Breaking the bonds of continuity

Doctor Who fans are much like DFS sofas – just as DFS always have a sale on, Doctor Who fans are always up-in-arms about something. In the last month, showrunner Chris Chibnall delivered the coup de grâce to end them all, revealing in the Series 12 finale that William Hartnell was not the first incarnation of the person calling him or herself the Doctor, but that a whole series of lives had existed prior to William Hartnell’s incarnation.