10 Huge Doctor Who Moments That Didn't Matter At All

Doctor who?

It’s a question that fans and disembodied blue heads have been asking for as long as Doctor Who has been around. So it might surprise you to learn that we actually got an answer back in 1979.

During The Armageddon Factor, the Fourth Doctor runs into his old classmate Drax, who greets him as "Theta Sigma" (a name that combines two letters from the Greek alphabet, and, according to some sources, means God).

In context we’ve no reason to believe this isn’t the Doctor’s real name. Yet it’s never been mentioned again! Seriously Moffat, you spent basically an entire era teasing "Doctor who?" even though we'd known for over 30 years at that point!

The only other time the Doctor brings it up is when he encounters the similarly-named Trevor Sigma in The Happiness Patrol, clarifying that Theta Sigma is just his old nickname. There were also symbols referring to Theta Sigma plastered onto the cliff face by River Song in The Pandorica Opens.

On balance, it’s not entirely unsurprising that the show moved on from this so quickly. After all, once you’ve revealed the Doctor’s name, where do you go next?

It’s a prime example of the question being more exciting than the answer. And no matter how thoughtful an answer the show’s writers come up with, it’s never going to match the mystery – nor will said writers get a cheap chuckle whenever they have someone say "Doctor who?" in the show.