The Best And Worst Episode Of EVERY Doctor Who Series

Worst: The Empress of Mars

Series 10 is one of the few series that doesn’t have an outright bad episode - this and the dishonourable mention are here by virtue of being rather boring, something of a recurring theme on this list. In my book, Empress of Mars takes the cake here for one reason and one reason alone: the titular Empress of Mars is rather grating, and spends a lot of time slowly screaming her lines, funnily enough not entirely dissimilar to another rather annoying empress from The Runaway Bride. The rest of the episode is a decent enough Gatiss runabout, but the Ice Warriors aren’t the most exciting returning villain and the story’s excuse for freeing Missy from her vault is frankly underwhelming.

Dishonourable Mention: The Eaters of Light

Best: World Enough and Time / The Doctor Falls

This story showcases everything I love about Moffat and Capaldi’s tenure. This two partner manages to balance finale-level stakes with some beautiful and intense character moments, serving as a wonderful bookend for Twelve, Bill, Nardole and Missy’s character arcs. Alongside all this, it manages to make the Cybermen scary again for the first time in over a decade, giving NuWho’s most frequently shafted baddies their only 10/10 story in the revived series. It’s a dark story with an even bleaker ending, but despite this, it’s a story of hope and heroism, and in all honesty, I wouldn’t have been mad if this was the final episode of Doctor Who, full stop. NuWho’s greatest finale in almost twenty years.

Honourable Mention: Extremis