Doctor Who has just turned 61 years old, and there have been a LOT of unforgettable moments in that time. Here are some of our favourites!
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00:00Doctor Who is 60 years old, many happy returns, and since 1963 the show has been providing us with unforgettable moments.
00:08So we wanted to celebrate that history and showcase some of the scenes that stand out to us.
00:13Quick note before we start, regenerations, companion departures and speeches are lists unto themselves,
00:19so none of those will feature here, which should keep things more interesting.
00:23I'm Ellie for Who Culture here with 20 Doctor Who moments we'll never forget.
00:27Number 20, Ra Ra Rasputin, The Power of the Doctor.
00:31I never know how to say that word. Rasputin? Rasputin? Rasputin. You know who I mean.
00:36Sure, John Simms' master wheeling an elderly David Tennant around to the Scissor Sisters is iconic,
00:41but nothing beats Sasha Dewan's gloriously deranged disco dancing in The Power of the Doctor.
00:47The story goes that Dewan misread the script and effectively improvised the moment.
00:52Improvisation is key to Doctor Who's success, given its persistent lack of time and money,
00:57and nowhere is this better realised than the master busting some sick moves to Boney M while taunting the Doctor.
01:03Possibly another perfect bit of improv was the Dalek and Cyberman actors looking quizzically at each other
01:08when presented with the master's dance routine.
01:10It's one of Doctor Who's most chaotic and hilarious sequences from the past 60 years.
01:16Number 19, You Can't Mend People?
01:19Kinder.
01:19It might have an unconvincing pink snake, half the cast of The Bill, and a very fake-looking forest,
01:25but Kinder is genuinely terrifying.
01:27Not in a jump-scare sort of way, but in a psychological way that can really get under your skin and freak you out.
01:33The Fifth Doctor regularly seems out of his depth here,
01:36not knowing how to deal with the increasingly unpredictable Hindle
01:39and disarm the explosive devices set around the dome.
01:42In this memorable scene, the Doctor returns to the dome to find Hindle and Sanders building a model village,
01:48and when the Doctor accidentally breaks the head off of one of the model villagers,
01:51Hindle memorably screams,
01:52You Can't Mend People, Can You?
01:54while waving the decapitated cardboard figure in the Doctor's face.
01:57It's one of the most genuinely spine-chilling portrayals of madness in the show's history.
02:02And you're welcome for that wonderful performance, by the way.
02:04Number 18, Because I'm Clever.
02:07Midnight.
02:07There's always a danger that Doctor Who can become too safe,
02:10because the audience knows the Doctor will save the day.
02:13Midnight brilliantly turned all of that on its head by putting the Doctor in a situation he could neither control nor understand.
02:19It's extraordinary to see David Tennant's 10th Doctor, arguably the most confident of them all,
02:25growing increasingly exasperated with his paranoid and frightened travelling companions,
02:29all of which builds to the unforgettable moment where the Doctor frustratedly tells them that they should listen to him
02:35because he's clever, before they all threaten to throw him off the shuttle.
02:38It's one of the most frightening moments in Doctor Who, because it further chips away his authority,
02:43making him powerless to stop the situation from spiralling wildly out of control.
02:48Number 17, I'd rather have a pint.
02:50The Demons.
02:51Doctor Who may be about to embark on an exciting new era as a multinational sci-fi franchise,
02:57but it's a fundamental part of British culture.
03:00There's no escaping that The Beatles, James Bond and Doctor Who all came to prominence around the same time.
03:06And there's no finer example of Doctor Who's uniquely British attitude than the closing scene of the classic 1970s serial The Demons.
03:14A literal apocalypse has been averted by blowing up a church,
03:17a cloven-hoofed demon has been banished, and the master is in cuffs.
03:21And how does everyone celebrate this monumental victory?
03:24With Morris dancing.
03:25Or if you're the Brigadier and Mike Yates, a pint in a local pub.
03:28Although Mike definitely would have preferred a dance.
03:30Number 16, Daleks vs Cybermen.
03:33Doomsday.
03:34The fight between the Daleks and the Cybermen in Doomsday was something that old-school fans have been dreaming about since they were nine years old.
03:41It was also really cool to watch if you were nine years old in 2006.
03:45It was this perfect moment that brought Doctor Who fandom young and old together in collective joy.
03:50And it was only modern Doctor Who's second year on telly.
03:53The actual battle scenes aren't as good as you remember,
03:55but will we ever forget the hilarious smack-talking between the Daleks and the Cybermen?
04:00What RTD remembered was that both villains had a lot more personality back in the 60s,
04:05and he brings that in spades with one of the greatest mic drops in the show.
04:09This is not war.
04:11This is pest control.
04:13Again, you're welcome for that wonderful performance.
04:16Number 15, the final scene, Survival.
04:18Okay, so it technically is a speech,
04:21but we'd be remiss to not include the very last scene of classic Doctor Who.
04:25And look, rules are made to be broken.
04:27Written by Andrew Cartmel when he was informed that there would be no season 27,
04:31Sylvester McCoy's poetic speech about cities made of song and people made of smoke ensured Doctor Who's future.
04:37Leaving it so open-ended allowed the adventures to continue in novels, in comics, in audio dramas,
04:43a one-off TV movie, and finally a brand new TV incarnation in 2005.
04:48It's such a beautifully evocative speech about the wonder and possibilities that Doctor Who creates.
04:53It's so beautiful that it got a stirring remix in Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred's recent Tales of the TARDIS episode.
05:00Number 14, Flying Earth Home, Journey's End.
05:03The original console room designer reflected that the TARDIS was a machine designed for one person.
05:09Russell T. Davis gleefully stomped all over that assertion in Journey's End
05:13when he confirmed that it's actually designed for six pilots.
05:16The scene where everyone bands together to fly Earth home is utterly corny,
05:20but RTD's Doctor Who had more than earned the right by this point.
05:25It's a joyous culmination to four series of Doctor Who and the prototype Hooniverse created by Torchwood and the Sarah Jane Adventures.
05:32And who can forget Martha Jones' fourth wall break as she winks to the camera as she operates her section of the console.
05:38Number 13, The Shoes.
05:41They fit perfectly.
05:42The TV Movie.
05:43In 2023, it's hilarious to look back at the gnashing of teeth that greeted the Doctor and Grace's kiss in the 1996 TV movie.
05:51After all, there will be a lot more of that when Doctor Who returned in 2005.
05:55However, the outrage over the kiss obscures what is the best scene of the TV movie,
06:00and a defining moment for Paul McGann's Doctor.
06:03As he passionately rattles off an incredible story about his childhood on Gallifrey,
06:07with meteor storms and fantastic colours, he pauses to appreciate how comfy his new shoes are.
06:13That's the Doctor.
06:14The alien time traveller who has seen so much, but still takes comfort in small everyday things like a well-prepared meal or a banging pair of shoes.
06:22Number 12, Sarah Jane's face falls off.
06:25The Android Invasion.
06:26During Doctor Who's most horror-tinged era, the fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith were there to reassure the viewer,
06:32to hold their hand and guide them through the fear and the danger.
06:35However, when Sarah was replaced by a murderous android, all bets were off, and it was hard to know who to trust.
06:41Tom Baker and Liz Sladen play the moment brilliantly, with the Doctor becoming rougher and more aggressive,
06:46and android Sarah becoming colder and more stilted.
06:49And then the reveal.
06:51Her face falls off to reveal robot circuitry and creepy glass eyes.
06:55It was a cliffhanger that lived long in the memory of fans like Stephen Moffat,
06:59and likely influenced the moment in The Almost People, where the 11th Doctor reduces ganger Amy to a puddle of porridge.
07:05Number 11, Space Pig, Aliens of London.
07:08Christopher Eccleston's first day on Doctor Who involved him chasing down a man dressed as a pig.
07:14There's literally nothing more Doctor Who than a serious actor chasing a ridiculous creature around some corridors.
07:20But while this is initially bonkers and hilarious, it's also gut-wrenchingly sad.
07:25You have to have a heart of stone not to feel something when a unit soldier pumps the pig full of lead.
07:30And Eccleston sells the moment in a raw and powerful way that's quite unlike any of his predecessors.
07:36If there's a moment that sums up how Russell T. Davis revitalised Doctor Who while also staying true to its undeniable weirdness,
07:43then it's the 9th Doctor mourning the tragic death of a pig in a spacesuit.
07:48Number 10, The Autons attack, Spearhead from Space.
07:52Doctor Who is rarely as unflinchingly brutal toward innocent bystanders as it is in this shocking sequence from Spearhead from Space.
07:59As the morning commuters shake themselves awake waiting for the first bus,
08:03shop dummies come to life and begin making their way up the high street.
08:06It's the most cinematic sequence in Doctor Who up to that point,
08:09as the Autons massacre innocent everyday people while the Doctor's trying to bring the crisis to an end elsewhere.
08:15The shots of horrified extras were traumatising for kids at the time, and it's still terrifying to this day.
08:21It certainly left its mark on multiple generations of Doctor Who fans who'll never feel 100% safe in Primark ever again.
08:28Number 9, Four Knocks, The End of Time Part 2.
08:32The End of Time brought David Tennant's era to a barnstormer of a climax.
08:36The confrontation between the Doctor, the Master and Rassilon, and the sucker punch ending was an emotional rollercoaster.
08:42Tennant plays a blinder here, from his disbelief at surviving the encounter,
08:47to his gut-wrenching realisation that he's still got one last person to save.
08:51Bernard Cribbins is also brilliant, bringing on the tears with the slightest of expressions,
08:56and Murray Gold is rarely better.
08:59You were always this.
09:01That being said, did Wilf really need to knock on that glass four times?
09:06Way to stick the knife in, Mott.
09:07If there's a scene that best encapsulates who the Doctor is, it's this.
09:11The hero who can breezily avert the destruction of an entire planet,
09:14but will give their life to save just one person.
09:17Number 8, And Cut, Vengeance on Varos.
09:20The end of Vengeance of Varos's first episode is one of Doctor Who's greatest cliffhangers.
09:26Buckling under the intense heat of the illusory desert,
09:29the Doctor falls to the ground, about to pass out, or worse, die.
09:32But rather than cutting to the usual cliffhanger sound,
09:35the show does something completely different.
09:40It cuts back to the gallery, as the director orders the shot to be held for a little longer,
09:45before signalling for the cameras to cut there, and cue titles.
09:49It's a masterfully meta Doctor Who moment from writer Philip Martin.
09:53It's the Doctor trapped inside a TV show,
09:55and being tortured for the entertainment of a politically apathetic population.
10:00As Perry recently pointed out in Tales of the TARDIS,
10:03the story is still incredibly relevant in the 2020s.
10:06Number 7, Reunited with Sarah Jane, School Reunion.
10:10There was an odd moment when Doctor Who came back,
10:12where older fans took some convincing that it was still the same show,
10:16and not a complete reset.
10:17All of that changed when the Tenth Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith were reunited in School Reunion.
10:22It's hauntingly beautiful, from Sarah laying eyes on the TARDIS,
10:26to her standing back as the Tenth Doctor moves quietly into shot.
10:30It's an electric scene that not only beautifully captures the idea of picking up exactly where you left off
10:35with an old friend, but also bridges the gap between old and new Doctor Who.
10:39The decades just melt away, as the Doctor and Sarah are reunited once more in a creepy school.
10:44What a triumph!
10:45Number 6, Nine Meets the Dalek.
10:48Dalek.
10:48Tom Baker's contemplation of genocide in Genesis of the Daleks is terrific,
10:53but it is ultimately a speech, so instead, let's consider the Daleks' return to Doctor Who in 2005,
10:59a scene that is the meatiest bit of Doctor Dalek dialogue since the fourth Doctor contemplated touching two wires together.
11:05Christopher Eccleston proves he was absolutely the right choice to relaunch Doctor Who
11:10with prestige and gravitas in just a few minutes.
11:13He goes from utter terror at being locked inside with a Dalek,
11:16to an almost cruel mockery when he realises it's unarmed,
11:19to frothing rage and chest-puffing pride at destroying the Daleks once and for all.
11:24An astonishingly raw performance never seen before in Doctor Who,
11:28and one of the most unforgettable Dalek scenes of all time.
11:31Number 5, The Apple, The Eleventh Hour.
11:34Stephen Moffat's Doctor Who is at its best when it's tackling big sci-fi ideas
11:39with the poetry and beauty of a fairy tale.
11:41Case in point, the scene from The Eleventh Hour,
11:43where Amy finally buys into the Doctor's crazy world.
11:46When the raggedy man crashes into her garden demanding food,
11:50little Amelia hands the Doctor an apple with a smiley face carved in.
11:53He keeps hold of the apple, then disappears for 12 years,
11:56leaving Amelia to deal with her abandonment.
11:58So, is there a description of how time travel works as moving and memorable,
12:03as the Doctor returning to adult Amy with the same apple still fresh
12:07that she had handed him over a decade earlier?
12:09Well, no, there isn't, quite honestly.
12:11Number 4, Cybermen at St. Paul's, The Invasion.
12:14If we're being honest, Doctor Who would have never taken off
12:17if it weren't for the monsters.
12:19Five weeks into its run, the Daleks breathed life
12:22into an occasionally stilted educational show for kids,
12:25and it never looked back.
12:26One of the most iconic Doctor Who images
12:28is the Cybermen marching down the steps of St. Paul's Cathedral
12:31in the Patrick Troughton serial, The Invasion.
12:34It's more iconic than the Daleks on Westminster Bridge,
12:37because the Cybermen pose a serious threat to the safety of London,
12:40whereas the Daleks have already conquered the planet.
12:42There's a reason that the image transcended the Doctor Who story
12:45from which it originated, and adorned student bedrooms,
12:48postcards, and greeting cards.
12:50It's the perfect example of Doctor Who's unique selling point,
12:54the clash of the alien with recognisable reality.
12:57Number 3, and the Shepard's Boy says, Heaven Sent.
13:01Heaven Sent was voted the greatest Doctor Who story of all time
13:04in a recent Doctor Who magazine poll, and it's easy to see why.
13:08An absolute masterclass in writing, direction, and performance
13:12by Stephen Moffat, Rachel Talalay, and Peter Capaldi
13:15that gets to the very heart of who the Doctor is.
13:18In the final montage, set to Morigold's haunting The Shepard's Boy,
13:21the Twelfth Doctor lives up to his promise to never be cruel,
13:25never be cowardly, and never give up,
13:27as he spends billions of years smashing his fist into a wall of diamond.
13:31That's who the Doctor is, the hero that will always do the hard thing
13:35and take the long way round. Not because it's easy,
13:38not because it works, because it hardly ever does,
13:40but because it's right.
13:42Number 2, The Curator, The Day of the Doctor.
13:45In an anniversary special full of unforgettable moments,
13:48the surprise return of Tom Baker takes the jelly baby.
13:51What's sometimes forgotten is how brilliantly Jenna Coleman
13:54underplays Clara's delivering of the message
13:57that the Under Gallery's curator wants to speak to the Doctor.
14:01It would be so easy to add some portent or mystery to those words,
14:04but she just throws them out as she heads back to the TARDIS.
14:07And then when Tom Baker's unmistakable voice booms out from off-camera,
14:12there are chills down everyone's spines and goosebumps on their arms.
14:16It's a masterclass in set-up,
14:18which is hardly surprising given Stephen Moffat's career as a sitcom writer.
14:21What's more, it's the only instance of Tom Baker sharing the screen
14:25with another Doctor in official Doctor Who.
14:27It's utterly magical.
14:28Number 1, Barbara is menaced by a Dalek, The Daleks.
14:33If there's something that ties Doctor Who together across six decades,
14:36it's the skills of the actors to lend gravitas to special effects
14:40that often look a bit ropey.
14:41In that regard, Jacqueline Hill was a trailblazer
14:44that fundamentally changed the shape of the show.
14:47Due to the nature of Doctor Who filming in the 1960s,
14:50Hill wasn't acting opposite a full Dalek prop.
14:52She was acting opposite assistant floor manager Michael Ferguson
14:55brandishing a Dalek sucker arm.
14:57Regardless, Hill absolutely sells the horror of the moment,
15:00teasing the eventual Dalek reveal the next week.
15:03And thus, a legend was born.
15:05An unforgettable moment that gets a new lease of life
15:08via the 60th anniversary colourisation,
15:10and it's hard to think of something more deserving.
15:13And that concludes our list.
15:15But for more of our favourite Doctor Who moments,
15:17then check out 10 Greatest Modern Doctor Who episodes.
15:21In the meantime, I've been Ellie with Who Culture,
15:23and in the words of Riversong herself,
15:25goodbye, sweeties.
15:26We'll see you next time.