[Slenderman - Doctor]

I'll do this Doctor-by-Doctor...

Christopher Eccleston

The shortest-serving of the new Who Doctors (and one of the shortest-serving Doctors in the entire history of the show). Just thirteen episodes under his belt. One series. But I love every minute of his era. I can even forgive the burping bin and the Slitheen. I particularly adore the way he got a definitive starting point, middle and end in terms of their Doctor's character arc. (Tom and David - maybe Hartnell - I feel, are the only other Doctors to get this.)

Though we never see Eight/Nine on-screen, it's explained how Nine came to be and he's introduced alongside the idea of the Time War. He's a damaged, battle-scarred survivor. The last of his kind. He dresses rather plainly (compared to what's come before) and he's quite sharp and to the point, and I like that. It completely makes sense to have a Doctor completely out-of-league with the rest. I'm not a huge fan of the way RTD wrote the series for Rose to save the day most of the time but I understand why it was done that way. I liked the idea that the Doctor needed somebody to reshape him back into the man he once was.

He's still the mad, fun, bonkers professor beneath all the guilt and angst. He's also quite unpredictable and insane at times, but it all works in terms of Nine's character arc. He's just great and, although I would've liked to see more of him, I sure am glad we didn't. Because I wouldn't want to risk the potential ruining of Series One (S27). He could've been as brilliant in a second series but he was brilliant enough for me in the first one and never, fortunately, outstayed his welcome. He left me wanting more and it is frustrating but it's also the best thing any actor/Doctor can do.

10/10

David Tennant

My first Doctor. Lately, he's unfortunately gone down in my list. His Doctor varies from series to series. I'm a huge fan of his first series with Rose, even if he is a bit smug alongside Rose. I love the fact that they were having fun. I never took the 'they're in love' scenario so I ignored that, but I liked to see the Doctor back having fun. It made a change from Eccleston, great though he was, and the Doctor was back 'as we knew him' if you like. There's still a lot of Time War angst but, for the majority of Series Two (S28), he's just having a whale of a time bouncing around the universe with Mickey and Rose. I love how he's so youthful and full of energy. Indeed, if you compare Series Two to the Specials you'll notice a stark difference. You can see how he's aged and changed, and you also see a more 'templated' Doctor later on, 'running on auto-pilot' as I tend to say.

In Series Three (S29), he nails his Doctor but it starts to become 'auto-piloted' in my opinion. He treats Martha like rubbish and Freema does her best but she isn't the best actress/companion. Series Three also gave a huge wobble in quality. For every great moment, there's a downright awful one. And I'm not a fan of the finale at all. It's a real shame I can't like this series more because it's full of new ideas. It's just that even the Doctor can't get me into it. It also doesn't help that the most popular story is overrated ('Blink') and doesn't even feature the Doctor that much, and the finale itself lacks David Tennant's presence 80% of the time.

Series Four (S30) is great. Tennant gets to kick back into action and he's great alongside Donna. He's, again, back to having fun. The story arc doesn't loom over the stories as much and we also get to see some other RTD companions back again. However, Tennant is now overacting a lot of the time. His emphasis on words like "HA!" and "Wellll..." are over the top, his mannerisms and sometimes cringe-worthy and I'd even go so far as to say that, at times, he comes across as a man playing the Doctor instead of actually being the Doctor. Again, similar to his previous series, for every good moment there's a somewhat lacking one and though the series and Doctor is now consistent, it's brought down by the reintroduction of Rose and Tennant is unfortunately overshadowed again in the finale.

The Specials... aren't really that special. 'The Next Doctor' gives Tennant something new to chew on but then 'Planet of the Dead' brings auto-pilot Doctor back. He's not even trying now. I guess, to a point, that's okay. Tennant knows his Doctor now and he knows what the audience like but it's a shame that he's stopped putting effort in. The writing doesn't particularly help as there isn't much new... until the end of 'The Waters of Mars'. But even then, after that, the amazing new direction for Tennant isn't followed up. In his swansong, he just comes across as a whinging child. 'The End of Time' is a fun story but, in terms of the Doctor, it's bloody awful. Again, running on empty and adding nothing new, Tennant's Doctor really runs out of steam. It's just cringe-worthy. Terrible shame. Because from Series Two to his swansong, he's slowly gone downhill each series. And then he finally crashes down a lot in his final adventure. Such a shame.

Overall, I struggle to give him a mark out of ten.

Per series, it'd be simple... 10/10 for Series Two, 8/10 for Series Three, 9/10 for Series Four, and 5/10 for the Specials. Or something similar; it changes every time I think about it, and Series Three can range between 4/10 and 8/10 at any one time. But, purely focusing on Tennant's Doctor overall throughout, I think he deserves...

8/10

Matt Smith

My first 'new' Doctor. By that, I mean he's the first Doctor of the new series I've been able to watch from his first transmitted moments. Prior to Smith, I'd seen bits of each Doctor out of sequence. His Doctor was the first I got to watch 'live' from the start. And, my oh my, wasn't he fantastic in his first series. He's superb. Sometimes eerily similar to Tennant but that tends to be primarily in his first story, which is acceptable because he's just regenerated. But from the Doctor montage in 'The Eleventh Hour' and then 'The Beast Below' onwards, he's an amazing Doctor. Series Five (S31) is great. Matt brings a whole new character to the table. He gets to be mad, kooky, wacky, angry, upset, suspicious... the whole lot. And Matt excels at everything. I don't think he put a foot wrong in Series Five, bar the small slip-up of 'The Hungry Earth / Cold Blood' in which he's quite bland.

Series Six (S32) tries its hardest to expand upon this. We have the Doctor's death as a story arc and it allows Matt to sink his teeth into something new. However, this series seems to have given a heavier focus to the wacky Doctor. Matt's said himself that the Doctor forces himself to be OTT and wacky to hide extreme emotions and I get that. It works for the Doctor. But in terms of generally viewing the character, it's starting to grate. Every item of clothing he wears 'is cool... [items] are cool'. A lot of his dialogue is now 'timey wimey' or 'spacey wacey' or 'wibbly wobbly' or, the latest and worst example of the lot, 'humany wumany'. It's a bit too childlike, and Matt's smith is unfortunately filled with stereotypes, tropes and catchphrases. Some of it is down to the writing - it feels like following the success of 'The Lodger' last series, every writer is pinning Matt into a more 'nutty professor' Doctor and forgetting other character elements - and I sometimes feel that, weirdly, it's Moffat who writes the worst for Matt's Doctor.

It was interesting to see him in SJA written by RTD because he was still nutty and mad, but he also felt a little more believable. I really adored him. Whether that was RTD or Matt or just the fact he was alongside Jo and Sarah Jane and the gang... I don't know. But it felt completely right. And I do love Eleven in the show but there hasn't really been a balance found yet. He's either brilliant, or quite rubbish.

I only hope the new series hasn't now pinned the character of the Doctor into 'nutty professor with mad mannerisms'. I do hope this gets changed when we get more new Doctors. Because if everyone is written to be similar, it'll be a shame. Hartnell, Davison, McCoy, McGann... they didn't need to constantly be a mad man with forced quirkiness to work. Eeee. I don't know. I feel like I'm rambling now. I just hope they don't focus more on the quirkiness side because lots of quirkiness doesn't always equal more alien. Tone down Matt, reign him in. Keep him as a bit mental but not too much. They still need to find the balance. I hope this will be achieved in Series Seven (S33). Time will tell.

So yeah. Outstanding in Series Five, somewhat mishy-mashy in Series Six. Overall, he's currently...

9/10

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It's worth noting that this could be unfair to base purely on ratings. I mean... one Doctor only had one series, one Doctor had three series and some specials, and the latest Doctor is still mid-era/run.

I love them all for various reasons. And I dislike them all for various reasons. I'm currently most inclined to go for Eccleston's Ninth Doctor, though Tennant's Doctor will always have a place in my heart as he was my first, and Smith is just magical when the writing is right.

So yeah. I'm gunna stick with the one who is currently the most perfect to me, and that is Christopher Eccleston's Ninth Doctor.

Good.

Phew.