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

4. The War Doctor

A whole other Doctor! A brand-new yet old version of the Time Lord for lovers of the programme to write fan-fiction about, buy the action figure of and debate his place in canon. First glimpsed at the end of 'The Name of the Doctor' (that was an important episode, wasn't it?), John Hurt's forgotten incarnation, known as the 'War Doctor', is the version of the character who fought in the Time War. Who committed such horrors he even deferred from calling himself the Doctor... However, John Hurt's Doctor is far more than the 'one who broke the promise' i.e. destroyed the Time Lords. Wise, irascible yet compassionate on occasion, the War Doctor is an all-new incarnation of our hero who we all wish to see more of. Sadly, that seems unlikely but for 'The Day of the Doctor' at least, John Hurt was the Doctor!