Doctor Who: 10 Greatest Things The 50th Anniversary Year Gave Us

2. Gallifrey

The big development of the actual 50th anniversary was the (sort of) return of the Doctor's home planet of Gallifrey! As said above, although it was thought that John Hurt's War Doctor used the Moment to destroy his own people it was revealed at the climax of 'The Day of the Doctor' that the Doctors pitted together to come to a different solution. Inspired by Gallifreyan art, the stasis cubes, all incarnations of the Doctor teamed up to shunt Gallifrey into a another universe, saving it from utter destruction at the hands of the Daleks. As Tom Baker's future incarnation claimed (now let's not get into that now): 'Gallifrey falls no more!' Done in such a way that it doesn't detract from Russel T Davies' run on the show, the return of Gallifrey is an ingenious idea that actually follows a long tradition of the Time Lords' story being extended in anniversary specials e.g. the truth of Omega in 'The Three Doctors', the legend of Rassilon in 'The Five Doctors' but, more importantly, also takes the show in a fresh direction. 'I know where I'm going...' The Eleventh Doctor says, summing up the character's new crusade, 'home, the long way round.'