The Night of the Doctor

50th Anniversary Special, Streamed on BBC iPlayer, 1 x 7 minute episode, 14th November 2013, Writer: Steven Moffat, Director: John Hayes, Producer: Denise Paul, Executive Producer: Steven Moffat

Watch here:

Straight into action with a stricken ship tearing towards an inhospitable planet near a battlefront, pursued by a familiar blue box.

The pilot, Cass, is trying to send a distress signal...

...but the Computer seems to think she's in need of a doctor.

Then: "I'm a Doctor... but probably not the one you were expecting!" 

IT'S THE 8th DOCTOR! And he looks amazing!

Lee Mahon @Lee_JM75 · This was the exact moment the internet exploded. 

50dw50 @50dw50 ·  i am still amazed this exists, pity tumblr ruined the surprise for me

Jason McLaughlin @jangomac72 · I was lucky enough to be at home when this debuted, I jumped around the room punching the air when the 8th Doctor turned up!

I was at work and had to watch it on my phone in my lunch break!

50dw50 @50dw50 ·  i came home from Scotland and thought they had done some impressive photoshopping on tumblr until i twigged

Paul McGann in the credits! Brilliant!

And straight away he just IS the Doctor again, and a brilliant Doctor at that! 

CosmicDebris @margitan · We were robbed of having more McGann stories as the Doctor :-( 

McGann's Night of the Doctor outfit echoes Clint Eastwood's in The Good, The Bad & The Ugly. 

During the Time War the Doctor was just like the Man With No Name, both of them in & around the edges of a war, doing the right thing without actually enlisting.

Cass teleported the rest of the crew clear, she took charge when everyone else was screaming.

The Doctor welcomes her aboard, she'll see where soon enough! 

They're off to the back of the ship, because "the front crashes first!" Great line. 

As the Doctor tries to sonic his way through the sealed bulkhead, Cass explains she joined the crew to see the universe.

"Is it always like this?"
"If you're lucky!"

When the Doctor tells her the blue box is bigger on the inside, her mood changes dramatically.

She knows it's a TARDIS, and that he's a Time Lord, responsible for the war raging all around them.

He assures her he's not part of the war, and never has been. "Look on the bright side, I'm not a Dalek!"

But Cass is not won over. "Who can tell the difference any more?"

She seals the bulkhead again, trapping herself aboard the crashing ship once more.

The Doctor says he's not leaving the ship without her, but she tells him to go back to his battlefield:

"You haven't finished yet - some of the universe is still standing!"

The ship crashes on the planet below...

...observed by Ohila, High Priestess of the Sisterhood of Karn!

50dw50 @50dw50 · thats the mad step mother from the Hellraiser films, i have always thought clare higgins was brilliant.

Apparently the Doctor is "the man to end it all..."

"Such a pity he's dead."

This is where they originally intended to split this into two 3 minute parts; the shot of McGann, "dead" in the crash, would have been the cliffhanger. 

Lee Mahon @Lee_JM75 ·  McGann is pitch perfect throughout this. Imagine him in a full series, the mind boggles.

50dw50 @50dw50 · McGann is so good in this, he is such a wasted opportunity

The Doctor wakes to be told he's actually dead. 

The Sisterhood have managed to bring him back to life for a little under four minutes.

"That's ages, what if I get bored? I could watch TV, read a book, anyone for chess? Bring me knitting!"

The Doctor gets his bearings, recognizing the Sisterhood as "Keepers of the Flame of utter boredom."

Ohila warns the Doctor against wasting the time he has left...

...and tells him that their fabled elixir can trigger a regeneration to bring him back. 

But the change doesn't have to be random, he can choose what his next incarnation will be like...

Ohila entreats him to take up arms in the war against the Daleks...

...but he refuses: "It's not my war, I'll have no part of it. I help where I can, I will not fight." 

Ohila pours scorn on his self-image as a "Good Man"...

...and tells him to attend his patient, as the sisters bring in Cass' body.

"You are a part of this, Doctor, whether you like it or not."

"I would rather die."
"You're dead already. How many more will you let join you?"

The Doctor finally concedes.

"I don't suppose there's a need for a Doctor any more."

He can choose his next incarnation to be fat or thin, man or woman...

He takes up Cass' bandolier. "Make me a warrior now."

The sisters hand him a very special brew of Ohila's own blending.

"Get out, GET OUT!"

He asks only if it will hurt.
"Yes."
"Good."

He lifts the chalice in a final toast. "Charley, C'rizz, Lucie, Tamsin, Molly, Liv, Helen, Bliss, Bernice, Brigadier, Sam, Fitz, Compassion, Miranda, Anji, Trix, Izzy, Fey, Shayde, Kroton, John, Gillian, Destrii, Grace, Chang Lee too I guess; friends, companions I've known, I salute you. And Cass, I apologize. Anyone else, if you didn't get a mention then I never liked you anyway..."

No sooner has he drunk the elixir than his regeneration begins.

He's taken all his previous regenerations lying down...

...but it looks like things are going to be very different from now on.

The new Doctor awakes to see Ohila standing over him. "Is it done?"

"Doctor no more!", says the Warrior, strapping Cass' bandolier across his new chest.

In the polished surface of the discarded chalice, we glimpse a reflection of the brand new Doctor...

It's a young John Hurt!

THAT WAS BLOODY BRILLIANT.

Great costume & performance & dialogue-wise, McGann was always the 1st of the modern Doctors!

Lee Mahon @Lee_JM75 ·  As brilliant a six minutes of DW that you could possibly wish for.

Jason McLaughlin @jangomac72 · Such a shame they didn't film a cameo for him for "that" scene in The Day Of The Doctor.

50dw50 @50dw50 · that is still amazing, good old Moff

To misquote the Moff, "We need more Nights like this!"

So come on, BBC, with Patrick Stewart back in Picard, it's high time we had that Paul McGann Doctor Who spinoff on the iPlayer.

1 x 7.5 minute minisode per month for a year, then collect the 12 episodes together and release as 1 x 90 minute film; the Year of the (8th) Doctor! Any takers?

TTFN! K.

Coming Soon... The Day of the Doctor