Every November, a wave of free-flowing upper lip growth sprouts across the globe with the spread of Movember, a month of extreme moustache growing in the name of men’s health. There have been many masterful moustaches in geekdom, and Doctor Who alone boasts a bearded botanical garden worthy of Kew. To mark the 49th anniversary of Who‘s first ever broadcast then, here are but ten of the best…

10. The Doctor

In Day of the Moon, Matt Smith makes a Doctor Who first when, having been imprisoned in Area 51 for some ungodly span, sprouts a beard that would do any hippie proud. This raises a huge existential question of how much time previous Doctors spent grooming themselves. For nearly fifty years, the Doctor never so much as sported even two o’clock shadow, save for Tom Baker’s impressive sideburns. It’s possible the effects of the TARDIS do much to keep its crew looking youthful – as evidenced with the disappearing beard of Steven (Peter Purves), or non-beards of everyone from Adric to Captain Jack.

9. Wyatt Earp (The Gunfighters)

Everyone sported wicked facial hair back in the Wild West, clearly a time in which Movember spanned the whole year and much thought was given to the health of one’s prostate gland and/or ten gallon hat. See also: A Town Called Mercy.

8. Li H’sen Chang

If you can get past the somewhat racist depiction of a Chinese man by a Caucasian actor, John Bennett’s Chang sports a pretty nifty goatee, particularly when his eyes are flashing hypnotic beams of white light (powered by either Weng-Chiang or a night at the opium den, still unclear).