10 Doctor Who Episodes NOBODY Was Ready For

10. The Night Of The Doctor

To commemorate the show’s 50th anniversary, Doctor Who put out a minisode called The Night of the Doctor, which brought back Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor - his first live-action appearance in the role since the 1996 TV movie.

When the show returned with Christopher Eccleston in 2005, we never knew why the Doctor had regenerated from the Eighth to the Ninth. However, it was implied in Eccleston's first appearance that the regeneration was recent, as the Ninth Doctor didn’t know what he looked like until he saw himself in a mirror.

But instead of regenerating into Eccleston’s Doctor, this minisode showed us that Eight had instead regenerated into the War Doctor first, answering a few questions that fans had after The Name of the Doctor’s shocking cliffhanger.

The Night of the Doctor was a well-kept secret, and as a result, nobody was expecting McGann to return as the Doctor in this way. We're glad he did though, because he was wonderful in the few brief minutes he had here.

Let's hope he gets more to do in the future, eh?