10 Most Paused Doctor Who Moments

Director Hettie Macdonald pulls off something quite remarkable in Blink that had fans reaching for their pause buttons.

Early in the episode, just after Kathy Nightingale is sent back to 1920, Sally Sparrow finds the TARDIS key dangling from the hand of a Weeping Angel. As she crouches down to retrieve the key, the Angels have uncovered their eyes, preparing to pounce – but since we, the audience, can freeze them in place ourselves, they don't move a muscle.

And then as Sally stands up, she blocks the Angels from view and passes by them, and when they're visible again, their hands are back to covering their eyes!

It's an impressively fluid sequence, one shot, where timing is absolutely everything. If one of the Angel actors puts their hands up too late then the spooky moment is absolutely ruined. It's such a swift and subtle change that viewers may not have even noticed the shift in movement.

Cue frantic rewinding to confirm those suspicions that, yes, the Angels did move in-camera. Or if you're a proper film nerd, frantic pausing to confirm whether this was actually done in one take, or if Sally's coat acted as an editing bridge to line up both shots.

Either way, it's an incredibly chilling directorial flourish that should be applauded.