36 best science fiction TV series, ranked worst to first

Image: BBC

4. Doctor Who

Easily, the most successful and longest-running science fiction TV series of all-time is a UK series titled Doctor Who.

Doctor Who originally aired in 1963 on BBC as a children’s educational-styled science fiction TV series. The Doctor is a rogue Time Lord who stole a time-traveling device known as the TARDIS and set off on adventures.

Since the show has aired for 55 years now, it was necessary to change Doctors and the series actually wrote that into the story, with Doctors regenerating and taking on a new body and appearance.

Originally, the purpose of Doctor Who was educational in nature, teaching kids science while using time travel as an entertainment device to catch their interest. The series aired on BBC for 26 seasons before they canceled it in 1989.

There were seven Doctors in that time frame.

Doctor Who finally returned in 2005, and instead of calling it the 27th season, it was renamed as Series, although it kept everything canon and was a direct sequel to the first 26 seasons and the movie.

Since returning, there have been some big names to play the Doctor, including Christopher Eccleston for one season, David Tennant for four seasons, Matt Smith for four seasons, Peter Capaldi for three seasons, and the very first female Doctor coming this year with Jodie Whittaker.

The history is quite amazing, as no other science fiction TV series show has come close to the number of episodes that Doctor Who has reached — sitting at 840 total episodes, with 97 missing episodes out there as well.