Cool Manchester

Someone recently asked me what my favourite Doctor Who Story of all time was, that was an extremely difficult question. The fact of the matter is, even the crappiest stories [Underworld, The Twin Dilemma, Fear Her, etc] have something to enjoy about them so I didn't actually answer the person's question properly.

In order to make up for this, I have selected ten of the best stories, in no particular order, the show show's entire history. let me know if you agree or disagree with my choices

1 The Visitation

This story is from my favourite era of Doctor Who and this one is a good example of why it was my favourite; Adric is a brat, Nyssa is a smart alex, Tegan walks through the story with a face like thunder and The Doctor stresses like never before trying to juggle all of those personalities in the TARDIS. Now what I just said would probably put you off this story but all those elements put together make this a hugely enjoyable story and a marvellous romp into history!

2 Turn Left

What would the world be like without the Doctor? It would be like 1996 to 2005! But seriously, the question is explored brilliantly in this "Doctor-lite" story. Catherine Tate is superb as the show gets very dark.

3 The Brain of Morbius

I do like the darker Doctor Who stories and compared to most this is virtually black! Taking its influences from the great Universal horrors from the 30s and 40s, this story proves that the show can be inventive and genuinely scary.  Honourable mentions too Elisabeth Sladen who plays the role of assistant perfectly, never letting Sarah Jane turn into the typical screaming girl that you would expect in this kind of story.

4 Father's Day

Can Doctor Who be genuinely moving? Watch this and get back to me

5 The Mind of Evil

If you want to see the perfect "Master" story, this is it! Roger Delgado proves why he is the best actor to play the Master in this genuinely menacing story.

6 Vincent and the Doctor

Like Father's Day, this story is a bit of a tear jerker at the end and is possibly my favourite story since the show came back in 2005

7 Remembrance of The Daleks

I know everyone raves about "Genesis" being the greatest dalek story of all time, but I prefer this one even with its obvious flaws [wobbly daleks] . Visiting 1963 again was a brilliant idea for the show's 25th anniversary and it works on so many levels.

8 City Of Death

The Doctor: Garçon, three glasses of water. Make them doubles.

Duggan: What's Scarlioni's angle?

The Doctor: Scarlioni's angle? [to Romana]

The Doctor: Have you ever heard of Scarlioni's angle?

Romana: No. I was never any good at geometry.

This is easily one of the most quotable stories in the show's history and those above are just from part one! Hilarious stuff!

9 The Curse of Fenric

Sylvester McCoy gets rather a hard time form the older fans of the show and I genuinely have no idea why, OK his first series with Bonnie Langford was a bit dodgy, but he more than made up for that with the following two years. The Doctor and Ace were a great combination and this story probably showed the Doctor at his most paternal as he helped Ace "grow" into something more....

10 The Caves Of Androzani

"Not a very convincing argument actually, Stotz, because I'm going to die soon anyway, unless of course —Unless of course I can find the antidote… I owe it to my young friend to try because I got her into this —So you see —I'm not going to let you stop me now!"

The above quote is from possibly the greatest cliff-hanger in the show's history. Peter Davison ended his era on the show on a massive high. Go on then, if you were to press me I would have to name this one as the greatest story of all time....

So it's been "officially" announced, Torchwood will begin on BBC One and BBC One HD on Thursday 14th July - SIX days after the United States. Anyone feel like this a bit of a slap in the face to UK fans? I can't say I'm surprised though. Every announcement so far about this new series seems to be pushing the show away from its British identity.

From the tacky publicity shots saying "an original Starz production" to the announcements about cast and plots coming through from the USA without any BBC cooperation, you get the feeling that the BBC no longer cares about Doctor Who's spin off show. A show like this should be event TV but the BBC is keeping this one very quiet indeed with only one small clip on a compilation trailer with other stuff. In an age of bit torrents and downloading as well, you would think the BBC would be clued up to this and not broadcast it so long after is initial air date. Many people who read this will not admit it, but I'm guessing a lot of you won't bother waiting for the BBC premiere...

However, the one thing that concerns me more than anything else is the BBC collaboration with the "starz" network. For those of you who haven't seen the "classy" productions they have made so far like Camelot and Spartacus: Blood and Sand, two elements are very apparent in their shows, blood and tits. I know Torchwood isn’t a children’s show and deals with "grown up" issues but the show was never exploitative like the shows from its new co-producer.

The reviews and ratings of the last series proved that done properly this show can be a serious winner; I sorely hope that my concerns will be eased.