Doctor Who: Ranking The Doctor's Sonic Screwdrivers Worst To Best
5. The Fourth Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver
![Doctor Who Eleventh Doctor Sonic Screwdriver](https://d2thvodm3xyo6j.cloudfront.net/media/2020/10/8afe11623d005406-600x338.jpg)
This model may have been similar in design to several other Doctors', but when wielded by the Fourth Doctor, it becomes instantly recognisable and unmistakable. Tubular and with a ring emitter, this was the archetypical classic sonic screwdriver.
Used mostly for complex repairs, interacting with computers and also as a conventional screwdriver to vibrate screws from their moorings, this Doctor tended to only use this tool when necessary. Most problems he could solve without it.
He did need it, however, to unlock Sutekh's deflection barrier in 1975's infamous Pyramids of Mars, or to stop the Sontarans experimenting on companions Sarah Jane Smith and Harry Sullivan with their shuffling robot.
With a black bolt in-place of a traditional emitter bullet, the sonic could open magnetic locks and activate more complicated controls as the journeys through time and space became more perilous.
This sonic screwdriver also appeared again in the Twelfth Doctor's office in The Pilot, and was later used by Nardole to seal off areas in a battle zone between the Daleks and the Movellans.
A truly memorable and recognisable version of the sonic screwdriver, but not quite the best of the classics...
Sound Advice: Almost as useful as the scarf.