1. Every Ending Is A Beginning
Both Verity Lambert and Waris Hussein use "Doctor Who" as a springboard to launch themselves into successful careers. They leave the show after only a few years. At its core, however, "An Adventure in Space and Time" is William Hartnell's story. Hartnell is an actor with the common insecurities of the performer he is only as good as his last role, and none of his roles are ever good enough. He is not particularly likeable in the beginning - he smokes and drinks too much and lashes out bitterly at his granddaughter and long-suffering wife. Much like his Doctor he is gruff and surly, and yet there is an underlying sweetness, a yearning for understanding. He is happy with the Doctor's success and he is devastated to have it taken from him. It is Mark Gatiss' sensitive depiction of the continuum of human life from bright and eager youth to illness and exhausted decline that ultimately moved me to tears. Every Doctor's era is a mirror of our own lives. We are born, make connections, lose them and make new ones until we ourselves are lost. Yes there is sadness in that but there is also beauty. If we could not sense our ending would we ever really begin?