Doctor Who: Every Doctor's DEFINITIVE Episode

Is The Time of the Doctor Eleven's best story? No. But it's so gloriously Eleven that it simply had to be the one.

Eleven spent his era pretending to be young with his bow ties, childlike energy and skidding round corners, but what really made this an interesting portrayal is when his immense age slipped through the cracks. Smith, in spite of being the youngest Doctor ever, sold the ancient being angle of the character in a way none of his predecessors had. The Time of the Doctor finally lets him be what he always was underneath – super duper old! You truly believe, watching this story, that this twenty-something man is dying of old age.

This story is also the culmination of every arc Matt Smith’s Doctor ever had, in the most crash-bang-wallop way possible. We go to the fields of Trenzalore, we answer the oldest question, we finally wrap up all the loose ends with The Silence, and to top it all off, we finally break the regeneration limit after 50 years.

On his way out Smith replays his greatest hits, playing out every facet and trope of his character, dropping every catchphrase, facing every single iconic villain, and then he gracefully steps back in the most poetic regeneration scene in the show's history.

The fairytale era ends with a distinctly fairytale story, in a sleepy, mythological town, at Christmas, with the Doctor playing the gallant and quirky protector. You could not dream up a more perfect bookend. This is the ending this Doctor deserved.