Doctor Who and Gallifrey: Ten essential Time Lord stories you need to watch

Want to learn more about Gallifrey and the Time Lords? We’ve got a handy little guide to the most essential stories…

(Photo credit: Doctor Who/BBC.

Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)

Want to know more about the Doctor’s home world and his race? Find out everything you need to about the Time Lords with these ten Doctor Who stories.

Unsurprisingly, Gallifrey’s history has evolved a lot since the planet was introduced in Doctor Who. In fact, in its earliest appearances, it didn’t even have a name!

But as the series has gone on, we’ve learned much more about the Doctor’s home world. We’ve learned about its politics, its laws and its people, and how tricky and devious all three can be.

Unsurprisingly, this has also expanded to other media, too. The spin-off series Gallifrey (which is extremely recommended, by the way) was heavily focused on the politics and the ambition of the Time Lords. It also took what was established in the television series and fleshed it out considerably.

However, before listening to that series, it has to be said that it definitely helps to be familiar with certain classic stories first. Maybe not with the series Gallifrey: Time War, but certainly with the earlier series of the spin-off, as they use a lot of key and established ideas and focus on them a great deal.

Fortunately, we’ve got a handy little list for you. Whether you just want to know more about the Doctor’s race in general, or whether you want to prepare yourself before listening to one of Doctor Who‘s greatest spin-offs ever, these ten essential stories will help you know more about one of the most important planets in Doctor Who history.

(Just keep in mind that we’re not saying that all of these stories are great, or even good. Just that they’re key stories in the canon that are essential to watch.)

The Time Lords, as they originally appeared in the Second Doctor’s final adventure, The War Games.

(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.

Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)

1. The War Games

The War Games was a huge story in several ways. Not just because of its epic length (at ten episodes long, it’s one of the longest serials in the entire history of Doctor Who). But also because it’s the first ever appearance of the Time Lords and their home planet (even though the latter hadn’t been given a name at the time).

Oh, we had seen other members of the Doctor’s race before this story. Well, aside from the Doctor and his granddaughter, one other member, at least: the Meddling Monk, who was first introduced in The Time Meddler.

But that story only revealed that (a) the Doctor wasn’t the only one with a TARDIS, and (b) the Doctor and the Monk were of the same people. Even of similar minds in that they wanted to change the universe. They just had different motives and approaches for doing that.

But, for several years, no more was revealed than that. It’s actually quite surprising that it wasn’t until the Second Doctor’s final story that the very name of his race was revealed.

Admittedly, The War Games still keeps quiet about some of the major details about the Time Lords for most of the story. However, the last couple of episodes reveal a lot about them. Including why the Doctor ran away from his people in the first place.

The War Games established not only that the Time Lords had strict rules about interfering in the affairs of other planets. (The Doctor’s trial and sentence of exile revealed that much.) It also revealed that they were very, very powerful. They could dematerialize people and surround whole planets with a force field. It was quite an introduction to them.

Like I said, their first appearance lead to the start of the Doctor’s exile on Earth. We wouldn’t see them again until three years later, at the very end of it…

The Time Lords next full-on appearance was in the tenth anniversary story, The Three Doctors.

(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.

Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)

2. The Three Doctors

While we’d had glimpses of one or two of them over Jon Pertwee’s first three seasons as the Doctor, we don’t see the Time Lords again properly until The Three Doctors.

Again, this adds a couple of pieces of major mythology to the Time Lords and their history. Firstly, we learn how seriously they’re against the idea of the Doctor – or any other Time Lord – crossing their own timeline. We learn this mainly because that’s exactly what they do in this story, so they’re pretty much hypocrites.

But perhaps far bigger than that is who is introduced in this story: Omega. The founder of Time Lord civilization! (Or, as revealed in the very next story in this list, one of the founders.) He’s also a rather tragic figure. While every Time Lord holds him in high esteem, he’s been trapped in a black hole for centuries, with no one to keep him company. Or, in fact, keep him sane.

As a result, he’s one of the more tragic villains in Doctor Who history, which helps to make The Three Doctors an enjoyable watch, on top of the great multi-Doctor interaction we get between Pertwee and Troughton. For several reasons, it’s one of the more essential stories to watch in terms of Doctor Who mythology overall.

Though perhaps not quite as much as the next one in our list…

3. The Deadly Assassin

Oh boy. Where to even begin with this one? In ways large and small, The Deadly Assassin is one of the most important and influential Doctor Who serials in terms of Time Lord mythology.

Along with introducing the idea of the thirteen lives limit for Time Lords, we also learned a great deal about the politics of Gallifrey. We learned some of their customs, such as the fact that outgoing Presidents will usually name their successors in a major ceremony, or that political prisoners are pardoned by new Presidents.

Unsurprisingly, we learned a great deal about the Doctor himself. We learned that he was a member of the Prydonian Chapter, which was basically the equivalent of Slytherin on Gallifrey. Any Time Lord remotely devious or even criminal had usually studied at Prydon Academy. We also found out about one of the Doctor’s old mentors: Cardinal Borusa.

Borusa is a pretty important character. Not just because he’s someone who’s known the Doctor for a long time, but also because he represents a lot about what’s important to Gallifrey. He knows their politics, he knows how important it is for the Time Lords to be responsible, and he’s often a close ally to his former student. The Deadly Assassin is a strong introduction story for the character.

Indeed, The Deadly Assassin is a strong introduction to a great deal of Gallifreyan mythology, and is, along with The War Games, probably one of the most essential stories to watch in this list. But that doesn’t mean that the other stories don’t add crucial mythology in their own way. Especially the next one, as it deals with major consequences from this story…

4. The Invasion of Time

The Invasion of Time is often thought of as “the one where the Sontarans invade”. But it’s also far more than that, especially when the story begins.

During The Deadly Assassin, the Doctor nominated himself as a candidate for the presidency, just to escape execution. Nothing much was thought of it at the time, even when the other candidate died. But because of that, the Doctor technically won by default…

Which brings us to The Invasion of Time, when the Doctor actually comes back to Gallifrey to claim the presidency. And he’s officially inaugurated, too. But why’s he really there?

The Invasion of Time is one of those stories where there are so many great ideas, but the overall execution is rather lacking. Still, the serial does flesh out even more about Gallifreyan society. Not as much as The Deadly Assassin did, but Invasion does build a great deal on key concepts and characters established in that earlier story. Particularly with the Matrix, the politics, Rassilon and Borusa.

You also get a great performance from Tom Baker and some really fantastic cliffhangers. And Leela leaves in this story too, which helps to set up Gallifrey in a key way. The Invasion of Time isn’t a very strong story on the whole, but certainly worth watching for more essential Time Lord mythology, at least.

5. Arc of Infinity

Again, we get a slightly weak story with this one. There’s a lot of location work in Amsterdam that’s frankly distracting and unnecessary (it certainly wasn’t as important to the story as Paris was in City of Death). It also has a very obvious villain, and a rather weak looking monster, even by Doctor Who standards.

Arc of Infinity does have its moments, though. Ian Collier gives a great vocal performance as “the Renegade”, and it is admittedly great to explore Gallifrey again for the first time in years. (The Invasion of Time, which had been made five years earlier, was the last time the planet had appeared in the series.)

Once again, we get to see the Doctor’s mentor Borusa, only this time, as President of Gallifrey! This becomes rather important in the next story in our list, but not so much with this one.

And if all of that wasn’t enough to interest you, we also have a pre-Six performance by Colin Baker as Commander Maxil. Apparently, John Nathan-Turner had repeatedly told him to “tone down” his performance. Thankfully, Baker didn’t listen in the slightest, and we get a fantastic performance that needs to be watched!

On the whole, Arc of Infinity is a little less essential when it comes to adding to Gallifrey’s history. But the next story is far more important, for many different reasons…

6. The Five Doctors

We come to a pretty major story with The Five Doctors. This seems obvious enough already – after all, not only is it a multi-Doctor story, but it’s also the twentieth anniversary special. But it’s also important in a way that it wasn’t meant to be. Because The Five Doctors is the last time that we see Gallifrey in the Classic Series.

Oh, the Time Lords will be seen in one more story, and will be mentioned constantly in many others. But somehow, the Doctor’s home world wasn’t seen again for the remaining six years. In fact, apart from a tiny glimpse of it in the TV movie, we don’t see it again until a flashback scene in The Sound of Drums in 2007 – almost two and a half decades later!

Still, it has to be said, The Five Doctors does make sure that we get plenty of major history when it comes to Gallifrey and the Time Lords. We learn a lot more about Rassilon, to the point where we actually see him for the first time! Considering how much he had been mentioned ever since The Deadly Assassin, this was major stuff.

Borusa is featured in a big way in this special too, and is probably one of the most important stories for the character. He makes a decision that leaves a huge impact on Gallifrey – and for the Doctor, who’s forced into a position that he really doesn’t want at the end of the story…

The Five Doctors is often remembered for being a grand anniversary special with multiple Doctors. And that’s true, and a decent enough reason to watch it. But for Time Lord fans, it’s even more of a crucial watch.

7. The Trial of a Time Lord

The Trial of a Time Lord isn’t set on Gallifrey itself. But it does feature plenty of Time Lords, and in fact, features events that change the Doctor’s home world in a big way.

Promoted as one long serial, but is in fact four stories in one, The Trial of a Time Lord, unsurprisingly, features the Doctor on trial for his life. Three different adventures – two in his past and one in his future – are used as evidence both for and against the idea that the Doctor’s interference leaves a negative impact on the universe.

It all culminates in the final two episodes, commonly referred to as The Ultimate Foe. And it’s these two episodes that leave a huge impact on Gallifrey, as the Doctor – and Time Lord civilization – discover just how corrupt the High Council can really be. (It also leads to the above scene that is nothing short of fantastic.)

This is a crucial story that highlights the true hypocrisy of the Time Lords. It also shows how dangerous they can be to the rest of the universe. Especially when it comes to protecting their own secrets.

On top of that, we’re also introduced to the Valeyard for the first time, but equally interesting is Lynda Bellingham’s character of the Inquisitor. On television, her character was hardly explored. But on audio, she’s one of the most vile and power-hungry Time Lord villains we’ve ever had.

Seriously, she’s considerably fleshed out in the audio series Gallifrey and becomes a major antagonist in the spin-off. We don’t see any villainy from her in Trial, but it is an interesting introduction to the character. Particularly since, at the end, the Doctor suggests that she runs for presidency. Which probably wasn’t one of the smartest decisions on his part…

The Trial of a Time Lord is flawed, but enjoyable. It also became the end of an era, as it was the last time we saw the Time Lords in the Classic Series. We wouldn’t see them come back for a very long time, and when they did, they were worse than ever…

The return of Rassilon was just one of a few major revelations given to us in The End of Time.

(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.

Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)

8. The End of Time

So now we’re in New Series territory. And what a major story we’ve reached. Not only is The End of Time the final story of the Tenth Doctor. But, with the exception of flashback scenes in The Sound of Drums, it was the first time that the Time Lords had been seen in twenty-three years!

That alone would’ve been huge. But then comes the major revelation: while the Doctor had often talked about how great and amazing they were, the Time Lords had actually become a dangerous threat themselves in the Time War. To the extent that they were willing to rip apart the whole of history, just to save themselves.

There’s so much that we learn about the Time War with The End of Time, particularly the end of it. Not all of it (after all, a great deal of it would be saved for later on), but far more than we knew previously.

We found out how ruthless the High Council had truly become during the War, and it was far worse than we had ever seen them before. We learned that, while the Doctor missed who they used to be, he was terrified of the Time Lords coming back.

But, perhaps most important of all to Classic Series fans, we found out who lead them during this conflict: Rassilon. It was only briefly mentioned by the Doctor, (for most of The End of Time: Part Two, Timothy Dalton’s character had just been referred to as “the President”,) but it was a huge revelation.

We wouldn’t see the Time Lords again for a few more years. But their next appearance would turn out to be an even bigger story…

9. The Day of the Doctor

We all remember how major this story was. The Day of the Doctor brought the Time Lords and Gallifrey back in a big way. Along with further revelations about the end of the Time War, we also had one of the biggest moments in Time Lord mythology yet.

In The End of Time, Russell T Davies focused on the politicians of Gallifrey. The ones who were in charge and, therefore, were easily the most dangerous. They were completely happy to let history be destroyed just so they could live. But what of the rest of the planet?

That gets explored with The Day of the Doctor. Steven Moffat was really keen to focus on the more ordinary Time Lords: the men, women and children who died when the Doctor destroyed his own planet.

And then came the major twist – he didn’t destroy them after all.

This is a major retcon, easily one of the biggest in the show’s long history. But it worked brilliantly. Especially how it was done: the first thirteen incarnations of the Doctor teaming up to save Gallifrey and end the Time War. If you’re going to retcon eight years of history in one moment, that’s definitely the best way to do it.

So, after years of being dead this whole time, Gallifrey was back. But, when it next appeared, was it worth the wait?

10. Hell Bent

Lastly, we come to Hell Bent. Like The Invasion of Time, this is a story with some strong ideas that just doesn’t quite work. And unlike Invasion, a key reason for that is that it’s filled with some really terrible ideas, too.

More from Winter is Coming

• For All Mankind finally gives us information in Episode 405, “Goldilocks”
• Watch a stunning VFX breakdown of The Wheel of Time season 2
• Of course Steve Toussaint (Corlys Velaryon) thinks Eve Best (Rhaenys Targaryen) should rule Westeros
• Confirmed: The Last of Us season 2 will air in 2025
• Final season of Star Trek: Discovery will have “a lot of action, a lot of adventure, a lot of fun”

The biggest problem with this episode is that Gallifrey was truly back. We weren’t traveling back in time with this one or seeing a flashback. No, we were actually seeing Gallifrey from a post-Time War perspective.

And what does Moffat focus on? Clara.

Honestly, after ten years, this was completely the wrong thing to explore with such a major story. Which highlights that Hell Bent was, in some ways, told entirely at the wrong time. Honestly, the episode needed to focus on Gallifrey’s return a lot more. Bringing Clara back from the dead just to give her something of a happy ending took away from that.

Still, we do get some major moments in terms of Time Lord mythology in this episode. The Doctor telling Rassilon to “get off [his] planet” definitely stood out, especially when you take the audios into account. To be honest, the entire story should have focused on that aspect of the Doctor taking on Rassilon himself. Ah well. At least we got to see both Rassilon and the High Council removed from Gallifrey at last, something that had been a long time coming.

We also learned about the Cloister Wraiths, which was an admittedly cool concept. And we found out how Gallifrey returned and was able to hide from the rest of the universe.

Still, there was definitely potential for more. A lot more. Perhaps our expectations were too high, but considering that this was supposed to be the episode that truly brought Gallifrey back, and so should have been one of the most essential stories to watch on this list, the fact that the planet’s return is overshadowed by undoing a great companion exit is a real let-down. This makes Hell Bent not just the last, but perhaps one of the weakest stories in this list.

Still, I hope you’ve enjoyed reading our list of the ten key stories for Time Lord and Gallifrey history in Doctor Who. Which story is your favorite? Which one did you like the least? And which are you curious about checking out? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.