@pete 

Some of my favorite episodes were City of Death, Planet of the Spiders, An Unearthly Child, Marco Polo,Tomb of the Cybermen, Logopolis, Pyramids of Mars, Robot, and The Wheel in Space. I bought both DVD’s and audio versions (including some novelizations) on CD when they were available. I like listening to the stories that are often read by the original cast members just as much as viewing the television episodes. For some of the lost stories such as Marco Polo the audio versions are all that is available. I would like to see more animation since I have been pleased with most of the restored episodes. I would recommend collecting classic Dr. Who especially because it is not always available here in the U.S. and I am not sure of what is still available in other countries such as Australia. 

I don’t think I would have hid behind the sofa because I wouldn’t want to miss any of the classic programs. But looking at classic Dr. Who now it doesn't look like it was anything more frightening than the shows here in the U. S. when I was a child. I don’t think parents had to be too concerned. Now the shows have more of a nostalgic appeal, which is why I still love watching them. 🙂

@pete

I'm not familiar with the "behind the sofa" phrase being applied to Doctor Who here in the US, but part of that might be because I didn't come across it until it aired on PBS, possibly in the late '70s or early '80s, when I was too old to hide from monsters, even Daleks. 

As I recall, I actually saw some of the Sarah Jane Adventures before seeing her very much in classic Who, so one of my first thoughts upon seeing her with Tom Baker's Doctor was "she's so young!"