10 Times Doctor Who Has Broken Its Own Rules

With the Doctor now able to regenerate seemingly unlimited times, the stakes created by these 'fakeout regenerations' no longer seem to be as pressing. However, their existence still begs the question, 'Huh?'

From time to time, the Doctor has displayed the ability to simulate regenerations, or at least use solve-all regeneration energy to progress the plot.

Claiming that using his regeneration energy would cause him to 'lose an arm or a leg somewhere down the line', the Twelfth Doctor even volunteered it to Davros is 2015's The Witch's Familiar. Indeed, the Doctor has summoned mysterious regeneration on a whim to heal a selected few such as River Song, or stage elaborate plots - just like he did in 2017's The Lie of the Land.

But how? If the Doctor can magically heal characters with this deus-ex-machina energy, why doesn't he use it more often? Could it be weaponised, as seen in The Time of the Doctor? And how can the Doctor pretend to regenerate without actually changing his face?

Audiences saw the Tenth Doctor partially exterminated in Journey's End. He then cast his regeneration energy aside, but The Time of the Doctor stated that it had counted as a complete regeneration. Does this mean the Twelfth Doctor's fake regenerations also mean he wasted a life?

The less said about the fake Teselecta-Doctor pretending to regenerate in 2011's The Wedding of River Song, the better.