10 Greatest Cold Opens In Doctor Who

The ending cliff-hanger of Series 5's penultimate episode, The Pandorica Opens, is perhaps the biggest 'how on earth are they going to get out of this' moment in the entire history of Doctor Who (it also has a fantastic, feature-length cold open, but there's only room for one on this list).

The Doctor is locked inside The Pandorica, the most secure prison ever created, River is trapped inside an exploding TARDIS, and Rory, now a plastic Auton centurion, has just shot Amy dead, all whilst the fabric of the universe collapses around them. On a scale of fine and dandy to sheer bloody panic, this is an 11/10.

So, it's fair to say that The Big Bang had to write itself out of one hell of a hole. Whether it does so successfully is up for discussion, depending on how willing you are to wave away the paradox of a resolution. Most would agree, however, that it got off to a brilliant start, unexpectedly jumping to a young Amelia Pond in an almost present day world where stars no longer exist thanks to the cracks in time.

The hopeless feeling we are left with in The Pandorica Opens is swept to one side as we join Amelia on a museum trip, following mysterious post-its from a stranger, passing a Dalek frozen in stone and exhibits which disappear as they are wiped from history. Amelia eventually finds herself at the Pandorica, which opens with her touch. We are expecting to find The Doctor inside, but, in a fantastic twist, its actually Amy. Mind blown.