Doctor Who Top 10 - The Sixties

The early years of Doctor Who are understandably the least familiar to the modern fan. Significant proportions of episodes are gone, lost forever in all likelihood, and what remains can often seem slow and creaky in comparison to what came afterwards. But this was in many ways the time when the show was at its most imaginative. Nothing was yet set in stone, and consequently the variety of ideas tried by the various production teams was incredibly eclectic for a while. That said, the most popular stories from this period are usually the more formulaic ones that conform to the standard default setting the series would later assume with some regularity, and this is because firstly they were damn good stories, and secondly a lot of those experiments I mentioned didn't actually work very well. This selection of stories most definitely do work however - I would strongly recommend each and every one of these stories. Even if you can't experience the TV episodes anymore, the soundtracks and novelisations remain, and give us enough of an impression of their quality to make a judgement call.

1. The Invasion

Year: 1968
Episodes: 8 (1 & 4 missing)
Regulars: Patrick Troughton, Fraser Hines, Wendy Padbury, Nicholas Courtney
Notable Guest Stars: Kevin Stoney
Writer: Derrick Sherwin, Kit Pedler
Director: David Maloney
Producer: Peter Bryant

With the help of the newly-formed United Nations Intelligence Taskforce (UNIT), led by their old friend Lethbridge-Stewart -- newly promoted to Brigadier -- the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe discover that businessman Tobias Vaughn has been conspiring with the Cybermen. Partially cybernised himself, Vaughn plans to give the Earth over to the Cybermen unless the Doctor can stop him... but the Cybermen have already arrived.

2. The War Games

Year: 1969
Episodes: 10
Regulars: Patrick Troughton, Fraser Hines, Wendy Padbury
Notable Guest Stars: Edward Brayshaw, Philip Madoc
Writer: Malcolm Hulke, Terrance Dicks
Director: David Maloney
Producer: Derrick Sherwin

The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe believe the TARDIS has brought them back to Earth, in the midst of World War One. But it soon becomes apparent that they are nowhere of the sort. In fact, a race of aliens has been kidnapping soldiers from various points in the Earth's history and transporting them to another planet, with the intention of using them to form the greatest army the universe has ever seen. At the helm of this plot is the War Chief, a renegade Time Lord like the Doctor. To stop him, the Doctor may be forced to call upon his own people and give up his wandering in time and space forever.

3. The Evil of the Daleks

Year: 1967
Episodes: 7 (1,3-7 missing)
Regulars: Patrick Troughton, Fraser Hines, Deborah Watling
Notable Guest Stars: John Bailey, Marius Goring
Writer: David Whitaker
Director: Derek Martinus
Producer: Innes Lloyd

The TARDIS is stolen from Gatwick Airport, and the Doctor and Jamie pursue it through a time corridor back to 1866. There, they are captured by the Daleks, who are ostensibly trying to isolate the Human Factor, that which makes mankind truly human. But with the help of scientist Edward Waterfield, whose daughter Victoria is held hostage by the Daleks, the Doctor discovers his old enemies are actually searching for the Dalek Factor... which they intend to imprint upon every human in history.

4. The Tomb of the Cybermen

Year: 1967
Episodes: 4
Regulars: Patrick Troughton, Fraser Hines, Deborah Watling
Notable Guest Stars: George Pastell
Writer: Kit Pedler, Gerry Davis
Director: Morris Barry
Producer: Peter Bryant

The Doctor, Jamie and Victoria land on the desert planet Telos, where an archaeological expedition from Earth has also arrived. The scientists are searching for the fabled tombs to which the dying Cybermen removed themselves many years earlier. The Doctor is adamant that his old enemies be left in hibernation, but two members of the research team, the Logicians Klieg and Kaftan, have plans to use the Cybermen to help them dominate the galaxy.

5. The Daleks' Master Plan

Year: 1965-66
Episodes: 12
Regulars: William Hartnell, Peter Purves
Notable Guest Stars: Jean Marsh, Kevin Stoney, Nicholas Courtney, Adrienne Hill
Writer: Terry Nation, Dennis Spooner
Director: Douglas Camfield
Producer: John Wiles

On Kembel, the Doctor finds a message left by Marc Cory, detailing the Daleks' plan to use a time destructor to take over the universe. The Doctor steals the taranium core needed to fuel the destructor, and is then pursued across time and space by the Daleks. The Doctor's ally, Space Security Service agent Bret Vyon, is killed by his own sister, Sara Kingdom, at the orders of Mavic Chen, the traitorous Guardian of the Solar System. It is up to the Doctor to convince Sara of the truth of her misguided allegiance, and avoid an apocalyptic triple threat in the form of Chen, the Daleks, and the time destructor.

6. Marco Polo

Year: 1964
Episodes: 7 (all missing)
Regulars: William Hartnell, William Russell, Jacqueline Hill, Carole Ann Ford
Notable Guest Stars: Mark Eden
Writer: John Lucarotti
Director: Waris Hussein
Producer: Verity Lambert

The TARDIS lands in 1289 China. There it is seized by famed explorer Marco Polo, who intends to present it as a gift to Kublai Khan, in the hope that it will win him his freedom. The Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara must accompany Polo as he travels across the desert to the court in Peking, and at the same time unearth the malevolent plotting of Tegana, an agent of a rival warlord whose mission is to assassinate the Khan.

7. The Power of the Daleks

Year: 1966
Episodes: 6 (all missing)
Regulars: Patrick Troughton, Anneke Wills, Michael Craze
Notable Guest Stars: Bernard Archard
Writer: David Whitaker
Director: Christopher Barry
Producer: Innes Lloyd

Still suspicious of the younger man claiming to be the Doctor, Ben and Polly discover that the TARDIS has landed on the Earth colony Vulcan. There, a scientist named Lesterson has unearthed a crashed capsule containing the inert forms of three Daleks. The Doctor is horrified to learn that Lesterson has reactivated them, intending for them to serve the colony's populace. But the time travellers soon discover that the Daleks have a far more malevolent agenda.

8. The Abominable Snowmen
Year: 1967
Episodes: 6 (1, 3-6 missing)
Regulars: Patrick Troughton, Fraser Hines, Deborah Watling
Notable Guest Stars: Jack Watling

Writer: Mervyn Haisman, Henry Lincoln
Director: Gerald Blake
Producer: Innes Lloyd

The Doctor is delighted when the TARDIS lands near a monastery in Tibet because it means he can return the monks' sacred ghanta which he took with him for safekeeping centuries earlier. But all is not well at the monastery: there is disharmony amongst the monks, and the countryside is overrun by robotic Yeti. Soon, the Doctor finds himself accused of murder, whilst an extradimensional force called the Great Intelligence prepares to return to Earth... using one of the Doctor's friends as a vessel.

9. Fury from the Deep

Year: 1968
Episodes: 6 (all missing)
Regulars: Patrick Troughton, Fraser Hines, Deborah Watling
Notable Guest Stars: Victor Maddern
Writer: Victor Pemberton
Director: Hugh David
Producer: Peter Bryant

On the North Sea coast in the modern day, the Doctor, Jamie and Victoria learn of a series of mishaps and strange occurrences which has been plaguing the oil refineries. They soon find that a form of intelligent seaweed is rising up from the seabed, attempting to take over humanity -- and the invasion has already begun.

10. The Mind Robber

Year: 1968
Episodes: 5
Regulars: Patrick Troughton, Fraser Hines, Wendy Padbury
Notable Guest Stars: Emyrs Jones
Writer: Peter Ling
Director: David Maloney
Producer: Peter Bryant

After an emergency dematerialisation, the TARDIS lands in a weird white void. Drawn out of the time machine, the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe find themselves in a surreal world where imagination has become reality, populated with characters out of folklore and literature. And the mysterious overlord of this Land of Fiction desires the Doctor's company... forever.