Top 10 Incredible Doctor Who Speeches

Top 10 Incredible Doctor Who Speeches

The Doctor will speak with you now. Welcome to WatchMojo UK and today we’ll be counting down our picks for the top 10 incredible speeches from “Doctor Who”!

For this list, we’ve gathered the most memorable, inspiring and emotional speeches from the sci-fi series, since the show’s 2005 revival. Classic clips don’t feature today, but watch this space for more “Who” videos!

#10: I Can Feel the Earth
“Rose”

Here’s where it all began with Nine, as Rose asks a simple question and the Doctor delivers a dramatic response. Coming early in the first episode of the revived series, soon after the first wave of Auton aggression, this scene sees Christopher Eccleston give the story some sensational context – explaining the epic and inconceivable power of time and space. And then Rose goes and mimics his words for the Dalek-destroying season finale - it’s shivers down the spine stuff!

#9: The Man Who Never Would
“The Doctor’s Daughter”

Ten cuts a conflicted character for most of his run, but good almost always wins out with David Tennant’s incarnation – and never more so than here. The poor guy’s just seen his new-found daughter killed in front of him – or at least he thinks he has – and retribution is at his fingertips. But does he do the deed? You bet he doesn’t! A scene stacked with emotion, this moment sees the Doctor do what he always tries to do – the right thing.

#8: Some Days Are Special
“Forest of the Dead”

Sticking with season four but switching significant characters, you can always rely on River Song to speak her mind – and she often proves an inspired orator. And here’s her first (or last) momentous monologue, given shortly after her first appearance in the show - which definitely isn’t the first time she meets the Doctor. Contemplating life, death and fate, she goes a good way to explaining what travelling with the Doctor can be like – and she should know! Special mention to when she first meets Peter Capaldi’s Time Lord, too – which inspires another majestic moment.

#7: The Girl Who Waited
“The Big Bang”

Matt Smith’s time in the TARDIS was peppered with standout speeches, with one of his best coming in his very first episode. But the close of season five brings an even better moment, with Eleven making sense of the adventure he’s been on so far. In his heart-breaking goodbye to Amy Pond, Smith sends up some spectacular lines – made all the more emotive thanks to his typically comic character. Of course, this isn’t really the end and wedding bells ring soon, but not before we’ve all shed a tear or two.

#6: Kindness
“The Doctor Falls”

Coming toward the end of Peter Capaldi’s time as the Doctor, this seismic showdown with him, the Master and Missy proves a pivotal moment for Twelve. As Capaldi’s older appearance was frequently matched with a wiser, sometimes wearier personality, these thoughts on kindness and on his own place in the universe carry even greater clout. There’s a real sense that the Doctor has travelled a long way to get here, and as much as the Master tries to diffuse the tension, it’s heart-on-sleeve drama.

#5: Did You Mention the Rules?
“The Time of the Doctor”

A crowning moment for Matt Smith’s reign, in Eleven’s final episode we see the rules of regeneration rewritten, in the midst of an awesome and age-defying speech. The Doctor starts this scene as a frail (but quite cantankerous) old man, with seemingly nowhere to go. But it’s not long before he’s twirling his cane again. And as if this wasn’t epic enough, moments later and it’s Smith’s regeneration scene, where he leaves us with a glorious goodbye.

#4: Fear Makes Companions of Us All
“Listen”

Perhaps more than any other companion, Clara’s always on hand with an insightful word or two for the Doctor, helping the Time Lord to come to terms with his own self. But the climax to “Listen” proves just how influential she is. Deconstructing fear and delivering a powerful message to transcend the show, she becomes an almost-guardian of the Doctor’s, while the montage ties up her tiff with Danny Pink, too. That her words are echoed by the First Doctor on his first adventure, just makes it even cooler.

#3: I Believe in Her
“The Satan Pit”

The relationship between Rose and Ten was routinely pushed to its absolute limits, but it was rarely in more jeopardy than here. Tennant’s face to face with the devil-like Beast, and he quickly works out the impossible situation he’s in. Smash the vases, collapse gravity and send everything and everyone into the black hole. But the Doctor has faith, especially in Rose, and he refuses to concede to the enemy. Because he’s seen it all before, and there’s always a way out – right?

#2: I Have Seen Things
“The Rings of Akhaten”

The Doctor’s painful past gives meaning to many of the character’s most famous speeches, though nothing else comes close to Matt Smith baring all to the parasitic planet, Akhaten. Although it’s Clara’s address which finally defeats the creature, the Doctor’s left physically exhausted when he’s forced to think over everything he has seen and done. A scene to truly set the Time Lord apart from everyone else in the universe, the Queen of Years provides a suitably spectacular soundtrack.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

Do the Smart Thing
“The Pandorica Opens”

I’m Not Just a Time Lord
“Gridlock”

Everybody Lives!
“The Doctor Dances”

#1: A Scale Model of War
“The Zygon Inversion”

Twelve takes the floor for top spot, at the centre of a tense face-off amidst the Zygon invasion. With the Osgood boxes supposedly primed to inflict massive devastation, it’s down to the Doctor to make everyone see sense. And Peter Capaldi doesn’t disappoint. With impassioned opinions on the futility of war, he combines anger, desperation, determination and forgiveness into a performance that seems to scale the full breadth of human emotion. It’s a nail-biting moment, stacked with real-world significance, as well.