Every Doctor Who Debut Story Ranked From Worst To Best

With a new showrunner and production team in place, the stakes were higher than ever for this debut story. Would Steven Moffat be able to build upon the show’s incredible success under Russell T Davies, and would the relatively unknown Matt Smith be able to capture the public’s affections, following the hugely popular David Tennant?

The brilliance of The Eleventh Hour lies in its tone. A charming mix of humour and thrills, like a breath of fresh air the story restored some of the magic that had faded during the run of specials. After the early announcement of David Tennant’s departure, the episodes between series four and five overly prolonged his tenure, and maybe to deliberately ween us off the Tenth Doctor, the character became far less likeable.

Matt Smith nails it with a stunning performance that immediately had the critics eating out of his hand, with some predicting that he might turn out to be the best Doctor ever.

The trauma of regeneration can be handled with a dull seriousness which can make the new Doctor hard to love, but here it is used for comic effect and quickly forgotten as, before we know it, the Doctor is taking charge of the situation (after getting out of Amy’s handcuffs that is). This time it is the TARDIS that is shut down for repair and not the Doctor.

It is refreshing to see a new Doctor who wants to run before he can walk and we have no doubt that his ‘I am the Doctor’ moment will come. When it finally does, in the faceoff against the Atraxi, it is a fist pumping moment as the Doctor announces that he is the Earth’s protector.

The Atraxi identify him as images of his past selves flash before us, adding that vital point of continuity for the audience and relativising Tennant alongside all the others. Echoing the Ninth Doctor rather than the Tenth, the one in the bow tie declares:

“Hello, I’m the Doctor. Basically run!”