Doctor Who: Every Penultimate Cliffhanger Episode Ranked From Worst To Best

This was the Doctor Who revival's debut finale, and a real change changer. Starting out as the fairly linear premise of 'reality-shows-gone-evil-in-space', audiences were clueless as to where it was going. And clever plotting meant that the biggest secrets were saved for the last ten minutes. The unveiling of old foes makes this one of the best penultimate episodes, even to this day.

Thus far, the debut series had unveiled only one straddling Dalek, mid-season. So the reveal of an entire Dalek empire in this penultimate episode had some serious narrative weight to it. It also meant that Eccleston's Doctor could show his teeth and fire out some aggressive and riveting dialogue. After this, no singular audience member could decline tuning into the finale for the emotional and brilliant climax.

Bad Wolf's cliffhanger alone demonstrated that Russel T Davies meant business as a writer and that Doctor Who was a revival that mattered. If viewers hadn't been paying attention in the run-in, then they certainly were by the time this episode had finished.