Your least favourite Doctor...

[Anthony Williams]

Oh yes, Williams is back... with another one of his nasty, negative threads!

Today, I want to know... which Doctor was your least favourite, and why? That's right, I'm asking you to justify your choice, too!

I'm currently contemplating my answer, but I'll be back soon to tell you which Doctor I have a particular dislike for, and why!

[Anthony Williams]

Well, here goes... The Doctor I like the least is:



The Tenth Doctor.

Here's why. In 2005, after Christopher Eccleston had regenerated into David Tennant at the end of The Parting of the Ways, I thought that we were in line for a truly special Doctor. From interviews and the like, David Tennant had such wonderful enthusiasm for the show. And following the success of Series 1, I really didn't expect anything less than perfection.

And yet, a year later, my hopes and dreams for the Tenth Doctor had been torn down. We had a year of hubris from him and Rose - we watched as he egged Rose on, while making fun of Queen Victoria. We had him being so engrossed with Rose in Rise of the Cybermen that he forgot Mickey. We had him bursting out laughing at the suggestion that he might go back to the TARDIS and go elsewhere at the beginning of The Impossible Planet. And then we sat through as he blubbed his eyes out, as Rose got sucked into a parallel universe.

It was clear from this point onwards that this was the most human Doctor ever to be portrayed on screen. And to me, that really took something away from the previously aloof Doctor.

And it continued through his entire era, right through to his hissy fit when he realised that he was going to lose his life at the end of The End of Time. Any previous Doctor would've given up his life for Wilf without such a tantrum. In fact, I'm fairly certain that the 11th would do so, too. And in the time periods inbetween, we had to put up with his snarling, and his condescending "Awwww I LOVE humans!" attitude the whole time.

Frankly, I found the Tenth Doctor a real struggle to like. I was glad to see the back of him and to see Matt Smith's more traditional portrayal of the Doctor.

It's a shame, because David Tennant was such a great ambassador for the show.

[Dino]

I've got a horrible feeling I'm going to start a downpour of similar responses but... Colin Baker.
I know I've said in other threads that he wasn't looked after well enough by his writers and people at the top. But I really find it difficult to warm to him.
I think I stopped watching for a bit as I just felt he wasn't that good.
Now I've gone back to his era and the stories are pretty good. Just everything around him didn't click. It's like the production staff couldn't be bothered and took it for granted it would always be on the air.
Real tragedy is Colin's actually a great man, but I don't know what's happened.
Even knowing what happened hasn't made it easier to enjoy him. And sorry, but it seems that being in the TARDIS console room seems to bring out the worst of him.

[duncan]

Sorry 7th Doctor fans but my least favourite is Sylvester McCoy. I like my Doctors to be a bit more serious and although he improved in his last season the damage was done come the end of his first season. I just wish he had played his three years like he did in the TV movie and I'd be voting for someone else.

[brandynigma]

Peter Davison.

A combination of the po-faced direction and Davison sometimes giving a lazy performance leads to this. Colin and Sylv at least didn't look bored when they got a bad script.

Davison is far better in his Big Finish stuff, but you can still tell when he's not feeling it.

[Andrew Curnow]

Davison sometimes giving a lazy performance leads to this

As an early-80s fanboy, I feel obliged to disagree! Can you give us some examples?

[J.R. Southall]

Davison's probably my least favourite too. Not because I think he's a bad actor (he's been great in many other things), but because for some reason, every time he opens his mouth in Doctor Who (regardless of whether or not he's been running around), he starts panting. And then stops again, as soon as he finishes speaking. I just find the "panting acting" really difficult to watch - it's one of those things that as soon as you notice it, it's hard to notice anything else, really.

[SiHart]

I really couldn't chose a Doctor that i don't like enough to be my least favourite. They've all got something of merit, something about them I like.

[Rob McCow]

I wasn't too keen on Russell E Grant's version. Uh... so, Terry Walsh? Nicholas Briggs in 'Minuet In Hell'? Lenny Henry? Rowan Atkinson?

Actually, I thought Rowan Atkinson was pretty poor as the Doctor. He was so sarcastic, smug and nasty. That attitude works great for Blackadder, but there was no evidence of any compassion or sincerity.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

Probably Christopher Eccleston. I didn't really like the character of the 9th Doctor as he didn't seem very like the Doctor to me, and I really didn't like the hammy performance either. I'm sure he's a great actor if you like brooding broodiness, but I don't think he can really do anything else. Or David Tennant for reasons already given.

[SiHart]

Hang on, hang on, Richard E Grant's 9th Doctor was the worst Doctor ever. Awful performance, very unlikeable ans thankfully we were spared him on TV too.

[Larry]

I really don't know TBH, I like Colin Baker's Doctor, but I just don't like his stories, his brash , over bearing ego never really bothered me and I think it was good to have a Doctor so radically different to what we were used to. Sylvestor Mccoy, whom I did dislike for a long time (again because of the stories rather than him) I've actually warmed to since seeing the dvd releases of Time and the Rani and Delta. That just leaves Pat Troughton, with out doubt a fantastic actor and some top quality stories were made in his era sadly because there are so few of them to enjoy I find it difficult to truly like Troughton, so I'd have to say that he is probably my least favorite Doctor.

[J.R. Southall]

Probably Christopher Eccleston. I didn't really like the character of the 9th Doctor as he didn't seem very like the Doctor to me, and I really didn't like the hammy performance either. I'm sure he's a great actor if you like brooding broodiness, but I don't think he can really do anything else. Or David Tennant for reasons already given.

So was he hammy, or broody...?

[Awesome Wells]

Pertwee. A t***.

[Andrew Curnow]

I didn't know 'toff' was a swearword.

[Awesome Wells]

It isn't, but on Skaro, "Thal" is.

I don't really think Pertwee's the worst, man. Well, I do, my man, but not enough to justify it, man. He's just so damned pompous, man.

[brandynigma]

As an early-80s fanboy, I feel obliged to disagree! Can you give us some examples?

Sentenced to execution in Arc of Infinity. THE MASTER HAS FINALLY DEFEATED ME. Getting bullied into everything, with no attempt to make it look like anything different.

It's mostly down to the moratorium on humour in this era, but there are times when Davison comes across as bored as a death metal fan at a macrame convention.

[Andrew Curnow]

I think he's excellent in Arc of Infinity - no, he doesn't suddenly smash the set apart at being executed (a la Tennant at the end of The End of Time, for example) rather he takes it with (IMHO of course) a powerful dignity. See also later in the same episode, where he stops Nyssa from saving him with similar strength of character. I'm not suggesting Arc is a peerless example of quality Who necessarily, but I don't think Davison's bad in it.

[Stuart Wallis]

I'd say Mcgann based on those BF stories of his that I've heard. He was fine in the TVM, but afterwards he was so laid-back he didn't seem as though he was really trying.

Based on TV appearances, I'd say Pertwee, his character being a pompous, erm, donkey?

[Zbigniev Hamson]

So was he hammy, or broody...?

He was hammy precisely because he WASN'T broody

[Zbigniev Hamson]

I think he's excellent in Arc of Infinity - no, he doesn't suddenly smash the set apart at being executed (a la Tennant at the end of The End of Time, for example) rather he takes it with (IMHO of course) a powerful dignity. See also later in the same episode, where he stops Nyssa from saving him with similar strength of character. I'm not suggesting Arc is a peerless example of quality Who necessarily, but I don't think Davison's bad in it.

He did know he wasn't going to die though of course.

[Anthony Williams]

He did know he wasn't going to die though of course.

To jump in on this one - he knew he was dying, he didn't even know if he'd regenerate, but he sacrificed his own life to save Peri's life - again, without a tantrum or smashing things up, but with extreme determination to save this girl, who he barely knew.

I know it says nothing about him in Arc of Infinity, but it speaks absolute bounds about his Doctor.

[Darren]

We had him bursting out laughing at the suggestion that he might go back to the TARDIS and go elsewhere at the beginning of The Impossible Planet.

That was an in joke I think because when has the Doctor ever done that before.



Ant makes some good points about the Tenth Doctor. He was far better once they got rid of Rose and he was at his peak with Donna, so I can't wholly agree though. To be fair, he thought he had been spared until he heard Wilf's knocking which would have been a bit of a bummer. And he told Wilf it was his honour to sacrifice himself.
And it was a whole lot more to do with inconsistent writing and character development by RTD. There were countless occasions across the series when he would have died to save someone, so TEOT was purely to crank up the sad factor.