who: Every Sonic Screwdriver Ranked Worst To Best

The Seventh Doctor never had a sonic in his own era, but when he returned in the 1996 TV Movie his question mark umbrella was gone and the sonic was back!

This new model was essentially just the standard classic series version with a gold handle ring, a red bullet, and no black detailing.

It’s more commonly referred to as the Eighth Doctor’s sonic though he barely uses it onscreen, save for examining Cass’ body in The Night of the Doctor. To make matters more confusing, Paul McGann’s Doctor uses a different and frankly much cooler model in some expanded media stories, with a steampunk design and blue crystal on top.

This is another sonic that’s not really anything to write home about. The recoloured sections are nice enough, but feel like a reaction to previous designs rather than anything intentional. And having the gold ring on the handle (which is usually obscured by the Doctor’s hand) feels like a bit of an oversight.

Like the Fifth Doctor's device you can see why they didn’t go with something more original considering how briefly it appears. The core classic series design had definitely had its day by this point, so it’s a good job this was the last iteration.