10 Times Doctor Who Trolled Us (And We Fell For It)

Doctor Who and playfully misleading its audience

Name a more iconic duo. The show was conceived in an age long before internet trolling was a thing

but intentionally tricking viewers has since become an inevitable and consistent part of the show

Whether it's a moment in an episode designed to pull the wool over our eyes or a marketing gimmick with the sole purpose of fooling us

Doctor Who loves nothing more than plonking itself down in a nice comfy armchair

pointing and laughing right in our faces. I'm Ellie for Who Culture here with 10 times Doctor Who trolled us, and we fell for it

10. Pretending Fourteens' regeneration would be normal In a sense, the Fourteenth Doctor's tenure was one great big prank

To begin with, the BBC tried to pull the wool over our eyes and hide the fact that he'd be played by David Tennant

by leading us to believe that Jodie Whittaker would regenerate into Shooty Gatwa

But fans saw through this cunning ruse when it was pointed out that Gatwa had never actually been referred to as the 14th Doctor

And then Tenant was spotted on set alongside Whittaker's TARDIS. But nice try

When it later came to 14's own regeneration in The Giggle, the show tried to troll us again by making it seem like it would just be a standard transition from one Doctor to the next

Trailers were edited with different backgrounds, and Tenant and Gatwa were shown separately in all promo material

hiding the fact that they'd be appearing together. Then there was the moment itself

the way the camera dramatically pushes towards Tennant as if he's about to morph into Gatwa

and the appropriateness of his final line, Allons-y, making it seem like it will be business as usual

Unless you were one of those people who believed the Reddit leaks, then there was no reason to suspect that anything unusual would occur

And the show's playful misdirection did a really great job of keeping you guessing right up until the very last second

9. Disguising Grace's Death When the cast for Series 11 was announced, Sharon D. Clark was said to be featuring in a recurring role alongside full-time companions Bradley Walsh, Mandip Gill, and Tosin Cole

Technically speaking, that was true. Following her debut in The Woman Who Fell to Earth, she does crop up again in Arachnids in the UK, and it takes you away, with further appearances in Series 12 to come

However, what the press release failed to mention, for obvious reasons, is that Grace tragically dies at the end of her first story

with Clark merely playing visions in subsequent stories. To put viewers well and truly off the scent

the show went a step further, releasing a promo pic of Grace alongside the fam

in their costumes from the final scene, a scene Grace doesn't actually appear in

Ooh, those sneaky little marketers! A similar stunt was pulled back in 2007

when Susie Costello was incorporated into posters for the first season of Torchwood

to preserve the surprise of her death at the end of the first episode

Ooh, uh, spoilers for Torchwood, I guess. Both examples demonstrate serious commitment to the bit

It's the kind of trolling I think we can all appreciate. Number 8. David Morrissey is the next Doctor

One of the things the original Christmas specials did so well was provide a strong hook to lure viewers in

2007's winning formula of Kylie Minogue and the Titanic in space attracted an audience of just under 14 million

the biggest in all of New Who. In 2008, the show took a slightly different

but equally audacious approach. With David Tennant having announced his departure in October

and Matt Smith's casting not yet announced, there was a perfect opportunity to pass off a fake 11th Doctor as the real deal and get away with it And Russell T Davis gladly took that opportunity Anything for a bit of content eh Russ

As such, the 2008 Christmas special was built around the premise of the 10th Doctor

coming screwdriver to screwdriver with his apparent successor. The actor chosen for this elaborate ruse was David Morrissey

someone who could conceivably have followed on from David Tennant and would also make an excellent Doctor

Though there were doubts about Morrissey's character from the start, with eagle-eyed fans noticing that his sonic screwdriver glimpsed in an early preview clip was nothing more than an actual screwdriver

no one could categorically say he wasn't the Doctor until broadcast. It was undeniably one of the most effective publicity stunts in the show's history, managing to score New Who's second largest audience 13 million viewers

which makes it the widest-reaching Doctor Who troll ever. 7. Joe Martin is the Master

Fugitive of the Jadoon is a masterclass in Misdirection, a Russian doll of reveals where the introduction of the Fugitive Doctor

is hidden behind the return of the Jadoon and Captain Jack Harkness

Given how many times Joe Martin has since reappeared, it's easy to forget that prior to the reveal

most people had no idea she was the Doctor. And why would we

Though it becomes pretty clear pretty quickly that she's a Time Lord, there are plenty of hints that she's one of the evil variety

From her fight with the Jadoon, to her hidden blaster, to the TARDIS buried under a gravestone

which at face value suggests Ruth has actually killed the Doctor. That would have been a brilliant twist, just saying

And it turns out that this idea wasn't entirely unfounded. As he has since revealed on Twitter

13th Doctor-era composer Sagan Akinola deliberately tried to wrongfoot viewers by incorporating the baseline of his master theme

into the reveal scene's score, and thus suggest that Joe Martin is another incarnation of the Doctor's bestest enemy

To appreciate this easter egg, fans should listen carefully in the moment that Ruth breaks the glass

where the motif is played twice, first by itself, then with the Fugitive Doctor's theme over the top

It's an incredibly subtle touch, but one that even on a subconscious level plays havoc with our expectations

It just goes to show even the show's soundtrack isn't immune to playing tricks

6. Call the Doctor The Stolen Earth is remembered for tricking viewers into thinking that David Tennant was going to be leaving the show unannounced following that cliffhanger

But there's also a massive troll much earlier in the episode, when the Doctor's companions are trying to track him down via the Subwave network

Their solution involves using the combined efforts of Torchwood and Mr. Smith to make every phone in the world call the Doctor, or more specifically, the mobile that Martha gave him when she left the TARDIS

As part of this sequence, the Doctor's number is shown on screen for all to see

Of course, the number chosen wasn't a real number, but one of many reserved by Ofcom to use in TV dramas

That didn't stop fans from calling it anyway, though, and venting their disappointment online at being unable to get through to the TARDIS

What a bummer. Many years later, there was a way to phone the Doctor for real

as part of the marketing campaign for Flux, unlocking a voicemail recorded by Jodie Whittaker

On this occasion, the doctor's number was 0800 678 3110. And to save any further trolling

we can confirm that this one no longer works either. So, sorry about that

Number 5. Who's Melody's father? From the moment Amy was introduced there were hints that she wasn fully devoted to her fianc Rory and instead fancied the Doctor Well we say hints but her full snogging him was probably a bit more than a hint wasn it

This love triangle was explored to varying degrees of success in Series 5 and became even more complicated in Series 6

with the reveal of Amy's pregnancy raising the question, who's the father

It all sounds quite ludicrous now, but at the time, it was something the show fully played into

Initially in Day of the Moon, when Amy confesses her love to the man who dropped out of the sky

Terrible wording there, Amy, by the way. It all came to a head in the opening scene of A Good Man Goes to War

which sees Amy tell Melody about her father, a sonic screwdriver-wielding man who has a name other than the one on his birth certificate

and despite his young appearance, has lived for hundreds and hundreds of years

Of course, this man ends up being Rory, but the bit goes on for so long that you do begin to wonder

whether the show's about to pull a soap-style twist where the Doctor fathers a child with his companion

And when the penny drops, you can almost picture Stephen Moffat cackling away at his keyboard

Complicated familial relations between Doctor and Companion isn't actually a million miles away

from where we leave things at the end of Series 6, with the Doctor revealed to be Amy and Rory's son-in-law

Cue EastEnders theme. Number four, Clara who? Moffat two-parters are notorious for giving us an almighty cliffhanger

at the end of Part 1, then throwing in a completely separate curveball at the start of Part 2

One of the most audacious examples is the Series 8 finale, which, directly after revealing that Missy is the Master

sees Clara try to convince us and a bunch of Cybermen that she's the Doctor

Fans first went into a frenzy following the trailer for Dark Water and Death in Heaven

with the line, Clara Oswald has never existed, suggesting that there was a lot more to discover about the Impossible Girl

And in context, the moment where she actually claims that she's the Doctor isn't actually as ridiculous as it sounds

After all, Clara had already played at being the Doctor earlier in the series in Flatline

Sure, it doesn't make an ounce of sense when you stop and think about it. I mean, why would the Doctor have split herself

across her own time stream? And on rewatch, the gag becomes annoyingly obvious

but it's a surprisingly elaborate one too. They even continue it into the title sequence

with Jenna Coleman's eyes appearing in place of Peter Capaldi's and their names given in the opposite order

They were really determined to try and fool us, weren't they? Number 3. Wild Blue Yonder's Redacted Cast

With so much known in advance about the first and third 60th anniversary specials

the decision was taken to shroud middle installment Wild Blue Yonder in complete mystery

Fans first clocked this when the trailer revealing the special's titles was released

The Wild Blue Yonder section was obscured by glitches and redacted text

and it wasn't just a dodgy video file. Following this, speculation began to mount about the episode's guest cast

with many theorizing that major actors were being held back until December

possibly returning doctors or companions. Closer to broadcast, the Doctor Who magazine episode preview added fuel to the fire

by simply listing three redacted cast members alongside David Tennant and Catherine Tate

In the end, it was all a massive anticlimax, with the identities of the actors Nathaniel Curtis playing Isaac Newton

Susan Twist, Mrs. Meridue, and Bernard Cribbins, Wilfred Mott, all pretty unremarkable

Cribbin's return was significant for sure, but we already knew about it from filming

Likewise, Twist's debut is important in hindsight, but at the time, it meant absolutely nothing

It fair to say there was an element of fans getting carried away with themselves here and this is an example of the show playfulness warping expectations and actually damaging the episode But ultimately this was an anniversary special

and the show's marketing team knew exactly what they were doing, teasing us with the prospect of a Smith or Capaldi return like that

Absolutely criminal. Number two, Amy and Rory surviving the Weeping Angels. Karen Gillan and Arthur Darville's Doctor Who departure

was well publicised prior to the broadcast of The Angels Take Manhattan

But in true Moffat style, the episode kept us guessing about their fate right up until the final scene

At first, it looks like Rory is going to remain imprisoned in the Weeping Angels' Winter Key battery farm forever

after watching his older self die there. But then he decides to take his death into his own hands

and together with Amy, jump off the roof of the building, thereby creating a paradox and thwarting the Angels for good

And then the pair wake up, back in the present, seemingly unharmed

suggesting they'll escape unscathed after all. Yay! They survived! A happy ending for the ponds

Oh, wait a minute, what does that gravestone say? The great big bluff is soon revealed with Rory ultimately sent back in time by another weeping angel

and Amy offering herself up to the same angel in a bid to find him

Plenty of other companion exits have been misleading. I mean, just look at Rose's death in Doomsday or Clara's in Face the Raven

But none have been quite as twisty-turny as this. One minute the ponds are gone, then they're back with us, then they're gone again

Again, no doubt Moffat was hooting away at his keyboard while typing this one

Do you enjoy our pain, Stephen? Tell me, do you? Of course, the ultimate irony is that they do end up surviving the Angels

in a manner of speaking, living long and happy lives in the 20th century

So whichever way you look at it, they got you. And number one, The Name of the Doctor

Doctor Who's title is a question. A question that was first asked in the show's first story

and has been uttered countless times since. The answer, the Doctor's true name, was never that big a deal in the classic series

but took on a whole new significance in the run-up to the 50th anniversary

Having trolled fans in Forest of the Dead by showing River Song, the best character

whisper the Doctor's name to him, Moffat made it a plot point in the 11th Doctor's era

with Doctor Who retroactively becoming the universe's oldest question, and the answer becoming a secret that must never be spoken

It reached a point where it looked like the Doctor's name was finally going to be revealed

in the outrageously titled Series 7 finale, The Name of the Doctor

But ultimately, as with so much of Moffat's work, it ended up being something much more abstract

and a bait and switch to introduce the War Doctor. The name of the Doctor referring, in this case, to the Doctor's chosen name and what it represents

never being cruel and cowardly, yada yada yada. If the Doctor's name ever was revealed, it would almost definitely be an anticlimax

so it's probably for the best that this never came to anything. What would it even be

Keith? Malcolm? Fabio? A string of random letters? Honestly, who knows? It's a classic example of the show stringing fans along

and delivering something completely different to what was promised. But in a fun way

Long may the name of the Doctor remain a complete and total mystery

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In the meantime, I've been Ellie for Who Culture, and in the words of River Song herself

goodbye, sweeties