‘I blubbed inconsolably for 20 minutes’ – your favourite ever Doctor Who moments
‘We didn’t even realise it was a Doctor Who episode’
We were living in France when Doctor Who was resurrected with Christopher Eccleston, so we missed it. I wasn’t too bothered, since I was a huge Tom Baker fan and very defensive of my childhood programme. We moved back to the UK when our kids were six and three. My husband and I ended up watching it when they were in bed. A woman was roaming around a deserted house. She peeled back the wallpaper find a message – addressed to her. Then the statues in the garden started getting closer. It was the weeping angel episode. David Tennant played the Doctor then, but at this point we didn’t even realise it was a Doctor Who episode.
We were shocked – that’s way too scary for kids! Of course, we forget just how scary it was back in the 70s and 80s, with huge spiders crawling over people and monsters walking out of the sea. Eventually we let our daughter watch a couple of episodes with us and she was hooked. David Tennant is her Doctor. We’ve since watched all episodes from Christopher Eccleston to Jodie Whittaker and are huge fans. Lisa Valentine, 51, Wiltshire
‘William Hartnell’s speech to Susan’
I grew up watching Doctor Who and I now enjoy watching all of it with my sons. We have had the chance to meet several of the actors over the years. The speech by William Hartnell at the end of the Dalek Invasion of Earth, addressed to Susan. “One day, I shall come back ...” While the show could have easily ended at his exit, the spirit of his performance gave life to a character that has evolved with endless potential. We look forward to everything it becomes. Diana Wagner, 48, Texas, USA
‘When Van Gogh saw his paintings on exhibition’
The most moving moment ever was when Vincent Van Gogh looked up and saw all his paintings on exhibition, and saw the crowds of his adoring fans adoring his paintings. A heart-stopping, emotional, unforgettable moment. That’s what a time machine is for. Derekk Ross, Cornwall
‘A passing thought’
The Doctor (Tom Baker) and his assistant are travelling through the Doctor’s own brain when a bright flashing ball whizzes past them. “What was that?!” exclaimed his assistant. “Oh,” the Doctor replies nonchalantly, “just a passing thought.” Paul, 65, Australia
‘The Sea Devils’
We got “free” BBC in Ireland in the 1970s as its Welsh transmitter overlapped into our eastern coast. So, aged seven, I watched Jon Pertwee every Saturday. The Sea Devils episodes, from February 1972, had me hiding under the coffee table – the opening scenes on the lonely lighthouse as the two keepers are silently pursued by the reptilian Devils stay with me still. I went on to work with the BBC One team that brought back Doctor Who. In 2002,I was channel executive to controller Lorraine Heggessey. My speaking Dalek toy (“EX-TER-MIN-ATE”) was played every morning in an irritating attempt to get her to recommission the series. It worked! Helen O’Rahilly, Dublin, Ireland
‘A giant maggot creeping towards Jo Grant’
I remember the sheer terror as I watched a giant maggot slowly creeping towards Jo Grant at the end of an episode of The Green Death in the Pertwee era. There are always mentions of “hiding behind the sofa”, but I literally did. I was so terrified that my mum, another Who fan, tried to explain that the maggot would probably turn out to just want to have a talk with Jo. I have no idea why this made any sense to me, but it did help calm me down. My second favourite moment was when Christopher Eccleston regenerated into David Tennant. The first series of the new Who was a shared experience with my eldest daughter and turned her into a lifelong fan. At the end of this episode, she fled the room in tears crying out “but I don’t want him to go!” We still watch together, but reply via chat. Doctor Who brings three generations of my family together and keeps them connected over a silly show about a blue box. Andrew Stephens, Swindon
‘Flying Daleks, whatever next?’
I was only six years old in 1988 and yet I have the most vivid memory of watching a Dalek hover up a flight of stairs (from the spectacular 25th anniversary story Remembrance of the Daleks). I don’t think at that age I had any clue I was watching history in the making. Flying Daleks, whatever next? (Quite a lot as it would turn out). David, 41, Shropshire
‘I sobbed like a baby’
The one moment that stands out for me is the farewell between the Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler at Darlig Ulv Stranden (Bad Wolf Bay) at the end of the episode Doomsday in 2006. God, how I sobbed like a baby when I first watched that scene; I was literally inconsolable for about 20 minutes afterwards. The unfairness of their separation, the end of joyous and thrilling adventures together and the unspoken words that almost were finally shared between the Doctor and Rose, until their link was cruelly and suddenly severed (as we thought at the time). I cannot wait to see what Russell T Davies brings to this next iteration of my favourite TV show; I just hope I don’t end up a blubbing mess again. Paul Nethercott, 56, Manchester
‘The very first episode’
I remember the very first episode which I watched with my brother on a small Bush television. Our neighbour Pip would watch it with us eating his tea on a tray as we had the only TV in the road. From the first opening music to the end, the three of us were gripped and I don’t think we missed an episode after. I remember hiding behind the settee when the Cybermen came – they were the most scary. It provided endless opportunities for reenactments. Years later, I trained to be a camerawoman and worked on Doctor Who in 1980 with Tom Baker and Peter Davison. Being part of the production, even in a tiny role, was a thrill. Sara, 65, East Sussex
The bodies of the girls’ father, his partner, Dikla, and her son, Tomer, were found riddled with bullets in an empty lot. Before he was shot, 17-year-old Tomer had been told by militants to go door-to-door and speak in Hebrew to convince his neighbours to leave their shelters. Ela and Dafna also hold Hungarian nationality, according to media reports.
Ron Krivoy, 25
The Russian-Israeli worked as a sound technician at the Nova music festival attacked by the militants.
Initially he managed to escape and hide in a ditch, his sister Julia told Israeli
media, but by noon an Arab-speaking person was answering his phone.
The youngest of three siblings, Krivoy was born in Israel, and, according to his father, had survived two car accidents and a fall into a sewer.
Hamas said he was being released outside the truce deal with Israel.
Monday
Karina Engelbert (also named as Engel), 51, and her two daughters Mika, 18, and Yuval, 11.
Their father, Ronen Engel, 55, remains in Hamas captivity. The couple’s eldest son, Tom, serves in the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), Haaretz reported.
Karina Engelbert’s family said she was diagnosed with breast cancer two years ago, and recovered about two months before she was kidnapped on 7 October. Her sister said they spoke by phone on the day of the Hamas attacks. Eitan Yahalomi, 12
Eitan Yahalomi, 12, was released but the Times of Israel reports his father Ohad remains in Gaza as a hostage.
Images released by the Israeli military showed the French-Israeli child reunited with his mother, who gripped him tightly to her.
Erez Kalderon, 12 and Sahar Kalderon, 16
Erez Kalderon and sister Sahar were seized from their family home in Kibbutz Nir Oz. The Times of Israel reports their father, Father Ofer, remains a hostage in Gaza.
Ido Dan, a relative, spoke of the joy at their release on Monday mixed with anxiety about their father who is still being held. “It is difficult to go from a state of endless anxiety about their fate to a state of relief and joy,” Dan said. “This is an exciting and heart-filling moment but ... it is the beginning of a difficult rehabilitation process for Sahar and Erez, who are still young and have been through an unbearable experience.”
Yagil, 12 and Or Yaakov, 16
Yagil and Or Yaakov were initially captured when they were sleeping in their Kibbutz Nir Oz house, according to the Times of Israel. They’ve now been released, but their father Yair and his girlfriend Meirav are reportedly still in Gaza
Sharon Aloni-Cunio and three-yearold twins Emma and Yuli
Members of an extended family who were kidnapped in Nir Oz. Sharon’s husband, David, was also abducted but has not been released. Sharon’s sister Danielle and her daughter Amelia, 5, were visiting the family at the time of the kidnapping and were released on Friday