Is 'The Doctor's Wife' The Best Doctor Who Episode? 

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Definitely the stand-out episode of series 6. The return of the coral TARDIS interior was such a satisfying moment. House was definitely one of Doctor Who's most memorable one-off villains. The Doctor's characterisation in this episode was superb. Most of time, the 11th Doctor was characterised as a bumbling man-child but here, he's portrayed as a dark, cunning and intelligent individual. Surrane Jones is the stand-out performance in this episode. She really sold the personality of the TARDIS. Ah, a real gold standard of an episode!

This episode is beautiful. eerie, magical, whimsical, terrifying and heart-breaking all in one. a true emotional roller-coaster

i'd love for Gaiman to write a Dalek story

1:58 This first happened in the end of time, and it also subsequently happened in night of the doctor, as well as with Missy, Rassilon and 13.

Of the new Doctors, this was one of my favourite episodes. When she first screamed Where's my thief? I knew instantly that she was the TARDIS. 7:22 - 7:27 was one of my favourite exchanges, because it explains sooooo much. In the episode where Matt Smith meets Tom Bsker, I would have had one little bit added. After parting with Matt, Tom walks slowly up to the side of the TARDIS, gently puts one hand on it and says "Hello, old girl." Two tiny pats and then he continues on his way.

I'm not really a fan of Season 6, but this is definitely the exception. It's such a brilliant episode in every way, from concept to execution. The relationship between the Doctor and the TARDIS is both the most important and most overlooked aspect of the show, so it's nice to see it brought to the forefront. Especially since it manages, with one simple line - "I always take you where you need to go" - to recontextualise all of the Doctor's travels in a way that makes more sense, while also adding another dimension to his bond with the TARDIS.

Every time I put this episode on our main T.V it’s ruined by granny saying “oooooh that’s Karen McDonald from Coronation St” (my granny is lovely and I love her very much,she she makes the best Poitín 🥃shhhhh❗️soda bread and mutton stew AKA as Irish stew but OMG she tho won’t shut up 🤗) I haven’t even watched Coronation St!!!!!!

Absolute banger of an episode, although I'd be very intrigued to have seen this done as a two-parter, which would have given us more TARDIS jiggery for Amy & Rory at the hands of House aaaaand of course more glorious character work between Matt and Suranne...or Smith & Jones if you will...😉

Did you wish really hard 😂😂😂 And fear me I've killed hundreds of time lords. Fear me I've killed all of them. Definitely my favourite conversations. When I watched Doctor Foster I just kept thinking so that was Idris's life before she became the Tardis

You're the winner in my life as a time lord. She's are very special lady that takes care and loves me. WHO KNOWS 🙂🙂

It's entirely likely that we'll see more older TARDIS control rooms come back over time when the narrative calls for it, via CG anyway. All the way back in the 90s, they used CG to make most of the bridge of the TOS Enterprise for the TNG episode Relics, and, for the 90s, it was pretty convincing. Certainly we can do better than that now.

Brilliant casting in Jones.

Without exception, when that mythical pair of eternal partners-in-heroics exchange their final words, I'm reduced to more of a blubbering weepy shambles than Eleven is, by orders of magnitude.

1:56 yes and no, in the 1999 special staring rowan Atkinson (Mr bean) he regenerates a few times then into a women

The "Naughty Girl" follewed by a second of silence cracked me up harbo, I've spilled my drink!

This episode in particular reminds me of how we'd make pizza every Saturday and watch the new Doctor who while we ate.

Oh wow, 2.1k like, I love how the whole number flicks through just to add a fucken .1

“What are you gonna do, throw them away?” Yes that’s literally what he did. It’s a scrapyard 😂

I've been waiting for this one!!!

100% agree with your assessment 😇

No idea why, I have always HATED this episode, never got into it. It may be a good episode, but the concept of making the TARDIS a human was never a got idea in my eyes.

It is the best Matt Smith episode. Definitely top 5 of all time

If anyone wonders how The Doctor met his wife, he made some cocoa and got engaged!

11:04 speaking of Donna - she was another companion who the doctor tricked into going back to the TARDIS “for safety” only to have to completely backfire on them.

12:05 Has anyone else ever wondered if the Meta-crisis doctor is actually quite unhappy? Yes, yes, I know he gets to be with Rose but… can you imagine the doctor being truly happy stuck in one place forever without his TARDIS? I know he’s “different” than The Doctor in many ways, but he’s also not that different and we have seen how bored and frustrated he gets when he’s stranded for any amount of time, so even with Rose by his side I can’t imagine him truly fulfilled in that scenario. We have seen how difficult it can be for his companions to adjust to normal life after they spend time traveling with The Doctor… so after 900+ years of traveling, I can imagine it would be quite an adjustment to be stuck in place and especially knowing that you’ll never be able to travel through time and space ever again.

I love how Smith delivers darker lines in a much lighter tone Tennant did, a reminder that the darker doctor is always there, he always bears the burden of having killed his people for the greater good and the liminalty between darkness and normality is becoming more and more vague, although its not really addressed until season 8 its definitely intresting and good character development

Over the course of RTD era, I kept waiting for the cloister bells to return and they only did at the end of Turn Left. I was just so pleased that the writers had not forgotten that if things were really bad then the Tardis would know. When a remake goes on for too long it starts referencing itself instead of the original. For example Fugitive of the Judoon brings back Jack/the chameleon arch/the Judoon/nano genes All of these are references to RTD era, further muddied because supposedly Ruth did the chameleon arch before the tenth doctor and turned her Tardis into a police box before William Heartnel did, but my main complaint is that there was more than 50 years worth of lore to explore and Chibnall chose to redo 2007. If you are going to make an episode about time lords and Tardises than The Doctor's Wife is how you do it. You look up old episodes about Nisa and Teagan being trapped in the winding corridors and marking their path with yarn and lipstick. You bring back "the round things." You remember that Tom Baker deleted rooms before when escaping E-space. You also recall that he too swapped back and forth between two console rooms. You add The War Game's message boxes and you bring back the cloister bells. It is definitely an episode for the long time fans of the show. It's a shame it did not have the same budget as Journey to the Center of the Tardis but I actually prefer it more.

"Fear me. I've killed hundreds of Time Lords." "Fear me. I've killed all of them." Probably the most epic and my personal favorite Eleven line. *CHILLS!*

I want to give a shout out to the "The only water in the forest is in the river" because that line was teased long before this episode came out, in the 2011 Edition of 'The Brilliant Book Of Doctor Who" there was a section where the Dream Lord gave out several lines and said one of them would be said in the upcoming next series. In the end it turned out to be two, that line and a line from Marriage Of River Song. Very clever foreshadowing

“Did you wish REALLY hard” will always be my favourite one liner from Amy 😂 that’s such a her thing to say and that banter between the two is hilarious. 11 is so happy 😄

Imagine a world where Neil Gaiman somehow was In charge of all Doctor Who

Neil Gaiman is my all time favorite writer. The Graveyard Book is one of my favorite books he's written. The Doctors Wife was also supposed to be much darker and include a much more intricate exploration of the inside of the TARDIS. But they had to go with running down corridors because of our good ol friend *budget*

Harbo got something wrong. The tardis IS the longest serving character. We see the tardis before we meet the doctor

This is such a spectacular episode, everything about it firing on all cylinders. The delivery of "fear me, I've killed all of them" is perfect, so cold and understated. And I cannot even see a glimpse of the final conversation between the doctor and the TARDIS without welling up, it's so beautiful

I love to see a long (really long in this case) running show allow the fans that grew up watching it have a chance to write/act/direct their beloved show. It somehow makes the show feel really special, like by fans for fans kind of way. Except for you, Chibnall.

I never knew the House entity was voiced by Michael Sheen until about last year and I was *so* surprised but also not at the same time. His performance was so enjoyably creepy! 👏🟦

My favourite angry Matt smith moment is when he snaps at the colonel in a good man goes to war, best bit of acting in the whole series

Neil Gaiman is such a Classic Who nerd lol

it's michael sheen that voices house?! how did that go over my head? he did such a good job that i didn't even realise it was him

I know it’s a hallucination but Rory dying yet again is just depressing and I feel sorry for him

Definitely a stand out episode and one of my personal favourites. The only thing that would stop it from being a series finale is that it would need build up, which no doubt would have been the Doctor receiving cubes throughout the show. I think the revelation it was a trick would be a massive let down for a finale, whereas as a stand alone episode it’s absolutely amazing!

I hope we see an incarnation of the Corsair debut in Return of the Sea Devils

Neil gaiman wrote the book Coraline I lot of people like that book.

In the cyber man 2 parter with David tennant, the doctor says how the tardis draws energy only from stuff from their universe which is why the tardis isn’t alive in the other universe so it’s weird it doesn’t happen in this episode

Would like the doctor's wife to play the doctor. She's so kind and charming in gentleman jack. Would be perfect!

This is one of those episodes that doesn’t have any issues. It’s a complete stand-out, amazing writing, amazing actors. Winning two awards, is just brilliant. In season 5, Matts Doctor is goofy, fun, the voice of reason. Then a season later he becomes the underdog, takes no shit from anyone. I love that.

Amy and Rory feel like an actual couple, we get a scary malicious entity taking the the physical form of the TARDIS, the Doctor being tricked and lured into a trap, TARDIS exploration. The Doctor and the TARDIS being able to actually interact and the new squad revisiting the best modern console room. There's so much here.

One thing that is usually missed is that this episode redeems Suranne Jones appearances on Dr Who related media as she appeared as the Mona Lisa brought to life in the Sarah Jane adventures

It's crazy to think the script of such an amazing episode just materialized out of nowhere on Moffat's desk one night

Probably my favourite exchange in all of Doctor Who “You didn’t always take me where I wanted to go” “No but I always took you where you needed to go” This episode is utter perfection as far as I’m concerned, such an amazing concept, wonderful acting, just overall outstanding It also has probably my favourite 11 line in response to House saying “fear me I’ve killed hundreds of time lords” “Fear me, I’ve killed all of them” Chefs kiss

"Did you wish REALLY hard?" is probably the funniest line in all Who. It would have been amazing to see what a bigger budget would have revealed of Gaiman's vision for the inner levels of the Tardis.

I like this episode a lot. Although something about the title is just so weird? Like Series 6’s titles for their episodes seem to be callbacks or foreshadows to previous or future episodes Like this is literally called “The Doctors Wife” even though the finale is called “The Wedding of River Song” Like really? It’s so strange lil

“Did you wish really hard” 😅🤪

Honestly I was pumped for it and I didn't like it. Such a scattered episode, I expected more from Gaiman.

No the best episodes of all time were some written by Douglas Adams.

WEIRD, i just watched this episode last week and had no memory of it, damn Silence

I like the episode but do think it’s overrated.

For me, the best preformance of this episode is Suranne Jones. Completely mad, perfect delivery of the jokes and actually also playing it straight. Love it.

So many great lines in this one. Mine is this exchange: Idris: There’s a sign on my front door. You have been walking past it for seven hundred years. What does it say? The Doctor: That’s not instructions! Idris: There’s an instruction at the bottom. What does it say? The Doctor: “Pull to open.” Idris: Yes, and what do you do? The Doctor: I push!

This is one of best episodes of new who but I can’t help but think how high my expectations were for nightmare of steel after seeing this story, I stopped watching doctor who in 2011 and watched both series 6 and 7 back to back in 2014 before series 8 how could he write this and then nightmare in silver 😂💔

Give me a novelisation of this story. I want all of those unused ideas on paper, and Gaiman would get so many chances to develop new ones too

On the console room, the Corral one does give me nostalgia but not a big fan of the Bits-and-Pieces one. Eleven's second one and Twelve's is just damn sexy, though.

Why didn't the Tardis or the Doctor searched for a cameleon circuit in all those tardis cases ? Even if the Doctor loves the Blue Box look , a cameleon circuit is usefull when they need to be in hiding in plain sight ? If bits were all over and the Doctor's habits were to collect bits from all over and use in his Tardis at least in 9-11 Doctor's generations why not steal a device that is crucial in times of need from a long dead construct that was one a Tardis .

I really dislike the superlative and hyperbolic title asking "Is this the best episode?" I know, I know. RU-vid is all about clickbait. But the writing in your videos is good enough you don't need to rely on that crutch. You could just ask, "Is The Doctor's Wife Better Than You Remember?" or something like that.

the house was originally intended to be the great intelligence

I'm absolutely loving this series of reviews! Been binge-watching them, series 1-5 for the past two weeks. Should be proud. As a massive WHO fan I, like many others, wish that Neil Gaiman would've considered the showrunner position after Moffatt. However, I hold out hope that he'll return in some capacity in the future:)

I loved it when I first saw it. It’s been a while since I also had a massive crush on Matt Smith back then.

Not the best perhaps, but one of my favorites by far. I really like the Impossible Planet/ Satan Pit as well

To be fair, you could hand Gaiman a blank check with access to all the money in the universe, and it still wouldn't be enough to keep up with his vision.

Let’s be honest, they can’t talk after this episode because spoilers.

“I used to have a lot of round things… I wonder where I put them.” 🤗

Love these reviews but my one complaint about this one is that you definitely didn’t get the idea behind the killer in Saw😂

"Do you have a room?". One line that sets an entire series. Epic.

Do you always make videos with a mouthful of marbles?

As much as I love all of the other stand-out moments and exchanges in this episode, I don't think there are many Doctor Who moments that are more touching than the very end, after Amy and Rory left and the Doctor is standing at the console by itself. "Are you there? Can you hear me? Nah, I'm a silly old... Okay, the Eye of Orion or wherever we need to go-" *lever on console pulls itself* It's so simple but the way the TARDIS answered in its own way and the way the Doctor lit up with such joy is downright magical. As much as I prefer the Davies era overall, The Doctor's Wife might just be my favourite episode.

This is definitely a favorite WHO episode for me and I really look forward to watching your video on this fine story about the Tardis. Thanks for posting!

That cube looks more like the Space Gem.

Man I love all the ironic lines in this episode.

Possibly Smith’s best!

Honestly if Suranne Jones hadn't been Idris I think she would be such a fun actress to play The Doctor

This remains my favorite Mat Smith episode. Dare I say, it's the best one that isn't the 50th anaversary special.

I became a fan of the concept of the TARDIS when I was nine years old, and visiting England with my family, and seeing the second Peter Cushing Dalek feature film in cinema there. I learned a few years later it was based on a television program, and when the Tom Baker series began airing in America in the 1970s, I was hooked on that aspect as well. When the Cloister Bell was introduced, it seemed like it would be a one-off. Now, like the ominous heartbeat sound of a Dalek ship control center, when I hear the Cloister Bell, my insides twist. I literally use the Cloister Bell as a ringtone for one of my less trustworthy acquaintances with whom I often have to deal. I feel _The Doctor's Wife_ is one of the high-water mark episodes.

I always think I’m not a huge fan of this one but then whenever I check it out i realise how phenomenally written it is, so thematically deep, well design and wittily written!! Great analysis!!

The way sanctity of the TARDIS is being subverted also was done in Amy’s Choice, limited options despite being in the place that should present an infinity of them. The solution both times involve purging the TARDIS of an outside influence, the psychic pollen for Amy’s Choice and House here.

Yes. It's perfect.

going through a re-watch and just got to this point last night. This is probably my favorite episode ever. the full spectrum of emotions not only the doctor go through but the viewer with him is such a rollercoaster, Matt really knocked this one out of the park.

Quite a good episode, but for me the 40th anniversary release "Zagreus", with Nicholas Courtney as the TARDIS is closer to how I saw and felt the Doctor and the TARDIS's relationship being. That said, great video and everyone is more than entitled to have their own opinion, that's what makes life fun.

Can anyone else hear HOME - Flood in the background of this video. Good choice. Good video.

I didn’t realize how good this episode was when I first saw it. Actually I didn’t understand it at all. Thank you for explaining it to his poor sailor.

This is my favourite episode of Smith's tenure, my favourite of the Moffatt Era as a whole and easily in my top ten episodes of the revival.

Jsut came to mind that since house trapped timelords, the 2 people the doctor was talking to who already lived on the asteroid were literally made FROM timelords..

I mean, yeah, this episode is top class. Contender for the GOAT, though not my personal pick. Impossible not to love this one through and through.

If you like that kinda stuff, Suranne Jones and Karen Gillan are both in the amazing show A touch of Cloth.

I still remember the first time I saw this episode with my brother. We were blown away. It really was a gift to doctor who fans.

Blink.

I may have to re-watch all of season 6...maybe I missed the point when I first saw it

It's my favourite episode ever, looking forward to this one!

not as important, but this episode also taught most of us the word "petrichor"

I've never liked this episode all that much. It's all right but only really a 6/10. Why doesn't House just kill Amy and Rory, or at least one of them? Just for fun, what an excuse. Why did destroying the Tenth Doctor's console room warp everyone back to the main one? Couldn't they have put the TARDIS back into itself in there? Too dark on the asteroid, the rain gods opening would have been better, and no Zero Room or swimming pool, contrary to Gaiman's ideas. Not awful at all but certainly not one of my favourites in any way.