20 Doctor Who Moments We'll NEVER Forget
8. "...And Cut!" (Vengeance On Varos)
The end of Vengeance on Varos' first episode is one of Doctor Who's greatest cliffhangers.
Buckling under the intense heat of the illusory desert, the Doctor falls to the ground, about to pass out – or worse, die. But rather than cutting to the usual cliffhanger sound, the show does something completely different.
It cuts back to the gallery, as the director orders the shot to be held for a little longer before signalling for the cameras to cut there, and... cue titles. It's a masterfully meta Doctor Who moment from writer Phillip Martin.
It's the Doctor trapped inside a TV show and being tortured for the entertainment of a politically apathetic population. As Peri recently pointed out in Tales of the TARDIS, the story is still incredibly relevant in the 2020s.