I'd argue that there are a few killer lines in the Long Game. Maybe it's just the delivery, but I love Simon Pegg getting philosophical and asking: "Is a slave a slave if he doesn't know he's being enslaved?" and the Doctor, without half a second's pause, immediately goes: "Yes."

The only surprise. Arachnids in the U.K. didn't make the list.

Petition to bring Kel the council worker back

Orphan 55 is like a slam poem where someone gets on stage, says random things, then finishes by saying "Climate Change" before dropping the mic and walking off the stage. It's bizzarely bad.

Part of the reason Love & Monsters has had a rennaissance is that, if they hadn't shown the Abzorbaloff and kept it as just the characters disappearing one by one, the episode's concept would've been brilliant and chilling. Between that and the BJ joke, it's what killed it.

Legend of the Sea Devils is so bad everyone has forgotten it exists apparently.

“…before taking an important message and delivering it in the most patronizing way possible … “. This applies to the majority of Chibnall era episodes.

I feel Aliens of London/world war 3 is so underrated! I get why people dislike it but like the video says it has a lot going for it. I honestly think if you took out the fart jokes (which yes, there are a lot of!) And gave the slitheen a better look everything else would be perfect! The development of Rose, her family and the Doctor's relationship is just a brilliant story especially with the through line of the Doctor keeping Rose safe. This alongside the political elements (how they're incorporated more than what they are) and the intro of Harriet Jones as well as understated re-introduction of UNIT. Also the slitheen's plan is really well thought out and (farts aside) the genuine menace and presence they have in the story is really well excecuted. Also, the pacing overall alongside the genuinely scary moments, build of the mystery and twists alongside the exploration of what an alien invasion would actually look like in modern britian; every element just comes together and they all build on eachother to tell a great story! I think it's honestly one of the best stories in RTD's era and is really the episode that brought doctor who into the modern day. You just have to get past the cringe! 😬 same as love and monsters I think (for getting past the cringe I mean - which has much more painful cringe admitedly)

It's not 'rumoured' that Nightmare in Silver was rewritten by Moffat - it's been DIRECTLY STATED, by Gaiman himself, when explaining why he won't write for the series again.

The Widow episode is actually one of my favorites…Madge’s grief over her husband’s loss always chokes me up.

I'm honestly shocked about the long game. Like I know it wasn't everyone's favorite episode or anything, but honestly the mystery of what's going on and Adam's ultimate downfall are really fun and keep me going back to the episode. Maybe that's just my bad taste idk

I like how they said this is going to be the 10 worst episodes of Doctor who and then proceed to make it too bad episodes from each doctor's generation when in reality like it was literally probably 80% chipnal episodes on that list

This feels more like a list of "least liked" episodes than a list of "most hated" ie it seems to prioritise the dull and forgettable episodes, rather than the despicable and hateable ones

For me, even 9's weaker stories were lifted by Eccleston and Piper's performances and the fact that his one series had some absolute bangers! 10 had some weak stories like New Earth, Idiot's Lantern, Fear Her, Lazarus Experiment, Doctor's Daughter but again, amongst this were some terrific episodes. I'll be honest, I haven't rewatched 11, 12 or 13 as often but for me they all had just as many weak stories and far fewer highlights.

I remember not liking In The Forrest of the Night because I thought it soooo unrealistic to have it take place in London, city of millions of people, and so few of them out on the street. If it had been a small village, yeah, that's more believable... But LONDON? Pfftt. And then Covid happened....

I had completely forgotten about Orphan 55 until you brought it up again. I think I need to go hide behind the sofa now...

No "Love and Monsters" or "The Timeless Children"? I demand a recount!

Three disagreements: 1) So, yes, the Slitheen episodes are bad, but they're watchable bad. Love and Monsters is just plain unwatchable. 2) Granted: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe is probably the weakest of all the Christmas episodes, but it's still enjoyable to watch. If that's really the worst that Moffat and Smith could do, than that's something worth celebrating. 3) Sure, In the Forest of the Night was not a great concept, but I thought it was actually executed rather well despite that. What was really terrible was the stupid sand monsters in Sleep No More. That one just made no sense.

The best part is that you dont usually realise how bad these episodes are until someone else points it out... "HEY THATS A COUNCIL ROAD!"

The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos ? I have absolutely no memory of that episode whatsoever. Did I even see it?

Ok, I don't understand "fans". Nightmare in Silver? Seriously? There are like 10 worse episodes in the last 3 seasons alone. Kill the Moon and In The Forest Of The Night were just boring, but not that bad. The Long Game was ok. I can agree with the rest of the list to some extent. I'm surprised Sleep No More is not here.

How about doing a "Top 10 OK episodes" list next? I think that would be fun

I think Aliens of London is very serious and realistic. Politicians - a bunch of monsters disguised in skin suits giggling and farting. You can see that every day on BBC Parliament.

For Forest, the Doctor is actually criticizing not listening to children. It’s just he’s terrible at saying it. I’m actually surprised Forest rated so low. The Doctor with the school children has always been entertaining.

10. Orphan 55 9. Orphan 55 8. Orphan 55 7. Your mum 6. Orphan 55 5. Orphan 55 4. Orphan 55 3. Orphan 55 2. Orphan 55 1. BENNIIII

The most embarrassing thing about "Nightmare in Silver" is no one had the nards to tell Gaiman he'd unintentionally re-created the Borg. Didn't George Harrison have to buy the rights to "He's So Fine" to deal with a similar oopsie?

I am shocked that The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe is considered the worst 11 episode as if the Power of Three doesn't exist

Capaldi talking to the kids in The Forest of the Night was the best fucking part of that episode. just "oh my god, Meadb is gone!" :O "Meadb is gonna die!" "AAAH!"

If you had simply done ten worst new Who episodes over all, I personally think the whole Chibnall era would have blown everyone else out of the water.

I really like Nightmare in Silver simply because of Matt Smith's performance. He is just incredible 😂

The weakest Moffat story being the forest Christmas special says a lot about Moffat, it was still pretty alright.

Petition to bring back Bannakaffalatta 🔻

Let’s be honest if you hadn’t restricted it to 2 stories per doctor this list would be quite different lol

My personal least favorites for each Modern Doctor: Ninth Doctor: The Long Game - The only 9 story I genuinely don't like. The villains and side characters are uninteresting, and there's not even much good Doctor and Rose stuff to counteract it. Tenth Doctor: The Idiot's Lantern - So many annoying characters in this one. The Wire also has to be one of the most irritating and badly executed DW villains ever. Eleventh Doctor: The Wedding of River Song - I'm sorry, but I found this to be such a disappointing ending for River's story arc. Convoluted and largely uninteresting to me. Twelfth Doctor: The Caretaker - While this story isn't THAT terrible by itself, it's hard for me to get over how the Doctor treats Danny. I usually love Twelve, but I could not stand his behavior here and it dragged down the whole experience. Thirteenth Doctor: The Timeless Children - Honestly, I'm not even that big a hater of the Timeless Child as a concept. I don't LOVE it, but I think what really killed it for me was the execution. There was so much exposition dumping in this story, it's ridiculous.

I'm amazed Love and Monsters wasn't worse rated than Fear Her. I found Fear Her a bit silly, but quite fun and have watched it a few times. I was so disappointed by Love and Monsters that I have never watched it again, always skipping it on season rewatches. The only other episode that I have done that for is Gridlock which I am also amazed wasn't included (I didn't do rewatches of doctors after Ten in the same way).

So like... this isn't actually a list of the ten worst episodes though. It's a list of each Doctor's two worst. If this were actually a list of the ten worst episodes, 9 wouldn't even appear on this list; his worst don't even come close to the other entries here. Aliens in London was the first episode I watched. Yes, okay, the fat jokes are inappropriate and the fart jokes were juvenile. The actual story is awesome, though. All of the other episodes you mentioned in passing as bad episodes for other Doctors are FAR worse.

Nightmare in Silver is one of my favorite episodes of Doctor Who. Of course, it does drastically overpower the Cybermen and I can see why they might want to forget about their whole super upgrade ability that was on display.

The Long Game is criminally underrated.

The Lazarus Experiment is genuinely one of the most terrible episodes ever, not just forgettable.

I actually got a migraine watching "The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe" on Christmas Day back then. Where is "Sleep No More" on this list?

I’m gonna say it, Nightmare In Silver is immensely underrated! It’s easily one of my favorites with a tense pace, and a feeling of real stakes to it, I also love the 11th’s interaction with Mr. Clever and the idea of a Cyberwar going on with the sacrifices that were made to ensure the Cybermen’s eradication

I see how you distributed amongst Doctors so no One would get over-represented in awfulness. I see what you did there. Seriously for Chibs entire run I count 9 episodes worth a rewatch. Just 9. (277, 279, 282, 284, 287, 290, 293, 297a, 298) All the rest I kinda wish were rewritten or scrapped. I feel bad for JW ☹

I am absolutely floored that the episode with the Doctor fan club which slowly got absorbed by a monster and culminated with the main character's girlfriend turned into a paving stone didn't make the list along with the one where everyone was being chased by a monster made out of sleep dust. The song Mr Sandman deserved so much better.

The twist in Orphan 55 was the real crowner for that episode. Not only was it so obviously telegraphed, but it's not even the first time that exact same twist has been pulled in Doctor Who (the other being a middling-to-poor Colin Baker story).

I have real frustrations about Tamsin Greig and Bill Bailey both making this list. I loved Black Books back before Doctor Who, and it feels so bad that they got done dirty. At least Nick Frost and Jessica Hynes got some great parts in Who, but I’ve always wondered if there’s a Who writer out there biding his time to slot in a character perfect for Dylan Moran.

Yeah, The Lazarus Experiment is worse than Love and Monsters and Fear Her.

Benny! Benny! Her voice still haunts me. And hard agree on Fear Her, Long Game, In the Forest of the Night, and Kill the Moon.

No memorable dialogue? "Is a slave a slave if they don't know their a slave?" Is something I quote and think about often

No spoiler, but, the TARDIS made a cameo appearance on the latest episode of "Young Sheldon". It was really funny...

"It's like counting down to a holiday and realizing it's a dentist appointment." 😂😂😂

Fear her would instantly become one of the best stories if 10 was tackled after lighting the Olympic torch.

Seán thank you for helping out with the extra load while Ellie is recovering. Hope Ellie if feeling/getting better. And as always, thank you all so very much for the videos.

Love and Monsters largely gets a pass now because it was clearly written around a Blue Peter contest winner for a villain, and the actual plot of the episode itself aside from THOSE moments isn't awful. Fear Her, whilst doing a good job at dealing with a relatable issue for many people, is just spread too thin, and has the unfortunate issue of being dated. As for a few other choices brought up: Sleep No More was mid UNTIL the ending reveal. That alone basically keeps the episode out of the bottom 10 for me. Arachnids in the UK is mid. Not actually unwatchable, just mid. The horror elements are pretty neat though. Timeless Children was... okay. Though, definitely far too much exposition. Now, in terms of worst season overall? Probably season 7. 11 would be lowest, but Demons of the Punjab clears everything from season 7.

If "In the Forest of the Night" is considered the worst of Capaldi, then he had one hell of a good run.

These are my 10 least favourite: 10. The Husbands of River Song 9. Love and Monsters 8. The Vanquishers 7. The Lodger 6. Dinosaurs on a Spaceship 5. Let's Kill Hitler 4. Closing Time 3. Arachnids in the UK 2. Hell Bent 1. The Timeless Children

My issue with the Doctor the widow and the wardrobe. was a simple one. The trees were Androzani trees the forest rangers came from Androzani major. It would have just been a great way to call back to the caves of Androzani. One of Doctor Whos strongest stories.

As a child, nightmare in silver was one of my favourites.

Compared to what we're watching now ! Thx Russell.T.Davis, we having nothing to complain about 😂

Kind of amazed that Sleep No More didn't make this list. I first watched it at a Dr. Who convention and all us fans watching it thought it was dreadful. If you don't even enjoy an episode while watching with a bunch of other fans, the episode had failed.

"surprisingly successful given he's basically a plank of wood with a smug face drawn on." is absolute top-tier writing and frankly peak journalism. Bravo. 👏👏👏

Has anyone actually watched that Slitheen 2-parter recently? It's seriously overhated! I get it - the farts do undermine the tone of the story and weaken the enemy design of the Slitheen. But actually, there's only 1 scene where the farts go overboard and it's only about a minute long. Every other time it's just passing by without much attention drawn to it. ...and that's it. Yes the farts are a downside to this story, but it's such a small part (like, less than 5 minutes or so out of an entire 2-parter!) that it really is a shame that people seem to ignore everything else about the episodes - because it's pretty solid for the most part! With just a little tolerance, you're in for a story featuring a genuinely fascinating mystery surrounding an alien first-contact that isn't all it seems - the introduction of fan-favorite Harriet Jones - Eccleston's great performance in mourning the death of a space pig - gripping family dynamics with the Tylers - and a thrilling tail-end where the Tardis Team need to stop the end of the world whilst trapped in a locked room There's a lot to like. Definitely rather competent

No, "kill the moon" deserves MUCH more hate.

In theory, a story (episode or collection of episodes), whether Doctor WHO, Star Trek, or anything else, should be good enough to stand on its own feet - and able to work in some other setting (if appropriately tweaked). Writers and producers often seem to forget this tenet, and the problems of quality control and time pressure have not really been totally solved in 60+ years. Some stories are "carried" by the charisma and talent of the actors. (There are, of course, stories which are Doctor WHO specific and address aspects of the Doctor WHO universe, but, even then, the story content should be substantive.) You have to ask: if this were not a Doctor WHO episode, would it hold my attention if I stumbled upon it? There also has to be a substantive "Doctor WHO element" in the story without its being shoehorned in (e.g., "Demons of the Punjab" and "Rosa"). I know that it is difficult to achieve all of this in the overall package, but that is the job spec.

Long game is underrated

the nightmare in silver cybermen would be very interesting if there was like 1 left somewhere and its actually using its super speed to its full potentialand people would have to navigate through playes where it wouldnt be able to due to its clunkyness to escape it... always wanted to see them again

I think the forest of the night isn’t as bad as people make it out to be having the trees rise up to protect the earth from the massive solar flare while having the trees talking to one girl to help them explain what’s about to happen but her parents don’t understand what’s going on with her is an interesting concept it may not have been executed perfectly but the episode is still watchable

I have only watched Love and Monsters twice. When I got my brother into Who, I told him he was on his own with that one.

Honestly, I like In the Forest of the Night. It gives a nice change from 'everything is trying to kill me' to 'i think it's trying to kill me but it's actually not.' I could see why someone might not like it but it is a fairly good episode to just put on and ignore. Also I like the tiger.

Elizabeth Hurley as The Rani or Missy 2? Yay or nay ? Rewatching Bedazzled really wanting another OTT villain performance from her.

That's one way to make sure not every entry is from the chitnall era, only giving them two spots.

I had completely forgotten about Orphan 55, so what does that say?

Stand out moment from the Long Game? That final scene.

One definite worst is the episode where the moon turns out to be an egg.

New list challenge anyone: Top ten creations people wish that could be DELETED from existence. 1. LISTEN - Capaldi episode with companion character development that got retconned so bad it literally brings me rage 2. ...

My worst for each new who Doctor is: 9th- Father’s Day 10th- Love of monsters 11th- Dinosaurs on a spaceship 12th- The Forest in the Night 13th- The Timeless Child 14th- The Star Beast

Would the opposite of firing on all cylinders be firing on no cylinders or backfiring on all cylinders?

While the plot of the Dr the widow and the wardrobe is pretty lacking, there are some absolute bangers of one-liners in there. "Because they will be sad later" gets me every time.

The ridiculousness of Aliens of London is what got me hooked on Doctor Who in the first place ☠

Every season has that one episode the fans don’t talk about.

CApaldi's sentient eye bugger monsters was pretty bad too

CHRIS ECCLESTON era I feel like "Boom Town" just edges out "Aliens in London" for his worst. How many times can people yell "Raxacoricofallapatorius"?!! Urgh DAVID TENNANT era Yup, it's definitely "Fear Her." Everything about "Love & Monsters" is decent until you get to the Absorbaloft™ and the limp sex joke... but there's nothing re-watchable about "Fear Her".... MATT SMITH era I disagree about "The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe." After recently re-watching that and the 1st Matt Smith Xmas special "A Christmas Carol", I really think "'Carol" is a lot less interesting along with an equal amount of "timey wimey" dialogue. But "Nightmare in Silver" and "The Rings of Akhaten" are tied for me as THE WORST of his era - even "Victory of the Daleks" has some watchability that those two don't.... PETER CAPALDI era I want it to be "Sleep No More", but it's true - "Forest of the Night" is the WORRRRRRRST. Urgh... JODIE WHITTAKER ers Can someone please replace the incidental music in the episode of "Orphan 55" with the theme music to Benny Hill? It would make it sooooo much better... Ok, just marginally better....

You could have just said the entire Jodie series and the latest Ncuti Gatwa rubbish. All are brilliant compared to those two.

Would’ve thought the sea devils would’ve been 13th’s worst episode

I loved The Doctor The Widow and The Wardrobe. Probably because I loved The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe. It was one of my most favorite stories as a child.

Never have I been so happy to see Sleep No More NOT be on a list! It's certainly no masterpiece of an episode, but it is still easily the most under-rated / over-hated episode of the show imo. Even just in this comment section, I've seen a handful of comments mentioning that Sleep No More is terrible and should've been on this list. It's wild to me that this episode had the single lowest IMDb rating of the revived series prior to the Whittaker era. There are valid criticisms against the episode (which mostly are just opinions) such as "Sand monsters dumb" or "Mr Sandman song is annoying" but that's about it. And I can think of several more monsters just as dumb... I never see people criticising the Adipose for just being blobs of fat or Vespiforms just being giant wasps. Furthermore, I know the found footage cinematography style is controversial, but I think this episode used it in a very smart way and weaved it very well into the story... how many found footage stories can you think of where the fact it's found footage is actually forshadowing a twist? Let's not forget brilliant performances from the cast as always. At the end of the day, I just think it's a solid episode; nothing crazy but also far from some of the real low points of the show.

Nightmare in Silver has problems, yes. But voting it that low doesn't seem deserved, if only because it has one of the best Doctor Who villains in recent years. I feel like Matt Smith's portrayal of Mr. Clever really helped the episode a lot, he has a gift for portraying multiple personalities simultaneously in a way I don't think we've really seen the other Doctors do, aside from Tennant. The drastic and eerie tonal shift between the two kept me invested in the episode and the concept, despite all its glaring flaws. If the episode had been written differently I could see it being one of the best from Smith's era.

Here’s what I think are the worst by era: Russel T Davies: - Fear Her - Love and Monsters - The Lazarus Experiment - 42 - Planet of the Dead Steven Moffat: - Dinosaurs on a Spaceship - Kill the Moon - In the Forest of the Night - The Girl Who Died / The Woman Who Lived - The Return of Doctor Mysterio Chibnall: - The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos - Orphan 55 - Praxeus - The Timeless Children - The Vanquishers

I always like the Widow episode for the having tbe confusion between the actual Police Box and the TARDIS

it was almost worth having those ten episodes just to watch Sean bring such wit and fun in deriding them. I really enjoyed this Whoculture post. More biting commentary from Sean please.

Ww3 and aliens of london is a great 2 parter

God I'd mind-bleached the Danny Pink story arc. God those episodes were a slog. The only good part of it was the fact it saw the debut of Michelle Gomez

I get that it’s meant to be two episodes from each Doctor but including Aliens of London/WW3 in this list is just plain wrong, or The Long Game for that matter.

Amidst this collage of 'worst of', can I give a 'best of' award for the line delivery on 'Careful though, there's a lot of them!'?

The thing is, yes people have there opinions and that's fine. Despite Moffat having his flaws writing wise most definitely. So unbelieveably convoluted at times yes but the soul of the show though is still there if that makes sense. I'd rather take an army of him over chibnall any day of the week, year, decade, century etc. Each to their own though. Tbh I do wonder how Mark gattiss would have done as showrunner. In another time I suppose.

I like Fear Her. Seeing the Doctor connect with 2 Linley kids because he was not only a dad, but alone himself is wholesome. Also Orphan 55 was absolutely correct as the number 1 worst

Half of those are my favourites. Especially, “Fear her”, such a Doctorous moment

The worst thing was Kill the Moon and Forest of the Night were back to back.

The fact that there are eccleston and smith episodes on here are criminal, the top 10 worst episdoes can easily be found in the jodie series and the newest specials

I definitely knew Forest was Capaldi's worst, I don't remember a single moment from that episode. Perhaps a tiger?

"Doctor/Widow/Wardrobe" I do enjoy re-watching the part when Eleven gives the family the tour of the house. It's peak Eleven.