1.      Mockney Doc
Most British actors seem to be Londoners who have to attempt Scots accents when necessary.  With typical lunacy, our favourite programme has it the other way around.

2.    Upgraded
From the ‘crustacean abs’ to the sensibly scaled-down earmuffs, the new series Cybermen are yet another design triumph.  Bang up-to-date while still honouring all the best bits of the original – possibly the mantra for the series as a whole.

3.      Freema Agyeman
Not only is the latest Time-totty gorgeous and talented, but she’s even been to Science Fiction conventions – as an attendee!  (Certainly none that I’ve ever been to, though…)

4.      It’s Christmas-time, there’s no need to be afraid…
A Who Christmas Special?  How was that ever going to work?  Thank you ‘Christmas Invasion for being so perfect.  And as for The Runaway Bride, well, see below…

5.      It also travels in space…
There’s nothing more fun than the TARDIS crash-landing on your loo in Tooting Bec, as a wise man once almost said.  And then there was that wonderful motorway chase…

6.      Musicians call it the ‘b part’
The ‘middle 8′ might also be ‘the bit that the announcers talk over’, but thank you Murray Gold, for restoring the full closing credits theme – music to our ears.

7.      Torchwood
An original touchstone which gave us the wonderful Yvonne Hartman, and Freema a foot in the door.

8.      Surprise!
So The Beast really was Satan?  There were Daleks in the Sphere? Last of the Time Lords is set one year later?
Despite spoilerage in the magnitude of the ‘Mr Sec-agoras’ Radio Times cover, the programme can still pull a Kaiser Söze on us every so often…

9.      Late series random one-offs
Blinkin’ Love & Monsters!  Our regulars get a break and we get alternative charismatic leads for a week.  Everybody wins while the programme explores new possibilities in story-telling -  and we all know how important that is.

10.  The Pits.
When Tennant arrived so did the promise that the programme would leave Cardiff and space stations, and visit alien worlds.  And so a distant planet orbiting a black hole and humanities’ last outpost at the end of time look suspiciously like – quarries!
Hoo-ray!  The more things change…

AH

1. We never got the chance to take Ecclestone for granted
   Playing it tough on the outside, bruised on the inside, the first to do away with received pronunciation, frock coats and unruly manes – and he left at his peak

2. Billie
   Those huge eyes, teeth and erm… nostrils, you made the whole world shut up and pay attention.  We’ll always love you, and miss you as much as he does.

3. Effects that really are Special
   One of the most excruciating things about being a ‘Who’ fan; effects sequences where every cent not spent was up there on the screen, has been banished forever.

4.   “Fantastic!”
   As catchphrases go, shorter than “Reverse the polarity” and “Brave heart, Tegan” – and in one word sums up the ninth Doctor’s guileless delight in encountering something new.

5. Bad Wolf
   Whether you thought it made sense or not, the Goddess Rose was the only way we were ever going to get out of that one!

6.  “D’you wanna come with me?”
   The first ever trailer, complete with the Doctor running away from the fireball that never happened is probably still the best series opener of them all (and we bet it was the most downloaded, too)

7. Best regeneration. Ever
   No passive locked-off shot/lying on the floor for Chris, instead we get the equivalent of a volcanic eruption – and his hands regenerate too!

8. How many million?
   Probably never to be equalled again – as far as opening nights go, over 10 million bums on seats was a triumphant return which still has some people pinching themselves and ensured that we still have new Who to watch years later.

9. Scary Daleks!
   The masterstroke of reintroducing a lone specimen as an unstoppable killing machine, forcing viewers to imagine what hordes of ‘new’ Daleks might be capable of.  A perfect application of the ‘what you don’t see is far scarier…’ principle.

10. The Slow Reveal
    Simply the best way to reintroduce a 16-year-absent Time Lord to a new generation. Episode one is through the companion’s eyes, we learn that the Doctor is alone in episode three, meet our first Dalek of the series (just one!) in episode six – and all done very subtly and very stylishly. And we didn’t hear the word Gallifrey for two years! Compared to this, the McGann movie’s infodump really was a hiding to nothing.

 AH, PA