Doctor Who Series 9 Episode Ranking
- SimplyWho
- Sep 10
- 4 min read
Updated: Oct 17
It is time to give my ranking for every episode of series 9 of Doctor Who. Will there be any surprises? Any dark horses for the title? Or will it obviously be Heaven Sent at the top? Find out below.
I wonder what people who never watch Doctor Who thought when they tuned into this on Christmas day? I mean there is no law saying you have to make a Christmas special anyone can hop on and watch. This was much like series 9, in that you had to have some knowledge of the show to watch to fully appreciate it.
Little did I know at the time that this would be the start of my favourite TARDIS team. Twelve, Bill and Nardole - with a bit of Missy sprinkled on the top.
I think this is a good gauge of what I think about this series, as I really like this episode. It was only let down by a pretty cack villain, but I guess the villain wasn't really all that important to this.
Not as bad as first feared. I have never gone back to this episode until I rewatched the whole of modern Who. I was worried I was going to hate it. Maybe I am getting old, but it wasn't too bad. It tried something different and that is what Doctor Who is good at. I think its main problem was it suffered from being jammed in a series full of two-parters, so it felt a bit rushed.
This will always be memorable for the ending. I'm the Doctor, and I save people. Goosebumps!! This is very similar to The Woman Who Lived in that the villain is a bit rubbish and merely a background presence for the real stuff going down. Doctor Who is usually better when their is a good villain in my opinion, but that isn't to say this was a poor episode. I loved a lot of it, and Peter Capaldi is awesome as always.
This was a great two-parter, and Under the Lake set things up nicely for one of my favourite episodes of the series. As cliffhangers go, the Doctor dying is never a great one - we all know the Doctor won't die. That didn't take anything away from the episode though.
I really enjoyed this. I agree with the Doctor completely, dropping bombs on anyone is never the right thing to do. I think it resonated more with the times we are living in now. Pricks threatening pricks, with no real thought for the people they are meant to serve. It was weird that it was women doing all the threatening in this - as let's face it, it is always a pathetic, cowardly white man that sends the orders in the real world.
Oh Missy, you're so fine, you're so fine you blow my mind! Hey Missy! Hey Missy! What a character Missy is, she steals the show as always, even with Davros, the Daleks and Skaro being back. A great opener to the series.
Iconic speech! Underrated episode!
Something else that is underrated. Hell Bent is an episode I am glad I came back to having watched everything in order. It may seem that Clara's ending was a bit of a washout, but I enjoyed her arc with Capaldi, and I think it was a fitting end for her. Whether fucking off with Ashildr was the right move? Who knows.
I suspect people wanted Time Lords and fights, and explosions. Plus a huge Dalek/Time Lord Hybrid thing. But what we got was a story about the Doctor going too far to save Clara, and what the pair of them mean to each other, and the Universe. The Time Lords are a bit shit if we are being honest anyway!
Would this have been a better end for Clara? That is up for debate. This is still amazing, and I remember being so shocked when Clara went at the end of this. I assumed she would leave at the end of the series. She did leave at the end of the series of course, but that was beside the point.
I love Rigsy as a character, so it was a pleasure to have him back. Maisie Williams is great as Ashildr. The end, when the Doctor loses his shit is something special. Chills!
Cass and Lunn's kiss was everything to me. Such an underrated moment. I enjoyed the bootstrap paradox, I bloody loved Twelve talking to me about the bootstrap paradox. Peter Capaldi plays the theme tune on guitar, creepy ghosts, a likeable cast of side characters. This had a lot of good shit going on!
Missy is an icon! Davros is an amazing villain. Twelve is settled into his roll. This is banging.
I couldn't not could I? I would say this is peak Capaldi/Moffat, but I think there is even better to come. That said, this is so good. The look, the feel, the writing, the acting. Just an unbelievable fifty odd minutes of television - let alone Doctor Who.
How would you rank the series 9 episodes? Let me know in the comments below.
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