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Those Doctor Who moments that left your jaw on the floor.
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00:00When David Tennant appeared at the end of The Power of the Doctor and said his iconic
00:04what, I think that's probably what millions of Doctor Who fans said as well. Now obviously
00:10we knew he was returning, but just seeing him back in this role after so long was just
00:15crazy. I personally was stunned, in fact I was pretty much lost for words, which you'll
00:19be able to see if you go back and watch our ups and downs review of the episode, I just
00:23didn't know what to say. But with this most recent cliffhanger dropping, we thought now
00:27would be a good time to take a look at some of the other amazing cliffhangers that Doctor
00:31Who has given us. So with that in mind, I'm Ellie with Who Culture, here with 10 Doctor
00:37Who cliffhangers that made you say what? Number 10, The Dalek Fleet in Bad Wolf.
00:44Now as if Bad Wolf didn't already have enough going on with the killer android, the rather
00:49permanent Big Brother evictions, and Captain Jack Harkness hiding a gun somewhere. On top
00:55of all that madness, RTD just had to go and throw Daleks into the mix as well. The revelation
01:00at the end of Bad Wolf that these Skaro natives had survived their apparent destruction and
01:06were the ones in control of the game station was actually probably the first major cliffhanger
01:11of modern Doctor Who. Now the backstory of Christopher Eccleston's Ninth Doctor kind of implied
01:15that the Daleks had all been defeated in the Time War, and so the discovery of an entire
01:20Dalek fleet heading straight for our heroes was quite the bombshell for both the Doctor
01:25and for the audience. And that closing moment where the Doctor basically defies the Daleks'
01:31orders and risks Rose's life is quite inspiring but also rather risky, and audiences were left
01:38unsure whether they should applaud his nerve or chastise his recklessness.
01:43Number 9, The Twelfth Doctor Meets Santa Claus in Death in Heaven.
01:47Considering that Doctor Who aired a Christmas special every year from 2005 to 2017, it is
01:54quite surprising that it wasn't until 2014 that we finally saw the Doctor encounter Father
02:00Christmas. And I'm going to say Father Christmas because in England, that is what he is called,
02:06not Santa Claus. I feel very strongly about this. Midway through the closing credits of the
02:11series 8 finale. The Doctor is suddenly awoken by a knocking at the TARDIS door, and then Nick
02:17Frost's Father Christmas just casually strolls in and asks the Doctor what he wants for Christmas.
02:22We knew that the next episode was going to be a Christmas special, so that in itself wasn't
02:26massively surprising. But what was surprising was the introduction of a mythical creature here,
02:32or a mythical being. Mostly mythical beings in Doctor Who are given some sort of supernatural
02:38explanation, but here it genuinely seemed like Father Christmas had walked into the TARDIS.
02:43And also, he seemed to be an acquaintance of the Doctor's, which left us with quite a few questions.
02:48Mainly, what's on the Doctor's Christmas list? This was also a mid-credits scene, something that
02:54was unheard of in Doctor Who at the time, and so people were a little bit jarred, a little bit
02:58shocked, and had a lot of questions. Number 8, Donna in the TARDIS in Doomsday.
03:04Doomsday really was an emotional rollercoaster of an episode, and marked the end of an era
03:09for modern Doctor Who, as it saw the departure of its first companion. Now, there wasn't
03:14a dry eye in the nation, as we witnessed the Tenth Doctor and Rose saying goodbye to one
03:19another on Bad Wolf Bay. But, before we or the Doctor had time to process any of it, a
03:26massive bombshell was dropped in the form of Catherine Tate, in a wedding dress, in the TARDIS.
03:32Now, the Doctor's iconic, what, what, what, reaction debuted in this moment, and the no-nonsense
03:39banter of Catherine Tate immediately set a new dynamic and tone for the following episode,
03:44The Runaway Bride. But this ending left audiences in a really conflicted state of utter devastation
03:51at the loss of Rose, but also a somewhat guilty feeling of excitement and anticipation for what
03:57was to come. Number 7, floating in space in The Woman Who Fell to Earth.
04:02Jodie Whittaker's debut episode introduced a lot of new elements to Doctor Who. You had
04:07a new Doctor, a new gang of companions, and a new central location on Earth, which was
04:12nice, it was a nice change to just always ending up in London. But one thing that is
04:17recognised by audiences as a mainstay of Doctor Who was missing. The TARDIS. It's not unusual
04:23for the TARDIS to take a bit of a beating following a regeneration. And a redesign was expected to
04:29accompany this kind of fresh vision of Doctor Who. But expectations were quickly subverted
04:35when the episode ended not with this new TARDIS team beaming to the TARDIS, but just into open
04:41space.
04:41Now, some fans were a bit disappointed at the lack of a new TARDIS reveal, and others
04:46were just in complete shock that these new companions were now floating in space, rapidly
04:51running out of air. And it was a really good hook for the following episode. Now, say what
04:56you will about the Whittaker Chibnall era, but this was certainly a gripping ending to their
05:01debut episode.
05:02Number 6, The Doctor Is Still Blind In Oxygen.
05:06This series 10 episode centres around a space station and the value of oxygen amongst its
05:12crew. So, they aptly named it Oxygen. We see the 12th Doctor, Bill and Nardole, take
05:17on these zombies in spacesuits. Seriously, what is it with Steven Moffat and spacesuits that
05:23have a mind of their own? And also, the inhumane values of a company who places profit above
05:30human life.
05:31Now, the episode does give you a few near-fatal moments, just to give you a bit of a fright, you
05:36have Bill's suit malfunction and the Doctor give her his, then he goes blind as a result
05:40of his prolonged lack of oxygen, and then Bill's suit malfunctions again and seemingly
05:45kills her. Luckily, the Doctor is able to save Bill, and Nardole is able to restore the
05:50Doctor's sight. Or so we thought. It's revealed at the end of the episode that the Doctor is
05:56in fact still blind when he says to Nardole, I can't look at anything ever again. Now, it
06:02is very rare to see the Doctor suffer major injuries, and it certainly left us with a
06:06lot of questions heading into the following episode.
06:09Number 5. The Universe Ends In The Pandorica Opens
06:13Now, it's no secret that when Matt Smith took over from David Tennant there was a lot of concern
06:19that he wouldn't be up to the task. But it's a tale as old as time, or at least as
06:23old as Doctor Who, the new guy is never going to be as good as the one before. And it's
06:27a tale that's generally proven wrong. And I think that Series 5's The Pandorica Opens
06:33really proved that Matt Smith was worthy of the role. And it also introduced a premise
06:39that was so obvious and yet inconceivable at the same time. Now, it stands to reason that
06:45the most feared being in the universe would be the one person who constantly prevails over
06:51all the other menacing creatures in the galaxy. The idea of all of the Doctor's enemies working
06:57together in an alliance was just brilliantly created by Steven Moffat and left us with a
07:03truly brilliant cliffhanger as the Doctor is dragged into the Pandorica and sealed inside
07:09as the TARDIS explodes, destroying the universe. Now, this ending left us with so many questions.
07:14How is the Doctor going to escape this perfectly designed prison? How is he going to fix the universe?
07:21Did Robot Rory really just shoot Amy? And most importantly, did River get out of the exploding
07:26TARDIS in time? Number four, Bad Wolf in Turn Left. Turn Left was a brilliant what-if episode and
07:33it really highlighted just how many times the Doctor has saved the world, but also how many people he's
07:39influenced to follow in his footsteps. But of course, the biggest element of this episode was the return
07:44of Rose. Now, we had seen glimpses of Rose's return throughout series four, but this was the most
07:51prominent appearance and really laid the groundwork for the upcoming two-part series finale. Now, there
07:56still was a lot of mystery surrounding Rose. She wouldn't give her identity to Donna and there was no
08:02explanation how she was travelling from her parallel universe to Donna's. But it was made clear towards the
08:08end of the episode that her one goal, her one mission was to warn the Doctor of the impending
08:14darkness. What was really thrilling about this cliffhanger was that it was so personal. Rather
08:20than just explain to Donna what was going to happen so she could tell the Doctor, she gave her a simple
08:25message that not only warned the Doctor of the upcoming destruction, but also had a personal meaning
08:32that instantly gave him just a glimmer of hope that he would see her again. And then seeing the words
08:37Bad Wolf plastered everywhere on screen just created such a buzz for the following week's episode,
08:43and it also gave the audiences that glimmer of hope that they would finally see the Doctor and Rose
08:49reunited. Number 3. River's identity in A Good Man Goes to War
08:54The identity of River Song had been a long-standing mystery ever since her first appearance in Silence in
09:00the Library. And while some people, including Amy, had guessed that she would become the Doctor's
09:05wife, there was a second layer to her identity that perhaps people didn't see coming. Now in hindsight
09:12maybe it was obvious, there were a few hints and clues dropped in the build-up to this reveal, but
09:17it was executed so well that the reveal still felt like a shocking twist. River Song is Melody Pond.
09:25Melody Pond is Amy and Rory's daughter. What?! Now the range of reactions, from the Doctor's
09:32flustered excitement to the sheer look of shock on Amy and Rory's face, is probably a pretty good
09:38representation of the spectrum of audience responses as well. Now while it was brilliant to finally know
09:44who River Song was, we actually were left with more questions than we started with. Like, how can River Song be
09:50older than her parents? What happened to her once she was taken from Demon's Run? Why didn't she say
09:57anything sooner? And how does Steven Moffat's mind work? Number 2. The Angel Doctor in Village of the Angels
10:05Now, say what you will about Flux, but it cannot be denied that Episode 4, Village of the Angels,
10:11ended on one hell of a cliffhanger. After discovering a weeping angel inside Claire's mind,
10:18the Doctor enters Claire's mind to try and expel the invader. But instead, she learns that this
10:24weeping angel is hiding from the Division and offers the Doctor a deal – her missing memories
10:30in exchange for helping the Angel escape. Immediately, this seems reckless. Why would you trust a weeping
10:35angel? And of course, when the moment arrives, the Angel double-crosses the Doctor and offers her to the
10:40Division in exchange for its own freedom. But what happens next is truly, truly unexpected.
10:47Now, it's not uncommon to see the Doctor find themselves in a sticky situation,
10:51but very rarely do we actually see them defeated. And yet, in the closing moments of this episode,
10:57we see the Doctor transform into a weeping angel. This was a moment that left many an
11:03audience member with their jaws on the floor and a what-the-f expression on their face.
11:10Number 1. David Tennant's Return in The Power of the Doctor
11:14The return of Russell T. Davis and David Tennant is a massive twist for modern Doctor Who. The pair
11:20worked so well together from Series 2 to Series 4, so the prospect of them creating new content just
11:26sent fans into a frenzy. With the announcement of David Tennant's return and Shu T. Gat was casting,
11:32the question on everybody's lips in the build-up to Jodie Whittaker's final episode was who was she
11:38going to regenerate into? Now, it was fairly obvious that it was going to be one of these two actors,
11:44but the fact that it was David Tennant left us with so much more confusion than if it had been
11:49Shu T. Gat were. A new face is to be expected. An old face revisited? Well, that's something
11:55completely different. Now, in this instance, the reveal itself wasn't massively shocking. We knew that
12:02David Tennant was going to be returning. But the mystery and the confusion surrounding his return,
12:08that made for a brilliant cliffhanger. One that will now keep fans guessing for an entire year,
12:15before they get any sort of answers. Damn you, Russell T. Davis!
12:20And that concludes our list. Now, there are some obvious ones that we purposely left out because we
12:24wanted to look for the more obscure answers. But if you think we did miss any really good examples,
12:30then do let us know in the comments below. And while you're there, don't forget to like and subscribe
12:35and tap that notification bell so you never miss a Who Culture video again. Also, head over to Twitter
12:40and follow us there and Instagram as well. And I can be found across various social medias just by
12:44searching Ellie Littlechild. Don't forget to look for Sean Ferrick as well and Dan the Meigs too.
12:50I've been Ellie with Who Culture, and in the words of River Song herself, goodbye, sweeties.
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