There were many classic-era stories that focused on just a smaller community of people, where the Doctor, in some smart, kind, cunning way, would more gently investigate then steer things in a good direction, maybe by gaining the trust of an official, often in a situation with some interesting science-fiction premise, people misunderstanding each other, etc. As it is, now Black Mirror does varied science fiction rather better, except it's often so very bleakly depressing and unpleasant! Admittedly, there was also plenty of classic Who which, not always being picky about scriptwriters, gave us plenty of corny stories where people spent most of their time in wobbly sets, being caught by then escaping from guys in rubber suits that made them more disoriented than scary, so I don't mean to rose-tint it but, goodness, at least they often tried to make the new situation more interesting, the regulars often being more of a vessel for us to learn about it with them. I'd add that I suspect what killed the classic show originally was increasing incidence of weak writing and general implausibility (more likely to make us roll our eyes than make us think) so, these days, it's always a relief to me if we get a patch of not-bad stories, I may not be thrilled but I'm glad it at least gets to move on to further chances to do better. Of course, all that's a fairly personal opinion, many others may differ.

Yeah, funny how many alien planets in more recent decades look like woodland around British Columbia. (-: