Every Doctor Who fan that got into the show in its post-2005 incarnation dreams of one day having what it takes to go back to 1963 and watch the series in its entirety. Unfortunately, to time-travel in television history like that, one needs time, patience, and, most importantly, a good guide for where to begin. In its 59 years of existence, 1990-2005 hiatus notwithstanding, Doctor Who has aired more than 800 episodes over the course of 39 seasons. The series lead has been recast 13 times, including Ncuti Gatwa’s upcoming run, with the character cheating death through an alien process called regeneration. All these numbers are already enough to make even the most dedicated of fans tremble with fear, and, as is usually the case with such long-lasting IPs, things aren’t contained to just one type of media. There are books, comic books, audio plays, webisodes… The list goes on.
Unfortunately, there’s no technology that would allow us to place all of this Who history in your brain with just the click of a button. Perhaps you could assimilate some of it if you pulled a Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) and looked straight into the TARDIS’ heart, absorbing the whole time vortex. However, that would be extremely dangerous. The best course of action is to just sit down and start watching the classic series. The good news is that you most certainly won’t regret it. Classic Doctor Who sure is different from its contemporary counterpart, however. Instead of the current monster-of-the-week format, for instance, the classic stories were divided into serials of about four to eight episodes, but the show remains one of the greatest of all time no matter the version. And, in case you’re still at a loss about how to start, here are a few tips that might come in handy.
Start From the Beginning
Despite being the most obvious approach, this isn’t necessarily the most captivating. Early Doctor Who was a show unsure of where it stood. BBC execs wanted an educational series to teach children about science and history — hence Ian (William Russell) and Barbara (Jacqueline Hill), two of the first companions, being a science and a history teacher, respectively. Meanwhile, story editor David Whitaker and writer Terry Nation had more other-worldly things in mind. In 1963, Whitaker commissioned a serial titled “The Mutants” from Nation. The title was subsequently changed to “The Daleks.”
“The Daleks” is an exciting, sci-fi heavy serial that has everything a Doctor Who fan might expect from the show. “An Unearthly Child," on the other hand, not so much. The show’s very first episode is a great introduction to the Doctor (William Hartnell), with Ian and Barbara getting trapped in the TARDIS while trying to check up on a mysteriously knowledgeable student. What they don’t know is that the student, Susan Foreman (Carole Ann Ford), is actually a Time Lord disguised as a human teen, and that her grandfather isn’t keen on letting strangers that figure out their secret return quietly to their daily lives. It’s an entertaining piece of television that establishes the show’s main characters and their core personalities. However, the three following episodes in the serial — a trip to the Stone Age — are a bit of a drag.
The Hartnell era of Doctor Who suffers a lot from this unevenness. It’s pretty clear that the people behind the show didn’t know exactly where they were going and weren’t expecting any of it to work. But work it did, and it’s not hard to see why. Sure, there are some issues with the show’s pacing and visual effects, but that’s just 1960s TV for you. A grave issue many people encounter when trying to start from the beginning are the many episodes that went missing due to the BBC’s junking policy of the era. Don’t let that problem stop you, though: many of these episodes are skippable, while others have been reconstructed either by the BBC itself or by fans.
Skip to the Second
The recommendation to skip the First Doctor on your first foray into Classic Who shouldn’t be taken as a slight against Hartnell, who, in spite of his declining health and memory problems, gave us a pretty great performance. However, many fans of the contemporary series take issue with the First Doctor’s disagreeable and excessively alien persona. For those that came to love the show through the likes of David Tennant and Matt Smith, Patrick Troughton’s goofier, kinder Second Doctor is much more palatable. Besides, with things such as the existence of a race of time travelers, regeneration, and recurring villains such as the Daleks and the Cybermen established in his predecessor’s time, Troughton got to enjoy a much more solid run. By 1966, the series had already found its footing. Gone were the flagrant pacing issues and the identity struggles. The crew even had room to experiment more with stories such as the ambitious “The War Games," which gave the Time Lords their name.
Sadly, this growing sense of identity had its downside, as head producer Innes Lloyd decided it was time to get rid of the historical episodes in favor of the science fiction side of the show. Missing episodes still abound, with the Second Doctor’s own debut, “The Power of the Daleks”, gone from the BBC archives.
Third Doctor’s a Charm
Skipping half or even entire serials, or looking for reconstructed videos made out of photographs, cartoons, and pieces of original audio isn’t for everyone. If the prospect of going through all this trouble scares you away from Classic Who, you will be happy to know that the Third Doctor’s (Jon Pertwee) adventures are all intact. The first Time Lord to have no missing episodes is also the first to appear on screens in full color. And this is just one of the many ways in which Pertwee’s era is closer to what we now know as Doctor Who than Hartnell’s or Throughton’s.
The Third Doctor’s serials are more dynamic and feature at least some of the human element the show has become known for since 2005. The Third Doctor is a lot closer to his companions, and one can even make an argument for a little romance between the Doctor and Jo Grant (Katy Manning).
Alongside Tom Baker’s, Pertwee’s run as the Doctor is regarded by many as the golden age of the classic series. His time on the show, from 1970 to 1973, also introduced many key components of the Who-niverse, such as UNIT and, of course, the Master, played in his first incarnation by the unforgettable Roger Delgado.
Pick a Favorite Doctor
Look, if you’ve already decided to skip one or two Doctors, it is clear that approaching the show chronologically isn’t your main concern. Nor should it be. Considering how episodic the classic serials were, you don’t miss much by jumping in on the show at any time you see fit. So why not start with a personal favorite? Check out a few short, isolated serials to get a sense of who each Doctor was, or just do some research to figure which Time Lord is best suited for you and start with him.
The fandom has its opinions, of course. Pertwee’s Third and Baker’s Fourth Doctor are well-loved both by their personas and by the quality of the writing during their tenures. Imposing, intellectually driven, and a show-off of sorts, the Third Doctor was the first to have an overarching nemesis throughout an entire season in the figure of the Master. Baker’s Fourth, on the other hand, was more of a charming eccentric, as symbolized by his love of jelly babies and his iconic long scarf. It was during his time on the show that writer Douglas Addams, of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy fame, contributed with serials "The Pirate Planet" and "City of Death." Troughton's Second Doctor and Peter Davison's Fifth also have a place in fans' hearts.
But the Doctor is only a part of what makes Doctor Who so great. This approach of picking the one you like best can also be applied to the other half of the TARDIS team: the companions, or, as the old-timers would say, assistants. Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney) are already old acquaintances of fans of the new series. Other beloved companions, such as Ace (Sophie Aldred) and Romana (Mary Tamm and Lalla Ward), also make for great entry points.
Go Evil and Don't Look Back
If we’re already being bad and ditching the chronological order, why not go evil all the way? Just like with the greatest Doctors and companions, you can also choose to track the progress of Doctor Who’s most beloved and reviled bad guys. Just keep in mind that, in this case, you will have to skip from Doctor to Doctor and companion to companion without much time to get to know the characters.
The easiest to follow are the Daleks and the Cybermen. The universe’s plunger-and-whisk armed exterminators made their debut in the aforementioned First Doctor serial, “The Daleks.” They first tried to take over the Earth in the aptly titled “The Dalek Invasion of Earth,” and the details of their creation are explored in the Fourth Doctor's serial “Genesis of the Daleks." Their last appearance in the classic show is in 1988’s “Remembrance of the Daleks,”starring Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor. As for the Cybermen, they are introduced in William Hartnell’s swan song, “The Tenth Planet," and face off against the Seventh Doctor just two serials after the Daleks, in “Silver Nemesis."
Things get a little trickier when it comes to the Master. Much like the Doctor, you can choose just one incarnation to follow, but why not go through all of them? Roger Delgado was in the role for just two years, from 1971 to 1973, constantly trying to best the Third Doctor. After Delgado’s untimely demise in a car crash, three actors took over the mantle of the mustache-twirling Time Lord: Peter Pratt and Geoffrey Beevers portrayed a decayed version of the Master in “The Deadly Assassin” and “The Keeper of Traken," respectively; in 1981, during the Fourth Doctor’s final run, Anthony Ainley took over the part. He was last seen opposite the Seventh Doctor in the 1989 serial “Survival."
Choose a Handful of Cool, Stand-Alone Stories
One common strategy adopted by fans that want to get their friends into the new era of Doctor Who is to start them off with some great stand-alone episodes. “The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances”, “Blink”, and “Midnight” are a few favorites in this regard. Back when I was new to Who, my friend on the inside recommended “A Christmas Carol”. If you’re still intimidated by the amount of episodes and unsure about whether you are ready to make such a commitment, why not start with a couple of great, entry level-friendly serials? From the aforementioned “The War Games” and “City of Death” to “Earthshock” and “Terror of the Autons,” every Doctor has at least one cool story that requires little to no previous knowledge to understand. Want a taste of what the historicals were like? Check out “The Aztecs.” Want a chilling base under siege adventure? How about “Horror at Fang Rock"? Or maybe you would rather take a look at one of Russell T. Davies’ and Steven Moffat’s favorite classic stories? In that case, go to the Fourth Doctor for “The Ark in Space.” Then, if you’re still up for the challenge, go back to the beginning and watch the entire series! There's really no wrong way to get in to classic. Who.
Classic Doctor Who is available to stream on Britbox. You can also buy the series on digital or Blu-Ray.