10 Greatest Speeches In Doctor Who History

10. "That's What It Takes To Be Really Corrupt!" (The Trial Of A Time Lord)

Colin Baker is one of the most verbose actors to have ever played the Doctor, and while he was robbed of a heroic last act, he gets a chance to shine in his final serial. At last, the Sixth Doctor's fury and acid tongue are directed at a deserving target - the High Council of the Time Lords.

This was the final script written by legendary Doctor Who writer Robert Holmes, the writer most responsible for fleshing out Time Lord society as we know it. Colin Baker's thundering delivery of Holmes' words is a stirring reminder that the universe's greatest enemies are really the Time Lords themselves:

"Daleks, Sontarans, Cybermen, they're still in the nursery compared to us. Ten million years of absolute power, that's what it takes to be really corrupt!"

This has always been an underlying theme of Holmes' scripts since he wrote The Deadly Assassin in 1976, and a decade later he brings everything full circle.

In doing so, Holmes doubles down on his reasoning for why the Doctor left Gallifrey. It was never about fearful prophecies or hybrids - it was because he'd grown tired of the stagnation and corruption of the archaic Time Lord society.

Anyone living in Great Britain in 2023 can surely relate.