If its about their impacting the show, then surely Hartnell should be number one. There wouldn’t be any other Doctors if he hadn’t done a good job.

Where is Infinity?

Shalka Nine is far better acted than David Tennant.

Colin Baker did so excellent Big Finish Stuff and in my opinion was far better than any new who doctors thanks to those audios.

Your personal Bias towards doctors is showing. The best way to figure out what is best is via survey but that is flawed as well due to bias on the website the survey is on and those who are willing to fill out their survey. Not to mention the lack of knowledge of the Extend Universe in mainstream perception. Viewer figures are also flawed for a verity of reason least of of the lack of records regarding streaming views and distribution of the show. there is no fail safe way to figure out which Doctor is best.

You say that this is objective but you offer no sources for these doctors beyond personal views. if you can point me to a fully back and peer reviewed article which explains why this is accurate then I may reconsider.

But like I said your personal bias is showing no one is immune to their own bias.

There's no way Hartnell is last (!) for either of those criteria, but particularly for influence on the show. In terms of influence:

13 • Sylvester McCoy (he was literally the Doctor when the show was cancelled, and it rightly hasn't gone anywhere near that approach since.)

12 • Paul McGann

11 • Colin Baker

10 • Jon Pertwee

9 • Matt Smith

8 • Peter Capaldi

7 • Jodie Whittaker

6 • Peter Davison

5 • Christopher Eccleston

4 • Tom Baker

3 • David Tennant

2 • Patrick Troughton

1 • William Hartnell

Let's keep this civil, folks. It's ok to disagree with the OP's list and reasoning, but there's no need to resort to accusations of "bias" or "no sources" when this is just the OP expressing their opinion.

Let's also not forget that for many viewers of the show and users of the website (and I don't mean the regular editors here), DW is the tv show. They are entitled to think that and express it on these boards.

@FH2104 While I agree that Hartnell is a very underappreciated doctor, but McCoy isn't the reason the show got cancelled it got cancelled because the higherups in the BBC had grown to despise the show especially when Michael Grade was controller who hated the show for its low production values and even though he himself did not cancel it blaming it on the 7th doctor shows you have little knowledge of what actually happened and I believe doctor's should be judged on stories not whether or not based on whether they happened to be the last doctor.

@Dalek 16 I can't see where I said I blamed him, but if I implied that it wasn't on purpose. I like Sylvester McCoy. In person I'm led to believe he's wonderful, and at times he brings a real energy to the Doctor. Verity Lambert thought he was the worst, and I wouldn't necessarily disagree with her—I am aware that the BBC had it in for Doctor Who, but JN-T didn't exactly go out of his way to convince them. Sydney Newman suggested bringing back Troughton for a season followed by a female Doctor, and instead JN-T picked someone he'd seen in a pantomime. That says it all.

Anyway, I did say that list was entirely based on how much they influenced the show. Almost by definition, he didn't. (Regarding the TV series. I'm not going into the EU because it bores me senseless.) Whether he was responsible, or whether I said he was responsible, is irrelevant.

Even more irrelevant is that if I were to judge him based on his stories, that would be even worse.

@FH2104 How could it be worse you put him at the bottom of the list?