10 Doctor Who Moments That Broke The Fourth Wall

6. Doctor Who? (The Wedding Of River Song)

Doctor Who The Wedding of River Song the Doctor Matt Smith
BBC Studios

Another moment of Moffat meta, the showrunner decided to build his second series in charge (and really, the entire second half of Matt Smith's run as the Eleventh Doctor) around an idea that winked directly at the audience.

Taking the very title of the show and turning it into a plot point, the question "Doctor Who?" became a very dangerous phrase within the Whoniverse itself, almost leading to full-scale war in Smith's swansong, The Time Of The Doctor.

In the previous series however, the question did more than just wink at the audience - it smashed down the fourth wall and slapped them in the face.

The closing seconds of finale episode The Wedding Of River Song feature the decapitated head of Dorium Maldovar repeatedly yelling "Doctor Who?!" at the Eleventh Doctor, who then stops and stares directly into the camera, with a signature cheeky glint in his eye.

While the question had been discussed in previous episodes, this was the first time audiences learned what it was. As a result, that hint of cockiness on Smith's face almost feels like Moffat going "didn't see that one coming, did ya?"

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!