Doctor Who (Seasons 1–26)

Doctor Who (since 1963) is the BBC's long-running science-fiction series, with every season to watch online on iFILM. The wandering tale of an alien traveller who roams all of time and space in a blue box.

The Doctor is among the last of the Time Lords. The ship, a TARDIS, looks like a 1960s police call box on the outside and stretches out impossibly inside. With a rotating cast of companions, the Doctor drops into prehistory one week and a dying star system the next, saving worlds and trading blows with old foes like the Daleks and Cybermen. Here is the trick that keeps it alive: when a lead actor leaves, the character regenerates into a new face and temperament, passing the role from William Hartnell to Patrick Troughton, Tom Baker, Peter Davison and beyond.

It first aired the day after Kennedy was shot and has run for decades, earning a Guinness record as the longest-running sci-fi show on television. A fine starting point if you want to see why a phone-box prop spawned its own subculture. Stream Doctor Who online on iFILM.