Doctor Who - Ranking the Doctors (Hartnell to Whittaker)

[@zacmumblethunder7466]

Hartnell did a remarkable job. He was in the early stages of vascular dementia, but managed to work his fluffed lines into character. The original idea was that the Doctor and Susan were trying to get home but the Doctor was senile and could no longer operate the TARDIS properly, so the stumbles and gaffs fitted into that characterisation. He had some brilliant moments and is the only Doctor to show significant character development. He began as the anti-hero, a dangerous, ruthless, self centred alien, gradually becoming the grandfatherly righter of wrongs. I'd place him much higher up my list.

[@tomnorton4277]

They tried to recapture the magic with Peter Capaldi's character arc but that man is no William Hartnell. Hartnell may have been selfish and ruthless but he never came across as outright sociopathic. Even in An Unearthly Child, he was already showing signs of being able to empathise with humans, despite seeing them as an inferior species at the time, when he told Susan: "Put yourself in their place. They are bound to make some sort of a complaint to the authorities, or at the very least talk to their friends." In fact, Hartnell changed his performance during the reshoots so that the Doctor came across as less villainous. There's surviving footage of the original An Unearthly Child and, even with the same dialogue as the released episode, Hartnell's performance would have made the Doctor a different character. The released episode conveyed a more mischievous and playful man than the original, looking down on people around him but still having a sense of warmth, even though he only showed it towards Susan at first. Peter Capaldi had none of that empathy or self-awareness in his first season. He seemed to genuinely have no idea that he came across as a complete sociopath who deserved to be called out for his shitty behaviour. It made his development feel less like a flawed but fundamentally good man remembering who he was and more like a sociopathic villain going through a redemption arc. He made me feel like the Valeyard had finally succeeded in stealing the Doctor's regenerations. And in hindsight, the Valeyard becoming the Doctor and going through a redemption arc actually could have worked. However, it clearly wasn't intended to be part of the story. And the thing is, I actually don't blame the writers. Most people do but Peter Capaldi's Doctor should have been one of the best. On paper, he had the best character arc since at least Christopher Ecclestone, maybe even the best since William Hartnell. He was just the wrong man to play it. Give those scripts to John Hurt and I would have no complaints. I'm still upset that we didn't get a couple of seasons with him because John Hurt was born to play the Doctor. He just had to wait 7 decades to do so and ended up playing the wrong incarnation.

[@venomz7682]

Seeing no capaldi love in the comments hurts. Will always be my number 1. Would love for a future doctor to dethrone him as that will mean the show is at an all time high

[@thedoctor755]

Sooooooooo hard to choose!! Not a bad ranking, but I'd have Twelve a lot higher.... Capaldi is just amazing, he's probably what I would be if I was the Doctor (gee, my avatar pic isn't telling, is it?). I'd rank them (lowest to highest): 6, 7, 13, 5, 8, 1, 2, 3, 9, 11, 4, 12, 10... with the top 3 easily on the same level as each other.

[@richardmattocks]

Colin always gets a bad rap, but his Dalek story is a classic. No way is he worse than Jodie.

[@LauraGS564]

he is

[@cyberemperor1435]

I agree with TGL media tbh, they are both my 2 least favourite doctors but he feels too arrogant and mean tbh

[@richardmattocks]

@@cyberemperor1435 he started off too mean it’s true but his last “proper” season (which had the Dalek story in it) he was much softer IMHO and by TOATL he was almost a different character but I also know that when people rank Doctors, he’s usually at the bottom, and it’s true he’s no pertwee, Tom Baker or Troughton etc. it’s a tough list.

[@vikingofvegas]

I am so sick of hearing people bash the 6th Doctor. It's even worse when the person giving their opinion hasn't even watched all of the episodes or listened to many audio adventures. Colin Bakers 6th Doctor is the best Doctor and you can feel free to fight me on it!

[@waverleyproductions1947]

Doctor Ranking (may change again in future): 1) David Tennant 2) Peter Capaldi 3) Tom Baker 4) Christopher Eccleston 5) Matt Smith 6) Jon Pertwee 7) Patrick Troughton 8) Paul McGann 9) William Hartnell 10) Colin Baker 11) Sylvester McCoy 12) Peter Davison 13) Jodie Whittaker

[@thelicensednerd1626]

Number 14 whittaker right done

[@mekhimays9599]

Sixth Doctor and Twelfth Doctor and Third Doctor Z Tier Fourth Doctor and Second Doctor and Fifth Doctor and Eleventh Doctor S Tier First Doctor and Seventh Doctor and Tenth Doctor A Tier Ninth Doctor And Eighth Doctor B Tier War Doctor C Tier Thirteenth Doctor D Tier Fugitive Doctor F Tier

[@davidmcdonnell2598]

Colin Baker below Jodie Whittaker? Nah, I'll never accept that.

[@Freezer28528]

I think TGL Media was trying not to be "sexist"

[@1000guy1]

Peter Davison is so underrated I thought his era so watchable I think his more darker stories are him at peak with his acting especially in the black guardian trilogy and Frontios, restruction of the daleks and the caves of androzani

[@andylikesstuffchannel]

Matt Smith with the pressure aswell as coming after Tennant deserves top spot.... and I'm a aged classic fan

[@paul8409]

Jodie Whittaker made Colin Baker look like an oscar winning actor she ranks below every doctor theirs ever been that includes those in comedy sketches those in movies and even the child who filmed a sketch with Colin Baker in the he who should never been named fix it show.

[@nessi4933]

For me: 13. Whittaker 12. McGann 11. C. Baker 10. Davison 9. McCoy 8. Hartnell 7. Smith 6. Pertwee 5. Tennant 4. Eccleston 3. T. Baker 2. Troughton 1. Capaldi

[@markc7440]

I feel that Matt Smith and Peter Davidson have a similar problem in the fact that they were both really good Doctors but they followed on from massively popular Doctors and maybe struggled a little bit by contrast to make the role their own.

[@nathanhosea489]

@henryandrews700 What do you mean he's widely panned? All of the comments I've read about him and his time as the Doctor have been very positive

[@nathanhosea489]

@henryandrews700 Being a young fan myself, Capaldi was anything but. Just because he wasn't as energetic as both Tennant and Smith doesn't mean he was boring. Oh, and the bottom half of my ranking is similar to yours. 13, 6, 5, 8, 7.

[@paulshorney3465]

Baker the best for me, but Tennant a close 2nd with Pertwee 3rd( my first doctor,so I'm old!) Sorry Jodie definitely bottom,sorry!!

[@jonathan.palfrey]

My perspective is a bit different because I started watching the show in 1964, with William Hartnell. At the time, I missed the regeneration and was puzzled to come back and find a strange man (Troughton) being referred to as the Doctor. But I came to like Troughton, and I think you underrate him somewhat. Tom Baker was different, but was he better? I regard Troughton, Pertwee, and Tom Baker as about equally good, although I think Troughton was the most likeable of them. In the 21st century, I’m puzzled by the remarkable popularity of David Tennant, who was a competent Doctor, he could do it, but I thought he had a slight lack of charisma and authority. Women kept falling for him (except Donna!), and I wondered what they saw in him. I liked Matt Smith best in the New Who era, but Eccleston and Capaldi were also good. Perhaps, as you say, Capaldi took a while to get comfortable with the role, but Smith and Eccleston jumped right in and seemed immediately at home. I quickly accepted both of them as the Doctor, during their first episodes. Whittaker was, I think, doomed by poor writing and direction; it’s impossible to say what kind of Doctor she might have become with a different showrunner. Although showrunners have their own casting preferences, so she might never have played the Doctor with a different showrunner.

[@dazzle1545]

1 Tom Baker - The Iconic Doctor 2. John Pewtree The James Bond Doctor 3. Patrick Troughton The Tramp Doctor 4. David Tennant - The only New Who Doctor done correctly 5. Peter Davison - The vulnerable doctor 6. Sylvester McKoy the Mysterious Doctor 7. Matt Smith Young Doctor Who 8. William Hartnell the original 9 Jodie Whittaker Doctor Poppins 10 Peter Calpaldi- the Pussy Whipped doctor 11. Colin Baker - The crack brained doctor 12 Christopher Eccelston The Uninterested Doctor

[@LeviPennington-vv2kq]

3:11 Are you stuttering on purpose to make fun of an old man? Shane on you!

[@thegameloopmedia]

That actually wasn't on purpose. I didn't even realise 😂

[@terrystewart1973]

For what it's worth, here's my ranking 1) Tom Baker 2) David Tennant 3 & 4) Matt Smith & Patrick Troughton. I don't know why some people place Troughton lower. Yes a lot of his stuff is missing so there's less to judge him on, but then Eccleston only had one season, so there's not much to judge him on either 5) Jon Pertwee 6) Christopher Eccleston 7) Peter Capaldi - A great actor who shows that the character can surmount even some of the worst storylines. See also McCoy and McGann 8) William Hartnell 9) Peter Davison 10) Sylvester McCoy 11) Paul McGann 12) Colin Baker 13) John Hurt - we don't really see enough of him to judge, but what we do see is great 14) Peter Cushing - non-canon - but for me so are all the other ones lower in my list 15) Toby Jones (The Dream Lord) 16) Christopher Barry (Past incarnation briefly seen in The Brain of Morbius from 1976) 17) Robert Banks Stewart (Past incarnation briefly seen in The Brain of Morbius from 1976) 18) Christopher Baker (Past incarnation briefly seen in The Brain of Morbius from 1976) 19) Philip Hinchcliffe (Past incarnation briefly seen in The Brain of Morbius from 1976) 20) Douglas Camfield (Past incarnation briefly seen in The Brain of Morbius from 1976) 21) Graeme Harper (Past incarnation briefly seen in The Brain of Morbius from 1976) 22) Robert Holmes (Past incarnation briefly seen in The Brain of Morbius from 1976) 23) George Gallaccio (Past incarnation briefly seen in The Brain of Morbius from 1976) 24) Jo Martin (The Fugitive Doctor) 25) Ncuti Gatwa (probably he will get a better spot when he actually appears in the show so his position is a placeholder) 26) Jodie Whittaker - Whittaker is a fine actor, who simply doesn't fit the role. Her character is badly written, unlikeable, and appears in some of the very worst episodes in the history of Who Note the past incarnations briefly seen from The Brain of Morbius rather blow away the twelve regenerations "rule", and also suggests William Hartnell's incarnation wasn't the original who left Gallifrey. I'm ignoring the solution from The Timeless Children, as the less said about that episode the better.

[@Sir_Gerald_Nosehairs.]

Colin Baker worse than Jodie Whittaker? Whilst people to this day rate Vengeance on Varos and Revelation of the Daleks as classics, I don't think people will be saying that about any of Whittaker's episodes. And Orphan 55 made Timelash look like high art.

[@friendlyotaku9525]

Jodie has some fantastic episodes so that is nonsense

[@vikingofvegas]

@friendlyotaku9525 it's really not lol

[@friendlyotaku9525]

@@vikingofvegas it is.

[@vikingofvegas]

@friendlyotaku9525 that's very funny lol

[@friendlyotaku9525]

@@vikingofvegas it's true though.

[@jonathanlee2995]

Christopher Eccleston is underrated

[@dazzle1545]

the 7th Season of Tom Baker was his best season

[@SithMaster26]

My list- 14. War 13. Sixth 12. Thirteenth 11. Eighth 10. First 9. Seventh 8. Ninth 7. Twelfth 6. Fifth 5. Second 4. Eleventh 3. Tenth 2. Fourth 1. Third

[@homeworld1765]

My personal ranking: 1. William Hartnell 2. Jon Pertwee 3. Tom Baker 4. David Tennant 5. Matt Smith 6. Patrick Troughton 7. Peter Capaldi 8. Paul McGann 9. Christopher Eccleston 10. Sylvester McCoy 11. Peter Davison 12. Colin Baker 13. Jodie Whittaker

[@freddiedunning3]

Colin isn’t bottom or the worse

[@lucabo1201]

My favorite is Matt smith without a doubt

[@akshaytrayner1960]

John purlsey lol

[@icarusandtherabbit]

I think you’ve put 5 and 12 too high. 11 - perfect 10 5 4 12 9 3 2 7 1 6 - although The Two Doctors is excellent 8 - one story 13 - bad writing, destroys cannon, Chibnall, “fam”

[@friendlyotaku9525]

13 doesn't "destroy canon"

[@scloftin8861]

Favorite doctor ... split between Tom Baker and Matt Smith. I do love Tennent, but the love story and the unrequited love story segments are not my favorites, while River Song is so irreverent that their story moves him to the top of my rankings. Sadly, Jodie Whittaker would be very low on my list, especially when juxtaposed with the Fugitive Doctor. I blame the writers, not the actor.

[@akshaytrayner1960]

Great video

[@michaelmeyerson5051]

I haven't seen enough Classic Who to give a fair ranking of them all. But here are my top 5 5. 9th Eccleston 4. 4th Baker 3. 13th Whitaker ( yes, this 64 year old likes her a lot) 2. 10 Tennant 1. 11 Smith

[@judithjenrick-bormann4938]

You have sorted the doctors exactly as I would have. Glad that there are more of us out there.😄

[@markc7440]

JW, dead last - forever!! Even if a piece of dead trout got cast it'd not change my mind. 6th Doctor, the whole point was that he was different and not likable, maybe the Spectrox poisoning, maybe the lack of a Zero Room. Tough to rank the others, but I wanted to say especially for Paul McGann as we didn't get enough of him onscreen. The TV movie is akin to the light and fluffy Christmas specials, but since then I think that he has massively developed his incarnation. I'd be interested to see how you rank the three actors who played the first Doctor, Hartnell, Hurdall, and Bradley.

[@legendg219]

I still think casting Colin was a mistake. His Doctor was just cruel and unlikeable and for the time when the show as going downhill it was a death sentence. No disrespect to Colin as a person obviously just his Doctor never did it for me and that costume is just unforgivable imagine a modern Doctor wearing something like that lol. I also think Paul McGann's Doctor is an absolute mess he's just a mis mash of different writers over the years going crazy with the character because of his lack of screentime creating a largely inconsistent era for the character probably doesn't help that i'm not a fan of Big Finish either. To me his canon appearances are his movie and his 50th special and he really should have been the War Doctor it would have made sense and cleaned up his timeline making it less messy.

[@scloftin8861]

@@legendg219 Sadly, Whittaker's costume was just as bad in its own way. Which was really sad when she looked terrific in the version of 12's costume she was in just after the regeneration.

[@legendg219]

@@scloftin8861 Completely agree Jodies costume was crap her and Colins are the worst me then its Sylvesters. By far the worst outfits on the Doctors even Jo Martins costume was better than Jodies. Jodie looked great in 12s costume and is it bad that my favourite 11 look was the raggedy doctor lol just love Tennants outfit too much

[@scloftin8861]

@@legendg219 Oh, Jo Martin's costume ... I adore it, including the boots! it is so much a Doctor look, where Jodie's looked like a random 13 year old's choices ...

[@legendg219]

@@scloftin8861 Jo Martin should have been the 13th Doctor!

[@dakinsdgamingkillswitch7262]

I feel bad for Jodi because she is a great actress who got stuck with a mediocre show runner and bad writing

[@Jeddstevens]

Jodie Whitaker is not better than Colin baker

[@hifive789]

13. Third Doctor 12. Sixth Doctor 11. First Doctor 10. Seventh Doctor 9. Fifth Doctor 8. Thirteenth Doctor 7. Fourth Doctor 6. Twelfth Doctor 5. Eleventh Doctor 4. Eighth Doctor 3. Second Doctor 2. Ninth Doctor 1. Tenth Doctor "And don't tell me Doctor Who is the same. Without Tom Baker, the shit is just lame." - Ray William Johnson in _Nerd Rage_ (2011)

[@jacobdinofan3070]

My ranking 1.tom baker 2.sylvester mccoy 3.patrick troughton 4.david tennant 5.peter capaldi 6.christopher eccleston 7.jon pertwee 8.jodie whittaker 9.matt smith 10.william hartnell 11.paul mcgann 12.colin baker 13.peter davison