10 Doctor Who Moments That Broke The Fourth Wall

5. Not In Hyde Park Anymore (The Face Of Evil)

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BBC Studios

The 1977 serial The Face Of Evil wasted no time in delivering a crazy fourth wall break courtesy of Tom Baker's Doctor, with the mad-eyed Time Lord stepping out of his TARDIS, and immediately striking up a conversation with... himself?

That's how the whole thing is framed, of course, with the Doctor capping off this rather lonely conversation by asking himself if he wants to look around. But from our perspective, it's a clear fourth wall break, with the Doctor staring into the camera and rambling on about how he isn't in Hyde Park, and how there's a knot in his hanky. Check out a bit of this at the 16-second mark in the video below!

What's interesting about a lot of the Doctor's fourth wall breaks (including this one) is that they tend to happen when he's travelling alone. In The Invasion Of Time, he'd just lost Leela and K9; in Heaven Sent, he'd just lost Clara; and in The Wedding Of River Song, he'd dropped Amy and Rory at home a few episodes prior.

It seems that, when the Doctor gets lonely, he tries to reach out to his longest-serving companion, the companion he knows can always be relied on: us.

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WhoCulture Channel Manager/Doctor Who Editor at WhatCulture. Can confirm that bow ties are cool.