Who are the three most underrated doctors in your opinion?

Who are the three most underrated doctors in your opinion?

Hartnell, Colin and Sylvester.

Sly, Bill and Paul.

Hartnell, Colin and McGann

I think hartnell Colin and McCoy tied with mcgann tom baker is almost up there in the votes so he is not underrated

I dunno, I'd put McGann on the overrated list myself given how many fans seem to rank him highly based on.... well... not much actual TV output...

Yeah good point

Jon Pertwee
William Hartnell
Colin Baker

iank wrote:Hartnell, Colin and Sylvester.

Agreed one hundred percent.

Yes - Hartnell, Colin and McCoy seem the obvious choices.

Hartnell is underappreciated more because his was an era that inspires less interest for those looking back - black and white, full of historicals, and not so thematically colourful as Troughton. Troughton is also presumably gaining ground with Enemy of the World / Web of Fear and all the animated serials coming out. Likewise, he was treated appallingly in Twice upon a Time.

Colin is the easiest. He got a terrible hand and likewise never had a chance to gain too many fans. He was treated poorly by the BBC then, and he still is now - with his era widely regarded as a joke amongst the new BBC family. Yet, he was extremely watchable, a strong actor, and made perhaps the most distinct of all the Doctors with his own plot arc in his post-regeneration trauma.

McCoy was always well liked by the audience then, only the audience was miniscule, and those that didn't watch it describe his portrayal as a nadir rivalling Colin's: surely unfairly based on the general sentiment regarding the quality of the show around that time.

By comparison, Pertwee-Tom is obviously a Golden Era, Davison is remembered quite fondly, and McGann is probably overrated as a Doctor being that he became better known for other performances.

I can only agree with the above. Hartnell, Colin and McCoy are all excellent Doctors who rarely get the attention they deserve for reasons very well articulated by Tiberius. I like McGann a lot too, though I’m not sure what I think of him as a whole as of yet, considering my limited experience with his BF output.

Yes I'd agree with William Hartnell, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy in that respect - in the latter two cases, there's a real sense they simply weren't given a fair crack of the whip in the role due no doubt to the prevailing attitude of BBC bosses at the time.

I initially considered Colin was a welcome choice as he seemed to be better suited to take over as a rather more typical Doctor, perhaps more in the style of Jon and Tom's imposing personas, at least when compared with Peter Davison's character. And Sylvester McCoy I thought at his best might somehow have evolved effectively into a more Hartnellesque type of Doctor. But any potential for these kind of developments went sadly unrealised when their eras were both prematurely curtailed.

As for Hartnell, clearly his Doctor will always be the Doctor to a certain generation of fans but I reckon it's rather a pity some critics later preferred to emphasise him fluffing his lines instead of crediting him with his remarkably skilled performance which not only stamped a new character upon the popular imagination but also ensured the show successfully continued. Most unforgivable of all, recent New Who has discredited his incarnation's reputation further.

McCoy couldn’t channel Hartnell if his life depended on it.

Ronnie wrote:McCoy couldn’t channel Hartnell if his life depended on it.

On balance, you're probably right about that

Sylv is pretty limited, but he’s good at the quieter, more broody Doctor that he portrays in some of the BF audios. ‘Master’ is a good example. He and Geoff Beevers play off each other really well.

I've not heard that BF audio. But in some ways I actually appreciated Sylvester's Doctor most in the Paul McGann movie in which I thought he portrayed something more akin to the quieter, broody Doctor qualities that you describe.
Pity his appearance in that was so brief. And final.

Good point. Yes, he’s not bad in that. I tend to forget about TVM.

I would say Sylvester would be more of the troughton Esq doctor but darker

Never really found Sylvester to be particularly Troughton-esque to be honest. On the other hand, that might well have been an influence at the start of his tenure when there was more emphasis on comedic traits or indeed somewhat silly mannerisms (I'm thinking of his first few stories in that respect). Thankfully, I think things changed relatively quickly anyway as Sylvester's era progressed into darker territory which I think was an improvement that would have been nice had it been allowed to develop further on screen.