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

7. He Was The First Doctor To Regenerate While Stood Upright

Doctor Who the Ninth Doctor Christopher Eccleston
BBC Studios

As well as being the only Doctor to have his regenerations broadcast in reverse order, the Ninth Doctor was also the first Doctor to regenerate while stood in an upright position, something that became the norm from here on out.

Doctors One through Seven all regenerated while either lying down, or, in the case of the Second Doctor, while spinning around in circles and flying towards the middle of the screen. Something weird like that.

Now yes, the War Doctor and the Eighth Doctor also regenerated while stood upright, but these weren't broadcast until after the Ninth Doctor's regeneration in 2005: War's was seen in 2013's The Day Of The Doctor, while Eight's was seen in the short episode The Night Of The Doctor, which aired in that same year.

He doesn't often get the credit for this, but the Ninth Doctor's regeneration kick-started a trend that saw the Tenth, Eleventh and Twelfth Doctors burst into golden flames while standing proud and tall, and presumably, the Thirteenth Doctor will follow suit.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for almost nine years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. He has been writing and video editing for 10+ years, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers and uploading them to YouTube (they're admittedly a bit rusty by today's standards). If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order or to tell you about the making of 1988's Remembrance of the Daleks, Danny is the person to ask.