Cold opening

A cold opening (or pre-title sequence) was the scene of a story that appeared prior to the title sequence.

With some exceptions, pre-title sequences were not featured in Doctor Who in its original run from 1963 to 1989. 1982's Castrovalva, the debut story of Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor, was the first to have a cold opening. The twentieth anniversary special, 1983's The Five Doctors was the second. These two stories were followed by 1987's Time and the Rani, the debut of Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor, and 1988's Remembrance of the Daleks. The 1996 TV Movie and an animated reconstruction of 1966's The Power of the Daleks also featured cold openings.

The cold opening became a permanent installment of Doctor Who from the 2005 episode The End of the World onwards. However, Rose, Smith and Jones and Partners in Crime which were the series premieres of series 1, 3 and 4 respectively all did not feature cold openings. The fiftieth anniversary story The Day of the Doctor also abandoned the format. Pre-title sequences were completely abandoned for series 11 but were reintroduced for series 12, starting with Spyfall.

Torchwood Series 1 and Series 2 featured a sequence similar to a "cold opening". The pilot episode of Torchwood, Everything Changes, was the only exception to the format for the first two series.