What is the best Doctor Who regeneration scene of all time?
Another regeneration is on the cards - but which Time Lords have had the most memorable transformation to date?
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1. First Doctor (William Hartnell) to Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton)
It’s worth remembering just how revolutionary regeneration was when it first appeared. Replacing the title character with someone completely different, not just a new face but an entirely new personality? The concept wasn’t fully developed yet, but this was the brainwave that has allowed the Doctor to endure for more than half a century. Even the effects hold up well.
2. Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton) to Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee)
Yes, Troughton is hilarious as he gurns his way through the process, but this was from a point in the series before it was explicitly established regeneration means death. Put in those terms, this suddenly becomes an elongated and well-spoken Time Lord execution. Also: where’s Pertwee?
3. Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee) to Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker)
“A tear… Sarah Jane?” Pertwee’s send-off was as classy as you would expect from the ruff-wearing, sword fencing Doctor, and is sure to bring at least one tear to your eye. Plus, this is the regeneration that invented the term ‘regeneration’. Just stop watching before the floating monk appears.
4. Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) to Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison)
Regeneration is a weird idea, and it has never been weirder than Tom Baker’s exit. The Doctor compared the process to a caterpillar turning into a butterfly, and Logopolis appeared to take this literally. The Doctor spends the entire story being followed by a mysterious figure. After he plunges from a radio telescope, the audience discover ‘The Watcher’ was also the Doctor, or his cocoon, or something.