Sonic screwdriver to the heart: Hello, Sweetie

River Song's cheeky greeting was usually just a bit forced, a desperate attempt at levity, but to it have it pushed back at her with infinite kindness and unbearable tenderness, makes it the most romantic goddamn moment of the entire series.

Without a single word, Peter Capaldi's face says it all as she tells the bad guys he never really loved her, and it cuts him to the core that she really believes it

But even the heart of a star can show his love for somebody, just by standing next to her, and the moment when she finally realises who this old man actually is, it's just a moment of utter joy.

Sonic screwdriver to the heart: Something old

Matt Smith might have been the youngest actor to ever play the Doctor, but he sounds so old here, at the end of all things. So weary, so tired, after rebooting the universe and putting all things right, and it's time for the Doctor to go too.

It's not the end of course, with the Doctor laying down a simple coded message that will bring him back to existence at the wedding of the girl who waited, and he'll appear in his box that is something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.

But for a moment there, he really is leaving us all, and that earlier blaze of glory is quietly overshadowed by somebody who is moving on for good, and taking his endless kindness with him.

Sonic screwdriver to the heart: Look at what you leave behind, Vincent

None of us know what kind of legacy we will end up leaving behind. But still, even if you do end up going out in a haze of anguish and pain, you couldn't ask for more than hearing Bill Nighy deliver a speech that cuts to the soul of everything you're trying to do, explaining with passion and fervor why you were such a unique individual, and were able to overcome your own agony to create something so beautiful it will take peoples' breath away for as long as humans roam the cosmos.

We should all be so lucky.

Sonic screwdriver to the heart: The best temp in Chiswick

And after the temp from West London has only gone and saved the whole bloody universe, and upgraded to a whole new human/Time Lord creation, and helped all the Doctor's companions fly the TARDIS properly, the inescapable truth is that it just can't last.

Donna is resigned to her fate, but still fights it, and then the Doctor has to live with the aftermath. She is returned to her family, and he gets to speak to her one last time, but she has no idea who he is, even as he promises her mother and grandfather that her name will live on in the stars forever.

And just when it can't get any more heartbreaking, there's the last message from silly old Wilfred, who will one day be responsible for the Doctor's death. It's only Bernard bloody Cribbins in the rain, telling the Doctor he'll always think of him, even when he's alone out there in the universe.

Sonic screwdriver to the heart: Right at you

It's not just the holographic message that the Ninth Doctor gives to Rose, as he faces certain death in his latest battle against the Daleks, and sends Rose back to the safety in her mundane life with her mundane family. It's not just the words he says, telling her to live, and leave the TARDIS to die, and to have a fantastic life.

It's the direct look the hologram gives her, showing that the Doctor always knew he would have to leave this message one day, and that he always knew where Rose would be standing at that exact moment. And his voice comes through loud and clear, and maybe it's all just the way Rose is seeing it, but that doesn't make it any less true.

It's crushing, taking a simple message that was just a little too impersonal and making it something heartfelt and honest. All with a simple look.

Sonic screwdriver to the heart: A day like this

I have genuinely thought Dr Who was the best TV show in the entire universe since I was 4-years-old, and that's unlikely to change now. Because you can do any kind of story in Dr Who, and because it values empathy and intellect over brutality and selfishness, and because the Doctor is never cruel or cowardly, and for a million other reasons.

But when it came back in 2005, I didn't expect to get so emotional about it all. But there I was, watching The Doctor Dances, and the big man finally realises what is going on in bombed-out London, and he gets his moment, and it's so well earned:



And no lie, I bawled my goddamn eyes out.

This wasn't just good TV, this was great television, and incredibly moving. Doctor Who has always been something to do with death, but every now and then, nobody has to die. In the middle of a bombed-out London, in the midst of the biggest carnage the world has ever seen, just this once, everybody lives.

Sure, there was that bit in the Ribos Operation where Binro finds out he was right about the stars after all, and I was properly traumatised by Adric blowing up at the end of Earthshock (especially the lack of music and his broken maths medal over the end credits).

But this new series was something new. This is what sold me on the new series. It wasn't the incredible production values, or the irony, or the deadset cleverness. It was this new depth of writing and feeling, and sometimes the show would have moments where it could be horribly cheesy and gut-wrenching at the same time, and it was a glorious feeling.

This is when I first felt it. It wouldn't be the last time.

Sword boy: Cleganebowl

A lot of people hated the final season because it did what Game of Thrones always did, subvert and piss on your expectations. It never quite gave you want you wanted, (which some of us actually love about it).

So while Cleganebowl, a fight that has been coming since the start of the whole damn series, is pretty fucking metal, taking place above the burning city at the end of the world as dragons fly overhead, it's also just gross and grubby and messy and nasty.

It had been building for so long - the Clegane brothers' first faceoff on the tournament field in the opening season was amazing, particularly the way it ends with the Hound dropping to his knees - but the final confrontation sent one last message: that as thrilling as it all was, the path of vengeance was also pointless and horrible.

The Hound's last 'just fucking die!' is the cry of a man who just wants it all to end. And if he has to plummet to his doom with his zombie brother, then that's what he has to do.

Sword boy: Arthur Dayne v everybody

Arthur Dayne is regularly spoken off as the best fighter anybody has ever seen in any of the Seven Kingdoms, and Bran's time-trip back to the fight at the Tower of Joy shows that he deserved all that praise, and more.

It might be a bit too obviously choreographed, but his use of two big fucking swords is the equvalent of bringing a tank to a gunfight, and it takes a bit of dodgy backstabbing to bring him down. Nobody was ever going to beat him in a fair fight, especially when he has twice the usual amount of blades coming at you.

Sword boy: Ser Barristan v Sons of the Harpy

It's not the most beautifully choreographed fight in the whole thing, and takes place in a dark and anonymous alleyway, crowded with slavery-loving arseholes.

But there is something unspeakably noble in Ser Barristan Selmy, a rare man of true honour, dying to save a bunch of dickless ex-slaves on the far side of the world, wading into a fight he can never win - not because he wants t o impress anybody or show off how cool he is - but because it's the right fucking thing to do

Most of the knights in the series are complete dicks - it's notable that some of the most truly honourable fighters do not have that kind of title -but Ser Barristan stays true to his vows and lays down his life for Grey Worm, because honour demands it.