10 Times Doctor Who Trolled You (And You Fell For It)

Doctor Who’s title is a question – a question that was first asked in the show’s first story, and has been uttered countless times since.

The answer (the Doctor’s true name) was never that big a deal in the classic series, but took on a whole new significance in the run-up to the 50th anniversary.

Having trolled fans in Forest of the Dead by showing River Song whisper the Doctor’s name to him, Moffat made it a plot point in the Eleventh Doctor’s era, with “Doctor Who?” retroactively becoming the universe’s “oldest question”, and the answer becoming a secret that must never be spoken.

It reached a point where it looked like the Doctor’s name was finally going to be revealed, in the outrageously-titled Series 7 finale, The Name of the Doctor.

But ultimately, as with so much of Moffat’s work, it ended up being something much more abstract – and a bait-and-switch to introduce the War Doctor. The Name of the Doctor referring, in this case, to the Doctor’s chosen name, and what it represents (never being cruel and cowardly yadda yadda yadda).

If the Doctor’s name ever was revealed it would almost definitely be an anticlimax. So it’s probably for the best that this never came to anything. What would it even be? Keith? Malcolm? Fabio? A string of random letters?

It’s a classic example of the show stringing fans along, and delivering something completely different to what was promised. But in a fun way. Long may "The Name of the Doctor" remain a complete and total mystery!