Countdown to 60: Hello Stonehenge!

Ever since the series returned in 2005, each new Doctor has been given at least one "Hero Moment".

It's a scene in which the Doctor gives a speech - usually directed at his enemies - wherein they define the character of this particular incarnation of the Doctor, or of the character in general.

For Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor, it came at the end of his first series. With only his three companions - Amy, Rory and River - and a squad of Roman soldiers to help him, he was facing an armada of alien spaceships which were massing above Stonehenge. The visuals certainly add to the moment. 

Unaware of its true nature, he's trying to defend the Pandorica. Rather than run away and hide, he elects to challenge them to come down and take it from him - basically saying "Come and have a go if you think you're hard enough".

These Hero Moments are generally boosted by the VFX and music and, as such, are very much an intrinsic part of the revived series. The Doctors of the classic era had their Hero Moments, for which they are rightly remembered, but they could struggle to pack the emotional punch of the more recent ones thanks to the more basic visual and aural components. Until 1989 Doctor Who relied predominantly on the drama over the visuals, so speeches tended to be more theatrical in nature - sometimes soliloquising.

Hartnell had a number of memorable speeches. Best remembered are his farewell to Susan in The Dalek Invasion of Earth, and his solitary musings in the TARDIS at the end of The Massacre - though there's also his lament over the fallen Katarina and his final realisation of events in The Edge of Destruction.

Troughton's best known quote is the "They must be fought..." one from The Moonbase.

Pertwee specifically asked Terrance Dicks to give him "moments of charm" in his stories, and two of note can be found in Planet of the Daleks - his talk about bravery with Codal in the cell, and that with Taron on a similar theme at the conclusion of the story.

Tom Baker's first defining moment comes in only his fifth episode - the "Indomitable" speech from The Ark in Space. Despite his lengthy tenure, he's better known for his funny one-liners.

Davison wasn't well served in this department. The quote usually associated with him is his speech to the Cyber-Leader in Earthshock - but some people actually find this silly rather than stirring thanks to that "well-prepared meal" line.

Colin Baker wasn't there long, but he got that furious tirade against the corruption of the Time Lords in before he left.

McCoy walked out of the series on a moving little speech, of cities made of smoke and tea getting cold - added specifically when it appeared that the series wasn't going to be renewed any time soon.

Julie Gardner claimed that she really only "got" RTD's vision for Doctor Who when she read the "chips" scene in the coda to The End of the World. For him, it had been the "feel the Earth turning" speech in Rose. For fans, however, Eccleston's defining moments come in Bad Wolf and Parting of the Ways. The first is his "I'm coming to get you!" declaration to Rose after verbally abusing the Daleks, and the latter is the hologram scene - "Have a fantastic life". And let's not forget the joyous "Just this once, everybody lives!" moment earlier in the series.

All subsequent Doctors had to have scenes of similar impact.

Like Tom Baker, Tennant was in the role for a longer period of time, but also tended to be better known for witty one-liners. He doesn't have many stirring speeches - mainly because his Doctor had a habit of deflating them with a wisecrack. But then simply stating who he is and where he comes from in Voyage of the Damned was elevated to one of his Hero Moments.

Series 3 gave us his reminiscences of Gallifrey in a couple of stories (Gridlock and The Sound of Drums), which are well remembered (thanks in part to their musical accompaniment).

For Capaldi, the Hero Moment finally arrived with his "I'm the man who fights the monsters" speech to the Boneless in Flatline, and it's quickly followed by his words to Missy in the graveyard at the end of Death in Heaven, when he declares himself just an idiot in a box and nothing more - this after all his worries about being a "Good Man". In the end, Capaldi had many great moments - the final breaking of the wall in Heaven Sent (accompanied by the gorgeous The Shepherd Boy piece by Murray Gold, one of his finest compositions) and his efforts to get the two Masters on board in The Doctor Falls.

And no-one's ever going to forget the speech in The Zygon Inversion.

Sadly, I'm struggling to think of comparable scenes for the Thirteenth Doctor. She certainly had several written for her, but unfortunately they came across as lectures, as opposed to evolving out of a particular scene. Others came across as platitudinal or, worse, condescending - as though she were patting we humans on the head like pets.

If I had to choose a moment, it would be her speech to her companions in the cellars of the Villa Diodati, where she points out that they don't do things by committee. Sometimes she has to take sole responsibility, which is a refreshing counterpoint to the usual "Fam" nonsense.

Of course, there's one point where every Doctor has a chance to shine, and that's when they bow out. Regeneration moments are a real mixed bag, however. It's a pity Hartnell added that "keep warm" comment, as "It's far from being all over" would have been a fantastic line to go out on. 

Troughton simply got to his "oh my giddy aunt" schtick when he departed, deprived of a great last word. Pertwee's final words might have carried more weight if he hadn't used almost the exact same phrases in the previous story - "A tear, Sarah Jane?" and "Where there's life there's...".

Tom's "It's the end, but the moment has been prepared for..." is now rightly iconic. There can't be many fans who haven't found an occasion to quote this phrase, without having had to fall off a radio-telescope dish.

Davison's "Feels different this time" proved to be a warning for some of us, and again this is often quoted by fans in other contexts. His last word is actually "Adric".

Sadly, circumstances denied Colin a memorable departure. He had to make do much later with something on audio, but on TV he was heard to mutter something about carrot juice before falling off his exercise bike thanks to the Rani's "tremendous buffeting".

McCoy's departure really ought to have been that speech to Ace at the end of Survival. Bringing him back just to get gunned down by a gang 10 minutes into an Americanised TV Movie was a massive error in judgement.

It looked like McGann would be another one deprived of a proper regeneration, but he finally got his moment in Night of the Doctor. A pity it only appeared on-line or on the DVD, so the general public remain blissfully unaware of it.

Since 2005, regenerations have become really big moments in the life of the series. (Remember that the very first changeover happened at the end of the second story of a season, treated almost as if it was no big deal).

Eccleston led the way with his "fantastic" regeneration. This saw the arrival of a standardised process for the event, and all subsequent ones will build towards it - so they don't just turn up out of nowhere, like a poorly plotted companion departure. Only some of the classic regenerations had any sort of effective foreshadowing.

Tennant's is thought by many to be a little overblown, thanks to that extended farewell tour of his old companions. However, the actual event itself - "I don't want to go" - is probably the best of the recent ones.

Smith also got an extended departure - a whole Christmas Special. His was different in that we believed that this was the final incarnation, as set out by Robert Holmes in The Deadly Assassin. (We knew the next one was lined up, but how were they going to get round this?).

Despite Clara being the current companion, it's Amy's appearance that really makes this regeneration. Oddly, the actual event is more of a hiccup than an explosion. Capaldi just appears in a flash.

His own demise was another prolonged one, since it was supposed to have happened in the previous episode. Twice Upon A Time allows us to go full circle and witness the First Doctor's regeneration as well as the Twelfth's. My second favourite regeneration of the revived series.

Thirteen's is another oddity. For the first time since 2005 it takes place outside the TARDIS, and the Doctor takes on a body he's used before. For some, it will have been the reappearance of Tennant which made this particular regeneration special.

We currently have two new Doctors in quick succession to look forward to. Whether the Fourteenth will be around long enough to have an iconic moment or two we don't know, but he is featuring in three 60th Anniversary Specials so there is certainly scope for one. And then, in late November or early December, there's the next regeneration as Gatwa arrives. Let's see how long it takes for him to get his first defining moment.