10 Times War Broke Out Within The Doctor Who Fandom

10. Youngest. Doctor. Ever.

Kicking off the list is a moment which proved to be such a heated talking point that it even made it into the realms of mainstream traditional media. The unveiling of a new Doctor is always an auspicious and heavily documented occasion but when the time came for David Tennant to hand over the keys to the TARDIS (much to the heartbreak of his legion of fans), nobody really knew what quite to expect. To raise the already fevered anticipation, the reveal of the titular Time Lord's new identity was given its very own one off Doctor Who Confidential dedicated entirely to the coveted cause and, on 3rd January 2009, over 7 million viewers tuned in for the announcement that the nation had been waiting. The tidal wave of reactions that followed can pretty much be summed up in three words. Youngest. Doctor. Ever. The man in question is, of course, Matt Smith who, at 26 years old, literally was the youngest actor to have been cast in the iconic role. For the majority of fans, however, this wasn't an issue. After all, it's not how old an actor is, it's they're ability as a performer that counts, but there were some who wasted no time in expressing their utter outrage that the face of TV's favourite Time Lord was now... well, a young one. It was even suggested in some circles that Matt didn't have the right to take over the show's reigns, simply because he wasn't even born when it began. Now that's just plain silly. The ensuing controversy was a classic example of the Doctor Who community turning on each other when really none of them had any right to say anything when Matt hadn't even properly stepped aboard the TARDIS yet. Talk about judging a book by its cover! The press didn't help matters by practically writing the show off before the Eleventh Doctor's tenure had even started filming but Matt proved everybody wrong when he eventually made his official debut in April 2010 and promptly affirmed his presence as the Universe's new defender (though admittedly it didn't silence the naysayers completely - haters gonna hate!). He had the rest of us at 'fingers fingers and custard'.