10 Doctor Who Moments More Important Than You Realised

2. The Significance Of The Infostamp

2008 Christmas special The Next Doctor tried to trick us into thinking that David Morrissey was the TARDIS’ next occupant...

...until we learned that he’s actually just a human dude called Jackson Lake, who accidentally absorbed information about the Doctor from a Cyberman infostamp.

We're then treated to a good old Doctor Who clip show of all the previous incarnations, from Billy Hartnell through to Davey T.

With the amount of clip shows we've seen in the show over the last 20 years (or hell, even in the last two years) you'd be forgiven for thinking that they've always been as common as hot dinners. But amazingly, this Next Doctor clip show was the first time footage of classic Doctors had featured in NuWho.

Yes, really. King of Flashbacks Russell T Davies waited till he was almost out the door to do his first classic highlight reel.

This was a time when Doctor flashbacks were actively avoided, for fear of alienating the audience – and as a result there were some people who, three years into the revival, still weren't sure whether the classic series was properly canon. So this particular clip show was important for that reason too.

Of course, in the years since we’ve had plenty more sequences showcasing all the Doctors, with memorable examples in The Eleventh Hour and The Name of the Doctor.

And these days it feels like we get one every other week. Imagine how effective it would be if we had to wait another four years for the next one! Just saying…