Best Of Who Awards: Multi-Doctor Best & Worst

"So you're my replacements- a dandy and a clown." With eleven weeks to go, we rank the greatest and weakest Multi-Doctor episodes!
The elements that a Doctor Who Anniversary Special will bring to the table are not always assured- they can vary depending on the show's executive producer at the time of the story's drafting and broadcast. One certainty, though, is that more than one incarnation of the Doctor will appear to best a new villain, generally including the incumbent Time Lord and one or more of his predecessors.

This November, viewers will be introduced to a lost regeneration as John Hurt steps aboard the TARDIS as the Doctor, while both Matt Smith and David Tennant reprise their roles as the Eleventh and Tenth Doctors respectively ahead of the former's renewal into the Twelfth Doctor this Christmas. But just which multi-Doctor stories so far have proved the most memorable? Here's our ranking of the Best & Worst Instances of personality colission, spanning a range of episodes throughout the programme's half-century history...

(BEST) 1. THE FIVE DOCTORS (1983)- Headlining this literal count-down of the five major multi-Doctor tales is the stellar 20th Anniversary Special. Although Tom Baker neglected to turn up for proceedings (a trend Christopher Eccleston has strangely continued this year), The Five Doctors remains a spectacularly nostalgic outing for Who. Rarely can a singular story successfully balance a variety of reprised elements from the show's past as this one does, but at the heart of Five lies the strength of the chemistry between Richard Hurdnall, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee and Peter Davison, all of whom seem to have as great a time as the viewer in this instance!
2. TIME CRASH (2007)- Despite not having to deal with the pressure of reviving past Doctors in an Anniversary Special (for the time being, at least!), Steven Moffat's challenge with the 2007 Children In Need mini-episode Time Crash was an unenviable one. Nevertheless, the result is nothing short of brilliant- David Tennant and Peter Davison's respect for one another is plain as daylight, their dual chemistry equally bold and effective. As the Fifth Doctor fades away from the Tenth's TARDIS for seemingly his last appearance on the show and David notes that Peter's was "[his] Doctor", for any hardened fans out there it's difficult not to have nostalgic tears welling up...
3. THE THREE DOCTORS (1973)- To some viewers, that The Three Doctors ranks merely in the intermediate section of this list may come as a shock. For this writer, the 10th Anniversary Special story begins too much like any of its other Third Doctor-era predecessors to be truly memorable from the outset, with events only becoming notably compelling once Pat Troughton's Second Doctor is thrown into the mix. It's a crying shame too that William Hartnell's role was so limited here by his condition, although to its credit, The Three Doctors does boast a strong leading antagonist in the form of Omega, a villain whose influence on the programme's fanbase has never quite dissipated.
4. THE TWO DOCTORS (1985)- Here is where we most certainly reach the lower echelons of multi-Doctor excursions. Try as he might, executive producer John Nathan-Turner couldn't help but fail to live up to the 20th Anniversary Special with his attempted spiritual successor The Two Doctors two years later. It's not for lack of trying on Colin Baker or Patrick Troughton's parts, to be fair, rather that the Sontarans are barely servicable monsters for the Doctors to battle thanks to rubbish costumes and special effects adorning their return. Suffice to say, new fans looking to find the greatest episodes to feature multiple Doctors should look elsewhere!
(WORST) 5. DIMENSIONS IN TIME (1993)- And here's the story that the vast majority of fans try to forget ever happened. It's difficult to assert that Dimensions In Time, Children In Need's alleged Doctor Who 30th Anniversary Special, isn't part of canon due to its narrative containing some cohesive moments. However, what Dimensions perhaps manages in canonicity it lacks purely in terms of the show's general subtle charm and wonder, with the vast majority of the Special's players reduced to pantomime-esque portrayals thanks to woeful dialogue decisions. Want to see just how wrong a multi-Doctor Anniversary Special can go? Look no further than below...

NEXT WEEK: TOP 5 GREATEST ONE-OFF COMPANIONS