The criteria for a 'classic' episode of Doctor Who is a hard one to define with some episodes growing in audience's estimations over time while others become instant favourites. For lots of viewers, the recent episode Listen features in the latter category. It impressed for many reasons, including its brave deviations from the show's norms, its look at the Doctor's psyche and also for a never-before-seen glimpse at the Doctor's childhood. Using the TARDIS' unstable telepathic circuits, Clara attempts to fly the TARDIS to astronaut Orson Pink's own time. However, she misses by quite some way and ends up in an old barn, where a small boy lies crying. This boy, she discovers, is the Doctor and the barn is the one to which he will one day return to end the Time War. To soothe the tiny Time Lord to sleep, Clara tells him to embrace his fears and to be kind and gives him an idol to look up to: a soldier who doesn't carry a gun. A jaw-dropping moment, it offers up something we were certainly did not expect to see but, like the best twists, serves the story first and foremost; it turns out that this episode hasn't been about a monster hunt rather the excising of the demons of a small boy who is still scared of the dark. It's the sort of brazen tinkering with Doctor Who lore that Steven Moffat has made one of his calling cards, considering The Day of the Doctor last year, although the scene does also show sensible restraint, satisfying our curiosities but leaving us wanting more (e.g. we never see the young Doctor's face). In all, it's an exciting, tantalising moment that personifies the brave new direction that this series is taking. A regained emphasis on character drama? Check. The most important companion the Doctor's ever had? Check. The best Doctor? Well, we'll have to wait and see but on the evidence of these first six episodes anything is possible. Were our own telepathic circuits working perfectly when we compiled this list? Or are these choices as dubious as the fate of the Half-Face Man? Leave your thoughts below!
