Doctor Who: The Ultimate Guide (2024)

Beginning in 1963, Doctor Who has been a staple of British television for well over 60 years. 

Doctor Who follows “The Doctor” an immortal alien with a mysterious past who, with the help of their companions, have adventures across time and space. The Doctor’s time machine and space ship is called the “TARDIS” (Time And Relative Dimension In Space) and is shaped like a British police box from the 1950s that is bigger on the inside.

Every few years, The Doctor is recast with a new actor. In the show, The Doctor’s appearance changing is explained as them “regenerating” after sustaining a lethal injury of some kind. 

Companions of The Doctor will come and go and often serve as an audience surrogate allowing for new concepts to be introduced to the companion and audience at the same time.

With its long history, it may be confusing on where to start with it. This article will serve as a guide for new viewers interested in watching Doctor Who.

Background

Before we get into the guide, there is some important information and context that we must go over first.

To start, Doctor Who in its original run from 1963 to 1989 will be referred to as “Classic Who” from here on out. Seasons of Classic Who will be referred to as “Seasons.”

The modern series beginning in 2005 to the present will be referred to as “New Who.” Seasons of New Who will be referred to as “Series.”

For example, “Season 1” of Classic Who, which featured the First Doctor played by William Hartnell, is not the same as “Series 1”, which features Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor.

It is important to note that the most recent series as of writing Series 14 is listed on Disney Plus as “Season One” and was marketed as such. To prevent any confusion, this article will be referring to it as “Season One (Modern Series 14).”

Another important detail to note regarding Classic Who is that it does not use a typical 20 to 40 minute episode format that modern viewers are accustomed to. Rather, Classic Who episodes are split into multi-part serials that form into one story. These can range from two parts to over ten. Each part of a Classic Who story is roughly 20 minutes (Seasons 21 and 22 did feature 44 minute parts but Season 23 reverted to the 20 minute structure the show had prior). Classic Who has 695 episodes divided into 155 individual stories.

As a result of these story lengths, getting into Classic Who can be overwhelming for a modern audience. Thankfully, I do not recommend starting with Classic Who.

Aside from the previously mentioned overwhelming length of Classic Who, there are a lot of parts to it that make it hard to watch as a modern viewer. To start, the stories in Classic Who were often patted to save time. Episodes can often drag themselves for too long and become monotonous and boring to the viewer. 

Alongside that, the visual effects while groundbreaking for the sixties leave much to be desired for the modern viewer. Unless you are a fan of cheesy sci-fi and don’t mind the time sync to get into episodes, I wouldn’t recommend starting with Classic Who.

Jumping on point number one. Series 1 Episode 1 “Rose.”

The episode introduces the Ninth Doctor (played by Christopher Eccleston) and companion Rose Tyler (played by Billie Piper).

It serves as the starting point for all of New Who and has limited references to prior stories from Classic Who. The story for the episode involves Rose Tyler being saved from dangerous mannequins (called Autons) by The Doctor and her trying to track him down and ultimately helping him destroy the source controlling the Autons. The episode ends with The Doctor inviting Rose to join him in his adventures.

The episode is a great starting point for new viewers. It’s a contained 45 minute story that constantly keeps itself moving without much padding.

Pros to this jumping on point is that:

1. It’s simple and is able to get the viewer up to speed without overwhelming them.
2. It is super accessible on the streaming service MAX (formerly HBO MAX).
3. There are amazing episodes from series 1 to series 4 which you will see if you use this starting point.

There are no real cons to this jumping on point.

Jumping on point number two. Series 5 episode 1 “The Eleventh Hour.”

The Eleventh Hour involves the Eleventh Doctor crash landing into the backyard of a little girl named Amelia Pond. He discovers there’s a crack in reality located in her bedroom. Before being able to investigate, The Doctor has to leave to repair the TARDIS only to come back 12 years later by accident. Amelia is now an adult and going by Amy and has a boyfriend named Rory. The Doctor learns that there was an alien fugitive secretly living in Amy’s house and with the help of Amy and Rory tracks it down. The episode ends with The Doctor inviting Amy to join him in the TARDIS fulfilling a promise he made to her when they first met.

Pros to this jumping on point:

1. It is one of the best episodes in the entire show. (perfectly balances comedy and drama and has amazing performances from all the actors).
2. You the hints and set ups to multiple story lines which will unfold over the following series.
3. The following episodes will reintroduce recurring elements such as villains like Daleks and supporting characters like River Song and catch the viewer up to speed on them.

Cons to this jumping on point:

1. You miss the entirety of Christopher Ecclestons and David Tennant’s eras of the show. These eras are home to some of the most important episodes ever including the reintroduction of Classic Who elements like Daleks, Cybermen, The Master, etc. Series 5 does reintroduce these again but it’s not as great as it was in Eccleston or Tennant’s eras. 
2. You miss the beginning of River Song’s storyline in “Silence in the Library” and “Forest of the dead.” The storyline with River Song occurs from Series 5 to Series 9 and without seeing how it begins in these episodes it loses some of its impact.

Jumping on point number three. Series 11 episode 1 “The woman who fell to earth.”

In The Woman who fell to Earth the freshly regenerated 13th Doctor falls into a train carrying new companions Yazmin Khan, Ryan Sinclair, Graham O’Brien (Ryans step grandfather), and Grace O’Brien (Ryan’s grandmother). The five need to stop an alien who is hunting an innocent man for sport. During the climax Grace dies while stopping one of the aliens’ tracking devices and ultimately the group are able to send that hunter away. The episode ends with The Doctor creating a teleportation system to send her back to the TARDIS but it accidentally pulls Yaz, Ryan, and Graham in and sends them all to deep space.

Pros to this jumping on point:

1. Fresh start with not much carried over continuity. The team for this series intended it to be a jumping on point for new viewers so they made it very accessible to new viewers by not reusing any recurring villains in the series.

Cons to this jumping on point:

1. This is the weakest era of the show. Unfortunately the 13th Doctors era is infamous for having poor stories in comparison to what came before. Therefore it becomes a bit more of a slog to watch through. 
2. You miss the entirety of the 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th Doctors eras which are all amazing. Watching through 3 seasons of just alright Doctor Who isn’t as fun if you’re not already invested from watching the other seasons.

Jumping on point number four. Series 14 episode 1 “The Church on Ruby Road” (also known as the 2023 Christmas special).

In The Church on Ruby Road the audience is introduced to new companion Ruby Sunday, an orphan living with her adoptive mother Carla and grandmother Cherry. Carla has been a foster mother for many years and is fostering a new baby named Lulubelle. While Carla is out and Ruby is watching Lulubella a group of goblins break in through the window and kidnap Lulubella. Ruby chases after them and jumps onto a rope ladder falling from the sky. It’s here where she meets the Fifteenth Doctor who was also investigating the goblins. The two end up on a giant flying pirate ship and work together to take the goblins down and rescue Lulubella. Ultimately the episode ends with Ruby being invited by The Doctor to join him in the TARDIS.

Pros to this jumping on point:

1. Fresh start with not much in terms of pre established continuity carrying over.
2. Series 14 has some really good episodes in it and is a step up from the previous era of the show.
3. The mystery regarding Ruby’s birth mother is interesting and her chemistry with the 15th Doctor is great.
4. Watching all of Series 14 would catch you up to where the show currently is.

Cons to this jumping on point:

1. You skip all prior storylines some of which are hinted to or loosely referenced in this series.
2. The stories in this series are an improvement in quality over the Thirteenth Doctors era but still aren’t as great as the ninth through twelfth Doctor’s eras.