7. The War Doctor
Doctor Who has had its fair share of cliffhangers but none of them got tongues a-waggin' more than the reveal in the final seconds of The Name of the Doctor. Clara, trapped in the Doctor's time stream with every incarnation running by (it was a long story!), sees one shadowy figure standing unmoved. A figure that the Eleventh Doctor looks upon with disgust as he rescues Clara and leaves. The figure turns around to reveal... John Hurt! As the Doctor! OMG! Six months went by before fans finally learnt where in the pantheon of Doctors this husky-voiced legend stood. All the evidence suggested he was a past incarnation, but how could that be with a seemingly unbroken lineage of on screen Doctors? Was he the Valeyard, a distillation of the darker side of the Doctor's nature from the Classic Series? A pre-Hartnell Doctor? An elderly Eighth Doctor? An intermediate incarnation? All of the above!? But when the War Doctor finally shared the TARDIS with Ten and Eleven for 76 glorious minutes one cold November night, everyone stopped fretting over the somewhat clumsy retcon or griping that Christopher Eccleston had declined. Between John Hurt's performance and Steven Moffat's characterisation, there is nobody who would wish John Hurt out of Doctor Who history. So fans must thank Moffat for opening us up to more mystery about the Doctor by overturning seemingly entrenched continuity and giving us an almost blank slate new Doctor to play with in spin off media. Although, given how expensive John Hurt is to book, don't expect him to pop up on Big Finish any time soon!