Released online last month, the 7-minute mini-episode showed Paul McGann’s Eighth Doctor regenerate into John Hurt, causing fans to speculate that this meant Christopher Eccleston was in fact the Tenth Doctor, etc.

Speaking at the BFI’s Eleventh Doctor celebration event in London yesterday, attended by CultBox, Moffat stated: “There are only eleven versions [at present] of the Time Lord who call himself ‘the Doctor’.”

He then clarified: “Matt [Smith] is the Eleventh Doctor.”

Hurt’s character has been credited as The War Doctor.

Matt Smith’s final episode as the Doctor, ‘The Time Of The Doctor’, airs at 7.30pm on Wednesday 25 December on BBC One and sees the Time Lord and Clara learn what an enigmatic signal means for his own fate and that of the universe.

> Find out everything we know so far about the Christmas special in our news summary.

Are you still confused by the Doctor’s numbering? Let us know below…

> Buy the 50th anniversary special on DVD on Amazon.

> Buy the 50th anniversary special on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Watch the 50th anniversary trailer…