Favourite Season So Far

[Si Hunt]

Which season of Doctor Who have you enjoyed the most, all things considered, since the show returned in 2005? And why?

Si.

[Anthony Williams]

I've actually had to say Series One. Much as I think that Tennant's been fantastic, no other series since the show returned has been as consistently brilliant.

Ant x

[Wayne]

Series One. No question. Better actor/Better Doctor, Best finale, & largely better stories. Even the weakest link 'The Long Game' was better than the weakest stories of the other seasons IMO.
RTD's approach was new, fresh, & revitalizing, but has since grown a bit stale & over familiar through repetition of themes & ideas. The emotional stuff was balanced absoutely perfectly, (although to be fair, it didn't start going wrong for me until the end of Series 2)
The Doctor/Companion dynamic was the best so far. (Although Donna comes close) Rose didn't start going wrong until Tennant's Doc came in. Rose's family (Jackie, Mickey, Pete) are the best so far. (Although Wilf is the best since them)
'Bad Wolf/Parting of the Ways' is still my favourite New Series story so far, with 'Dalek' not far behind it. (Though 'Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel' is brushing up against 'Dalek')
Although there's been some lovely moments throughout the 4 series, 'Father's Day' is still the best of the more emotional stories. It's just so perfectly judged, & never even approaches the gratutitously overplayed/overegged emo mush of some of the later stories.
And for me 'The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances' is still the best Moffat story to date. In fact it's still one of my biggest favourites since the series came back. Same thing re Gatiss/'The Unquiet Dead'.

[Larry]

I voted for series 1 pretty much for the same reasons as Wayne, I also feel that it has the strongest run of consistantly top quality stories from ep 8 to 13 making the 2nd half of the series by far the best.

[Perry Vale]

I too voted for S1 for similar reasons, although for me the consistent run goes from episode 6 up until 13.

[Dirk Gently]

Wayne makes some compelling arguments & I agree with most of it (although Dalek isn't that good).

I just went over the list of stories & actually, on reflection, I prefer 4 over 1.
There is a string of stories in 1 that I'm not fussed about, Aliens of London, World War III, Dalek & The Long Game, which I felt was a lull in the series that 4 just doesn't have.


Although I can't vote because it seems this poll is about the Hartnell/Troughton era, in which case it would have to be Season 4.

[SiHart]

Series 4 for me. It's been the most consistently brilliant run of the show so far. There's not been an episode I've disliked or been bored by, which is a good thing, and the team seem to know their strengths and weaknesses now and are producing consistrently good episodes (IMO).
Oh and David and Catherine were a really brilliant TARDIS team too.

Si xx

[Si Hunt]

I agree, Series 4 for me. The seasons seem to divide into three parts, and this one was good in all of them. The only real downsides for me were the Sontaran two-parter wasn't the strongest, and "Midnight" wasn't to my tastes.

Si.

[Antony Cox]

I've voted for Series One, too.

I still prefer Ecclestone to Tennant (although I've grown to like DT much more over this series just gone). And it was the most exciting series because it was the first one.

[Logo Polish]

Probably the one that's just gone out. The first series is my least favourite by a long way, as at least half the stories don't appeal to me, and most of the regular characters in it leave me fairly cold. There are some good episodes, but overall I have practically zero nostalgia for it.

I found this year's blend of episodes more appealing than any of the first three. Some were better than others, but no real out-and-out stinkers, and David and Catherine made for a very enjoyable team. Shame they couldn't have done another series together really.

[Martin Penny]

Series 4 for me, as I liked every episode, and thought the quality was very consistent throughout. The only episode I didn't really care for was 'The Doctor's Daughter'. I thought Donna was a breath of fresh air, and Davros made for the best end of season villain yet.

[Si Hunt]

Season one is great, but pales with familiarity. Also they seem to have got better with both execution and spoke, so the later stories just shine with the added volume of experience and confidence they gained as they went along.

I think my least favourite series might be Series 2, just because it has the worst Moffatt episode and the dismal Ood two-parter, and my least favourite closing story is last years "Last of the Timelords" because it's a big bloated pudding of a finish with a 'wind back time' resolution.

Si.

[Dirk Gently]

This has really got to me. I've gone through my ratings of the older series & I was surprised what the result was on average. I added up all my ratings for each season & got a mean (putting the Christmas specials in the season they were made, i.e series 1 + C. Invasion & so on).
2005 = 6.86/10
2006 = 7.07/10
2007 = 7.78/10
2008 = 7.85/10 (yet to include Christmas special)

So series 4 is my favourite, but series 1 doesn't seem to be as high as I thought. May be I should join in the re-watching phenomenon that seems to have taken hold here.

[Andrew Curnow]

I want to say season 1, but I think a lot of that is just the sheer joy of having a brand new series on at all. So just to shake things up a little I'm going for season 3 instead - having not really enjoyed season 2, I found the 2007 run just a delight from start to finish. Freema was a joy, and Tennant seemed to have finally 'found' his Doctor, so the combination of the two of them was (for me) just right.

The Dalek two-parter was the weakest story by far, but the Human Nature two-parter was one of the very best stories we've ever seen. I greatly enjoyed the three-part finale, starting with the little gem that is Utopia, and then escalating into probably the grimmest place the new series has ever gone. I don't find it easy to watch the tortured Doctor in the last episode, but it's still compelling viewing.

For my money, it's the best season overall because it managed to merge the sense of 'something new' in that it started from scratch introducing a new companion; with a confidence and an assured touch that allowed the show to flex its muscles into new areas. It had the ability to surprise the audience with such unexpected delights as Gridlock, and to move them with the Doctor adopting a human identity. It did old-fashioned monsterfests in the shape of The Lazarus Experiment, and it re-visioned the Master to be a perfectly matched equal to the Doctor, even going so far as to make him the Prime Minister.

It built on its strengths, it pushed its remit more than ever, it swept along with confidence, and it ended on a high, without ever feeling like we were getting more of the same.

Season 3!!

[Paul Clement]

I'm the lone Season 2 voter it seems.

Season 1, on reflection is a far stronger season than I perhaps originally gave it credit. I wasn't enamoured by 'Rose' as an opening episode at the time, but when compared to 'New Earth', 'Smith and Jones' and 'Partners in Crime' it stands up to repeated viewing far more. When looking at stand out episodes, it still probably beats any of the seasons for me, but it's when looking at the average episodes that the season drops down the pecking order. 'End of the World', 'Unquiet Dead' and 'The Long Game' don't quite have as much in the tank as Season 2's averages, 'Tooth & Claw', 'School Reunion' and the 'Rise of the Cybermen/Age of Steel' two parter.
So, although 'Girl in the Fireplace', 'Love and Monsters' and the 'Impossible Planet'/'Satan Pit' double whammy are no match for the best of Season 1, the season as a whol just shades it.

[Milky Tears]

Season 27 for me. This is because...

I'm a moaningfaced****ishanalfanboygimpwhoisstuckinthe
pasthasabigstiffyforthatgurningawkwardfool
ecclestoneandthinkstennantisagrinningmockney
muppetwholackshardscifigravitarseisyounger
thanmeandhasmadetheshowfartoopopular
withscummychavvyplebsandthesoapy
gaylovinmedia.

[Matthew T]

I worked out my average scores similar to Tim, as I couldn't decide which was my favourite just off the top of my head!

It came out like this:

1: 7.57
2: 7.57
3: 7.43
4. 7.85

So series 4 it is!

Series 3 suffered from a run of 4 episodes in the middle that I thought were distincly average.

[WhiteCrow]

I voted for Season 4 - simply Catherine Tate has upped the game for companions and worked to a level I'd never dreamed of.

And shame on YOU Si Hunt - it should have been

Season 1 - Ecclestone and Piper
Season 2 - Tennant and Piper
Season 3 - Tennant and the girl who couldn't act
Season 4 - Tennant and Tate



Because these days the series is a double act of two talents. A bad companion can ruin a good story - look at Tegan!

[Dirk Gently]

A bad companion can ruin a good story - look at Tegan!

Controversial comment!

[Milky Tears]

That Embarrassed To Be Here Northern Gurner with The Funny Ears would be romping it if there was an "Ecclestone Year" option added to the poll. Loads of fans have no idea who this Eccleston bloke is!?

[Perry Vale]

I preferred him playing that guy who runs Formula One.

[NorthernStar]

Series four - consistantly brilliant story telling with only "The Doctor's Daughter" being a disappointment and even that one would have faired better if had it not been surrounded by so many excellent episodes.

Catherine Tate was wonderful (and a much needed tonic after the doing-her-best companion/plank of wood we had last year) and Donna is probably now my favourite companion.

Having a Doctor in his third series with his character and mannerisms defined pays dividends in the scripts, most notably at the end of Midnight, when his previously amusing "no don't...don't do that...really....don't" was quite chilling.

[Jon Masters]

And shame on YOU Si Hunt - it should have been

Season 1 - Ecclestone and Piper
Season 2 - Tennant and Piper
Season 3 - Tennant and the girl who couldn't act
Season 4 - Tennant and Tate

No, you've clearly misunderstood the New Series - it should be

Series 1 - PIPER and Eccleston (and Barrowman)
Series 2 - PIPER and Tennant
Series 3 - NO PIPER and Tennant and Agyeman and BARROWMAN
Series 4 - PIPER'S BACK and Tennant and Tate

A bad companion can ruin a good story

What, like The Parting of the Ways ?

I voted Season2 BTW - despite L&M, the return of the Cybermen and a half-decent season finale edge it for me.

[Ian Lethbridge-Stewart]

Series 1 (or Season 27 for fans like me, who refused to wipe the slate clean and start counting from the begining again - at least they now say 'series' rather than 'season'; I could never say that the 2005 stories were season 1)

I have to say that the most recent series was very good and the best we've seen of Tennant IMO. For that reason alone I'm glad he didn't regenerate at the end of Stolen Earth. I'd be happy for Tennant to do the specials and even the next full season......sorry, 'series' before we get a new Doctor.

My main reason for picking Series 1 as my favourite is because Chris's Doctor just seemed a bit more natural to me. The angry scenes were more believable and the humar seemed more subtle.
Season 2 for me is the worst - I like the Cyberman two parter but like others on PS I found the Doctor and Rose partnership unbearable after a while. The finale should have been so good with both Daleks and Cybermen but it just seemed to fix too much Rose leaving and not enough on having a decent Dalek/Cybermen confrontation. Season 2 also had Love and Monsters, which I've tried to like, but just can't. It's not because of anybody in it (even though I hate the Absorbaloff); it's just not Doctor Who enough for me!!!

[Jonno]

It's that rare moment to savour again - I'm in complete agreement with Andrew!

I've voted S3 although S4 may just overtake it with repeated viewings. I just feel that I enjoyed S3 just that little bit more at the time I was watching it if that makes sense. Perhaps it's partly because this year I only watched each episode once in the week of transmission, whereas I always tended to watch the Sunday repeat for each of the last 3 seasons, but have been more inconsistent with my veiewing habits this year.

For me S3 was a superbly consistent run of episodes, I preferred having the "unrequited love story" of Martha as opposed to the OTT blatant lovey stuff of Rose in S2 (&S4!). Even the weakest couple of episodes (Lazarus & 42) were much preferable to the weakest of the other series.

Also, unlike a lot of fans, I found both the Dalek and Master stories very enjoyable and applauded the fact the production team did something a little experimental and different with both these old enemies.

I am now rewatching S4 courtesy of BBC3/Virgin IPlayer so in another few weeks I may have changed my mind and S4 may have overtaken it, but I'll stand by my assertion that I preferred S3 first time around. Oh, and I didn't mention that the Human Nature two parter is still my favourite story so far, and S3 also beats S4 on the music front - better theme tune and more memorable incidental music. And you can read the end credits too!