Doctor Who: 20 Things You Didn't Know About The Angels Take Manhattan

In December 2011, it was announced that Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill were exiting Doctor Who, nearly an entire year before it actually happened.

Moffat tried to throw viewers off the scent by introducing new companion Jenna Coleman early, but we all knew the inevitable was coming.

Interestingly though, Amy's swansong had actually been foretold much earlier. And by much earlier, we mean her very first episode.

When a young Amelia is waiting for the Doctor to return in The Eleventh Hour, there's a shot of her looking up at the sky, as she hears the sound of the TARDIS.

This seemed a bit random at the time, as it was established that the Doctor never came back for her. And in fact, that was an important part of Amy's character – she was "The Girl Who Waited", after all.

In The Angels Take Manhattan however, we learn that the Doctor did eventually go back for her, but only after Amy asks him to in her final letter.

This is something Moffat had been planning to reveal from day one, as he revealed to the press before The Angels Take Manhattan debuted:

"After showing Amelia Pond in the garden as a young girl in The Eleventh Hour, the final shot in The Angels Take Manhattan is a punchline I have been waiting to tell for two-and-a-half years."

One of the great things about the Eleventh Doctor's era is that it's one giant story arc from the first episode to the last.

This payoff in particular was incredibly emotional for fans who'd stuck with Amy's journey from that very first shot of her lonely old house.