This. I adore Eccleston. He’s my second favorite doctor of all time, next to Tom Baker. Not to mention he’s a damn fine actor - one of Britain’s best.
If the OP is interested in watching any of the classic series after following the previous 30 posters’ recommendations to start with Eccleston, the most important thing to know is that the classic series was done in a serial format. Each story was made up of a number of half hour episodes (usually 4-6, sometimes less and sometimes many more) leading directly into each other. There usually wasn’t much continuity between stories, so you can leap in at pretty much any point without having to be told what’s going on besides the basics. Netflix has a pretty good library of classic episodes available for rental, though I don’t know how many are streaming.
My personal favorites are from the Third Doctor era - during that period, the Doctor was more or less stranded in near-future (i.e. 1980 as seen from 1970) Earth as a result of pissing off the Time Lords, and was providing his assistance to UNIT, a secret British military agency tasked with fending off extraterrestrial threats. (They get a “darker and edgier” reboot in the new series.) The Third Doctor is somewhat of a swashbuckling action hero compared to the mopey pacifist that is David Tennant, and he has great chemistry with his companions (Jo Grant and the fan favorite Sarah Jane Smith) and with UNIT’s commander, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. It was also this era which introduced the Master as the Doctor’s foremost rival, and you really have to see Roger Delgado play the character to understand why John Simm’s portrayal of him in the new series was such a letdown. For specific serials, i’d recommend “Spearhead From Space”, the first Third Doctor serial which sets up the storyline of the next few seasons, as well as “The Curse of Peladon”, “The Green Death”, “The Claws of Axos”, and the first serial I ever saw, “The Daemons” (which is only available in B&W due to the original color copies being destroyed.)
Not that much of a minority. Although I can’t say I hate Smith, just that he’s nowhere near as good as Tennant, who is my candidate for best Doctor of all. And I started with Tom Baker.
You realize, we are all making some assumptions about the OP. You’ve probably gathered by now, Hedda Rosa, that the Doctor is a member of a race that periodically regenerates into a different body. So the character has been played by eleven different actors: William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker (scarf guy), Peter Davison, Colin Baker, and Sylvester McCoy in the original series; Paul McGann in a made-for-TV movie; and Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant and currently Matt Smith in the modern reboot that started in 2005. Like most folks in this thread, I’d advise you to start with the 2005 reboot (whichever actor you pick) and then, if that catches your attention, go back to the original series.
Keep in mind, though, that the series began in (I think) 1964, so the older series, while clever and entertaining, are *very * different in production values and acting style.
Enjoy!
I’d recommend seeing the movie at some point, but probably only after checking out at least some of the first seven Doctors. In fact, I think you should see a couple of episodes with the Seventh Doctor, specifically, just before watching it. It’s not necessary to the plot, but he appears so briefly at the movie’s start that it would be nice to have an idea of who that is who’s about to be forced into regeneration.
And you have to start with Eccleston to get the mysterious hints about the time war. The time war happened to Eight and Nine and settles into an old fan’s mind as the reason for the gap between Old Who and New Who, and for the difference in style between the two.
Start with Christopher Ecclestone and New Who. Then go back and watch Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, and Peter Davidson.
bolding mine. Pretty sure it’s Amelia. Hence why she is called Amy and not Emmy.
I would advise starting with the 2005 reboot and continuing through to the present. That’s 78 episodes, certainly more manageable than going back to 1963 and watching all 784. That will get you caught up so that you can start watching the new episodes when it starts up again, which means you have 32 days, so better get cracking!
Thanks! That shows exactly how much of a novice I am.
It’s seems like the consensus is to start with 2005, so that’s the plan. I don’t know if I’ll watch absolutely everything - depends on whether it catches my fancy. But now at least I’m starting from the right place. Many thanks to all!
Where to start? Where else? From the beginning.
Thanks for this thread; one of my friends is really getting into Doctor Who and I have been wondering when I should jump in. (And a little bit “if” I should jump in - She got similarly obsessed with Supernatural only to run out of steam with the most recent season. :()
When I was a teen I watched Tom Baker, so I guess I consider him my first doctor. 
But some of the more recent doctors have been a bit more - yummy looking, to use a phrase I don’t normally…
Still considering. Great suggestions so far though!
If you watched Tom Baker then you’ll appreciate “School Reunion” (Series 2, Episode 3). It’s the return of Sarah Jane Smith and K-9. I was finally able to watch it tonight for the first time since Lis Sladen died. It was rough, because Sarah Jane was MY companion.
You also might appreciate that one if you’re a Buffy fan.
Yeah I had tears in my eyes with that episode.
Tom Baker was my doctor and I believed nobody would replace him until recently.
I don’t like Eccleston, Tennant is very good but I would give a slight edge to Matt Smith as my “new favorite” doctor.
Start with The Twin Dilema. 
No, just kidding. I started with the new third series (the Runaway Bride and then into the Martha stuff), and having gone back and watched the first and second series, I think Martha is when New Who really hit its stride. So if you like starting a show at the stride, like me, start there. And, if you don’t mind being thrown into the middle of things entirely, start with Blink. I’ve met a lot of hard core Doctor Who fans who saw Blink first.
For the old series, well, I hardly feel qualified to recommend anything, because I’ve never seen the Tom Baker era. I started with Remembrance of the Daleks, finished up Mccoy’s run, went back and suffered through…er…watched his first season, then went back to the start of the Sixth Doctor’s run, watched through that, then went back to the Fifth Doctor’s first episode and watched through all his. I just need to watch “The Caves of Androzani” and then I’ll start again with “Robot”, the Fourth Doctor’s debut. Admittedly, it’s an odd way to watch a television show, but an appropriate one, as the Doctor doesn’t live his life in order anyway.
The first Doctor Who adventure I can recall watching on the telly was Logopolis, back in 1979, when I was three years old. But if you’re interested in the old Doctor Who I’d suggest starting with one of the Jon Pertwee adventures, e.g. The Green Death, which has giant maggots. Pertwee’s stories generally had a good balance of entertainment, drama, decent-for-the-time effects, plus they were in colour. The fashions are so rooted in the 1970s that they feel deliberately retro, and the stories are pure entertainment, with more action than normal. And you get the lovely Jo Grant (and Sarah Jane Smith, in the later episodes). And you get to see what Britain looks like most of the year, e.g. it’s raining or overcast and everybody looks annoyed.
Earlier than that and you’re in the black and white era, which was inventive, but the stories tended to have a slow pace and are really period pieces. Tomb of the Cybermen, for example, doesn’t work very well as a story, but it’s a fascinating time capsule. They never repeat the early stories on the TV. Tom Baker’s period was moody and sometimes very pacey, but also very patchy; Genesis of the Daleks is the one they repeat on TV a lot. Lots of stuff happens and it even looks quite good. In contrast, Pyramids of Mars or The Robots of Death - for example - are often cited as classics, but nothing really happens; or the same thing happens over and over again. The stories often had lots of running about and padding. You watched Tom Baker for Tom Baker, the rest was in the background.
Peter Davison’s time suffers from a kind of uncanny valley effect. The producer was going for an up-to-date Aliens / Bladerunner look, and you can tell; but the resources weren’t there, and the show often felt stiff and awkward in a particularly early-80s way, with lots of portentous talking. You can see what they were going for; you could see them failing to get there. The Caves of Androzani is the one they repeat on TV, 'cause it’s pacey and dramatic. Davison himself was likeable and actually did some acting (the other lead actors tended to either play themselves - Tom Baker really was like that - or a persona they had developed outside Dr Who).
By the time Colin Baker became Dr Who the production team was running out of ideas; they had lots of bad new ideas; the producer was irritated at being left in charge of Dr Who for so long, and in a wider sense the whole thing was as underfunded as the USSR. It looked increasingly cheap, not just as sci-fi television but as television in general. In fact compared to The A-Team, Miami Vice, Star Trek: The Next Generation, etc, Dr Who looked ridiculous. There’s a good summary of the problems here. At this point the show had a bizarre combination of camp cheapness and David Cronenberg-esque body horror. Revelation of the Daleks is the one they repeat on TV. It was originally broadcast at 17:20 on a Saturday and has some gooey bits with brains and is basically about dead bodies being transformed into mutants in a gooey way.
The Sylvester McCoy era started off in exactly the same way, but then fell into the Peter Davison thing of being almost-but-not-quite good enough. It had its moments. Remembrance of the Daleks was the good one. By this time I had given up on Dr Who in disgust and started watching Red Dwarf, which was just starting at the time. It was better overall; it looked better, the writing was better, the sci-fi was better.
Still, most old television has aged very badly; it’s a minor miracle that Genesis of the Daleks, The Green Death etc are still entertaining today. And yet they probably seem like broadcasts from the Brezhnev-era Soviet Union to modern kids. That’s the second time I’ve made a reference to the USSR; it’s because the show was made by the BBC, which was strapped for cash in the 1980s. They were trying to make a kind of sci-fi/horror/mystery film every six weeks on a shoestring budget, and it’s impressive they managed it (I have seen far, far worse on MST3K), but eventually the money and the talent dried up. I’m straying from the topic here. All the serials I have mentioned are representative of their eras.
There was a TV movie, too, with Paul McGann. 1990s. Not very good.
You got to see Logopolis 2 years before it first aired?
I must be biased after having watched all Who I can because I went back and watched early Tom Baker, and then a few here and there of the others, and I thought the stories and ideas held up well. But, maybe it’s my rose colored glasses as I watched them on PBS back in the 80s and enjoyed them a lot.
But, for a new person, I would still suggest starting with 2005 reboot and going forward from there. As others have said, if you like it and want more, sure try some old ones. But be ready for the shock of the very different production values and types of stories!
Evidence of time travelers in our midst! 
Just slightly off topic, is your username a Doctor Who reference?
Timely for me, because we just started watching these. It’s good to hear that the different doctors don’t ruin the series. We had heard that the actors switched, but wasn’t sure how it all fit together.
By the way, we just finished watching the second episode of “The Empty Child”/“The Doctor Dances” mentioned by Alessan, definitely the high point to date!
My wife and I both love Eccleston so far, too - highly charismatic. We had no idea about the series at all coming into it, I think he does a good job of being fed up with the nonsense a 900 year old alien would have to be sick of, while still having moments of childlike glee when things turn out (sometimes improbably) for the best.
Now, reading this thread, I am looking forward to the switch to Tennant, as well.