Watch Doctor Who Online

Doctor Who's the highest rated show in BBC America's history, and the time-traveling alien is such an icon, people are calling for him to be Britain's new patron saint. But what's Doctor Who really about? How can you appreciate it?

It may sound daunting when you hear that Doctor Who is closing in on its 50th anniversary in just a few years. It's a long, sprawling saga, with characters and creatures that turn up again and again. How can you possibly understand what's going on, without watching classic episodes like "Rider From Shang-Tu," "The Snows Of Terror," "The Day Of Armageddon" and "Horse Of Destruction"?

The good news is, Doctor Who has a pretty simple format, and usually keeps all of the backstory under wraps. The other good news is, when the show was relaunched in 2005, it was a pretty clean break, so you can just start watching with the first episodes of "Series One," available here at Watch Doctor Who Online. You can even start from scratch with the first episodes of the current season, starring Matt Smith — which has only aired one episode so far in the U.S.

Once you've watched the current series, if you want to start delving back into the "classic" series, which ran on BBC from 1963 through 1989, that's pretty easy too. You can watch the classic series right here on Watch Doctor Who Online.