10 Quintessential Doctor Who Moments From The 12th Doctor

Four episodes into his tenure, Capaldi did something simple that in a way helped distinguish him from all the Doctors that came before. The episode Listen”began with him atop the TARDIS meditating, and after a moment he spoke directly into the camera.

While other Doctors have broken the fourth wall at opportune moments in the past, it usually came in the form of short one-liners or small nods to the audience. Before Listen—and to an even greater effect in the following season’s Before the Flood­—The Doctor had never included the audience so intimately. But from that moment on he became a philosophical Doctor who wasn’t just acting on his own whims. This was an earnest attempt to show that he valued his loyal audience and longed to consider their thoughts and opinions.