Doctor Who was rebooted in 2005, and ever since, it’s had a reputation for being a bit too scary for young children. That's not to say every episode is scary, but there are definitely some that are sure to be a bit unsettling to the younger viewers.
Here, we run down the eight scariest Doctor Who stories of all time. Proceed with caution if you’re a parent looking to introduce your child to the show for the first time, because these might have your children hiding behind the sofa.
8. The Waters of Mars
Do you like zombies? Do you like Doctor Who? Then look no further than "The Waters of Mars." The Doctor finds himself pursued by zombie-like water monsters on Mars, but what he becomes in order to defeat them is worse than the monsters in the eyes of the people he’s saving. This episode features a true powerhouse performance from David Tennant and is considered one of his best episodes. And it’s up against some pretty stiff competition!
7. The Well
This episode serves as a sequel to one of the other episodes on this list, but to preserve the story, I’m not going to say which one! Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor encounters a devastated mining facility with one person left alive: a Deaf woman who has a mysterious something behind her. We never see the something, which makes the episode all the scarier.
6. Hide
"Hide" was one of the first episodes with the Doctor-companion team of the Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith) and Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman). And it has a very apt title, because it will make you want to hide! A lot of this story revolves around the most disturbing-looking monster, a being that will make young children cry and grown adults wince. Sure (spoiler alert), it doesn’t prove to be a villain in the end, but it’s so hard to look at!
5. The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit
Okay, technically speaking, this is two episodes, but only one story. It deals with possession and the devil himself, and it’s an absolute scare-fest. It has jump-scares in it that will terrify kids, and all sorts of frightening imagery. It also introduces the tentacle-faced Ood, who are nice creatures, but they still look pretty terrifying.
4. Dark Water
An episode so scary it garnered media attention in the UK, and all for one reason… it indicated that cremated people could feel themselves burning. You don’t get much scarier than that, and the BBC had to release a statement defending the episode. Even aside from that, though, younger kids may find it unsettling, especially since it features the death of an important character.
3. Blink
This episode went down in history as one of the scariest episodes not just of Doctor Who, but of anything ever. It focuses on the Weeping Angels, creatures that can’t move until you’re not looking at them. One little blink, and they’ll start coming at you. They have haunted many a child’s nightmares.
2. Flatline
"Flatline" is my personal most terrifying Doctor Who episode; I cannot watch it to this day. Its main villains are creatures that inhabit a 2-D universe, and their mission is apparently to turn people 2-D in the most agonizing way. These creatures run like zombies, and they look like flesh is peeling off them. Flatline is definitely not an episode for kids.
1. Midnight
But as terrifying as I find" Flatline," "Midnight" takes the crown for the ultimate Doctor Who scarefest. It’s legendary for frightening children and adults alike. The Doctor is on the planet Midnight, and he takes a fun tour in a bus with some other tourists, but then something enters the bus and possesses one of the passengers. This is the episode The Well is a sequel to, but Midnight is frankly the better episode. Don't watch it with the lights off.