Doctor Who: Ranking All 13 Doctors From Worst To Best
6. The Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy)
With his large hat, colourful patterned sweater, and umbrella with a red question mark-shaped handle, the Seventh Doctor was a very humorous, cartoony figure. In fact, at certain points during his run, it almost felt like a laugh track should be running over the top of the episode, such was the jokey, sitcom-esque flavour that permeated many situations the character found himself in.
This style of Doctor obviously won't be to everybody's tastes - especially those accustomed to the more serious, mature tone of the revived series - but looking back now, McCoy's Doctor is a refreshing change of pace, free of the doom and gloom and po-faced heroism found inside most other eras. He's a silly, unusual character (remember when he performed a magic show?), but if you can get onboard with that, then there's so much fun to be had here.
Even then, the Seventh Doctor's whimsical attitude slowly morphed into a darker one as his tenure progressed. This transition made McCoy's Doctor feel surprisingly layered: he was initially a bit of a silly joker, but would later go on to destroy Skaro, the Dalek homeworld. These two distinct personalities had the potential to feel jarring, but thanks to McCoy's skill, each side of his Doctor felt as convincing as the other.