I created the Doctor Who In Significantly Fewer Episodes list several years ago, in response to a Facebook request about how to watch the series without Watching The Entire Series. I even watched much of the abbrevriated seasons that I created myself, and thought they were great.

In late 2019, I started dating someone who wanted to see Doctor Who without having to watch The Entire Series, and took it as an additional experiment to see if my order worked. We didn't make it far into the classic series before he tuned out. The episodes are Super Long (they're all serials that end up being movie length or LoTR movie length) and they're, you know, mid-twentieth century sci-fi, so you have to be either really nostalgic or in the proper mood.

When we moved into the modern era, he got really into it. Although, like me, he's a completist, and wanted to watch All Of The Episodes. Until we watched two that weren't on my list. Now he's okay with just watching the good stuff. And, for the most part, my list has held up. But I have added and dropped a few episodes for clearer story structure, and I've also removed some episodes because, apart from sentimental moments, they didn't really hold up as well I remembered.

It's still a very subjective list, but one that, I believe, makes a great condensed series of Doctor Who episodes.

Here are the basics everyone should know before getting involved: The show is about an alien time traveler. He takes companions, almost always humans, with him as he explores time and space. The companions change frequently, and in this series format, you sometimes get no closure. You might love a particular companion in one episode, and, in the next, they've been replaced by people you have no context for. Also, when The Doctor gets very ill, his appearance changes. By which, I mean, he is portrayed by an entirely different actor.  This is a cool concept, but it can be jarring at first. It will happen Fourteen Times over the course of these twelve seasons.

Last season was all about grief and getting over the terrible things you've done in life. We met Clara, several times, we wondered who she was, we found out, we moved on, The Doctor regenerated, he was cranky, Clara has started to decranky him, we moved on. This season follows their adventures together, and features one of the most fun multiple Time Lord stories in the show's history.

Episode 1: The Girl Who Died
(12, Clara, Ashilde, The Maya)
45 minutes

The Doctor. Clara. Aliens. Time travel. Death. The usual. Surely there will be no consequences spinning out of this perfectly fine, but not remarkably interesting episode.


Episode 2: The Zygon Invasion
(12, Clara, Osgood, Kate Stewart, Zygons)
90 minutes

It's a reunion for pretty much all the non-Timelord characters (except The Doctor) from Day Of The Doctor. Have The Zygons broken their treaty with humanity? Will companions and beloved recurring characters die? (Wait, didn't one or two of them die in Death In Heaven? I guess not Very Much.) It's all sorts of mistaken identity hijinks with the greatest doppelganger aliens in the franchise.


Episode 3: Face The Raven
(12, Clara, Ashilde, Rigsy, Judoon, Ood, Ice Warriors, Silurians, Cybermen, Sontarans)
45 minutes

Oh, hey, it's that immortal young woman from the series premiere! She has her own place now, and seems to be running it very well. She's clearly up to something that doesn't involve The Doctor and...OH SHIT. EVERYTHING GOES WRONG. SO VERY VERY WRONG. 


Episode 4: Heaven Sent
(12)
45 minutes

For the first time since the inception of the series, this episode features almost no one except The Doctor. He is being menaced by...something, but this is ALL Peter Capaldi as The Doctor on his own trying to figure out where he is, and if he can undo the events of the previous episodes. In my opinion, it's one of the best episodes in the history of the series.


Episode 5: Hell Bent
(12, Clara, Timelords, Sisterhood of Karn, Rassilon, Daleks, Weeping Angels, Cybermen)
45 minutes

The Doctor is Very Cross about the last two episodes, and goes to Gallifrey to make The Time Lord Assholes suffer. Previous villains abound, as The Doctor Shall Have His Revenge.


Episode 6: Husbands Of River Song
(12, River, Nardole)
60 minutes

A couple of seasons ago, The Doctor married River Song. It's all very wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey. And the episode was really stupid, so we skipped it. But it happened. Well, this version of The Doctor runs into River on her own adventure, and she is married to...perhaps several other people. Don't worry, there's no slut shaming, or pro or anti polygamy stances taken. It's just that The Doctor is desperate for River Song to recognize him, and she has no idea who he is.


Episode 7: Pilot
(12, Bill, Nardole, Heather, Daleks)
45 minutes

The Doctor seems to have retired to Earth to become a college professor. Another staff member realizes there's something very unusual about him, and decides to get involved in his life. Thus, he gets involved in hers, and, voila, meet the new companion, Bill.


Episode 8: Smile
(12, Bill, Nardole, Vardy)
45 minutes

The Doctor and Bill go to a human colony on another planet where something has gone wrong. This is actually what seems to happen on every companion's second adventure with The Doctor, but I've skipped all the rest of them because they weren't very good. This one, involving some creepy emoji robots, is a fun little adventure.


Episode 9: Oxygen
(12, Bill, Nardole)
45 minutes

The Doctor and Bill go to space! Capitalism is bad! Space future is tough! The Doctor is good! Bill is human! Capitalism is bad! Space adventures are fun!


Episode 10: Extemis
(12, Bill, Nardole, Missy,The Monks)
45 minutes

The last episode ended with what seems like a radical change for The Doctor going forward. But he needs to fix that change, while not letting Bill know it has taken place. Meanwhile The Vatican has asked The Doctor to read a text that causes all humans that read it to end their own lives. This is part of a trilogy that we won't come back to. And the A story is just kind of okay. But the B story brings Missy back into the fold, and that's definitely worth the watch.


Holiday Special: World Enough And Time / The Doctor Falls
145 minutes
(12, Bill, Nardole, Missy, The Master, Cybermen)

It's the final part of Steven Moffat's era of Doctor Who. Will Missy continue her journey to be a good person when she's literally confronted by her past in the form of her previous incarnation, The Master? Is Bill Pots the first Cyberman? Are we stuck with Nardole for much longer? (He really is The Worst.) Is The Twelfth Doctor seriously going to regenerate into The First Doctor again? I guess it would be kind of cool if the whole series ended up being cyclical. Right?

A few years ago, I was asked to come up with a Doctor Who In 50 Episodes List on Facebook. For people who wanted to get really into the series without getting Super Really Into The Series.  With over fifty years worth of episodes, the prospect of becoming a fan of Doctor Who can be completely daunting.

I've compiled this list of episodes that I like, so it's very subjective. I have tried to make it so that there is a rough arc to the seasons. I don't give a fuck about episodes that are historically important, this is a guide intended to make you Like The Series, not be an Expert On The Series.

Here are the basics you should know: The show is about an alien time traveler. He takes companions, almost always humans, with him as he explores time and space. The companions change frequently, and in this guide, you sometimes get no closure. You might love a particular companion in one episode, and, in the next, they've been replaced by people you have no context for. Also, when The Doctor gets very ill, his appearance changes. By which, I mean, he is portrayed by an entirely different actor.  This is a cool concept, but it can be jarring at first. It will happen Thirteen Times over the course of these eleven seasons.

Last season we saw the end of Torchwood's story arc, the satisfying and optimistic end of Amy & Rory's time with The Doctor. This season should be a clean slate of adventuring with no continuity or storyarcs hanging over The Doctor's head except for his own. Ahhhh, glorious new beginnings.

Episode 1: Asylum Of The Daleks
​(11, Amy, Rory, Clara, Daleks)
45 minutes

It turns out that we're not done with Rory & Amy yet, and their lives have turned Bleak. And full of Daleks. The Doctor is reunited with his former companions by a Congress of Daleks who need The Doctor to go to the surface of Skaro, their home planet, and save them from their own maddest Daleks. It turns out, due to the whole cracks in time thing from Season Eight, they don't appear to have any idea who he is. And that's not the biggest surprise in this episode.


Episode 2: Angels Take Manhattan
(11, Amy, Rory, River, Weeping Angels)
45 minutes

Rory, Amy, and their precocious time-traveling daughter River Song get sucked into mid-twentieth century Earth where The Weeping Angels are seriously fucking up the timeline. I'm sure their involvement will mean everything ends up a-ok, and no one will be sad.


Episode 3: The Snowmen
(11, Clara, Vastra, Flint, Strax, The Great Intelligence)
60 minutes

The Doctor has gone all broody sadsack again, and he's living in colonial times with The Paternoster gang, occasionally helping them solve mysteries. But a giant mystery in the form of Soufle girl from Asylum of The Daleks lands in his path, and he must discover how this Impossible Girl has come back into his life.


Episode 4: The Bells Of Saint John
(11, Clara, Great Intelligence)
45 minutes

Clara is alive. Again. And in modern times. Someone gave her The Doctor's number, and now he is determined not to let her die again again. The main plot of the episode involving wifi is on the extra cheesy side, but this is a good introduction to Clara in her finalish form. And it fits into a smooth, if not very interesting, Great Intelligence arc.


Episode 5: Name Of The Doctor
(11, War Doctor, Clara, River, Vastra, Flint, Strax, Great Intelligence, Whisper Men)
45 minutes

The Doctor, Clara, The Paternoster Gang, and River Song all end up on Trenzalore, which is where The Doctor is said to be buried.  The Great Intelligence, from the last episode, need the Doctor's name so they can go into the timestream and wreak havoc on The Doctor's timeline. We also find out why Clara is The Impossible Girl, which was a huge, exhausting, and complex season long storyarc if you were watching all the episodes she appeared in, but distilled down to the three episodes in this continuity is a satisfying, fun mystery.


Episode 6: The Day Of The Doctor
(10, 11, War Doctor, 4, Clara, Rose, Osgood, Kate Stewart, Elizabeth, Zygons, Daleks, Time Lords)
77 minutes

Waaaaaay back in Season Six, there started to be allusions to The Time War, a big terrible battle between Time Lords and Daleks that fucked up the entire universe. Since then, we've seen The Daleks a bunch of times, but only had to deal with Those Asshole Time Lords (apart from The Master) once. Welllll, welcome to The Time War. It's going to take three of The Doctors to figure out how to save Gallifrey and undo the damage they did in The Time War originally. Or...hold up...is THIS the damage they did in the Time War that they've been grumbling about? Unlike classic multi-Doctor episodes, we don't get every Doctor showing up with one of their companions to fill us with nostalgia, but there are some surprise cameos, including The Zygons, who we've not seen since Season Two.

Episode 7: Time Heist
(12, Clara, Danny)
45 minutes

WOAH THERE! This time The Doctor really did regenerate offscreen? For our purposes, yes. There was actually an episode after Day Of The Doctor where we see The Doctor regenerate into this new face, but it is FUCKEN AWFUL, and we don't have time for that crap. We're also mainly skipping over the whole The Doctor has a new face and doesn't know how to be who he used to be, how will we ever get used to him. We're launching right into an adventure where The Doctor and Clara have to rob a bank or else be slaughtered by the bankers. Weird twists abound!


Episode 8: The Caretaker
(12, Clara, Danny, Missy, Seb)

The Doctor goes Deep Undercover. In the school where Clara and Danny work. Which just so happens to be the school that Barbara and Ian worked out way way way way way back in Season One.  Nothing unusual could ever happen there. Also, The Doctor and Danny get along about as well as The Doctor and Mickey, or The Doctor and Rory.


Episode 9: Dark Water/Death In Heaven
(12, Clara, Kate Stewart, Osgood, Danny, Missy, Seb, Cybermen) 
90 minutes

Clara's got a boyfriend! Clara's got a boyfriend! Annnnnnd, he's dead. Sad Clara and Cantankerous The Doctor go to the afterlife to find out what happened to him, and end up running into Cybermen and an old foe with a new face. You're not the only one who can regenerate, Doctor face.


Episode 10: The Magician's Apprentice/The Witch's Familiar
(12, Clara, Kate Stewart, Missy, Davros, Daleks)
​90 minutes

Clara ends up teaming up with The Doctor's foe from the last episode in order to survive Davros and The Daleks. This episode actually reaches all the way back to an off-hand remark from Genesis Of The Daleks to explain why The Doctor didn't just kill All The Daleks and put an end to this millennia ago (although I guess he did, temporarily, in The Time War, but we've dealt with that already, get over it).


Holiday Special: Under The Lake/Before The Flood
(12, Clara, Tivolans)
90 minutes

The Doctor, Clara, and...ghosts...under water? It's another adventure where The Doctor tries to save a bunch of people from something he doesn't understand. And Clara is trying to get this The Doctor to be less cantankerous. He is, seriously, Colin Baker/William Hartnell rude, not at all the modern Doctor we had gotten used to. Maybe solving this mystery will make him more agreeable. Probably not.

Serial 1: Children Of Earth
(Jack, Gwen, Ianto, Rhys, Frobisher, The 456)
5 episodes, total of 225 minutes

Yikes. What do you do when ALL the children on the planet stop moving at the same time, and start delivering, in unison, a message from aliens? What do you do if you're a government who knows who these aliens are and what they want? What do you do when those aliens want 10% of the children left on the planet, or they will kill everyone?

This miniseries is Dark As Hell. And even though there was another miniseries, this serves as a perfect ending point for the Torchwood series, and is, as mentioned in the season description, one of the best things to ever come out of the Doctor Who franchise.


Episode 6: The Doctor's Wife
(11, Amy, Rory)
45 minutes

Returning to The Doctor's adventures, we're reunited with Amy and Rory as The Doctor is called to an unknown planet. Is it possible that other Time Lords have survived the Time War? Welllllll, maybe, but this is mainly the story of The Doctor and one of the most important parts of his life that we often see, but which is rarely addressed.


Serial 3: The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People
(11, Amy, Rory, Gangers, Madame Kovarian)
90 minutes

The Doctor, Amy & Rory end up in a the nearish future where Not Autons but kind of sort of Autons are created to keep humans from getting killed in industrial accidents. Of course, being a science fiction story, this goes Horribly Wrong, and it's up to The Doctor and his "ganger" (a synthetic duplicate of himself) to teach everyone lessons and save the bloody day.


Episode 8: The Girl Who Waited
(11, Amy, Rory)
45 minutes

If I've learned anything from sitting down and watching Star Trek, it's Never Take Shore Leave, Never Go To The Planet Where Everything's Fine And Go Hang Out At The Water Park Or The Laser Tag Planet Or Whatever, because something there has gone horribly awry, or there is a serial killer there, or both. This is a particularly devastating character study episode where things sort or turn out fine in the end, and yet its resolution is still emotionally gutting.


Serial 9: The Good Man Goes To War/Demon's Run
(11, Amy, Rory, River, Vastra, Flint, Strax, Mme Kovarian, Maldovar, Headless Monks, Cybermen)
55 minutes

A cult called The Headless Monks have been working behind the scenes in the last few episodes and have been seriously messing with one of The Doctor's companions. River Song steps in to help save the day, and finally reveal who she is, and why she keeps popping up along The Doctor's timeline. We also get to watch the founding of The Paternoster Gang.

Episode 10: God Complex 
(11, Amy, Rose, Weeping Angels, Tivolians)
45 minutes

Holy Hell, we're at the end of the season already? Wowsers. The Doctor & Companions end up at a spooky hotel that kills everyone who enters it. Yaaaaaaaay! It's even a labyrinthian hotel, and the thing that kills you is a minotaur. Take that, tropes! Again, it's mostly a character study, and while not quite as devastating as the previous episode, we do say goodbye to Amy & Rory forever, as they end up with one of the most optimistic endings for The Doctor's companions ever.


Holiday Special: The Wedding Of River Song
(11, Amy, Rose, River, Mme Kavorian, Maldovar, The Silence)

This is mostly a resolution of plot points from last season's Holiday Special ("The Impossible Astronaut"/|"Day Of The Moon") and "A Good Man Goes To War". It's also an alternate timeline adventure, so we get to see familiar characters in new and exciting roles. It's not My Favorite Episode by a longshot, but it's a nice coda to the River, Rory and Amy saga from this season.

Serial 1: Silence In The Library/Forest Of The Dead
(10, Donna, River, Vashta Nerada)
90 minutes

The Doctor and Donna are trapped in a library where the shadows are filled with space piranha. But they're rescued by someone from The Doctor's past and future. Unfortunately, he has no idea who she is.
 

Episode 2: Turn Left
(10, Donna, Rose, Wilfred, Sylvia, Trickster)
45 minutes

While The Doctor peruses a flea market, Donna is forced to relive her life as if she had never met The Doctor, thus dooming the world several times over. But one of The Doctor's former companions swoops in to help save the day. For now.


Serial 3: The Stolen Earth/Journey's End
(10, Donna, Rose, Sara Jane, Mickey, Jack, Martha, Gwen, Ianto, K-9, Jackie,Wilfred, Sylvia, Harriet, Luke, Francine, Davros, Daleks)
90 minutes

So much happens in this episode. The Daleks from Doomsday. Davros. Every companion from the modern series, and some from the classic series. Even the woodwork comes out of the woodwork to help The Doctor when the Daleks steal Earth and a variety of other planets in their attempt to kill everything Not Dalek. At the end all of the companions are dispersed. Now, we've seen companions evicted from the TARDIS, killed by Cybermen, abandoned in alternate dimensions, and returned to the entirely wrong part of England, but this episode gets my voice for most heartbreaking removal of a companion ever. 


Serial 4: The Wedding Of Sarah Jane
(10, Sara Jane, Luke, K-9, Clyde, Trickster)
56 minutes

The Trickster, who was somehow involved in Turn Left, has devised a plot to trap Sarah Jane Smith out of time. Luckily, The Doctor shows up, and he and Sarah Jane's army of children set out to rescue her.


Serial 5: The Waters Of Mars
(10)
60 minutes

Lonely Doctor is usually a scary Doctor. But when he shows up at a Fixed Point In Time, he sticks around to see an important historical moment that he's not allowed to change. This is the last time we'll see 10 this season. I originally had his farewell episode "The End Of Time" on this list, but upon further watching it's pretty terrible. There are some great Goodbye Moments at the every end of the episode, but I think I'd rather graft them on at the beginning of the next epiode than make someone sit through the confusing and disappointing final moments of 10.


Episode 6: The Eleventh Hour
(11, Amy, Rory, Prisoner Zero, Atraxi)
45 minutes

The new face of The Doctor is the youngest yet, and he encounters a young girl with cracks in her wall that do not sit well with him. How is he going to fix this shit?


Episode 7: The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood
(11, Amy, Rory, Silurians)
90 mins

The Doctor and his new companions' vacation in Rio turns into a mining hill disaster when a drill reaches further beneath the Earth' surface than anything has ever gone before, and ends up disturbing a classic Doctor Who species. Also, that pesky crack in the wall appears to be ... following them. 


Episode 8: Vincent & The Doctor
(11, Amy, Vincent, Krafayis)
45 minutes

The Doctor and Cracks In The Wall Girl (now a woman) go back and visit a depressed Vincent Van Gogh. There are some alien shenanigans, for sure, but this episode is about being human, and trying to help the mentally ill. It's fucken great.


Episode 9: The Lodger
(11, Amy, Craig, Silence)
45 minutes

Separated from Cracks In The Wall Girl, The Doctor moves in with the Carpool Karaoke Guy (no, really), and completely ruins his life by trying to be a decent human being and a good friend.  Also, aliens kill a bunch of people.


Serial 10: The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang
(11, Amy, Rory, River, Vincent, Daleks, Cybermen, Judoon, Cybermen 
90 minutes

Soooo...about those cracks in the wall. Shit. It turns out. Maaaaaaybe. Possibly they're The Doctor's fault. And a whole mess of alien villains (The Cybermen, The Daleks, The Sontarans, and The Judoon to name a few) have to stop The Doctor before he destroys all of time. Oh, and that lady from the library is back to help him out. She's way more of a badass than he is, sweety.


Holiday Special: The Impossible Astronaut
(11, Amy, Rory, River, The Silence)

Along with The Weeping Angels and River Song, The Silence are one of the coolest things Steven Moffat introduced to The Doctor Who Universe. He built a whole season around them. Unfortunately, the season is mostly terrible and unsatisfying. But their first appearance is creepy, and worth a look. Plus, this episode sets up some interesting problems for Amy and Rory going forward.

Interseason Special, Episode 0: The Runaway Bride
(10, Donna, Wilfred, Sylvia, Racnoss)

Modern Doctor Who regularly (but not consistently) presents a Christmas or New Year's Special between seasons. We're going to take a page out of this book to give you the adventures of The Doctor and Donna Noble, who showed up in the TARDIS at the end of last season. We get an explanation, an adventure, and The Most Over The Top Villain so far in the series. It's really not one of the greatest episodes ever, but it makes Donna's abrupt appearance later this season much more fun.

Episode 1: Everything Changes
(Jack, Gwen, Ianto, Owen, Tashiko, Suzie, Rhys, Andy, Weevils)
50 minutes

A Welsh detective stumbles on to an alien conspiracy involving Jack Harkness, The Doctor's companion, who we last saw in The Parting Of Ways. He has an elite team of alien fighters, and a drug called Retcon that can wipe people's memories. I'm sure this will end well.


Episode 2: They Keep Killing Suzie
(Jack, Gwen, Ianto, Owen, Tashiko, Suzie)
53 minutes

Now that The Welsh Detective is a part of Torchwood, she has to use one of their sciency toys to resurrect a dead former teammate to solve a series of grisly murders that all seem to involve Retcon. Somebody done Fucked Up.


Episode 3: Smith & Jones
(10, Martha, Francine, Tish, Leo, Clive, Judoon)
45 minutes

Hey! It's The Doctor again. He's been wandering solo and off the radar for a while, but he's popped over to Earth just in time for some Moon shenanigans, and to meet Doctor Martha Jones. Welcome new companion, may your fate be less depressing than that of your predecessors.


Serial 4: Human Nature/Family Of Blood
(10, Martha, Family Of Blood)
90 minutes

In order to hide from some vindictive aliens, The Doctor has to forget who he is, and live as a human in the days leading up to World War I. Martha lives out the Louis CK routine about how time travel sucks if you're not White. And there's even a little kid who has The Shining or some shit. Can Martha keep John Smith safe, or will she have to reveal to him that he's The Doctor so they can survive The Family Of Blood.


Episode 5: Blink
(10, Martha, Weeping Angels)
45 minutes

One of the best episodes ever. The birth of wibbley-wobbley, timey-wimey, as a regular old non-companion human must defeat a new type of alien menace in order to return the TARDIS to The Doctor and Martha, whom she has never met, but who are trapped somewhere in The Past. 


Serial 6: End Of Days/Utopia
(10, Jack, Martha, Ianto, Owen, Toshiko, Rhys, Andy, The Master, Weevils)
95 minutes

Shit has been going down at TORCHWOOD, coworkers are hooking up, members of the team are dying, Jack is being even weirder than usual, and The Rift is going slitheenshit. Jack is in the midst of deciding what to do with his team when he hears the TARDIS in the distance, and forces a reunion that sends him, The Doctor, and Martha Jones to The End Of Time, where they stumble on to cannibals, the last humans, and a Classic Villain.


Serial 7: Sound Of Drums/Last Of The Time Lords/Time Crash
(10, Jack, Martha, Francine, Tish, Leo, Clive, The Master, Toclafane)
100 minutes

The Master is  the new Prime Minister. Good going, Doctor. Betchya wish you hadn't fucked over Harriet Jones now. The world is under his command. The Doctor and Jack Harkness are his prisoners, and only Martha Jones can save the world. And when the crisis is over, The Doctor realizes he must travel alone and---Oh Shit! It's another The Doctor. Will he be his own companion?
​

Serial 8: Planet Of The Ood
(10, Donna, Ood)
45 minutes

The Doctor and his new companion encounter a slave race being sold by humans as "servants". The whole scenario is fucked up, and The Doctor and Donna are going to do their best to fix it.


Serial 9: Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky
(10, Donna, Martha, Wilfred, Sylvia, Sontarans)
90 minutes

UNIT, the military outfit that was super prevelant in Season Two, calls The Doctor for help. Well, to be specific, their officer, Martha Jones calls him in. Martha, Donna, and The Doctor have to stop a spoiled rich kid and an invading alien species from destroying the Earth. Classic sci-fi.


Serial 10: The Doctor's Daughter
(10, Donna, Martha, Hath)
45 minutes

During the first season, The Doctor was traveling with his granddaughter, Susan. So, of course, he Must Have a child who created that grandchild. Maybe this is her origin story. Or maybe it's just Donna, Martha, The Doctor, and some baby aliens playing some old-fashioned war games.