Doctor Who’s best modern series revealed
Fans have voted in their thousands over the past few weeks, and a clear winner has emerged
After weeks of voting, thousands of fans taking part and a LOT of tough match-ups, RadioTimes.com’s search for the most popular Doctor Who series of the modern era (i.e. post-2005) has found a clear winner.
Following a final round face-off with Christopher Eccleston’s series one which attracted 11,000 votes, it was David Tennant’s series four – AKA the 2008 series also starring Catherine Tate – that won the day, taking a massive 75 per cent of the vote in the last battle.
And perhaps this should be no surprise. Regularly cited as one of the high points for modern Doctor Who, series four had dominated our polls over the two-month voting period, trouncing its opponents in every round no matter which series it came up against.
Series four also won a similar vote run by RadioTimes.com in 2018 (followed by series one in second place), suggesting that the position of fans has become relatively entrenched in the decade or so since it aired.
Originally airing during the height of David Tennant’s popularity as the Tenth Doctor, series four saw the Doctor and Donna (Tate) face new creatures like the Hath, the Adipose and the Vashta Nerada as well as old favourites like the Ood and the Cybermen, while also visiting significant historical periods that saw them exploring pre-volcano Pompeii and meeting Agatha Christie.
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The series (which was presided over by Russell T Davies) is also notable for the inclusion of fan-favourite episodes like Midnight, Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead, Partners in Crime and Turn Left, as well as the epic finale The Stolen Earth/ Journey’s End.
Following this, Tennant returned for a series of extended specials that brought his era of Doctor Who to a close, and his Doctor remains fondly remembered by Who fans and the general public to this day, which may also have influenced the voting.
Around 55,000 votes were counted in total during the various rounds of voting, which began with weekly head-to-head group stages from March 23rd, pitting all 12 modern series against each other before the winners faced off in two three-way semi-finals.
The two winners of those rounds – Christopher Eccleston’s 2005 series and Tennant’s 2008 series – were then placed against each other on Monday 18th May, with the 2008 series emerging the winner.
Doctor Who returns to BBC One in late 2020/early 2021. If you're looking for more to watch, check out our TV guide.
