I’ll never forget the anticipation for this special, all the buzz, the excitement around the returning cast such as David Tennant, Billie Piper and whatever surprises they might have in store. The ending of the Series 7 finale which dropped the mother of all bombshells with the introduction of a secret incarnation of the Doctor, played by the late great John Hurt who would be portraying the Doctor who fought in the Time War and would commit the ultimate act of betrayal to the Doctor’s principles to the point where his future incarnations would shun him and pretend he never existed. Of course, the real story behind his casting was the fact that Moffat tried to get Christopher Eccleston on board and when he turned it down Moffat decided to create a brand new incarnation of the Doctor. In that situation I would’ve expected Moffat to go with Paul McGann, so to create a new Doctor and slot him in between Eight and Nine was quite a ballsy move, especially with the Doctor Who fandom who are well renowned for holding canon so religiously, and yet it worked! Against all the odds I’ve never seen a huge change to previously established lore welcomed and accepted so quickly and so openly like the War Doctor and honestly given the choice, creating the War Doctor was the better decision. It certainly helped set off some fireworks in the months building to the 50th anniversary and while it would’ve been lovely to have had Eccleston (and McGann!) in Day of the Doctor, I think the War Doctor works very well in the context of Doctor Who lore.

So, with all that anticipation and the most excitement there has been for a Doctor Who event since 2004 when the show announced its revival, the big day arrived and whatever people’s opinions are of the story now, in 2013 this was so loved by fans! David Tennant was back as the Tenth Doctor, Billie Piper was back as Rose (sort of), John Hurt was brilliant as he always was, the Zygons made their first appearance in almost 40 years, the climax where all the Doctors come together to save Gallifrey including a blink and you’ll miss it cameo from future Doctor Peter Capaldi, the heart-warming ending with Tom Baker (which he completely spoiled in the weeks prior to this special), this was quite the event! But when the festivities died down and the years rolled on, the popularity of this episode has noticeably decreased over time. A lot of people nowadays don’t find this that special, some would call it boring, it’s far from being the most well written episode from Moffat, the climax was a cop out and completely ruins all the years of development around the Doctor’s grief, it’s fan service for the sake of fan service, saving Gallifrey in hindsight was pointless given where it all went in the end between the wasted return to Gallifrey story from Hell Bent to being destroyed again in Series 12!

All these complaints are admittedly valid, it is a story that’s built around fan service and crowd-pleasing moments and lines, the editing is a bit bizarre especially for the first half, it’s far from having the clever writing and depth of Moffat’s best works and Gallifrey being saved only to be wasted and destroyed again is depressing to look back on. Frankly the possibility of saving Gallifrey again in the future would just be worse! Is this all the show wants to do with Gallifrey and the Time Lords?!? Just keep destroying and bringing them back every decade?  However, I consider it one of my favourites because of what it meant for me as a fan and where I was at the time I first watched this. Believe it or not there was a time I was losing interest in Doctor Who, it started back when Tennant left I just wasn’t enjoying it like I used to cos I was in the “bring back Tennant” mindset a lot of fans were in (which is laughable today considering how my opinion on Tennant has evolved), I was dipping in and out of the show, not really caring about where it was going. But then the 50th anniversary starts drawing nearer and suddenly I start getting curious again and I decided to tune in to be a part of the celebration. When I finished watching I was in love with Doctor Who again, I had such a blast watching this episode, all the memorable moments, the familiar faces and game changing events. Not only was I excited for the show once again, but it led to me looking more into the classic show and my experience as a fan just grew and grew from there. It even snapped me out of my “bring back Tennant” mindset and made me approach the Eleventh Doctor era in a new light. So, without this episode I don’t think I would’ve stuck around as a fan at that point and missed out on some of my favourite stories of all time.