I used to watch Dr Who all the time when I was kid. My mum used to work with someone who had nearly all the episodes on VHS, and we used to borrow them, so I've probably seen the vast majority of the seven Dr's adventures.
I used to read the old Target books when I was young too, one of my favourites being
The Celestial Toymaker, of which I think only two of the televised episodes remain(?). In no way a 'challenging read'
, but they were absorbing and fun - I could usually read two a night.
My favourite Doctor's were Troughton and Tom Baker - Both legendary!
As for my favourite story, I would probably have to go with
The Tomb of the Cybermen from the Troughton era, yet there were many others that I loved:
Genesis of the Daleks,
Inferno,
The Green Death,
Terror of the Autons,
The Talons of Weng-Chiang...
I don't rate the new Dr Who at all. It feels cheap, empty, and very cobbled together. It also seems to have got very 'dumbed down', and almost seems to rely on z-list celebrity cameos to carry it over the ratings barrier. With the classic stories, it used to be enjoyable watching a story unfold over about 8 or so 30 minute episodes, now an entire story is usually crammed into about 40 minutes of cheap CGI-heavy drivel. That said, Christopher Eccleston made a pretty good Dr.
Pointless Dr Who trivia fact: The story
The Five Doctors was released on the day, month, & year I was born!