History Trivia / DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor

** The Moment originally appeared to the Ninth Doctor in the form of a young girl dressed in rags, and Clara accompanied the Eleventh Doctor through the portal to 1562. The portal's effects on the actions of the Tenth Doctor were to manifest themselves in the present day as the Eleventh Doctor becomes wracked with pain; this was similar to the Fifth Doctor's reaction when his past selves were removed from time in "[[Recap/DoctorWho20thASTheFiveDoctors The Five Doctors]]".
** Originally, Clara saved the Doctors from their cell in the Tower of London by convincing their jailer that she is a witch.

** At the same time, Creator/ChristopherEccleston, the first of the 2005-onward Doctors, was hard-pressed to come back, and fans wanted him to show up to the party essentially to complete the triad of revival era Doctors. However, he decided with [[http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2015-11-23/steven-moffat-finally-reveals-why-john-hurt-replaced-christopher-eccleston-in-the-doctor-who-50th-anniversary-special some difficulty]] not to take the offer, with the mentality, "never bathe in the same river twice." This coming from somebody whose tenure was only one series long due to personal issues with the way things were run on the show during his time. But, Eccleston did not rule out a future return appearance and jokingly said he would happily come back for the ''100th'' anniversary. As such, John Hurt was given what would have been his role.

** Murray Gold's full soundtrack album for the special revealed a multitude of origianl tracks that didn't make it into the final cut. Some particular examples include:

** * Another of Moffatt's early concepts for the Special was to bring in the First Doctor to confront Eleven. Moffatt understandably felt this would neatly underscore the 50th Anniversary by having the Doctor's original incarnation being forced to reckon with and reflect upon what he had become in the Present Day. While Moffatt ultimately abandoned the idea, he did come back to it 4 years later for his [[Recap/DoctorWho2017CSTwiceUponATime final episode]].
* WorkingTitle: ''The Time War''.

ForTheArtDearBoy: According to Steven Moffat, John Hurt gave a speech on his last day filming which went along the lines of, “I don’t want anyone to think I took this lightly or thought I was slumming it. This really meant something to me, to be the Doctor.”

* AwesomeDearBoy: Not for John Hurt himself, but his wife. Hurt hadn't stayed up to date on the show since its perceived DorkAge in the 80s, and offhandedly turned down the role when his agent phoned him to tell him he'd been offered the part. His wife overheard and insisted he take the part. He eventually came around, staying with the part for the rest of his life.

** The War Doctor was originally called The Renegade. The script designated him as "the Other Doctor".

** Kate's line about the disastrous consequences of information about the Doctor getting into the wrong hands was supposed to be juxtaposed with a film poster for [[Film/DrWhoAndTheDaleks the Cushing movies]], implying that they are fictional in-universe. Unfortunately, they were unable to afford the rights. Channel 5 actually obtained the rights to broadcast the Cushing films in the UK and showed both of them during the anniversary weekend. This was welcome because they were careful not to clash with any of the official celebrations on the BBC, but still, if they been able to show the poster, the Channel 5 transmission would only have reinforced Kate's point!

* DigitalDestruction: The "50th Anniversary Collection" Blu-ray used a 2D down-conversion of the 3D master, which played at the wrong speed (24FPS rather than 25FPS), included a few floating window borders on the sides of the screen and had a audio phasing issue that distorted the music when played on certain stereo systems. BBC Worldwide offered a replacement disc with the correct-speed version (and an optional stereo track just in case). The 3D disc, however, had the same issues but was never corrected.

* TroubledProduction: Or rather, troubled ''pre-production'', as revealed in [[http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2015-11-23/steven-moffat-finally-reveals-why-john-hurt-replaced-christopher-eccleston-in-the-doctor-who-50th-anniversary-special/ this interview]]. Not only did Creator/ChristopherEccleston decline to come back, but for a long time neither Creator/MattSmith nor Creator/DavidTennant were contracted either and poor Creator/StevenMoffat had to come up with a plotline that featured only Creator/JennaColeman and ''none'' of the actors who ever played the Doctor, with only weeks until the filming. Luckily, after Smith and Tennant fully came onboard he came up with a new plot and was able to get Creator/JohnHurt as the War Doctor and the rest is history.

* ThrowItIn: According to Steven Moffat's twitter during the coronavirus watchthrough, John Hurt saying "Which one is mine?" was this.

** Creator/RobinWilliams was initially offered the role of the [[Characters/DoctorWhoWarDoctor War Doctor]] before Creator/JohnHurt was cast. However, Williams turned it down due to medical issues at the time, despite being [[JustForFun/OneOfUs a fan of the series]].

** Creator/ChristopherEccleston was approached about appearing in the special as the [[Characters/DoctorWhoNinthDoctor Ninth Doctor]], but turned it down after finding out that Joe Ahearne, a director he had enjoyed working with, wouldn't be able to helm the special. Still sneaks in with StockFootage like everyone else, though, and the slightest hint of his face is visible as the War Doctor regenerates. Moreover, he would have been central to the plot of the 50th, and served the role that ultimately went to the War Doctor. Instead, he is now the first post-war Doctor.