When did Doctor Who start to suck?

Logopolis (1981)

I think Russell Davies was even stupider than Moffat, and Davies was a worse show runner until the last couple of years when Moffat destroyed the show. Davies was certainly more anti-American. His low point may have been when he tried to take some cheap anti-Bush shots and had the sitting US president repeatedly calling himself the "President Elect" because it was a phrase Davies had heard before. Davies admitted later he didn't know that "President Elect" refers to someone who's just been elected but hasn't yet taken office. He was too lazy to spend a couple of seconds googling it. In trying to basically call Bush stupid he only revealed his own idiocy. No one else at the BBC caught the mistake either, which wasn't a good sign.

I liked the way Moffat handled the anniversary season and my favorite New Who episodes were probably ones Moffat did. So in some ways it got better after the first few seasons. But it irritated me that Moffat kept falling back on circular paradoxes, even during the anniversary season. He apparently feels they're clever but they're just intellectual cop outs. Bad writing. Then the past three years the writing quality collapsed across the board. The moon was a giant egg? Ugh (BTW, the moon also does have water, contrary to what they had the Doctor say; the ignoramuses at the BBC are scientifically illiterate). Time Lords switching genders? Nope, that doesn't work biologically given what we know about Time Lord reproduction and family structure, but....."Girl Power!"... I guess. Then the SJW crap intensified and, not coincidentally, the ratings continued to tank.

So there were always things wrong with the show, but it's not like Classic Who was perfect. The series was basically alright until the first Peter Capaldi season after the anniversary year. Capaldi is a fine actor who could have made a great Doctor Who so the sharp decline wasn't his fault, but the writing just went down the drain then and has sucked ever since.

1982.

When did it start to suck?

Clara. That's when. Not when she was a Dalek. That was awesome, but they should have left her there.

2005

I've attempted to watch this series several times since the 1970's, when I first stumbled upon it on a fuzzy UHF station (yes, youngsters, I am "old").

I never could get past the "Sid and Marty Krofft-ish" effects and the weak, weak, weak stories. To answer your question, it never DIDN'T suck. I just suspect that your tastes have now matured. As a fan of Marvel Comics (now from the Bronze and Silver Ages ONLY!), I can identify. I used to read new Marvel every week, through the early 1990's. I now see that 98%(+/-) of that post-1980 Marvel stuff is just utter crap.

Probably when he became female. Unless he was gay before, off course.

I wouldn't say its downhill and a lot of people found Bill a breath of fresh air over the know it all Clara. I just feel the show had started to go stale. I was originally not keen on a female doctor but i think it is needed to refresh the show kind of a soft reboot like series 5 was. I also feel people look back on eras like rtds with tainted glasses