10 Greatest Doctor Who Moments Of 2023
From musical numbers to bi-generation, Doctor Who’s 60th year had countless highlights…
Big anniversaries don’t come around very often, so fans were understandably excited for Doctor Who’s 60th birthday.
Happily, the celebrations didn’t disappoint, with not one but three anniversary specials and a host of supplementary content – charity specials, colourisations, and the glorious return of in-vision commentaries, plus the launch of new behind-the-scenes show Doctor Who: Unleashed.
There was also lots going on outside the show itself: exhibitions, events, and one of the canniest bits of cross-promotion in history in the form of the Barbie TARDIS. And of course, in the background, a whole new season was being prepared. In fact, filming has already begun on Ncuti Gatwa’s second season – episodes that we won’t be seeing until 2025.
But for the purposes of this list, let’s turn our attention back to 2023.
From The Star Beast to The Church on Ruby Road, with brief detours into other corners of the Whoniverse, this year was full of iconic Doctor Who moments. But which deserve to go down in history as the defining parts of the 60th anniversary?
10. Meeting The Meep
One of the most baffling things to come out of public filming for the 60th was a photo of a furry little creature strongly resembling comic-strip character the Meep.
As we now know, that’s because special one was an adaptation of The Star Beast, the strip in which the Meep first appeared.
Some had doubts about how convincing a live-action Meep would be, and it didn’t help that the photo made it look like a giant snowball! Realised as an entirely practical or CG creation, the Meep could so easily have been a failure, but happily, the finished effect was a combination of both approaches, with a practical costume enhanced by computer-generated blinks and mouth movements (plus Miriam Margolyes’ magnificent vocal performance!).
It’s seriously impressive – nowhere more so than in the scene between the Meep and Rose in her shed. Not once do you look at the cuddly fella and think “that’s just a person in a suit”, or “that bit’s CGI”. Meep even manages to elicit sympathy with its cute puppy dog eyes – no mean feat for a ball of fluff!
As ever, the final word should go to Donna, who is astounded by how “real” the Meep looks when she stumbles upon it. Can’t argue with that!