Doctor Who: Ranking All 12 Doctors From Worst To Best
7. The Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy)
STORIES: 5
ALIENNESS: 9
HEROISM: 2
LIKABILITY: 6
LEGACY: 8
OVERALL SCORE: 30
The McCoy years are often misremembered as being bereft of quality, with stories that are more pantomime than drama. In fact, Time and the Rani aside, the Seventh Doctor’s adventures are generally well crafted with clever scripts which take their cues from some of the best eras of the show without being continuity obsessed as was the case in the Sixth Doctor’s seasons.
The biggest problem with the Seventh Doctor was that he was too powerful to be seen as a hero. His stories lacked real jeopardy because he was always in control. The writers made every effort to highlight the fact, even to the point of parody as in the infamous Dragonfire cliffhanger, where inexplicably he chooses to throw himself over the edge of the ice cliff.
On a positive note, the mystery of the Doctor’s powers and origins was brought to the fore, particularly in his last season, making Seven one of the most alien-like of incarnations.
The Seventh Doctor also scores high on legacy. The interesting new angles on the character taken by the likes of Cartmel, Platt, and Aaronovitch set the tone for a successful series of officially licensed New Adventure novels that plugged the gap between Survival and the TV movies.
It was from that pool of authors that some of the leading figures in the revived series emerged, including Russell T Davies, Mark Gatiss, Gareth Roberts, and Paul Cornell.