I'm interested in knowing if any of you know how casual viewers you know, or who even watched the episode with you, reacted to the final reveal at the end?

Many of us read spoilers on here so had a rough idea of what might happen, but what of people you know who don't read the forums and who had no idea of what was coming?

I know that even I as a regular viewer would have been shaken to the core if I didn't have a clue.

Any reactions from casual viewers you've witnessed I'd love to know about?

I'm not a casual viewer and have been watching since the 3rd Doctor.

I did though watch without any spoilers and no knowledge of what was going to happen and it was absolutely amazing.

I'm glad that you were. I was still blown away even though I half expected it due to reading various theories and spoilers. So in a way I'm slightly envious of you for watching it with fresh eyes so to speak.

There's a couple of people I know of who will have watched it and don't read the forums, so I'm looking forward to finding out what their reaction was to the reveal.

My little sister doesn't want a "wrinkly old man" playing the Twelfth Doctor, as she put it

I think I was probably thinking more of adult viewers who will know who John Hurt is as opposed to children who perhaps won't be aware of his work and his standing as an actor.

Well one of my friends who has a love/hate relationship with the show was just confused by it, but takes it all in her stride as she watches She thinks John Hurt is brilliant, but at the same time doesn't want to see Matt Smith go, so I'll presume she thinks he's next in line for the role too.

I've only really watched the show since Matt Smith took over. I watched now and then when David Tennant was The Doctor, from my limited viewing it was the best episode to date.

I managed to avoid the spoilers so the ending was a real surprise.

Off topic but if they manage to bring The Master back then Richard E. Grant would be great for role .

4 was my Doctor, I grew up with DW so I don't consider myself as casual viewer. I actively avoid spoilers though...I love the OMG moments.

I'm certainly a casual viewer. I started watching with Eccleston and have stuck with it since then. I can honestly say there are a lot of the early series with the likes of Baker, Davidson and McCoy where i've likely seen less than 5 episodes per series.

So I think i count

Anyway, as a slack-jawed cliffhanger it kind of fell flat for me, mainly because I already knew that Hurt was in the special. When we saw the shadowy figure I immediately said aloud "That's John Hurt". But after mulling it over, I do like what they did overall.

It does feel like they're setting up for a reset switch at the end of the 50th though, but we'll see. Just looking forward to watching it in 3D, since I own a 3D telly

The Master has been back already and John Simm was so good it would be sacrilege to replace him.

Not really like The Doctor there has been many before and will likely be more in the future

I'm sure I read that Simm said he would be willing to come back for a regeneration scene

Ah, the mythical "casual viewer"! Why would anyone bother to watch who doesn't care about the Doctor's story? I've never understood what this creature is supposed to look like, and I can only assume that they watch for reasons so esoteric as to be wholly unpredictable. Or perhaps they just like the distraction of bright, fast moving colors and moving music.

Seriously, though, I think the very notion is an insult to the intelligence of whoever it's meant to refer to. People will watch good stories, well presented. If there's back story they don't get, and I'm still only a fraction into the Classic series myself (good lord, there's a lot of it), they'll be curious enough to look into it or they'll learn to live without knowing, or they were never going to stay with a show that has a 50 year old history to begin with.

I, for one, believe they'll balance out between those three possibilities, and believe we needn't concern ourselves with them.

I have no idea who the old man is at the end. I thought DT was gonna turn round.

The outlines of who he was were stated explicitly. The Doctor assumed the title if the Doctor as a promise of identity, and "the old man" was a previous incarnation who did not live up to that promise.

I watched with my friend and his family. We're longtime fans of the show, but his family watch it in a less involved manner than us. Although we loved it, myself a bit more than him, his family were perplexed by a few things. It was a great episode but more for the committed fan than a member of the general audience.

I'm much more casual than many more on here, and hadn't read any spoilers. For me, it was a big shock and the game-changer that I now read had been promised. My partner was also going "WHAT?!?!?! WHAT?!?!?! WHAT??!?!?!" when she saw it.

I should say that I like media that keeps the viewer guessing, and has deep mysteries that may require interpretation. E.g. I greatly like the film "The Bothersome Man" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bothersome_Man Further up the thread it's suggested that casual viewers might be perplexed. Well, some casual viewers might actually like being perplexed.

Steady on tiger, I'm not insulting anybody.
I'm just differentiating between the Doctor Who fans who frequent online forums, and the viewers who don't, but enjoy Doctor Who and who will have gone into the episode pretty much blind.

I think most people understood that perfectly.

The ones I was with didn't enjoy being perplexed. They prefer a more straightforward type of Doctor Who. I loved the episode however.

I might have been jumping the gun, and if so, I apologize. I tire of seeing fans trepidatious at the thought of how "the average viewer" will respond. I was once an "average viewer," but I saw what I was becoming involved with, and became invested.

My wife doesn't watch every week. She got scared by the whispermen and started crying near the end- full on tears.

My son looked very worried and asked if there are ever going to be any more Doctor Who's? Was he dead now? ( To him Matt Smitt IS the Doctor- all the other ones he just thinks are 'Old Doctor' ) He calmed down when I told him it would be in a few months and I think the older Doc we saw was one he'd forgotten about. (God knows how I will make him cope when he does eventually regenerate. Hopefully he'll be a little bit older and be able to handle it).

Anyway- the casual viewer I know about thought it was an emotional rollercoaster, with a huge surprose/cliffhanger/shocker at the end.

Is a dress code required now as well?

Yes- each piece of clothing must make no sense compared to the rest

Good examples are:

Multi-coloured jackets.

Celery

HUGEly long scarves

Trainers (when worn with full suit and tie)


etc............