I am not a DOCTOR WHO watcher either. I started many years ago....and the production design put me off the show....and I have never looked back, although I know that it is much different now....
Oh, yes it is different!
When it was originally concieved, the show was intended for children almost exclusively. And the money that went into making the show, or the lack of it, showed. There were sets that were literally rickety, and special effects that were more talk than anything else. I've a boxed set of the first three stories ("An Unearthly Child", "The Daleks", "The Edge of Destruction", with a 30 minute condensation of the lost story "Marco Polo") and yeah, you've got to be a real
Doctor Who fanatic to get though this stuff these days.
And through the years in the original run, although the production values got better, the belief that the show was kid's programming kept it hobbled. Towards the end of the run, the head of the BBC made no bones about how he hated the show.
That's what's so not true now. The people producing the
Doctor Who of today are viewing it as
family entertainment (
Torchwood, in contrast, is regarded as something for the adults), and are pumping the pounds into it - the production values are amazing. The love for the Doctor and his adventures is quite evident.
What I suggest, for anyone wanting to get into the series, is try renting the First Series - five disc set, with Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper posed in front of the Tardis/police box on the cover. Watch the first three episodes, to get the feel for the show, and then revel in the two-part "Aliens of London/World War Three", and if that doesn't get you hooked then simply return the set to wherever you rented it and that'll be that.
But I'm betting that most people will be hooked by that point.