‘Doctor Who’: 17 Best Episodes, Ranked
The new era of Doctor Who is now once again available to stream on the U.S., on AMC+, and what better way to celebrate than taking a look back at the best of the batch starting in 2005, with the Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston).
There are heartbreaking stories (such as farewells to companions in “Doomsday” and “The Angels Take Manhattan”), answers to major questions (“A Good Man Goes to War”), standout monsters and aliens (“Blink” and “Midnight”), and series-best performances (“Heaven Sent”). The episodes also go through the 60th anniversary specials in 2023.
Below, we’re taking a look at the 17 best Doctor Who episodes since 2005. Which ones make your list? Let us know in the comments section.
17. "Fugitive of the Judoon" (Season 12 Episode 5)
By this point, there had been years and years of The Doctor’s life onscreen and we were with Thirteen (Jodie Whittaker). But as this episode proved, there’s still so much about the Time Lord’s past that we don’t know—and even she didn’t! With the Judoon searching for a fugitive, The Doctor fled with a seemingly ordinary woman Ruth (Jo Martin), only to discover a buried TARDIS and that there was much more to her companion at the time than met the eye. Two Doctors, especially in a situation where neither truly had all the answers? It made for great TV. (Bonus: The return of John Barrowman‘s Jack Harkness led to some humor with the fam.)
16. "The Big Bang" (Season 5 Episode 13)
All season had been building to this. There was a crack in Amy’s (Karen Gillan) wall. Her house was too big just for her. Rory (Arthur Darvill) was dead (actually erased), then plastic, then guarding the Pandorica with Amy inside for 2000 years. The TARDIS was exploding. It all culminated in a massive reset, characters brought back, and Amy and Rory’s wedding … and continued to tease the identity of River Song (Alex Kingston). In other words, it was exactly what we expect from a season finale, and it all paid off.
15. "The Angels Take Manhattan" (Season 7 Episode 5)
Cue the heartbreak, Rory dying again, and a tragic ending. For Gillan and Darvill’s farewell episode, River Song was along for the adventure with her parents Amy and Rory and husband The Doctor (Matt Smith) to New York in 1938, a trip brought about by the Weeping Angels. For the last time, Amy was faced with a choice between the two men in her life, and once again, she chose Rory, first joining him when he created a paradox (dying twice in the same place on the same night) then after an Angel took him back in time. It was a great episode that solidified their relationship and featured a full-circle moment after Amy ran off with The Doctor on her and Rory’s wedding night in their first episode.
14. "The Day of the Doctor" (50th Anniversary Special)
David Tennant and Matt Smith’s Doctors together? Add in John Hurt’s? And Billie Piper back with a nod to Bad Wolf? This anniversary special delivered in spades while addressing a painful part of the Time Lord’s past he doesn’t like to talk about but always remembers (the day he had to kill both the Daleks and his own people during the Time War), hinted at the future for all Doctors involved, and brought back Tom Baker as the Curator. Plus, there was the surprise of Peter Capaldi (okay, most memorably his eyebrows) appearing ahead of him taking over as The Doctor.
13. "A Good Man Goes to War" (Season 6 Episode 7)
How could this episode not be on the list considering it finally gave us the answer to the question, who is River Song? But that wasn’t all. This episode also showcased how far The Doctor would go for his companions, brought back familiar faces from previous adventures, addressed the people who cross paths with the Time Lord who don’t leave as big an impression as others, and gave Amy and Rory too brief a time with their baby.
12. "Journey's End" (Season 4 Episode 13)
Oh, what a crossover! Torchwood! Sarah Jane (Elisabeth Sladen)! So many of The Doctor’s companions came together to save not only Earth but also other planets from the Daleks. From the regeneration twist for The Doctor and The DoctorDonna (though having the metacrisis in her would prove too dangerous for Catherine Tate‘s companion) to everyone working together to Rose getting a happily ever after with a Doctor in the parallel world, the second of a two-parter packed in a whole lot, to great success.
11. "Doomsday" (Season 2 Episode 13)
Daleks and Cybermen. The Doctor and Rose facing being separated then actually being separated when the only way to save her was to bring her to a parallel world. A heartbreaking goodbye across worlds finally saw one of them (Rose) say “I love you” but the connection cut before he could reciprocate. Plus, Rose’s parents (each from a different world, each having lost a spouse) shared a surprisingly touching moment. Bonus: Freema Agyeman guest starred before debuting as The Doctor’s companion the following season!
10. "The Empty Child" (Season 1 Episode 9)
“Are you my mummy?” Those words are still among the most chilling of the series. The Ninth Doctor and Rose landed in the middle of the London Blitz in 1941 and encountered a strange phenomenon of people, starting with a little boy, with gas masks on their faces. The episode also introduced Jack Harkness, then not yet immortal, and, along with the following episode, “The Doctor Dances,” kicked off his trips on the TARDIS with the Doctor … all leading to the moment that changed his life forever. Combine that with the great Doctor-Rose dynamic, along with a fantastic cliffhanger to lead into the second of the two-parter, and this is a must-watch episode.
9. "Vincent and the Doctor" (Season 5 Episode 10)
Tony Curran gave a standout performance as Vincent van Gogh, whom The Doctor and Amy encountered shortly after losing Rory. (Vincent could see the sadness in Amy at that, even if she couldn’t understand it, since her fiancé had been erased.) While the creature (Krafayis) wasn’t that memorable, the interactions of The Doctor and Amy with Vincent were—including them showing him how he’s seen in the future (present) but that not being enough to change his ending.
8. "The Waters of Mars" (2008-2010 Specials)
There are fixed points in time, and as the Tenth Doctor faced his own death (when he knocked four times), he found himself in the middle of one. He landed on Mars in 2059, encountering the planet’s first human colony, the crew of which was all fated to die. And as The Flood began infecting them, to the point that a self-destruct was the only way to keep the water from escaping, the Doctor did try to leave … only to return and decide that “the laws of time are mine, and they will obey me!” He saved those he could, including the captain, Adelaide (Lindsay Duncan), declaring himself “the Time Lord Victorius.” But Adelaide was determined to stop him and died by suicide on Earth, re-setting in motion a key series of events. “I’ve gone too far,” the Doctor realized. Tennant and Duncan were both brilliant in this episode.
7. "Midnight" (Season 4 Episode 10)
While Donna relaxed in a spa, The Doctor ended up on a tour from hell. An unknown force found its way into the vehicle, and soon after the passengers turned on each other, unsure who was possessed by the unidentified creature that stole their voices then focused on The Doctor’s. It was chilling (and one of Tennant’s best performances), watching the entity first repeating everything he said, then speaking ahead of him as it evolved, and the other passengers nearly throwing him out the airlock thinking he was possessed. There was no real happy ending here, just survival.
6. "Father's Day" (Season 1 Episode 8)
If you had a time machine, wouldn’t you want to at least try to save a loved one? That was what Rose ended up doing early on in her adventures with The Doctor, when they went back to the day her father died and she couldn’t just stand by and watch it happen. That put the timeline at stake, and while Rose did get to know and spend time with her father—who realized who she was—there was, sadly, no changing the past.
5. "Wild Blue Yonder" (60th Anniversary Special)
It was the 60th anniversary special we knew the least about, and that might have contributed to just how good it was! The Doctor and Donna, shortly after reuniting and figuring out a way for her to remember him without it killing her (due to the aforementioned metacrisis from “Journey’s End”), found themselves on a spaceship, encountering Not-Things that looked just like them. It was a terrifying experience that led to fantastic performances from Tennant and Tate, and it was capped off with Bernard Cribbins‘ last appearance as Donna’s granddad Wilf.
4. and 3. "Silence in the Library"/"Forest of the Dead" (Season 4 Episodes 8 and 9)
The first meeting of The Doctor and River Song was also their last and one that left him with quite a few questions about their connection. This two-parter, each episode equally as strong, featured one of the creepiest monsters of the series so far, the Vashta Nerada, sort of like shadows which immediately strip nearly everything away from whatever they touch, leaving only bones behind. The initial fear after hearing “Donna Noble has left the library” and “been saved” before it was revealed what that truly meant made for a great cliffhanger bridging the two episodes.
2. "Heaven Sent" (Season 9 Episode 11)
Peter Capaldi delivered not only his best performance but one of the best performances of anyone on Doctor Who with this episode. Soon after Clara’s (Jenna Coleman) death, The Doctor found himself alone in a castle, with many skulls in the sea around it, clues all around, and a wall made out of Azbantium (a mineral harder than diamond). The truth of the castle and The Doctor’s role was one of the best twists of the series and one that should be discovered spoiler-free.
1. "Blink" (Season 3 Episode 10)
The best episode on this list actually didn’t feature much of The Doctor and his companion, Martha. Rather, the focus was on Sally Sparrow (Carey Mulligan) and, through her, the introduction of the Weeping Angels after they sent her friend back in time. Remember: “Don’t blink. Don’t even blink. Blink and you’re dead. They are fast—faster than you can believe. Don’t turn your back. Don’t look away. And don’t blink.”
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