10 Ways Modern Doctor Who Changed The Show Forever

10. A Consistent Style Of Regeneration

When Christopher Eccleston regenerated into David Tennant at the climax of The Parting of the Ways, it established a style for regeneration that Doctor Who has continued to follow.

The heroic stance, famous last words, golden light, and explosive transformation established in The Parting of the Ways was more dynamic, and more modern, than any of the regenerations we’d seen in the classic era.

Classic regenerations typically involved the departing actor lying down and filming their final moments, before swapping places with their successor. This was a simple way to achieve the fade effect that signalled the transition from one Doctor to the next, and it served the show well for decades.

However, while the way that these regenerations were filmed was consistent, the in-fiction process wasn't. Sometimes the Doctor would just change, but other times they would get a nudge from other Time Lords, or future phantoms of themselves. Some Doctors would experience nightmarish hallucinations of their old friends and enemies, while others wouldn't.

The process was stripped-back and refined for the modern era, with the simple image of golden light emanating from a hand becoming a more iconic signifier of the end than ominous figures swathed in bandages, or the floating heads of friends and foes.