New Who’s Best Cliffhangers (Part 1)
Guest contributor Sam Glover begins a rundown of the best cliffhangers from the past decade.
With Steven Moffat stating Series 9 will have a “whopper” of a cliffhanger in it later this year, I thought I’d pre-empt an article on that with a rundown of my favourite current cliffhangers from the past decade.
I needed to set some criteria before embarking on this arduous (and thoroughly enjoyable) mission which I will outline in a moment but, to be perfectly honest, science is a bit slim on the ground here. Of course a good cliffhanger doesn’t necessarily represent a good episode preceding it or vice-versa. This is very much a personal list that many will (justifiably) disagree with, so let’s start off with a criteria that rules out at least two of my own favourite SQUEEE moments: the cliffhanger has to come at the end of its episode. Sadly this rules out many fantastic pre-credit sequences (“The Name of the Doctor” comes to mind) plus “Listen”‘s barn reveal and “The Impossible Astronaut”‘s Doctor-killing scenes.
Other things I ruled out were regenerations (as they were announced in advance), minisodes (sorry “The Night of the Doctor”) and Christmas teases (such as “Doomsday” and “Last of the Time Lords”). I decided not to take into account how well I thought the cliffhangers were resolved (particularly in the case of certain two part finales).
“Points” were given for entertainment value, adding meaning to previous episodes and – for want of a better word – goosebumps. It is also taken entirely from 2005 onwards because I simply haven’t seen enough “classic” Doctor Who to include it fairly. If you have such experience/time, by all means follow up this article!
This gave me a total of 33 cliffhangers to judge, and I have whittled these down to my favourite 20 entries. Near misses were River in the astronaut suit, Clara abandoning the Doctor, the invasion of the Toclafane and Wilf being trapped in a smoking car. So, onto a series with more endings than “Return of the King”…
20. “Welcome to Heaven”
Series 8, Deep Breath
Capaldi’s first full episode as the Doctor was widely praised for its performances, dialogue and the utterly fantastic titular breath-holding sequence, but I think the ending holds up reasonably well. As it will re-appear later in this series (err, spoilers) I won’t turn attention on Missy’s eventual reveal, but the fruit-loop lady casually discussing our favourite Time Lord with a recently deceased Clockwork Droid was nothing if not fascinating. It didn’t give me goosebumps as some of the later entries did, but it did nicely set up several threads for the series.
19. “Delete! Delete!”
Series 2, Rise of the Cybermen
As this was my personal first proper encounter with the Cybermen I wasn’t then really aware of their rich history or iconic position beyond their status as pre-revival monsters. If I had been aware maybe I would’ve found them more exciting but, as it was, I found them to be slow, unwieldy and, frankly, not particularly scary. What I won’t argue for a second is that it was anything but entertaining. They may have seemed a bit ridiculous but David Tennant’s “but we surrender!” dialogue is a little bit marvellous. Only his reaction identified the Cybermen as a coherent threat, and he did it well.
18. “Your friend, or your lover?”
Series 3, Human Nature
“Sacrilege!” I hear you cry. And so it may seem, as “Human Nature”/”The Family of Blood” is a fantastic double-header, one of the best multi-part stories we’ve been treated to. Its position on this list may seem low but it reflects more the high quality of cliffhangers we’ve been treated to. It shows our beloved Doctor as an utterly weak human being, stripped of his intelligence and formidable spirit in another wonderful performance by David Tennant, trying to comprehend why four of his human contacts have suddenly turned on him, “his” town and the woman he loves. The slight let down is simply that it was obvious that Martha would be the one to save the day. Have I crossed my resolution-rule already?
17. “I’m your daughter”
Series 6, A Good Man Goes To War
It’s a bit of a soap opera plot line and I understand why it isn’t to everyone’s taste, but the simple conversation between Alex Kingston’s River Song and Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor is by turns angry, riveting and delightful; to this day I can recall without prompting the little laugh Smith gives immediately after figuring out who River is. In fact I could (but won’t!) reel off their entire sequence by heart, and the faces of Amy and Rory at the very end demonstrate more than any words could the enormity of the ramifications to follow. Where is the Doctor going? What on Earth do parents make of meeting their offspring for the first time… and that she’s older than they are? I even like the tease for “Let’s Kill Hitler”.
16. “There’s one thing you never put in a trap…”
Series 5, The Time Of Angels
Only slightly detracted by its prominent use in the pre-season marketing (and Graham Norton), the speech given by the Eleventh Doctor to the incoming Weeping Angels still gives me goosebumps. With the Angels – a fantastic creation worthy of any cliffhanger – mounting their attack it is up to a cornered group of bishops, River Song and Amy Pond to put their faith in a man that, really, only one of them knows anything about. And boy does he make good, baiting the Angels about their “great big whopping mistake”… before promptly blowing up a floating ball of light.
15. “What are you doing?” “Saving your life!”
Series 6, The Impossible Astronaut
OK, the slow-motion is a bit ridiculous, but following Amy’s shocking confession, the shooting is a completely plausible reaction for Amy to want to save her best friend. A moment before this we’ve established that the suit actually contains a young girl pleading for help, so we’re faced with the additional calamity that Amy has potentially shot a child. As it turns out later, it is actually HER child, but let’s not get into that again. It’s simply a great moment of television that led to a very long week of waiting.
14. “Donna Noble has been saved”
Series 4, Silence In The Library
The next three entries could’ve sat in pretty much any order as they are all of a similar nature: follow up the introduction of a terrific monster and place real jeopardy on the main heroes. In this case the fearsome Vashta Nerada – shadows that eat people (thanks for that night’s sleep, Moffat) – are attacking in the form of a person eaten alive in a space suit, and Donna’s face is now appearing on a help-node repeatedly informing the Doctor that “Donna Noble has been saved”. Completely absorbing viewing, even now over six years later.
13. “Are you my mummy?”
Series 1, The Empty Child
Uttering four words that the Doctor Who community celebrate perhaps more than any other New Who words, a simple gas-masked child was perhaps the only “villain” of the first series to rival the return of the Daleks. That, as any Who fan will tell you, is a serious claim. The episode manages it by following simple horror-movie tropes with devastating precision: a child uttering a harmless but chilling question in a sing-song voice, advancing slowly with its arms outstretched, a monster’s eye view, with our heroes being closed in on by converted zombies…
12. “I am… free!”
Series 2, The Impossible Planet
The last camera shot rising out of the pit, accompanied by a sonorous, booming, villainous laugh was one of the many things that makes this one of my absolute favourite episodes (“The Doctor’s Wife” the other, if you’re asking). With an entire planet falling into a black hole, Rose and the surviving crew members hemmed in by a crowd of possessed Ood and the Doctor conversing with a being of knowledge and infamy is worthy of any list. Indeed as I write each entry I keep thinking it should be higher up the list, and then I write the next entry and get the same reaction. Frustrating as a list maker, brilliant as a Doctor Who fan. Can someone persuade writer Matt Jones to return?
11. “Bad Wolf”
Series 4, Turn Left
It took me a while to decide where to place this cliffhanger on the list, but the one thing that took it above the previous entries was that simplest of noises: the cloister bell. Rose’s much-touted return was finally revealed to the Doctor, the word “Bad Wolf” appears on the TARDIS itself and Murray Gold’s thundering drums crash through Tennant’s anguished face. But it is that bell more than the Doctor’s own words that absolutely sells this to me as a sign of impending catastrophe. The Greatest Hits “Next Time” trailer helped a bit too…
So, how about this for a cliffhanger: Which episodes fill out the top ten? Which villains? It sounds an awful lot like Peter Kay… *EastEnders Drum Beat*
To be continued…
