Every Modern Doctor Who Season Ranked From Best To Worst

If there was one season in which the rebooted series appeared to be in the early stages of losing its edge, then the last season of the Capaldi & Moffat era was it. The season really did look quite tired, with overly convoluted narratives and season arcs that often left one puzzled as to what the hell was happening.

The series is littered with terrible villains, including a thinking puddle of space oil and creatures that turn people to wood. There is also more annoying ret-conning of events from the series, characters suffering deaths that should be heartbreaking but prove again to be only temporary.

There were some positives though, most notably the acting of our central trio. Capaldi's ageing rocker Doctor was a little more endearing, especially in the earlier episodes when he is grounded on Earth.

The character of Bill Potts looked excruciating from preview footage, but Pearl Mackie brought real heart and genuine enthusiasm to the role that made her endearing. Matt Lucas' return as Nadole was also a surprise hit, his annoying persona from the previous Christmas special replaced with a quirky character full of heart and world smarts.

Episodes involving innovative exploration of time and cyberspace in Extremis and World Enough and Time were the highlights, but unfortunately there were plenty that didn't work. One only has to look at the laughably easy manner in which the Cybermen are defeated by a sonic screwdriver in the series finale to see how the good ideas were drying up.