Doctor Who's best 20 modern episodes ranked

The BBC has now broadcast hundreds of episodes of modern Doctor Who, but some episodes stick with you forever - from Doctor debuts to menacing monsters, from stunning scripts to perfect performances.

So, here at RadioTimes.com, we've gathered our panel of experts to bring you what we think are the required watching - the best 20 episodes of modern Doctor Who (so far!).

Doctor Who's best modern episodes ranked

20. Silence in the Library

Silence in the Library could be overlooked in the grand scheme of modern Doctor Who episodes. But its quietly chilling tone, its genuinely horrifying monster and its brilliant introduction of a Doctor Who legend, Alex Kingston as River Song, make it very difficult to forget.

A combination of a brilliant script from Steven Moffat, glorious performances all-round, and a cliffhanger for the ages ("Donna Noble has left the library. Donna Noble has been saved.") has earned it a place among the greats.

Louise Griffin, Sci-Fi & Fantasy Editor.

19. The Doctor Falls

With arguably the lowest stakes of any season finale over the past 20 years, The Doctor Falls is all the better for focusing in on an intimate story of resistance and hope when everything seems lost.

Both gently melancholy and utterly devastating, the episode manages to look back on the show’s history (The Master! Mondasian Cybermen!), celebrate the show’s present (poor Bill…) and throw things forward to the future, as Peter Capaldi’s Time Lord grapples with his timey-wimey mortality mid-regeneration. Plus, *that* speech Twelve delivers about kindness and standing together? Phenomenal.

Christian Tobin, Production Editor.

18. Dalek

It’s the episode that was jokingly referred to as ‘Absence of the Daleks’ when writer Robert Shearman was unsure if the modern show would get the rights to show the Doctor’s greatest enemy. But thank goodness it did.

One Dalek was all we needed to simultaneously flip the script on the villain, but to also remind us of the utter terror of the monsters that have been with us almost as long as the Doctor has. Bringing back the Daleks can’t have been an easy feat for modern Doctor Who - but, by god, did it pay off.

Louise Griffin, Sci-Fi & Fantasy Editor.

17. The Family of Blood

Paul Cornell’s season 3 story, started in Human Nature, really sticks the landing here, thanks to a fast-paced narrative, some moving character moments and a darker, more intense examination of the Doctor’s psyche than we’re usually treated to.

The sequence where ‘John’ and Joan make their decision is heartbreaking, the Doctor’s punishment of the family is chilling and the final scenes with Timothy’s journey through the First World War right to the present day are hugely affecting, with a real weight to them. Along with Human Nature, it’s also one of the most visually recognisable Doctor Who stories, with terrific production design and costuming.

James Hibbs, Drama Writer

16. The Impossible Planet

In many ways, The Impossible Planet – written by Matt Jones – is the perfect Part One. The ambiguous nature of concluding episode The Satan Pit – which left questions as to The Beast’s true nature mostly unanswered – might mean it’s slightly more divisive amongst fans, but there’s no denying the power of this story’s opening chapter.

Embracing the “base under siege” format so beloved of classic Doctor Who, this episode has it all: striking visuals, a puzzle to solve (how can a planet be orbiting a black hole?), a fantastic new alien design in The Ood, genuine scares courtesy of Gabriel Woolf’s chilling vocal performance and the unnerving possession of Toby Zed (Will Thorp), and – joining David Tennant and Billie Piper at their peak of their powers – a memorable and charismatic supporting cast including the likes of Danny Webb, Shaun Parkes and MyAnna Buring.

Morgan Jeffery, Digital Editor.

15. World Enough and Time

The first half of season 10’s two-part finale begins with the striking visual of Twelve regenerating in the snow, following it up almost immediately with Bill shot clean through the chest by a space blaster – and things only get more intense from there.

One of the show’s darkest episodes, World Enough and Time is a harrowing watch, from the slow realisation of what’s happening on the colony ship to the very sudden realisation of who the unsettling Razor really is (one of Doctor Who’s greatest twist reveals). All wrapped up in a typically Moffat sci-fi idea of time running at different speeds for our heroes, it’s the show at its nerve-jangling best.

Christian Tobin, Production Editor.

14. The Impossible Astronaut

After successfully navigating his first season as showrunner, Steven Moffat was free to really take off in season 6 opener The Impossible Astronaut – and it's an absolute blast, with the dynamic between Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill and Alex Kingston in that effortless sweet spot.

In the space of a breathless 43 minutes, River Song returns, the Doctor is killed, the Silence appear, the TARDIS lands in the White House, Amy reveals she’s pregnant, Amy shoots at a child in a spacesuit… and that’s only half the story. As the mysteries piled up, it demanded a rewatch almost immediately – so it’s a good job that it became the most recorded episode in UK TV history when it first aired, per ratings data at the time.

Christian Tobin, Production Editor.

13. Forest of the Dead

This episode is exceptional for so many reasons. There’s the continuing Vashta Nerada threat, a genuinely scary monster that makes its presence known and whose presence is excellently justified by Steven Moffat.

There’s the real sense of stakes and peril, with most of the side characters biting the dust. There’s the genuine gear shift with Donna’s plotline, both harrowing and spooky in equal measure.

And then there’s the emotion of the River Song plotline, with the Doctor’s particularly impactful final run. The fact that all of this co-exists within the episode and yet it never feels overstuffed? Legitimately incredible.

James Hibbs, Drama Writer.

12. Rose

The one that started it all. As the Ninth Doctor grabbed Rose Tyler’s hand and told her to run, many of us had no idea the adventure we’d go on.

Aside from stunning performances from Eccleston and Piper, which instantly had everyone on board with our new Doctor and companion, Rose proved that Doctor Who could not only work for a more modern audience, but thrive. Chips all round!

Louise Griffin, Sci-Fi & Fantasy Editor.

11. The Girl in the Fireplace

"Oh, Doctor, so lonely, so very, very alone!" – Steven Moffat’s second ever contribution to the series offers humour, memorable monsters in the form of clockwork droids, a clever final reveal and even a rousing scene where David Tennant’s Time Lord makes an explosive entrance into a ballroom on horseback… but it’s also Doctor Who at its most poignant, as our Time Lord has both his hearts broken.

“I’m always alright,” he tells Billie Piper’s Rose when a cruel twist of fate sees his romance with Reinette (Sophia Myles) cut tragically short. No story captures quite as well as this the tragedy of being the Doctor – sharing, from his perspective, fleeting moments of friendship and romance and yet doomed always to end up alone, hurtling onwards through time and space and never daring to look back.

Morgan Jeffery, Digital Editor.

10. Turn Left

One of the greatest Doctor-lite outings and absolutely Catherine Tate’s best work in Doctor Who, Turn Left asks what would a companion’s life be like without The Doctor.

Portraying a terrifyingly possible dystopian future for Britain, the episode also utilises one of the best supporting casts from New Who as Donna and her family navigate a dark future and the character’s broken self-esteem is laid bare.

And this is all not to mention the return of Rose Tyler and one of the best hair-raising cliffhangers in Doctor Who history - Bad Wolf is back!

Lewis Knight, Trends Editor.

9. Vincent and the Doctor

One of the strengths of Doctor Who is its ability to go back in time and bring famous figures from the past to life. But by far one of the best times this happened was with Vincent van Gogh.

Everyone knows his glorious works, but Doctor Who explored the man behind the paintings, inside his tortured mind amid a menacing alien threat. Amy and the Doctor try to help him not just be free from the alien, but also his personal demons, taking him to the future in a powerful scene to show him how beloved his works become. Vincent finds a new lease of life and feels genuinely happy. But when Amy and the Doctor go to the present day to see the impact they’d had on him, they discover he tragically still took his own life.

This portrayal of mental health was so beautifully written by Richard Curtis and heartfully played by Tony Curran. Forget this being an exemplary episode of Doctor Who – this is an artful piece of television.

Helen Daly, Associate Editor.

8. Human Nature

What a feat of television, to introduce the Doctor’s human counterpart, schoolteacher John Smith, and have us fall so utterly in love with him in the space of 45 minutes that the final scenes hurt so much.

Human Nature showed the devastating impact of the Time Lord hiding in a human body from his pursuers, the Family of Blood, as a man who is not the Doctor is forced to grapple with being told that his life is a lie, and threatened with the death of the woman he loves. It’s a marvel of writing and a truly brilliant story.

Louise Griffin, Sci-Fi & Fantasy Editor.

7. Midnight

The best Doctor Who episodes don’t always have to show us a terrifying monster - sometimes the unseen is enough, and Midnight proved just that.

The entire episode is set on a small touring vehicle, with an unknown and unseen entity possessing one of the passengers, while Lesley Sharp and David Tennant both provide chilling and unforgettable performances.

A gripping, claustrophobic, and heightened piece that lays bare the monstrosity of humanity, Midnight is a prime example that Doctor Who can and should thrive in beautiful simplicity.

Louise Griffin, Sci-Fi & Fantasy Editor.

6. The Parting of the Ways

The first finale of New Who and often held up as one of the best in the show’s run, The Parting of the Ways proved to be a premature swan song for Christopher Eccleston but also acted as one of Billie Piper’s finest episodes.

Emotionally building on the arcs of the first run and seeing the Doctor face their past, this epic and operatic outing proves that even our titular hero needs saving in the show's greatest episodes.

Lewis Knight, Trends Editor.

5. Doomsday

One of the most iconic episodes in Doctor Who history for multiple reasons, Doomsday was event television. A war between the Doctor’s most iconic enemies? Tick! The risk of universal destruction? Tick! The departure of one of the most beloved companions of all time? Tick! One of the most iconic romantic goodbyes in modern TV history? Ticking, through tears!

Doomsday saw the Cybermen and Daleks go to war in Torchwood Tower as the fate of multiple universes hung in the balance, prompting the return of some old faces from a parallel universe to help the Doctor and Rose Tyler fight two very dangerous sets of enemies.

Of course, despite these very memorable scenes - the slanging match between the Daleks and Cybermen over a video call, priceless - the most iconic moments were when Rose was torn from the Doctor and lost to a parallel world. The heartache and trauma for Rose delivered by Billie Piper was soul-crushing for fans, confounded by a romantic and sad goodbye between Rose and a ghostly projection of the Doctor on a beach.

There’s very little to say that hasn’t already been said about this scene - even if it was slightly diminished by Rose’s further goodbye in Journey’s End - but the episode was truly Billie Piper’s finest hour and also that of composer Murray Gold, whose music only further tore our hearts out.

Doomsday underlined how much we loved Rose - and the Doctor does too.

Lewis Knight, Trends Editor.

4. The Eleventh Hour

It could have been a disaster. No, this wasn’t the first time – even in recent memory – that Doctor Who had been faced with replacing its lead actor, but we shouldn’t underestimate now how significant a challenge Steven Moffat faced in revamping a show that had lost not only the wildly popular David Tennant but also the creative team that had relaunched the series to such great acclaim a few years earlier.

Moffat has openly admitted that there were serious doubts within the BBC as to Doctor Who’s long-term prospects, but any fears were quickly proven to be unfounded by The Eleventh Hour and the arrival, like a lightning bolt, of the inimitable Matt Smith. From the instant he sat at the dining table with young Amelia Pond (Caitlin Blackwood) for a meal of fish fingers and custard, it was clear we were witnessing the breakthrough performance of a generational talent, one whose chemistry with co-stars Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill absolutely fizzed and who, like his predecessors before him, perfectly captured a sense of innate “Doctor-ness” while still bringing his own unique qualities to the role.

The Eleventh Hour is a relatively simple episode plot-wise by Moffat’s standards as the freshly-regenerated Doctor repels an alien invasion of Earth from the English village of Leadworth, but it’s the perfect first showcase for Smith’s talents – in a little over an hour he gets to be funny, scary, warm and brilliantly odd. By the time the credits rolled, we knew, without doubt, this was definitely our madman with a box.

Morgan Jeffery, Digital Editor.

3. The Day of the Doctor

How do you celebrate 50 years of a television show? Few get such a privilege these days, but Steven Moffat was handed the honour in 2013 when Doctor Who hit the milestone.

This love-letter to fans played out in 70 minutes and showed every facet of the complex Time Lord’s persona – including his dark past, adventurous present, and even the future, with a flash look at incoming Doctor Peter Capaldi’s fierce eyebrows. The plot centred around “The Moment”, a sentient weapon used by The War Doctor (John Hurt) to end the Time War by killing all the Daleks and the Time Lords together.

This pivotal point in the Doctor's life was explored with tenderness by Hurt’s impeccable portrayal of the war-torn Doctor. Powerfully, he joined forces with Ten and Eleven who were about to help him detonate the destructive bomb before Clara (Jenna Coleman) urged the brilliant Doctors to find another way; by using the minds of all their regenerations (even ones that hadn’t happened yet), they managed to trap Gallifrey in a pocket of time... Gallifrey lived.

Matt Smith was of course, the right Doctor for this special occasion, showcasing his every persona the Doctor could inhabit throughout. What was most touching was the nods to the past, with a glorious cameo from Tom Baker as the museum curator, offering Smith’s Doctor a knowing nod with that famous twinkle in his eyes. I dare you not to cry as all the Doctors from the past 50 years come together to celebrate in their history and their future.

Helen Daly, Associate Editor.

2. Blink

It might be predictable, but there’s a reason Blink is constantly referred to as one of the best ever Doctor Who episodes. After two stunning stories under Russell T Davies’s reign as showrunner, Moffat – who would later take the reins himself – all but perfected the concept of Doctor-lite, with a beautifully simple story, an exceptional performance from generational talent Carey Mulligan, and a monster that would go down in Doctor Who history.

With David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor and Freema Agyeman’s Martha out of action and trapped in 1969, it’s down to Mulligan’s Sally Sparrow to stop the Weeping Angels from taking control of the TARDIS. The key to the episode? One simple instruction that’s ingrained itself in every Doctor Who fan’s mind for almost 20 years: don’t blink.

Somehow, neither Mulligan, nor Tennant, nor Agyeman are the star of this episode. That glory goes to the Weeping Angels, the nightmarish statues that have had all of us looking over our shoulders ever since and an early sense of the childhood terror that would go on to define Moffat’s era on the show.

The Angels were the cherry on top of a beautifully thought up, written, and performed story, elevating it to become one of the greatest of the show’s modern era. Don’t blink. But why would you want to when Doctor Who gets this good?

Louise Griffin, Sci-Fi & Fantasy Editor.

1. Heaven Sent

When the concept for Heaven Sent was first announced, the jury was out among fans as to whether a one-man episode of Doctor Who could ever truly work. Not because anyone ever doubted Peter Capaldi – his range and ability is unquestionable. It just seemed like quite a stretch for the typically fast-paced, dialogue heavy sci-fi series, one which could turn out to be an impressive experiment or a slightly dull vanity project.

In the end, it was neither – instead, it was an absolute masterpiece, reaching far beyond anything fans could have expected. Steven Moffat outdid himself with Heaven Sent, a complex puzzle box of an episode which still managed to effectively double as a treatise on grief in the wake of Clara’s demise.

The production design and score are both phenomenal, the exposition is expertly crafted so as not to be distracting or convoluted and the denouement is undoubtedly one of the best in Doctor Who history – a reveal which manages to be both shocking and yet totally hold up to scrutiny on subsequent viewings.

Capaldi’s turn as the Twelfth Doctor in this episode is arguably his best across his entire run, and that’s saying something given the level of his performances throughout his era. The fury, the regret, the sorrow and yet, ultimately, the hope – it’s all there in his every look and glance, and every crack of his voice.

It seems strange to crown an episode which is so divergent from a traditional Doctor Who story as the best instalment from the past 20 years. Then again, when you look under the hood, is it really that different? It may not see the Doctor going on a journey in the TARDIS, but it certainly integrates time travel in a truly innovative way. It may not feature a companion, but in another sense Clara’s presence is unquestionable and all-encompassing. It may not feature a snarling villain, but The Veil, an essential embodiment of death, is more terrifying than most of the foes our hero has ever faced.

In many ways, Heaven Sent is the ultimate encapsulation of the sci-fi show, not just over the past 20 years, but since its very beginning. It therefore feels like a truly worthy winner.

James Hibbs, Drama Writer.

Doctor Who returns to BBC One and iPlayer on Saturday 12th April 2025.

Dive into our Doctor Who story guide: reviews of every episode since 1963, plus cast & crew listings, production trivia, and exclusive material from the Radio Times archive.

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