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

13. The Story Was Almost Structured A LOT Differently

Doctor Who The Day of the Doctor
BBC Studios

Steven Moffat isn't exactly known for his linear storytelling, and sure enough, The Day of the Doctor bounces between several different timelines, characters, and locations.

But the final layout of the episode took a lot of time to get right, with Moffat once considering introducing the three main Doctors in a completely different order.

An early version of the script started with John Hurt's War Doctor, before moving onto David Tennant's Tenth Doctor, and finally landing on Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor.

In the end though, Moffat chose to start with Eleven - mainly because he was the star of the show at the time the episode aired.

 
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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!