Doctor Who: Every Post-Regeneration Episode Ranked Worst To Best

The 1996 TV film oddity also has the distinction of including the Doctor's proper regeneration scene near the beginning of a story. Dr Grace Holloway doesn't live up to her "Amazing Grace" moniker, initially, by inadvertently killing the Seventh Doctor on the operating table, but the Eighth Doctor is kissing her soon after. There's a lot of that in the future.

The regeneration scene itself is the creepiest ever as it parallels a sequence of a morgue orderly watching Frankenstein whilst Sylvester McCoy turns into Paul McGann.

The British-American production was intended to kickstart a series of brand new adventures for our favourite time-travelling hero. After six years away from the small screen, they had a tough balancing act of respecting the show's past but not revering it. Overall, it does neither one or the other - it's a solid three-star outing for McGann's all too brief TV era Eighth Doctor.

There's plenty to like and enjoy. The TARDIS - specifically that gorgeously Gothic TARDIS interior with its awe-inspiring panorama of planets and galaxies up above the control console, and the stunningly opulent Eye of Harmony. Eric Roberts camps it up with a Time Lord ceremonial robe before growling and distorting his face like Vigo the Carpathian. Yet, Roberts' Master is far more macabre than his Classic Who predecessors by breaking Bruce's wife's and Chang Lee's necks. The Gothic Horror Picture Show is topped off when the Doctor is forced into wearing a Clockwork Orange-style headgear. Conversely, it's jarring seeing the Seventh Doctor get unceremoniously gunned down in what is, essentially, a family show.

Although a full series never materialised, a couple of features may have inspired NuWho: the golden regeneration energy surrounding Grace and Chang, and a vibrant time vortex title sequence.