When is 50th anniversary doctor who

Fans should sign up to the doctorwho. Saturday November 23, will mark 50 years to the day since the Doctor first appeared on British TV screens and since then his global appeal has continued to grow, with viewers across generations in over territories around the world and over 3 million Facebook fans.

Throughout the year, Doctor Who fans across all of space and time will be able to join in the celebrations closer to home. They stop in front of an impossible painting , something that belongs "not in this time or place": an oil painting in 3-D.

It depicts the fall of the Gallifreyan city of Arcadia on the last day of the Time War. Kate tells the Doctor that there is some controversy over the work's name. It is either named No More or Gallifrey Falls. The painting is a slice of frozen time, a form of Time Lord art. The Doctor is visibly disturbed by the painting. Clara notices, asking what's wrong. With immense sadness filling his face, the Doctor grabs Clara's hand for comfort. He tells her that he's had many faces and lived many lives, but there is one life he has tried very hard to forget.

And that man was him. This painting was on the day it happened; the final day of the Time War As the Daleks ravage Arcadia, a family of Time Lords run in fear. There is little hope of survival. As children cry and the people scream, a soldier messages the High Council of Time Lords : Arcadia has fallen.

Then the elderly voice of the " War Doctor ", the warrior incarnation of the Doctor, asks the soldier for his gun. As Daleks prepare to exterminate the Time Lords, the Doctor's presence draws their attention away from the innocent people and leads them to the wall with the message.

The Doctor's escape from Arcadia is witnessed by one surviving Dalek of the attack, though it is bisected. The High Commanders gather in the War Room , planning their next moves, with the Eleventh General dismissing the High Council 's upcoming plans as " they have already failed ". They receive the Doctor's message, and the General is not pleased to learn of his presence, calling him a madman.

The most feared and forbidden weapon in the universe is missing: The Moment. The Doctor has stolen it and intends to use it to end the Time War once and for all. The Time Lords have already used all of the previously forbidden weapons but dared not unleash this weapon in particular. It was said that the Moment was so advanced as to have developed a conscience, and could stand in judgement of the user.

The General muses that only the Doctor would be mad enough to use such a weapon. Footsteps can be seen leading away from the battle-scuffed frame of the TARDIS, which has been uncharacteristically abandoned by the Doctor. The sound of his voice issuing an ominous final warning is heard; "Time Lords of Gallifrey, Daleks of Skaro, I serve notice on you all. Too long I have stayed my hand. No more. Today you leave me no choice. Today, this war will end.

No more He eventually enters a barn-like dwelling , where he uncovers a complicated mechanical box, covered in gears. The device ticks loudly as its clockwork-like parts rattle and clank. As the Doctor studies it, he cannot find a discernible trigger mechanism. While he puzzles over how to activate it — grumbling "Why is there never a big red button? He opens the door and calls out. A girl's voice behind him reassures him that it's "just a Wolf".

Startled, he turns around to see what appears to be Rose Tyler. He doesn't recognise her, as he doesn't meet her until his next incarnation. He grabs her arm and shoves her out the door, only for her to appear inside the barn again, sitting on the Moment.

He tells her not to sit on it as it's not a chair, but the most dangerous weapon in the universe. Not realising what she is, he orders her out and then burns his hand on the box. Impishly, she guides the Doctor to realise that she is the Moment's interface.

She can hear the Doctor's thoughts, and has attempted to assume the form of a familiar figure from his past; however, the Moment gets the past and future mixed up, and so has chosen the form of the Bad Wolf to speak to him. War-weary and bitter, the elderly Time Lord tells her to stop calling him "the Doctor". She states it's the name in his head. The Doctor tells her it shouldn't exist in his head anymore, as he's no longer worthy of the name.

She replies that he will be the one to save the universe. He explains that the suffering of the universe is too great, and he must end it.

He also intends to meet his death after using the Moment, not wishing to live through the bloodshed, but she decides that his fate and punishment will be to survive the activation and face the consequences. Like a conscience, she challenges his words and actions, guiding him towards his future. He will destroy the Daleks, but he will also murder his own people, asking him how many children on Gallifrey will die, but he has no idea. After the Moment suggests that one day he will find a way to count them, the Doctor sits in contemplation.

The Moment tells him that she's going to open a window in time to show him the man he will become. A time fissure opens - and a fez falls out, much to the mutual confusion of the Doctor and the Moment Back in the 21st century, Kate explains that Queen Elizabeth left the painting to prove that the orders do come from her.

The Doctor breaks the seal and reads her words: "My dearest love: I hope the painting known as Gallifrey Falls will serve as proof that it is your Elizabeth that writes to you now. You will recall that you pledged yourself to the safety of my kingdom.

In that capacity, I have appointed you Curator of the Under Gallery , where deadly danger to England is locked away. Should any disturbance occur within its walls, it is my wish that you should be summoned. Godspeed, gentle husband. Befuddled, he stares at the painting, wondering why he should move it. Clara sees this is proof the Doctor once knew her, having seen all his past lives in his time-stream.

The Doctor states he knew Elizabeth I a long time ago, practically being a different man back then She responds "the door isn't" bigger; it nearly took her head off. They share a picnic on a hill, where Elizabeth expresses concern that he has seen war.

The Doctor confirms that it wasn't this face but he has indeed fought in battle. He then proposes marriage. When she joyfully accepts, the Doctor accuses her of being a Zygon shapeshifter that has replaced the real Elizabeth, as the real queen wouldn't accept marriage from a handsome stranger or be so nonchalant about the Doctor having a different face.

He whips out a "device that goes ding" to prove that she is a shapeshifter, before realising that it was the horse they were riding. They run for their lives, the Doctor dreads being an engaged man; "Oh, good work, Doctor. Nice one. The Virgin Queen? So much for history. The Doctor runs through the woods, even threatening a rabbit he mistakes for a Zygon before he is reunited with Elizabeth.

However, a doppelganger of her appears, and he is unable to tell who is who as both speak as Elizabeth would. Suddenly another time fissure appears, with the Doctor noting anything can happen.

A fez falls through, confusing the Doctor. Back in the National Gallery, Kate welcomes the Eleventh Doctor and Clara to the Under Gallery, established by Elizabeth I to house dangerous art or things that could not be understood.

The Doctor notices that the floor is covered in stone dust, and asks Osgood to analyse it with a triplicate report and lots of graphs. As they walk through the gallery, the Doctor spots a fez in a glass case and immediately dons it, much to the bemusement of Clara, who wonders if he can ever go past one without putting it on. The Doctor tells her that that's never going to happen.

Kate shows them more 3-D paintings, all landscapes, with the broken glass from their shattered frames covering the floor. The Doctor notes that the glass has been shattered from the inside, and Kate says that they all contained figures which are now missing.

As they leave to investigate, another time fissure opens. Annoyed, the Doctor faintly recalls seeing the fissure before, before realising that the fez that had fallen through in was the fez he was now wearing.

Delighted, he throws the fez into the fissure and follows it with a loud " Geronimo. The Eleventh Doctor falls through the fissure and lands in front of the Tenth in the sixteenth century. Stunned, the Tenth Doctor dons the fez himself.

The Eleventh pops up and gabbles excitedly about how skinny his predecessor is, which makes the Tenth realise who he is. They incredulously pull out their sonic screwdrivers and compare them, with the Tenth jokingly suggesting the Eleventh is compensating for something because of regeneration being a lottery.

As they begin bickering, the time fissure increases in intensity. The Tenth Doctor orders the two Elizabeths to run away in opposite directions; both kiss him and flee. The Eleventh Doctor points out that his earlier self just kissed a Zygon, which has venom sacks in the tongue. The Tenth Doctor, rather annoyed, says he doesn't need the reminder.

Clara calls out from the fissure to the Eleventh Doctor, asking where he is. The Eleventh Doctor asks the Tenth when they are, and repeats it. Clara asks who the Doctor is speaking to, prompting both to say "myself" at the same time; both are amused that they spoke together.

Clara asks if the Doctor can come back. Hypothesising that the fissure can go both ways, the Doctor tosses his fez in, but it fails to appear in Clara's time.

At the end of the Time War, the War Doctor picks up the fez; he hears Kate explaining to Clara that the Doctor has met an earlier version of himself.

Kate leaves, calling the office to bring her the Cromier file. As she exits the hall, a mysterious shadow looms Back in , the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors are staring at the fissure. The Tenth states that since the Eleventh used to be him, he should remember what happened next; unfortunately the Eleventh has no idea. Shocked his successor can't remember this event, the Tenth Doctor asks why.

The Eleventh counters its because the Tenth isn't paying attention well enough; he tells him to reverse the polarity of the fissure. Both aim their sonic screwdrivers at the fissure, but are getting no result. The Tenth Doctor tells the confused Eleventh that he's reversing the polarity, while the Eleventh is reversing it back; they're actually confusing the polarity.

Suddenly, their tampering with the fissure results in something falling through. Much to their shock, it's the War Doctor, who asks if they lost a fez. Both are horrified to see him. The War Doctor greets them and states that he's looking for his future self, prompting the Tenth Doctor to state that he's come to the right place.

The War Doctor wonders who the two of them are, wondering if they are his future companions. Both the Eleventh and Tenth Doctors are shocked and insulted by the question; the War Doctor laughs that his companions keep getting younger.

When the War Doctor asks to be pointed in the general direction of his future self, both the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors pull out their sonic screwdrivers and turn them on. The War Doctor is stunned, asking several times if they are his future selves; he is especially unimpressed with the Eleventh Doctor. Seeing that he's found two of his future selves at once, the War Doctor wonders if he's going through a midlife crisis.

As he walks towards them, his future selves brandish their screwdrivers threateningly. Scoffing, the War Doctor asks why they're pointing scientific instruments at him. Suddenly, they are surrounded by the Queen's soldiers; who believe the Queen to have been bewitched by the Doctor, asking which of the trio is the man they seek.

The War Doctor quips that today is their lucky day. The Tenth and Eleventh Doctors point their sonic screwdrivers in defence again, prompting the War Doctor to dryly joke if they're going to assemble a cabinet at them.

Clara's voice sounds from the fissure, allowing the Doctors to convince the soldiers that she is "The Wicked Witch of the Well". Kate has, at that point, returned to Clara. The Queen returns to the group, implying that her human counterpart is dead.

She has the trio of Doctors arrested and taken to the Tower of London with the Eleventh loudly hinting for her to take them there. The Doctors are thrown in a cell with a wooden door; the sonic is useless as it doesn't work on wood. The Tenth Doctor begins musing how a temporal paradox will start kicking up with three of them in the same room for a long time. The Eleventh works with a nail on the pillar in the room, stating it's their way out.

Ignoring him, the Tenth Doctor asks why these three Doctors have been brought together; he and the Eleventh were surprised, but the War Doctor came to find them. The big question is why. The War Doctor sees the Moment, which gestures to keep quiet about it. In the present, Osgood and McGillop are reading the results of the analysis of the stone dust. The dust is from materials not found in the structure of the building, but common in statues. Osgood realises that the statues must have been smashed, and suddenly understands why: the inhabitants of the paintings needed a hiding place.

The Zygons reveal themselves from underneath the dust cloths covering what the humans had believed were statues. The aliens accost McGillop and corner Osgood. Osgood prays for the Doctor to save her, but instead of being killed, she is faced with her duplicate.

The copy Osgood asks for her inhaler, annoyed she has had to copy a human with a defect. Having seen into Osgood's head, the Zygon says she wishes she copied her sister instead; Osgood thinks her sister is better than her.

Osgood outsmarts the Zygon, noticing that it's standing on her scarf; she pulls it out from under the Zygon, knocking it over and allowing the real Osgood to flee. Its contents are so top secret that its staff have their memories modified every day; the guard has been there ten years, but always thinks it's his first day. Apparently, this has happened to Clara at least once, as she has already obtained the necessary clearance to enter the archive.

The Doctor has the code to fully reactivate it not just the teleporter , but keeps it secret. Kate adds that they keep the manipulator a secret from their allies.

When Clara asks why, Kate indirectly references Back to the Future as an example. A scientist phones Kate, and she orders him to send a picture of some numerals, the activation code that the Eleventh Doctor carved into the wall of the cell in for them to find centuries later.

Osgood and McGillop enter the Archive, to Clara's surprise. The Zygon tells its allies to replace Clara as well; however, Clara dons the manipulator and types in the code from Kate's phone; with a smirk, Clara vanishes.

In the Tower of London in , the Eleventh Doctor scratches the activation code onto a wall in their cell, while the other two Doctors puzzle out how to escape. The War Doctor proposes an isolated sonic shift in the door molecules in order to disintegrate the door, but the Tenth Doctor rejects the idea, saying it would take centuries to calculate the necessary formula.

The War Doctor starts bickering with the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors, chastising them for their shame of being "grown-up" by speaking like children. Subdued, they look at him darkly, reminding him of the day he ended the Time War. The War Doctor notices the feeling of dread on their faces when they look at him. The Moment reappears, unseen and unheard by the other Doctors, and urges the War Doctor to ask his future selves the question that he needs to know: How many children died on Gallifrey that day.

The Eleventh Doctor says, "I've absolutely no idea. He then adds that he's so old that he can't even remember his proper age anymore; however, he guesses he's years old, putting the Time War years in the past for him.

However, the Tenth Doctor angrily asks how the Eleventh could ever forget something as important as this particular number, and bitterly states that there were 2.

The War Doctor exclaims in shock that he did count. Disturbed and furious by his successor's impassive nature, he asks him, "For once, I would like to know where I'm going.

The Moment explains to the War Doctor that the Tenth Doctor has become "the man who regrets" and the Eleventh "the man who forgets". They are the future of the Doctor, when he ends the Time War.

The Moment reminds the War Doctor that his sonic screwdriver, at the most basic level, is exactly the same device as the ones used by his counterparts: "Same software — different case".

He realises that if he scans the door and implants the calculations as a permanent subroutine in the screwdriver, it will take hundreds of years to work out the formula necessary to disintegrate the door. The Tenth Doctor checks his sonic screwdriver, finding the calculation still going. The Eleventh checks his, finding the calculation has been completed. They exuberantly congratulate themselves on their cleverness before Clara pushes open the door — which has been unlocked the entire time.

Clara asks her Doctor if they are all him. The Eleventh Doctor reminds Clara of the time she went into his timeline, to which she barely remembers. She compliments the Tenth Doctor's suit; he thanks her. She then asks why neither of them tried to just open the door; one thing the Doctor retains in all his incarnations is his inability to do simple things. The Queen comes in, telling them that she left the door unlocked as a test. She takes them down to the Zygons' lair to show them their plan.

Osgood walks the halls of the Under Gallery, before discovering the real Kate trapped in a Zygon nest. Kate's body template is being used to refresh the image of her Zygon doppelganger. Osgood frees her, but Kate bemoans the fact that the Zygons now have control of the Black Archive. It means that they've just lost control of the planet to hostile aliens.

The Doctors and Clara follow the Queen to the lair, whereupon they discover that the Zygon homeworld was destroyed in the early days of the Time War, and so they have decided to take Earth as their new home. However, sixteenth century Earth is too primitive to be comfortable to the invading shapeshifters, so they intend to invade the more advanced future in order to establish their new homeworld.

They, therefore, have translated themselves into the paintings using stasis cubes , which are the Time Lords' three-dimensional paintings. The Eleventh and Tenth Doctors explain to Clara that it works similar to cup-a-soup.

The Tenth Doctor berates the Zygon commander for doing a lousy job of replicating the real Queen Elizabeth, but she reveals to his mortification that she is the real Elizabeth. Having had numerous attempts on her life already, Elizabeth carries a hidden blade on her, which she used to slay her twin in the forest and take her place as Zygon commander. The Zygons thought humans would be too weak to do so, hence why Elizabeth had the advantage of surprise. Elizabeth calls on the Tenth Doctor to save England but first whisks him away to be married with his past and future selves as reluctant witnesses, and an enthusiastic Clara throwing confetti.

The War Doctor wonders if there's a lot of kissing in the future, to which the Eleventh states "It does start to happen, yeah.. The Tenth Doctor tells Elizabeth that he will be back, but ultimately abandoned his marriage.

The War Doctor notes that the Tenth really let the control room go. Suddenly, a flash of light changes the control room, turning it into the War Doctor's control room.

Because of the presence of three incarnations of the Doctor, the control room is trying to compensate for the different time zones. Both the Tenth and the Eleventh Doctors are delighted to see the roundels , which they haven't seen in a while; however, neither of them knows what they actually are. The Eleventh Doctor stabilises the desktop, picking his current version; the Tenth Doctor remarks that he doesn't like it.

Clara tells them that the Zygons have gotten into the Black Archive, prompting dark stares from them. You've heard of it" Clara nervously says. In the Black Archive, the Zygons note that the humans don't know what half the stuff there does, but they do; they can conquer the Earth in less than a day with what's stored there. Kate, Osgood and McGillop arrive, saying that they are not armed and thus not a threat.

Kate tells her Zygon double that in the event that the Black Archive falls into the wrongs hands, a fail-safe was created. She voice activates a countdown to detonate a nuclear warhead beneath the Tower, which will destroy all of London in order to protect the planet from the Zygons; her double tries countermanding the order several times.

The Kate Zygon fearful states that they just have to agree to live, implying she wishes to make a compromise. However, Kate refuses to negotiate, planning to destroy all of London just to be safe. The Eleventh Doctor's voice crackles on via the space-time telegraph he had once given to her father , begging Kate not to detonate; Kate shuts off the device, not wishing to let the Doctor influence her.

Trust me, it's an unbeatable combo. The Doctors force back an attacking Dalek. The real Osgood begs the Doctor to save them again, as the Doctors and Clara force their way out of the painting, having frozen themselves in it earlier.

The Doctors now face the Fall of Arcadia in real time as it unfolds, and are immediately met with an attacking Dalek, which they repel with their sonic screwdrivers. It crashes through the glass of the painting and the Doctors emerge in a heroic fashion. Clara soon follows. The three Doctors hand the Kates an ultimatum when they refuse to disarm the Archive's nuclear option: They trigger the memory modifiers to confuse everybody as to whether they are human or Zygon.

After regaining his freedom and then regenerating into the Fourth Doctor, he decided he didn't like feeling tied down to a job and left, though he never officially quit. During the final war, the Eighth Doctor decided he was the only one could stop it and took a regeneration potion that programmed his next incarnation to be a warrior. This, along with his refusal to call himself the Doctor, means Hurt's incarnation isn't counted as part of the basic numbering system for the various Doctors.

Christopher Eccleston's version is thus still the Ninth Doctor, even though he was the hero's tenth incarnation. The Time Lords also wear new costumes that harken back to designs seen in classic Doctor Who , while the soldiers have the Seal of the Time Lords also known as the Seal of Rassilon decorating their armor.

Links to the Past : The Moment chooses Rose's form because she was a friend of the Doctor, but then realizes they haven't met yet.

This power allows the Moment to breach the time locks that seal the Last Great Time War from interference. What We See : The Moment judges those who use its power, and so decrees that if the Doctor uses it to wipe out all Daleks and Time Lords, he will be forced to survive to live with the consequences.

Links to the Past : In the episode "Dalek," the Doctor first admitted that he had been the one to end the Time War by wiping out both sides. He later added that his survival was not achieved by his own choice. This is the first time we learn what he meant. Links to the Past : Elizabeth I has appeared many times in the Whoniverse. In the episode "The Shakespeare Code," the Tenth Doctor runs into Elizabeth I in and is surprised when she orders her guards to kill him.

This special finally reveals that thirty-seven years earlier, he married her -- and then immediately ditched her. This is the first time since then that they've fought the Doctor on-screen, though they've appeared several times in tie-in media.

David Tennant has said that the Zygons were his favorite monsters of classic Doctor Who. What We See : The Eleventh Doctor wanders past several statues underneath cloth coverings, curious about the dust and sand on the floor. She says it will be in the s or s archives, "depending on the data protocol. Unable to comprehend such an event, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart instead concluded that the base had been teleported to the town of Cromer in Norfolk.

Malcolm" is likely Dr. Malcolm Taylor, seen in "Planet of the Dead" The Tenth and Eleventh Doctors try to reverse the polarity of the time tunnel.