I’ve considered watching Dr. Who. I have no idea where to start. Can someone point me in the right direction? Should I just watch the best episodes to see if I like the concept? Should I start with a certain series? Does it matter? I’d like to know because I think it’s daunting.
If you’re looking for a “litmus test” episode to see if you like the concept, I’d recommend “The Girl in the Fireplace” from series 2, the “Silence in the Library”/“Forest of the Dead” two-parter from Series 4, or “Vincent and the Doctor” from series 5.
If you’re looking for a jumping on point to start from and continue on, I’d recommend starting with Series 5 (The Eleventh Hour is the first episode), which was the first episode with a new head writer, production team, and entirely fresh cast. It purposefully doesn’t rely on knowledge of earlier seasons and was designed as a jumping on point, but it has more modern production values than 2005’s Series 1, which is still a bit early-00s cheesy.
You could start with Series 8 (first Twelfth Doctor episode) or Series 10 (first episode with the most recent companion, also designed to be a jumping on point), but both of those start to rely on knowledge of earlier seasons much more quickly.
The new season (Series 11), like Series 5, has an entirely new cast and new production team, so it’ll likely be an excellent starting point, too.