10 Most Talked About Lines In Doctor Who History

1. I Said He Was Me... I Never Said He Was The Doctor

As soon as the end titles to The Name Of The Doctor rolled, social media and Doctor Who forums were awash with speculation as to the nature of Sir John Hurt's character in the 50th anniversary special. The jaw dropping revelation of a hitherto unknown past incarnation of the Doctor would lead to six months of ingenious and not so clever attempts to reconcile, "Introducing John Hurt as the Doctor" with the established lore of the Time Lord and the Time War. Some fans cited The Next Doctor for precedents of misdirection, others quoted Steven Moffat's open admission that "the Doctor lies." A few even turned to those shadow sides of the Doctor - the Valeyard and the Dream Lord, for answers. Pretty much everyone expected that BBC caption to be hyperbolic or simply false: Surely even Steven Moffat wouldn't mess around with the numbering of the Doctor's selves? If this was a new Doctor, then some ingenious plot twist would ensure that at the end of the special the accepted order would be restored. As it turned out, it both was and it wasn't. The War Doctor earned his right to stand among the pantheon of Doctors and yet he will always be regarded as the one that didn't quite fit in, who despite his redemption was born to renounce much of what the Doctor stood for. So let's return to the Series 10 trailer and Maisie Williams. Chances are she's a new character that wont radically change what we know of the Doctor. But on the other hand, if the War Doctor's anything to go by, Steven Moffat has proved he is nothing if not audacious in his treatment of Doctor Who's ongoing narrative.