5. War Doctor
When John Hurt (that's now Sir John Hurt to you, owing to the fact that he's recently been knighted in the Queen's New Year honours list - congrats!) was revealed as a 'forgotten' version of the Doctor at the end of the climactic Series 7: Part 2 finale, The Name of the Doctor, fans always knew that it was strictly going to be a 'one time' sort of thing. Suffice to say, the veteran of the stage and screen stole the show - as he was always going to - during the 50th anniversary festivities which, obviously, left viewers chomping at the bit for even more. John Hurt's tenure as the titular Time Lord was basically a fully fledged era condensed into a feature-length episode. Fans got to see Paul McGann (more on him later) transform into him - which was an historic moment in itself - at the end of the surprise prequel The Night of the Doctor and, after a date with destiny and the fateful moment in The Day of the Doctor, this war-torn incarnation returned to his TARDIS where he promptly regenerated into Christopher Eccleston. It was short but so very, very sweet. The War Doctor action continued in the tie-in novel Engines of War but for many fans that simply won't do. They've been campaigning for him to make a return and have even decided that his Time War escapades warrant a fully fledged spin off series of their very own. Suffice to say, the return of the War Doctor is one that every Doctor Who fan is waiting for.
Dan Butler
Doctor Who Editor
Dan Butler is the Doctor Who Editor at WhatCulture.com. When he isn't writing his own articles or editing other people's, he can be found trawling the internet for gifs of Steven Moffat laughing. Contact him via dan.butler@whatculture.co.uk.
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