10 Greatest Speeches In Doctor Who History

It's a sign of a great speech when Murray Gold turns the music right down, which is precisely what he did for Peter Capaldi's stunning delivery of the Doctor's mission statement in the Series 10 finale.

Faced with impossible odds and the self-serving cowardice of the Master, the Doctor makes one final attempt to redeem his oldest frenemy. It's a defining moment - arguably the moment that Capaldi's Doctor Who casting was always building towards:

"Winning? Is that what you think it's about? I'm not trying to win. I'm not doing this because I want to beat someone, or because I hate someone, or because I want to blame someone. It's not because it's fun and God knows it's not because it's easy. It's not even because it works, because it hardly ever does. I do what I do because it's right! Because it's decent! And above all, it's kind. It's just that. Just kind."

Capaldi delivers this speech with such passion and a genuine fragility which is rarely seen in portrayals of the Doctor. He knows he doesn't have a hope in hell of defeating the Cybermen, but he'll keep fighting to prolong the inevitable for as long as possible.

The Doctor isn't some superhero that has been given an enormous responsibility, they're a shambling traveller who never turns away from those in need. An idiot with a box and a screwdriver, passing through.

This is the defining speech of Capaldi's Doctor Who era, and quite possibly of Doctor Who as a whole.