7 Huge Twists in Doctor Who, Ranked By How Game-Changing They Were

Some of the most memorable twists and turns in British TV history have been featured in the long-running sci-fi series, Doctor Who. Doctor Who celebrates its 62nd anniversary in November 2025, making it the longest-running sci-fi show on TV. Other series might have faltered under the weight of such a rich and lore-heavy history, but Doctor Who continues to excite its audience by thinking up new twists, shocking reveals, and unexpected surprises. These keep the story fresh, and have contributed to some of TV’s most memorable moments.

While the classic era of Doctor Who, which originally ran from 1963 to 1989, and included a TV movie in 1996, included many of its own twists, many of the best surprises have been seen in the revival era of the show. Russell T. Davies brought Doctor Who back to our screens in 2005, and, despite recent uncertainty, the series is still going strong, so there will surely be many more twists on the way. These seven, however, changed the landscape of Doctor Who in some pretty massive ways, and the series is still dealing with the impact of some.

7) Professor Yana is the Master and British Prime Minister Harold Saxon

The Master has persisted as one of the Doctor’s most iconic enemies since his debut in “Terror of the Autons” back in 1971. Similarly to the Doctor, the rogue Time Lord also has the ability to regenerate, which has aided his longevity, and created the opportunity for this incredible twist. When the Tenth Doctor, Martha Jones, and Captain Jack Harkness traveled to the end of the universe in “Utopia” in 2007, they find scientist Professor Yana — played expertly by Derek Jacobi — who is trying to build a rocket ship to take the last vestiges of humanity to their salvation.

Yana isn’t all he seems, however, as he is soon revealed to be the human disguise of the Master, with his consciousness locked in a pocket watch as the Doctor’s was during “Human Nature” and “The Family of Blood.” Yana swiftly regenerates into John Simm and heads off in the TARDIS to become British Prime Minister Harold Saxon and kick-start his plans for world domination. This twist has been set up throughout Doctor Who season 3, but was completely unexpected even to the last second, so it will go down in history as one of the series’ best.

6) Amy Pond is a Ganger in Doctor Who Series 6

In “The Impossible Astronaut,” Amy Pond told the Eleventh Doctor about her pregnancy, but this was forgotten in subsequent episodes. “Almost People,” however — which saw the TARDIS team meet workers using the mysterious Flesh to create doppelgängers of themselves — revealed that Amy herself had been a Ganger for quite. some time. This explained why she had stopped experiencing the effects of her pregnancy, but also came with the revelation that the real Amy had been abducted by Madame Kovarian to use as bait, which was completely unexpected and added to the fantastic horror themes of Doctor Who season 6.

5) The Daleks Are Inside Torchwood’s Sphere

Russell T. Davies had a talent of dropping teases throughout a season that would be paid off in a finale. This was the case for Torchwood in season 2, revealed to be an organization that finds, recovers, and studies alien technology, including an enigmatic “sphere” that had no mass, no true form, and no physical qualities whatsoever, despite being able to be seen. The reveal that the Daleks, one of the Doctor’s most iconic and long-running villains, were inside this sphere — a void ship — was excellent, and contributed to one of the best season finales of Doctor Who ever.

4) River Song is Amy & Rory’s Daughter

Alex Kingston debuted as River Song in 2008’s “Silence in the Library” and “Forest of the Dead” two-parter, but it wasn’t until 2011’s “A Good Man Goes to War” when we found out who she was. Shockingly, River revealed she was the daughter of companions Amy Pond and Rory Williams, who had just been born that same episode and named Melody Pond. River’s conception in the TARDIS gifted her some regenerative ability, but she gifted this to the Doctor to save his life in “Let’s Kill Hitler.” Also surprisingly, River’s marriage to the Doctor made him Amy and Rory’s son-in-law.

3) Gallifrey Was Not Destroyed During the Time War

When Doctor Who returned in 2005, it came back with the reveal that the Last Great Time War, a battle between the Time Lords and Daleks, had concluded in the Doctor’s homeworld of Gallifrey being destroyed. This provided some incredibly dramatic moments for the Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Doctors, but came to a head in the 50th anniversary special, “The Day of the Doctor.” This special episode saw all versions of the Doctor actually band together to save Gallifrey, moving it to a safe pocket universe. This rewrote the Doctor’s history, and allowed Gallifrey to be explored again.

2) The Doctor is the Timeless Child

Gallifrey being saved may have rewritten the Doctor’s recent history, but the reveal of the Timeless Child in 2020’s season 12 altered the entire history of Gallifrey and the Time Lords themselves. The Doctor was revealed to not actually be from Gallifrey, but they were actually a being from another reality who harbored a regenerative ability. Early Gallifreyan Tecteun experimented on the child and gave a regeneration cycle of 13 forms to the Time Lords, while the child’s memories were erased. This means the Doctor has an infinite number of regenerations, which changes everything we know about the character’s history.

The reveal of the Timeless Child was hugely controversial, given its impact on the Doctor’s history and its alteration of literally everything we know about the character. Doctor Who has subsequently all but ignored this reveal, though Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor has mentioned the fact that he was “adopted” by the Time Lords in order to connect to foundling Ruby Sunday. It would be great for the Timeless Child mythology to be explored in greater detail in Doctor Who’s future, giving it more weight and meaning, as it could be one of the most transformative twists in the show’s history.

1) Ncuti Gatwa Regenerates Into Billie Piper

Speaking of regeneration, the most recent twist in Doctor Who is also perhaps the series’ biggest yet. Doctor Who season 15’s finale, “The Reality War,” ended with the Fifteenth Doctor sacrificing this incarnation to save Belinda Chandra’s daughter. He regenerated into the Sixteenth Doctor, who shockingly took on the form of former companion Rose Tyler. Billie Piper’s return to Doctor Who — she originally debuted as Rose when the series returned in 2005 — was unexpected, and it has yet to be properly explained. Doctor Who’s future has been confirmed, so hopefully we’ll find out more soon, but this is the first time the Doctor has taken on the form of a companion, so there are a plethora of burning questions we need to be answered.

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