Mark Harrison | On 01, Jan 2020

If you’ve only watched Doctor Who since 2005, BritBox’s selection of 626 classic adventures featuring the first eight Doctors might look a bit daunting. Don’t know your Aggedor from your elbow? Turn on the TARDIS randomiser with us and follow our monthly guide to Classic Doctor Who, from 1963 to 1996.

“It all started out as a mild curiosity in the junkyard, and now it’s turned out to be quite a great spirit of adventure, don’t you think?”

Britbox has made all surviving episodes of Doctor Who (including animated reconstructions) from 1963 to 1989 available to stream. That includes every story with William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, and, yep, even Paul McGann’s TV movie.

With Jodie Whittaker’s second season beginning on BBC One, it might be more Who than the uninitiated can handle. Over the past 15 years of modern Doctor Who, writers who grew up with the series have reintroduced us to the TARDIS and the Time Lords, and recurring monsters like the Daleks, the Cybermen, and the Master. If you’re really into new Who, you’ll also know all about Sontarans, Silurians, Zygons, Ice Warriors, Macra, and the Great Intelligence too.

But if you’ve never seen any of pre-2005 Doctor Who and you don’t fancy starting right from the beginning (1963), there are a lot of things that the new series hasn’t mentioned that you may be wondering about. So we’ve assembled this roadmap for fans interested in discovering more Doctor Who through the wealth of episodes now available on Britbox.

Don’t know your Tom Baker from your Colin Baker? Here’s a handy introduction to some of the classic characters and concepts that haven’t yet made it into the revamped version of the long-running sci-fi series. This is your A to Z guide to Classic Doctor Who:

A is for Ace

Let’s start with one of the series’ best ever companions. If you like your sidekicks somewhere between Rose Tyler and Clara Oswald, look no further than Dorothy “Ace” McShane (Sophie Aldred), a London-based tearaway who the Seventh Doctor first discovers stranded on an ice planet in the distant future. With her penchant for explosives and a willingness to roll her sleeves up and batter Daleks, Ace more than lives up to her nickname.

Where to start?
Dragonfire (Season 24, 1987)

B is for the Black Guardian Trilogy

In his fourth incarnation, the Doctor frustrates the universe-changing ambitions of a celestial being known as the Black Guardian (see “K”), prompting a period of travelling where the TARDIS is even more “on random” than usual to elude his revenge. Once the Fifth Doctor turns up, the villain launches a devious plan to embed a sleeper agent in the TARDIS crew, which unfolds across three serials in the 20th-anniversary season.

Where to start?
Mawdryn Undead (Season 20, 1983)

C is for City Of Death

If you’re familiar with the new series and you’re looking for a gateway classic story, there’s no better candidate than this Fourth Doctor romp. Written by Douglas Adams (under a pseudonym for production reasons) and shot on location in Paris, the story follows a daring time-heist by a thoroughly compromised alien antagonist. Quickly paced and wittily assembled, this story feels more influential on New Who than any other.

Where to start?
City Of Death (Season 17, 1979)

D is for the Death Zone

Why have an entire area of your planet designated “the Death Zone”? Perhaps only the Time Lords can comprehend this riddle in Gallifrey’s geography, as seen in the 20th-anniversary multi-Doctor jamboree, The Five Doctors, in which an unknown antagonist uses our hero and his past incarnations as pawns in the Game of Rassilon.

Where to start?
The Five Doctors (Season 20, 1983)

E is for the Eight Legs

From The Runaway Bride to Arachnids in the UK, New Who has tangled with giant spiders on several adventures, but the Eight Legs are pretty much the definite article in the original run. Originating on the planet Metebelis III, they’re first mentioned a season before the Third Doctor faces them, but it’s their role in this incarnation’s final adventure that secures their place in the series’ history.

Where to start?
Technically, The Green Death (Season 10, 1973) but Planet Of The Spiders (Season 11, 1974) is the major Eight Legs tale.

F is for Fenric

Inspired by the monstrous wolf in Norse mythology, Fenric is an old (ancient, even) adversary of the Seventh Doctor, whose long-running game of wits comes to a head in Northumberland during the Second World War. For its development of Ace’s character and terrifying vampire-like monsters called the Haemovores, The Curse Of Fenric is duly remembered as one of the best stories of its era.

Where to start?
The Curse Of Fenric (Season 26, 1989)

G is for A Girl’s Best Friend

In 1981, producer John Nathan-Turner coaxed Elisabeth Sladen back into the role of Sarah Jane Smith by making her the lead of a new spin-off series called K9 And Company. Available alongside the rest of the parent series on Britbox, the pilot finds the Doctor’s erstwhile companions tangling with witches in the tiny village of Moreton Harwood. Russell T Davies would later give Sladen her own name-in-the-title spin-off with 2007’s The Sarah Jane Adventures, but it’s always fun to watch one of the Doctor’s best companions at work.

Where to start?
A Girl’s Best Friend (1981) – the only episode of K9 And Company produced.

H is for Half-Human???

Speaking of spin-offs, Paul McGann’s one-and-only full-length TV story as the Doctor is also available to stream. In this US-produced TV movie (essentially a feature-length pilot), the Eighth Doctor is born out of a regenerative crisis where unwitting San Francisco surgeons try to save him on the operating table. Much to the consternation of fans, the movie even suggests he’s half-human (on his mother’s side), a network addition to the lore that many subsequent writers have gone to some lengths to write off.

Where to start?
Doctor Who: The Movie (1996)

I is for Ian and Barbara

While Susan (Carol Ann Ford) travelled with her grandfather before the series began, Ian Chesterton (William Russell) and Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill) are the Doctor’s first companions. They’re the first to do the “it’s bigger on the inside than the outside” business and they’re great foils for a crotchety, antisocial First Doctor, who learns that this travelling-with-humans lark isn’t so terrible.

Where to start?
An Unearthly Child (Season 1, 1963)

J is for Jamie McCrimmon

One incarnation later, the Second Doctor finds his BFF for life in Jamie McCrimmon (Frazier Hines), who stays aboard the TARDIS until the end of the run and even reappeared in the multi-Doctor stories of the 1980s. Fiercely loyal and an all-around good bloke, this friendly Highlander is inseparable from this incarnation of the Doctor from his very first appearance.

Where to start?
The Moonbase (1967, Season 4) is the first complete Jamie story (with animated episodes) available to stream.

K is for The Key to Time

Produced long before Infinity Stones entered the mainstream, Doctor Who’s sixteenth season follows the Fourth Doctor on a mission to find six disguised cosmic objects that, if united, control the equilibrium of the universe. Travelling from planets Atrios to Zeos, the Doctor and his Time Lady companion Romana (Mary Tamm, and later Lalla Ward) traverse time and space in their bid to stop the Black Guardian from uniting the Key to Time.

Where to start?
The Ribos Operation (Season 16, 1978)

L is for Leela

A couple of serials after Sarah Jane’s bittersweet departure from the TARDIS, the Fourth Doctor takes Leela (Louise Jameson), daughter of the Sevateem, under his wing as his new companion. Theirs is a Pygmalion-inspired relationship, with the added value of her watching his back while he teaches her to be polite and not stab people with Janus thorns. And yes, the Futurama character is named after her.

Where to start?
The Face Of Evil (Season 14, 1976)

M is for the Meddling Monk

M could well be for the Master, but you can see our guide to the older incarnations here. On the other hand, it’s surprising that a Time Lord like the Monk (played in both appearances by Peter Butterworth) hasn’t shown up in the TV series again since the First Doctor’s era. Created by the great Dennis Spooner, the character would have made an ideal foil to the Steven Moffat-era “time can be rewritten” chaotic-good Doctors.

Where to start?
The Time Meddler (Season 2, 1965)

N is for Nyssa of Traken

Like her fellow companions Adric (Matthew Waterhouse) and Tegan (Janet Fielding), Nyssa (Sarah Sutton) meets the Fourth Doctor late in his life and joins the Fifth Doctor in his travels. Originally intended to appear in only one serial, she became instrumental to the return of the Master when her father (Anthony Ainley) became the villain’s new host, returning to taunt Nyssa again and again thereafter.

Where to start?
The Keeper Of Traken (Season 18, 1981)

O is for Omega

Time Lord legends have turned up throughout New Who, but due to a rights situation, these stories have skirted around Omega, a founder of Gallifreyan society who’s a bit miffed at being stranded in an anti-matter universe. He’s introduced in the 10th-anniversary serial, in which it takes the combined skills of the First, Second, and Third Doctor to oppose him.

Where to start?
The Three Doctors (Season 10, 1973)

P is for Peladon

On a slightly more topical note, Peladon is a quite conservative planet whose efforts to join a Galactic Federation are sabotaged by the upper classes who want to keep their traditions intact. Federation delegate Alpha Centauri appeared at the end of 2017’s Empress Of Mars, but as yet, the new series hasn’t given us a Pelad-exit storyline.

Where to start?
The Curse Of Peladon (Season 9, 1972) and The Monster Of Peladon (Season 11, 1974)

Q is for Quarks

The Cybermen became the series’ A-list monster during the 1960s, while Dalek creator Terry Nation attempted to spin-off his creations elsewhere, but there are characteristics of the iconic pepperpots in the less successful Quarks, who faced the Second Doctor in just one story. These no-good robotic miners may have had feet, but judging by the history of the series, it’s the Daleks that had legs.

Where to start?
The Dominators (Season 6, 1968)

R is for the Rani

The future may be female for the Doctor and the Master, but the classic series gave us another renegade Time Lady in the shape of Kate O’Mara’s Rani. Unlike her contemporaries, she has absconded from Gallifrey to conduct amoral scientific experiments away from the disapproving eyes of her people. She’s apparently very intelligent, even if the logic of her plans sometimes falls under the influence of 1980s plotting.

Where to start?
The Mark Of The Rani (Season 22, 1984)

S is for Sea Devils

We’ve technically seen eocenes or homo reptilia in New Who, in their original guise as Silurians. In a thematic sequel, the Third Doctor also faces their underwater cousins, dubbed Sea Devils, after the Master awakens them and persuades them to reclaim the planet.

Where to start?
The Sea Devils (Season 9, 1972)

T is for Thals

The Daleks don’t like anyone else much, but their creation stemmed from a civil war with the other native species on Skaro, known as the Thals. Forming a peaceful settlement in the aftermath of their nuclear conflict, the Thals initially resist the First Doctor and Ian’s calls for them to stand up to the Daleks once again.

Where to start?
The Daleks (Season 1, 1963)

U is for Umbrellas

Before the newer Doctors donned brainy specs and fezzes, previous incarnations had a spell of accessorising with umbrellas. In particular, the Sixth Doctor complemented his colourful get-up (which resembles an explosion in a rainbow factory) with a similarly eye-catching umbrella, but it’s the Seventh Doctor’s iconic question-mark handle brolly that sticks in the memory, especially in the mad, super-literal cliffhanger that was briefly glimpsed in 2013’s The Name Of The Doctor.

Where to start?
The Seventh Doctor’s umbrella makes its first screen appearance in Delta And The Bannermen (Season 24, 1987).

V is for the Valeyard

Following the Sixth Doctor’s first season, there was an 18-month hiatus in production – the longest time Doctor Who had been off-air since it started in 1963. When it returned, producers turned Season 23 into one over-arching storyline called The Trial Of A Time Lord, with the Doctor facing a Time Lord prosecutor known as the Valeyard (Michael Jayston) in a Gallifreyan courtroom.

Where to start?
Season 23 starts with The Mysterious Planet, (1986) but you’ll have to watch the whole story to get to the bottom of the Valeyard’s identity…

X is for Xeraphin

Time Flight is far from the Fifth Doctor’s finest hour, but it does give us the Xeraphin, an ancient yet technologically advanced species who transformed into a gestalt state after fleeing a planetary war. The Master is up to his old tricks when he encounters them, including stealing a shape-shifting Xeraphin war machine known as Kamelion, who later joins the Doctor’s TARDIS crew.

Where to start?
Time-Flight (Season 19, 1982)

Y is for Yeti

As played by Richard E Grant, the Great Intelligence played a huge role in the 50th-anniversary series in 2013 but it was first heard as a disembodied voice, all the way back in the 1960s. At that point, this malevolent entity menaces the Second Doctor by controlling robots that humans mistook for actual abominable snowmen. They may look furry and cuddly, but they’re powerful pawns for the Intelligence.

Where to start?
The first available Yeti story is their second, The Web Of Fear (Season 5, 1968)

Z is for Zarbi

When the First Doctor visits the planet Vortis, he discovers that the world has been overtaken by a mysterious controller known as the Animus, which pits the Zarbi against the planet’s other natives, the Menoptera. Unlike the Yeti, the ant-like Zarbi are real people under mind control, and it falls to the Doctor and his companions to liberate them.

Where to start?
The Web Planet (Season 2, 1965)

 

Classic Doctor Who is available on BritBox as part of a £5.99 monthly subscription.

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