Doctor Who: Why Each Doctor Was Forced To Regenerate
7. The Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy)
Sylvester McCoy had to wait a hell of a long time to get his regeneration scene, with his final regular appearance as the Seventh Doctor - the serial Survival - airing in 1989, and his regeneration in Doctor Who: The Movie being broadcast in 1996.
And when it finally did arrive, it definitely felt unique, a regeneration unlike any that we'd seen before.
Where previous Doctors were killed by strange illnesses, spider radiation, or off-camera drama, the Seventh Doctor was straight-up gunned down in a back alley by a gang of thugs. It's very unceremonious and it just sort of happens, but it does make for quite a shocking and brutal death, and it forces the Doctor to regenerate.
Well, not quite yet. Firstly, he's taken to a hospital and operated on, but because the human doctors aren't aware that he's an alien Time Lord, this doesn't exactly go to plan, and they're unable to save his life.
The Doctor's 'dead' body is then taken to a morgue, where his regeneration finally begins. There are loads of electricity effects and McCoy's face stretches and contorts in some unnatural ways, before the Eighth Doctor emerges with a wild look in his eyes.