Doctor Who: 20 Things You Didn't Know About The Day Of The Doctor

14. Why The Eleventh Doctor Forgets The Children

Doctor Who The Impossible Astronaut River Song Stormcage
BBC Studios

The moment that Ten scolds Eleven for forgetting how many children were on Gallifrey the day he destroyed it was chilling.

In the onscreen version, Eleven justifies this by explaining that he's "moved on", but the novelisation explores his forgetfulness a little deeper.

It explains how the Ninth Doctor spent so long saving life after life to distract himself from counting. One of those lives saved was a therapy robot, which he then let loose in the corridors of the TARDIS.

The novel suggests that, years later, River and Eleven found the robot, and River used its power to erase the Doctor's memory of the children on Gallifrey:

"'You tell it your worst story, and it edits the nasty bits out of your memory', River smiled, that way she did when she's done something she shouldn't have - which in fairness was the only way she ever smiled."
 
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Ellie has been part of the WhatCulture team since 2021 where she began as a freelance presenter for the WhoCulture channel. As a diehard Whovian with a BA (hons) degree in Drama and Acting, this role was the perfect opportunity for her to combine her screen presence training with her extensive Doctor Who knowledge. From there, she branched out to various other WhatCulture channels, including TrekCulture, and became a full time Content Producer/Video Presenter in 2023. Ellie is now a regular fixture on both WhoCulture and TrekCulture and has become a well respected public figure within both fandoms, building up a substantial following across her social media platforms and being given the opportunity to represent the channels and the wider communities at several industry events. Her favourite Doctor Who character is River Song and her favourite Star Trek character is Captain Janeway - which tells you everything you need to know about how she approaches her role within a generally male dominated field.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!