Culturess’ Official Ranking of Doctors in Doctor Who

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Image via BBC

4. Second Doctor: Patrick Troughton

Troughton doesn’t get nearly enough love in my book. This often forgotten and overlooked Doctor in the canon suffers for many of the same reasons the First Doctor does. His episodes are in black and white. Many of them are lost, because the BBC never thought to bother archiving such a silly little show way back in the 1960s. They’re not even really episodes of television the way we understand them today—they’re more “televised stage plays” that draw from the world of vaudeville and silent movies.

But without Troughton, there would be no Doctor Who as we know it today. When Hartnell became too ill to continue on in the role, the concept of “regeneration” was created. The character was allowed to change, not just in look, but in behavior. The Doctor that Troughton invented was 100% different than the bumbling old weirdo of the First Doctor.

Now, for the first time, he was the star of his own show. He was both the hero and the bumbler, and proved that the Doctor could be both, and make it work. It helped enormously that his companion, Jamie McCrimmon, was one of the five best companions the series ever had, the top male companion to ever ride in the TARDIS. Jamie’s combination of stereotypical male hero mixed with technological innocence allowed Troughton’s Doctor to be both the eccentric and yet the smartest one in the room. It was the perfect combination, and the one that’s lasted.