The Time Lord must be used to facing horrific foes. From giant maggots to stone angels, the Doctor’s had his fill of spooky encounters – but which story from our shortlist was the scariest?


Fury from the Deep (1968) – Second Doctor

A terrifying seaweed monster breaks out at a gas refinery in a story that has fathoms of fright for Patrick Troughton’s Doctor.

Inferno (1970) – Third Doctor

The Brigadier (Nicholas Courteney) plays the villain when the Doctor (Jon Pertwee) is trapped on a totalitarian, parallel Earth that is about to die screaming…

The Daemons (1971) – Third Doctor

Classic five-parter in which the Master (Roger Delgado) conjures up ancient demonic forces in the village of Devil’s End.

The Green Death (1973) – Third Doctor

This episode, which saw extremely disgusting giant maggots emerging from a Welsh coal mine, has stuck in many a mind over the years..

Pyramids of Mars (1975) – Fourth Doctor

A bona fide classic sees supremely chilling monster Sutekh the Destroyer freed from his Egyptian tomb.

The Seeds of Doom (1976) – Fourth Doctor

A truly disturbing story sees an alien Krynoid lead a plant rebellion on Earth.

The Empty Child (2005) – Ninth Doctor

“Are you my mummy?” Steven Moffat’s first Doctor Who script is packed with scalp-crawling scares and grown-up themes.

Blink (2007) – Tenth Doctor

Carey Mulligan, Weeping Angels… Steven Moffat’s brilliant, timey-wimey masterpiece is often cited as one of the series’ best episodes. The quantum-locked angels have never been scarier than in this first appearance.

Midnight (2008) Tenth Doctor

Contained psychodrama testing the talents of David Tennant and Lesley Sharp. As the Doctor is trapped in a bus on another world, a monster takes over one of the other passengers – but the real horror appears when the Time Lord loses control of those around him…

Listen (2014) – Twelfth Doctor

Has everyone had the same nightmare? A classy, creepy study of fear and loneliness that sees Peter Capaldi’s Twelfth Doctor take on the monster under the bed.

Honourable mention: The Silence

While no one episode they appeared in could be considered consistently “scary”, the appearance of these frankly horrible monsters was always enough to send a tingle down the spine.

But which episode do find the most chilling? Or did we miss out your favourite? Vote now or leave a comment below.


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