10 Doctor Who Behind The Scenes Secrets You Need To Know

Regeneration might have looked a lot different were it not for a bit of luck in the BBC tech department.

You all know the story by now. William Hartnell's health was declining, so the showrunners came up with a genius way of replacing him without killing off the main character.

In a now-legendary scene, Hartnell collapsed to the floor and his face slowly faded away, to be replaced by Patrick Troughton's.

This effect was the result of a faulty mixing desk, which caused whichever images were passed through it to become overexposed. Vision mixer Shirley Coward thought that creating a whiteout would be a great way to hide the transition between the actors, and that's precisely what happened.

Thank god she said something, because the initial plan for this scene was... well, let's be kind and say not as good.

Originally, Hartnell was supposed to fall down with his cloak covering his face, which would've been the end of his Doctor. Next time, the cloak would be removed to reveal Troughton.

Wonder how bi-generation would've looked if hoods and cloaks were the chosen transition device?