10 Awesome Doctor Who Episodes That You Can Only Watch Once
5. The Parting Of The Ways
2005 was the year Doctor Who exploded back into the national consciousness. Fans and critics were surprised at the way a show associated with nostalgia-tinged creakiness had been reborn as a ratings-snatching hit, single-handedly reviving UK TV's interest in sci-fi into the bargain.
You couldn't have asked for a more modern take on the concept than Christopher Eccleston's concluding adventure. Bad Wolf had the Doctor and Billie Piper's Rose Tyler trapped in a deadly array of reality programmes. Now The Parting Of The Ways ran with the baton left by the return of the Daleks en masse.
It finally explained all the references to "Bad Wolf" throughout the season, and I for one was swept along. After the fuss had died down though, it became clear the whole shebang had been somewhat thrown together. The arc was visually dynamic, but had all the depth of a junior milkshake. Russell T Davies' bright and breezy style soon got superseded by the mind-boggling machinations of successor Steven Moffat.