Doctor Who is fifty years old this year. Yes, really! You'd think that they'd have done something to celebrate, wouldn't you? As a fandom, we've watched the madman from Gallifrey every Saturday night for half a century: and in those fifty years, we've had 798 episodes, 33 series/seasons, thousands of Daleks, and eleven Doctors. The show evolves almost like an unsolvable Rubik's Cube, as nothing's ever been "done": there's always a new place to visit, new characters to invent, and something magical for the Doctor to discover. It's both philosophical and a fairytale. It's no wonder it reached fifty - it's timeless - and who's to say it won't reach another fifty? Here are the fifty finest moments that Doctor Who's ever offered us in its fifty-year history. What are your favourites? Let us know in the comments section below...
50. Seven Walks Away From An Explosion
Ever since the days of Jon Pertwee, the Doctor's been a man of action; not necessarily fighting against evil physically, but oozing a coolness. It wasn't so much the Seventh Doctor as Sylvester McCoy himself though who put the "cool" in this action scene. There wasn't supposed to be nearly that much dynamite go off, but McCoy chose not to react to the monumental explosion that he wasn't expecting. That's real acting, folks.
49. The Weeping Angels Attack
Prior to this scene comes one of the most famous scenes of David Tennant's career, in which he explains the timey-wimey, non-linear, subjective manner of time, and that those statues that Sally Sparrow keeps seeing are in fact psychopaths from another world. But follows that spiel is quite possibly the most nail-biting moment in Modern Doctor Who: Sally scales the house for a way out, and Larry is absolutely powerless against an alien. The bit where he turns back around to stare into the eyes of an Angel? The moment when a new Who legend was born, and we all learnt to keep our eyes firmly open whilst walking past statues.
48. The Second Doctor Meets His End
The First Doctor was the quintessential grumpy old man. He died in his sleep, of old age, and Patrick Troughton took his place, gallivanting around the universe with a vigour that William Hartnell never had. A meddling clown, the Second Doctor died when he needed help from the Time Lords, who executed him for just a little bit too much meddling. In a classic Doctor Who scene, Patrick Troughton turns what's a really quite poignant final note into a witty, melodramatic last bow for his Doctor. The regeneration scene is an iconic moment of the show.
47. "You are The Only Mystery Worth Solving..."
So often, so many writers have expressed why the Doctor does what he does, why he is who he is, and the nature of travelling in the TARDIS. But very few writers do it in the space of five minutes quite so well. In 'Hide', the Doctor documents the entire history of the Earth leaving companion Clara to watch on horrified that it doesn't affect him. She asks if she's just a ghost to him, and he replies that she's the only mystery worth solving. It's both thought-provoking, brilliantly simple, and wonderfully humany-wumany. That's what Who's all about.
46. "Go To Your Room!"
At the end of 'The Empty Child', the Doctor, Jack and Rose were cornered. Nancy was cornered too. Gas-masked mutants were attacking with creepy battle cries and there looked like there was no way out. In what was to become the first of many ingenious Moffat solutions though, the Doctor ordered them all to their room. It was such a simple, funny and obvious idea. And as Nine correctly pointed out, it would've made horrible last words.