Oh, but you should have been there...

That's something no DVD extra can ever give you. What is was like to actually experience coming in from the cold on a Saturday evening in the 1970s, and grit your teeth while you waited for the interminable football results to end before the next thrilling episode of Doctor Who.

I was a very excited boy that Saturday, just after Christmas in 1972. Although I was enjoying running about in the snow with my friends at the local park, I couldn't wait for tea time to come around. My cheeks were burning and my nose felt numb from the cold when I finally walked into my Nan's house and took off my coat and gloves. It was almost THAT TIME.

I sat down in what I still thought of as my Grandpa's chair. This would be the first time I'd be watching Doctor Who without him and I was very aware of his absence. There was a gap in my reality that he used to occupy, and I was still trying to deal with it as best, and as bravely, as a boy who had only recently turned ten years old could.

My Grandpa would have loved The Three Doctors, not least because he had once speculated that it ought to be possible for a time traveller like the Doctor to meet himself. And here it was happening. I can't tell you how wonderful it was to see Patrick Troughton's Doctor back again, now in colour! You should have seen the Cheshire Cat smile that spread across my young face when the 2nd Doctor materialised in the TARDIS. No disrespect to Jon Pertwee, who I was also ridiculously fond of, but Patrick Troughton was MY Doctor - still is, in fact - and he was back for four whole wonderful weeks, hurrah! Believe you me, the gulf of time between the end of The War Games and The Three Doctors seemed incredibly long to me in 1972.

While the 2nd Doctor may not have been impressed by the TARDIS's new interior, I loved it. It's still my idea of what the inside of a TARDIS should look like, and that's the one that I would have replicated in my castle were I ever to win the lottery (unlikely, as I don't actually play it, but I can dream).

And then there was William Hartnell, whose Doctor was still a bit of a mystery to me in those pre-video, pre-DVD, pre-streaming days. My first encounter with his Doctor was a battered old annual belonging to a slightly older cousin of mine. But here he was in action - and by 'in action,' I mean talking out of a television screen hanging in the TAR...

Oh! My ten year old self has just materialised beside me with a very serious look on his face and he says I'm to call it the scanner screen. Sorry, little me... ah, he's gone again.

Well, anyway, there was William Hartnell being wonderfully crotchety on the TARDIS, erm, scanner screen, and I took to him immediately. Even in his all-too brief and sadly limited scenes, Mr Hartnell was every bit as magnificent as my Grandpa had said he was.

If there is one thing that I would try to impart to someone who wasn't there, back then, it would be the strangeness of seeing three incarnations of the Doctor together for the first time. Nowadays, multi-Doctor stories seem to take place every other week, especially at Big Finish (multi-Master stories too!). I know these events still feel special but I don't know if they feel strange any more. And I mean strange in a good way. it was a marvelous kind of strangeness watching Jon Pertwee and Pat Troughton both pop their heads out of the TARDIS door. The only other time I've felt that same sense of delightful strangeness was also in my childhood, when DC and Marvel got together to produce a Superman meets Spider-Man crossover. As a boy, I would hold that comic in my hands and spend ages just staring at the cover featuring the Man of Steel and Spidey TOGETHER! It was wrong and yet wonderfully right at the same time. Of course, since then, the two comic book companies have collaborated many times and such crossovers have become normalised; which means that example might not mean much to a younger person either.

Whenever I watch The Three Doctors, somehow, magically, invisibly, my ten year old self will materialize and he'll be watching along too. It's funny, but no matter how old I get, that kid is never too far away.

not as good as i remember tbh its fine just not outstanding excited for deathworld

Great to see Two so neatly upstaging Three! And I love the gaudy set & sparkly monsters. I'm mostly in awe of how expertly Jo Grant runs and scrambles across what must be a quarry in Those Boots though - what a star ✨

Remarkably, as season ten begins we are able to look back at Doctor Who's long legacy and celebrate the disparate elements that have made up its first ten years. The ten year landmark is a superb achievement and it is a great credit to Barry Letts that he wanted to do an anniversary story incorporating the first two Doctors.

The Three Doctors multi-Doctor led narrative is its USP and this is successful. It is a small shame that Hartnell was unable to get fully involved in the action, but lovely to see him onscreen nonetheless. Patrick Troughton is in his element and has to be the best aspect of this story. After a limp season nine it really made me really miss The Second Doctor. Season nine has possibly made me less excited to jump into Pertwee tales.

The Second and Third Doctor's rivalry is a wonderful invention. It helps what could otherwise be a very dull dynamic with both actors stepping on each others toes. There were moments where Pertwee genuinely look appalled at the idea of having to share screen time with Troughton, but that must have been acting (...surely!) It made me feel lucky to be a fan of a show with this many toys at its disposal.

The First Doctor's assessment of his successors being "a dandy and a clown" is an immortal line which will forever shape the way we see these two characters. Make no mistake, The Three Doctors is on the essential reading list for any new fan.

It is another small shame that Jamie McCrimmon was not involved in this story, throughout it felt like Sergeant Benton was filling in for his role, luckily he is an excellent understudy.

This is the first time that we've seen multiple Time Lords since The War Games (on what I presume is the newly named Gallifrey). These appearances combined with The Doctor being rewarded with renewed time travel capabilities makes this a very significant story indeed but, characters aside, is this story any good? Unfortunately not. The blobby monsters are rubbish, Omega is okay and the alien planet is dull and generic. Also, I swear this is the third time we've had those exact same farmer/wife couple in Doctor Who since Spearhead from Space.

A brief glimpse of Bob Baker and Dave Martin's trademark freaky visuals can be seen when Pertwee took on Omega in a "battle of minds". Whatever dimension that scene was set in was awesome. Its a shame that in the two sets of scripts they've written since The Claws of Axos they have not been able to quite stretch these great moments over a whole story.

None of this is particularly important though as The Three Doctors is meant to be a character led story focusing on bringing together our old favourites. It is easy to be jaded in retrospect, but at the time this would have been the first time that most fans had seen Hartnell's Doctor in seven years (if they were even old enough to remember). This story really helps consolidate the show as a single entity, which is vital especially when considering that Pertwee's era can sometimes feel disconnected to the 1960s show.

I love those first three Doctors.

A hugely enjoyable serial from start to finish. The Second and Third Doctor’s banter is hilarious to witness, and Stephen Thorne is excellent casting as Omega. This is one you can just watch over and over, and always find something new to appreciate.

This being the multi-Doctor adventure which started the tradition, it's hard not to see why multi-Doctor stories became as popular as they are today. Whilst it's a shame William Hartnell couldn't have a bigger role due to illness, Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee are hilarious together and form a entertaining double act.

The plot also adds some interesting details to Time Lord mythos; here, we meet the stellar engineer of time travel technology Omega (who was trapped in a anti-matter universe by the Time Lords). Omega is one of the best villains ever to be introduced in the show; he has a certain presence that makes you instantly fear him whenever he appears in shot. It's also a rare instance where the classic series look almost rivals the look of the monsters and villains in the new series; Omega's costume would not look out of place in the 2005 reboot of the show.

If you love Doctor Who and haven't seen The Three Doctors, then I urge you to watch it. For it showcases exactly what makes the traditional multi-Doctor adventure so great.