Heartwarming / Doctor Who – New Series

Sarah Jane: Goodbye, Doctor...
The Doctor: Goodbye, my Sarah Jane.^note It's been thirty goddamn years, folks, and we've finally gotten the hug we (and she) all wanted and needed!

Heartwarming moments from Modern Who.

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Ninth Doctor

Series 1 / Season 27

Rose

• It's mentioned by Clive that the Doctor convinced a family not to go onto the Titanic and they survived; said family has several small children. The Doctor has done what he always does - saved people and meddled with history. He's probably thinking: The Time Lords are gone and I can fix any problems that occur from it, so why the hell not? It's a couple fewer dead people. And as later in the series shows, one or two ordinary lives can mean all the difference in the world.
• The Doctor had no idea he'd be seeing Rose again, but he still takes the time to ask her name.
• The Doctor meeting Rose. Almost from their first proper conversation, you can tell these two are going to fall head over heels for each other.

The End of the World

• In-story, there's the Doctor's eulogy / homage to the human race and its ability to survive against the odds despite all doubts and insecurities.
  The Doctor: You lot. You spend all your time thinking about dying. Like you're going to get killed by eggs or beef or global warming or asteroids. But you never take the time to imagine the impossible. That maybe you survive.
• When Jabe tells the Doctor to "stop wasting time, Time Lord!" The Doctor gives her a huge grin, and rushes off to save the day.
• The Doctor finally confides in Rose that Gallifrey is gone and burned in the Time War. She re-affirms she wants to keep travelling with him, even if it's dangerous. Then they go get chips.
  Rose: Do you smell chips?
  The Doctor (chuckling): Yeah.
  Rose: I want chips.
  The Doctor (smiles): Me too.
• It's blink-and-you'll-miss-it, but after the steward is found to have horribly burned to death, you can see Jabe hugging and comforting the devastated staff while the Doctor tries to get the door open.

The Unquiet Dead

• The Doctor going all fanboy when he meets Dickens. Considering that this is a darker, more jaded version of The Doctor, it makes that much more heartwarming and showcases that, despite the trauma he's faced, he's still the same whimsical Doctor we all know and love.
• Charles Dickens, in a moment of self-doubting vulnerability, asks the Doctor whether his books will still be read in the future:
  The Doctor: Oh, yes!
  Charles Dickens: For how long?
  The Doctor: Forever!
  • Let's not forget this gem of a line after Rose becomes sad to learn Dickens has about a year of life left.
    The Doctor: But in your time he's already dead. And here he is alive. More alive than he has been in years, thanks to us.
• "Blimey! You look beautiful..."
• Rose forming a friendship with the servant girl Gwyneth, and the Doctor promising not to leave her behind while she's still alive.
• "She saved the world. A servant girl..."
• "I'm so glad I met you." "Me too." They're facing death, but with those huge smiles and two simple statements you can tell the two are already completely smitten with each other.
• Dickens regaining his passion for life, he walks down the road, wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, and quotes his most famous work to end out the episode "God bless us, everyone!"

Aliens of London/World War Three

• There's also the moment when the Ninth Doctor is beginning to relate his plan to Jackie and Mickey over the phone, and then he stops and looks up at Rose and says, "I could save the world, but lose you."
• "Stop worrying. I'll see you in ten seconds' time."
• Jackie coming around from being distrustful of the Doctor to yelling at the TV when Harriet Jones tries to take all the credit.
• The Doctor and Mickey have a small moment of camaraderie, with the Doctor offering Mickey a disc to remove all traces of the Doctor off of the internet, and then even giving him an invitation to join the TARDIS to look after Rose. When Mickey refuses, the Doctor honours his request and puts up a front of not wanting Mickey to come with them, so that he can save face.

Dalek

• The Doctor affectionately saying "Look at you!" to the Cyberman head in Henry van Statten's collection and referring to it as an "old friend" before reminding himself that more accurately, it's an old enemy. The fact that the doctor carries a nostalgic fondness for the things he has met over the centuries, even the dangerous ones, can be seen as a touching nod to the older fans watching, who likely view the iconic monsters of the classic series in much the same way the Doctor does.
• "Well then, good thing I'm not going anywhere." "Yeah."
• "What good are emotions if you will not save the woman you love?"

Father's Day

• The episode is just full of tear jerkers. But, near the end, when Rose is telling Pete how he was a wonderful father, and then Pete's decision at the end.
• A subtle one, but the episode even manages to redeem a character who never (really) appeared. At the beginning, Jackie mentions to Rose that the person driving the car that hit Pete Tyler sped off after doing so, and the police never figured out who he was. At the end, after time is fixed, it's revealed that in the altered course of events the driver this time stopped to try and help, and it turns out that he was just an inexperienced young man who (presumably) just panicked in the first timeline.
• The whole episode, it's clear Jackie's descriptions of Pete are very exaggerated. He was a poor provider, chased after other women, and was more focused on money-making schemes that never panned out. Yet not only is this man's life important enough that saving him almost creates a Reality-Breaking Paradox, he's smart enough to realize what he has to do to set things right and noble enough to do it.
• The Doctor knew all along that Pete would have to die, but didn't tell him, committed to finding another way to spare both Pete and Rose.
• The Doctor with baby Rose.
• The Doctor and Rose making up, complete with sincerely apologizing to each other and sharing an adorable hug.
• While locked in the church, the bride and groom, Sarah and Stuart, ask if the Doctor can save them. He asks them their story. They met at 2 in the morning outside a nightclub, where Sarah had lost her purse and didn't have money for a taxis. Stuart was kind enough to pay for her ride and make sure she got home safely, and then asked her for a date. The Doctor, even after everything he's seen and done, is amazed at how two people could find each other like that, since he's never had a life like that.
  Sarah: I don't know what this is all about, and I know we're not important-
  Doctor: Who said you're not important?
• The Doctor sacrificing himself to the Reapers, with no guarantee that everything would work out. He just did it to give everyone else more of a chance, despite him objectively being "more important" than them.
• Other fixed points in the show are huge events with the lives of thousands hanging in the balance. In this episode, the life of an ordinary, down-on-his-luck man is as important to the universe as other fixed points like Pompeii and the Doctor's death in season 7. No one is too small to make a difference.
  Doctor: An ordinary man. That's the most important thing in creation.
• Pete putting the pieces together to realize Rose is his time-travelling daughter. He sees bits of Jackie and himself in her and Rose just keeps losing it, then he absolutely glomps on his little girl and she on the dad she never knew.

The Empty Child

• A minor one but when the Empty Child is at the door the Doctor, while wary, talks to him like one would to a normal child and shows no hostility towards him whatsoever (he knows what it's like to be left out on his own in the cold). In fact the first thing he says directly to the Empty Child is, "Are you all right?"
• He tells Nancy how awed he is by British courage, "a mouse in front of a lion. Don't know what you do to Hitler, but you scare the hell out of me."
• The Doctor bonding with Constantine:
  Constantine: Before this war started, I was a father and a grandfather. Now I am neither, but I am still a doctor.
  The Doctor: Know the feeling.

The Doctor Dances

• "Just this once, Rose. Everybody Lives!" This is the first time in the series since the Fifth Doctor that there hasn't been a single fatality, and this really stands out since death's a constant element in Doctor Who. Seeing the Doctor's ecstatic reaction brings home how painful all those deaths have been for him. This also manages to be a Moment Of Awesome, and more than a few fans have listed this as their favorite moment of the entire series.
  • The Doctor has just come out of the Time War, having murdered all his own race. This time, no-one has to die. The universe finally gives him a win.
  • Particularly effective since the episode is set during the Second World War, a period not traditionally associated with happy endings. Included is the idea all the ailments the victims suffered, like one woman who had lost her leg before, have been healed and are back to the peak of their health.
    • The music used in this scene too. As one commenter described it, it portrays "the first time in a long while where everything is okay. Where no mistakes are made, no regrets, just hope."
• "Oh, give me a day like this. Give me this one." Nine is practically praying for the universe to give him a win and just this once, it does.
• Rose bends the rules a bit and assures Nancy that, even as bad as things are right now, the good guys will win in the end. Just the look of blossoming hope on Nancy's face as she looks at all that's happening and knows that things will get better.
• The Doctor and Rose dancing. Twice. Doctor, when a girl asks you to dance, she's definitely interested.
• Also at the very very end, when the normally dour Nine is dancing up a storm and grinning like a total goofball. Jack is in his ship, all ready to die, given up hope, and then... VWORP-VWORP

Boom Town

• Rose recounting how Gwyneth saved the world shows she hasn't forgotten her or her sacrifice.
• The chemistry and camaraderie displayed by the four heroes in this episode.
• Blon, after what can be assumed was a fairly abusive childhood from what she said, gets a second chance at life.
• Rose delightedly hugging the Doctor after correctly pronouncing Raxacoricofallapatorius.

Bad Wolf

• Unlike Ten, who is annoyed in general with Jack's flirting, Nine, when Jack flirts with Daveesh Patel, just tells him that there's a time and a place, indicating that the only problem he has is Jack flirting with a man in the middle of the danger. Flirting once the danger is over is, seemingly, fine.

The Parting of the Ways

• At the beginning of "The Parting of the Ways", when Rose is brought back onto the TARDIS, the Doctor strides over and hugs her tightly. But it's Jack's greeting that really sums up everything about this trio, as he sweeps her up in a hug and simply says "Welcome home."
  • "Have a good life. Do that for me, Rose. Have a fantastic life."
  • "Rose, before I go, I just want to say... you were fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. And you know what? So was I!" Oh, Nine, we hardly knew ye...
    • The bit where Jack kisses Rose and the Doctor goodbye. Oh, Jack...
    • This bit:
      "Rose? You are worth fighting for."
    • It really shows the dynamics of their relationships there. It's so cute.
  • The Big Damn Kiss between Rose and the Doctor is so tender and gentle - you can truly feel how much he loves her. And then the moment when she wakes up and everything seems like it's going back to normal - but then it's not.
  • There's the underrated moment when Rose finally tells her mother about visiting her father. Jackie tells her to shut up and runs off...only to come back with a truck, ready to help Rose open the heart of the TARDIS.
• When the final moment of the Daleks vs the Doctor comes to fruition, he sends the two most important things to him - Rose and his beloved TARDIS - to safety.

Tenth Doctor

Series 2 / Season 28

Children in Need

• The Doctor refers to his ship as "beautiful" and, when she speeds up, praises her with a happy "At'ta girl!"

The Christmas Invasion

• The Doctor being affable enough that his first priority is to wish Jackie and Mickey "Merry Christmas!" Especially as most Doctors immediately after regenerating are standoffish at best.
• What was earlier portrayed as funny turns into one of these when they're about half an hour away from all out invasion, the Doctor is unconscious and completely out of it, and Jackie is just sitting with him, in a stark contrast to their usual relationship, trying to get him to tell them what's wrong with him and how they can help. She calls him sweetheart. And falls asleep besides him.
• When Rose says "Help me" in the Doctor's ear while he's asleep from post-regenerative trauma, he springs awake IMMEDIATELY and stops a killer Christmas tree.
• Just as the Doctor is promising that the journey for him and Rose is going to be great, he doesn't say Brilliant or fun or anything else. He says it's going to be fantastic. The Ninth Doctor, showing up one last time to let us know it's all going to be alright.
• The Doctor picking out his costume and joining Rose, Mickey and Jackie for Christmas dinner. The original track "Song For Ten" is what really brings out the warmth of the moment.
  • Not only that, but after beating the Sycorax and bringing everyone back safely he gives them all a big ol' group hug, starting with Jackie of all people with a wide happy grin on his face.
• The Doctor sees Mickey on the Sycorax spaceship. His reaction? A very happy "Mickey, ello!"

New Earth

• "New Earth" drew happy tears from the moment the lever was pulled onwards. It was at that moment that all of the fear and doubt about Tennant replacing Eccleston melted away in a flood of happy tears.
• When one of the recently cured and, to be honest, not all there new humans (part of a subspecies which has spent their entire lives being used as lab rats for every disease known to mankind, fed through tubes, and have never even been touched) reaches out to the Doctor for a hug, he obliges immediately... Cue the d'awwww.
  • It's his gentle, fatherly "Ok, there we go sweetheart" that sells it.
• "Can I just say — travelling with you — I love it."
• While talking with the Doctor after their arrival on New Earth, Rose refers to the events of "The End of the World" as "our first date".
• The Doctor's adorable Post-Kiss Catatonia after Rose (actually Cassandra in Rose's body, but he doesn't know that) snogs him senseless.
• Cassandra's death, in the arms of her younger self, whilst in the body of Chip - the last person who ever said that she was beautiful.
  • The Doctor and Rose telling her to 'just go' and 'good luck.'
  • The very fact that Cassandra, when she was still human, actually took pity on Chip and, when he collapsed, cried out for someone to help
• Cassandra of all people gets one herself, when she Body Surfs into one of the sick and experiences the pain and loneliness the woman is feeling. The Doctor, seeing how visibly upset she is, rather than ordering her to stop possessing Rose's body, simply offers her his hand and helps her up.

Tooth and Claw

• When the Doctor arrives in 19th-century Scotland, he uses "Dr. James McCrimmon" as his alias. Jamie McCrimmon (who came from 18th-century Scotland) was one of the Second Doctor's companions. Crosses over with Fridge Brilliance when you remember that it was Jamie who invented the Doctor's "John Smith" alias.
• Ten rushing in to save Rose after realizing they are about to be bitten and turned into werewolves. He still stops and stares at the werewolf, calling it beautiful, before noticing how much trouble he is in and rushing out of the room.

School Reunion

• The ending to "School Reunion":
  Sarah Jane: Oh, say it, please. This time, say it.
  The Doctor: Goodbye... my Sarah Jane! (big hug)
  • From the same episode with a different old companion:
    The Doctor: [sadly] Goodbye, old friend..
    K-9: Goodbye, master.
    The Doctor: (affectionately stroking K-9's "snout") You're a good dog.
    K-9: (wagging his "tail") Affirmative!
  • And, later, when it's shown that Ten rebuilt him with a new model, leaving Sarah Jane with a partner once again. Her reaction to this ends the episode on a euphoric note.
    Sarah Jane: Come on, you. Home! We've got work to do.
    K-9: Affirmative! (The two walk off)
• Ten's face when he meets Sarah Jane. His unqualified, undisguised joy at seeing his beloved Sarah again is simply heart-melting. Not to mention his sheer glee at the fact that she's still doing what he taught her - she's still sticking her nose into stuff she shouldn't! Once more, he's similarly gleeful when she shows him K-9 for the first time in so long. Solidified further in how excited he is that K-9 recognizes him.
• Sarah Jane and Ten reunite - it's fluffs and feels all around but Sarah Jane is unsure. Until screaming indicates that something is going down - then she realizes that she's actually been reunited with the Doctor.
  • The Doctor has never said goodbye to anyone except Susan. How much does Sarah Jane mean to him? He actually says goodbye.
• Severely YMMV on this, but Rose is jealous and threatened by Sarah because it proves that she's not the first companion. Later, this shared experience becomes common ground for them to bond over. The scene ends with them laughing at the Doctor's eccentricities.
• "Imagine that happening to someone that you-!"
• After the school is blown up, Kenny reveals he was partly responsible for it. The other students cheer for him and start chanting his name.
• We later learn that the TARDIS is sentient and takes the Doctor where he needs to go — so the TARDIS decided Sarah Jane needed a proper goodbye.
• Mickey asks to travel with the Doctor, and he, with Sarah Jane's encouragement, agrees. It's one of the things that shows he really does value Mickey, and doesn't just see him as the "tin dog."
  • It's also nice to see Sarah Jane sticking up for Mickey. Between that and her encouraging Rose to stick with the Doctor, the old companion is officially passing on the torch to newer ones.
• Sarah Jane also turns down the opportunity to travel with the Doctor again, in part because she's come to truly value her life on Earth and wants to experience that adventure.
• One that becomes heartwarming in hindsight: She ruefully reflects that she'll probably be telling someone else's grandkids about her travels with the Doctor, because she's never had children of her own. In just a few years, though, Maria, Luke, Clyde, Rani, and Sky will come along...

The Girl in the Fireplace

• A quote from the episode:
  Madame de Pompadour: ''"But you and I both know, don't we, Rose? The Doctor is worth the monsters."
• When all is said and done and the Doctor is obviously upset, it's not Rose that decides to give him space to be alone. It's Mickey, the guy that at this point he's not got the the best relationship with, who nonetheless shows compassion in distracting Rose to let him grieve.

Rise of the Cybermen

• Mickey getting to say hello to (an alternate universe version of) his gran is both this and a Tearjerker.
• Although this universe's Pete and Jackie clearly have, at best, a very rocky marriage, he's shown to care for her deeply in his own way.
• In response to Cyber-Lumic's offer to take away negative emotions, the Doctor counters that they make people who they are.
• The Doctor and Mickey part on good terms, and when the Doctor calls him "Mickey the Idiot," it's clearly an Insult of Endearment rather than the straight-up insult it used to be.

The Impossible Planet

• The Doctor has an adorable Humans Are Special moment with the acting Captain who is deeply in need of some reassurance.
  "Just stand there, because I'm going to...hug you, is that all right?"
• Rose kissing the Doctor through his helmet visor before he goes into the Impossible Planet's core.
• The Doctor and Rose's brief but somewhat sweet conversation about what they'll do if they're not able to leave by TARDIS.
  Rose: [lightly] Well, it could be worse. This lot said they'd give us a lift.
  The Doctor: And then what?
  Rose: I dunno... find a planet... get a job... live a life, same as the rest of the universe.
  The Doctor: Pfft... I'd have to settle down. In a house or something, a proper house with... with... with... with doors and things. Carpets! Me! Living in a house! [Rose laughs] Now that... that is terrifying.
  Rose: [teasingly, sing-song] You'd have to get a mortgage.
  The Doctor: [horrified] No.
  Rose: Oh yes.
  The Doctor: I am dying. That's it. I am dying, it is all over.
  Rose: What about me? I'd have to get one too. I dunno, could... could be the same one, we could both...[The Doctor looks at her. She catches his eye] I dunno... share. Or not, you know. Whatever. [The Doctor nods, clearly feeling slightly awkward] I dunno, we'll sort something out...
  The Doctor: Anyway.
  Rose: [laughs it off] We'll see! [They sit in silence for a few moments]
  The Doctor: I promised Jackie I'd always take you back home.
  Rose: Everyone leaves home in the end.
  The Doctor: Not to end up stuck here.
  Rose: Yeah, but stuck with you? That's not so bad.
  The Doctor: Yeah?
  Rose: [sincerely] Yes.
• The Doctor's "I believe in her" speech said straight to the Devil himself as he knocks the Impossible Planet from orbit.
  The Doctor: "If I believe in one thing, just one thing... I believe in her."
• Right at the end, the captain starts listing the dead and we hear as he begins 'Also, Ood 1 Alpha 1'. After all the stuff about slave races and everything the series ever said about the badness of humans, the captain takes the time to list every single Ood and say they died with honours.
• Rose giving Toby a hug while he's having a panic attack after being possessed by the Beast, and telling Jefferson that if he wants to shoot Toby, he'll have to go through her.
• After they defeat the Ood, Rose, Danny and Toby all give each other happy victory hugs.
• When Rose announces that she's going to stay on the asteroid, Zach has absolutely no patience for her self-sacrificing idiocy, knocks her out, and brings her along, announcing that he's not going to lose anyone else.
• Zach and Danny's relieved reaction when the Doctor reveals Ida is alive.

Love and Monsters

• For such a (comparatively) silly, lighthearted Breather Episode, "Love & Monsters" can be surprisingly heartwarming. Especially when you find out that the members of LInDA (the sweet, eccentric, Adorkable ones, not Victor Kennedy) were based off the show's fandom.
  • Two romances blossom inside the group (Bridget and Mr Skinner, Ursula and Elton). Ursula seems to be a Shipper on Deck for Mr Skinner and Bridget.
  Ursula: Now, Mr Skinner, I don't mean to pry, but did you give Bridget a little kiss back there?
  Mr Skinner: I think I did.
  Ursula: And if you get your way, might there be more little kisses between the two of you?
  Mr Skinner: I think there might.
  • When Elton remembers his mother.
    "Turns out I've had the most terrible things happen. And the most brilliant things. And sometimes, well, I can't tell the difference. They're all the same thing. They're...they're just me. You know, Stephen King said once, he said, 'salvation and damnation are the same thing.' And I never knew what he meant. But I do now. [...] When you're a kid, they tell you it's all...grow up. Get a job. Get married. Get a house. Have a kid, and that's it. But the truth is, the world is so much stranger than that. It's so much darker. And so much madder. And so much better. "
  • Jackie swearing that she will never let Rose down, and will protect both Rose and the Doctor. Soon after Rose, who is apoplectic with anger, turns up and declares that "no-one upsets my Mum!". The Doctor, for his part, looks less than pleased too.

Fear Her

• In "Fear Her", when Chloe and her mother defeat the drawing of Chloe's abusive father (and re-bond in the process) by singing together.
• The Doctor and Rose watching the fireworks at the end.

Army Of Ghosts

• How does Jackie greet the Doctor? By snogging him!

Doomsday

• The scene where Jackie and Alternate Pete run into each other. First there's an awkward moment where they contemplate that the other is not 'their' Pete or Jackie; then they decide they just don't care and hug each other. Awwwww…
  • Also, the fact that just three months later, Jackie's already expecting. Even better? It usually takes about three months even to find out that you're expecting. Which means they must've gotten started right away!
• "All that stuff, saving the universe, he does it alone! But not anymore. 'Cuz now he's got me."
• "I made my choice a long time ago. And I'm never gonna leave you."
• The Doctor and Rose's last meeting is a bittersweet thing; it's goodbye, but it's also closure.
  Doctor: I'm burning up a sun just to say goodbye.
  Rose: I love you!
  • And the Doctor would have said it back...

Series 3 / Season 29

The Runaway Bride

• The ending of the special:
  Donna: Just promise me one thing. Find someone.
  Doctor: I don't need anyone.
  Donna: Yes, you do.
• The Doctor is noticeably nicer to Donna once Lance's betrayal comes out; as Donna's face crumples, the Doctor's darkens and he mentally decides that Donna, whatever her flaws, really doesn't deserve it.

Smith and Jones

• Having been lifted out of her normal life and dropped on the Moon, Martha's first instinct is to reassure others, promising "John Smith" that they will find a way back. Even in her first twenty minutes, she's demonstrated not only her smarts and coolness under pressure, but also her compassion. No wonder the Doctor chose her.

The Shakespeare Code

• The Doctor talking to Peter Streete.
• Martha having a brief flirtation with Shakespeare, brief as it is.

Gridlock

• The "Daily Contemplation" scene.
• The bit at the end, where the Doctor is describing Gallifrey to Martha. Same effect in "The Sound of Drums", when we get to actually see it. It's aided by the absolutely gorgeous music that plays in both scenes (titled "This Is Gallifrey: Our Childhood, Our Home", for the curious).
• The Doctor with the kittens. We're not sure what's cuter - the kittens, the Doctor, or just the squeeing that comes from the Doctor.
• We see as many as three married couples in this episode and they're all raising families in their cars without tearing their hair (or fur) out.
• The Face of Boe and Hame spending more than twenty years together, doing everything they can to protect the people of the Motorway.
• If Jack truly is the Face of Boe, that makes the death scene all the more sweet, because he gets to die with two of his closest friends by his side.

Evolution Of The Daleks

• The ending of "Evolution of the Daleks", when Laszlo's dying:
  Tallulah: Doctor, can't you do somethin'?
  The Doctor: Oh, Tallulah with three Ls and an H... just you watch me. What do I need? Oh, I don't know, how about a great big genetic laboratory? Oh look, I've got one. Laszlo, just you hold on. There've been too many deaths today. Way too many people have died. Brand new creatures and wise old men and age-old enemies. And I'm telling you. I'm telling you right now, I am not having one more death! Got that? Not one! Tallulah? Out of the way. The Doctor is in.
  • And they get to live together in Hooverville!
• Tallulah's reaction to Laszlo after he's been deformed, she just looks at him so tenderly as she strokes his face.
• The fact that the Doctor offers Dalek Caan a chance at the end of the story. This is a Dalek, the species the Doctor most reviles in all the universe, one who's just committed genocide, at that. And yet the Doctor still sincerely offers him a second chance.

Human Nature / The Family of Blood

• John and Joan dancing at the party in "Human Nature".
• The Tenth Doctor thanking Martha at the end of "The Family of Blood" for looking after him.
• The whole montage of John imagining himself marrying Joan and growing old with her.
• All the Doctor's past faces (and Rose's) in his sketchbook.
  • One of the most prominently displayed faces in the book is Paul McGann's, finally explicitly solidfying that the Eighth Doctor is canon after years of fans debating it.
• He promises Joan that John Smith isn't completely dead-he still lives in the Doctor's mind somewhere.
• One year later when the War finally hits, Timothy remembers the vision he had of a bomb dropping and is able to save himself and the classmate who mistreated him earlier from being killed.
  • Fast-forward to present day, and a much-older Timothy sees the Doctor and Martha again from a distance, watching over him as he attends a World War I Remembrance Day ceremony. He smiles warmly at the two, and then we see that he still keeps the fob watch as a memento.
  • Made even more powerful if you've read the expanded universe novel 'Human Nature', on which this story was based (the two-part story was even adapted by the author of the novel), where Timothy is revealed to have latent Gallifreyan DNA resting inside him, which is hinted at in the episode with his low-level psychic powers (knowing what was in Bains' letter before he had read it himself, etc...). When he finds the pod containing the Doctor's memories and personality, it awakens that latent DNA and gives him visions of the Doctor, the TARDIS, all the things that are connected to the man and to Gallifrey, but when he returns the pod to the Doctor, he seems permanently changed. Fast forward around a year, when a friend of his who helped in the story's finale is in WW1 and is badly injured. He's lying amidst his dead comrades, thinking he's going to die... and someone finds him. It's Timothy Latimer, volunteering with the Red Cross. In other words, Tim became a DOCTOR.

Blink

• Kathy names her daughter after Sally Sparrow, the last person she saw before she was sent back in time by the Weeping Angels. As sad as it is that Kathy was ripped away from her life in the present day it's clear she was able to build herself a very happy life. The letter she sends to Sally Sparrow asks her to explain her disappearance to her brother Larry and to tell him that she loves him.
• Sally and Larry meeting the (past) Doctor in person at last and passing on the message that may potentially save his life. On so many levels is this wholesome. First, now that she's fulfilled her mission to make sure the Doctor received the transcript, Sally and Larry can truly move on with their lives. Second, even though he doesn't know them and may never see them again, it doesn't change how awed they are to meet him in person, as though understanding how extraordinary and heroic this time traveler is. Lastly, just as the Doctor indirectly saved them from the Weeping Angels, it's our protagonists' turn to save his life by passing on the transcript.

Utopia

• Professor Yana introduces himself to the Doctor not in a calm and dignified fashion, but by approaching as giddy as a child on Christmas. Then after he asks the Doctor if he is a Doctor, and the Doctor says yes. Yana happily pulls the Doctor along behind him, while the Doctor himself just smiles and rolls with it. The fact that "This is Gallifrey" gently plays as Yana approaches just makes him all the more adorable.
  • The Doctor said of "John Smith" that "everything he was, I am and can be, too." If this is true, then it means that everything Yana was (kind, gentle, compassionate), the Master can be too.
• "You'd give your life so they can fly."
• The Doctor sincerely praising Yana's genius, saying that if he'd been born in a different time he'd be revered. With hindsight, this comes off as the Doctor praising the intellect of his Archenemy, who'd always been after the Doctor's admiration and acceptance. Also, the fact that the Doctor is openly complimenting someone's intellect to their face is pretty sweet.
• Jack and the Doctor making up, and their discussion about Rose.
• The Doctor gently asking Yana about the drums in his head. Remember, the Master has evidently had them since he was a child, so the Doctor was probably recalling his dear friend in this moment.
• Martha and Chantho striking up a friendship.
• Chantho mentions that she's been with Yana for 17 years. For at least that long (assuming that they're not perception-filter-created memories), one of the most evil men in the universe got to be a good, kind, and gentle person.
• For Classic Who fans, it's really great to hear the voices of Roger Delgado and Anthony Ainley one more time.

The Sound of Drums

• It's brief, but the Master scrambling for his phone (he'd had it in his pocket and on speaker) when he hears the Doctor's voice, holding it to his ear with an expression that looks something like relief is somewhat sweet. Of course, he gets straight into setting off his next plot, but not before swallowing and quietly asking about Gallifrey, genuinely concerned about what happened to their home and people, at least for a moment. Audio dramas reveal that the Master ran away from the Time War after the Cruciform fell. The Master officially found chaos that was too much for him.
  • It's also a sign of Villain Respect—he may mock and tease Martha and "handsome Jack," but when the Doctor comes on the line, he gets serious.
• Minor, but when the Master says he loves hearing his chosen alias, The Doctor replies "You chose it." While they may disagree, the Doctor is accepting of the Master going by that mononym.

Last of the Time Lords

• The beginning of the Master's defeat: the Doctor, having absorbed the power of the Master's psychic field via Clap Your Hands If You Believe, is advancing on the Master, who is screaming, crying, and clawing at the walls in fear of the epic wrath of God that is about to descend on him in retribution for all the horrible things he's done, and the Doctor proceeds to give him a hug and forgive him. Shortly thereafter it turns into a first-rate Alas, Poor Villain.
• The aftermath. "Maybe I've been on the run too long. Now I've got someone to care for..." Despite all the Master's evil, he's still one of the people the Doctor cares about most. And we know it's not just because he's the only other Time Lord, it's just because he's him.
• Martha leaving her phone with the Doctor as she leaves the TARDIS, telling him that the very minute it rings, he'd better answer. He did.
• The fact that Martha leaves on her own terms, not being forced out of the TARDIS, but accepting that it's time to grow up and move on.
  • The fact that the Doctor doesn't try and stop her because he knows it's right.

Series 4 / Season 30

Time Crash

• The Tenth Doctor's speech to the Fifth Doctor, in which he says that he loved being him as he felt young and exciting, and how in his current regeneration he is trying to live up to him and has copied some of his traits. It's especially so when you know that it's David Tennant himself talking there: he finally gets to work with the man he idolized as a child, the man who made him realize that not only did he want to be an actor himself, he wanted to be the actor who played the Doctor. Part of what makes the final scene so absolutely adorable is you're not sure where the line is drawn. After a while, you're not sure if the Tenth Doctor is fanboying to the Fifth Doctor, if David Tennant is fanboying to the Fifth Doctor, or if David Tennant is fanboying to Peter Davison, but that just makes it all the more endearing. And on top of all this, Davison and Tennant are future in-laws because of Tennant's marriage to Georgia Moffet! It can be viewed as a compliment to his own extended family.

Voyage of the Damned

• Astrid's send off:
  The Doctor: Astrid Peth, citizen of Sto, the woman who looked at the stars and dreamt of travelling... there is an old tradition. Now you can travel forever. You're not falling, Astrid. You're flying.
• "NO! Bannakaffalata STOP! Bannakaffalata PROUD! Bannakaffalata... CYBORG!" also qualifies as a Moment of Awesome.
• Mister Copper can have a house, with a garden! And a kitchen! With plates! He's skipping in his final scene.
• Morvin, when Foon confesses how she won the tickets.
  Morvin: You drive me barmy. I don't half love you, Mrs Van Hoff.
• A monarch doesn't hate the Doctor for once.

Partners in Crime

• Wilf's cheering and little happy dance when Donna flies off with the Doctor in. Really, any of Donna and Wilf's interactions. It's a Daddy's Girl-like relationship. Particularly since Donna's actual father has since passed away.
• Donna is extremely happy to see the Doctor again, and the feeling is mutual. Despite flying all over time and space, The Doctor remembers his first encounter with Donna.
  The Doctor: Just like old times!
• When Donna briefly wonders if the Doctor is going to reject her, she asks:
  Donna: Would you rather be on your own?
  The Doctor: ... No. Actually, no.
  • This is a big deal as Ten, as recent as the previous episode, claimed that he "preferred" to travel alone. It's serious Character Development that he admits, not only to Donna, but to himself, that he wants a friend to share his adventures.

The Fires of Pompeii

• The ending to of the episode, where the Doctor goes back to save Caecilius and his family, admits to Donna that she was right — sometimes he needs someone to stop him — and seeing the family six months later, happy and successful, giving thanks to the Doctor and Donna. Not to mention the virtual fourth-wall breaking moment from the Doctor:
  The Doctor: Come with me.
  • This scene becomes even more Heartwarming in Hindsight with the revelation in "The Girl Who Died": He remembers Caecilius centuries later, and chose that face to remind himself that "I'm the Doctor, and I save people!"
  • At the end, Quintus gives thanks to the family's house gods, who seem more than a little familiar...
• When the Doctor has to pull the lever, Donna does it with him. No words are needed, just her silent commitment to shouldering the responsibility at his side. No wonder these two were best friends.

Planet of the Ood

• Virtually anything about the ending.
• The Ood's liberation. The Ood song, although beginning as a massive Tear Jerker, slowly ends up becoming one of the most uplifting tracks ever.
• "You will never be forgotten. Our children will sing of the Doctor Donna. And our children's children. And the wind and the snow and the ice will carry your names forever."
• The Doctor finally gets snow that isn't an alien spaceship exploding!

The Sontaran Stratagem

• Martha saying she "learnt from the best" to the Doctor and later "I can see why he [The Doctor] likes you" to Donna.
• Donna has the Doctor drop her off at home so she can check on her family. As she walks down the road Wilf comes outside and sees her for the first time in (to him) days. Donna immediately starts running and he pulls her into a big hug.
• When Donna's grandfather tells the Doctor to take care of Donna, he replies that it's Donna who's been taking care of him.
• After Luke, pride stung by no longer being the smartest person in the room, bursts out that "ATMOS system" is a tautology, the Doctor just raises his eyebrows and gently says, "It's been a long time since someone said no to you, isn't it?" and goes on to share a moment of connection at how difficult it is to be a genius in a world where almost everyone is slower than you. Dad skills strike again!
• Donna claims that "I trust [The Doctor] with my life." When Wilf protests that he thought that was his job, Donna specifies that he still comes first.

The Poison Sky

• Wilfred again encouraging Donna to accompany the Doctor, despite Sylvia's protests.
  Wilf: You go, my darling.
  Sylvia: Dad!
  Wilf: Don't listen to her. You go with the Doctor. That's my girl!
• The instant the Doctor enters the Sontaran lab, he runs over to Martha, checks her pulse, holds her as she wakes up, and all but ignores the gun being pointed at him in favor of making sure his friend is okay.
• Martha staying with her clone and showing incredible compassion as she dies.
• The Doctor pumping up Donna's confidence right before she has to leave the safety of the TARDIS and stealth her way through the Sontaran ship.
  Donna: But I can't even mend a fuse!
  Doctor: Donna, stop talking about yourself like that! You can do this!... I promise.
• Luke choosing to pull a Heroic Sacrifice to save the Doctor.

The Doctor's Daughter

• Donna accepting Jenny right away and giving her a name.
• When Jenny revives the first thing she does is steal a space ship so she can travel to new worlds and save civilizations. The Doctor was right; she's a chip off the old block.
• Watching the Doctor go from refusing to acknowledge Jenny's existence to accepting her as his daughter and inviting her to travel with him.
  "You're going to be great. You're going to be more than great, you're going to be amazing!"
• Jenny has the opportunity to shoot Cobb but finds herself unable to do it. When she gets back to the Doctor, she excitedly tells him that she couldn't kill him and the Doctor hugs her, every bit the proud papa.
  • Even before, when he thinks she actually shot at the soldiers, he still urges her, multiple times, to come on, and is clearly panicked when the laser grid snaps into place. By this point, even though he won't admit it, he's already let her into his hearts.
• Martha's friendship with the Hath. It's adorable how they interact, and what's more, Martha is totally fine befriending with an alien fish-man.

Forest of the Dead

• Lux is not a jerkass protecting his patent. He's a guy protecting his child-like aunt.
• River Song's trust in the Doctor. They must have quite a history.
• When the Doctor literally saves River Song:
  "When you run with the Doctor, it feels like it'll never end. But however hard you try you can't run forever. Everybody knows that everybody dies and nobody knows it like the Doctor. But I do think that all the skies of all the worlds might just turn dark if he ever for one moment, accepts it. Everybody knows that everybody dies. But not every day. Not today. Some days are special. Some days are so, so blessed. Some days, nobody dies at all. Now and then, every once in a very long while, every day in a million days, when the wind stands fair and the Doctor comes to call, everybody lives."
  • Because he doesn't consider, not for a single second, that he might've actually accepted her death.
• The smile Charlotte gives the Doctor as he saves River, and the one he returns to her.
• The fact that River knows who Donna is means either Eleven or Twelve must have told her about his best friend despite her being long gone.
• The TARDIS and the Doctor have come so far over their many billions of years together - never before has he been able to make the TARDIS open her doors with a click of his fingers, after all.
  • His grin of absolute delight is just wonderful to see, as he realizes that no, River wasn't lying. Which means that everything she told him about is true, and he really does have all those adventures to come.
• The episode has two that are really heartwarming when you re-watch the episode after The Husbands of River Song: in that episode River states that Twelve's outfit is "not even a suit", but by the time of this episode River has changed her mind and agreed that it was, in fact, actually a suit that Twelve wore - "you turned up on my doorstep, with a new haircut and a suit". She also never states a single bad thing about any of it - she describes Darillium as "what a night that was" in a very thankful voice, implying that being involved in the explosion of a ship and a crash landing onto a planet was something she enjoyed immensely. (though a "night" on Darillium is 24-years). It's also hinted that Twelve is the one who also told her his name as neither Ten or Eleven ever did.
• The hugs that River and her team share at the end, safe and ready for more adventures in the data core.

Turn Left

• The singalong scene shows that, despite the bad situation, these people are still enjoying themselves with their neighbors.
• After Donna turns left and kills the beetle, she sits in the soothsayer's booth, completely in shock... Until the Doctor walks in.
  The Doctor: Everythin' alright?
  Donna: (breathlessly) Oh, god! (hugs him)
  The Doctor: (hugs back, confused laugh) What was that for?
  Donna: (breaks hug) ...I don't know! (hugs him again)
• At the end of the episode, where Donna is querying absent-mindedly why she was chosen as the focal point of the alternate universe.
  The Doctor: It's like something's binding us together.
  Donna: Don't be so daft. I'm nothing special.
  The Doctor: [instantly and enthusiastically] Yes you are. You're brilliant!
• The opening, where the Doctor and Donna are just goofing about on an alien planet. No chases, no monsters, no terror, just two friends hanging out and doing whatever they feel like, which includes getting their faces covered in blue ice-cream like stuff and laughing at just how utterly stupid they look.

The Stolen Earth

• A ten minute section: First the hug between Martha and her mum (and the latter's response, "You came home. At the end of the world, you came back to me.") Then Harriet Jones's return - especially her admitting she'll die trying to save the Earth. Then the whole "Calling the Doctor" scene. Then Harriet's theme coming in full blast when she says her last words. Then the Doctor's conversation with his companions.
• Donna introduces herself to the Shadow Architect as a human—not the stuff of legends like a Time Lord, but every bit as important. The Doctor's grin really seals it; it's a mix of So Proud of You and "couldn't have said it better myself."
• Wilf's reaction to seeing Donna is still with the Doctor is an incredibly happy "That's my girl!"
• Harriet Jones herself, despite every thing the Doctor did to her, ruining her career over a fairly petty disagreement, treating her like a monster. She was still one-hundred percent loyal to him and willingly risked her life to call him for help.
• The Doctor's reunion with Rose. No words are necessary, just the dawning hope and then absolute joy on his face with their huge smiles. Sure, the Meadow Run was narmy, but the moment before that was just beautiful.
• The Subwave system was developed by whom? Mr. Copper! One assumes that after he had sufficiently loaded up on plates the nice fake historian dedicated his winnings to protecting the planet whose history he so enjoyed and developed the one thing that helped bring the man who saved his life back to Earth one more time.
• While Rose and Donna are panicking over the Doctor (apparently) regenerating, Jack pulls them a safe distance away and says "good luck, Doctor!"

Journey's End

• Despite her snippiness towards Martha in the previous episode Rose is genuinely impressed by her standing up to Davros and says "She's good". When Martha finds out who she's talking to she's happy for the Doctor finding Rose again.
• The Children of Time flying the TARDIS the way it's meant to be flown, towing Earth home, and then everybody celebrates and hugs. The music playing over it just makes it feel perfect.
  • Once upon a time, every one of them travelled in the TARDIS as a subordinate to the Doctor. Now? They're flying the TARDIS with him, as equals. And they're also proving Davros wrong; he claimed that the Doctor turned ordinary people into weapons, but the companions prove to be just as important when it comes to saving Earth.
  • On top of that, news broadcasts show that fireworks are launched in every country after Earth's safe return. And the caption accompanying this footage is even better: "EARTH RETURNS HOME".
• While the overall moment is definitely funny, there's something heartwarming about the fact that Sarah Jane, Jack and Martha, who had all been terrified when they found out about the Daleks, are able to laugh and enjoy the Humiliation Conga the Daleks are being put through.
• Sarah Jane's line at the end of Journey's End:
  Sarah Jane: You know, you act like such a lonely man, but look at you! You've got the biggest family on Earth!
• Wilfred Mott's "I'll look up at the stars, and think of you" at the end of "Journey's End" is heartwarming, awesome, and Tear Jerker all in one. The brilliant character portrayal by Bernard Cribbins (genuine voice-faltering and tears) made the scene extraordinary.
• The Sarah Jane Adventures episode Revenge of the Slitheen shows that Sarah Jane remembers Rose's words about the Slitheen and, presumably, knows that she has "died" at Canary Wharf. The first thing she and Rose do in Journey's End when they get the chance? They greet each other as old friends.
  Sarah Jane: Good to see you again!
  Rose: Yeah, you too!
• After the Doctor takes Rose and Jackie back to the parallel universe, Rose is not happy considering she spent all her time getting back to him. However, the Doctor tells her she got to stay because of what the Meta-Crisis Doctor did. He also tells her that she made him a better man and that she can do the same for him, which shows how much Rose means to him. A doubtful Rose decides to put both of them to the test by going back to the day of the Doctor’s half-finished confession. She asks the Doctor what was it that he was about to say to her. He only repeats what he already said to her, but she tells him to say the rest. The Doctor tells her that it does not need to be said, so she asks the Meta-Crisis Doctor what he was about to say. He whispers the rest to her, which got her to kiss him. The Doctor and Donna decide to leave in the Tardis so that they don’t have to kill the moment, and Rose sees them leave. She's heartbroken by the fact that she didn’t have the chance to say goodbye to them, but the Meta-Crisis Doctor holds her hand to comfort her. While it is bittersweet, she can now spend the rest of her life with the Meta-Crisis Doctor who will grow old beside her.
• As sad as the scene of Donna losing her memories is, the Doctor assuring her that he will always remember the positive impact that she made on his life, and that he will keep Donna's memories for her is this.
  Doctor: I am so sorry. But we had the best of times. The best.

2009 specials

The Next Doctor

• When Jackson encounters a Cyberman info-stamp in the mansion, he's overwhelmed by deja vu and falls to his knees. Lake's desperate plea for help is the first major crack in his gallant facade and, combined with Ten's earnest response, it's a really heartwarming affirmation of what it is to be the Doctor.
  Jackson Lake: And you were there. Who are you?
  The Doctor: A friend. I promise.
  Jackson Lake: (tearful) Then I beg of you, John. Help me.
  The Doctor: Ah. Two words I never refuse.
• This quote:
  Jackson Lake: I know that man, that Doctor on high. And I know that he has done this deed a thousand times, but not once, no sir, not once has he ever been thanked. But no more, for I say to you that on this Christmas morn: Bravo, sir! BRAVO!!!
  • Especially heartwarming is that you have to consider this came on the tail of the events of "Midnight" and "Journey's End". After such emotional gut-punches, the Tenth Doctor finds himself being openly cheered on and applauded by a thankful populace. The look of dawning gratitude and joy on his face just says it all.
• Earlier on, even AFTER Jackson Lake had it proven to him he wasn't the Doctor, but merely a man who had been convinced he was, the real deal tells the despondent Lake that his memories might have been altered, but not the courage and determination he showed in the role: that all came from Jackson himself. "Jackson, if anyone had to be the Doctor... I'm glad it was you."
  • In general, how Jackson took up the role of the Doctor: He built a TARDIS, recruited a companion, saved lives, and battled monsters. He truly was the Doctor.
• Jackson remembering that he has a son, and discovering soon after that he's still alive. After everything he's lost he still gets at least one part of his family back.
• Jackson's sheer delight at the TARDIS ("But this is nonsense. Complete and utter, wonderful nonsense. How very, very silly.") and his response to the Doctor's loneliness:
  "That offer of Christmas dinner. It's no longer a request, it's a demand."
  "Oh... go on then."
  "Really?"
  "Just this once. You've... you've actually gone and changed my mind."

Planet of the Dead

• The Doctor's interactions with UNIT personnel. It's humanizing for all parties involved. Especially with Malcolm. To put it in context, Malcolm is a Fan Boy for the Doctor, and talking to him on the phone is obviously a massive dream come true. However, the really heartwarming moment happens during their first talk:
  The Doctor: "And Malcolm?"
  Malcolm: "Yes Doctor?"
  The Doctor: "...You're my new best friend."
• When the passengers of the 200 are starting to panic because they're trapped on an alien world with seemingly no hope of getting back, and death approaching in some unknown form. For a minute, it looks like it's going to be a repeat of "Midnight". But then the Tenth Doctor interrupts, asking each of the passengers in turn what they were planning to do when they got home. It's pretty casual stuff—going home, watching TV, cooking up dinner, and so on. But the Doctor's response to all that?
  The Doctor: "...Just think of that. Because that planet out there, with three suns, a wormhole, and alien sand; that planet is nothing. You hear me, nothing. Compared to all those things waiting for you, back home...food, home, people. Hold onto that. Because we're going to get there. I promise."
  • He was true to his word. Everyone on that bus (with the exception of the bus driver, who died prior to this speech) made it back alive. After some of his previous adventures, that's a wonderful achievement. He also asks Captain Magambo to look into getting the two young guys jobs at UNIT.
• The Doctor helping Christina escape the police and everyone cheering as she escapes in the flying bus.
• Subsequently, the Doctor and Christina's parting words.
  Christina: "We could have been so good together!"
  The Doctor: "Christina. We were!
  

Waters of Mars

• Although the story is mostly terrifying, it also has a few sweet moments:
  • The Doctor befriending Gadget, who clearly reminds him of K9.
  • He is also clearly a big fan of the Bowie Base One crew, especially Adelaide.
  • When he suffers a temporary Face–Heel Turn, it's not out of selfishness, or cruelty, or even a Cowboy Cop mentality: it's out of kindness. It's not the fact that he's the last of the Time Lords: It's that there are tears and cries for help, and he can no more turn away than he can flap his arms and fly.

The End of Time

• The End of Time Part Two, Tennant's last hurrah as the Doctor.
  • Ten spends his last few hours going back and revisiting all previous companions. Each with a kind of sad good-bye and Ten calls that his reward, seeing them happy and safe. Aww...
    • The Doctor's visit to Rose before she meets the Doctor and it's even more so when you realize that, out of all the people he's loved and gone to see, the only visit that's made him smile is Rose.
      The Doctor: I think you're going to have a really great year.
    • The Italian dub has him say "I think you're going to have a fantastic year."
    • The completely non-verbal scene between Ten and Jack in the alien bar. Seriously, just look at Jack's state when the Doctor finds him... he's not Narmy about it, but you just know this is hot on the heels of the utter horror that was Children of Earth, and he's completely broken...until he gets that note from the Doctor. Seeing his dialogue with Midshipman Alonso, and watching the old Jack everyone knew and loved start to come back, made this Last Minute Hookup a mix of this and Fridge Brilliance.
    • Apply some Fridge Logic to his last meeting with Donna (and Donna's parents.) He went back in time to borrow a quid from Geoffrey Noble (Donna's late father) and bought Donna a lottery ticket so Donna could live Wealthy Ever After. He was able to let Donna's father buy her a wedding present even after he passed away.
    • Part of what sells it is Sylvia's face when it hits her who he's talking about. She's on the verge of tears as Ten tells her.
    • What makes the scene with Donna even more heartwarming is that, in Part 1, Wilf mentions "[Shaun's] on minimum wage and she's earning tuppence, so all they can afford is a tiny little flat". So, what does 10 do as his last act for Donna? He can't restore her memories because that will kill her, so he makes it that she'll never have to be struggling on minimum wage again and can be happy and wealthy.
    • His farewell to Sarah Jane. The last heroic act the Tenth Doctor ever performed was to save her son from being hit by a car. That's a really big deal. And no words are exchanged between the Doctor and Sarah. No words are needed. The way he smiles at her and waves and the knowing look on her face....it just speaks volumes about the chemistry those two have. Even more so when you consider that, among all the people he visited (at least the ones shown on screen), she was probably one of the only ones who actually realized what was about to happen.
    • The episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures, "Death of the Doctor", turned that whole sequence into an even bigger moment of heartwarming. The Doctor tells Jo Grant that he didn't just revisit all the companions from his tenth incarnation. He revisited all of them, every single one, from his first life to his tenth. And given that he visited the descendant of someone who wasn't even a companion, who knows how many people important to him he may have appeared to...
  • A single line that sums up just why the Doctor likes Wilf so much. The Woman notes that although Wilf was a soldier, he'd never killed a man, and he says, "Don't say that like it's shameful."
  • The look on the Doctor's face when he sees the Woman. Whether it's Susan, Romana, his daughter, his wife, mother, or whoever, clearly it's someone that he loved and never thought he'd see again. Equally, how she covers her face rather than see him killed.
  • Every single one of the Tenth Doctor and Wilfred Mott's scenes together. Each scene reminded viewers why they loved Tennant's Doctor so much and showed what an awesome character Wilf is, and it gave them a great, sweet relationship.
    Wilf: Nine hundred years? We must look like ants to you.
    The Doctor: I think you look like giants.
    • One that truly stood out from Part 1:
      The Doctor: I'm going to die.
      Wilf: So am I, one of these days.
      The Doctor: Don't you dare!
      Wilf: Alright, I'll try not to.
    • And from Part 2:
      Wilf: You let him go, you swine!
      The Master: (to the Doctor) Oh, your dad's still kicking up a fuss.
      Wilf: No, but I'd be proud if I was!
    • And:
      The Doctor: I'd be proud.
      Wilf: Of what?
      The Doctor: If you were my dad.
    • When the Doctor and the cacti rush to the bridge, Wilf stays at the window, staring in wonder at the Earth. Instead of yelling like he normally does, the Doctor jogs back in and gently takes Wilf by the shoulders to steer him toward the bridge.
    • After the Doctor dives out of the ship, Wilf orders the Vinvocci to turn the ship around, for the sake of a man they barely know and don't even like. And they do.
      Wilf: I am not leaving that man on his own. Not today!
    • When offering the Doctor his gun, he breaks down in tears and begs the Doctor to take it and save his own life. Perhaps equally heartwarming is the Doctor's quiet, "Never."
    • The whole scene at the end, really, especially the way he demands that the Doctor leave him and let him die. Damn you, Wilf!
      "Wilfred. It's my honour."
    • The Doctor sacrificing himself to save Wilf is made even more heartwarming by the fact that he doesn't act like the sacrifice is nothing to him, like he sometimes does. When he realizes that it's his only option, he starts ranting about how it's not fair, how his life should be worth more, and seems to be getting dangerously close to another "Time Lord Victorious" moment, which the last episode showed us can happen all too easily... and then he pulls himself together, goes ahead, and makes the sacrifice anyway.
    • Inversely, listen to the actual words the Doctor is using; at no point does he ever seriously consider leaving Wilf to die. He's ranting and raving and complaining about life being unfair, but there's no question in his mind that he's going to flood the other chamber with himself inside. If anything, it's the Time Lord Victorious trying to talk himself out of saving one little unimportant human knowing full well that it's going to happen.
    • Also when they first arrive on the Vinvocci ship. Wilf has spent his entire life staring at the stars and hoping to see them (an impossible dream for all but a select few). Now he is, and he's staring out the window at planet Earth, completely overwhelmed. Bonus points to the Doctor, who, despite the seriousness of the situation, takes the time to gently lead Wilf away from the window. Those two have the amazing ability to do some seriously gut-wrenching scenes.
  • The Doctor is incredibly protective of the Master in the wasteland, even crying "Let him go!" when Naismith's goons abduct him.
  • The Master forming a tag-team with the Doctor against Rassilion and, in the end, deciding not to kill the Doctor when he's right there to kill. Despite all their fighting, these two used to be great friends, and moments like this show they still can be. Sure, he wants revenge on Rassilon for screwing him over for the entirety, but with the Meaningful Echo you also get a sense he's trying to repay the Doctor's faith in him.
    The Master: "Get out of the way."
  • When Rassilon is about to destroy the Master, the Doctor holds him at gunpoint with a look that screams "I will kill you if you touch him."
    Click.
  • This wonderful moment between the Doctor and the Master in Part 2:
    The Doctor: You're a genius. You're stone cold brilliant, you are, I swear, you really are. But you could be so much more. You could be beautiful. With a mind like that, we could travel the stars. It would be my honour. 'Cause you don't need to own the universe, just see it. Have the privilege of seeing the whole of time and space. That's ownership enough.
    The Master: Would it stop then? The noise in my head?
    The Doctor: I can help.
    The Master: I don't know what I'd be without that noise.
    The Doctor: I wonder what I'd be without you.
    • He's not just recalling their childhood, but the brilliant old professor ready to give his life for the last of humanity.
  • The Doctor pointing the gun at the Master and saying, "Get out of the way." The Master's shocked, hurt face...then his smile. It says more than words ever could.
  • That moment when Donna is being menaced by the copies of the Master in the streets behind her house. She collapses, releasing a blast of energy that knocks the Masters out. The Doctor assures Wilf that she's fine, just sleeping.
    The Doctor: Did you really think I'd leave my best friend without a defence?
  • 'This song is ending, but the story never ends'. His 'song' may be ending, but the 'story' of the Doctor, across all his incarnations, never will.
  • The Ood standing by the Doctor to sing for him as he regenerates.
    "The universe will sing you to your sleep."

Eleventh Doctor

Series 5 / Season 31

The Eleventh Hour

• Pretty much the whole first scene where the Doctor befriends Amelia. He's not 100% sure who he is yet, still "cooking," still figuring things out... but one thing he knows, is that he's a Friend to All Children.

  The Doctor: You're the Scottish girl in the English village, and I know exactly what that's like.

• The part where the aliens scan Earth and confirm that it's not a threat — almost the counterpoint to the Tenth Doctor's Humans Are Bastards spiel to Harriet Jones.
• Fridge Heartwarming: Look at the images in the scan. They start with marching Nazis and nuclear weapons — and end with Gandhi.
• The Doctor's feelings towards Earth, summed up in one exchange:
  Atraxi: You are not of this world.
  Doctor: No...but I've put a lot of work into it.
  • Add this to the episode's run through of all ten previous Doctors leading up to the present day.
• When the Doctor is handcuffed to the radiator and asking older-Amy what happened to Amelia and if she's okay. The sheer depth of concern he had for this little girl he'd only just met and barely knew.
• Also, the Doctor's "just trust me for twenty minutes" speech, and giving Amy back the apple. When you think about it, that scene was virtually shot in real time. So it wasn't just Amy who had to believe in this Doctor for twenty minutes, it was the audience, some of whom had yet to be won over by Tennant's replacement. We were asked to believe for just that short time, that this guy was up to the task. He was.
• Near the ending of that episode, after the Atraxi have fled and the Doctor gives his "sexy" new TARDIS a spin. Cut to seven-year-old Amelia still waiting in the garden as the sun rises. She looks up and smiles as she hears the TARDIS materializing.
• The scene where Amy finally sees the inside of the TARDIS is full of beautiful, childlike wonderment. Eleven's line is what seals the deal:
  Eleven: Goodbye Leadworth, Hello... everything!
  • And he pulls the lever, that Most Wonderful Sound starts up, really awesome music plays, and the two of the grinning and laughing as another adventure begins...
• The "Oh, you sexy thing!" was a Heartwarmer all on its own, along with the whisper of "thanks, dear," when the TARDIS presents the Doctor with his new sonic screwdriver. Companions come and go, but the TARDIS will always be the girl who stole the Doctor's hearts.
• The Doctor's line "All of time and space. Everything that ever happened or ever will. Where do you want to start?". After a while, you realize he isn't just asking Amy. He's asking us to join him on his incredible adventures.

The Beast Below

• Hundreds of years previous, when a dying UK was approached by a Star-Whale, a Queen authorized its capture and torture, to coerce it to carry the country, now a space colony, on its back. Most of the population chose to be mind-wiped of the info, for the sake of the colony, and legends instead arose of the Star Whale's being dangerous, including a rhyme used to scare children. Later, though, after seeing parallels between its initial arrival and the Doctor's behaviour throughout the episode, Amy releases the Star Whale, having realized it was "very old, and very kind," had actually approached so that it could help, and need never have been forced. Just before the closing credits, over footage of the now-loved-and-revered Star Whale still carrying the colony, Amy recites the new legend:
  In bed above, we're deep asleep
  while greater love lies further deep
  this dream must end, this world must know
  we all depend on the Beast Below.
  • After centuries' worth of torture, what's the Beast's immediate response after Amy stops torturing it? To increase speed. All that pain and misery, and its first priority is still to help the humans.
• The Doctor's conclusion that something is very, very wrong because no-one is comforting a single crying little girl, and the fact that he instantly noticed this fact. Also his immediate flouting of his "rules" to comfort her. Which just goes to show how very little (or how very much) it takes to make him break the rules of time travel.
  Amy Pond: You never interfere in the affairs of other peoples or planets... unless there's children crying?
  Doctor: Yes.
  • This becomes even more heartwarming as of "Listen".
• The Doctor's reasoning behind why it was so very wrong for that one little girl to be crying pulls on the heart in all the right ways.
  "Children cry because they want attention—because they're hurt, or scared. When a child cries silently it's because they just can't stop. Every parent knows that."
• Amy is happy to learn that Scotland wanted (and apparently built) their own ship rather than be part of Starship UK, remarking fondly "Good for them. Nothing changes." She might have been raised in England, but she's never forgotten her roots!
• How does Amy figure out why the Star Whale really came? Because she recognized the behavior of a creature who was very old, and very kind, and the very, very last. And what's the one thing that a creature like that could never do? To stand by while children are crying.
  • The look of dawning realization on the Doctor's face as she says it counts too. For all the claims that he turns his companions into weapons, all the claims that he's a terrible monster soaked in the blood of a billion species, this scene really shows that his companions make him a better person.

Victory of the Daleks

• Winston Churchill to the android Bracewell, "Now, I don't give a damn if you're a machine, Bracewell... Are you a man?" The question is asked more or less the whole way through, and the fate of Earth depended on the answer. By the end of the episode the answer is yes enough and the Doctor is able to leave Bracewell behind to enjoy his thoroughly human life. Such a shockingly happy ending for an AI.
• The Doctor tries to use memories of loss to save Bracewell. Amy uses memories of love. That's right! The Power of Love overcame Dalek technology!
• The way the Doctor and Amy leave him at the end, telling him that while he must be deactivated since he is Dalek technology, he still has half an hour to get his affairs in order. Remember how long five minutes are by the Doctor's standpoint.
• Bracewell is the one who brings up the matter of deactivation; the Doctor and Amy had no intention of doing so and just wanted to say goodbye.

The Time of Angels

• Amy begs the Doctor to leave her and go save the others when she thinks her hand has turned to stone and the Angels are rapidly approaching. The Doctor refuses to leave her, leading to this exchange:
  Amy: You've got to go. Those people up there will die without you. If you stay here with me you've as good as killed them.
  The Doctor: Amy Pond, you are magnificent, and I'm sorry.
  Amy Pond: (steeling herself for death) It's okay. I understand. You've got to leave me.
  The Doctor: Oh, no, I'm not leaving you. Never. I'm sorry for this. (bites her hand; she yelps in pain and jerks it away) Ha! See? Not stone. Now run.
• When Amy is attacked by (and defeats) an Angel, and is understandably a little freaked out:
  The Doctor: River, hug Amy.
  Amy: Why?
  The Doctor: Because I'm busy.
• Amy and the Doctor have been doing a fair bit of forehead pressing and forehead kissing and it's just too cute for words. Especially in "Flesh and Stone" where Amy is stuck sat in the middle of a dangerous forest, and can't open her eyes without dying on the spot, and they have to just leave her with the soldiers otherwise she'd be more at risk on the move. The Doctor vanishes for a moment, then comes back and takes her hands and asks her, once again, to trust him. Not even the ending of the episode could possibly ruin that scene.
  • This simple bit of dialogue:
    Doctor: Trust me?
    River: Always.
• All of River's showing off (jumping out of a spaceship, flying the TARDIS at least as well as the Doctor, etc) in this two-parter, and all of her kindness and concern for Amy, gets ten times sweeter after we learn River's true identity in the following season. She's not just being a smart-aleck, she's showing off for her mom!

The Vampires of Venice

• Rory's slightly drunk call to Amy at his stag party is absolutely adorable. "Hello! I haven't told you I love you in over seven hours, which is a scandal, so I'm gonna fix that now! And even if we weren't getting married tomorrow, I'd still ask you to marry me, because you are smashing!"
• The Doctor takes names very seriously. Not only does he chew out the Big Bad for not knowing the names of the girl's she's converted but he takes the time to learn the name of the Cake Girl he replaced ("Lucy") and that she's diabetic.
  • What's the one thing that convinces the Doctor that the Saturnynians are enemies who need to be destroyed and not just desperate refugees?
  The Doctor: I will tear down the House of Calvierri stone by stone. And d'you know why? Because you didn't know Isabella's name. You didn't know Isabella's name.
• The Doctor has taken Davros' Breaking Speech to heart and is trying to prove him wrong. He really doesn't want Amy to be a mole and tells both her and Rory to go back to the T.A.R.D.I.S. when things get too dangerous.
• The fiasco with Rose and Mickey will not be repeated. Immediately after Amy tries to seduce the Doctor, he snags her fiance to be his second companion so they can stay together.
• And they do - after (sort of) fighting off Francesco together, Amy gives him their first Big Damn Kiss (onscreen, at least). Rory's adorable Post-Kiss Catatonia seals the deal.
• Rory somewhat bitterly assumes that the Doctor will drop him off home while he and Amy continue their adventures. It's Amy that asks him to stay, much to his delight, and sealed with a kiss.
• Guido's desperation to save his daughter, and said daughter saving Amy.

Amy's Choice

• The titular choice itself, as to which world Amy thought was real. The only world that was real to Amy, or at least the only world she wanted to be real, was the one in which Rory was still alive. This leads to the first real on-screen kiss between Amy and Rory. And then before that, Rory asks what had happened to him (he had been disintegrated), and Amy just says nothing and hugs him, because she is just so happy to see him again.
• When they ask why the psychic spores made a dark side of the Doctor but not them: "Well, if they tried to feed off of you two, they'd starve to death in an instant. I choose my companions with great care."

Cold Blood

• Rory telling Alaya that he trusts the Doctor with his life. It really shows how much their friendship's grown.
• Nasreen staying in suspended animation with a mutating Tony, with both promising to help with future negotiations between humans and Silurians. There's also the fact that she and Tony clearly have romantic feelings for each other but nobody had any issues with it, despite the clear age and race difference between the two.
• A bit of a Fridge heartwarming moment. The Doctor sets the reanimation timer for a thousand years. Several short stories and novellas set in the future show the Reptiles as fully recognized inhabitants of Earth alongside humanity. After all those conflicts and close calls throughout the show's history, it's heartwarming to know the two races do eventually have a future together.
• The Doctor's little encouraging smile at Ambrose at the end shows that as harshly as he chewed her out, he knows she's not that bad deep down and he has faith she'll become better.

Vincent and the Doctor

• The death of the Krafayis. Think about it. The Doctor is comforting an accidentally-child-killing creature that was just blind, scared, and alone and he can't even SEE it because it's invisible.
• The stargazing. Also Visual Effects Of Awesome, as the three of them hold hands and look up... and the night sky transforms into The Starry Night.
  The Doctor: I've seen many things, my friend, but you're right - nothing quite as wonderful as the things you see.
• After Vincent van Gogh spends the entire episode casually talking about how terrible his paintings are and how no-one will ever want them, the Doctor bends the rules and takes him forward in time to see his work displayed in an art gallery and hear an expert call him 'the greatest artist of all time'. Vincent cries tears of joy. Shortly thereafter, it's revealed that he dedicated one of his paintings to Amy.
  • Also note that, even before it's revealed that he is included, Van Gogh seems overjoyed to visit an exhibit of the world's greatest artists, calling it "wonderful."
• The Doctor takes the time to compliment the docent's ties on two separate occasions. Judging by the docent's expression, he doesn't get that often.
• Vincent truly breaks down when he hears the expert speak of not just his art but of him as a PERSON. For a man that was mocked and belittled, made to feel like a freak and an outcast... to have someone say that he understood him and that Vincent was not just the greatest artist but a GREAT MAN... imagine for a moment what that must be like. To finally have someone UNDERSTAND him, to accept him, and love him for his flaws. Tears of joy indeed.
  • Bonus heartwarming: the dawning incredulity on the docent's face as he seems to realize who the strange man who just kissed his cheek really was. Imagine spending your adult life admiring and studying one powerful artist, being moved by his work, learning every possible detail about this wonderful human being you have never and will never meet, but whom you feel you know intimately, maybe wishing that there was some way you could tell him what he's meant to you...and all of a sudden, beyond all possibility, he's right there. And you've just made him cry from pure joy.
• In the middle of the museum visit, Vincent notices that Monet got a whole room for Impressionism. He stops and gives a big smile about it.
• When Amy and the Doctor stop in front of Van Gogh's Sunflowers;
  Amy: We didn't make a difference at all.
  The Doctor: I wouldn't say that. The way I see it, every life is a pile of good things and bad things. [Amy starts tearing up] Hey. [hugs Amy] The good things don't always soften the bad things, but vice-versa, the bad things don't necessarily spoil the good things and make them unimportant. And we definitely added to his pile of good things. And, if you look carefully, maybe we did indeed make a couple of little changes.
  Amy: No Krafayis.
  The Doctor: No Krafayis.
  (Amy sees a change in the "Sunflowers" painting. It has For Amy, Vincent written on the vase.)
  Amy: If we had gotten married, our children would have had very, very red hair.
  The Doctor: The ultimate ginger.
  Amy: The ultimate ginge!
  Amy (quietly): Brighter than sunflowers.

The Lodger

• The Doctor asking Craig "Why don't you want to leave?" Craig immediately responds: "Sophie!" and she reciprocates in kind.
• "For God's sake, kiss the girl!"
• The following "complete ruination of their friendship".
• In general, the friendship between the Doctor and Craig. On the surface, they have absolutely nothing in common, but over the course of a few days, it's clear that they have become actually, genuinely good friends and care about each other.

The Pandorica Opens

• When Eleven gives Rory back the ring.
  • The whole quote that goes along with that:
    Doctor: The universe is vast, and complicated, and ridiculous. And sometimes, impossible things just happen, and we call them miracles. 900 years, I've never seen one...but this'll do me just fine.
  • Furthermore, this is the Doctor-the agnostic, the one who never ever admits to being wrong, never believes in magic or gods or miracles and who's always delving into the reason for things-admitting that maybe, just maybe, something ridiculous and impossible has "just happened." And he'd be fine with that.
• In a weird way, the Alliance's existence. Wrong or not, it's still every "evil" race and group we've ever seen working together to save the universe from being destroyed by the Doctor.

The Big Bang

• In its dying moment, the TARDIS itself commits one last heroic act: it explodes across every single point in time simultaneously, keeping Earth warm for the entirety of its existence...
  • Not only that, the TARDIS instigated a time loop inside itself to save River. While it only resulted in River running into a rock wall and not making it to the Doctor, the TARDIS was doing everything she could to save her only child.
• Auton-Rory spends just shy of 2,000 years protecting a box. Cultures rise and fall around him, and he is nothing more than a historical curiosity associated with another historical curiosity. He never wavers, he never falters, he never leaves the Pandorica. He dragged the Pandorica out of a German firebombing, knowing that if he ever was damaged, he could never, ever be repaired. The Doctor warned Rory that he would probably be mad by the time the Doctor's gambit reached its end. But Rory? He was sane. He was unharmed. And he was still... right... there. Working security for the Pandorica Exhibition, keeping Amy safe. Like he did for two thousand years.
  • More than that: He volunteered. Almost nothing could've gotten in. She was unconscious the whole time. He could've zapped ahead with the Doctor, and there's a 99% chance she would've been absolutely fine, and never even been lonely. But just on the off chance that something could've gotten in, he refuses to skip ahead, and volunteers to spend almost two millennia guarding her, just to be sure. Rory Pond makes every other boyfriend in history look bad.
  • And then their reunion. Amy sprints at him, launches herself into his arms, and proceeds to snog him senseless with a Big Damn Kiss to end all big damn kisses.
• After waking up and seeing her parents Amy phones Rory and ends the call by casually saying "I love you" to him. Back in "Amy's Choice" she admitted to the Doctor that she'd never actually told Rory she loved him even though they were engaged, and struggled to say it after the illusions ended. The casual way she says it here makes it clear that in this timeline she says it to him all the time.
• Even before Amy's memory of the Doctor is triggered, she's wearing a red necklace. Look closely. It's an apple.
  • "Something old...Something new...Something borrowed...Something Blue!"
  • "Raggedy Man... I remember you and YOU ARE LATE FOR MY WEDDING!!"
  • "The boy who waited - good on you mate."
  • At the wedding party, Amy half-lying in Rory's arms while they watch the Doctor dance like a monkey, and he kisses her hair, and it's just total and utter contentment.
    • Earlier on the phone, when she tells him she loves him — the first time she's said it all season — in a casual tone that makes it obvious that in the "fixed" universe she says it all the time.
  • Prior to the rewind, the Doctor never asks Amy to remember him. He wants her to concentrate the whole of her being on remembering the family she should have had instead.
    • And it's made even more heartwarming/breaking by his bedraggled state: In what he and Amy both think is the last conversation they'll ever have, he's her Raggedy Doctor again.
    • This is the first genuinely, completely Happy Ending of the renewed season finales -first series the Doctor regenerates, everyone on the station dies except Jack who now has to live forever after just being abandoned, second series he loses Rose to another dimension, third series he's the last of his kind again and Martha leaves him probably with a horrible case of Post Traumatic Stress, fourth season the fate of Donna. Specials? He gets told he's going to die, goes crazy, and finally regenerates. But now we have a wedding, a celebration, silly dancing, the Doctor saved via telling a story, and a death count into the minuses. Repeat, the minuses— people survive this story who were already dead when it started. Only Steven Moffat could pull that off in a Doctor Who finale. Hats off to the man.
  • Rory punching the Doctor for telling him that Amy wasn't more important that the rest of the universe and the Doctor's reaction to getting punched.
    The Doctor: Your girlfriend isn't more important than the whole universe—
    *thwack*
    Rory: SHE IS TO ME!
    The Doctor: WELCOME BACK RORY WILLIAMS!
  • The end of "The Big Bang":
    Doctor: This will have to be goodbye.
    Amy: Yeah, I think it's goodbye. [to Rory] Don't you think it's goodbye?
    Rory: Definitely goodbye.
    [Amy opens the TARDIS door and waves to the world.]
    Amy: Goodbye!
  • Amy's face of pure joy as she finally gets her happy ending, and sets off in the TARDIS with both Rory AND The Doctor. See for yourself.

Series 6 / Season 32

A Christmas Carol

• One in particular for its universal appeal and revelation of just who the Doctor is. After being told a young woman is "nobody important," he immediately becomes more interested, because, as he says "In over nine hundred years of time and space I've never met anyone who wasn't important."
  • This represents a large amount of Character Development from Ten's comments about the significance of certain people in "The Waters of Mars". He seems to have learned his lesson about the "Time Lord Victorious" thing.
• The star cruiser is about to crash, killing the thousands on board. They are losing control and suddenly the most lovely singing is heard and the clouds stabilize. "Can you land?" "I can even land well."
• The look on Kazran's face as the beautiful love of his life sings to him for the last time. The last shot before the credits is the two of them taking a shark-drawn-carriage ride through the night sky.
  • In general, Abigail and Kazran's utterly adorable romance. It may be a little unconventional, but they're just so happy with each other.

The Impossible Astronaut

• The Doctor has decided not to go to 1969 just because someone wants him to, and ignores River asking him to trust her, since he doesn't know who she really is yet. Amy asks him to trust her, and he tells her to swear on something that matters. She answers with "Fish fingers and custard." This causes the Doctor to place his life in her hands.

Day of the Moon

• When Amy calls Rory "stupid face". The previous time he heard her use the phrase telling "stupid face" she loved him he didn't know whom she was speaking to.
• Rory's statement of "She can always hear me" when Amy has been kidnapped. This is Immediately followed by a callback to his actions in the finale of last season: "Wherever she is, she always knows that I am coming for her—do you understand me? Always."
• Amy telling the Doctor that he's her best friend.
• In a deleted piece of dialogue (that doubles as foreshadowing), Rory tells the Doctor that the door in his head (keeping the memories of his time as the Last Centurion) stays shut, even if the Doctor were to ask him to open it.
  Doctor: If Amy needed it?
  Rory: If Amy needed it, of course.
• River shoots a Silent without looking at it; while this is very badass, it becomes slightly heartwarming when you remember that River has turned away from the Silence, so she can't remember them. The reason she shoots something behind her is because her father looks frightened and she's protecting him.
• The homeless man in the stinger who's concerned about little Melody when she starts coughing and dying. Particularly given the incredible shortage of adults who have been kind to her throughout her life.

The Curse of the Black Spot

• During the finale when they're left with a choice of either leaving Rory on the alien ship or risking his death by drowning since the ship is basically keeping him alive, he opts to leave, telling them that all they have to do is resuscitate him when they get back. He wants the person who does it to be Amy, not the Doctor, for one specific reason.
  Rory: Because I know you'll never give up.
• It's even more meaningful when you remember Rory's a nurse. Accuracy aside, we're supposed to think that he surely knows the odds but he still trusts her more than the Doctor. For everyone who has ever wondered why Rory was willing to wait 2000 years for a girl that a number of people don't think deserved him? This whole damn scene is the answer.

The Doctor's Wife

• This exchange.
  Doctor: You didn't always take me around to where I've wanted to go.
  Idris/TARDIS: No, but I always took you where you needed to go.
• A severely understated one is the Doctor's reaction upon receiving the Corsair's distress signal. Not only is there another Time Lord still out there, it's one of his friends. Especially poignant considering that last time he found out there was another Time Lord out there, it didn't exactly go well. Too bad it's a trap.
• Russell T Davies' "Ood created by Russell T Davies" credit is quite the touching memento of his legacy, when you realise that sort of thing's normally only seen on classic series monsters such as Sontarans or Daleks.
• When Amy is trying to communicate the meaning of the password to the TARDIS systems to access the secondary control room, her mental imprint of the word 'delight' is her and Rory's wedding day.
• When Idris mentions "the pretty one", the Doctor assumes she means Amy, and instead she communicates to Rory, the best-hearted of the trio.
• The exchange when the TARDIS, inside the body of Idris, makes the Doctor understand just who she is.
  Idris/TARDIS: I was already a museum piece when you were young. And the first time you touched my console you said—
  The Doctor: I said you were the most beautiful thing I'd ever known.
  Idris/TARDIS: And then you stole me. And I stole you.
  The Doctor: I borrowed you.
  Idris/TARDIS: "Borrowing" implies the eventual intention to return the thing that was taken. What makes you think I would ever give you back?
  The Doctor: You're the TARDIS? My TARDIS?
  Idris/TARDIS: My Doctor.
• "Hello, Doctor. It's so very, very nice to meet you."
• This exchange, where we find out that even an immortal, sentient timeship thinks that human beings are awesome:
  Idris/TARDIS: Are all people like this?
  The Doctor: Like what?
  Idris/TARDIS: So much bigger on the inside.
• The episode in general. Despite all the Mood Whiplash of the episode, the Doctor has something new and positive at the end: the assurance that, no matter what, the TARDIS is there and listening, and always has been and always will be. Nine was alone at the end of the Time War? Ten regenerated alone? Nope, the TARDIS was there. She's been there throughout every one of his darkest days, and she'll still be there when all of his companions leave. Sure, we knew that before, but this is an entirely new perspective on their relationship.
• This combines heartwarming with tearjerkers.
  Idris: I've been looking for a word. A big complicated word. So sad. I've found it now.
  Doctor: What word?
  Idris: Alive. I'm alive...
  Doctor: Alive isn't sad.
  Idris: It's sad when it's over.
• The follow up to the above moment:
  Doctor: You okay?
  Rory: No. I watched her die. I shouldn't let it get to me, but it still does. I'm a nurse.
  Doctor: Letting it get to you. You know what that's called? Being alive. Best thing there is. Being alive right now. That's all that counts!
• The TARDIS's last words to the Doctor: "I love you." Despite everything, despite all the times he has smacked her with a hammer, made her spark, driven her into missiles, smashed a hole into her console with an axe, she's still there, she still cares for him, she still loves him, and, more importantly, he knows it and their relationship is better than it ever was. What makes it even worse? In the original script, the words were "I forgive you", implying that the TARDIS didn't blame the Doctor for the events of the Time War.
• The ending, where the TARDIS controls flare back to life; just a second ago the Doctor thinks she can't hear him, then the Doctor is practically dancing around the console room with the biggest grin on his face! She may not be able to speak — but she's still there. And she will always hear him.
• Seeing how very, very relieved Amy is when the real Rory finds her, after she's been weeping in horrified grief over his fake "corpse". Even after all the many, many times he's died before, she'll never take his return for granted, and the implication that he'd died hating her had really gotten to her.
• The TARDIS assuring the Doctor that "I'll always be here". Together, forever.
• When the TARDIS lays dying on the floor and the Doctor comforts her with "old girl", one of the things she says is "I like it when you call me Old Girl". Just goes to show, they are, most definitely, a perfect match.
• The TARDIS, in Idris's body, kick starts the mash-up TARDIS that she and the Doctor have constructed by using her own energy to do it. This implies that the TARDIS is able to fly herself without the Doctor and could have left that repair-shop all those years ago on her own, but didn't want to leave without someone to enjoy it with.
• Idris materialises inside the TARDIS with the Doctor. As the scene continues, she can be seen looking around the room in wonder: because she has never seen her interior with eyes before and now she can.
• The TARDIS refers to the Doctor as "bring[ing]home strays", implying that she, too, considers herself the Doctor's home more than Gallifrey is.

The Rebel Flesh

• Rory giving the upset and confused Ganger Jennifer a hug.

The Almost People

• At the end, the humans and (most of) the Gangers finally accepting that they shouldn't be fighting, and the fact that the survivors included two Gangers, who were treated no differently than the human survivor. A particularly heartwarming moment comes when the dying Original!Jimmy gives his Ganger permission to go home and be a father to his son.
• That the Doctor had unquestioning, absolute faith in his Ganger, and that likewise, his Ganger had complete faith in the Doctor.
  • In general, it's really sweet seeing the Doctor interact so well with himself, since most of the time when he meets a different incarnation or some other projection of himself it devolves into Snark-to-Snark Combat within minutes or less.
  "You know, I'm starting to get a sense of just how impressive it is to hang out with me."
• "We are not talking about an experiment that needs to be mopped up. We are talking about sacred life. Everybody clear on that? Everybody? Good."
• The Doctor taking a moment out of the darkness and moral ambiguity of the story to be a Friend to All Children. Typical. Doubles an Awesome moment, because it is just the moment he needed to turn one of the Gangers around to go back and rescue the original.
  Ganger!Jennifer: You've tricked him into an act of weakness!
  The Doctor: No. I've compelled him into an act of 'humanity'.
• And that one act inspires the others (save Jennifer) to all do the same.
• Amy telling the Ganger!Doctor that he's twice the man she thought he was

A Good Man Goes To War

• The episode contains more of these moments than other moments.
  • At the beginning, Moffat kind of screws with the audience's heads a little bit, before Amy delivers on the heartwarming to her newborn daughter Melody:
    Amy: He's the last of his kind. He looks young but he's lived for hundreds and hundreds of years. And wherever they take you, Melody, however scared you are, I promise you, you'll never be alone. Because this man is your father. He has a name, but the people of our world know him better... as the Last Centurion.
  • When River Song is revealed to be Melody Pond, the sheer joy on the Doctor's face as he realizes, among other things, that he is no longer the last Time Lord, and that he will save Amy and Rory's daughter, is a CMOH if anything is.
  • Although Rory is often a hero, he hardly ever gets to make really cool, dramatic, heroic gestures. In this episode, he gets to be the real live Knight In Shining Armour that we always suspected he was:
    Amy: They took her, Rory. They took our baby away.
    Rory: (Walks in holding the baby) Now, Mrs. Williams, you know that that is never, ever, ever going to happen.
  • Rory starts to cry from sheer joy.
    Rory: Oh God, I was gonna be cool. I wanted to be cool, look at me.
    Amy: Crying Roman with a baby. Definitely cool. C'mere you.(They kiss again)
  • Rory inviting the Doctor to share in their joy.
    The Doctor: Eugh, kissing and crying, I'll be back in a bit
    Rory: Oy! You, get in here, now!
  • Rory has one question for the Cyberfleet. Where. Is. His. Wife?!
  • The Doctor letting Amy and Rory's daughter Melody use his crib is several kinds of heartwarming.
    • It's made even more Heartwarming when you've watched The Doctor's Wife; usually, you keep your old baby things in the attic of your house — and where does the Doctor have his crib? In the TARDIS. His home.
  • The Doctor comforting Lorna in the aftermath of the battle. She met him as a child, but from his perspective he hasn't met her yet. She's also dying. The Doctor lies to her and acts as though he knows who she is, only dropping the act and asking who she was when she's finally been able to pass on peacefully.
  • Vastra and Jenny's entire relationship. A Silurian and a human, not only working together but loving each other. The Doctor's plan during "Hungry Earth" was not a hopeless endeavour. It can still happen. According to the wiki, Vastra saved Jenny from a Chinese gang, so there's that, too.
  • The entirety of the Colonel Runaway speech is this, while doubling as a Moment of Awesome. We all know that the Doctor loves Amy and Rory, but this is perhaps the first time that he outright says so. While, at the same time, being ABSOLUTELY TERRIFYING. Coming at the Doctor through the people he loves is not in any way a good idea!
  • Strax, in his own... special way, provides bedside manner for his patients. When he says he wants to slaughter you for the glory of the Sontaran Empire, he means that he wants you to get better soon. Equally, he seems genuinely put out when Rory won't let him feed baby Melody.
  • River's reaction to Rory showing up at Stormcage. Her quiet joy at seeing him before telling him all about how she just celebrated her birthday with the Doctor. It's a sweet moment to begin with and becomes even more heartwarming with the reveal at the end of the episode that he's her father. She's telling the father that can't be there about a happy day she's just had.
  • Even almost immediately after her baby being kidnapped, Amy still tells the Doctor that she knows it's not his fault, when she had every excuse to lash out at him.
• When Strax is dying (or he thinks he is, anyway), Rory, of course being who he is, tries to comfort him and reassure him that the wound isn't so bad. Strax, for the first time, doesn't boast or bluster or call him "human scum" or even "Centurion." Instead, they share a moment of connection.
  Strax: Rory...I'm a nurse.
• The Doctor hurries to Lorna's side, stays there while she's dying, and even though he hasn't met her yet from his point of view, reassures her that he remembers her and, implicitly, is proud of her. It's only after she's passed that he drops the pretense, with a look on his face that absolutely screams how exhausted he is of good people dying in his name. He also makes sure to ask Vastra who she was, once again reinforcing that the dead have names.
  Vastra: I don't know, but she was very brave.
  The Doctor: "They're always brave. (almost crying) They're always brave."

Night and the Doctor

• With "Good Night," Amy remarks that companions must be small parts in the life of the Doctor. He immediately corrects her.

  Doctor: You are enormous parts of my life. And you are all I ever remember.

  • The Doctor tells her he gets a little scared on ghost trains, so is it okay if he holds her hand? This is someone who's gone toe-to-toe with the worst the universe has to offer; there's no way he finds fairgrounds scary. But he's letting Amy know that she can hold his hand if she wants to.

Let's Kill Hitler

• All of the flashbacks concerning Amy, Rory, and their best mate Mels. She grew up with them, learned all about the Doctor, was the reason Amy and Rory eventually got together after she made Amy realize Rory wasn't gay, and dreamed of marrying the Doctor when she grew up. When she does meet him, she gets shot by Hitler and starts to regenerate. Turns out, she's River Song, who went to be with her parents after regenerating into a toddler in New York. Amy even named her daughter after her, meaning Melody Pond was named after herself.
• The ending, where River is in hospital, having just sacrificed her remaining regenerations to save the Doctor's life. The nurse says that she will be fine. The Doctor however says she won't just be fine, she'll be amazing, and then presents River with a diary, the iconic TARDIS diary River is seen with later on in her lifetime.
• The TARDIS voice interface conversation when the Doctor's dying. He goes from himself to Rose, then Martha, next Donna, and refuses them all, due to guilt. Finally, he says "There must be someone left in the universe I haven't screwed up yet", and gets the 1996 Amelia Pond. He constantly refers to her as the real Amelia Pond, cueing the VI to coldly and emotionlessly say "I am not Amelia Pond. I am a Voice Interface", and tell him how long he has left to live. Finally, as he gives up hope, the voice says clearly, with some emotion finally, "Fish Fingers and Custard". Immediately, the Doctor gets hope, and uses that same phrase to go off and be a badass.
  • The interface at first appears as himself, to which he bitterly responds "I'm dying, give me someone I like!" The first person he likes that the TARDIS thinks of? Rose. And despite sending her image away out of guilt, his immediate reaction is a smile and an expression of longing, and you know he's remembering how much he cared for her.
  • The interface then brings up Martha and Donna, and it is just so sweet that they are still people he cares about and remembers.
• As the Doctor is dying, he whispers a message for River Song in Melody Pond's ear. Her response is a small, sad smile and the words "I'm sure she knows that." Three guesses what he said.

Night Terrors

• Alex (George's dad) realizes that the reason George can't face his fear is that they accidentally gave him an inferiority complex because he heard them talk about sending him away. His response? Jumping into a group of Peg Dolls that were trying to hurt him and shielding George from them. Cue goosebumps.
  Alex: Whatever you are, whatever you do, you are my son.
• Followed by the little boy saying in the smallest voice ever heard, "...Dad!" D'awwhhh.
• George may not be human, but his dad has proved once and for all that he is.
• Seeing Mr. Purcell, the asshole landlord, return home after being trapped in the doll house, and the first thing he does is hug his menacing-looking dog for comfort, proving that even the people we think are the worst still are capable of affection, and still love something or someone, and need comfort.
• George initially thinks the Doctor is here to "take him away." The Doctor takes the time to relax him by showing him his sonic screwdriver.

The Girl Who Waited

• Rory trying to save both versions of his wife despite the Temporal Paradox that he knows will result.
• The Rory!Bot is Fridge Heartwarming. The AV Club review says it best:
  Amy's naming of her "pet" robot after Rory, and Rory's reaction when he finds out, is kind of their relationship in microcosm—a simultaneously sweet and slightly demeaning gesture on her part that's deeper than she's willing to admit it is, accepted by him with a silent, slightly wounded stoicism that's nevertheless thrilled that she remembered him.
• In a silly-but-still-cute example, the bot giving the original his glasses back. Either human or robot, Rory's a sweetie.
• Both Amys have to concentrate on a powerful memory to cross into the same timestream. It starts a bit weird when they both start doing the Macarena, but then it turns out that Amy and Rory had their first kiss while doing just that.
• "You're asking me to change history for a boy." "He's Rory. You're Amy. Oh yes I am."
  • What follows is what many consider to be the most romantic kiss in Who history.
• Amy's beautiful speech about her husband. "Rory's the most beautiful man I've ever met." And she means his soul, not his face.
• "I don't care that you got old. I care that we didn't grow old together." Oh, Rory...

The God Complex

• Rita's courage in the face of everything is just lovely to see.
• The Doctor leaves Amy and Rory on Earth, with a brand new house and car. For the first time in ages, a companion leaves the TARDIS without undergoing some horrendous Tear Jerker.
• The fact that the Doctor deliberately refused to allow Amy to go through what his previous companions did just shows how much he loves her.
• Due to Rory having no fear that can be exploited, instead of rooms containing fears, he only sees fire exits. To put it another way, he's refusing to leave Amy or the Doctor, despite the building literally showing him the way to safety.
• Despite all the innocent people it murdered, despite the fact that it had to murder people like that in order to eat to survive. The Doctor holds no malice or hatred toward the Minotaur, gently patting it affectionately on the head to comfort it as it finally dies.

Closing Time

• Craig knows that the Doctor is a Doom Magnet and he still insists on sticking with him. There are three reasons for this: 1.) He believes that the Doctor always wins and it's the safest place is next to the guy kicking baddie ass. 2.) Staying away isn't safer because Innocent Bystanders have already died. 3.) The Doctor needs a friend. It very nearly brings the Doctor to tears.
• Fighting for his life with the Cybermat, as the Doctor breaks in to rescue him, Craig's first words to him are "Where's Alfie?" This proves he has the priorities of a dad straight despite his protests to the contrary.
• When the Doctor sees Amy and Rory again in the shop. There's just so much… love on his face.
• "Petrachor - For The Girl Who's Tired of Waiting." Look how proud he is at Amy's success!
• Craig takes The Power of Love to amazing when the sound of Alfie crying gives him the will to resist and turn back the Cyberman-making process. Yes, he definitely proved he's a dad.
• The Doctor interacts with a teeny-weeny adorable baby. It is just as cute as you're imagining^note No, seriously, it is just as cute as you're imagining. We're not kidding. Try not to go "awww" people!. It involves giving Alfie a view of outer space on his ceiling, and giving him a little pep talk. There's something to be said about a thousand-year old alien who can confide his insecurities and find something to relate to in a baby.
  Doctor: You, Alfie Owens, you are so young, aren't you? And, you know, right now, everything's ahead of you. You could be anything. Yes, I know. You could walk among the stars. They don't actually look like that, you know. They are rather more impressive. When I was little like you, I dreamed of the stars. I think it's fair to say in the language of your age, that I lived my dream, I owned the stage, gave it a hundred and ten percent. I hope you have as much fun as I did, Alfie.
  • Even more heartwarming when you remember that he used to be a father and a grandfather himself. A long, long time ago, he probably held and talked to a baby Susan, not to mention his own child(ren), just like this.
• The Doctor, knowing he has only a short time left to live, chooses to save the Earth one last time before he goes. No matter how he tries to convince himself, he just can't leave to enjoy himself, knowing that humanity is in danger. Then, he proves just how good of a friend he is to individuals by losing more time making sure Craig's house is tidied and fixed up, so he doesn't have to explain to Sophie. Just reminders of what kind of a man the Doctor really is, no matter how cruel he can sometimes seem.
• There's a great joke early in the episode about how Alfie, named by Craig, prefers to be called Stormageddon, Dark Lord of All instead of Alfie. After his dad saves the world with love for his son, the kid decides he'd rather be called Alfie.
  • Not to mention his calling Craig "Dad," instead of "Not-Mum."
• The Doctor sums up his relationship with humanity:
  "I'm the Doctor. I was here to help. And you are very, very welcome."
• Craig insists that if he can't save the Doctor from his impending doom, he should at least let him face it properly dressed, by giving him a stetson to wear for his appointment at Lake Silencio, USA. A small gesture, but the 11th Doctor, ever the fan of stylish headgear, appreciates it immensely.
• In a deleted scene, Craig confronts the Doctor, realizing that he is going to die and offering his help.

The Wedding of River Song

• The Doctor's reasoning for having his companions see his death.
  Doctor: I had to die. I didn't have to die alone. Amy and Rory, the Last Centurion and the Girl Who Waited. However dark it got, I'd turn around and there they'd be.
• When the Doctor talks about all the things he can do with his time machine, many of them are about his companions.
  Doctor: I could help Rose Tyler with her homework. I could go to all of Jack's stag parties in a single night!
• The death of the Brigadier, one of the Doctor's closest friends, is what finally convinces the Doctor to face his fate. He knows the Brigadier wouldn't run from death but do what needed to be done - especially given that the Brigadier has actually sacrificed himself for the Doctor before^note Battlefield, in case you're wondering!. To do any less would be to dishonor his friend's memory.
• Rory not taking his malfunctioning eyepatch off because he's no use to Amy if he can't remember. Best husband ever, and they're not even married in that reality.
• River and Amy send out a message to the rest of the universe that "The Doctor is dying. Please, please help." They get more than a trillion replies saying what amounts to "Yes, of course we'll help" from every corner of the universe (so many that Earth's magnetosphere is being distorted by sheer quantity of signals). The Alliance that imprisoned the Doctor in the Pandorica may have hated him and may have thought that he would cause the end of the universe, but there are a million times that many more beings out there who would help the Doctor in any way they can.
  River: You've decided that the universe is better off without you, but the universe doesn't agree!
  Doctor: River, no one can help me. A fixed point has been altered. Time is disintegrating!
  River: I can't let you die...!
  Doctor: But I have to die!
  River: Shut up! I can't let you die without knowing that you are loved by so many, and so much—and by no one more than me.
  Doctor: River, you and I—we know what this means. We are Ground Zero of an explosion that will engulf all reality. Millions upon millions will suffer and die...
  River: I'll suffer, if I have to kill you.
  Doctor: More than every living thing in the universe?
  River: Yes.
  Doctor: River, River, River... Amy, uncuff me. Now.
  [they proceed to get married, snog each other senseless, and save the day]
  • When all the ships arrive in answer of River and Amy's signal. River sums up the situation quite well.
    River: You've touched so many lives, saved so many people, did you think that when your time came, you'd really have to do more than ask?
  • In "The Pandorica Opens", a million enemy ships showed up to imprison the Doctor. In this episode, a million times that many show up to save him.
• "You are forgiven. Always and completely forgiven." Oh, River...
• The Teselecta ends up saving the Doctor's life by morphing into the Doctor's form and hiding the real Doctor safely inside of it. This was definitely the destruction of the highly advanced robot. What's more, if the plan failed, the fire would've killed whatever was left of the crew inside after the energy blasts. The Teselecta crew still went through with the plan, just for the chance to save the Doctor. River was right; all he had to was ask.
• The ending scene with the Ponds. River making her mum feel better, sharing some wine, Amy wearing Rory's jacket from "Let's Kill Hitler" and the three's utter joy at the Doctor still being alive.

Series 7 / Season 33

The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe

• The very beginning of the episode. A ship of alien invaders orbits Earth and announces "People of Earth, you stand alone" right before the Doctor blows it up. No, mysterious alien invaders, we are not alone.
• The entire story is due to the Doctor simply wanting to give a great Christmas present to two kids, because their mother helped him out.
  Doctor: And you can't help but think "What's the point of them being happy now when they'll be so sad later?" and the answer, of course, is "Because they'll be sad later."
• It was a beautiful scene when Reg showed up at the end.
• The ending, where the Doctor shows up on Amy and Rory's doorstep for Christmas dinner. Even though it's been two years since the Doctor supposedly "died", the fact that those two still set a place for him just... guh. Then he cries happy tears and... and... Okay, yeah, the d'awww never stops.
  • Remember how many episodes involve the Doctor either dealing with incredible loneliness or realizing how much damage he does (turning companions into weapons, for example.) In this scene, when he's standing awkwardly in their doorway, it hits him that he's actually done some good, and that he's truly loved. Matt wasn't the only one crying then.
  • When Amy answers the door, she has a squirt gun in case of annoying carolers. When she sees it's the Doctor, she's momentarily stunned, and then she squirts him anyway because he stayed away for two years (again). She also refuses to hug him, and then does so anyway and says they've already set a place for him at the dinner table.
• A subtle one: the Ponds painted their door TARDIS blue.

Asylum of the Daleks

• Upon being kidnapped by Daleks and taken to their Parliament, the Doctor's first priority, after the immediate threat assessment, is to figure out that Amy and Rory are separated and to resolve to fix it.
• The Doctor struggling with his anger and prejudices when he finds out the bitter secret behind what poor Oswin's become. Even though he finally opts for Brutal Honesty and tells her what's really happened to her, you can tell that he has nothing but admiration for how long she resisted her new nature and fought to preserve her own inner humanity. Even while comforting her, he has an immense urge to look at what she's become with hatred, but his previous respect for her and compassion for others wins out and he does his best to be nice to her and trust her, as awkward as the whole situation is.
• Oswin, though heartbroken over the revelation, still manages to hold onto her mind and compassion until the very end and does all she can to help the Doctor and his companions get safely off the planet. Before they part, she has a short Badass Boast reaffirming her humanity. Moments before death, she relaxes with a knowing, happy smile on her face.
• Rory bluntly noting that Amy still doesn't seem to trust him and his feelings towards her, but following it up with confirming that he'll always love her and always stand by her, regardless. Amy, while she broke up with him for a good reason that she hid until then, ashamed, realises that it wasn't necessary at all and her husband will always be supportive of her. At the start of the episode, the two of them were getting divorced. By the end, they have not only reconciled, but are determined to stay with each other no matter what. Despite the fact that, as Amy revealed to Rory, she can never have children again. Rory, while saddened, calms her and says they'll try to be a happy couple in spite of that.
  • That fist pump at the end before entering the house with the woman that is still his wife. It was adorable.

Dinosaurs on a Spaceship

• Amy asks if his temporary companions (Nerfertiti and Riddell) are the new them:
  Doctor: "No, they're just people. They're not Ponds. "
• Queen Nefertiti asks Amy if she is the Doctor's queen, prompting the reply:
  Amy: No, no, I'm Rory's queen. Wife! I'm his wife. Please don't tell him I said I was his queen, I'll never hear the end of it.
• The Doctor spends the majority of the episode squeeing over the beautiful dinosaurs on the spaceship. Even going so far as to befriend a Triceratops, which he nicknames "Tricey" like any child would. It's a far cry from "Invasion of the Dinosaurs" when he seemed to hold little to no interest in them.
• Amy deliberately imitates the Doctor when she investigate the ship's archives, right down to speech patterns and having "companions". If her faith in him was broken during "The God Complex" then it is fully repaired now.
• Pond men bonding.
• Riddell pointing his gun at Solomon in an attempt to protect Nefertiti.
• After the mayhem of the adventure proper is over, Brian just has one request for the Doctor... cut to him sitting in the TARDIS doorway, watching a beautiful view of Earth from orbit, as he happily sips tea and chows down on a sandwich.
• Brian's favour from the Doctor, and the corny postcards he sends Amy and Rory. On that note, the postcard showing where the dinosaurs ended up, honouring the Silurians who saved them.

A Town Called Mercy

• In the beginning narration, a resident of Mercy talks warmly about her town's mysterious protector. At first it sounds like she's talking about the Doctor, but by the end we realize that she's talking about the Gunslinger.
• Marshal Isaac's attitude that America is a land of second chances. And that it doesn't matter what Jex may have done in the past. In the present, he's a member of the community.
  Isaac: This town was named Mercy for a reason.
• When a mob of Mercy residents, led by a 19-year-old, comes to the Marshall's office to capture Jex and hand him over to the Gunslinger, the Doctor refuses to hand him over so that the young man won't become a cold-blooded killer.
  Resident: Is he worth [the risk]?
  The Doctor: I'm not sure. But you are.
  • While the Gunslinger is hunting down Kahler Jex, he finds a group of people hiding inside in a church and leaves them all unscathed.
• While it comes in the middle of an otherwise dark and painful scene, there's something heartwarming in the Doctor's complete lack of fear when Amy points a gun at him. He's so sure that she'd never actually hurt him that she might as well have been holding a banana.
  • That scene is also a reminder of who Amy is and who the Doctor is. No one knows 11 better than she does, both because she met him at the start of his life (twice!) and because she remembered him back into existence. She really is his best friend, and the one who draws him back from the dark place he's found himself in by being alone for so long.
• Though the mutual tension (and loathing) between the Doctor and Kahler-Jex over their Dark and Troubled Past is palpable, they both realise that they're Mirror Characters: Both of them are veterans of a horrific war and both of them are trying their best to be The Atoner. When they decide to team up against the Gunslinger, it's noticeable that they've earned each other's begrudging respect, even if neither of them particularly likes the other one.
• Kahler-Jex is certainly an Anti-Villain, but there's something oddly uplifting about the calm way he chooses to kill himself rather than to perpetuate the Cycle of Revenge between him and the Gunslinger. It's a very drastic decision, but you do feel Jex was so fed up with the prolonged aftermath of the war he and the Gunslinger took part in that he decided to put an end to all the hatred and the "eye for an eye" approach to reconciling with the war's horrors.
• After Kahler Jex dies, the Gunslinger feels he is a weapon without a purpose and decides to go self-destruct in the desert. The Doctor convinces him otherwise and makes the Gunslinger a protector of Mercy, complete with a Marshal's badge and a new-found sense of purpose. In addition, even after everything he'd been through, the Gunslinger looks genuinely happy at the end of the episode.
  • How incredibly appropriate, that the former Living Weapon is now a protector of Mercy.

The Power of Three

• First, the moment when the Doctor reveals that he knows who Kate Stewart really is; then, the moment when, leaving, he salutes her with profound respect.
  Doctor: Don't despair, Kate. Your dad never did.
  • Kate's response to the same — a look of stunned, absolutely incredulous joy. Actress Jemma Redgrave has said that her own love for her late father, Corin, is reflected in Kate's profound admiration and love for the Brigadier; that just makes her joy at this moment even more beautiful.
  • Also, the fact that she learned the philosophy of "science leads" from her father. For all of their sniping, that alone is proof, if any were needed, that the Brigadier never had anything less than absolute respect for the Doctor (and vice versa).
• The Doctor's reaction every time someone gives him a kiss on the cheek in the episode. For some reason it happens a lot, and he seems quite happy about it every time. Especially cute with Rory, who took at least twelve episodes to warm up to him.
• The Doctor pulls out all the stops for Amy and Rory's anniversary, dropping them off at the Savoy in Gorgeous Period Dress to be pampered and waited on hand and foot.
• The Doctor, Amy, and Rory sitting together, eating fish fingers and custard. Especially when you note that they're all double-dipping—from the same bowl. Now that's closeness.
• The Doctor and Amy's heart-to-heart conversation by the Thames. Accompanied by particularly beautiful music, the whole scene is touching, but of particular note is this exchange:
  The Doctor: I'm not running away. But this is one corner in one country in one continent in one planet that's a corner of a galaxy that is a corner of a universe that is forever growing and shrinking and creating and destroying and never remaining the same for a single millisecond. And this is so much, so much, to see, Amy. Because it goes so fast. I'm not running away from things. I'm running to them before they flare and fade forever. That's all right. Our lives would never remain the same. They can't. One day, soon maybe, you'll stop. I've known for a while.
  Amy: Then why do you keep coming back for us?
  The Doctor: Because you were the first. The first face this face saw. And you were seared onto my hearts, Amelia Pond. Always will be. I'm running to you and Rory before you... fade from me.

The Angels Take Manhattan

• River breaking her wrist and hiding it from the Doctor; her reason for doing so is an odd moment of Heartwarming.
  River: When one's in love with an ageless god who insists on the face of a twelve year old, one does one's best to hide the damage.
  • Though it winds up upsetting River, it is still pretty sweet when the Doctor heals her wrist with superpowered-Time-Lord-regeneration-energy-magical-phebotinum... and then wraps it up with a kiss to make it better.
• Amy's final words to the Doctor, written in a book. The words themselves are Heartwarming, but the method in which they were conveyed and the circumstances are less so.
  • This part especially: "Know that we lived well, and that we were very happy, and that we will love you always."
• Rory's final words to his father Brian in the minisode "P.S.". The words, and the circumstances around them are Heartwarming.
• When River gets genuinely upset (a rarity to begin with) and walks out, Amy immediately reassigns The Doctor to the task he had given her and goes outside to make sure her daughter is okay. River may be older than Amy, but Amy is still her mother, and both of them are able to take comfort in that.
• River likely knows that even she wouldn't be able to see her parents again given the weakness in the timestream, but the moment she realizes that Amy could still spend the rest of her life with Rory she instantly encourages her. She loves them, and she doesn't want either of them to have to be alone.

The Great Detective

• In the minisode "The Great Detective", Vastra and Jenny (and Strax, who seems to have declared war on the moon in all seriousness), having discovered that something is very, very wrong with the Doctor, have apparently been trying to buck him up again by calling him in on increasingly more and more contrived "cases", simply because they're worried about him. It's uncertain how much they know about what caused the Doctor's sudden rage and depression; they just know their friend is in pain, and are trying to help him however they can.
  Jenny: ...Merry Christmas...!
• And, as of "Vastra Investigates," they have been officially confirmed (as if it wasn't obvious already) as a couple. Not just lovers, not just existing to make tongue-in-cheek jokes.
  Vastra: I was not originally keen on the society of apes, but then I made the most elementary of errors. [gooey look at Jenny] I fell in love.
• "The Snowmen" indicates that they are not even just a couple, but married.

The Snowmen

• The Doctor has not recovered from the Despair Event Horizon of losing Amy and spends much of the episode looking miserable and promising that he's retired. Consequently, seeing his goofy, childlike grin light up his face once more feels incredibly uplifting. Not to mention the scene where he realizes he put his bowtie on. Hearing the catchphrase again is a huge relief.
• The Meet Cute opening scene between the Doctor and pert barmaid Clara is very charming and rather funny. All of this despite how we clearly see the Doctor struggling quietly with depression and the feeling he should never make new friends or find new companions, for fear of their death. The scene is helped by Clara's cheery and curious personality making it hard for the Doctor to brush her off easily before he returns to his solitude.
• Clara, while being tested by Vastra, is asked why the Doctor would help her. She replies 'kindness' as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. Clara barely knows him but manages to put her finger on the same thing that Amy did, way back in "The Beast Below"—the Doctor is very old, and very kind.
• When Clara's dying, look in the background. Jenny gives Vastra this lost, defeated look, and Vastra crosses the room to hold her hand.
• The Doctor's sheer joy and enthusiasm at realising that something impossible, odd, and mysterious is going on with Clara, and that she had not lived in vain. You can clearly imagine the heavy burden of guilt and apathy being lifted from his shoulders. When he surmises she's still out there somewhere, he becomes so excited and overjoyed and so enthusiastic about finding her that his depression starts quickly dissipating. Curious and deeply thankful at the same time, he decides he'll simply keep looking until he finds her and will do whatever it takes to become a good friend to her. When he takes off in the TARDIS, smiling, he "answers" Clara's cryptic phrase "Run you clever boy, and remember" with a delighted and cheeky "Watch me run!". Bonus points for that particular set of scenes being scored with a very moody and sombre, but at the same time very hope-raising arrangement of the Eleventh Doctor's leitmotif.
  Madame Vastra: Perhaps the universe makes bargains after all.

The Battle of Demon's Run: Two Days Later

• In the minisode "Demon's Run: Two Days Later", Jenny is incredibly sweet and gentle with Strax as she encourages him to wake up, and invites him to live with them. It swiftly becomes hilarious as in the space of less than three minutes she becomes completely exasperated with him and the dynamic we know and love is established.

The Bells of Saint John

• The prequel to the episode has young Clara comforting the Doctor as they sit on swings and talk about lost things and lost friends. The child Clara wishes him luck on finding his friend again. (Not knowing it's actually her, just many years in the future.)
• The Doctor's message to his enemies regarding Clara, Under My Protection.
• The Doctor, in general, being charming towards Clara in his own cuckoolanderish way, tucking her into bed, leaving her snacks... He's just so happy to find her alive... somehow, and to get a chance to repay her for all she has done for him in the Dalek Asylum and Victorian London.
• The Doctor having made a painting of Clara, just as he remembers her, while he's staying at the medieval Cumbrian monastery during his quest to solve her mystery. The abbot admits that the "mad monk"'s fixation on the mysterious woman borders on an obsession. Though that's quite a depressing implication, it also points to the Doctor having something of a genuine, adoring crush on Clara, and just really wanting to meet the original one and befriend her. He's done with his worldweary introversion and wants to start anew, with a girl he considers amazing as his new and trustworthy pal.

The Rings of Akhaten

• The way Clara's parents met in "The Rings of Akhaten", with her father getting a leaf blown into his face, causing him to stumble into traffic and be rescued by her mother. He then tells her it's "the most important leaf in human history" because it grew and then fell off in just the right way to cause them to meet. It may feel Narmy, but hell is it adorable.
• Clara's gift with children, especially with Merry, the young Queen of Years.
• The Doctor makes two very important statements to Clara about how he handles situations when people are in trouble and need help.
  The Doctor: There's one thing you need to know about travelling with me, apart from the blue box and the two hearts. We never walk away.
  The Doctor: We never walk away. But when we are carrying something precious—[looks at Merry]—we run. And we keep running, as far and as fast as we can, until we are out from under the shadow.
• Also, his Rousing Speech to Merry about how she's the result of a vast number of elements interacting in an exact way over countless millions of years.
  The Doctor: Hey, do you mind if I tell you a story, one you might not have heard? All the elements in your body were forged many, many millions of years ago in the heart of a faraway star that exploded and died. That explosion scattered those elements across the desolation of deep space. After so, so many millions of years, these elements came together to form new stars and new planets, and on and on it went. The elements came together and burst apart, forming shoes and ships and sealing-wax and cabbages and kings. Until, eventually, they came together, to make you! You are unique in the universe. There is only one You. And there will never be another.

  • (Although he does give a sidelong glance toward Clara at the end: so far he's met three of her...)
  • Made all the better by his insinuations that no matter whether you view the universe in a purely scientific way or in religious awe, what always matters in your faith is simple happiness, sincerity, and fairness. "The Reason You Suck" Speech he gives to the Monster of the Week is an encapsulation of his views on why faith and worship should never be about blindly cowering in fear to appease someone (as the locals were forced to do). Fear only commands more fear, but understanding and compassion builds true respect—something that the self-serving villain lacked.
• As The Doctor goes to face the Old God, Clara and Merry try to think of something they can do to help him. Merry quickly comes up with a plan to sing to the monster and distract it long enough for the Doctor to defeat it. To add icing to the cake, Merry is quickly joined in her singing by all in attendance.
• The episode revealed a lot about Clara's hidden grief and anger over the death of her mother that occurred years ago. Once she helps the Doctor defeat the antagonist, she loses the leaf she inherited from the parents, one of the few keepsakes she has from her deepest childhood. She's also selflessly given up the ring she inherited from her mother, just so she and the Doctor could rent a vehicle at the alien market. But at the end of the episode, the rather sad atmosphere surrounding Clara's past is broached by the Doctor, when he gives her back the ring and tells her that the locals are returning it to her as a sign of gratitude. He then smiles at her and reassures her that she's not just some silly girl and has proven several times today how brave and kind she can be. Clara is astonished, shyly lowers her head, deep in thought, but eventually cheers up and smiles back. Her eyes are full of quiet amazement and joy. After the epilogue of the episode, we start seeing Clara gradually growing braver, fighting her feelings of inadequacy and being more honest to herself both about her flaws and her good traits.

Cold War

• Ice Warrior Skaldak, after some character-shaming from the Doctor and Clara, proves that (and by extension the Ice Warrior race as a whole) despite Orange And Blue Morality he isn't a Complete Monster. More than anything, he just wants to go home.
• Perhaps because she reminds him of his daughter, Skaldak is surprisingly gentle in his dealings with Clara. When he leaves his suit and declares his hostile intentions, he runs right by her. He manages to grab her by the head from above at one moment, but he seems to be bluffing, rather than planning to deal her any harm.
• When Clara wakes up, she's wearing an army jacket. One of the Russians gave it to her because she was only wearing a cocktail dress and would have been cold otherwise.
• One of the Doctor's pleas to Skaldak about showing mercy to humanity and not orchestrating a nuclear attack that would trigger a MAD scenario is based on comparing humanity to "frightened children". He speaks in defence of humanity, in a positive light, reminding Skaldak that the Time Lords and Ice Warriors were no less brash and prone to mistakes in their own past. The Doctor is often portrayed as a snarky critic of humans when it comes to the topic of war, but here, he's utterly determined to protect their lives and dignity even at the cost of his own life. This amazes even Skaldak, and the Doctor reiterates that he'd rather rig the missile fire controls with the sonic and blow the sub up along with everyone aboard, than to allow Skaldak to trigger a nuclear war.

Hide

• When confronted with the more chilling implications of time travel, Clara develops a bit of angst over the matter, outright stating to the Doctor that "We all must be ghosts to you. We must be nothing. What could we possibly be?" For someone as peppy as Clara, her voice is full of mounting sadness and despair. The Doctor just pauses and replies, "You are the only mystery worth solving." Though he's clearly talking about humanity and everyone he's helped as a whole (and privately alluding to Clara's own impossibility), he's saying it in a way that reassures Clara that no one's life is meaningless. Even her life is invaluable; everyone's is. Back in the manor house, Clara confesses to Emma that she's grown pessimistic when thinking about her fear of death and her fears about how "everything ends". Emma, who has otherwise been warning Clara that the Doctor might be hiding a lot of sad and dark things from her under his friendly facade, just faintly smiles and comments that "No. Not everything ends. Not love, not always.". By the end of the episode, it's noticeable that though Clara still has fears, she's regained her optimism.
• Despite TARDIS' clear dislike of Clara, and Clara's rebuttal insults, the two of them work together to save the Doctor. This Teeth-Clenched Teamwork could be the start of a Vitriolic Best Buds relationship.
• The Doctor's and Clara's encouraging but not too pushy effort at getting Alec and Emma to reveal their hidden romantic feelings to each other. Bonus points for it coming to an upbeat but funny conclusion, instead of needless mushiness.
• Alec and Emma meeting and sheltering Hila, their descendant from centuries in the future.
• In an interesting twist, the episode's monsters are also reunited, since they were just seeking each other.

Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS

• In the opening, when the Doctor is trying very hard to help the TARDIS and Clara work out their differences by teaching Clara to fly her properly. It's important to him that the women in his life get along.
• There's a brief moment that's very sweet: After one of the salvagers callously rips off one of the TARDIS's core elements (ignoring the Doctor's pleas not to do so), the Doctor looks pained and briefly takes one of her remaining orbs in his hands reassuringly, as if to apologize and/or comfort her.
• The Doctor's pure, growing joy and amazement at the realization that Clara is just Clara. She's not a "trick" or a "trap" or anything evil or dangerous—she's exactly the amazing person he thought she was and he gets to keep her.
• The TARDIS's engine exploded. Despite this, she—as the Doctor puts it—"cupped her hands around the force," holding the explosion in stasis and prolonging her own inevitable death by doing so, to keep the people she cares about (and Clara) safe.
• The fact that the TARDIS, despite their past clashes and Clara's irritation at the situation, makes it a point to create an "echo room" to keep her safe, even when she herself is crippled and in pain.
• The salvagers' android (not really) frequently pleading with the others to leave the TARDIS alone, sensing that she is alive and in pain.
• The Doctor briefly panics after seeing the damage to the TARDIS engine room, unsure of what to do. Before he has a "Eureka!" Moment and comes up with The Plan, Clara quietly comes up to him and gently grabs his hand to calm him down. She doesn't hug him, or give him pleasantries or even look at him, but by holding his hand, she gives him a clear message of "You Are Not Alone, I'm by your side".

The Crimson Horror

• Vastra speaking of Jenny in terms of "the fittest and most beautiful" that Britain has to offer.
• The Doctor's tender care for Ada, and the way his concern for her, once they realize she's in trouble, is equal or greater than his concern for Clara.
  • When the rocket goes up, the Doctor throws himself over Ada, turning her away from the blast and protecting her with his own body. He absolutely refuses to let her mother hurt her again.
  • This entire scene:
    Ada: My monster, you've come back! But you're...
    Doctor: (incredibly softly) Warm, and alive. Thanks to you, Ada. You saved me from your mother's human rubbish tip.
    Ada: No, I...
    Doctor: What's wrong?
    Ada: She does not want me, monster. I am not to be chosen. Perhaps it was my own sin, the blackness in my heart that my father saw in me...
    Doctor: Ada, no, that's nonsense, stupid, backwards nonsense and you know it... you know it.
  • The Doctor tenderly kissing Ada on the cheek when he leaves in the TARDIS, a particularly caring act from him. Her expression as she receives an actual physical act of care is a mixture of CMoH and Tear Jerker.
    Ada: It's about time I step out of the darkness...and into the light.
    Doctor: Good luck, Ada! You know, I think you'll be just (kisses her cheek) splendid.
• The Doctor is usually not that fearful for Clara, as he knows she's capable, but when he finds her and another of Mrs. Gillyflower's prisoners in a creepy form of suspended animation, he outright freaks out and smashes the glass case they were put in. After he manages to wake her up, he still shows childishly cute signs of worry about her well-being, made funnier by Clara still being somewhat dazed. Several moments between the two also show that they have gotten over their initial mistrust of each other and are very good friends now.

Nightmare in Silver

• The Doctor created an impregnable block around his memories of Clara. Mr.Clever, despite all that advanced Cyberman technology, cannot access anything about her beyond "Impossible Girl".
• The mutual trust of the previous episode pays off here. The Doctor puts Clara in charge of the soldiers because he knows she will keep a cool head and not doing any silly like blow up the planet. Clara insists on following the Doctor's orders because she has complete faith in him, even if he doesn't know what he's doing.

The Name of the Doctor

• When confronting the Great Intelligence, the Doctor takes the time to see if Jenny, who was believed to have been killed by the Whispermen, is alright.
  • When Vastra suddenly realizes that "a universe without the Doctor will have consequences", she keeps Jenny right at her side. For such a bold, practical character, seeing her having the very human instinct to keep her loved ones close in a time of crisis, even though there's nothing Jenny could possibly do to help, is incredibly touching.
  • Any time Vastra and Jenny interacted. Their love for each other is palpable and it shines through so clearly.
    • "Are you all right, my love, can you hear me?"
  • Strax restarts Jenny's heart and is almost comforting when he assures Vastra that the heart is "very simple, really."
    Vastra: *almost crying, breathless with relief* I have not found it to be so.
• When the Great Intelligence first encounters the Paternoster Gang shortly after Jenny's brush with death, Vastra keeps Jenny protectively behind her.
• Clara's sheer determination to save the Doctor is one thing that stuck with her even as she was torn apart by time itself and she could remember nothing else.
• The Doctor's heartfelt speech to Clara about wanting to save her after she saved him thousands of times during his life.
  The Doctor: How many times have you saved me, Clara? Just this once! Just for the hell of it! Let me save you!
• The Doctor's positively anguished joy and relief at holding Clara in his arms again.
  The Doctor: "Clara! My Clara..."
• The Doctor explaining to Clara why, even knowing that he should never go to Trenzalore, he has to anyway in order to save the Paternoster Gang, because they were always there for him.
• Easy to miss, but after Clara sets things right, Strax is shown apologizing to Vastra for attacking her beforehand. It just shows that, as violent and thick as he is, Strax does care for the Madame and her wife.
• After the Whispermen allow the hearts of Clara and that Paternoster Gang to resume beating, The Doctor does a quick check on Strax and then hurries to pull Clara to her feet. As he walks over to her, there's a quick shot that shows the exhausted and scared Vastra and Jenny just huddled on the ground, leaning against each other as they each make sure the other is okay.
• The Doctor (in the future) has died - what do people bury him in? His TARDIS. They've been together for over 2,000 years... and now, in death, they're together again.
• The old, dying TARDIS does two thing - after what is probably trillions of years, and despite the fact that she is bleeding outwards, she still responds to River revealing the Doctor's name. And she still keeps the War Doctor hidden. The Doctor's essence is held inside her and, to the last, she is hiding her thief's secret. She doesn't have to do it - the Doctor is dead, it doesn't matter if people find out now, but she still does it.
• River and Eleven have their final goodbye from her point of view. She knows, now, that the Doctor truly does love her because she has met Twelve and has discovered he does love her - in that final moment, he can truly kiss her as a husband, as a lover, and truly say goodbye; she can truly pass on happily. This is a River that is post-death. He can still see her and he is still listening. Why? Because he's "always listening".

50th Anniversary Specials

The Night of the Doctor

• "The Night of the Doctor" gives us a few heartwarming moments in what is otherwise a Tear Jerker.
  The Doctor: I'm a Doctor, though probably not the one you were expecting.
  • The first is the return of Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor, after 17 years off the screen.
  • The second is the fact that the day Night of the Doctor was posted, 14 November, is McGann's birthday.
  • Finally, in the final moments, the Doctor salutes his previous companions from Big Finish Doctor Who.
    The Doctor: Charley... C'rizz, Lucie, Tamsin, Molly... Friends, companions I have known, I salute you.

The Day of the Doctor

• The Tenth and Eleventh Doctors complimenting each other on their brainy specs.
  Eleven and Ten: Oh! Lovely!
  • The fact they seem to get along is quite heartwarming, considering in other multi-Doctor stories, the Doctors always bicker with each other.
  • Tennant even lampshaded this in a behind-the-scenes interview: "Our Doctors bicker a bit, but they seem to enjoy each other's presence."
• After reuniting from a long day's work (from Clara's end), we have a spinning hug between Clara and the Eleventh Doctor, it was so adorable.
• When they see Elizabeth's credentials, a 3D painting (actually an instance of time suspended in a time cube) of the fall of Gallifrey), the Doctor immediately grabs Clara's hand for comfort. Soon it's revealed that Clara's pretty much become the Doctor's confidant when it comes to talking about the Time War; she's grown empathetic over his pain and regret to the point that, when she's about to witness him burn down Gallifrey again, she's determined to convince him that there's another way.
  Clara: (crying and in shock) Look at you—the three of you; the Warrior and the Hero. (to Eleven) And you.
  Eleventh Doctor: (approaching her) And what am I?
  Clara: Have you really forgotten?
  Eleventh Doctor: Yes... Maybe, yes.
  Clara: We've got enough warriors. Any old idiot can be a hero.
  Eleventh Doctor: Then what do I do?
  Clara: What you've always done. Be a doctor.
• And then Clara asking him what the promise of the Doctor's name stood for.
  Tenth Doctor: Never cruel nor cowardly.
  War Doctor: Never give up, never give in.
  • Better yet, while neither phrase had been used on the show before, both have a long history of being used by incredibly long-time Who writer Terrance Dicks in interviews, novels, and novelizations, making this not just a reaffirmation of character but a nice tip of the hat to the show's long and labyrinthine history.
• Just the fact that Billie Piper and David Tennant were coming back.
• The Moment. A superweapon so advanced it developed sentience and conscience, judging its would-be users. Because of that the Time Lords refused to use it, even with the Daleks besieging Gallifrey. When the War Doctor wants to use it, it not only tries to make him reconsider his plan, but even sets events in motion for him to see the outcome of his actions, including what it will do to him. It's quite heartwarming seeing a sentient super weapon trying to save lives, considering the usual portrayal of AIs in fiction.
• Tom Baker returning to the series after over thirty years. He said no to the 20th - but they got him for the 50th!
  The Curator: All I can do is tell you what I would do if I were you. (tears up) Oh, if I were you...
  • And given how the Eleventh Doctor seems so overjoyed to be talking to him, you have to wonder if Matt Smith wasn't channelling how thrilled he was to be talking to Tom Baker.
  • The very thought that the Doctor would get to retire peacefully one day. After all he's been through, he deserves it.
  • The room in which the two have their conversation, where "Gallifrey Falls" hangs, has a second work on display. It competes with the painting for prominence in the scene and consists of an arrangement of round things. If the Doctor retired to be a curator, then he'd need somewhere to curate....
    • Assuming the round things aren't actually the TARDIS, of course; it would make sense that the Doctor retires in his beloved home, after all.
    • It's almost crass to point out the same decoration in later appearances of the TARDIS control room with its factory default desktop.
• The look of utter peace and serenity on John Hurt's Doctor as he starts to regenerate into Nine.
  • Just before this; being more or less redeemed in the eyes of... himself, the War Doctor, however briefly, gets to be called The Doctor.
    • The fact that, for the first time ever, the Doctor isn't fighting the Regeneration or fearing it. It's closure, the chance to move on and advance in life and become the future he's just seen. Yes, Nine will forget that, but at that moment, The War Doctor remembers that fact. He has a future - and a damn good one at that!
    • The fact that, in the end, the Moment was kind to the Doctor. The Moment said that if the Doctor burned Gallifrey, he would live as "punishment". He didn't... so, at last, that incarnation gets his "reward"; he gets to die and move on in a new body.
• Hurt's face appearing in the credits, making him as much the Doctor as any of the others.
  • Plus: Every actor who played the Doctor (save the incoming Peter Capaldi) was listed in the closing credits, even though most of them only appeared briefly via archive footage.
• Saving Gallifrey. The New Doctors have been haunted by the destruction of his homeworld. But they managed to save it, even if all the Doctors but the last one forgets.
  • The badass Time Lord General, fighting to save his people to the last. Shows that not all Time Lords are Omnicidal Maniacs, and that Gallifrey is a world worth saving.
  • The Gallifreyan children playing, and one little girl clutching a toy rabbit. Most of the references we've seen to the Doctor's or the Master's childhoods have been rather cold and somber, so it's good to know that Gallifrey's staid, tight-laced social order didn't always stifle children's capacity for joy.
• In the beginning of the episode, the TARDIS opens for Clara when she beeps the horn on her motorcycle, and then it closes its doors at Clara's fingersnap. After all of the trouble the TARDIS had with Clara in the beginning, it seems to have grown (an honestly impressive amount of) affection for her following Clara's decision to jump into the Doctor's time stream to save him in "The Name Of The Doctor".
  • The TARDIS has only ever truly responded to the Doctor and River, the two people she loves most. With Clara sacrificing herself for all of the Doctors, she has apparently earned her way onto a very short list. The TARDIS doesn't just trust her now - she loves her.
• Before they find a better way Ten and Eleven appearing to the War Doctor to press the Big Red Button with him.
  • Just before War presses the button, the Moment stops to tell War that the groaning, wheezing VWORP! of the TARDIS has come to inspire hope across the universe for those who hear it; that the legendary Doctor has come to save them in their darkest hour. Quietly admitting that he hoped it had, War's ears visibly prickle as he catches a familiar groaning, wheezing noise emanating from behind him. At long last, at his darkest hour, the Doctor has come to save him.
• The War Doctor's utter joy when 10 and 11 realise that there's three of them, so they can pull off something one Doctor couldn't, and he doesn't have to push the button. It's very clearly a moment of immense relief for him.
  • The Tenth and Eleventh Doctor's similar reactions upon the realization of that as well. Ten even high-fives the TARDIS.
  • Also the Fridge Heartwarming realization, for viewers, that Nine - the most Time War-embittered and guilt-ridden of them all - must have also learned the truth when the Moment recruited him to work his share of the calculations. Imagine how he must have whooped for joy, when she told him Gallifrey stands!
• This shot at the end.◊ In the novelization, the Doctor reveals that not just the first thirteen, but every single incarnation of the Doctor ever, comes to help.
• A very subtle one, but in the final credits Delia Derbyshire, who was never given credit by the BBC, finally gets the recognition she deserved for arranging the original Doctor Who theme.
  • Unfortunately, it's gone again for Time of the Doctor, and was likely just there due to the use of the original theme at the start—which, honestly, is still a bit sweet, seeing as she never got credit for that version during its actual period of use.
• Given how bitter the Tenth Doctor was at being replaced in "The End of Time", it's so sweet as he's leaving the Eleventh Doctor to hear him say "Now I know my future's in safe hands."
  • It's also a nice Call-Back to what the First Doctor said to his successors.
• "Sorry, did you say Bad Wolf?"
• The Tenth and Eleventh Doctors, after expressing nothing but revulsion for their actions as the War Doctor, denying that he's even the Doctor, making it clear to him that they can hardly even bear to look at him all episode, going back in their TARDISes and telling him he was always the best of them: he was the Doctor on the day it wasn't possible to get it right. Then, both put their hands on the button with him, so that this time, he doesn't have to make that terrible decision alone.
• And then another one a minute later, when they realize they can save Gallifrey, after all.
• As Osgood and her Zygon copy openly wonder which of them is the real Osgood they hit it off and start bonding, until one of them starts to cough. The now obviously real Osgood (she managed to get her inhaler back during a scuffle earlier) gives her Zygon double a mischievous smile and shushes her, just before she hands her the inhaler.
• Before leaving him alone with the mysterious Curator who wanted to see him, Clara gently kisses the Eleventh on the cheek and tells him "she always knows", after he had asked her about her figuring out that the they wanted to have the conversation in private. Eleventh's expression is a mix of delight, astonishment and shyness. The way she kisses him gives off a clear sign of her joy over how he and his other incarnations were at their bravest that day and brought back hope for themselves and Gallifrey, instead of resigning to sacrifice it once again.
• This wonderful exchange:
  The Moment: You know the sound the TARDIS makes? That wheezing, groaning. That sound brings hope, wherever it goes.
  War Doctor: Yes. Yes, I like to think it does.
  The Moment: To anyone who hears it, Doctor. Anyone, however lost. [cue the TARDIS sound] Even you.
• The TARDIS always takes the Doctor where he needs to go, so she took him to the one place he likes and the one place he can be safe and find the person to help him to begin to recover from the Time War: Earth. She also conveniently (read: deliberately) lands at the time where the Nestene Consciousness is there, just to take the Doctor's mind off the disasters of his past. Talk about a great friend.
• The War Doctor drags the Moment to a barn after apparently parking the TARDIS a very long way away, just because he didn't want his best friend to see him become a monster.
  • Even more Heartwarming - Despite the fact that the Doctor has probably committed God knows how many atrocities to stop the madness and atrocities of the Time Lords, used her to ram through countless Dalek ships, the TARDIS hasn't abandoned him; she's stuck by him through the entirety of the war, seen how he's wrestled with the decision (and even taken a pick axe to the console when Eight really lost it for a while), and she still stays with him, because she knows he's doing this because there's no other option available.
• The TARDIS sparks with the desktop glitching; while Ten points it out, Eleven reaches out to touch the TARDIS and make sure she is alright.

The Time of the Doctor

• A small but important one when the Doctor briefly mentions his Time War incarnation. He now affectionately/teasingly refers to the War Doctor as "Captain Grumpy". This is a far cry from the Doctors previous attitude, thinking of him as the Un-person and The Dreaded.
• The Doctor stayed to protect the town of Christmas for centuries, fighting all of his worst enemies in the process.
  • The Doctor promising Barnable that he would return to protect the town.
• Clara's response to the Question That Must Never Be Answered, Doctor Who? She tells the Time Lords that the question is WRONG, because The Doctor's name is The Doctor. That's what he is, what he always will be, and what they should care about him for.
  • The Time Lords respond by giving the Doctor a new set of regenerations.
    • Which is extra-Heartwarming for those fans who favour the theory that Time Lords' regenerations are limited because living too many lives eventually causes them to go mad and/or evil (e.g. the Master, Rassilon). If so, the Time Lords aren't just saving the Doctor, they're trusting him not to.
• Clara's father tries his best to cheer her up when she resumes her family Christmas dinner. The family assumes she's crying about the Doctor dumping her, not knowing that she's actually crying about him leaving her behind again after she specifically told him to swear that he'd never do that again, especially since it is a prelude to his eventual death. Her grandmother also shares an uplifting story with Clara, about how no matter how hard one tries, one can't stop things from changing and that these things happen. And then she hears the sound of hope...
• Tasha picks up Clara after the latter gets returned home again, knowing the Doctor shouldn't be alone when he finally dies. Little does she know that this act inadvertently ends up saving the day...
• "I'd never have made it here alive without River Song."
• As much a Tear Jerker as Eleven's end is, he regenerates happier than any Doctor since the War Doctor, knowing not only that Clara and the town of Christmas were safe despite all the odds, but that he had saved Gallifrey once more and at long last the Time Lords have shown their gratitude by giving him the power to defeat the Daleks and granting him a new set of regenerations. To top it all off in his dying hallucinations he is finally able to see Amy again and say goodbye.
• Another mixed tearjerker/heartwarming moment is when Clara finds the incredibly aged and dying Doctor sitting in front of the crack and surrounded by the drawings and letters the children of Christmas had made for him over the centuries. What is he doing in this dark hour after centuries of constant war and bloodshed? Carving a wooden toy for a child as he has been doing for all the centuries he had been stuck there.
• During his UNIT exile (which lasted no more than a few years or so), the Doctor was constantly seen as grouchy, hating every second he couldn't be out there travelling the stars. Here? Sure, he's not happy about it, but he's seen playing with children, making them toys, acting as the leader of the village, and in general seems fairly content.
  • By the time he dies, his home is wall-papered with children's drawings.
• One of the scenes that follows this previous one is the aged Eleventh Doctor comforting Clara one final time before he decides to go up into the bell tower to face the approaching Daleks all alone, hoping for the best. Naturally, Clara is grief-stricken and begging the Doctor not to go, or to at least allow her to accompany him in this Darkest Hour. The Doctor, as much as he values Clara's loyalty and bravery, tells her that he must face this final challenge alone. He had tried his best to keep her out of the fighting on Trenzalore and he would never forgive himself if he knew she died in vain. After a very heartfelt hug and gentle kiss on her hair, he bids her farewell and tells her to stay in safety, no matter what happens. As he explains to her shortly before ascending the staircase, he wants her to be "his last, final victory". You can hear all the weariness and pain in his voice as he says that, but there's still a hint of a cheerful hope in it about things turning for the better because Clara will live and he will not have to die with the feeling that he has failed to protect her.
• His last ever word is a single "Hey...", said tenderly and with a comforting smile to a teary-eyed Clara after she begs him not to change. You can see it in his eyes that he'd like to give her a friendly, loving hug at least one more time, but he can't due to the already ongoing regeneration.
• On Clara's side, while she is crying during the regeneration over losing the friend she had known, her Tearful Smile is evidence that her sadness is at least alleviated by her knowledge that the Doctor will live on and not die as both of them had originally feared. While it's still a loss for her, she hasn't entirely lost her good friend and knows he'll be there for her, even if there might be changes to their relationship once he regenerates and gets used to a new body.
• This one single episode redeems not one, but three elements of the Nightmare Fuel: The Silents turn out to be Good All Along and ally with the Doctor, the Cracks in the Universe are no longer threatening and serve as a way to save the day, and the Time Lords (treated as worse than Daleks by "The End of Time" and "The Night of the Doctor") become the Big Damn Heroes. Sometimes things aren't as dark as they seem!
• When the Eleventh Doctor is facing down the Daleks for the final time, he's a very old man, looking very much like William Hartnell and limping on a cane. He's far less jovial than normal and basically asks the Daleks to get it over with. But the second the Time Lords give him a new set of regenerations he's instantly back to his old self, hamming it up and swinging his cane around like a baton.
• Before he regenerates, the Doctor has one last meal: fish fingers and custard.
• Eleven's whole attitude to his regeneration quite frankly is a big heartwarming moment. During Ten's final days he never really took the idea of regenerating that well, to put it lightly (as it turns out, he believed it would be his last). Here, not only is Eleven at peace with the idea of regenerating (from his speech on how change is good but he will never forget his past selves), he actually regenerates voluntarily to use the excess energy to save the day, and laughs wholeheartedly during the whole thing! Love from Gallifrey boys indeed! Of course, it helps that this time around, the Doctor was starting a whole new cycle whereas Ten was on the verge of ending it.
  • Not to mention his speech, about how everyone changes into a different person as they live, but that's OK, topped up with how he'll never forget his time as the Doctor. What makes it a little sweeter is that, before being cast, Matt Smith hadn't watched a single episode of the show. And now, here he is, proud of his time in the role, saying that he'll never forget it. He got to discover the show, and it'll stick with him for the rest of his life. And when he delivers a certain line, he does it looking right into the camera, to emphasize that the bittersweetness is felt by both actor and character.
    Matt: I will not forget one line of this. Not one day. I swear. I will always remember when the Doctor was me.
• The fact that the Twelfth Doctor looks older than the Eleventh. In "The Day of the Doctor", it's implied that Ten and Eleven prefer to look young out of shame for what the War Doctor did. Now, after learning what the War Doctor actually did, the Doctor's no longer ashamed to be mature.
• The TARDIS is so determined to get back to the Doctor that she travels non stop for three hundred years, with a shield up, with Clara holding on to her to get back to him. If he's going to die, she's going to be there with him at the end.

Twelfth Doctor

Series 8 / Season 34

Deep Breath

• When the Doctor complains about the people all sounding wrong, Vastra immediately puts on a Scottish Accent to soothe him.
• In the first third of the episode, Clara is still shaken and dazed in the aftermath of the Doctor's regeneration, and she becomes something of a Butt-Monkey to the Paternoster Gang for expressing confusion over why the Doctor looks elderly now. She at first thinks they're misunderstanding her worries about whether he regenerated properly (she thinks that the older appearance might be a sign of illness or an error) and are being mean to her on purpose. It turns out it was just a ruse by them to test whether she's really still a friend to him and hasn't adopted a more shallow opinion on him. Even before this is revealed, Clara gets annoyed about Vastra's insinuations that she only ever liked the Doctor for shallow reasons involving his former youthful appearance, leading Clara to explode in a rare fit of anger and speak her mind very clearly about her intentions and ethics. Earlier still, we see small signs of her still being acceptive of the Doctor even after his regeneration - tucking him in his bed, sitting by his side and watching him closely. Though the two are Vitriolic Best Buds, it's one of the many times in Series 8 when both show their unconditional love for each other. It's very touching even in its complete minimalism.
• As brave as Clara is a lot of times, when she starts really getting afraid during the interrogation by the Half-faced Man, her fear really becomes palpable despite her effort at a stiff upper lip. Nevertheless, she insists, near-tearfully, that if the Doctor is who she thinks he is and if he is still her friend, he'll be by her side and come to her aid. She accompanies this by a subconscious gesture of moving her hand behind her back, wishing he was there to help her... And, sure enough, in a few seconds, he shows up in disguise, grabs her by the hand, frees her and starts nonchalantly sabotaging the villains' tech, all the while quipping dry-witted remarks.
• Clara's had it rough, transitioning between two different doctors (one sweet and kind, the other a work in progress). However, the greatest heartwarming comes at the end of the episode, where we find out why Clara had to hang up the phone line last episode. It turns out the Eleventh Doctor called her in the future to encourage her to stick with his new self.
  Eleventh Doctor: Goodbye Clara. Miss ya.
  • Also during the phone call, Eleven hears Twelve speak, and enthusiastically asks 'Is that the Doctor?' Twelve then asks the same thing. You can truly feel that they are the same person.
• This exchange:
  Clara (sniffling, wiping a tear or two away after Eleventh's farewell call)
  Twelve: Well ?
  Clara Well what ?
  Twelve: He asked you a question. Will you help me ?
  Clara (reproachfully): You shouldn't have been listening...
  Twelve (disappointed): I wasn't. I didn't need to, that was me talking. You can't see me, can you ? You... You look at me and you can't see me. Do you have any idea what that's like ? I'm not on the phone, I'm right here. Standing in front of you. (desperate) Please, just... just see me.
  • Bonus points as Peter Capaldi was met with plenty of backlash for his decision. Perhaps the lifelong fan begging the audience "Please, let me be your Doctor. Let me live my dream"?
    Clara (in a chuffed, quiet voice, smiling): Thank you.
    Twelve (unsure): For... what ?
    Clara (nods): Phoning.
• And then there's the hug, when they reconcile.
  Twelve: (feeling awkward enough for three) Ah, Ah, I don't think I'm a hugging person now.
  Clara (in a happy, slightly cheeky tone): I'm not sure you get a vote.
  Twelve (tenderly) : Whatever you say.
• Vastra's Kiss of Life with Jenny.
• Strax is about to shoot himself, when Vastra calls for him to stop, endangering herself. Be it any of her compatriots, Vastra would sooner risk herself than see them die. The reason for Strax attempting that is heartwarming itself: It isn't so the clockwork robots don't have the chance to kill him, he was about to give in and breath again. He was trying to stop himself from giving them away. To protect his comrades.
• Jenny's "I don't like her, ma'am. I love her." Doubles as a moment of awesome.
• The Twelfth's first great "I am the Doctor" moment :
  The Doctor Those people down there. They're never small to me.
• The Doctor wonders if he is a good man - well, the TARDIS hasn't abandoned him, so the answer is a big, flashing, luminescent, honking sign labelled "Yes".
• The TARDIS Console Room has, apparently, been redesigned by the Doctor this time. Given that the TARDIS hasn't instantly changed it, apparently she doesn't hate the redesign.
• Jenny wears a wedding ring. Despite where they live, despite the charade they have to maintain, she still gets to have that one tangible piece of proof that she really is married.

Into the Dalek

• Danny proves that he's Adorkable by reciting a could have been assertive response to Clara's offer for a date. Clara hears him and let him know his chances toward a get-together are excellent, and they go out on their date at the end of the episode.
• The Doctor gets one by showing just how much he values his Morality Chain; whenever Clara says What the Hell, Hero?, he praises her.
  Doctor: Are you sure I don't pay you?
  Clara: You couldn't afford me.
• There's something just so oddly heartwarming (if chilling and tragic) in how Rusty describes his "Eureka!" Moment when he saw the birth of a star, how he come to loathe his own species and saw their entire mission as pointless. There was the inevitability of life that even the Daleks couldn't snuff out and that changed him to the core.
  Rusty: Life... prevails...Life returns...
• At the end, Clara earnestly assuring the Doctor that even when he fails, it doesn't mean he's not a good person. It's always the effort that counts and as long as he does his best, he can always strive to be a good man.
• A bit of Fridge Heartwarming. After being exposed to the Doctor's hatred for the Daleks, Rusty's Dalek conditioning ends up being flipped, so that it instead regards the Daleks as creatures who need to be wiped out instead of every other life form. This means that it likely sees every other life form they way it once saw other Daleks, meaning that Rusty now regards them as comrades or even friends.
• More Fridge Heartwarming: As pointed out under the Fridge Brilliance page, we later discover that the Daleks are literally incapable of saying things like "I love you." Which means that Rusty's "You are a good Dalek" may well be him trying to say something like, "You ARE a good man."
• Rusty sees how the Doctor thinks of the universe: "I see beauty. I see divinity." The Doctor may loathe the Daleks, but he loves the universe, depite the fact that everyone in it keeps messing up.

Robot of Sherwood

• The final conversation between Robin and the Doctor. It shows their Mirror Character nature.
  Robin: History is a burden. Stories can make us fly.
  Doctor: I'm still having a little trouble believing yours I'm afraid.
  Robin: Is it so hard to credit? That a man born into wealth and privilege should find the plight of the oppressed and weak too much to bear...
  Doctor: No.
  Robin: ... Until one night, he is moved to steal a TARDIS? (The Doctor is left speechless) Fly among the stars, fighting the good fight? Clara told me your stories.
  Doctor: She should not have told you any of that.
  Robin: Well, once the stories started she could hardly stop herself. You are her hero I think.
  Doctor: I'm not a hero.
  Robin: Well, neither am I. But if we both keep pretending to be... Ha-ha, perhaps others will be heroes in our name. Perhaps, we will both be stories. And may those stories never end. Goodbye, Doctor. Time Lord of Gallifrey.
  Doctor: Goodbye, Robin Hood, Earl of Loxley.
• Clara's reaction to meeting Robin Hood counts as this, too. After being told by the Doctor that Robin Hood is only a legend, Clara's emotional reaction to finding out that Robin Hood is real after all is pretty great. Throughout the episode, she's as eager and excited as anyone would be to find out that their childhood hero is actually just as real, and amazing, as the legends say.
• The Doctor reuniting Robin with Marian.
• "When did you start believing in impossible heroes?"
  Clara: (looks straight at the Doctor) Don't you know?

Listen

• A lot of what Clara does throughout the episode is noteworthy, but the standout moment comes at the end; when she encourages a very young Doctor to embrace his fears and even going so far as to have potentially given him his lifelong personal creed, in the very barn where he'd return as the War Doctor in what's probably the single most important decision of his lifetime.
  • Even better because at first, she didn't even know who he was. All she knew was that a child was crying, so of course she went to comfort him.
• When Clara walks in the TARDIS, pointing out her discovery of why the Doctor was so keen on investigating the "monster under the bed". He's afraid of the dark.
• The Doctor's speech to young Danny, telling him how fear is a superpower and that it made him stronger. Considering the more aloof and grumpy nature of this Doctor, the fact he's still able to connect with children proves this is one aspect of the Doctor that transcends regenerations.
• Clara glomping the Doctor at the end. It's just too darn cute, especially considering what just proceeded it. The Doctor's dismay upon being hugged somehow makes him even more adorable than if he'd just accepted it.
  • The particular way she just affectionately rubs her face against his arm with an expression of pure bliss and appreciation.
• When Clara realises that they may have just gone and caused Danny's life as a soldier, she sighs in shock. The Doctor, who was previously in a rather happy mood instantly runs over and asks if she's alright.
• The Doctor using his "dad skills" to put Rupert to bed. The fact that he freely offers up this information might show that after what happened in the 50th, he's still holding out hope that his family is still out there.
• The entire premise of the episode can be summarised as Clara and the Doctor meeting each other when they are both in a bit of a state (Clara from her abysmal failure of a date, the Doctor from whatever he's been doing out in the universe by himself) and, through means as unusual as you'd expect from them both, managing to provide each other with some measure of comfort and support.
• The TARDIS manages to bypass the Time Lock on Gallifrey and land in the barn that a sad boy is in. Why? Because that sad boy is her thief who needs cheering up with the sound of the universe and the hope it brings. This also proves that the TARDIS could have gone back to Gallifrey whenever she wanted... but chose not to because the Doctor didn't want to go back and see how evil and corrupted the Time Lords had become. Alternatively, because he knew how hard it would be not to change history.

Time Heist

• Finding out that the whole heist was a plot by the Doctor to reunite the Teller with its mate.
• The ending, with Team Not Dead standing around a console telling jokes and eating Chinese food.
• The Doctor Who Extra making-of episode covering "Time Heist" includes the heartwarming revelation from director Douglas Mackinnon that he included a cardboard rocket ship made by his daughter among the treasure items in Karabraxos' vault, on the grounds that as far as he's concerned it is one of the most valuable objects in the universe.

The Caretaker

• Courtney Woods might be a disruptive influence, but she really seems more like a Shipper on Deck trying to push Danny and Clara together with all her lighthearted teasing.
• Clara outright admitting in front of Danny and the Doctor that she loves her boyfriend. Danny later decides that he genuinely wants to be there for her if the Doctor pushes her too hard because he recognizes his officer-like personality, having been there himself. He has got Clara's back and even wants to prove to the Doctor that he's worthy of being her boyfriend.
• The Doctor and Clara get into an Adorkable finger-snapping match on the TARDIS, causing her to open and shut her doors in confusion because she fancies both of them.
• The Doctor compares Clara to Barbara, and Clara assures him she's the exact type of strong-willed teacher Barbara was.
  Doctor: It's a scanner. I'm scanning. Why do I keep you around?
  Clara: Because the alternative would be developing a conscience of your own. Scanning for what?
  Doctor: Any alien technology in this vicinity should show up. I used to have a teacher exactly like you once.
  Clara: You still do. Pay attention.
• For once, the Doctor doesn't even bother to hide the secrets that he's an alien or a time traveller in a police box that's bigger on the inside. When Courtney Woods proves too cunning for any excuses to work on her, he just shows her the ropes of the fourth dimension and doesn't care less if she tells her friends or parents (given that she's a troublemaker, it probably won't lend her word much credence even if she blabs about the Doctor). Unfortunately, Courtney gets in-flight sickness and ralphs. But the Doctor doesn't complain—he just decides to adhere to his new-found niche as a caretaker and clean up a mess.
  • Similarly, the Doctor seems genuinely delighted that Courtney is a troublemaker, which is probably not a reaction Courtney gets especially often.
    Courtney: You're weird.
    Doctor: Yes, I am. What about you?
    Courtney: I'm a disruptive influence.
    Doctor: Good to meet you!
  • After all, long, long ago, he was a disruptive influence himself, and his teachers marked him down for it. So, presumably, was his best friend.
• Why is the Doctor so harsh on Danny? According to Danny and (grudgingly) the Doctor, it's because the Doctor wants to make sure Danny is right for Clara.

Kill the Moon

• The Doctor refuses to patronise Courtney by simply telling her that she's special. Instead, he goes on to make her special with a trip to the moon!
• Danny comforting Clara after she leaves the TARDIS, absolutely heartbroken and disappointed at how the Doctor had treated her (despite his perception that he was respecting her choices). The best thing about Danny calming Clara down? He doesn't revel in hearing about the falling out she had with the Doctor and even notes wisely that his own experience tells him that decisions made in anger are hardly ever permanent and might not reflect one's opinions accurately. You're not really done with someone until you're done with him.
• Clara's decision to save the innocent creature despite all of Earth turning their lights off in a signal to kill it and the creature flying off in peace as a result.

Mummy on the Orient Express

• The Doctor is being cold and calculating in order to figure out the mystery behind the mummy and what Gus has in store for them all, but despite this demeanor, he opts for a clever trick to give Maisie Pitt a fighting chance and divert the antagonist's attention to him, in order to save her life. Completely reckless risking of his own life, but with a successful pay-off. Very Doctor-y...
• When the real origin of the mummy is revealed and the Doctor ends the being's suffering, he pays his respects to it. This is despite the fact that the person who was originally the mummy belonged to a group that the Twelfth has shown a dislike for.
• The Doctor's and Clara's conversations in general. She assures him early on that she disagrees with him, but doesn't hate him (saying this while gently stroking his arm, in a gesture of friendly affection). Their conversations in the episode's finale, on the beach and in the TARDIS, particularly stand out. For the first time, we see the Twelfth openly admit that, as much as he feigns heartlessness and as much as he has to often make unpleasant choices, he doesn't enjoy it and would prefer if he didn't have to sacrifice a single one of the lives he's determined to save. The fact that he ironically addresses Clara's insinuations (that he might be taking pleasure in being impersonal to a fault) just moments before he comes clean, drives the point further home. Clara's not entirely happy about the attitude, but it's clear she's happy that he was finally honest to her and isn't being mean on the surface just to spite others. Their friendship is bound to stay difficult, but they have an insight into their flaws now.
• The Doctor's bewildered, but delighted "Seriously?". For maybe the first time since Twelfth's inception, his smile isn't sly and jaded, cheeky, or awkward, but seems genuinely pleased and pleasantly surprised. In an almost child-like way. The fact that he was slowly preparing himself on bidding a permanent farewell to Clara before she changed her mind about staying as his companion, makes it all the more heartwarming.
• Implied: Clara wakes up on the beach, wrapped in blankets and lying on a cosy, comfortable spot, while the Doctor is fooling around and patiently waiting. The TARDIS is quite a walk away from the two. The Doctor had apparently carried Clara all the way to that spot and tucked her in carefully so she could enjoy a calm nap while he waits for her to wake up. Given the conversation that follows, it's clear that the Twelfth is fighting his conflicted, outwardly cynical personality, and wants to show that he's just as caring and nice on the inside as he always was.
• Even though Perkins declined, the Doctor offered him something of a companion role, as he could use a mechanic in the TARDIS from time to time.
• Clara's decision at the end of the episode to tell a white lie to both the Doctor and Danny, since she wants to avoid making them both unhappy or at odds with each other again. Knowing the nature of the show, this little decision might backfire on her later, even if the overall intention is good.
• The actress Jenna Coleman is on record as stating that when Clara says "I love you" after talking to Danny, those words were directed towards the Doctor, not Danny. This is followed by Clara unreservedly forgiving the Doctor for what happened in "Kill the Moon", eliciting the first full-out Cheshire Cat grin the Twelve Doctor is ever seen doing.

Flatline

• The Doctor is trapped in a siege-mode locked T.A.R.D.I.S and life support is failing. What are his last words? A message to Clara that she might never hear, saying what a splendid job she does being him. He tries being coy about this later, but then admits that yes, she did an "exceptional" job.
• The Doctor upgrades Rigsy's nickname from "fluorescent pudding brain" to "slightly talented fluorescent pudding brain".
• The Doctor's Kirk Summation to the Boneless, stating that he tried to understand them and find a peaceful solution, but now they've forced his hand. This is followed by a Declaration of Protection for an entire plane of existence. Are you sure you're not a good man, Doctor?

In the Forest of the Night

• "It's my world too, I walk your Earth, I breath your air." An Ironic Echo that's beautiful. And confirms what we've known for years about The Doctor/Earth.
• Related: For once, the Doctor gets his "trick the Companions to get them out of danger" routine we've seen so many times ("Timelash", "Parting of the Ways", "Time of the Doctor" etc.) performed on him - Once they reach the TARDIS, Clara reveals that she chooses to go down with the Earth, but tells him to get out and save himself. It's not only a continuation of the common situation/ theme of role reversals (Security Clings, being dragged around by the companion for a chance...) they had going on the previous seasons, but shows how much deeper their understanding of each other has become since "Kill the Moon". So much is communicated through their expressions alone.
• Clara's and the Doctor's conversation at the end; The very fact that they're harmoniously musing about the universe again, their bond that was previously rather strained having grown stronger through the experience of getting a better look at each other's rougher edges but also what he says... He does surmise that the overnight forest incident will probably be explained away and that humanity is more likely to just go about their lives than have any greater epiphanies, but he admits that while remembering everything would probably stop all wars, it would also stop people from having babies; Basically, yes, the "Pudding Brains" are limited and imperfect, but they are the way they have to be to be the enduring survivors they are, and he'd terribly miss them if they were gone.
• The Doctor's interactions with Maebh and the rest of the children. Twelve may be colder and more serious than his predecessor, but he's still every bit the Friend to All Children and One of the Kids that he was when he was Eleven.
• Clara and Danny starting to properly sort out their previous misgivings and suspicions of each other. They reconcile enough that they're not even too bothered when they forget about kissing in front of their (obviously amused) pupils. While Danny's not happy that Clara's still been telling white lies lately, he sees she's been regretting it, and encourages her to think things over and be more open next time.
• Clara's recent habit of lying and being a bit two-faced reflects on her poorly during the first half of the episode, when even her love and worry for children is shown to have diminished somewhat. After she does some soul-searching throughout the course of the episode, the late scenes imply she's trying to rethink her behaviour. She even takes Maebh, who she previously overlooked and lost, by the hand and they both walk away together, Clara smiling as she leads her home to her mum. A simple, but very cute moment.

Dark Water

• The Doctor telling Clara that despite her betrayal of his ideals, he's still willing to help her reunite with Danny.
  Clara: You're going to help me?
  The Doctor: Well, why wouldn't I help you?
  Clara: Because of what I just did. I just...
  The Doctor: You betrayed me. You betrayed our trust, you betrayed our friendship, you betrayed everything that I've ever stood for. YOU LET ME DOWN.
  Clara: Then why are you helping me?
  The Doctor: Why? Do you think I care for you so little that betraying me would make a difference ?
• After the Doctor notes that he won't give up on Clara even after she had angered him deeply, he is (at first) not particularly nice to her before they set off, but he's only being verbally strict to her in order to snap some sense back into her behaviour. It's a bit harsh at face value, but it's sound reasoning: If she'll just keep whining and sobbing, she'll be of no help to him or Danny. If she wants to help, she needs to pick up her courage and common sense again. The Doctor is strict to Clara because he loves her, and he doesn't want her to turn insane or reckless, even if her excuse is honest grief and heartbreak.
  The Doctor (looks closely into Clara's eyes, encouraging her like she once encouraged him): This is it, one of those days. The darkest day, the blackest hour. Chin up, shoulders back; let's see what we're made of, you and I.
• This exchange in front of the telepathic interface panel:
  Clara (head lowered in shame, still sobbing a bit): I don’t deserve a friend like you.
  Doctor (still stern to her, but very gentle): Clara, I’m terribly sorry, but I’m exactly what you deserve.
• When the Doctor starts becoming genuinely terrified of who Missy and her underlings might be, he moves his hand towards Clara's, signalling her to grab him by the hand. This is the first time the calm and rational Twelve has ever done such an emotional gesture towards her, hinting at how even he is starting to feel uncomfortable about where they are and what's going on. Clara shyly locks hands with him and it's clear from their expressions that, no matter their recent row, they have to attempt to help each other as friends and do their best to survive while trying to find and free Danny.
• Danny refuses to prove to Clara that it really is him when he realizes that proving it would cause her to do something drastic to try and rejoin him. He's been subject to horrible and calculated mental trauma and fear prior to that, and has no idea what to do in the situation he is in, but even then, he puts Clara's well-being first and foremost. It's all the crueller when you realise he has no concrete idea that Clara might be very near and could help him.
• A bit of weird example that crosses over with being a Tear Jerker and Nightmare Fuel, but near the end of the episode, after Clara's ended the call with Danny and he breaks down into tears as a result, Seb, the AI Interface that's been helping him deal with his death, offers him the chance to delete his emotions. Now, while this would normally be absolutely terrifying, and in a way it still is, it's a little bit heartwarming because Seb does it in a way that makes it seem like a favour, he doesn't force Danny to do it like how most other villains would and gently reassures him that it would "help him" in a way as he wouldn't have to deal with his "difficult feelings". He's surprisingly gentle with him and this really hammers him as being Affably Evil.
  • Another sweet thing regarding Seb and Danny is how in the next episode, when he sees that Danny hasn't deleted his emotions, he's not angry or upset and doesn't even mention it! He's a surprisingly nice guy for someone who's working for Missy!
• The Doctor's horrified reaction at the reveal of the Cybermen is to run out into the streets and try to chase as many people away. This incarnation has been stoic and somewhat cold for the season, so watching him sprint around, shouting/pleading desperately to save a few lives, shows off his true colors nicely.
• Missy rushing up to and snogging the living daylights out of the Doctor. Whether or not you ship them, it's sweet to see her reuniting with her "best enemy," especially since the last time they saw each other, they saved one another's lives.

Death in Heaven

• Kate refers to Clara as the Doctor's associate. The Doctor corrects the word "associate" with "friend."
• The Twelfth Doctor's interactions with Osgood are absolutely adorable. She's the biggest Doctor fangirl there is in UNIT (and that's saying something), but he doesn't focus on that and instead focuses on her cleverness. When she offers speculation into what the Cybermen's plan might be, the Doctor quietly whispers "...All of time and space. Little something for your bucket list." Not to mention he compliments her bow-tie. Both of them know that Bowties Are Cool.
• Despite hiding it under a facade of snark, it's clear that Missy is actually concerned watching the Doctor plummet to his death. She is clearly tense and wide-eyed as he falls, visibly relaxing once he summons the TARDIS, and not looking away once. She may try to kill him over and over again, but as multiple stories have shown, she's never actually wanted him dead.
• The Brigadier, like Danny, proving the strength of his love for his daughter and his country by overcoming his Cyberman programming - and saving those two things he loves. Finally getting that salute and thanks from The Doctor himself is just icing.
  • Likewise, despite his dislike of soldiers, the Twelfth Doctor still retains his respect for the Brigadier, and knew the Brig would be there for him in his "darkest hour" in the end.
    • The Doctor loathes the existence of literally every soldier ever. The Brigadier is the exception to this rule as he does not go for the gun first. If there's no other option left, he will shoot the alien/bad guy/Monster of the Week, but this is the last resort. He'll use his brains and let the Doctor fix it.
  • Keep in mind that Capaldi was a big fan of Three's era as a kid, making this his equivalent of David Tennant getting to give Sarah Jane a proper goodbye.
• The Master giving the Doctor a birthday present, though a truly twisted one. Especially heartwarming due to the fact that the Doctor doesn't even know it's his birthday, let alone expect a present.
  • Also her entire reason for doing all of this? "I just want my friend back."
• When taunted about whether he is a good man by Missy, the Doctor replies with this mounting Patrick Stewart Speech:
  Doctor: I am not a good man... and I’m not a bad man. I am not a hero, and I’m definitely not a President. And no, I’m not an Officer. You know what I am? I, am, an idiot! With a box, and a screwdriver. Passing through, helping out, learning. I don’t need an army, I never have, ‘cause I’ve got them, always, them. Because love, it’s not an emotion... love is a promise. (points at an embracing Clara and Danny) And he, he will never hurt her.
• Danny's, Clara's and the Doctor's final moments together. There's much bitterness present, but also a lot of love and forgiveness, and sense of duty to your loved ones.
• Danny's Declaration of Protection.
  This is not the order of a general, nor the whim of a lunatic. This is a promise! The promise of a soldier! (Turns to Clara) You will sleep safe tonight.
• Clara had, in a moment of quick thinking, confiscated the Master/Missy's weapon. After the Evil Plan is thwarted, Clara threatens Missy with the weapon, but the Doctor stops her (in an interesting reversal of the companion being the conscience that prevents the Doctor from committing pointless violence). He goes as far as to promise Clara he'll do the killing for her, as long as she doesn't do it - he doesn't want her to live with being a killer. Missy uses his act of kindness as another excuse to taunt the Doctor, mocking his effort of "saving Clara's soul" from becoming corrupted by a lust for revenge. Then the Doctor, dreading the thought that he'll have to kill Missy himself in order to end it all, gets help from an old friend...
• Danny uses his one chance at returning to life to instead undo the death of the young boy whom he had accidentally killed during his time as a soldier. Even in death, he wanted to stay honourable and a Friend to All Children.
• The Doctor's and Clara's (perceived) farewell embrace. After a whole series of the Twelfth's aversion to hugging, he finally caves in and returns Clara's affections, instead of just awkwardly bearing her hug. We also learn from him why he's had an aversion to hugging in the first place.
  Clara: Why don't you like hugging, Doctor?
  Doctor: (teary eyed) Never trust a hug. It's just a way to hide your face.
• The Stinger at the end qualifies, too. Santa Claus is not going to let things end that way for The Doctor, Clara, or the audience.

Last Christmas

• Clara dreaming of an ideal Christmas where Danny is still alive and there to keep her company as her Santa Claus.
• The dream version of Danny suddenly sounding like he can think for himself and telling Clara she can miss him five minutes at a time each day, but to move on with her life. Maybe that was the real Danny reaching out to her in the dream.(Even if it wasn't, Clara subconsciously knowing that the real Danny would not want her to stay overriding the dream crab's trying to keep her in is nice.) Danny also corrects the Doctor about his dying to save the world.
  "I died to save her. The rest of you just got lucky."
• Though the Doctor is abundantly clear on Clara's dream of Danny not being real, and snarking a bit at Danny even in-dream, he stands aside respectfully when Clara and Danny talk and pay each other a loving farewell. There's also the Doctor's little implied signs that he'd love to see the two of them be happy together, if it was still in any way possible outside of that one nostalgic Christmas dream.
• The fact that the Doctor was perfectly all right with deliberately getting attacked by a dream crab, just so he could enter Clara's dream and help her leave it. He's nonchalantly risking his own life to help his dear friend, and considers it something completely natural and obvious.
• Clara cuddling the Doctor in Santa's sleigh and declaring him her equivalent of Santa Claus. Twelve, still a wee bit squeamish about hugs, tries to fight it, but then gives in to the embrace.
• Shona, for being Adorkable and trying to exchange phone numbers before the dream ends. They can have a reunion in the real world!
• This exchange between Santa and Shona, which spells out the purpose of a Santa Claus:
  Shona: You're a dream, that's trying to save us?
  Santa: Shona, sweetheart, I'm Santa Claus. I think you just defined me.
• The Doctor having a long overdue reunion with Clara, and then she admits she misses the sound of the TARDIS engines spinning about.
• In fact, the sleigh ride; all of it.
  • All of it is just pure sugar-coated Christmas joy, even if it is just a dream. Everyone cheering and hollering as the sleigh flies by a gonging Big Ben, the London Eye, and the rest of London, which has been CGI-rendered into a glorious snow-capped winter wonderland.
  • That moment of childlike glee that the normally serious Twelve gets from pulling Santa's sleigh. It's probably the happiest we ever see him in this regeneration.
    The Doctor: (absolutely astonished) I'm pulling a sleigh!!
• The Doctor gets a second chance for once and is able to right his mistake of lying to Clara from the previous episode.
• Clara giving the Doctor a thank-you smooch on the cheek on Christmas.
• Clara rejoining the Doctor on the TARDIS for more adventures.
• A tangerine has been left sitting conspicuously on Clara's windowsill, suggesting that the real Santa played a part in pushing the Doctor and Clara back together again. (See Books below for more on that...)
• The Doctor puts a paper Christmas crown on old!Clara's head, and she asks him how she looks. From his perspective, he doesn't see Clara as elderly, he still sees her as the young, joyous Clara we all know and love.
  Clara: Can you really see no difference in me?
  The Doctor: Clara Oswald, you'll never look any different to me.
• Followed by this exchange:
  The Doctor: Is there a Mister Clara?
  Clara: No. Though there were plenty of proposals.
  The Doctor: They all turned you down, though.
  Clara: I turned them down! I travelled. I taught in every country in Europe. I learned to fly a plane.
  The Doctor: No one ever matched up to Danny, eh?
  Clara: ...there was one other man. But that would never have worked out.
  The Doctor: (in a soft voice) Why not?
  Clara: ....he was impossible.
  The Doctor: (The Doctor holds Clara's hand to help her pull the cracker.) We should do this every Christmas.
  Clara: Because every Christmas is last Christmas.
  The Doctor: (The cracker is pulled, and the Doctor slumps, utterly defeated) I'm sorry, I was stupid. I should have come back earlier. I wish I had.
  Santa: (revealing by his mere presence that they're still dreaming): How badly do you wish that?
  • It's both the fact that, even on her own, Clara would have lived a life of adventure and even find a way to juggle her job and her adventures without any time machine, and, well, the revelation that as much as she tried to ignore them or move on from them, her feelings for the Doctor remained unchanged all along even after the regeneration and her encounters with his edgier sides, and that she was at least able to tell him she loved him (in so many words) when she had nothing more to lose by it. Then, of course, you find out it's a dream and your reaction goes straight into happy excited squealing.
  • As a bonus, the moment where the Doctor helps Clara pull the Christmas cracker is a Call-Back to The Time of the Doctor, when in a similar situation, Clara helped the elderly Doctor pull a Christmas cracker as well.

Series 9 / Season 35

The Magician's Apprentice

• There's something derangedly sweet that Missy is willing to put herself in UNIT's sights so that Clara will willingly talk to her with regards to saving the Doctor's life. Y'know, when she's not vaporizing people.
• The Doctor still considers Missy his closest friend after all this time, enough that he'd trust her with his will. When they're re-united she even starts participating in his rock show for medieval peasants.
  • Given that the Master said in The Five Doctors that "a cosmos without the Doctor scarcely bares thinking about", of course she considers him a friend too.
    • The fact that Missy seems genuinely offended at the fact that the Doctor is dying and it's not her killing him and then being really offended when Clara assumes "closest friends" means her, not Missy. As Missy explains - yes, she and the Doctor frequently trying to kill one another but it is merely their texting.
• The Doctor playing "Pretty Woman" when he sees Clara, and her smiling over it. Even sweeter considering all the ugly jokes he aimed at Clara in Series 8.
• Missy and Clara both insisting that they go with the Doctor to see Davros.
• This exchange between the Doctor and Clara:
  Clara: How did you know I was here? Did you see me?
  Doctor: When do I not see you?
  Clara: What, one face in all of that crowd?
  Doctor: There was a crowd too?
• The Doctor hugging Clara after the exchange above. Really, that whole reunion was pretty heartwarming.
• Although the circumstances are dramatic, in retrospect (knowing the outcome) the fact the Doctor loves Clara so much he's willing to go on bended knee to Davros to plead for her life.
• The fact that Missy knows the Doctor so well that all she has to do is tell Clara to look for the massive honking thing that shouldn't be there - and that'll be the Doctor.
  • There's also some Fridge Heartwarming about her line mocking his opinion of Vortex Manipulators—"cheap and nasty time travel!" She wasn't there when he said that, but knows her best frenemy well enough to know exactly what he would say. Either that, or he said it to her offscreen at some point.
• Missy's jealousy regarding Davros: "Oh, he's your archenemy?"
  • Fridge Brilliance: Because Missy isn't his archenemy, never has been. She's his best friend!

The Witch's Familiar

• The triumphant reunion of the Doctor and Clara after a whole pile of gambits and counter-gambits on the Doctor, Davros, and Missy's parts!
• The Doctor and Davros sharing a heartfelt laugh together at Davros' Not That Kind of Doctor joke. There's something oddly touching about it.
• Davros expresses genuine joy that the Doctor has managed to save Gallifrey. A man, he notes, should belong somewhere, and have people to care about.
  • And if you pay attention during that scene, Davros actually gently touches the Doctor's hand.◊ It's kind of sweet in a strange way.
• The Doctor came to see Davros simply because he was dying and asked to see him. He shows compassion to his greatest enemy, even as he knows it can be used against him.
  • Davros having the Daleks scour all of Skaro to find the other chair (counting his Dalek armor as the first one) on the planet, just so the Doctor could sit on it.
  • Davros opening his eyes, and suddenly becoming so much more human (well, Kaled, but same difference) because of it. Still an evil old man, but he was a man and not just a freakish alien creature for that scene.
• The Doctor's quest to atone for being the cause of Davros's evil ends with him realizing that he wasn't. The friend he was saving in the previous episode's flash-forward cliffhanger? The final scene here reveals it to be not Clara, nor Missy, but young Davros. The Doctor instilled the concept of mercy in the boy by saving him at last, and though he still became a villain, and created the most evil of races, neither he nor they ever completely forgot mercy can exist.
  • This also could fit with Tenth's theory that the Daleks can still turn good, and considering that Twelfth help instil the concept of "mercy" onto Davros, it's still a possibility.
• Given the scenes involving Clara and Daleks... In both Asylum of the Daleks and Into the Dalek, the Doctor had his prejudice towards Daleks rear its ugly head, before he reconsidered. In this episode, had he given into that old blind anger towards Daleks, he might have killed the closest thing he had to a soulmate. That he showed mercy to young Davros and to the Dalek casing that Clara was controlling helped him save lives from an even worse fate, even if he couldn't dispose of the Daleks or turn them to do good. In the end, mercy instead of hatred shown to an enemy guaranteed that he saved someone he loves.
• Despite Missy provoking him verbally at the end, the Doctor's too busy at that moment helping a shaken Clara out of the Dalek shell and comforting her with kind words to bother focusing on raging. That he tells Missy with a hint of tranquil fury to just run and leave him alone says volumes about what's most important to him.
• Previously, the Doctor had repeatedly lamented that he's not sure if he's a good person anymore, or if he ever was one to begin with. Draw your own conclusions on that based on the following conversation at the end of this two-parter:
  The Doctor: (reassuringly) Come on. I'll take you home.
  Young Davros: (still scared) Which side are you on ? Are you the enemy?
  The Doctor: I'm not sure if any of that matters. Friends. Enemies. So long as there is mercy. Always mercy.
• He also tells Davros, when the latter informs him that compassion will be his downfall, that he wouldn't die of anything else.
• Missy is telling a story about the Doctor and says it doesn't matter which one he is because "they're all the Doctor to [her]". She's always been fond of him, no matter the face.
• The Doctor gave Missy a brooch for her daughter's...something. We don't know what (birth? wedding? funeral?), but it reminds us, once again, that they did use to be friends long ago, and the fact that Missy still has it is quite touching.

Under the Lake

• One of the Doctor's "cue cards" is an apology to Sarah Jane: "It's my fault. I should have known you didn't live in Aberdeen." Even though it was centuries ago in his timeline, even though she's undoubtedly forgiven him, he still feels bad. If any more proof is needed that this incarnation of the Doctor is still a Nice Guy despite his complete lack of social skills and grouchy nature, this is it.
• Though he snarkily orders her to do the exact opposite to the onboard systems after she succeeds in putting them back in order, the Doctor still praises O'Donnell for her tech skills beforehand. She's quite chuffed about this.
• It's obvious already in the first half of the two-parter that there's a deep bond between Cass and Tim Lunn. Not just professional, but also personal. They're an almost inseparable duo. When Lunn comes under threat in one particular scene, Cass is visibly relieved when told afterward that he survived and is all right.
• The Doctor messes up British Sign Language and admits his knowledge has gone rusty, but even despite that, he immediately recognises Cass as one of the most intelligent people aboard. It's only fitting that we learn later she's the actual commanding officer of the underwater facility.
  • It has been pointed out that the Doctor actually does use real sign language twice: once when he accidentally signs "you're beautiful" to Cass, and later a number of fans have pointed out that during the scene described in the next bullet the Doctor places his right hand into the position of the ASL sign for "I love you". The fact he does this just before uttering "I have a duty of care" for the first time this season, given its revealed meaning at the end of the season, this may or may not have been coincidental.
• While he and Clara briefly check up on the TARDIS' state, the Doctor grasps the opportunity to stop for a moment and ask Clara if she's doing fine. Clara reassures him with a happy smile that everything's all right. He still shows genuine concern and worry over her current emotional and mental state, and tells her she shouldn't allow her entire life and world to shrink to adventures with him in the TARDIS. Early in Series 8, the Twelfth dismissively declared that Clara is his carer and cares for the human stuff so he doesn't have to. By now, he's changed his attitude and realises professional detachment isn't always for the best, especially if someone you care about has been through a tragic loss and needs regular support. The poor fellow really wants her to be truly happy again, but he's often unsure whether he can help her in any meaningful way. Still, he tries, he worries, he cares, and he loves.
  • His statement "I have a duty of care" takes on a completely new context by the end of the season.

Before the Flood

• This is a spooky two-parter with a genuinely ominous one-off villain. Nevertheless, the opening scene of this second episode features the Doctor walking around the TARDIS and apparently adressing the audience in a rather cheery manner, bringing their attention to the complexities of the bootstrap paradox. And then he plays a few tones from Beethoven on his electric guitar. And then we get a rock cover of the theme over the opening titles (and played by Peter Capaldi himself). A bit of lighthearted encouragement among all the darkness of this story.
• Despite her reassurances seen in the previous episode, Clara has a moment where she breaks down and begs the Doctor to not give up, because she needs him and she's also completely fed up with his endless contemplating of his own survivor guilt. While she harshly calls him out on giving up easily, her criticism is very heartfelt and develops a timid Dare to Be Badass encouragement. If he loves her, if he loves other people, and if he loves himself even just a bit, he should prove his love by not giving up. If he gives up on himself, he'll give up on her and other people as well. He can't leave her and the crew of the Drum in an unwinnable situation they can't get out of without his help. He needs to put his misgivings aside and try even the impossible. Together, they'll succeed, they just need to have a bit of faith in each other.
  The Doctor: Listen to me. We all have to face death eventually, be it ours or someone else's.
  Clara: I'm not ready yet. I don't want to think about that, not yet.
  The Doctor: I can't change what's already happened. There are rules.
  Clara: So break them. And anyway, you owe me. You've made yourself essential to me. You've given me something else to, to be. And you can't do that and then die. It's not fair.
  The Doctor: Clara.
  Clara: No. Doctor, I don't care about your rules or your bloody survivor's guilt. If you love me in any way, you'll come back. Doctor, are you?
  The Doctor: I can't save Moran or Pritchard.
  Clara: No, but like you said, if you can, if you can find out why this is happening, maybe you can stop them killing anybody else, you can save us. And you can stop it happening to you.
• Though O'Donnell dies, the Doctor makes an honest attempt beforehand to convince her she shouldn't be risking and should wait for them in the TARDIS.
• Cass and Lunn caving in to Bennett's friendly plea to stop hesitating and tell each other about their feelings. Even if their happy embrace seems a little cheesy, it's relieving to see them admit to the close bond they've had for years. All the more heartwarming when you realise poor Bennett has just lost his own close friend and regrets never telling her that he secretly loved her.
• When realising what Bennett must be feeling like after the loss of Alice O'Donnell, Clara wastes no time in comforting him. She also tells him quite frankly that he'll need to move on one day. He should grieve, but not let grief destroy his will to live. This is the first time we see Clara neither grieving over Danny's death or trying to pretend she's over it, but instead harnessing her own sad experiences to help another person who's going through the same thing she had gone through not so long ago.

The Girl Who Died

• Ashildr's challenging of the invaders is obviously foolhardy, but it shows her sheer bravery and determination to defend her home village.
• Ashildr reuniting with her fear-filled father and the Doctor reuniting with Clara.
• The reunion of Twelve and Clara involves an adorable spinning hug◊, in a Call-Back to the one from "The Day of the Doctor". The preceding gag involving Twelve hesitating about it for a second or two, before he merrily embraces Clara, makes it all the more lovely. The episode delved quite a bit into the Doctor and Clara fearing for how long they'll still be together, but it's occasions like this that show how perfectly happy they are.
• The Doctor translating the crying baby's words while him and Clara stand around at the centre of the village. At first, the Doctor's translating nonchalantly, in his typical detached manner. By the end, though, he's close to tearing up. Clara offers him a sad but knowing smile and tells him gently he's already decided about saving the village.
  • Especially heartwarming seeing as how he was reluctant to save the village as it might - in his words - cause "ripples" to change into "tidal waves" as Earth would've become a point in space of strategic value if they somehow won. But as he knows that children would die and of course, because of the capacity of his compassion for Clara, he changes his mind. Quite the departure from his Series 8 self.
• The fact that the Doctor genuinely regrets Ashildr's death because if he was anything like his Series 8 self, he would've considered her death a "necessary sacrifice". But this time, he's very sad and upset. Really goes to show how much his personality has developed since last series. And even though it backfires for him horribly, he cares about Ashildr enough that he revives her.
• After a rather heart-to-heart conversation where the Twelfth Doctor uncharacteristically admits many of his fears and anxieties in front of Clara — including the Doctor reinforcing his feelings for Clara by telling her that when he loses her he'll miss her so much "I won't be able to breathe", he finally realises the purpose of his face being reminiscent of Caecilius. Shortly afterward, we get one of his greatest badass boasts to date.
  The Doctor: I'm the Doctor, and I save people. And if anyone happens to be listening, and you've got any kind of a problem with that, to hell with you!
  • Donna's plea to Ten to "just save someone" stuck, and Twelve subconsciously remembered that so long as one person is saved, the Doctor could live with the knowledge that he couldn't save everyone. And Twelve's comment right before this boast about why he picked Caecilius' face: "To hold me to the mark". Donna "held him to the mark", every time, even during their first meeting when she chose not to travel with him and told him that he needed a companion to travel with. Even though she doesn't remember, Donna Noble is still the Doctor's best friend and the most important woman in the whole of creation.
• Even though we know he already regrets the decision he made about saving Ashildr with the alien auto-healing chip, the Doctor still goes through with it, living up to the above mentioned quote. Despite everything at the end of the episode implying that the Doctor's saving of the girl's life will rear its ugly head when he runs into her again, he's still proud of giving her a second chance at living.

The Woman Who Lived

• The Doctor's determination to save both the world as a whole and Ashildr/Me in particular from her bargain with Leandro, even as she gives him reason to doubt that she has any kindness left in her "rusted" heart, is quite affecting. They wind up parting as prickly friends: She will take The Slow Path to look after "the Doctor's leftovers", those whom he inevitably leaves behind in his wandering existence.
  • They also have a heart-to-heart where the Doctor explains why he won't take her with him; it's because "the mayflies" understand how precious everyday, ordinary life is in a way that the immortals don't. They don't need each other; they need the short-lived humans who can find meaning in every moment.
• The Doctor still remembers Captain Jack fondly.
• Clara hugs the Doctor, just because, and he clearly enjoys it.
• Me will get to spend at least some time with Sam. It may not be a whole lot, especially relative to her immortal life, but she won't be completely alone.

The Zygon Invasion

• The fact that the Zygon who turned herself into Osgood bonded with her human counterpart to the point they became sisters. And they both kept their identities secret so they could both just be Osgood, the embodiment of the Zygon-Human Peace.

The Zygon Inversion

• The Doctor and Osgood's rapport is genuinely sweet and friendly much of the time. It's telling that regardless of her status as human or Zygon, the Doctor's offer of all of time and space extends to both Osgoods.
  The Doctor: Oh, and you should know, I'm a very big fan.
• The Doctor's undisguised relief and joy at learning that Clara is still alive - to the point where he can't stop himself from grinning.
• It may make her a Karma Houdini, but the Doctor forgiving Bonnie the Zygon for her crimes, born of desperation to turn her away from the bloody path of war he walked far further down as the War Doctor so she and others will never have to feel torment and guilt like his, is an amazing gesture of compassion and empathy.
  • "I just- I just want you to think! You know what thinking is? It's just a fancy word for changing your mind." That line, combined with the desperate, caring delivery, perfectly sums up how the change the Doctor wants happens. Someone who cares gets someone else to change their mind.
  • Also, the bit where he breaks his stoic exterior to scream about how he did worse things than any of the others could ever imagine, and still hears countless screams every single time he closes his eyes. And he took all that pain, all that misery, all that guilt... and it made him kind. Amy was right.
• The fact that Osgood gets another sister after losing one of herself to Missy.
• Multiple lines in this story indicate (as if we didn't know already) that the Doctor considers himself humanity's "dad."

  The Doctor: You're all the same, you screaming kids. You know that? "Look at me, I'm unforgivable." Well, here's the unforeseeable. I forgive you. After all you've done, I forgive you.

• In a bit of a weird way, the fact that the Doctor refers to Sullivan's gas as "the imbecile's." Centuries on, he still remembers Harry at least somewhat affectionately.

Sleep No More

• In a deliberate echo of a similar scene from Series 7B, the Doctor asks Clara to hold his hand because he's scared.

Face the Raven

• Rigsy has a new baby daughter, whom Clara and the Doctor coo over.
  Clara: Oh Rigsy, she's gorgeous.
  Doctor: She's better than that. She's brilliant.
• A small moment when they're looking for the hidden street; the Doctor is walking along and sees that a young boy's shoelace is untied. He immediately bends down and ties it up for him.
• When the elderly man is killed by the raven, one of Ashildr's right hand men immediately goes to comfort the man's grieving wife.
• Why was the man sentenced to death? He stole medical supplies for his ill wife.
• YMMV on this, but while the episode shows how Clara is prone to get doomed by her recklessness, it ultimately isn't recklessness itself that brings about her death. Instead, she commits a heroic sacrifice to ensure Rigsy's survival, convincing him to take the quantum shade away from him and reassuring him that she'll no doubt figure out the threat later, as long as he's safe. She's briefly distraught when told there isn't a solution to save her this time around, but even then, she keeps to her previous resolve, making it clear that she'll face even death if that's what it takes to keep Rigsy and the Doctor alive and safe from harm. She didn't even know Rigsy that long, but he was already enough of a friend and she felt heartbroken about his wife and baby daughter losing him, that she became fully willing to sacrifice her own life in order to protect his. Now that's friendship !
• There are plenty of scenes that suggest Ashildr has moved into full-on Anti-Villain territory. She has one of the trap street residents killed and then frames Rigsy for it, in order to use him as living bait to lure the Doctor and Clara in. Despite this, she's only willing to betray the Doctor. She even tells Clara already during their arrival that she'll make sure she's safe. Once she learns that Clara has already sacrificed herself for Rigsy, and realises she has no way of saving Clara from the process, poor Ashildr behaves genuinely shocked and remorseful, swearing that she didn't want either Rigsy or Clara getting hurt. Despite treading increasingly down a villainous and callous path, Ashildr briefly shows she still has some humanity and shame left in her.
• The moment when Clara's turn to face the raven, comes. The Doctor is demanding that Ashildr call off the Raven, and starts to make it clear exactly what will happen otherwise, even threatening to abandon his name and call in his mortal enemies to get the job done. Ashildr can't; an Anti-Villain by this point, she really would now that her plan's purpose has been served, but Clara was not its designated target at first, and changing that has changed the rules. Clara unwittingly "cut me out of the deal". Clara uses what would be the last moments of her life by saying that it was no one else's fault but hers for choosing to take the risk, and thinks mostly of the Doctor though she is clearly afraid. When the Doctor vows revenge, she tells him that if this is to be the last she sees of him, let it not be like this, and to be the Doctor, not a warrior. She calms the Oncoming Storm by telling him that You Are Better Than You Think You Are the way only one who knows him so well can. A few lines really don't do justice to one of the most heartwarming scenes in the entire series as the entire eight minutes qualifies. But it begins:
  Clara: Doctor, stop talking like that.
  Ashildr: You can’t.
  Doctor: I can do whatever the hell I like. You’ve read the stories, you know who I am. And in all that time, did you ever hear anything about anyone who stopped me?
  Ashildr: I know the Doctor. The Doctor would nev—
  Doctor: The Doctor is no longer here. You are stuck with me. And I will end you and everything you love.
  Clara: Doctor! For gods sake, will you stop!
  Doctor: No!
  Clara: I did this. Do you hear me? I did this. This is my fault.
  Doctor: I don’t care!
  Clara: Liar. You always care. Always have. Your reign of terror will end with the sight of the first crying child and you know it.
  The Doctor: No I don’t.
  Clara: I do. Listen, if this is the last I ever see of you, please... not like this.
• The Doctor implies to Ashildr that Clara didn't die protecting him and Rigsy, she also died protecting Ashildr from the Doctor's wrath.
• In a surprise post-credits scene, we see Rigsy was allowed to leave the trap street free and has spraypainted the exterior of the now-abandoned TARDIS, waiting quietly on a pavement. What did he paint onto the TARDIS' surface? A colourful mural involving a portrait of a smiling Clara, framed with plenty of flower motifs. Rigsy finishes and then sadly walks away, but he's leaving behind a memorial to the fallen friend who saved his life.

Heaven Sent

• The Doctor, on the verge of giving up, is convinced to keep going by the memory of Clara Oswald. For what would be revealed to be 4.5 Billion Years. That is dedication. And that is love. Say what you will about his relationships with Sarah Jane Smith, Rose Tyler, and River Song. It was never in question that he loved them, whether platonically or otherwise. But one way or another, he had to let them go. This time, he fought. He struggled. He died repeatedly to save the woman he loved arguably more than anyone else.

Hell Bent

• Once again we have the perfect demonstration of the Doctor and Clara's relationship. She makes him realize his attempts to revive her are ridiculous and that he needs to let her go.
• What do Gallifreyans do after they know that the Doctor has returned? They treat him as a hero, protecting him with their own bodies, refusing to move, while the military (at first) threaten him. Even the children. And when Rassilon orders assembled soldiers to kill the Doctor, they drop their weapons, and join him, alongside with their General. That's the spirit, Time Lords!
  • The General's The Reason You Suck speech to the villain of the moment is this and a Crowning Moment of Awesome:
    The General (to freakin' Rassilon): Lord President. With respect... get off his planet.
  • Bonus points for when the Doctor goes back to the barn and runs into an old woman there. She could be his mom or the caretaker from "Listen", but she's clearly someone who took care of him when he was a little boy. When they met she warns him that the Time Lords will probably kill him, and then gives him a bowl of soup to eat.
• Ashildr meets the Doctor at the very end of time itself. He accuses her of letting Clara die. Her response is not only to deny guilt on her part, but to absolve the Doctor of the guilt she knows he feels.
  The Doctor: You let it happen!
  Ashildr/Me: No, I didn't. And neither did you.
• A bittersweet moment, but Ashildr having finally made peace with the universe.
  Ashildr: I've been watching the stars die. It was beautiful.
  The Doctor: No. It was sad.
  Ashildr: No. It was both.
• Ashildr once again reiterates how sorry she is for accidentally causing the events that killed Clara. Clara says she forgives her and later takes her on as a companion. The fact that Ashildr follows the Doctor into the TARDIS. She's been around for billions of years at this point, and could easily take the opportunity to finally be at peace as the universe ends. However, despite everything she's been through, all the millennia she's lived, she's still up for more adventures.
• Why did the Doctor endure billions of years of torture in "Heaven Sent" when he could have just confessed about the Hybrid? Because tricking the Time Lords into believing that he knew the truth about the Hybrid was the only way for him to get the opportunity to save Clara. To the Doctor, 4.5 billion years of agony is an acceptable price to save a missing piece of his soul.
• After Moffat earlier didn't have the budget to recreate the original TARDIS set for "The Doctor's Wife," he was able to do it here. It also must have been like an early Christmas gift to Peter Capaldi, who's been a fan since the show's beginning. Even the episode's script mentions that Capaldi would probably be acting very excited during these scenes.
• The TARDIS gets one too. She waited for the Doctor to come back and, when he does, he's broken. So what does the TARDIS do? Light herself up and give him back the means to be a Doctor - a new sonic. Then, she does what she does best and takes him somewhere to get his mind off it all.
  • Clara mentioned that she liked the Doctor's coat, the "velvetty one"; sure enough, when the TARDIS returns to him and he steps inside, Clara has left him a velvet coat which, in her view, he needs to be a Doctor.

The Husbands of River Song

• The fact that even three thousand years into the future, mankind is still celebrating Christmas.
• The TARDIS put a pair of hologrammatic antlers on the Doctor's head in an attempt to cheer him up.
  • Even more important - the TARDIS took him here, to the place where, finally, he can be happy for a while. Where he can come to terms with it all.
• Twelve's huge grin when River pulls back her hood and reveals herself.
• Right after River proclaims that the Doctor never loved her, will never come for her and that he definitely won't be found standing next to her, she realizes that he's been with her all along and turns to find Twelve giving her a warm smile. "Hello, Sweetie" indeed.
• When the Doctor speaks about the Singing Towers of Darillium:
  The Doctor: They've been there for millions of years, through storms and floods and war and...time. Nobody really understands where the music comes from. It's probably something to do with precise positions, the exact distance between both towers. Even the locals aren't sure. All anyone will ever tell you is that when the wind stands fair and the night is perfect, when you least expect it...but always when you need it the most...*chokes up* there is a Song.
  • For a man who never says the words "I love you." that is the most beautiful declaration of feeling one could ever hope for.
• River realizes it's the last time she'll see the Doctor before the end. The Doctor, however, gives a positive note about their last night:
  River: So, assuming tonight is all we have left-
  The Doctor: I didn't say that.
  River: How long is a night on Darillium?
  The Doctor: Twenty-four years.
  • Then, it cuts to a black screen with the words "And they both lived happily ever after". Parts of the message begin dissipating into snow, firstly being the "ever after", then "And they both lived", making the message more meaningful as the word "happily" lingers on the screen for a moment before dissipating into snow as well. This makes River's words to the Doctor about a Happily Ever After more heartwarming. The GIF of this moment can be viewed here◊.
    River: Happily ever after doesn't mean forever. It just means time. A little time.
  • The fact that 12 looks older means, at least to humans, it's more "acceptable" for him and River to be together. At last, throughout the whole universe, they can be openly together.
• River is described as the "known consort" of the Doctor - this means that the Doctor has been telling people that he's married to River; he's been open, public and proud of the fact that he is the husband of River Song. This is a big deal for him as, on screen, we only see Clara, Amy, Rory and Tasha learn of the wedding - nobody else knows, so the Doctor has evidently been spreading the news.
• And it also shows that despite his feelings for Clara running deeper, he did love River, and if he had to let her go, he made sure their last night together worth it.
• River carries a fez in her bag; she's expecting Eleven to show up and knows he has a... thing... for fezzes, so she keeps one for her husband. Even though she herself hates it.
• "When this woman is in danger, the Doctor will always come!"

Series 10 / Season 36

The Return of Doctor Mysterio

• The Doctor bonding with young Grant, reading his comic books, showing concern when he coughs, letting him turn on his device...once more, the Doctor's Friend to All Children nature comes to the fore, and it's as sweet as ever.
• There's something adorable about Nardole playing with Jennifer's baby toys.
• When Lucy tells Grant she'd prefer to see him in his superhero outfit, and then puts his regular glasses on his face.
• The Doctor, realizing that young Grant has mistaken him for Santa, gives him a "Ho! Ho! Ho!" and eats the cookies that Grant brought for him.
• Grant fawning over Lucy's infant daughter as if she were his own.
  • She may as well be, since Grant has been watching over and protecting her mother for as long as he's known her, and has been her nanny ever since her father walked out.
  • In addition, when asked if baby Jennifer is his, Grant answers, "I'm hers," before clarifying his position of her nanny. The fact she isn't biologically related to him is acknowledged but essentially discarded. He genuinely isn't pulling a Nice Guy™ act on Lucy. Despite being in love with her, he works for her and shares a quasi-friendship with her with no expectation she eventually return his feelings/reward him with sex. When it comes to Jennifer, he has even less expectations. He loves her, dotes on her, protects her, and clearly plans on doing so for a long time to come, just as a good dad would. Or in other words, "I'm hers," and even when stopping a bomb, he'll instinctively cling to the device connecting him to her. If a man has the raising of a child, that child is his, and none can say different.
    • It should be noted that when Grant catches the ship, he does so with his weaker hand, because he's got the baby monitor in his left hand.
  • Also, the Doctor holding the baby when Grant returned from being The Ghost, lecturing him on leaving the baby alone. Of course, given that Grant could return with unbelievable speed (and has a baby monitor), the child was in no danger, but The Doctor doesn't mess around when it comes to caring for children. At the same time, the fact that Grant makes a point of wearing the baby monitor at all times and immediately responds by pointing out that he can get back to the baby before most parents can come down the hall, shows that he's carefully thought this through.
• Nardole explaining to Grant and Lucy that the Doctor is a lonely man who needs company and especially at the moment because his wife recently died. When he does this he is absolutely sincere and caring. Now compare this with his more needling manner with speaking to the Doctor directly about this topic. He knows that the Doctor doesn't just need company, he needs someone to trade witty banter. He needs friends.
• Lucy giving the Doctor "Mr. Huffle" as a parting gift, telling him to "keep it real".
  • Some fans noted the plush toy's resemblence to soon-to-be-companion Bill. In this sense, Mr. Huffle not only represents a friendship that the Doctor cultivated in New York, but also a friendship that's still waiting on the horizon.
• The fact that Grant became a superhero. It would've been so easy for him to misuse his powers, but he lived up to his ideal, never (as far as we know) used them for personal gain, and became a hero. The Big Guy would be proud.

The Pilot

• Everything about Bill and the Doctor. He notices that she comes to his lectures despite not being a student. Not only does he help her get into the university he personally tutors her as well and she excels at her classes as a result.
• Bill gets the Doctor a rug as a Christmas present, and he replies that he didn't get her anything. She later mentions not having any photos of her late mother and wonders if having them would make a difference. The Doctor then travels back in time and takes photos of her mother before leaving them in a box in her house for her to find. This despite the fact that, according to Bill, she didn't even like having her picture taken. Even more heartwarming when you remember what a lonely boy the Doctor was, all those years ago. We don't know anything about his parents, but he definitely knows what it's like to be alone.
  • The Doctor, according to Twice Upon A Time, didn't even like the rug. He still put it down on his floor. Sure, he parked his TARDIS on top, but it's the thought that counts.
• When he's teaching at the University, whose pictures does the Doctor have on his desk in his office? River and Susan.
  • Indeed, the fact that the Doctor - someone notably averse to keepsakes - has photos of his loved ones at all may hint that he's still feeling the effects of the loss of his Clara-memories, even if he can't access them, and he wants something tangible to help him preserve the memory of the women he hasn't forgotten.
  • The photo of River isn't unexpected, but the fact that he still remembers his granddaughter after all these centuries, and counts her as equally important with his wife, is just adorable. And then there's the part where he argues with their photos—after all these centuries, he still knows exactly what they would say.
• After the Doctor jokes with Bill about the alien sky being made of lemon drops, Nardole says, "You can be very silly sometimes," and the Doctor just grins. It's a small moment, but it's still good just to see the Doctor — especially this Doctor, especially after all he's been through — having fun and being light-hearted again.
• The part where the Doctor and Nardole are speculating on why the pilot is following Bill, as Bill wanders off and finds a puddle which the pilot-slash-Heather slowly rises up from, at least before it attacks. Nardole wonders what Heather was looking for, as they believe Heather's motivations are influencing the pilot:
  Doctor: What, in the end, are any of us looking for? We’re looking for someone who’s looking for us.
  (Pilot Heather slowly smiles at Bill)
• The moment when the Doctor is hesitating over his decision not to mind-wipe Bill, he looks at Susan's picture, then River's, and then the TARDIS chimes in as well. When the three most important women in his lives all agree on something, he knows it's worth listening.

Thin Ice

• At the beginning the Doctor gives a young street girl passing out flyers for the Frost Fair his top hat, for no other reason than it's just thing to do.
  • Later he gives the girl and her friends a proper meal and dotes on them like his own grandchildren.
  • At the end of the episode he arranges things so that one of the children inherit Lord Sutcliffe's title and estate (it has to be a boy due to backwards inheritance laws) — ensuring they are well provided for.
• After learning that the TARDIS like to go to dangerous places and has a wardrobe full of dresses Bill declares that she's "low-key in love" with the TARDIS. The Doctor replies with a warm "Me too".
• The Doctor, without hesitation, delivering a haymaker to Lord Sutcliffe's face when he shouts racist abuse at Bill. After so many years of the Doctor acting flippant or dismissive of human prejudice, it's nice to see him invoke Talk to the Fist to racism.

Knock Knock

• The Doctor uses the TARDIS to help move Bill's things into the new house just like a dad would.
• The Doctor offering to have takeout with the prisoner inside the Vault and tell them about the events that occurred that day.
• One of Bill's new flatmates, Paul, has a crush on her. She eventually comes clean and tells him she's a lesbian, but he's actually relieved; he thought she straight up didn't like him, but turns out he never had a chance with her in the first place. They resolve to be friends after that.

Oxygen

• Why does The Doctor endanger not only himself, Bill, Nardole and risks the inhabitant of the vault escaping? Because four survivors have sent a distress call.
  The Doctor: "The universe shows its true face when it asks for help. We show ours by how we respond."
• The group hug. Bill starts it by hugging the Doctor, then Nardole surprises them by eagerly joining in, and the two of them cuddle the Doctor like a pair of kittens. Becomes a Funny Moment at the Doctor's Reaction Shot.

Extremis

• For all her (earned) reputation about the Psycho Ex-Girlfriend, Missy does seem genuinely sympathetic about River's death.
• The Doctor simulation we've spent most of the episode with may not be real, but he is such a good copy of the genuine article, with all his cleverness and bravery, that he turns the information-gathering simulation on its head and manages to send the real Doctor an email transmitting all the information he found out on the enemy to warn him. Why? Because he doesn't need to be real to be the Doctor.
• The Doctor's pep talk to Bill so that she can go hook up with a girl she likes and enjoy herself before things get serious, which is sweet on several levels. First because he fears how dangerous their situation might become but he's taking the time to help Bill have a moment of happiness before that. Then because after several other moments comparing him and Bill to father and daughter or grandfather and granddaughter, because it feels like he's giving her the parenting she never got from her foster mother, who doesn't want Bill dating and doesn't even know she's gay. Last reason is because the Doctor knows Bill's gay, has absolutely never reacted to it like it was a big deal, and is showing her - and through her, all his LGBT viewers, no matter their age, who may have unsupportive parents like Bill's foster mom - his total support and affection.
  Bill: She's out of my league.
  The Doctor: No.
  Bill: Sorry, what? No?
  The Doctor: No.
  Bill: What's that mean, "no?"
  The Doctor: It means I'm a scary handsome genius from space and I'm telling you no, she's not out of your league.
• The flashback reveals that the Doctor said he'd guard Missy's body for a thousand years. He never said Missy would be dead.
  • In that flashback, Missy actually lays down and closes her eyes (she's not dead, just a bit sleepy). The fact that she's willing to let her guard down that much is an incredible statement of her trust in the Doctor.

The Pyramid at the End of the World

• The leaders of the three most powerful armies on Earth have been stuck in a precarious Mexican Standoff that could ignite World War III at any moment. Then they're given a look at the apocalyptic fate of the world in just one year, and within minutes they're all determined not to be the cause of it, declaring that they'll make peace.
  • "I will not fight you." Followed by a handshake; simple yet powerful.
  • "Did we just give peace a chance?" He sounds so happy and relieved it is difficult not to smile with him.

The Lie of the Land

• Bill saves the world with the memory of her mother and the Imaginary Friend created from said memory. In other words, the Monks were defeated by Potts Sr and Potts Jr working together.
• Missy's tears as she recounts how she's remembering the names of all her previous victims. It might turn out to be a fake-out but, for now, it looks like the Doctor is making progress in redeeming his oldest friend.

Empress of Mars

• The look on Godsacre's face as Iraxxa praises him for his brave and noble Heroic Sacrifice is equal mixtures of happiness, relief, and fear as befits a My Greatest Second Chance for cowardice.
  • Iraxxa is so impressed with this human's Ice Warrior virtues that she decides to recruit him instead of kill him.
• A lot of classic Whovians must have been leaping for joy when they heard (and saw) Alpha Centauri for the first time in years. As a bonus, it was voiced by its original actress Ysanne Churchman, who was 92 at the time and had retired decades prior.

The Eaters of Light

• The premise for this episode is a teacher and his student (and, basically, a teaching assistant) on a field trip about a historical mystery. How cute is that?
• Nardole is so successful befriending the Picts that he's wearing their face paint after two days with them.
• Pict warrior and Roman soldiers putting aside their animosity to face a common enemy. That's growing up.
• The reason Crows all over the world say "Kar?" They're remembering the Heroic Sacrifice of a Pict gatekeeper to save the world from eternal darkness.
• The Doctor trusting Missy with working on the TARDIS. Sure, she's bio-locked from the controls, but it's highly possible she could've overriden that if she really wanted to.
• She actually starts crying when alone with the Doctor, and both of them share a moment when they consider that they might, just possibly, become friends again.

The Doctor Falls

• Although Bill is furious that the Doctor wasn't able to rescue her when she comes to realize exactly what's become of her in the barn, and saddened to realize that despite his assurance that he can find a way to fix her he doesn't actually have any means of doing so, she doesn't hold anything against him. Indeed, she is loving and faithful to him to the end, from saving him at the hospital to being at his side as he appears to die. In the end, it's her tears that re-spark his regeneration ability, though she may never know this.
• For that matter, the Doctor is clearly heartbroken that he can't do more for Bill, but he (plus Nardole and Alit) treats her with compassion and kindness all along where everyone else fears or belittles her, regarding her as the same old Bill, and holding out hope that things could get better, hope born of nothing more than her tears.
• Missy chooses to stand with the Doctor, because she respects him enough to realise that he's not an idiot and there are things worth dying for. In doing so Missy shows that she can actually do Heel–Face Turn, that there are two beating hearts under all the chronic insanity, that the Doctor is right to try and redeem her because it is possible, and stabs Saxon, her own previous regeneration. Unfortunately, said previous regeneration is also slightly about the usual Ax-Crazy psycho persona that defines the Master, and shoots Missy in the back with his Laser Screwdriver, supposedly killing her for good. For now. Of course, it is the Master and death never sticks...
  • Before that, in the opening sequence, Missy doesn't flee up the shuttlecraft's ladder with Saxon, but tries to get a clear shot at the Cyberman that's attacking the Doctor. Even if her ego demands she backslide a bit and threaten to ditch him on the roof shortly afterward, her initial reaction is so instinctive that it's apparent she really doesn't want him to die.
  • If you look closely at Saxon's face during the Doctor's speech, it's clear that it affected him too. He might have turned away from the Doctor...but the seeds of Missy's Heel–Face Turn have been planted.
• Nardole will undoubtedly struggle to help keep the solar farmers safe on the spaceship, as there are still Cybermen out there, but he is also in a place where he is needed and wanted — in more ways than one, as Hazran has taken a romantic interest in him — and has proven himself a true hero. Moreover, the Doctor often treated him as a nuisance, but in the end reveals via an Armour-Piercing Question that of the two of them, he believes Nardole is the stronger man who should be leading the farmers to safety rather than making a Heroic Sacrifice.
• Heather coming back to save Bill from her fate. The two kiss, and then leave to explore the universe.
  • But not before they take the Doctor's body back to his TARDIS, as Bill knows he would have wanted.
• The Twelfth Doctor thinks of his companions as he begins to regenerate.
  • And said montage of "companions" includes the TARDIS. The Doctor's longest-standing associate is granted equal standing with all the others.
  • It's also nice to see Sarah Jane on the list, especially after Lis Sladen's passing.
  • Clara Oswald is among the faces that the Doctor remembers, despite him having seemingly permanently forgotten who she was, how important she was to him, and what her face looked like.
  • Even Missy is included in the montage, suggesting that on some level, the Doctor knows he got through to her after all.
    • Possibly even more heartwarming even if he doesn't know that—at the very least, she is and always has been his best friend/frenemy.
• The First Doctor's appearance. Twelve has reached possibly his most desperate moment, stubbornly trying to stall his regeneration in a frozen wasteland, until a familiar face appears, and it's revealed that the TARDIS has brought him exactly to the person he needs to see...
  The First Doctor: Who is that?
  The Twelfth Doctor: I'm the Doctor!
  The First Doctor: The Doctor? No, I don't think so, dear me, no... You might be a Doctor, but I'm the Doctor. The original, you might say...
  • Not only that, but One's words as he's talking to himself, when Twelve first overhears him, make it sound like he's having a hard time facing the need to regenerate, too. Which rather implies that the TARDIS remembered One's reluctance, all those many centuries ago, and is trying to help both Doctors come to terms with the necessity! Sexy, you crafty, subtle, loyal girl!
  • Twelve is the Doctor who's had the hardest time figuring out who he is, not only from being so old but from having a new regeneration cycle. He finally figures it out ("This is where I stand") only to have to regenerate again. Who comes to help him again? The original.

Twice Upon a Time

• For all the First Doctor's classic grumpiness, and overly-Flanderised Values Dissonance in this episode, he's still the first one to jump in and question the identity of the bright white "non-human" light when it first appears; as well as the first one to rush to help the Captain; and at the end with his regeneration imminent, his only concern is whether Twelve is feeling okay.
  • In a minor but charming moment, the episode includes a brief shot of One's hand and his trademark ring, in which the inset stone's deep blue color is clearly seen. As One appeared in monochrome in his own episodes and in "The Three Doctors", "Day of the Doctor", and "Name of the Doctor", and as Richard Hurndall wore fingerless gloves in "The Five Doctors", this is actually the first time we've seen the First Doctor's signature ring on-screen in glorious full color.
• The reunion hug shared between Bill and the Doctor.
  • Twelve is exceptionally dipleased to think someone is using the image of Bill to pretend to be her: "My friend, Bill Potts, was turned into a Cyberman. She gave her life so that people she barely knew could live. So, let's be clear: Nobody imitates Bill Potts. Nobody mocks Bill Potts."
    • It also shows his Character Development: He started out this incarnation as Mr. I-Don't-Hug-Anyone-No-Clara-Get-Off-Me, and now here he is, glomping his companion. How far he's come.
  • That goes double for initiating the farewell hug to both Bill and Nardole at the end!
• The Captain willingly stepping forwards to exchange his life for Bill's. He's frightened and scared of dying, but he feels it's inevitable anyway and thinks that he might as well go out saving someone else's life.
  • Plus, he's shown to have at least some of the Values Dissonance of his time when he laughs at a sexist joke from One, yet he still doesn't hesitate to exchange his life for a black woman he's never even met.
  • Heck, the words he speaks in the beginning to his German counterpart are enough to show he's a compassionate, understanding man who only fights for duty's sake, not out of animosity or bitterness. And the German is saying pretty much the same thing.
  • The Captain tells Bill that he's afraid of dying, yet at no point does he ask anyone to save his life or try to bargain his way out of it. He doesn't even know that Twelve intends to save him as he returns to what he believed to be his final moments. He just quietly takes his position and waits for what he believes is his death.
• The truth behind Testimony. Given that their methods of collecting the consciousness of humans is eerily similar to how 3W did it, it wouldn't be surprising that Twelve would straight-up consider Testimony as an evil plan. However, it turns out to be benevolent this time as it's a project set in the future to let the deceased live again in an ideal environment so the living can learn from them.
  • Especially heartwarming when you consider that this is one of the few times in the entire series when we see humans using Time Travel for a purpose that's both entirely benign and doesn't end badly. No explorers lost at the end of the cosmos or trapped between dimensions, no genocidal schemes to re-write history, no villains escaping justice into the past, not even any time agents cracking down on temporal criminals or taking vengeance on dictators. Just a reverent tribute to generations past, so the living can benefit from the wisdom of their ancestors and show gratitude to all who've come before.
  • For anyone who's ever lost someone: Imagine having the chance to say goodbye to them, one last time.
• The Christmas Armistice of 1914. The Doctors didn't even have anything to do with the Armistice, Twelve himself describing it as "A human miracle". He just time-shifts the Captain forward by a couple of hours so that the arrival of the Armistice will save his life.
  • Not only does this action save the Captain's life, but also his opponent's on the battlefield. When the Captain realizes what's going on, he immediately stands up and calls out that there's a man injured who needs help.
  • The Reveal that the Captain is the grandfather of the Brigadier. It definitely runs in the family. And when he asks that the Doctor look after his family?
    First Doctor: I shall make it my business.
    Twelth Doctor: You can trust him on that.
    • The look on the Doctor's face when the Captain gives us his name: "Lethbridge-Stewart. Archibald Hamish Lethbridge-Stewart."
  • Even better, it inspires One to finally regenerate; all the lives he'll save as "The Doctor of War" is worth the fear of regeneration.
  • The fact that the final act of Twelve's life... is saving someone: not everyone - it's a War, that's not possible - but someone, just as Donna always wanted.
  • Last but not least, doubling as an Awesome Moment; Twelve outright says that nothing like the Christmas Armistice ever happened in "any war, anywhere". Considering how long Twelve has lived, how far they've traveled, and how much war they've seen by that point, that statement is more than likely not an exaggeration; for all the horrors humanity was capable of in WWI alone, we're also the only species in the universe to have set our weapons down and just be kind to one another in the middle of a war.
• The Doctor getting his memories of Clara back. Though we know he's not getting her back, after all he's been through, it's nice to see him finally get something back in return.
  • Doubly heartwarming given his line from "The Zygon Inversion:" Once Clara Oswald gets inside of your head, she never leaves. As it turns out, he was absolutely right.
• Twelve's regeneration speech to his future incarnation, even instilling his promise: Never cruel or cowardly.
  • He also says to remember that love is the most important thing of all, plus dropping the tidbit that sometimes children might be able to hear his real name.
  • "Always try to be nice, but never fail to be kind. Never be cruel, never be cowardly...and never, ever eat pears." And Thirteen lived up to all of those. Even the bit about the pears.
  • And of course, his final words: "Doctor... I let you go", showcasing massive Character Development, as these are a total reverse of Ten's "I don't want to go." The words could be fitting to both Peter Capaldi and Steven Moffat, both Doctor Who fanboys who are now leaving the show they love dearly.
  • And after regenerating and discovering she's now a woman, what's her reaction?
    Thirteen: (look of shock that soon changes to a huge grin) Oh, brilliant!
  • Even better because there had been a whole lot of shake-up in the real world over the idea that the Doctor would be a woman. The Doctor herself doesn't mind at all!
• As humorous as it is when the TARDIS shakes as if it's being held by a hand that's trying to dislodge Thirteen, when she finally does fall, we see a massive explosion filling the console room just before the TARDIS vanishes. It was deliberately throwing her to safety. (Well, relative safety.)
  • Just to add to the heartwarming: The TARDIS doors open inwards - when she was human, the TARDIS moaned about the Doctor doing that, but she needs the Doctor out and safe, so she puts aside her dislike and flings the doors inwards.
• Paul Cornell's 2018 Novelization has LOTS of All There in the Manual heartwarming — Earn Your Happy Ending indeed!
  • Nardole's avatar reveals to the Doctor that he and the solar farmers ultimately outlasted the Cybermen, defeating them again and again until all that remained when Nardole died — over 400 years after he and the Doctor parted — were Cybermats in the spring. Nardole also found personal happiness, racking up six wives (Hazlan presumably being the first) over the centuries! The Doctor's faith in him was more than justified. Between this and his restored memories of Clara Oswald, he now knows all three of his companions found some happiness beyond their relationships with him.
  • As for Bill Potts, although her avatar has her memories initially selectively edited by way of testing the Doctor's trustworthiness, she had a good life too. She travelled the universe with Heather, and then they went back to Earth and became a human couple again. Their powers meant they never lacked for money, they got to raise a bunch of cats, and so on. Ultimately Bill was so happy that when she grew old she chose to die of natural causes as a human instead of become a Pilot creature again, but also told Heather that she should do as she wanted and return to that form.
  • The Twelfth Doctor's ring was his wedding ring to River Song all along. Oh, and crossing over with Crowning Moment of Funny, she's the key reason he doesn't want people looking at the browser history on the sonic sunglasses!
  • The last person Twelve sees — albeit just in his mind's eye — gives him the last push he needs to let go and regenerate, to embrace hope again after all the sorrow hope led to in this particular life. That person is Thirteen.

Thirteenth Doctor

Series 11 / Season 37

The Woman Who Fell to Earth

• Thirteen shows she took Twelve's final words to "be kind" to heart. In stark contrast to several other Doctors, she quickly learns her new companions' names and regularly thanks them for their help, also trusting them to be able to handle the occasional mission on their own.
  • The Doctor has never been one for long goodbyes or sticking around for the aftermath of their adventures, but Thirteen stays for several days for Grace's funeral before even thinking about needing to retrieve her TARDIS. Thirteen might end up being the most compassionate and sweet incarnation of the Time Lord to date, certainly in the revival series (which is heartwarming in itself when considering what the Doctor has gone through up to this point).
• The bait and switch that the woman Ryan is talking about in his video wasn't the Doctor, but his grandmother, Grace.
  • Graham and Grace being extremely encouraging trying to teach Ryan how to ride a bike (Ryan has balance issues).
• When Yaz is driving everyone in her patrol car, Grace recognizes her as Ryan's childhood friend.
  Grace: Not Yasmin Khan?
  Yaz (cheerfully): Hello, Ryan's nan!
  Grace: Haven't you done well for yourself, luv!
  Yaz (beams)
• When Thirteen faints after the opening sequence, the group take her back to Graham's house and let her rest on the couch. There's a bit where Grace brings her a blanket to keep her warm.
• As Ryan relentlessly tries—and fails—to ride his bike in the throes of his grief, he appears to be all alone. But it turns out the Doctor is watching over him, unseen, at a distance.
• The morning of the funeral, the Doctor gets Ryan to open up a little about his father, Aaron, who has failed to appear at his own mother's funeral. Later the Doctor will throw this dereliction in Aaron's face the moment she's introduced to him.
• After Grace's funeral and Graham confesses that he felt he should've died instead due to him being a cancer survivor, the Doctor gives a brief but touching speech on how she keeps the memories of her own deceased loved ones close to her heart(s) so that they're never truly be gone for her in the end, and how she advises Graham to recognize that moving into the future.

The Ghost Monument

• The Doctor and the TARDIS are reunited and have what could only be described as a moment - said moment involves the Doctor begging the TARDIS to "come to mummy", confessing that she needs her ship, complimenting the TARDIS's new exterior and interior, confessing she lost the key, and the TARDIS giving the Doctor a Custard Cream biscuit.
  • That last bit about the biscuits? Enforced Method Acting. Jodie Whittaker loves Custard Cream biscuits, and the production team snuck them in as a TARDIS-warming gift. Her reaction is 100% real.
  • Twelve once said that the TARDIS needed "more round things" on the walls. This time, The TARDIS is littered with them. Sure, they have weird patterns inside and cross over one another and look vaguely like gears on the walls, but the round things are there.
• The Doctor introduces Ryan, Yaz and Graham as her 'new best friends'.
• When the Doctor discovers that the titular Ghost Monument (her TARDIS) is nowhere to be found, she's visibly upset and beating herself up for dooming her new friends to die on an alien planet so far from home after promising she'd get them home. Ryan, Yaz and Graham bear no grudges and make it clear they don't hold it against her. They also try and cheer her up by showing resolve to keep surviving the planet as long as it takes.
• The TARDIS has spent several thousand solar cycles (implied to be days!), trapped in a materialisation loop (meaning she'd cycle in and out roughly every three years, and often enough that when the planet was still inhabited that the phenomena was recorded). Then she finds the Doctor, who convinces her to stabilise, and everything is fixed; either the TARDIS has been waiting that long for the Doctor to turn up... or the Doctor is just that in tune with her beloved TARDIS.
  • When the Doctor explains to the TARDIS that she lost her key, the door simply pops open for her. Wherever, whenever, however, the TARDIS loves her thief.

Rosa

• For Ryan, it's fantastic to meet iconic civil rights leaders Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. When he mentions his nan was a huge fan, King assumes she attended his church. After King gives his sympathies, Ryan speaks of how much Grace would have loved that.
• Ryan tells Rosa that "things change... they're not perfect but they'll be better" and is proud of the fight she and others are leading for him.
• The ending, where the Doctor explains what Rosa's actions started. She concludes by stating that Rosa's actions changed the universe, before showing her companions an asteroid named "Rosa Parks".
• When the Doctor offers to solve the situation by herself while her companions go back to the TARDIS, Ryan and Yaz reply that if Rosa Parks can face the dangers of 1955 Montgomery every day of her life, they can do so for a few hours. Then, when Ryan nevertheless expresses concern over his safety in the situation, Graham and the Doctor, in turn, confirm that they'll all be looking out for each other.
  • Similarly, even though it causes him to become an outcast in the community, Graham continues to introduce himself as Ryan's grandfather. He could have easily tried to distance himself by calling Ryan his step-grandson (or not saying anything about their relationship at all) and not been hassled by anyone, but Graham continues to stick by Ryan, no matter what it could bring to him. Ryan himself shows a little understanding to this act of affection by not correcting Graham as he previously had.
• Ryan and Yaz bonding over the racism they've experienced, and agreeing that no matter how bad things are, they have gotten better, and will hopefully continue to get better.
• The Doctor mentions to Krasko that he wouldn't get a lot of money for selling her TARDIS as she's old, used, and has a very careless driver. Technically, all of these things are true, but the Doctor means them affectionately.
• Also, the Doctor's Tranquil Fury upon hearing her friends be described as "mongrels" and "negroes." She's absolutely right when she tells the police officer that "We're not harbouring anyone who doesn't have the right to be here," and that she doesn't recognize anyone by that description.

Arachnids in the U.K.

• After looking like a kicked puppy for much of the scene, the way the Doctor lights up and starts chattering excitedly when Yaz invites her around for tea is adorable.
  Yaz: D'you want to come for tea at mine?
  The Doctor: Definitely! Yes, I would! Thanks! I love tea. Tea at Yaz's! Amazing.
  • She then tries to make casual conversation with Yaz's family. Given that it's the Doctor, it's incredibly Adorkable, but it's still rather sweet.
• Yaz's dad is endearingly excited to meet her friends. The chipper way he says "I'll get food!" will make you smile.
  • And while forgetting her name, the Doc adores Yaz's Mum Najia, saying Robertson can't be President if he fired her.
• Ryan tells Graham that he read his Dad's letter, and said that his Dad wanted him to come live with him, his "proper" family. He then tells Graham that he doesn't think that was appropriate.
• When Graham knocks on the door, the TARDIS immediately opens up. Given the Doctor's extreme reluctance to bring the trio along with her, it's entirely possible the TARDIS herself let them in, knowing that a lonely Doctor is a terrible thing.
• The end of the episode, when Ryan, Yaz and Graham wholeheartedly sign on for more adventures with their new friend.
  Yaz: I want more. More of the universe. More time with you. You're like the best person I ever met.

The Tsuranga Conundrum

• The Doctor's speech on how the anti-matter engine works and her appreciation for it. With her genuine wonder and earnestness for the device and its function, never has expospeak sounded so beautiful:
  The Doctor: It's beautiful. Anti-matter powering the movement of matter. Bringing positrons into existence to move other forms of life across space. I love it. Conceptually, and actually.
• Astos gives Mabli a You Are Better Than You Think You Are speech right before he dies by getting Thrown Out the Airlock.
• Ryan reassures Yoss, who is nervous about being a father.
  Ryan: You don't have to be perfect. You just have to be there.
• General Eve Cicero's brother Durkas has a rocky relationship with both her and her android servant Ronan. But he tells her he that loves her and is proud of her when he sets her up to telepathically fly the ship, which could aggravate an illness.
• In the episode's denouement, Mabli thanks the Doctor for her and team TARDIS's help, calling them "light in dark times". The Doctor responds; "People prevail. Hope prevails." The Doctor's smile when she says this is so full of genuine warmth.
• After Eve's death, which means Ronan's impending shutdown, Durkas admits that he wasn't always nice to him. He then asks Ronan to lead everyone in a eulogy for Eve.
• The Doctor is horrified to be separated from her TARDIS as she "only just" got her back - and refers to the TARDIS as "home"; if the last fifty-five years haven't made it official, this episode does - the TARDIS is now truly the Doctor's home, rather than Gallifrey.

Demons of the Punjab

• Prem and Umbreen's undying love for each other despite the differences of religion, in the middle of a highly troubled time between them. They ultimately incorporate elements of both Hinduism and Islam into their wedding, giving hope that one day peace can be made even if it could only end in tragedy this time.
• The Doctor's joy at getting to have a female-only experience in the pre-wedding henna ceremony, even getting her guard down enough to blurt out that she used to be a man.
• Upon being properly informed of their intentions, the Doctor not only immediately apologises to the Thijarian for jumping to a negative conclusion, but also adopts their mourning stance to show her sympathies for their loss - it reveals the true side of the Doctor; kind, honourable, and understanding.
• Then there's older Umbreen's statement that while Sheffield wasn't as exotic as she might have hoped, she found it to be a safe and stable place where she was able to raise her family.

Kerblam!

• The fact that, even after two regenerations, the Doctor still has a special place in their hearts for fezzes!
• The Doctor's childish glee at the Kerblam! androids is endearing and adorable - she's like a child meeting a mascot character.
• Yaz asking the Doctor if they can travel to Dan's daughter so they can give her the pendant he wore and tell her how much her father loved her. The Doctor feels that it's the least they can do.
• Kira's bonding with the Doctor and co, and her Adorkable joy at actually being given a present. Doubles as a Tearjerker.
• At the end of the episode, despite how furious she is with Charlie for what he's done, the Doctor offers him multiple chances to give up and save himself - in contrast to how previous "no second chances" post-Time War Doctors would have just left him to his own ironic punishment - pleading with him to use the side of him that fell in love with Kira to do the right thing, then even wasting precious time as the bubble-wrap bombs are about to go off to try and get him to come back so she can teleport him out of there, only activating the teleport without him when Graham (who had earlier bonded with Charlie and was similarly shattered by his betrayal) prompts her to do so. She's visibly upset afterwards.

The Witchfinders

• There's something oddly sweet about the fact that the Doctor was trying to take the team to Queen Elizabeth I's coronation. Knowing she abandoned Liz later in her personal timeline (to the point that Elizabeth considers them a mortal enemy later in life), going to see her on one of the biggest days of her life is a nice gesture, even if Elizabeth won't know who she is.

It Takes You Away

• The Doctor bonding with the Solitract. By the end, they are friends, and the Solitract promises to dream of the Doctor.
• As the YMMV page notes, possibly the reason why the Solitract didn't take the form of River, the Brig, or one of the Doctor's friends? Because she's finally learned to let them go.
• Ryan finally calls Graham "granddad".
  Graham: ...What'd you just say?
  Ryan: What? You going deaf in your old age?

The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos

• Graham taking the high road and choosing not to murder Tim Shaw in cold blood.
• Graham telling Tim Shaw to just think about one word, and Ryan knowing exactly which word Graham is going to say:
  Graham & Ryan: Grace.

Resolution

• The budding romance between Lin and Mitch is very sweet indeed.
• The Doctor telling Lin to hang on in there while she's being controlled.
• Ryan telling Aaron that he forgives him, and Aaron's sincere attempt to reconcile with his son (after admitting what a terrible dad he's been).
• The final moments of the episode, with the Doctor's Rousing Speech. No cliffhanger, no Tearjerker, just the Doctor and her fam? Gang? Friends? off to see the universe.

Series 12 / Season 38

Spyfall

• Before Thirteen is forced to wipe Noor Inayat Khan's memories of her in order to preserve the timeline, Khan asks the time-traveller if the Nazis win World War Two. The Doctor tells the spy that the Nazis won't win and reassures Khan that as long as there's people like her willing to stand up and fight against them, they'll never win.

Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror

• The Doctor bonding with Nikola Tesla, one of the few humans who's somewhat close to being her intellectual equal, and a fellow outcast.
• Despite how arrogant he is portrayed throughout the episode, Edison does show genuine care for the lives of his workers and their families.

Fugitive of the Judoon

• The Doctor, who has spent most of season 12 in various states of Heroic BSoD over the return of the Master, the destruction of Gallifrey, and something screwing with her timeline, giving a tiny, heartfelt smile when the companions tell her that her past doesn't matter because they know who she is now, 'the best person they know', and that they're her family.
  • Bonus points for that line being an echo of what Yaz said when they first told her they wanted to travel with her - Graham played it off by telling the Doctor, 'You're all right, I guess', but here he's the one to echo the line.
  • The TARDIS siding with the fam. Thirteen complains, but even Old Girl knows her Doctor is depressed.
• Jack, after assuming the Doctor is still a guy and being told about the Gender Bender, immediately switches pronouns and is just grinning with anticipation at seeing her new regeneration.
  • Jack greeting who he thinks is the Doctor with a big kiss and massive bear hug. It's Graham, of course, but still.
• When he first appears, Jack is grinning like a loon in what’s clearly John Barrowman’s own joy at getting to be on the show again after a full decade.
  Jack: You missed me, right?!
• For the Doctor's part, she gives a small, fond smile when she hears about Jack's antics.
  Ryan: I liked him. Kind of cheesy.
  Yaz: But good cheesy.
  The Doctor: [smirking] That's Jack.
• Jack's message to the Doctor once he realizes that he won't be able to see her in person:
  Jack: Just tell her this. I'm gonna see her again. Maybe not soon, but when she needs me, I'll be there. In the meantime, tell her, beware the lone Cyberman.
• When the Doctor snaps at Ryan that they don't know her, Yaz (who was the most starry-eyed last season) tells her not to talk to him like that.
• Ruth buried the TARDIS underground and it's been there for god knows how long. It still stayed with her - The TARDIS is as loyal as an old dog and, despite everything, probably a damn sight more reliable.

Praxeus

• While talking with Graham, Jake tells him how much he hates foreign travel. Despite this, he still flew halfway around the world to Hong Kong the minute he got a text from his presumed-dead husband giving him coordinates and asking for help.
• Jake pulls a Heroic Sacrifice to get the cure for Praxeus transmitted over Earth and validate his own insecurities, apologizing all the while to Adam for missing his shuttle launch. But the Doctor is able to rescue him just before the ship explodes, reuniting the couple who engage in a Big Damn Kiss.
• The ending, where the two lovebirds decide they're going to finally have their honeymoon by travelling the world together, with even Jake excited about the prospect, his thoughts on travel having changed for the better. They even accept Gabriella's offer for company and it's implied they're all going to vlog the trip together.
  • It's an especially gratifying ending after the previous season was accused of killing off too many gay characters. Here, a gay couple both get to survive the adventure and live happily.

Can You Hear Me?

• A flashback to three years ago shows Yaz with depression and attempting to run away, but a friendly police officer found her and talked with her. She then makes a bet that if Yaz is able to find a way to get you through her troubles, Yaz owes her fifty pence. Yaz is later shown coming to the police officer's house to give her the fifty pence. The officer even remembers her, too!
• While it is sad that she's so closed off, the Doctor still listens to Graham's fears about his cancer returning and acknowledges that she should say something comforting and positive but she's still very socially awkward and doesn't know what to say, before explaining that she's going to keep thinking about their conversation until she figures out what she should have said, which clearly amuses Graham and lightens the mood. While she wasn't able to offer easy comfort, she let Graham get his fears off his chest, she listened to him and let him know she does care but that she isn't good at showing that - which is a lot more than some of her other selves might have done, as it would have been in character for them to find a distraction to ignore the issue if they would have let Graham talk at all.

The Timeless Children

• As twisted as it is, and how it speaks to his own death wish, the Master softly telling the Doctor that he knows she's broken, but reassures her that it'll be over soon. Plus the fact that he reassures her their history is real, even if it's contributing to his inferiority complex.
  • In a similar vein, when she's about to use the Death Particle to destroy Gallifrey, the Master says 'become death, become me', like he still wants them to end the world together, just as Missy was described as 'the lover of chaos, who wants you [the Doctor] to love it too' by Ashildr.
• Ruth's Doctor appears to the distraught Thirteen and says to her that this doesn't change who she is. She is still the Doctor, no matter what her past says. This alone gives the Doctor a source of hope to break out of the Matrix.
  • The fact that the memory sequence has clips not just from New Who, but all the way back to specific Classic Who stories; Doctor Who hasn't employed this amount of continuity in years. It is both awesome and heartwarming to see for Classic and New Doctor Who fans alike.
• The fam worriedly crowding around the Doctor when they find her, and her giving an exhausted smile and saying 'My fam'. Especially heartwarming given that her main concern has been keeping them all safe - and against all odds, they came out alive (and a lot less traumatised than the Doctor herself) from the season finale.
• Yaz trying to stop the Doctor from sacrificing herself, and all of them stopping cold when they see the Doctor is on the verge of tears.
• Earlier on, Ryan saying they have to go after the Doctor when the Master coerces her into going with him.
• Graham and Yaz have a heart to heart in case they don't make it through, with Graham sincerely telling Yaz that her family would be proud of her for being a Badass Normal.
• An exhausted Doctor grins at the TARDIS' exterior with relief, sighing a weary, "Hello mate!"
• The TARDIS windows light up for the Doctor when she returns to it, and they have a small conversation with one another.

"Revolution Of The Daleks"

• Jack and the Doctor beaming at each other when they reunite. Before Jack activates his Vortex Manipulator he tells the Doctor he's missed her and pulls her into a hug.
• Just the fact that Jack committed multiple crimes and spent nineteen years in an intergalactic prison so he could get close enough to the the Doctor's cell to break her out. And he didn't even know for sure that she'd be in there.
• Jack also spends some time talking to Yaz, and gives her some advice about seizing every moment with the Doctor. The dynamic that he has with her is genuinely sweet, especially since he's been in her situation before.
• The Doctor and Ryan have a heart-to-heart conversation in which Ryan finally gets her to open up about what she went through following the events of "The Timeless Children". She admits she feels angry and unsure of who she even is. Ryan won't let her deflect his questions this time and reassures her that she's still herself. It's a sweet Call-Back to their first meeting, when she watches over him during his lonely bike ride, then lends him a sympathetic ear before Grace's funeral.
  Doctor: If I'm not who I thought I was, then who am I?
  Ryan: You're the Doctor. Same as before, same as always.
  Doctor: Right. Same Doctor, same Ryan. Nothing's changed.
  Ryan: No. No. I didn't say that, did I? Things change all the time, and they should, 'cos they have to. Same with people. Sometimes we get a bit scared, 'cos new can be a bit scary, right?
  Doctor: New can be very scary.
  Ryan: So when we're done with this Dalek problem...you find out about your own life. Confront the new, or the old. And then everything will be all right.
  Doctor: Will it?
  Ryan: No doubt. [she gives him a smile] What?
  Doctor: Thank you, Ryan. For being my friend.
  Ryan [punches her arm lightly]: Thank you for being mine.
  Doctor: Always.
• When Jack calls in to say goodbye at the end, he mentions that he plans to spend some time catching up with Gwen Cooper.
• Ryan breaks it to the Fam that he wants to stay behind so he can make a difference on Earth. He and the Doctor hug; then Yaz emphatically expresses the desire to keep traveling with the Doctor, who's thrilled.
  Ryan: Hey! You're getting over me leaving quick enough!
  Doctor: Two hearts. [she touches her chest once for each heart] One happy. One sad.
  • Ryan also tells Yaz, re. the Doctor: "She needs you."
• As much as a companion leaving is a Tear Jerker, the reason Graham gives to stay with Ryan is to spend more time with his grandson.
  • And the Doctor does a Group Hug and gives the two a Psychic Paper each.
  Doctor: 'Bye, fam.

Series 13 / Season 39

War of the Sontarans

• The way Dan lights up when the Doctor invites him into the TARDIS. He just looks so touched to be included.

2022 Specials

The Power of the Doctor

• All of the companion returns count, on both the in and out of universe levels, but special mention must go to 97 year old William Russell reappearing as Ian Chesterton, one of the Doctor's very first companions and one of the two who helped turn them into the Time Lord they are today.
  • Even better is Ian's genuine bemusement that the Doctor was now a woman.
    Ian: Sorry, did you say...her?
  • The fact that Janet Fielding revealed that William Russell had dementia when he was filming the scenes and had to have one of his daughters on set with him.
• In the Doctor's mindscape, images of previous Doctors telling Thirteen not to lose hope and not to give up.
• Ace gets a heart to heart with her "Professor", who tells her he is proud of her, and they were Ace together.
  • He mentions that he was only ever trying to teach her good habits but "obviously I failed". As he says that, Seven gives a brief smirk, indicating he most certainly was not trying to teach Ace good habits but she learned them anyway and has gone on to do good things in life meaning that he did, in some way, get it right with her.
    Ace: You never failed me, Professor. You made me the person I am today. I'm sorry we fell out. I'm sorry I judged you. I didn't understand the burden you carried.
    Seventh Doctor: All children leave home sooner or later. The joy is to watch them fly.
• Tegan's conversation with her Doctor is as much this as it is a Tear Jerker, as the Doctor hologram (in the guise of Five) assures her that he never forgot about her and tells her "Brave heart, Tegan."
  • The trust password between Tegan and The Doctor: "Adric".
    Fifth Doctor: You think you left and I never thought of you again. I never forget any of you. I remember everything.
    Tegan: ...I missed you.
    Fifth Doctor: I missed you, too.
• Blink and you'll miss it, but the brief expression of disbelief followed by the equally-as-brief smile Kate Stewart gives when the Doctor invites her into the TARDIS.
• Jodie paraphrasing the Second Doctor before she parts ways with Yaz: "No one else got to do what we did."
• Thirteen's regeneration, going out with a smile and a playful "tag, you're it" to welcome her next incarnation.
  • There's also the words she's referencing at the beginning of her final scene: during an interview, writer Dennis Potter, while he was dying of cancer, was describing how much more strongly he felt connected to the present and how life can only be described in a present tense. Thirteen's quoting him during the final moments of her life really ties into her desire to live in the now and not the past or future as she only has her now as herself since her past and future belong to someone else. It also makes it so clear why she's grinning so happily and is so accepting during her final moments: it's her now, her life, and she's celebrating!
    Dennis Potter: And looking at it, instead of saying "Oh that's nice blossom" ... last week looking at it through the window when I'm writing, I see it is the whitest, frothiest, blossomest blossom that there ever could be, and I can see it. [...] And we forget or tend to forget that life can only be defined in the present tense; it is, and it is now only. I mean, as much as we would like to call back yesterday and indeed yearn to, and ache to sometimes, we can't. It's in us, but we can't actually; it's not there in front of us. However predictable tomorrow is, and unfortunately for most people, most of the time, it's too predictable, they're locked into whatever situation they're locked into ... Even so, no matter how predictable it is, there's the element of the unpredictable, of the you don't know. The only thing you know for sure is the present tense, and that nowness becomes so vivid that, almost in a perverse sort of way, I'm almost serene. You know, I can celebrate life. [...] But the nowness of everything is absolutely wondrous, and if people could see that, you know. There's no way of telling you; you have to experience it, but the glory of it, if you like, the comfort of it, the reassurance ... not that I'm interested in reassuring people - bugger that. The fact is, if you see the present tense, boy do you see it! And boy can you celebrate it.
  • It also doubles as a beautiful call-back to the Third Doctor's famous "the daisiest daisy" speech to Jo, where he told her that he found the secret of life in a daisy: You can look at something and find it ugly, or it can be the most beautiful thing you've ever seen. The secret is to appreciate what you're given.

Fourteenth Doctor

60th Anniversary Specials

The Star Beast

• In the opening narration, the Doctor calls Donna his best friend, and shows that fifteen years later (well over a billion from the perspective of the Doctor's timeline), he still thinks fondly of her. The cut-ins show that Donna does seem genuinely happy with her husband Shaun and daughter Rose, even if she does feel a tad unfufilled.
• When Donna and Rose are walking home some boys from Rose's school pass them and shout Rose's deadname at her. Donna immediately wants to fight them, and threatens to tell their mothers what they said. Throughout the episode it's made clear that she and Shaun have completely accepted Rose's gender identity and always refer to her as a woman. Sylvia stumbles over how to refer to her but it's clear that she's trying to do right by her granddaughter.
  • Later, the Doctor, at Rose's urging, asks The Meep's pronouns.
• Donna very clearly adores her daughter. Rose is the apple of her eye, and she has no problem making that abundantly clear.
  Donna: I would burn down the world for you, darling. Anyone has a go, I will be there, and I will descend.
• Remember the lottery ticket that The Doctor left for Donna as a wedding present? The one that guaranteed hundreds of millions of pounds for her and Shaun? She gave all of it away to charity (after buying her family's home, of course). Even with her memories of The Doctor suppressed, she still did what he would have done with that kind of money.
• The Doctor realises that Wilf isn't present in the Noble home and asks where he is. Donna says he's no longer with them, which the Doctor assumes means he's passed away. He tells them how much he loved Wilf, catching himself off-guard with how easily he says it after spending so long believing in The "I Love You" Stigma.
  • Donna then reveals that Wilf is still very much alive, he just moved out because at 94 he can't handle the stairs in the house anymore. Turns out Kate Stewart arranged for him to move into a special retirement community connected to UNIT, promising that he would be looked after as an "old soldier" deserves to be. The Doctor is absolutely delighted, and barely surprised, to learn that Kate is looking out for his friend.
• The two Wrarth Warriors taking part in The Doctor's mock trial are entirely cooperative, revealing to actually be very polite and reasonable rather than the vicious monsters they initially seem like. They even share their names for the record, Sergeant Zogroth and Constable Zreeg. The Doctor remembers them when saying how they gave their lives after The Meep is defeated, the other Wrarth Warriors assuring they will be included among The Meep's other crimes.
• The reveal that Donna's daughter Rose has memories of Donna's time with The Doctor, with her clubhouse representing the TARDIS and the toys she made being based on all the creatures they encountered on their adventures.
• The Doctor's absolute delight at the massive new console room inside the TARDIS, joyously running up and down the walkways like a little kid running around a new house.
• Behind the scenes example; this episode was inspired by a story that was published in the Doctor Who comic strip illustrated by Dave Gibbons (hence why Pat Mills and John Wagner are credited for the story alongside RTD). Gibbons had a chance to visit the set while filming. David Tennant went full fanboy and had him sign his copy of the comic, even citing other stories Gibbons drew like "The Iron Legion." Meanwhile Gibbons was delighted that The Meep was an actual physical prop that he could see and interact with. In the making-of, Mills is close to breaking into tears of joy.
  • Gibbons and Mills were later invited to the London premiere screening and were even paid for the use of their story. As the BBC already paid to use the character, they didn't need to pay Gibbons and Mills (especially as they haven't received royalties from the publisher over it). Comics creators, particularly British writers and artists, haven't always got the best deal, so seeing two legends of the UK comics scene treated so well by the BBC, Bad Wolf et al. is extremely gratifying.

Wild Blue Yonder

• The TARDIS flees, leaving the Doctor and Donna stranded on a spaceship. Donna starts freaking out about the possibility of not getting back to her family. The Doctor responds by taking her hand in his and kissing her knuckles to calm her down and reassure her. It's also worth nothing that this comes directly after they've had a panic-induced fight.
• After everything the Time Lords put the Doctor through, it is quite touching to hear him proclaim Gallifrey as his home despite his recent discovery of his origins.
• In a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment after Not-Donna suffers severe Glamour Failure, the Doctor immediately moves to comfort the creature, assuring her that things will work out before deducing that it's, in fact, not Donna.
• Both having committed themselves to die in order to stop the Not-Things, Fourteen stops dead in his tracks and realises that if the ship blows up, then the threat that sent the TARDIS off will no longer exist. Right on cue, the sound that brings hope to all who hear it practically roars into the ship as Sexy rematerialises. The Doctor's Wife will never, ever abandon her thief.
• At the end of the episode, the TARDIS makes it back to the Camden alley that it departed from in the last episode. The Doctor and Donna step outside... and are greeted by Wilfred Mott, who's been keeping watch in that spot for them. The Doctor immediately pulls him into a hug and they're equally delighted to see each other again. Wilfred even remarks he never gave up hope on seeing the Doctor again.
  Wilfred: Oh my goodness... Donna!
  Donna: Gramps! (she hugs Wilf, then looks towards the Doctor) I said so!
  The Doctor: Wilfred Mott... oh, now I feel better! (he also hugs Wilf) Now nothing is wrong, nothing in the whole wide world! Hello, me old soldier!
  Wilfred: I never thought I'd see you again, after all these years! Oh, Doctor, that lovely face. (Chuckles) It's like springtime.

The Giggle

• Turns out Mel has returned to Earth and is working for UNIT. The Doctor is absolutely delighted to see her again. Turns out she spent a long time travelling with Sabalom Glitz, who lived to the ripe old age of 101...before slipping and falling on an empty whiskey bottle. Mel says he was given a Viking Funeral, which the Doctor agrees is a good tribute to him.
  • Donna, for her part, is genuinely delighted to learn she wasn't the first redhead to travel with the Doctor, and she and Mel become very fast friends.
• The normally no-nonsense Kate greets the Doctor with a hug. It's a little unsettling to show how dire the situation is, but it also shows her relief that the Doctor is back to help.
• Donna taking a job with UNIT, even getting Kate to agree to twice the offered salary and five weeks vacation.
• Donna and Mel both taking The Doctor's hands as he starts to regenerate. Unlike the last time this face had to go, he’s not alone. And his apparent last words are a direct reversal of his tenth incarnation.
  Donna: It's not dying.
  The Doctor: I know.
  Donna: But you’re gonna be someone else.
  Mel: It doesn't matter who, because every single one of you is fantastic.
  The Doctor: It's time. Here we go again. Allons-y!
• The Fifteenth Doctor seems to be unburdened by past trauma, but recognizes the Fourteenth Doctor has been running himself ragged for centuries and hasn't given himself a chance to rest and heal. One of Fifteen's first acts upon regenerating into existence? Giving Fourteen a hug and a gentle kiss on the forehead.
  • In fact, it's a delight how much Fourteen and Fifteen get on almost immediately after Fifteen is "born." The bi-generation is treated like a happy surprise for both of them, and they immediately lock in sync to defeat The Toymaker. Considering Fifteen is technically the older one and consoles The Doctor over his losses, he comes off like a supportive big brother.
• Mel calling Fifteen "beautiful".
• When reminded that Sarah Jane has finally passed in-universe, The Doctor finally says out loud that he loved her, and Rose.
• Fifteen quietly apologizing to the TARDIS after duplicating her with the Toymaker's mallet.
• One new feature of the TARDIS? It's finally wheelchair-accessible with the addition of a ramp, much to the delight of Shirley and many a wheelchair-using Whovian. You can hear Shirley's actor Ruth Madeley trying to hold back Tears of Joy as she talks about it in the behind the scenes video.
• The Fourteenth Doctor's ultimate fate; adopting Donna's family as his own, finally living in peace. The Doctor, after everything, has done the impossible: retired.
  Fourteen: Who'd have thought? I ended up with a family. (...) Funny thing is, I fought all those battles for all those years. And now I know what for. This. I've never been so happy in my life.
  • Mel, who was in space long enough that her whole family has passed on, is adopted into Donna's family right along with him without hesitation, as "Mad Auntie Mel."
    • And finally The Reveal why the Fourteenth Doctor choose his old face and why he found Donna again. Donna sums it up nicely.
      Donna: Because I've worked out what happened. You changed your face... and then you found me. Do you know why?
      Fourteen: No.
      Donna: To come home.
• The last shot of the episode where Fifteen is in the TARDIS with a huge grin on his face, ready for another adventure as he continues the legacy of the Doctor now rejuvenated and happier than ever before.

Fifteenth Doctor

Series 14 / Season 40

The Church on Ruby Road

• Ruby was Happily Adopted by the woman who fostered her after she was found abandoned as a baby. Her mother notes that while she's fostered over 30 children, Ruby has a special place in her heart. For her part, Ruby doesn't show any jealousy towards her mother's other foster children, and happily shows off the collage of pictures to the Doctor. When she learns they're taking in a new baby on her birthday she's utterly delighted and eager to welcome a new sibling.
• After messing a little with the policeman who hurries over to check on him after the inflatable snowman incident, the Doctor says that the policeman's partner to whom he plans to propose to on Christmas Day will say yes because the Doctor does a Sherlock Scan on him and deduces that he has a ring in his pocket which he bought before Christmas because he couldn't wait for the post-Christmas sales to get it, and that is exactly the reason why she'll say yes. The poor man's day was clearly made by that remark alone.
• The Doctor chatting and flirting a little with Cherry after coming back to the flat makes the surly old Cherry smile and laugh for the first time in the episode.
• After Ruby has a minor breakdown following the stress of the day's ordeal followed by covering it up as her being upset by the failed attempt to track down her biological family, Carla immediately gives Ruby a big hug to comfort her and reassure her that she still loves her as part of her own family.
• When The Doctor returns to the present after rescuing baby Ruby he's so happy to see that the adult Ruby has been restored that he picks her up in a Bear Hug.
• When Ruby spots the TARDIS, the old girl pops the door open all on her own, as if to say "Welcome aboard."
• After the last couple of incarnations were put through the wringer, watching a carefree Fifteen dance up a storm in the club just for the hell of it is a joyful sight.