10 Biggest Controversies In Doctor Who History

The 2005 revival of Doctor Who was a huge moment for British TV in so many ways.

Kids who'd grown up during the classic era were now adults, eager to introduce their children to the show. It was the return of not just one cultural icon - the Doctor - but many, including the TARDIS, the Daleks, and that iconic opening theme music. Not everyone was confident that it would work, but there was still plenty of excitement.

So, imagine the confusion and horror on the faces of the British public - not to mention the hard-working cast and crew who'd toiled away to make the show great - when the very first episode was rudely interrupted by Graham bloody Norton.

A few minutes into Rose, there's a scene where Billie Piper's title character is being stalked by the Autons in a department store. During the initial 2005 broadcast of the episode, sound from a Norton-hosted BBC Three programme was accidentally played over this moment, spoiling the tense atmosphere and annoying viewers who were just starting to get sucked into this all-new version of Doctor Who.

Understandably, there were a lot of complaints, but bizarrely, this wouldn't be the last time that Norton barged into a pivotal moment of the show.

Just five years later, an animated banner for the talent show Over the Rainbow - which was hosted by Norton - was placed right over Matt Smith's face during the cliffhanger of The Time of Angels. Smith's Doctor was right in the middle of delivering a badass speech, only for Norton's bright yellow advert to dominate the screen. Nice.

The BBC received almost 6,000 complaints after this incident, one of the biggest TV backlashes around that time.