13 Earth-Shattering Doctor Who Moments From The Last 10 Years

4. Introducing John Hurt (The Name Of The Doctor)

Doctor Who's 50th anniversary was always going to be full of twists and turns and Steven Moffat proved that he was serious about making 2013 one of the show's most memorable years to date when he ripped the foundations of its mythology apart by introducing an incarnation of the Doctor that nobody had even known about. Smooth, Moffat, real smooth. In the closing moments of the Series 7 finale, The Name of the Doctor, the then-current Time Lord Matt Smith came face to face with a previous incarnation who, until that moment, had remained nothing more than a secret of his guilt ridden past. And just who was assigned with the mighty task of bringing this elusive War Doctor to life? None other than screen veteran John Hurt, of course, who only had to turn around and look ominously down the camera to affirm his new found status within the Whoniverse. Fans welcomed him into the show with welcome arms and it was a climactic cliffhanger which will go down as one of the show's all time greatest. In fact, how will it even top it? Once a series has ended on the Earth-shattering revelation that there's been another version of the show's protagonist that nobody knew existed, it's arguably reached its peak.