This is it! After 33 Seasons, a TV Movie, a plethora of books, audio novels, comics, animations and three spinoffs, Doctor Who is finally celebrating its 50th Anniversary!

Steven Moffat really had his work cut out when writing this episode. He had to simultaneously look back at the past 50 years of the Doctor by throwing in enough continuity references to appease the Classic Who fans, but restrain said references to the level where fans of NuWho wouldn't be put off, while at the same time setting up the programme for the next 50 years. Despite the odds, I am very pleased to say that he succeeded with flying colours. The Day of the Doctor is, quite simply, one of the best episodes of Doctor Who I've ever seen.

The story begins with the Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith) and Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman) called to the National Gallery by Head of Scientific Research at UNIT, Kate Stewart (Jemma Redgrave). There they discover several impossible Time Lord 'bigger on the inside' paintings, and begin to investigate missing figures from said paintings. A wormhole soon interrupts the investigation, and after jumping through it, the Eleventh Doctor is reunited with two of his former selves, the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant and the War Doctor (John Hurt). Together, they must stop the zygons from invading the present via the past, and help the War Doctor make the most important decision of his lives.

One of the many highlights for this episode, as is the case for all multi-Doctor specials, is the interactions between the different Doctors. This time, we were treated to the Eleventh, Tenth and War Doctors, and what a treat it is! The way 10 and 11 compare sonic screwdrivers, admire each other’s ‘brainy specs’, finish each other’s sentences and move in sync with one another is wonderful to watch. There’s no antagonism between the two like there was between the Second and Third Doctors, but this isn’t a bad thing, as it was good to see the Doctor actually getting along very well with himself for once. Add the War Doctor into the mix, and the whole thing goes from wonderful to sublime. The War Doctor, while chronologically younger than both 10 and 11, takes the role of the elder, chastising his successors for their ridiculous uses of their sonic screwdrivers, childish words, catch-phrases, gestures, youthful appearance and rapid talking. The War Doctor is essentially the voice of Classic Doctor Who, completely bewildered at what he’s going to become, and not particularly happy about it. As he so eloquently puts it: “Am I having a midlife crisis?”

However, despite the triple act between the Doctors, The Day of the Doctor has a very important story to tell. While it is the episode celebrating 50 years of the programme, the main plot revolves around a concept introduced in the last eight – the Time War. Created by Russell T Davies when he revived the show in 2005, the Time War saw the Time Lords wiped out in a wa ragainst the Daleks, leaving the Doctor the only survivor. The concept has been built on over the preceding years, and we eventually learnt that the Doctor himself was the direct cause of billions – possibly trillions - of deaths. To be honesty, I’ve never been particularly happy about this for a number of reasons, mainly because it severely limited the show in terms of where it could go in relation to the Time Lords. To be fair, stories with the Time Lords in them in Classic Who were generally not that great (there are exceptions), but at least they built on the mythology of Doctor Who – the 12 regeneration limit was introduced in one such story, for example. So, from my point of view, the revelation that Gallifrey was not destroyed after all and is currently frozen in time in a pocket universe is nothing less than brilliant. It means there are now endless possibilities for the future – fan favourite characters like Romana, Susan, Drax, Leela, K9 and the Master can now all return without a bogus explanation on how they escaped the destruction of Gallifrey. In short, I would, without hesitation, label this as the best thing Steven Moffat has done for the show. The past 50 years have been about the Doctor running away from Gallifrey, and the next 50 should be about him running back to it, desperate to save it.

If there’s one gripe about the potential return of the TimeLords, it’s that it won’t be done justice. It’s all well and good to have the Doctor’s species return, but the fact of the matter is that they were not necessarily the good guys by the end of the Time War. One only needs to be reminded of Rassilon from The End of Time to realise how true there is – plus the fact that the Time Lords were considered to be as bad as the Daleks in the minisode The Night of the Doctor. No, if the Time Lords return, we need to have a couple of episodes with conflict between the Doctor and the high-ups on Gallifrey.

Although the main narrative focuses on the Time War, the real treat the episode brings is the numerous nods to the Classic Series. From the original title sequence and theme music, to the fact that Ian Chesterton is now on the Board of Governors at Coal Hill School, to the fourth Doctor’s scarf, to the activation code for Captain Jack’s Vortex Manipulator being the date and time that the first episode of Doctor Who aired, to the pictures of all the Doctor’s companions in the Black Archive, to the roundels in the War Doctor’s TARDIS...the list goes on. Honestly, in my opinion, this was the perfect way of acknowledging the past – just having little references placed regularly throughout the episode, rather than having a big nostalgia fest like The Five Doctors. That being said, I think the casting of Billie Piper as the Moment was a missed opportunity – the role could (and should) have been taken by a classic companion instead.

While we’re on the subject of companions, I must say that I was extremely relieved that Rose Tyler wasn’t returning. Rose has returned too many times for me to care (not that I ever cared about her in the first place), so if she had come back again, I’m certain my viewing experience would have been lessened to some degree. Clara, on the other hand was excellent, despite the fact that she was mainly reserved to the sideline to make way for the Doctor triple act. However, she had some great moments, like revealing that the door to the Doctors’ cell in the Tower of London was unlocked the entire time, and being the Doctor’s conscience, urging him to find another way to end the Time War.

Many criticisms against Moffat of late are that his stories are too complicated, and that their dependence on time travel and ‘timey wimey stuff’ is a bad thing. While I’ve never agreed with this criticism, I must say that I did find The Day of the Doctor to be Moffat’s most straight-forward script since Series 5. The way we flicked between the Eleventh, War and Tenth Doctors until they joined forces felt very natural, and the resolution of the episode didn’t require a complicated explanation – it was set up early on in the episode, in a way that made it obvious to the view what the stasis cube did. That being said, I’ve read that people have been confused as to whether Gallifrey was preserved in a painting or a pocket universe, so that could have been explained better. Unfortunately, though, for those wanting less timey wimey your wish was not going to be answered – at least not in the first half. The Eleventh Doctor’s fez was once again used as a timey wimey plot device (as it was in The Big Bang), but once the Doctors met, the fez was quickly abandoned and things proceeded in a much more linear fashion, save for the phone call back in time to the UNIT person to get the ‘Gallifrey Falls No More’ painting moved to the Black Archive.

One cannot review The Day of the Doctor without mentioning the two surprise cameos in the episode: those of Peter Capaldi as the 12th Doctor and Tom Baker as the Curator. The former was only a split-second glimpse seen in the climax of the episode, but it was enough for me to instantly recognise who I was looking at. The glimpse also gave a very small indication of how the12th Doctor may behave; those eyes looked quite formidable! The latter cameo was, quite simply, the ultimate reference to Classic Who. Having the man who played the Fourth Doctor so long ago talking to the Eleventh Doctor in 2013 was absolutely brilliant. Baker’s voice is as magnificent as ever, and it was great to see him back in the programme, on screen, for the first time since 1981. Baker’s character also indicated that the Doctor would find a wayaround the 12-regeneration rule (as if he wouldn’t have any way!), as some ofhis dialogue hinted that the Curator had been the Doctor, or that the Doctor would become the Curator. I doubt that we’ll ever truly know the answer to this dilemma, as I think the Curator, if he is a future incarnation of the Doctor, will occur at some point in the Doctor’s future that we will never reach onscreen.

Finally, the entire cast gave some of their best performances. Matt Smith was outstanding as the Eleventh Doctor (as always), and he has really cemented himself as one of the great Doctors. David Tennant was on top form as the Tenth Doctor, showing that, when written properly, his Doctor can be really good. Jenna Coleman and Billie Piper were good in their respective roles, as were the rest of the supporting cast. However, it was legendary actor John Hurt who stole the show, absolutely acting the pants off everyone else. His Doctor displays genuine happiness at the prospect of saving Gallifrey, and again when he declares himself to be the Doctor again. I think his best moment though, is when he is poised to use the Moment, only for his future selves to talk him out of it. John Hurt, I salute you.

With its stellar production values (the Time War scenes are amazing!), The Day of the Doctor never ceases to entertain and delight, and i fanything, is a redemption story for the Doctor. With three different incarnationsof the Doctor we see how the War has affected him at different stages in his life, and we can’t help but rejoice with him as he finds another way to end the Time War. With a plethora of references and tributes to the past 50 years of the best television programme ever made, and with a story that sets up the next 50, I could not have wished for Doctor Who’s 50th Anniversary to be celebrated in a better way. Happy birthday, Doctor Who.

10/10