In true Doctor Who fashion, our list of most watched episodes is actually beginning with... well, an end! 1st January 2010 marked the climactic conclusion of David Tennant's critically acclaimed five year tenure at the helm of time and space and there wasn't a dry eye in the house as the Tenth Doctor stepped aboard the TARDIS to heroically utter those immortal last words in front of what was seemingly the entire nation. None of us wanted him to go, either! The momentous moment had certainly been prepared for, though, with a preceding year of 'specials' (OK, Planet of the Dead notwithstanding...) that built up to one of the show's most memorable regeneration stories to date. Seriously. It was big. It's rather fitting, then, that one of the most cinematic episodes in Doctor Who history (and not to mention one of the longest, too, clocking in at a feature-length running time of 72 minutes) was also watched by one of its largest ever audiences. Granted it wasn't the most watched (this countdown is only just getting started, after all!) but 12.27 million viewers putting their New Year festivities on hold to share in your final moments as TV's favourite Time Lord isn't too shabby at all. Interestingly, this is the only regeneration episode to have made the list, too. David Tennant is arguably the most popular 'NuWho' Doctor to date and you can't argue with the statistics. But some of you will probably still try to!
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.
