I have seen and really enjoyed the episode Blink as a self contained movie but I think the time has come for me to give the show as a whole a shot. Is there a good place to start? Additionally, while I am pretty familiar with the mythology of the show just through Nerd Culture Osmosis, for my wife’s benefit is there a good episode that serves as a pilot that explains the premise? Any suggestions appreciated.
Ah, now that’s the BIG QUESTION.
For you does Dr Who begin with New Who?
Or with Hartwell, Troughton, Pertwee, Baker?
IMHO you only really appreciate the New once you have a handle on the Old.
And that takes you back rather a long way. And a big splash.
Me, I’d suggest 1963 with the first appearance of the DALEKS
For Nu Who I’d start with the first episode aired in March 2005. I’m even going to recommend that as an entry point to the whole Whoniverse.
I suggest going back at some point and watching at least one story/serial episode run from each of the prior doctors.
The series changes a lot over time (in every sense of the word). After all, we’re talking about a show with a 60 year history.
Start at the very beginning with Hartnell. If that’s too much, jump into Nu Who with Eccleston. P.S. Everybody has a favorite. Mine is Baker.
I concur that you should probably watch at least one serial, if not multiple, from each of the doctors, just to see what they’ve done with the character at various times. I don’t know how easy it is to get access to them, but I hope they’ve released plenty on DVD by now so that it’s not just available on old VHS tapes. I’m not sure if any of the old stuff is available on streaming either, though the new stuff should be (I saw some of it on Netflix many years ago, but who knows who has it now).
One thing to keep in mind when watching some early stuff is that it was basically planned as a kid’s show, so there’s a lot of early serials that involve going to historical times and places as a nod towards the supposed educational drive the show might have originally had. On the other hand, I suspect that those historical serials are probably much less likely to actually be preserved - there’s a lot of serials in which very little if any has been preserved, and some only the sound and a few still pictures have been. They probably don’t put those out in DVD sets or on streaming though.
I should have mentioned that my inclination is to see the David Tennant era but I defer to any advice you may have.
I’m going to second this. The old 20th century shows still have a lot of appeal, but unless you’re already a fan of a lot of old media, and are comfortable with their pacing and production values, there’s a good chance you’ll bounce off it pretty hard.
David Tennant took over after only a single season into the reboot, so if you start with 2005 pilot, you’ve only got a bit over 20 episodes with Christopher Eccelston before Tennant shows up.
And Eccelston does a really good job in his short tenure, so it’s well worth going through that first.
It wasn’t a pilot! The show was never canceled! It just took an extended hiatus!
Fair criticism.
From 2022, for additional reference. 
To paraphrase part of my response in the older threads, you have a huge advantage over historical watchers, in that it’s comparatively easy to get complete story arcs via streaming / libraries / etc and get to watch a full story. Growing up, yeah, didn’t get that.
But you may need to mentally program yourself to get past the style of acting, laughable budget for costumes and sets of the earlier works. Same way you may have to tune it out for Star Trek TOS but perhaps more so. If that’s -harder- for you, then starting with Ecclestone’s run of modern Who and then going back to see how they got there if/when you love the series may well be easier.
I started with the Tenth Doctor (Tennant) and just jumped in at some random point. I’ve probably watched about 2/3 of the episodes since then, and caught enough over the years to piece together some backstory. However, I haven’t found that The Doctor’s backstory is particularly necessary to enjoying the episodes individually.
I had friends in high school that were really into the Seventh Doctor (Tom Baker) episodes on PBS. I didn’t join them in watching Doctor Who at the time. I have caught bits and pieces of some Baker era episodes in recent years. The videotape medium and the drastically reduced production make it hard to see 1970s Doctor Who as even the same show as NuWho. The Baker episodes were a lot less compelling to me — and I know they are beloved my many. I’d like to have had the experience of seeing those episodes when they were new.
I will expand my question. Since it sems safe to jump around, what are some episodes I should watch as a beginner that are good to start with?
A new person starting to watch Who with the first episodes is sort of like a new person starting to read Discworld with The Color of Magic. (Take that how you may.)
[/coughs politely, like the Third Doctor would]
Well, let’s ask a question in turn. Do you want more awesome, near -stand alone- episodes like “Blink” or ones that introduce you to major story arcs or lore? Because they tend to be one or the other, not both. Tend.
“Vincent and the Doctor” is another great stand alone episode in the first category as is IMHO “Dalek” from Eccleston’s era, but different story arcs have fans and detractors, so harder to advise. Both I listed are NuWho, so easier to watch at least. Note, there are people I know who dislike “Dalek” because they want their Daleks to be utterly unrelatable, but I find it memorable in that it makes the point that both the Dalek and the Doctor are far more similar than either would like to admit.
ETA - “Dalek” is actually in many ways a lore episode, in that it involves a classic enemy, and sets the stage for how they work in NuWho, but you don’t need to really know anything about their lore or history in order to enjoy the episode.
As for arcs/lore episodes, wars have been fought over that…
The thing you have to remember about Doctor Who is that it’s largely aimed at kids, and so it has to be accessible from almost any starting point. You can’t expect kids to go back and watch episodes older than themselves as a prerequisite for watching the current stuff.
That goes double for Classic Who, which pre-dates the VCR. For a large part of its history, you couldn’t go back and watch older episodes, the current Doctor was the only easily accessible one.
That said, some starting points work better than others. I’d say the best ones for New Who are Series 1 (Eccleston’s first), Series 2 (Tennant’s first), or Series 5 (Smith’s first). For Classic Who, I wouldn’t recommend starting with Hartnell, unless you’re already a big fan of black-and-white early 60’s TV. Start with one of the middle Doctors (Four is my favorite) and try to watch their episodes in more-or-less broadcast order, but don’t worry about skipping around.
Baker was the Fourth Doctor — I knew I should have checked that. For some reason, I thought there was only one Doctor between Baker and Eccleston.
Tom Baker is where I started.
Fine memories.
Just start with whatever you find, like whatever airs next, like you’re an English child watching it on Saturdays.