4. He Has Cheated Death
BBCIn Matt Smith's final episode 'The Time of the Doctor', the mad time traveller managed to cheat death. The Time Lords granted him a brand new regeneration cycle, and surely this big achievement will have given the Doctor a boost in confidence. He now knows that he has another 11 regenerations left, and this should enable him to have the same spring in his step as early Doctors like Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee. Towards the end of Matt Smith's era, the Doctor became a more sombre, reserved character as he headed closer towards what he believed to be his final death. The new cycle, however, is quite the new lease of life, contributing another reason why Capaldi's Doctor should be a grand, beaming hero.