Top 10 First Doctor Stories

Everyone loves a list! This one contains my ten favourite First Doctor stories- I’ve only selected them from the complete stories. For those not in the know, the BBC had to store all it’s programmes on film. To save space, and I mean real space, not virtual space, they threw a load of stuff out including a fair chunk of early Doctor Who (almost all the third series is gone!).

10 The Sensorites: The Doctor and his friends meet some creepy aliens who turn out to not be as creepy as they seem. The basic concept is something which Doctor Who has used numerous times over the years.

9 The Aztecs: A great historical story. Back in these days historical stories were purely historical, not an alien in sight. Except the Doctor. This sees the first mention of re-writing time and the Doctor accidentally gets engaged.

8 The Time Meddler: The first time another Time Lord appeared, although the name itself was never used. The Doctor meets another of his species who is disguised as a monk and is messing with time.

7 The Romans: A comedy story with Nero finding companion Barbara very attractive and the Doctor having a fantastic fight.

6 The Tenth Planet: The first appearance of the Cybermen and the Doctor’s first ever regeneration. Regenerating was a fantastic idea and is probably the reason the show is still going strong today.

5 The Edge of Destruction: A short story set entirely in the TARDIS, this sees the Doctor finally become friends with his unwilling companions Ian and Barbara.

4 The Dalek Invasion of Earth: It’s the year 2164 and the daleks have taken over Earth. It’s up to the Doctor and some humans to overthrow the deadliest race in the universe. Also the story where the Doctor’s hearts are broken when his grand-daughter Susan remains on Earth with her new lover.

3 The Chase: Daleks chase the TARDIS through time and space. Some good bits, some silly bits, all brilliant. Also Ian and Barbara finally make their way home and it’s still one of the best companion leaving scenes the show has ever had.

2 An Unearthly Child: The very first story. The main story is pretty rubbish but the first episode is brilliant. It’s where fifty brilliant years have spawned from and it still stands up as great TV.

1 The Daleks: The second story and the Doctor’s greatest foes are introduced. Their very first appearance still remains one of their scariest and it began years of Doctor/dalek battles.

I expect that there might be huge debate about this list among the Who community so if you have something to say about it, please leave a comment!

Review: A Big Hand for the Doctor by Eoin Colfer

The first of a series of short e-books to celebrate Doctor Who's 50th Anniversary, this sees the First Doctor rescue his grand-daughter Susan from the Soul Pirates, who steal children to sell their body parts. I liked the premise but over such a short space of time it felt too simple.

Colfer does a fairly decent job with the characterisation, with the First Doctor being fairly grumpy, but he is certainly more adventurous than in the TV show, although this is sort of explained by his desperation to save Susan. There were some very clever references- lots of mention of the Doctor being a Time Lord (something never mentioned during the First Doctor era), a reference to the Second Doctor and a mention of Hogwarts, proving even the First Doctor was a Harry Potter fan.

A good effort with some witty lines in it- it's just a shame the e-short format limits what the author can do.