10 Greatest Speeches In Doctor Who History

Everybody loves the Doctor's anti-war speech in The Zygon Inversion. It's an acting masterclass from Peter Capaldi, who goes from righteous anger to sarcastic game-show posturing to a tearful plea for empathy.

In building on the same dilemma from The Day of the Doctor, writers Peter Harness and Steven Moffat reveal that the Time War still casts a long shadow across the Doctor's lives. They may have saved Gallifrey and ended the Time War, but they still did many unspeakable things as the War Doctor:

"I fought in a bigger war than you will ever know! I did worse things than you could ever imagine, and when I close my eyes... I hear more screams than anyone could ever be able to count. And do you know what you do with all that pain? Shall I tell you where you put it? You hold it tight! Till it burns your hand. And you say this. No one else will ever have to live like this! No one else will ever have to feel this pain! Not on my watch!"

So, the Doctor uses that pain and trauma to convince humans and Zygons to reach an understanding and avert genocide. The Doctor makes some excellent points about how, ultimately, all wars boil down to negotiation, so why not cut out the horrors in the middle?

Viewed at the present moment this speech may seem overly optimistic, but the Doctor wouldn't be the Doctor without retaining that hopeful optimism about humanity.