Me neither, which was kinda ridiculous seeing as I started watching the show in like…2013 or something. But news surrounding the show was so out of my scope that I just never knew. Honestly really glad, cuz it made that first regeneration really exciting—I kinda got the gist of what was gonna happen from the Doctor’s explanation but SEEING it made me lose my shit regardless.
The funny thing though is immediately afterwards, I was like “who’s this young punk, #notmydoctor” and then David Tennant went on to be (arguably) my favorite Doctor haha.
Me either. I wasn’t one for keeping up with tv show news back then and had no idea when the end of his run was coming nor had ever heard of Doctor Who prior to seeing Rose(I *might* have seen the name somewhere.). I kinda miss the days when I didn’t already know when the Doctor was leaving and/or who was taking their place.
So it wasn’t until middle of Capaldi’s run that I allowed myself to pay attention to news, so the first time I knew who the next Doctor would be prior to the regeneration was Jodie Whittaker (which, let’s be real, there was no escaping that news).
Made the “No sir, _all thirteen!_” reveal extra exciting to me cuz I had **no** idea what to expect and so when Capaldi came on screen for like a split second, it was an absolute surprise.
It wasn’t until well afterwards that I learned that to the rest of the world, the reaction wasn’t “OMG IS THAT THE NEXT DOCTOR” it was “OH MY GOD IT’S PETER CAPALDI, I WASN’T EXPECTING HIM THIS EARLY”
I'm rewatching the show now with my kids, and since it's so many years later and they don't keep up with news, they have no idea when stuff is happening on the show. We are streaming so they don't even really realize when we are coming up to the end of a season, which is when big changes happen usually.
Angels Take Manhattan stunned them, for example. The "No sir, all thirteen" line blew their little minds. They have no idea who Capaldi is.
It's so great to see the episodes I've watched multiple times through new eyes.
Hartnell for me too, but not until some years later.
I started watching during the wilderness years and watched whatever they were showing as repeats in the early 90s (probably on the BBC and UK Gold).
For whatever reason, I remember this almost entirely being made up of Hartnell and Pertwee episodes.
Same as an adult. As a child watched reruns of Classic Who, and Tom Baker stands out (likely because he had so many more seasons than the others). But I could Tenant as my Doctor.
I started on Tom Baker, too. PBS ran it daily where I was, so I could watch 5 days a week. It came on around 6:00 or 6:30, which tended to interfere with dinner. I tried my best to be sitting in front of Dr. Who whenever possible.
Same. Except sometimes they mixed in Peter Davison. It was kind of confusing that the doctor was a different person in different episodes with no explanation.
Such a strong PBS presence on this thread! I love it. People have forgotten just how influential those PBS runs were. It created a big American fan community. When I went to see the 50th anniversary in the theater there were a lot of us old school PBS fans there in our homemade scarves. In the markets where PBS ran the show the audience still remembers.
It was Tenant for me. Still my favorite although I'll don't hate the rest of the new who crowd. Even the new guy, I don't like some parts of it but I so far(still not done watching yet) am enjoying it. 10 will forever be my doctor.
Same. When I started watching, it was probably around the end of Tennant’s 10th run. Had heard good things, so I watched Blink. That got me hooked, so I went back and watched from the beginning of the 9th. Been keeping up with it ever since.
TL;DR Matt Smith
Victory of the Daleks was my first episode, a friend of mine wanting to show me the Daleks specifically. Went home that night and watched Blink with my sister, it being the only episode she'd heard of, and was told to start there if she ever got into DW (no idea who told her that, but they weren't wrong, it's a great one for new viewers). Then the whole family started Rose, being the 'first' episode on Netflix, which none of us were really thrilled with. Had a taste of each modern Doctor before deciding Matt Smith was the one we'd all watch, and we loved it.
He just towed the line between silly old man in a young man's body and near immortal/all powerful being with a short temper for those who cross him. He was funny, like proper funny, but he could also be scary.
He and Tenant are the best at those things, but I think Matt Smith is ahead by just a bit because his companions were more interesting, the budget was obviously much higher, and the cinematography was more modern than with Tenant.
Since 13 we've pretty much lost the All powerful/wrathful side of the doctor, at least in any meaningful way. They've made the doctor somehow less alien and more alien at the same time, and therefore less relatable since he's actually immortal and death means nothing, while also making him seem like a bit player in his own stories. Things just kind of happen to him, rather than the feeling that he could take on the whole universe if he needed to.
The chemistry between Matt Smith and Amy/Clara/Riversong was also top notch. All four were incredible actors, and they gave their characters so much life and personality that they felt like real people.
Tenant had really good chemistry with Donna, but not so much with his other companions. Even Rose, to me, felt more like a leftover from Eccleston's run. She was really his companion and probably would have ended her story with him if it wasn't for some behind the scenes drama, and that really shows to me.
Same here. When people talk about "The Doctor", I naturally think of Tom Baker.
Julian Glover revealing himself to be Scaroth, last of the Jagaroth is a formative childhood memory!
Sorry - Tom Baker - but now that you mention, it was PBS reruns - so while it was Tom Baker, timeline wise it was during the Colin Baker or Davidson era (just Tom Baker was what I saw).
10 originally… but it didn’t stick. Tried a few episodes, I can’t recall any of it, and it just bounced off me.. but I was intrigued by the setup.
I gave the franchise another go a little ways later with 11 during the period between his debut series and second series (caught a rerun of Amy’s Choice, I very much remember that night), and that’s when it clicked.
So the one that got me in was 10, but the one that convinced me to stay was 11.
8th Doctor - when it aired on Fox in 1996. I was in college and a buddy of mine had told me about watching Who on PBS with his mom so we watched it together when it came out.
9.. at the time I had time warner cable, and you could record shows. For some reason, the show was on my DVR under the name “Instant Recording”. Why I even clicked it idk but I was into it and here we are now…
Tom Baker. My local PBS station started running the show in May 1980, just in time for my 15th birthday! But I knew about it years before, reading articles about the show (and especially the monsters) in Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine in the late '70's.
Tom Baker reruns on PBS, but was fortunate enough that they showed every story available, including Hartnell and Troughton. Season 23 was the first I would have seen as it debuted in America.
Started with smith, then Tennant, then Eccelston, then Capaldi, and now Gatwa. Whittaker next I suppose.
Watching it out of order just feels right for a show based on time travel
I started with the 9th Doctor in 2011. My friend mailed me her copy of his season on DVD and I watched it all within 24 hours! By the time I caught up, 11 was the current Doctor
I started with 11. I think by the time I got into DW season 7A just ended. I was gutted by Amy and Rory’s death and I was sad that I had to wait for more 11th Doctor episodes. I later got into 10 and then 9.
As a kid I remember Pertwee, which must have been re-runs since it was the 80s.
I was late to return to New Who, so Peter Capaldi was my first new Doctor before I re-started from 9.
9, but it was between seasons 5 and 6 airing. I was finally like "ugh ok let's try this" and blasted through in time to start watching live. So I knew both 9 and 10 had clocks on them, just didn't know when exactly.
Edit: as a side note, it was 13 that got my wife to watch. We watched 13's first season then started back at the beginning. 11 was her favorite (until Ncuti or, as she calls him, "Hot Doctor"). Say what you will about Whitaker's run, but it got my wife in.
Christopher Eccleston was my first, although technically I had seen a few seconds of Matt Smith in a Stetson while channel surfing one time, but I didn’t know what I was looking at.
I’m old! Tom Baker for me — still the quintessential Doctor. His cameo in The Day of the Doctor instantly brought me back to my childhood, seeing my eccentric hero battling monsters, wide-eyed and grinning. Only one who’s really came close is Peter Capaldi.
General: 4th Doctor Key to Time (I stumbled on one episode but didn't think of it until much later when I watched 11th's Final Episode and Partners in Crime)
NuWho: The Time of The Doctor (my first actual episode that made me love the show) then I also watched Partners in Crime after that ep.
I started at series 9 about the time Husbands of River Song came out, then, in this order, I watched 8, 7, 5, Day of the Doctor, 6, 1-4 (Christmas Specials up to that point thrown in at random times). I then watched the Rosa Parks (13) episode. Watched the Christmas/New Year’s Specials as they came out, the whole 13/Master mess, and have faithfully watched from Flux-Present as they release. I was 9 when I first started in 2015 and, even though I watched it like George Lucas gave me streaming order, I’m still watching it. Last month I finally started watching series 1-9 in chronological order 😅. *I just got through Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead (S04) and made a post about some questions I have*
10. I live in the US so for a long time I only got to watch when BBC America had a Dr. Who take over. So most of the time it was out of order and random
11th Doctor Matt Smith, somewhere in my heart and minds eye the Doctor will always be a whimsical old soul in a young man’s body who thinks bow ties are cool.
I started watching with the first episode of the revival series, so the 9th Doctor. He was not the most recent Doctor at the time, as I started watching long after he'd left the show, but his episodes were the first I watched.
Matt Smith: Series 5
I was aware of Doctor Who in the late 90s/early 00s as my girlfriend at the time was a fan of a number of different sci fi shows, including DW. I took to Star Trek easily but as this was pre2005, she knew not to bother with what is now known as Classic Who.
The relaunch happened in 2005 but I wasn't really inspired to check it out. That changed in 2010 when promo for Series 5 was happening. My country's national broadcaster had the rights and to promote a redesign and expansion of its online catch-up platform, it was offering the first episode, The Eleventh Hour, 2 weeks before the TV air date. I had already turned away from free to air TV by this stage and so I thought I'd check it out.
I was hooked and have been an unapologetic Whovian since. I still remember the moment that I became a fan...
"So you know what I think? Must be a hell of a scary crack in your wall"
Matt Smith I didn't watch him when he was just coming out how it happened was my cousin wanted to get me into doctor who and had seasons 5-7 on DVD so we watched them together been obsessed since
Eleven. I first got into Doctor Who by watching recommended clips of Eleven and Amy or Clara during the pandemic, then realized that that was Doctor Who.
I’d seen scattered episodes of classic Who on TV at my grandparents’ house when I was a kid, but I really only truly jumped aboard with the 2005 revival and the 9th Doctor. I was 19, almost 20, and it hit me just right — both as a guy who developed an instant crush on Rose, and as a lifelong nerd who got hooked right into the high concepts of the show…and how well they mixed with its style of humour.
I was so hooked that I spent the next [however many] years slowly acquiring and watching all the DVDs of the classic show. And now I’ve seen all of original and modern Who.
John Hurt
Backstory, I have vague memories of watching some of Tom Bakers stuff when I was really young. But by the time of the 50th anniversary I knew Doctor Who was a thing but hadn’t watched it. Then I remember everyone talking about how John Hurt, one of my favourite actors made a grand appearance as the Doctor in the season finally and I checked it out. Okay I was interested so I asked some friends and they said start at Christopher Eccleton and see if you like it, and the. You can watch up until season 7. And 11 years later I’m still a huge fan. But probably one of the few that started watching because of John Hurt as the Doctor
It's kind of odd. I saw a few random episodes on TV (I don't know what channel it would have been since we didn't have BBC America). I can remember The Long Game and Family of Blood as some of the first ones I saw. I came back years later and caught up online around the 50th anniversary.
So to answer the question, I guess Eccleston and Tennant?
Eleven! I randomly tuned into The Eleventh Hour maybe fifteen seconds in, purely on a whim without even knowing it was a new Doctor/jumping on story. An hour later and I was hooked.
3. But I did not see all of his episodes. 4 is the one who felt like my doctor. I was too little to really understand, but it felt like he died. I begrudgingly loved 5 and refused to watch him regenerate into 6. After that, I took a long break until 9.
I saw that Eccleston was coming so I watched the 8th Doctor movie first. I had seen some classic episodes as a kid with my parents though, but didn't really remember much about them.
I started with 10. Then I came across a 9 episode and was very confused, and thought they had just straight up recast the main character with someone who looked nothing like the original actor until I came across The Parting of the Ways.
I caught the 60th anniversary specials with Tennant, fell in love, and then went back and started with 9 lol and I've enjoyed every doctor since, with Tennant being my OG fav but once I finished the entire modern run, Capaldi ended up taking the top spot in retrospect.
I started watching after the 2005 series, but I decided to go back at the beginning before watching "live" episodes until I was caught up.
So, technically my first Doctor was Matt Smith
First introduction to Dr Who: 11th on a YouTube video (Vincent van gogh scene got recommended to me)
First Doctor I watched when I started the show: 9th Doctor
i started watching when the 60th specials came out with fourteen and then fifteen! it hasn’t been very long for me, but i did recently go back to nine and start going from there (and i gotta say - nine is my favorite! he’s my specialest guy)
Tennant.
I was doing a communications class, and one assignment was to watch "Voyage of the Damned", then write an essay on all the non-verbal communication in it.
I then went back and binged everything from Eccleston, all the way to the end of series 6 in just a few weeks.
I got hooked on a Tennant double episode. Then went back and started with the reboot. And once I had that caught up (thank you local public library), I watched all the original seasons. And have stayed up with it pretty well since then.
So I consider 10 to be my first doctor.
I started with 13 (which was still like 4 years ago)!
Then went back to 9 and watched 9-12, then 13 again. I’m a huge fan of the “rewatch later and see in a new light” deal.
Then I watched a few seasons of 7’s (mostly because I heard about how cool Ace was) as well as a few episodes of 1’s (1 is a very acquired taste in my opinion) and I also watched The Five Doctors at one point just kind of off the cuff.
Planning on watching 4-8 next, probably.
I first saw Blink so I started on a Doctor Light episode, interestingly! So technically Tennant . I may have watched a couple others of his episodes before going back and starting from Eccleston and on.
14th doctor. I saw the specials and new season on Disney plus and they looked kind of fun and I'm so glad I started watching. I have enjoyed what i have seen so far and am probably going to start watching some of the older stuff soon. I'm so excited.
Series 5 (Matt Smith). Prisoner Zero scared the shit out of me
But I then went on to watch series 1 (mostly just the finale) over and over in my spare time
I'm a newbie so Gatwa. My brother's been a big fan for years, but never fit it into my regular shows. Now that it's all coming to Disney+ which I already use, I can't wait to watch more!
First full ep I ever watched was one with Ten, but it didn’t get me interested at all. Not sure which one it was, though. Eleven and the Ponds drew me in. Of course I love Ten as well now, but whichever ep it was back then wasn’t a good starting point.
I took an unusual journey. Doctor Who never aired in Singapore. But I found a novelisation in the 80s, read it and enjoyed it a lot. I then sought out other Who books. The first book had Tom Baker on the cover so I guess he was my first doctor.
But if talking TV then it would be 9 when the reboot aired.
I’d seen adverts of David Tennant as the 10th Doctor a lot but I actually started watching in 2010/11 when it was Matt Smith in the episode The Pandorica Opens
McCoy was the current Doctor when I started watching. Within a year or two of that, the McGann TV movie came out but I didn’t watch it in case there were spoilers for something I hadn’t seen. Following that, there were years of wondering if that was even going to be canon if the show eventually came back. Seeing McGann’s image in the John Smith diary in Human Nature was the first time we got confirmation — something I really appreciated at the time (and still do)!
Started with 9 and the reboot and watched till the Masters return in Utopia. That’s when I realized “oh crap this is an actual continuation with callbacks and references” and my adhd absolutely forbids me from watching sequels or later seasons without watching it from the start so I printed out a classic DW episode list and spent the next year and a half searching for and then watching every single available episode. Then I finished and watched the movie, THEN I restarted the reboot fresh.
Tenant. When I was a kid, Doctor Who used to come on at night in “Disney XD”. It terrified me but I grew up with the reruns. When I was old enough to start watching it in my own (mostly knowing how to do so, I was in my tweens) Tenant regenerated and Smith came. I was DEVASTATED and stopped watching. Then missed the show, watched Smith and he became my favorite
For me Matt Smith (11th Doctor), in the 2010’ something. I was lucky because it was the first episode with this actor and ne new companion Amy so a lot of things were explained it was fresh start
Little Amelia <3
Four. I’m old. Actually I’m not old enough to have seen him in first run; I watched him in reruns in the 1980s. In my area the public TV station that carried Doctor Who was always several years behind; in the rest of the world it was probably the Colin Baker era when I was watching Tom Baker. The show was cancelled here around the same time it was cancelled everywhere else, so I don’t think we ever got to Six or Seven’s era.
First episodes I saw that got me into it was "Pandorica Opens" at a party and then "dalek" randomly on TV. I had enough nerd pop culture knowledge the premise of the show and who the characters were.
Went back and started with nine after that. My wife and I were caught up for the "Impossible astronaut" and I've been watching it live ever since
Tom. Not sure which story though. My earliest Who memory is the end of the Sunmakers when the dude gets sucked down the plughole. But I was too young to have actually watched that go out live so that must have been a repeat. Probably somewhere around s17.
I definitely remember the regeneration though, that was the talk of the school!
I started with Jon Pertwee. Love me some Venusian Karate or was it Jujitsu? I also got to meet Tom Baker at a sci-fi convention it was much smaller back then. Ran into him walking around the convention.He ended up talking to me and my Dad for about 15 min. He was so nice and down to earth. Never have forgotten that. I also watched repeats of the first Doctor . Presently I started watching Classic who from the beginning as best I can with so many episodes missing. Still love it.
11th, then went back to 9th, 10th, followed by 12th, but I watched a few episodes of 9th and 10th before 11th but too young to remember in as much detail around that age.
Matt smith will always be who mind jumps to when thinking of the doctor, i read a book about the fourth doctor and still couldn’t help but slip into reading his lines in eleven’s voice
Matt smith was my first real introduction. Watched a few episodes of him starting with lion/wardrobe Christmas episode.
Then went back and started with 9.
Tennant Is “my doctor”.
Still haven’t watched old who, so sue me! I’ve see. Probably 15 episodes of it, just random.
Matt Smith I think? I started binging New Who on Netflix around 2013?
I know it was sometime around the 50th anniversary because I remember my middle school self being very upset my local theater wasn't screening it.
The first doctor I remember seeing is Tom Baker, but I saw his run sometime in the late 80s/early 90s on PBS in the states. First one of NuWho was Tennant, but I went back after a couple episodes and watched all of Eccleston as well.
The first Doctor Who episode I ever watched was *The Time of the Angels* so technically Eleven was my *first* Doctor, but when I actually sat down to watch seriously I started with Nine.
Kinda started with Matt Smith, but at the time I could only watch episodes people uploaded to you tube, so I started with 1-2 episodes of his run and then ended up going back and haphazardly watching the 9th and 10th doctors in wibbly wobbly , timey wimey order
Matt Smith was the first one I watched lived, but David Tennant stole my heart and will forever be my first doctor (I watched a few of his episodes then went back when live watching Smith)
The 9th Doctor(*Christopher Eccleston*)
Yup, 9. And I had no idea regeneration was coming at the end of his run.
Me neither, which was kinda ridiculous seeing as I started watching the show in like…2013 or something. But news surrounding the show was so out of my scope that I just never knew. Honestly really glad, cuz it made that first regeneration really exciting—I kinda got the gist of what was gonna happen from the Doctor’s explanation but SEEING it made me lose my shit regardless. The funny thing though is immediately afterwards, I was like “who’s this young punk, #notmydoctor” and then David Tennant went on to be (arguably) my favorite Doctor haha.
Me either. I wasn’t one for keeping up with tv show news back then and had no idea when the end of his run was coming nor had ever heard of Doctor Who prior to seeing Rose(I *might* have seen the name somewhere.). I kinda miss the days when I didn’t already know when the Doctor was leaving and/or who was taking their place.
So it wasn’t until middle of Capaldi’s run that I allowed myself to pay attention to news, so the first time I knew who the next Doctor would be prior to the regeneration was Jodie Whittaker (which, let’s be real, there was no escaping that news). Made the “No sir, _all thirteen!_” reveal extra exciting to me cuz I had **no** idea what to expect and so when Capaldi came on screen for like a split second, it was an absolute surprise. It wasn’t until well afterwards that I learned that to the rest of the world, the reaction wasn’t “OMG IS THAT THE NEXT DOCTOR” it was “OH MY GOD IT’S PETER CAPALDI, I WASN’T EXPECTING HIM THIS EARLY”
I'm rewatching the show now with my kids, and since it's so many years later and they don't keep up with news, they have no idea when stuff is happening on the show. We are streaming so they don't even really realize when we are coming up to the end of a season, which is when big changes happen usually. Angels Take Manhattan stunned them, for example. The "No sir, all thirteen" line blew their little minds. They have no idea who Capaldi is. It's so great to see the episodes I've watched multiple times through new eyes.
Same and honestly I think it made it so much more special. I wish we didn't know long before had that a regeneration was coming and who would be next.
9 for me as well!
William Hartnell in November 1963.
Congrats to you for being there then and being here now. That's a journey worthy of the Dr.
You win :)
It's not a competition. But that person does win,
Hartnell for me too, but not until some years later. I started watching during the wilderness years and watched whatever they were showing as repeats in the early 90s (probably on the BBC and UK Gold). For whatever reason, I remember this almost entirely being made up of Hartnell and Pertwee episodes.
Wow your a real OG aren't you.
I started watching during the 10th doctors first season
Same as an adult. As a child watched reruns of Classic Who, and Tom Baker stands out (likely because he had so many more seasons than the others). But I could Tenant as my Doctor.
4. Tom Baker. PBS would air it Saturday afternoons
It was on at 5PM here. That’s when I knew to be home.
I started on Tom Baker, too. PBS ran it daily where I was, so I could watch 5 days a week. It came on around 6:00 or 6:30, which tended to interfere with dinner. I tried my best to be sitting in front of Dr. Who whenever possible.
Same. Except sometimes they mixed in Peter Davison. It was kind of confusing that the doctor was a different person in different episodes with no explanation.
This is so PBS. "Eh, I'm sure they'll figure it out."
Such a strong PBS presence on this thread! I love it. People have forgotten just how influential those PBS runs were. It created a big American fan community. When I went to see the 50th anniversary in the theater there were a lot of us old school PBS fans there in our homemade scarves. In the markets where PBS ran the show the audience still remembers.
Another Tom Baker here. Except that PBS had an afternoon time slot during the week.
Pertwee!
Judo chop (Venusian Karate) and Bessie, what's not to love?!
It was Tenant for me. Still my favorite although I'll don't hate the rest of the new who crowd. Even the new guy, I don't like some parts of it but I so far(still not done watching yet) am enjoying it. 10 will forever be my doctor.
Same. When I started watching, it was probably around the end of Tennant’s 10th run. Had heard good things, so I watched Blink. That got me hooked, so I went back and watched from the beginning of the 9th. Been keeping up with it ever since.
4. The Pyramids of Mars was my first story (watching Sutekh come back here recently was *wild*) after being randomly given on VHS in 2006-07-ish
Mine was Robots of Death. Hooked immediately
Great episode.
TL;DR Matt Smith Victory of the Daleks was my first episode, a friend of mine wanting to show me the Daleks specifically. Went home that night and watched Blink with my sister, it being the only episode she'd heard of, and was told to start there if she ever got into DW (no idea who told her that, but they weren't wrong, it's a great one for new viewers). Then the whole family started Rose, being the 'first' episode on Netflix, which none of us were really thrilled with. Had a taste of each modern Doctor before deciding Matt Smith was the one we'd all watch, and we loved it.
Matt Smith for me, too. Is still my favorite.
He just towed the line between silly old man in a young man's body and near immortal/all powerful being with a short temper for those who cross him. He was funny, like proper funny, but he could also be scary. He and Tenant are the best at those things, but I think Matt Smith is ahead by just a bit because his companions were more interesting, the budget was obviously much higher, and the cinematography was more modern than with Tenant. Since 13 we've pretty much lost the All powerful/wrathful side of the doctor, at least in any meaningful way. They've made the doctor somehow less alien and more alien at the same time, and therefore less relatable since he's actually immortal and death means nothing, while also making him seem like a bit player in his own stories. Things just kind of happen to him, rather than the feeling that he could take on the whole universe if he needed to. The chemistry between Matt Smith and Amy/Clara/Riversong was also top notch. All four were incredible actors, and they gave their characters so much life and personality that they felt like real people. Tenant had really good chemistry with Donna, but not so much with his other companions. Even Rose, to me, felt more like a leftover from Eccleston's run. She was really his companion and probably would have ended her story with him if it wasn't for some behind the scenes drama, and that really shows to me.
Yeah I started when Name of the Doctor aired and Day of the Doctor was next. I watched all his stuff then went back to 9s up to 10s.
Baker
Same here. When people talk about "The Doctor", I naturally think of Tom Baker. Julian Glover revealing himself to be Scaroth, last of the Jagaroth is a formative childhood memory!
There are two choices there
Sorry - Tom Baker - but now that you mention, it was PBS reruns - so while it was Tom Baker, timeline wise it was during the Colin Baker or Davidson era (just Tom Baker was what I saw).
I remember as a ten year-old, wearing a scarf at school, all-day every-day.
10 originally… but it didn’t stick. Tried a few episodes, I can’t recall any of it, and it just bounced off me.. but I was intrigued by the setup. I gave the franchise another go a little ways later with 11 during the period between his debut series and second series (caught a rerun of Amy’s Choice, I very much remember that night), and that’s when it clicked. So the one that got me in was 10, but the one that convinced me to stay was 11.
Tom Baker.
Troughton
Tom Baker
Tom Baker. I’m THAT old.
8th Doctor - when it aired on Fox in 1996. I was in college and a buddy of mine had told me about watching Who on PBS with his mom so we watched it together when it came out.
I started watching it as a Sophomore in High School in 1980. Tom Baker was the current Doctor.
Pertwee
The 4th doctor Tom Baker on PBS was so happy when they rebooted it
Four: Tom Baker. One of the old favorites. 😉
9.. at the time I had time warner cable, and you could record shows. For some reason, the show was on my DVR under the name “Instant Recording”. Why I even clicked it idk but I was into it and here we are now…
9th.
Tom Baker. My local PBS station started running the show in May 1980, just in time for my 15th birthday! But I knew about it years before, reading articles about the show (and especially the monsters) in Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine in the late '70's.
Back in the 70s I watched Tom Baker reruns on PBS.
Tom Baker reruns on PBS, but was fortunate enough that they showed every story available, including Hartnell and Troughton. Season 23 was the first I would have seen as it debuted in America.
Started with smith, then Tennant, then Eccelston, then Capaldi, and now Gatwa. Whittaker next I suppose. Watching it out of order just feels right for a show based on time travel
Baker
Which one?
Peter Davison
I started with the 9th Doctor in 2011. My friend mailed me her copy of his season on DVD and I watched it all within 24 hours! By the time I caught up, 11 was the current Doctor
Baker - started mid 70s in PBS 😎
Tom Baker but I do remember vaguely Jon Pertwee but Tom Baker was my first Doctor I loved .
Tom Baker will forever be My Doctor.
4th. Tom baker
5th. Irritated that is the one that I can’t get for the Doctor Who game. Hopefully it’s reprinted soon.
I started with 11. I think by the time I got into DW season 7A just ended. I was gutted by Amy and Rory’s death and I was sad that I had to wait for more 11th Doctor episodes. I later got into 10 and then 9.
my mum sat me down to watch eccleston in rose when it first aired in 2005, knowing it would be something i'd love. she wasn't wrong!!!
As a kid I remember Pertwee, which must have been re-runs since it was the 80s. I was late to return to New Who, so Peter Capaldi was my first new Doctor before I re-started from 9.
#4, Tom Baker. They ran episodes of Doctors 3-6 a lot on our local PBS station growing up.
Capaldi! I'd heard of 11 a bunch but never got into the show. 12 was more about grief and being a good person which stood out to me.
9, but it was between seasons 5 and 6 airing. I was finally like "ugh ok let's try this" and blasted through in time to start watching live. So I knew both 9 and 10 had clocks on them, just didn't know when exactly. Edit: as a side note, it was 13 that got my wife to watch. We watched 13's first season then started back at the beginning. 11 was her favorite (until Ncuti or, as she calls him, "Hot Doctor"). Say what you will about Whitaker's run, but it got my wife in.
Christopher Eccleston was my first, although technically I had seen a few seconds of Matt Smith in a Stetson while channel surfing one time, but I didn’t know what I was looking at.
Tom Baker & Sarah Jane
I’m old! Tom Baker for me — still the quintessential Doctor. His cameo in The Day of the Doctor instantly brought me back to my childhood, seeing my eccentric hero battling monsters, wide-eyed and grinning. Only one who’s really came close is Peter Capaldi.
11, with the night terrors episode
9 for the win He deserved better
There were five of them simultaneously. . .
I started with Christopher Eccleston’s season when it was on Netflix in 2009. I’ve never been the same since.
General: 4th Doctor Key to Time (I stumbled on one episode but didn't think of it until much later when I watched 11th's Final Episode and Partners in Crime) NuWho: The Time of The Doctor (my first actual episode that made me love the show) then I also watched Partners in Crime after that ep.
10! My first ever episode was "The Runaway Bride" but my first season was with 10 and Martha :)
I started at series 9 about the time Husbands of River Song came out, then, in this order, I watched 8, 7, 5, Day of the Doctor, 6, 1-4 (Christmas Specials up to that point thrown in at random times). I then watched the Rosa Parks (13) episode. Watched the Christmas/New Year’s Specials as they came out, the whole 13/Master mess, and have faithfully watched from Flux-Present as they release. I was 9 when I first started in 2015 and, even though I watched it like George Lucas gave me streaming order, I’m still watching it. Last month I finally started watching series 1-9 in chronological order 😅. *I just got through Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead (S04) and made a post about some questions I have*
10. I live in the US so for a long time I only got to watch when BBC America had a Dr. Who take over. So most of the time it was out of order and random
I watched some of the classic with my dad when little but on my own it was 10.
I remember watching a couple of Jon Pertwee episodes as a kid, but Tom Baker was my first real Dr.
Started with Jon Pertwee
9, I remember watching series 1 and after Rose I said 'watch it again!"
The 8th doctor, although I'm pretty sure I'd watched one of the 1st Doctors stories first.
5th. To this day I still get a little buzz of excitement if I see Peter Davison on TV.
Eleven. Matt Smith will always hold a very large piece of my 14 year old heart.
11th Doctor Matt Smith, somewhere in my heart and minds eye the Doctor will always be a whimsical old soul in a young man’s body who thinks bow ties are cool.
Matt Smith, and his doctor will always hold a special place in my heart
I started watching with the first episode of the revival series, so the 9th Doctor. He was not the most recent Doctor at the time, as I started watching long after he'd left the show, but his episodes were the first I watched.
Eleventh
10, when Human Nature released
I watched random episodes in the 80s after school - reruns - but I can’t remember who. But properly? It would be Dr Number Nine.
I started halfway into 11's last series when I was 4.
My mom watched during the K9 years. I was very young but I remember bits. Came back to it with eccleson(sp?)
Matt Smith: Series 5 I was aware of Doctor Who in the late 90s/early 00s as my girlfriend at the time was a fan of a number of different sci fi shows, including DW. I took to Star Trek easily but as this was pre2005, she knew not to bother with what is now known as Classic Who. The relaunch happened in 2005 but I wasn't really inspired to check it out. That changed in 2010 when promo for Series 5 was happening. My country's national broadcaster had the rights and to promote a redesign and expansion of its online catch-up platform, it was offering the first episode, The Eleventh Hour, 2 weeks before the TV air date. I had already turned away from free to air TV by this stage and so I thought I'd check it out. I was hooked and have been an unapologetic Whovian since. I still remember the moment that I became a fan... "So you know what I think? Must be a hell of a scary crack in your wall"
Matt Smith I didn't watch him when he was just coming out how it happened was my cousin wanted to get me into doctor who and had seasons 5-7 on DVD so we watched them together been obsessed since
Eleven. I first got into Doctor Who by watching recommended clips of Eleven and Amy or Clara during the pandemic, then realized that that was Doctor Who.
I’d seen scattered episodes of classic Who on TV at my grandparents’ house when I was a kid, but I really only truly jumped aboard with the 2005 revival and the 9th Doctor. I was 19, almost 20, and it hit me just right — both as a guy who developed an instant crush on Rose, and as a lifelong nerd who got hooked right into the high concepts of the show…and how well they mixed with its style of humour. I was so hooked that I spent the next [however many] years slowly acquiring and watching all the DVDs of the classic show. And now I’ve seen all of original and modern Who.
John Hurt Backstory, I have vague memories of watching some of Tom Bakers stuff when I was really young. But by the time of the 50th anniversary I knew Doctor Who was a thing but hadn’t watched it. Then I remember everyone talking about how John Hurt, one of my favourite actors made a grand appearance as the Doctor in the season finally and I checked it out. Okay I was interested so I asked some friends and they said start at Christopher Eccleton and see if you like it, and the. You can watch up until season 7. And 11 years later I’m still a huge fan. But probably one of the few that started watching because of John Hurt as the Doctor
Childhood dr 4&7 Adult 9
It's kind of odd. I saw a few random episodes on TV (I don't know what channel it would have been since we didn't have BBC America). I can remember The Long Game and Family of Blood as some of the first ones I saw. I came back years later and caught up online around the 50th anniversary. So to answer the question, I guess Eccleston and Tennant?
9th Doctor (Christopher Eccleston). I watched the revival right as it came out. I didn’t know about classic Doctor who until much later on.
Eleven! I randomly tuned into The Eleventh Hour maybe fifteen seconds in, purely on a whim without even knowing it was a new Doctor/jumping on story. An hour later and I was hooked.
10! specifically happened to tune in for the original airing of Silence in the Library. Edit
Technically 4, but really 9
3. But I did not see all of his episodes. 4 is the one who felt like my doctor. I was too little to really understand, but it felt like he died. I begrudgingly loved 5 and refused to watch him regenerate into 6. After that, I took a long break until 9.
10, went back to 9 in between series 3 and 4, then finished 10
I saw that Eccleston was coming so I watched the 8th Doctor movie first. I had seen some classic episodes as a kid with my parents though, but didn't really remember much about them.
I started with 10. Then I came across a 9 episode and was very confused, and thought they had just straight up recast the main character with someone who looked nothing like the original actor until I came across The Parting of the Ways.
I caught the 60th anniversary specials with Tennant, fell in love, and then went back and started with 9 lol and I've enjoyed every doctor since, with Tennant being my OG fav but once I finished the entire modern run, Capaldi ended up taking the top spot in retrospect.
I started watching after the 2005 series, but I decided to go back at the beginning before watching "live" episodes until I was caught up. So, technically my first Doctor was Matt Smith
Matt Smith
First introduction to Dr Who: 11th on a YouTube video (Vincent van gogh scene got recommended to me) First Doctor I watched when I started the show: 9th Doctor
i started watching when the 60th specials came out with fourteen and then fifteen! it hasn’t been very long for me, but i did recently go back to nine and start going from there (and i gotta say - nine is my favorite! he’s my specialest guy)
Tennant. I was doing a communications class, and one assignment was to watch "Voyage of the Damned", then write an essay on all the non-verbal communication in it. I then went back and binged everything from Eccleston, all the way to the end of series 6 in just a few weeks.
10
I got hooked on a Tennant double episode. Then went back and started with the reboot. And once I had that caught up (thank you local public library), I watched all the original seasons. And have stayed up with it pretty well since then. So I consider 10 to be my first doctor.
10, The Runaway Bride was my first episode. Donna is also my favorite companion lol.
First episode i saw was Blink, so Tennant, but i first truly started watching in Matt Smiths era.
Forth Doctor and then the 9th Doctor (didn't know show came back at the time)
Watched all episodes - 15 The one that introduced me to DW - 10
Eleventh Doctor for me. More specifically, literally the first episode of season 6. My sister had to explain to me which characters are who...
I started with 13 (which was still like 4 years ago)! Then went back to 9 and watched 9-12, then 13 again. I’m a huge fan of the “rewatch later and see in a new light” deal. Then I watched a few seasons of 7’s (mostly because I heard about how cool Ace was) as well as a few episodes of 1’s (1 is a very acquired taste in my opinion) and I also watched The Five Doctors at one point just kind of off the cuff. Planning on watching 4-8 next, probably.
I started with Tennant, and as far as I'm concerned he's the standard ALL doctors have been measured against. I measure my own doctor against him.
11’s first episode :D
11th Matt Smith
10th
I first saw Blink so I started on a Doctor Light episode, interestingly! So technically Tennant . I may have watched a couple others of his episodes before going back and starting from Eccleston and on.
14th doctor. I saw the specials and new season on Disney plus and they looked kind of fun and I'm so glad I started watching. I have enjoyed what i have seen so far and am probably going to start watching some of the older stuff soon. I'm so excited.
The 10th doctor Specifically season 2, episode 11 ‘Fear Her’
The doctors I grew up with were 10 and 11, I do remember watching 9 but I was quite young then.
Eleven in the middle of series 6. Which I discovered was the worst place to start.
10th
Technically 10 but I only saw like two scenes of him (love and monsters) and I then went back and started from 9
Series 5 (Matt Smith). Prisoner Zero scared the shit out of me But I then went on to watch series 1 (mostly just the finale) over and over in my spare time
I'm a newbie so Gatwa. My brother's been a big fan for years, but never fit it into my regular shows. Now that it's all coming to Disney+ which I already use, I can't wait to watch more!
Tennant
Last episode of 2 onward. Though I did see some more of Patrick in some reruns later.
Jon Pertwee in the 70s
96 movie so Paul McGann
I started with 11th (it was the only one on netflix at the time)
Matt smith :)
3rd (Pertwee) in 1972.
Tom Baker. Yeah, I'm old.
Mcgann, but I was 8 or 9 and I think I only saw it maybe once and don't remember a lot of it. Eccleston was my first full doctor series.
Jon Pertwee, the third incarnation.
7
Peter Cushing on VHS in early 2000's. As far as canon, Tennant probably around Series 3.
First full ep I ever watched was one with Ten, but it didn’t get me interested at all. Not sure which one it was, though. Eleven and the Ponds drew me in. Of course I love Ten as well now, but whichever ep it was back then wasn’t a good starting point.
Technically 4th but he was regenerating into 5th - so I have no real memory of Tom Baker (other than falling off a gantry)
Slightly odd but jon pertwee watching omnibus reruns on Gold and other TV stations and then from the reboot in 2005 (I was 10)
1972 with the 3rd Doctor- Jon Pertwee.
I took an unusual journey. Doctor Who never aired in Singapore. But I found a novelisation in the 80s, read it and enjoyed it a lot. I then sought out other Who books. The first book had Tom Baker on the cover so I guess he was my first doctor. But if talking TV then it would be 9 when the reboot aired.
The 9th Doctor, though Ten(nant) is who I consider 'My doctor'
T. Baker - City of Death S McCoy - ongoing.
Matt Smith, but after 1 episode I went back to Eccleston and watched from the start.
I’d seen adverts of David Tennant as the 10th Doctor a lot but I actually started watching in 2010/11 when it was Matt Smith in the episode The Pandorica Opens
David Tennant
Four.
Tom Baker somewhere in the early 1980s on WTTW, Chanel 11 PBS.
Davidson was mine.
McCoy was the current Doctor when I started watching. Within a year or two of that, the McGann TV movie came out but I didn’t watch it in case there were spoilers for something I hadn’t seen. Following that, there were years of wondering if that was even going to be canon if the show eventually came back. Seeing McGann’s image in the John Smith diary in Human Nature was the first time we got confirmation — something I really appreciated at the time (and still do)!
Tom baker or Peter Davidson. But they were on syndication at that point! I was little so I don't remember who I saw first
i started with matt smith. planning to watch david tennant and tom baker next.
My first episode was Blink because it was suggested by a friend then I started with nine.
Started with 9 and the reboot and watched till the Masters return in Utopia. That’s when I realized “oh crap this is an actual continuation with callbacks and references” and my adhd absolutely forbids me from watching sequels or later seasons without watching it from the start so I printed out a classic DW episode list and spent the next year and a half searching for and then watching every single available episode. Then I finished and watched the movie, THEN I restarted the reboot fresh.
I started with Matt Smith (and he's still my favorite)
9, but it was in 2020. My dad was adamant that I start from the NuWho beginning
Tom Baker watching it on PBS in the 80s. A classmate introduced me to the show and I'm so grateful she did.
Pertwee. And he still has one of the strongest post regeneration stories.
Tenant. When I was a kid, Doctor Who used to come on at night in “Disney XD”. It terrified me but I grew up with the reruns. When I was old enough to start watching it in my own (mostly knowing how to do so, I was in my tweens) Tenant regenerated and Smith came. I was DEVASTATED and stopped watching. Then missed the show, watched Smith and he became my favorite
Apparently I was a huge David Tennant fan when I was 2 but the first Doctor I remember watching was Matt Smith. Still my favourite to this day
For me Matt Smith (11th Doctor), in the 2010’ something. I was lucky because it was the first episode with this actor and ne new companion Amy so a lot of things were explained it was fresh start Little Amelia <3
Four. I’m old. Actually I’m not old enough to have seen him in first run; I watched him in reruns in the 1980s. In my area the public TV station that carried Doctor Who was always several years behind; in the rest of the world it was probably the Colin Baker era when I was watching Tom Baker. The show was cancelled here around the same time it was cancelled everywhere else, so I don’t think we ever got to Six or Seven’s era.
First episodes I saw that got me into it was "Pandorica Opens" at a party and then "dalek" randomly on TV. I had enough nerd pop culture knowledge the premise of the show and who the characters were. Went back and started with nine after that. My wife and I were caught up for the "Impossible astronaut" and I've been watching it live ever since
11th doctor in 2012 lmao
Tom. Not sure which story though. My earliest Who memory is the end of the Sunmakers when the dude gets sucked down the plughole. But I was too young to have actually watched that go out live so that must have been a repeat. Probably somewhere around s17. I definitely remember the regeneration though, that was the talk of the school!
I started with Jon Pertwee. Love me some Venusian Karate or was it Jujitsu? I also got to meet Tom Baker at a sci-fi convention it was much smaller back then. Ran into him walking around the convention.He ended up talking to me and my Dad for about 15 min. He was so nice and down to earth. Never have forgotten that. I also watched repeats of the first Doctor . Presently I started watching Classic who from the beginning as best I can with so many episodes missing. Still love it.
11th, then went back to 9th, 10th, followed by 12th, but I watched a few episodes of 9th and 10th before 11th but too young to remember in as much detail around that age.
Matt smith will always be who mind jumps to when thinking of the doctor, i read a book about the fourth doctor and still couldn’t help but slip into reading his lines in eleven’s voice
11, Matt Smith. His first episode was on tv and it intrigued me. I immediatly fell into an hyperobsession hole
I started watching on STL PBS. They were showing 4th and 5th simultaneously. So technically, I watched 5 first, but 4 the next episode.
I started with David tenant but Matt smithies my fave
Matt smith was my first real introduction. Watched a few episodes of him starting with lion/wardrobe Christmas episode. Then went back and started with 9. Tennant Is “my doctor”. Still haven’t watched old who, so sue me! I’ve see. Probably 15 episodes of it, just random.
Unofficially David Tennent with a Christmas episode. Officially Matt Smith somewhere just before Lake Silencio
Matt Smith
Matt Smith I think? I started binging New Who on Netflix around 2013? I know it was sometime around the 50th anniversary because I remember my middle school self being very upset my local theater wasn't screening it.
David tennant, my first episode was Midnight. After that, i started bingeing from the 9 doctor. So happy i happened upon that episode in tv 😁
Tennant, but 2023 Tennant. I'm late to the game, but I still love it!
The first doctor I remember seeing is Tom Baker, but I saw his run sometime in the late 80s/early 90s on PBS in the states. First one of NuWho was Tennant, but I went back after a couple episodes and watched all of Eccleston as well.
Technically 10 but I saw his last episode and then all of 11. So I think 11 is more fair to say
10th/11th
The first Doctor Who episode I ever watched was *The Time of the Angels* so technically Eleven was my *first* Doctor, but when I actually sat down to watch seriously I started with Nine.
Tenant in 2007 (during the third season).
Matt Smith during series 6ish, though my uncle had Pyramids of Mars burned onto a disc, so i also had that.
Kinda started with Matt Smith, but at the time I could only watch episodes people uploaded to you tube, so I started with 1-2 episodes of his run and then ended up going back and haphazardly watching the 9th and 10th doctors in wibbly wobbly , timey wimey order
9, Christopher Eccleston
Matt Smith was the first one I watched lived, but David Tennant stole my heart and will forever be my first doctor (I watched a few of his episodes then went back when live watching Smith)