The Best Episodes of Doctor Who
Every episode of Doctor Who ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Doctor Who!
The Doctor is a Time Lord: a 900 year old alien with 2 hearts, part of a gifted civilization who mastered time travel. The Doctor saves planets for a living—more of a hobby actually, and the Doctor's very, very good at it.
Top Episode Ratings Summary
The best episode of "Doctor Who" is "Blink", rated 9.8/10 from 24731 user votes. It was directed by Hettie Macdonald and written by Steven Moffat. "Blink" aired on 6/9/2007 and is rated 0.2 point(s) higher than the second highest rated, "Heaven Sent (1)".
9.8/10 24,731 votes#1 - Blink
Season 3 Episode 10 - Aired 6/9/2007
Only the Doctor can stop the Weeping Angels, but he's lost in time.
Director: Hettie Macdonald
Writer: Steven Moffat
9.6/10 13,377 votes#2 - Heaven Sent (1)
Season 9 Episode 11 - Aired 11/28/2015
Trapped in a world unlike any other he has seen, the Doctor faces the greatest challenge of his many lives. One final test. And he must face it alone.
Director: Rachel Talalay
Writer: Steven Moffat
9.4/10 11,615 votes#3 - Forest of the Dead (2)
Season 4 Episode 9 - Aired 6/7/2008
As the shadows rise, the Doctor forges an alliance with the mysterious River Song.
Director: Euros Lyn
Writer: Steven Moffat
9.3/10 11,315 votes#4 - Silence in the Library (1)
Season 4 Episode 8 - Aired 5/31/2008
The Doctor and Donna land in a frightening position in the far future. While investigating a derelict library, the duo come face to face with the disembodied mind of a little girl, an archaeological team led by a woman from the Doctor's future, and swarms of flesh-eating creatures that are seen only as shadows.
Director: Euros Lyn
Writer: Steven Moffat
9.3/10 13,280 votes#5 - Vincent and the Doctor
Season 5 Episode 10 - Aired 6/5/2010
Terror lurks in the cornfields of Provence, but only a sad and lonely painter can see it. Amy Pond finds herself shoulder to shoulder with Vincent van Gogh, in a battle with a deadly alien - saving the world has never been so ginger! But can even the Doctor save Vincent?
Director: Jonny Campbell
Writer: Richard Curtis
9.2/10 13,299 votes#6 - The Girl in the Fireplace
Season 2 Episode 4 - Aired 5/6/2006
On a seemingly abandoned spaceship in the 51st century, the Tenth Doctor, Rose and Mickey find time windows leading to 18th century France and a group of clockwork androids using them to stalk a young woman throughout her life.
Director: Euros Lyn
Writer: Steven Moffat
9.2/10 10,812 votes#7 - Doomsday (2)
Season 2 Episode 13 - Aired 7/8/2006
Humanity is caught in the crossfire as the Cybermen and the Daleks wage war against each other. When the mysterious Genesis Ark opens, the Tenth Doctor is faced with an impossible decision: saving the world could mean losing Rose Tyler forever…
Director: Graeme Harper
Writer: Russell T Davies
9.2/10 10,444 votes#8 - The Family of Blood (2)
Season 3 Episode 9 - Aired 6/2/2007
It's 1913, and war comes to England early as the terrifying Family hunt for the Doctor.
Director: Charles Palmer
Writer: Paul Cornell
9.2/10 10,062 votes#9 - Journey's End (2)
Season 4 Episode 13 - Aired 7/5/2008
The Earth has been overwhelmed and the universe faces dominion by the resurgent forces of a terrifying and limitless empire led by one of The Doctor's greatest enemies. Aiding the Time Lord in a final battle are several of his closest allies and companions, but for one of them, a price will be paid...
Director: Graeme Harper
Writer: Russell T Davies
9.1/10 10,603 votes#10 - Midnight
Season 4 Episode 10 - Aired 6/14/2008
While visiting the planet Midnight, a beautiful and luxury planet, full of lavishs and hightech cities, a terrifying problem arises that leaves The Doctor powerless.
Director: Alice Troughton
Writer: Russell T Davies
9.1/10 8,841 votes#11 - The Stolen Earth (1)
Season 4 Episode 12 - Aired 6/28/2008
The Earth has been moved, and it's a race against time as Donna and the Doctor try to find it before the Daleks destroy everything; they head for the Shadow Proclamation and the Medusa Cascade. Meanwhile on Earth a veritable bevy of ex-companions join together to contact the Doctor and take down the Daleks. Can Captain Jack, Sarah-Jane, Martha Jones and Rose find the Doctor in time...
Director: Graeme Harper
Writer: Russell T Davies
9.1/10 8,821 votes#12 - The Big Bang (2)
Season 5 Episode 13 - Aired 6/26/2010
The Doctor is gone, the Tardis has been destroyed, and the universe is collapsing. The only hope for all reality is a little girl who still believes in stars.
Director: Toby Haynes
Writer: Steven Moffat
9.1/10 6,305 votes#13 - World Enough and Time (1)
Season 10 Episode 11 - Aired 6/24/2017
Friendship drives the Doctor into the rashest decision of his life. Trapped on a giant spaceship, caught in the event horizon of a black hole, he witnesses the death of someone he is pledged to protect. Is there any way he can redeem his mistake? Are events already out of control? For once, time is the Time Lord’s enemy.
Director: Rachel Talalay
Writer: Steven Moffat
9.0/10 10,902 votes#14 - The Empty Child (1)
Season 1 Episode 9 - Aired 5/21/2005
After chasing an unexplained capsule through time, the TARDIS lands in London, during an air raid. Rose investigates when a small child wearing a gasmask, standing on a rooftop, continuously calls out for his mummy. After floating above the city on a barrage balloon, Rose is swept off her feet by another time traveller – Captain Jack Harkness. Meanwhile, The Doctor follows a teenaged girl to a meeting of the homeless children of the Blitz. Here, the child in the gasmask is terrorising them with a parade of strange events, constantly asking for his mother.
Director: James Hawes
Writer: Steven Moffat
9.0/10 10,106 votes#15 - The Doctor Dances (2)
Season 1 Episode 10 - Aired 5/28/2005
After narrowly escaping the gas mask monsters, The Doctor, Rose, and Captain Jack try to stop the mutated people from infecting other victims. But it soon becomes apparent that one of the group may indirectly responsible for the virus. The answer lies at the bomb site, but time is running out...
Director: James Hawes
Writer: Steven Moffat
9.0/10 9,612 votes#16 - The Parting of the Ways (2)
Season 1 Episode 13 - Aired 6/18/2005
The fate of the Universe is hanging in the balance as the Dalek fleet begin their invasion of Earth. The Doctor must decide whether to sacrifice every human being on Earth in order to save every other living creature in the universe from the Daleks. Either way, he knows he must send Rose home...
Director: Joe Ahearne
Writer: Russell T Davies
9.0/10 8,602 votes#17 - The Pandorica Opens (1)
Season 5 Episode 12 - Aired 6/19/2010
The Doctor's friends unite to send him a terrible warning; the Pandorica - which is said to contain the most feared being in all the cosmos - is opening. But what's inside, and can the Doctor stop it?
Director: Toby Haynes
Writer: Steven Moffat
9.0/10 8,964 votes#18 - A Good Man Goes to War (1)
Season 6 Episode 7 - Aired 6/4/2011
Amy Pond has been kidnapped and the Doctor is raising an army to rescue her as the drama continues. But as he and Rory race across galaxies, calling in long-held debts and solemnly given promises, his enemies are laying a carefully concealed trap. In her cell in Stormcage, River Song sadly acknowledges that the time has come at last – today will mark the Battle of Demons Run and the Doctor’s darkest hour. Both sides will make their sacrifices and River Song must finally reveal her most closely guarded secret to the Doctor.
Director: Peter Hoar
Writer: Steven Moffat
9.0/10 6,296 votes#19 - The Doctor Falls (2)
Season 10 Episode 12 - Aired 7/1/2017
“Without hope, without witness, without reward.” The Mondasian Cybermen are on the rise. It’s time for the Doctor’s final battle…
Director: Rachel Talalay
Writer: Steven Moffat
8.9/10 9,524 votes#20 - Human Nature (1)
Season 3 Episode 8 - Aired 5/26/2007
England, 1913. A schoolteacher called John Smith dreams of adventures in time and space. The Doctor, along with Martha, heads to a boarding school, but what he finds is far from ordinary...
Director: Charles Palmer
Writer: Paul Cornell
8.9/10 9,047 votes#21 - Turn Left
Season 4 Episode 11 - Aired 6/21/2008
Whilst attending a carnival on the Chino-planet of Shan Shen, Donna is cajoled into having her fortune read, where her past is carefully examined. With the Doctor missing, Donna must work with Rose, a traveller from a parallel universe, to prevent darkness encompassing the whole of the universe.
Director: Graeme Harper
Writer: Russell T Davies
8.9/10 9,261 votes#22 - The Doctor's Wife
Season 6 Episode 4 - Aired 5/14/2011
The Doctor receives a distress signal from an old friend. Could there really be another living Time Lord out there? Hopes raised, he follows the signal to a junkyard planet sitting upon a mysterious asteroid in a Bubble universe, populated by a very strange family, as the time-travelling drama continues. The Doctor, Amy and Rory are given the warmest of welcomes by Auntie, Uncle and Nephew. But the beautiful and insane Idris greets them in a more unusual fashion – what is she trying to tell the Doctor? As the Doctor investigates, he unwittingly puts his friends in the gravest danger.
Director: Richard Clark
Writer: Neil Gaiman
8.9/10 9,423 votes#23 - The Angels Take Manhattan
Season 7 Episode 5 - Aired 9/29/2012
The Doctor’s heart-breaking farewell to Amy and Rory – a race against time through the streets of Manhattan, as New York’s statues come to life around them… With Rory’s life in danger, the Doctor and Amy must locate him before it’s too late! Luckily, an old friend helps them and guides the way.
Director: Nick Hurran
Writer: Steven Moffat
8.8/10 8,662 votes#24 - The Impossible Astronaut (1)
Season 6 Episode 1 - Aired 4/23/2011
Placing his life entirely in their hands, the Doctor agrees to search for the recipient of the fourth envelope - just who is Canton Everett Delaware the Third? And what is the relevance of their only other clue: 'Space 1969'? Their quest lands them - quite literally - in the Oval Office, where they are enlisted by President Nixon himself to assist enigmatic former-FBI agent Canton, in saving a terrified little girl from a mysterious spaceman.
Director: Toby Haynes
Writer: Steven Moffat
8.8/10 8,051 votes#25 - Day of the Moon (2)
Season 6 Episode 2 - Aired 4/30/2011
The Doctor is locked in the perfect prison. Amy, Rory and River Song are being hunted down across America by the FBI. With the help of new friend and FBI-insider, Canton Everett Delaware the Third, our heroes are reunited to share their discoveries, if not their memories. For the world is occupied by an alien force who control humanity through post-hypnotic suggestion and no one can be trusted. Aided by President Nixon and Neil Armstrong's foot, the Doctor must mount a revolution to drive out the enemy and rescue the missing little girl. No-one knows why they took her. Or why they have kidnapped Amy Pond...
Director: Toby Haynes
Writer: Steven Moffat