Doctor Who: 10 Most Poetic Moments
8. Remembering His Face (The Girl Who Died)
With the appearance of the Twelfth Doctor, it became an interesting piece of trivia that actor Peter Capaldi had appeared in Series 4 episode 'The Fires of Pompeii' as Caecilius, who the Tenth Doctor rescues from Pompeii.
After regenerating, the Doctor himself recognises the face, giving a small nudge to the audience that the production team were well aware of Capaldi's previous appearances in the Whoniverse. Catching his reflection, he asks himself, "Who frowned me this face?"
It was taken by fans as a small, throwaway reminder not to take Capaldi's first role in the show too seriously, and the matter seemed to be put thoroughly to rest. That is, until, the series 9 episode, "The Girl Who Died".
After witnessing a young girl dying to save the rest of her village, the Doctor has a crisis over her sacrifice. Cue the moment when he suddenly remembers where he recognised his new face from, and the lesson he was giving himself: to always save someone, even in an impossible situation.
He does so, saving the girl by making her effectively immortal, which in turn inspires a handful of events that fuel many of the following episodes. It was a clever piece of writing that called us way back to Donna Noble's advice to the Doctor in 2008, as well as setting up an upcoming story arc.