Doctor Who: 14 Cool Details Revealed In Steven Moffat's Eleventh Hour Commentary

It was a sad day in British TV when David Tennant announced that he was leaving Doctor Who. A terrific actor and a beloved Doctor, many viewers believed that the show wouldn't be the same without him, and this widespread pessimism certainly didn't bode well for new showrunner Steven Moffat and new leading man Matt Smith.

But then - in an act that defied everyone's expectations - the pair came out of the gate swinging with an absolute cracker of an episode, The Eleventh Hour. This story kicked off this new era of Doctor Who with a jolt of fresh energy, and to this day, it remains the strongest debut for a new Doctor in the show's long history.

The episode recently turned ten years old, an anniversary that, admittedly, makes us feel ever-so-slightly more depressed (where the hell does all the time go?!) but let's not focus on the negatives - let's focus on a fun commentary track!

Featuring writer Steven Moffat (along with executive producers Beth Willis and Piers Wenger), there's a lot to unpack here, from alternate titles to script alterations - and even a possible hint towards a later Peter Capaldi episode. Let's dive in...

"The Eleventh Hour" is about as fitting as episode titles get.

The Doctor saves the day at the last minute - at the eleventh hour, if you will - and it's also the first hour of the Eleventh Doctor's life. Realistically, there was nothing else this episode could've been called.

But of course, some other titles were still considered.

Immediately after the opening credits, Moffat remarks that the episode was originally called "The Doctor Returns", presumably because the Doctor is sort of... returning? Or maybe because he returns to Amy after leaving her as a kid?

Moffat doesn't go into the nitty-gritty of the reasoning behind this title, but regardless, it's a bit of a boring one, so we're glad that he settled on The Eleventh Hour instead.