Throughout the series and the Doctor’s regenerations there’s always been some really great speeches from the Doctor. They’re impassioned as they fight to get people to understand, to get people to stop fighting and to listen, to find a peaceful resolution for a conflict, or to talk someone down from the metaphorical edge.

I love how each Doctor gets a big speech, sometimes more than one, and how each version of the Doctor, each actor who plays them, delivers the speech differently. Especially when you compare where each Doctor is in their lives, what experiences are still too raw while for others they’ve had a lot more time and distance from a tragedy and can perhaps reassess things more clearly.

“The Zygon Invasion”/“The Zygon Inversion” is a two part story in series nine and overall I don’t have strong feelings either way about the episodes themselves but the Twelfth Doctor’s big speech in the climax of the story is brilliant. Peter Capaldi is phenomenal and the pain and guilt over his acts during the Time War, the regret he has about the things he’s done and the unfathomable consequences of war is just fantastic. The Doctor is pleading for Bonnie and Kate Stewart to make better choices, to choose to talk to one another and find a better solution rather than pressing a button in mutually ensured destruction. It’s a fantastic and emotional speech, so well-written and performed, and it’s a standout moment in Capaldi’s time as the Doctor.