Doctor Who: Ranking All 12 Doctors From Worst To Best

5. The Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee)

Doctor Who Doctors
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STORIES: 11

ALIENNESS: 3

HEROISM: 11

LIKABILITY: 4

LEGACY: 6

OVERALL SCORE: 35

The Third Doctor’s era is brimming with some of the most iconic moments in the entire history of the show and the stories during this period have provided more inspiration to the revived series than any other. Russell T Davies’ first script, Rose, unashamedly reworks Jon Pertwee’s debut story Spearhead from Space, even to the point of repeating the same scene of the Autons breaking out of the shop fronts.

Contrary to popular opinion, Pertwee’s Doctor is not quite the James Bond of Doctor Who. Despite his love of a good chase and his expertise in Venusian Aikido, he is a scientist at heart, with elements of Bond’s Q thrown into the mix. He is often seen tinkering in his lab, and whilst he may be able to turn on the charm there is never a hint of him being a ‘ladies’ man’.

Nonetheless he scores high on the hero scale, whether he’s working for or against the powers that be. Giving him a regular nemesis from his own kind, in the form of the Master, adds to his characterisation as one of the good guys.

The Third Doctor might resent his exile on Earth, but although far from being an establishment figure, he is more than comfortable doing what humans do, making him less alien than most other Doctors.

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Paul Driscoll is a freelance writer and author across a range of subjects from Cult TV to religion and social policy. He is a passionate Doctor Who fan and January 2017 will see the publication of his first extended study of the series (based on Toby Whithouse's series six episode, The God Complex) in the critically acclaimed Black Archive range by Obverse Books. He is a regular writer for the fan site Doctor Who Worldwide and has contributed several essays to Watching Books' You and Who range. Recently he has branched out into fiction writing, with two short stories in the charity Doctor Who anthology Seasons of War (Chinbeard Books). Paul's work will also feature in the forthcoming Iris Wildthyme collection (A Clockwork Iris, Obverse Books) and Chinbeard Books' collection of drabbles, A Time Lord for Change.