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The Best…five scenes in Doctor Who

Billie Piper as Rose and David Tennant as The Doctor
  • Posted at 12:08pm
  • 20 December 2007
  • by LauraPledger-RT
  • 2 comments

The revamped Doctor Who has given viewers hours of thrilling entertainment. But what if the Beeb was to decide - as in days of old - that it wasn't worth keeping a kids' sci-fi series for posterity? Which scenes would you argue must never be wiped? Here are my suggestions:

1) Rose and the Doctor separated for ever…

…Or, as we now know, until Russell T Davies pens a kick-ass story reuniting them. In Doomsday, Billie Piper's mascara took the strain as she faced the reality of life without the Time Lord. Fans of long-standing remembered Michael Grade and sympathised.

As Rose and the Doctor said their final farewells, even Whovians who vehemently believe there should be no place for romance in the Doctor's life had a lump in their throats - and this time it had nothing to do with their gag reflex. Rose caused the Doctor a moment of panic as he wondered if he'd be pursued across the galaxy by the Child Support Agency ("There's five of us now. Mum, Dad, Mickey…and the baby"). The Doctor left it far, far too late to tell Rose he loved her. And they say he isn't half-human..?

2) The Doctor defeats the Cyber Controller

In a scene from The Age of Steel that should be required viewing for the entire Hollyoaks cast, David Tennant's theatrical experience came to the fore. He prowled the set like it was a stage as the Doctor defended emotion and individualism against the threat of unity and uniformity. The Time Lord was alternately irritating; cheeky; angry; funny; chiding; and intense, while Tennant was supremely confident, sublimely in control of the material - and clearly having the time of his life.

The Cyber Controller made a valiant attempt to counter the Doc's arguments, but let's face it, he was never going to win viewers' hearts. He may have been a physically imposing specimen with a cool, stress-the-wrong-syllable baddie voice ("This is the age of steel, and I am its creat-or"), but he was up against David Tennant at his most persuasive. And wearing a tux. The defence rests.

3) The Doctor encounters the Dalek in Van Statten's museum

For some reason, the powers that be hired an actor of Chris Eccleston's calibre, then didn't give him terribly much to do. But in the episode Dalek, everyone's favourite Mancunian seized his chance to shine. OK, so the title was a bit of a giveaway, but the reveal as the lights went up on the chained, grating-voiced "metaltron" was glorious. The Doctor was trembling, terrified, torn between the urge to flee and the desire to kill. And if you've ever had a large spider cross your path as you step into the shower, you'll know exactly how that feels.

4) Elton Pope's mum dies

Love & Monsters was an episode that divided fandom, oddly providing ammunition for both camps in the eternal Russell T Davies debate. (Depending on your point of view, RTD is either an artistic genius, or he can't write for toffee. There is no in-between.)

Wherever you stand, you'd need a heart of stone not to be touched by the metaphorical moment of death in this instalment. Young Elton and his mother are wandering along hand in hand before their grasp breaks and the mother walks on, waving farewell - leaving the child behind, watching her go. So very simple, so very heartbreaking. Powerful stuff.

5) The death of The Master

In Last of the Time Lords, John Simm's wonderful, maddening, maddened Master expired (or did he..?) in the arms of his greatest enemy. A nation joined in David Tennant's grief-stricken howl. Need I say more?

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  • Posted on 10 July 2008
  • at 1:26am
  • by Tracey

Agree with them all bar the Elton's pope's mum must die ,never liked that episode, its the one ( and I mean the one episode ) that I can never bring myself to watch.Its not because it's the doctor lite episode, just never liked the story. A much better one is 'The girl in the fire place'.The whole episode just packs a punch and you just cant help feel the doctor's heartbreak at the end.

  • Posted on 17 June 2008
  • at 5:25pm
  • by Abolat

I don't quite agree with the cyberman and elton's mum's scene, though the explaination for the cyberman scene definately can't be argued with!

I think the others are perfectly picked. I think that the scene in Midnight when the Doctor is paralysed could never be wiped! And the other hole should be filled by the scene from the Idiot's Lantern where the Doctor discovers that Rose has been changed. That's worth a huge applause! And a tear or two!

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