Between Classic Who and New Who, we’ve already had several different ages given by the Doctor. Rule One: The Doctor Lies.
Did it say what the orbital period of that planet he was stuck on actually was?
Rule Two: Wibbly wobbly timey wimey.
Honestly, the idea of getting hung up on timelines and “canon” is silly. If you need realism, continuity, and internal continuity, find another show.
When we try to codify even the “official BBC” television canon we end up with too goddamn many contradictions anyway, far too many to be easily waved away. To reconcile even that history requires breaking everything open IMO.
AFAIC, in an infinite universe, where our protagonist is an effectively immortal demigod who rips both space and time to shreds for funsies and sighseeing, everything is canon.
See, that lets me love everything Doctor without getting my fanboy panties in a knot. I’m perfectly happy to consider the Shalka Doctor canon–why the hell not? Alternate timeline, baby! Wibbly wobbly! I get to accept the comics, the novels, Big Finish, proms, even the Jim’ll Fix It episode and the Eastenders crossover, as part of the infinite tapestry of the Doctor*****. (Even “The Curse of Fatal Death,” though that just might be due to my recurring sweaty dreams about Joanna Lumley.)
On the other hand, we’re fans, and fans get to whinge and argue about silly stuff. It’s all good. 
*****NB: Nothing forgives “The Twin Dilemma.” My tent is large, but even I have limits.
I was just watching it at work and hoping nobody noticed, and seeing the face of a young John Hurt in the reflection almost made me yell. Epic.
A young John Hurt?
I didn’t think there was any such animal.
Even there, he still looks fifteen going on fifty.
Fair.
When I was in high school, after reading 1984, we watched the movie with John Hurt as Winston Smith. At one point, commenting on the movie, my teacher explained that, to portray the physical effects of living in a totalitarian regime, they’d deliberately cast Hurt, who (she said) was dying of lung cancer at the time, and had passed away shortly after the film was completed.
I don’t know where she got the idea that John Hurt had cancer from, but watching him in that movie, you could totally believe that he was a relatively young man, aged beyond his years by the ravages of disease.
Thirty years later…
This is all a setup, all the commercials and this mini-episode? Lies. This is a bait and switch. Day of the Doctor will be a long-awaited second sequel to Dr. Who and the Daleks.
He looks like he was in Joy Division.
Ouch.
Actually that already happened: Daleks – Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D.
Donna’s Grandfatherwas in it. I watched it maybe 2 years ago. It was so bad it was funny.
Hey! Joy Division were awesome.
I was about to jump you for daring to badmouth (even by association) the totally awesome Bernard Cribbins, as I thought you were talking about the new Who. Didn’t realize it was a sixties flick, so you’re spared for now. I’ll be keeping an eye on you, though. Bernie’s my boy, yo.
He was in The Horror of Glam Rock, too. Along with Una Stubbs, who was the weirdly hot Aunt Sally, Jon Pertwee’s squeeze in Worzel Gummidge.
When I realized it was the Sisterhood of Karn, it was all I could do not to hiss “Sacred fire, sacred flame”! I think I can still do their dance.
Another point: IIRC, in the episode “Silver Nemesis”, a villain blackmailed the Seventh Doctor, threatening to reveal to his companion(s) at the time some horrible, unspeakable thing he’d done. And the Doctor was at least wobbling on the issue! Whatever it was, he didn’t want Ace to know what he’d done! And Ace wasn’t exactly Miss Innocent who’d faint with shock if he’d gotten his hands dirty. I’d been thinking that the John Hurt character was an earlier Doctor than the Seventh one for that reason. OTOH, the Seventh Doctor was a chessmaster. If any of the Doctors would know anything about the future, it would be that one.
I, for one, have wanted to see the Nightmare Child ever since it was mentioned in (I think) “Dalek”. So maybe that will happen.
In the interests of Bernard Cribbins appreciation:
He’s too sexy for the Doctor, too sexy for the Doctor, too sexy… ummm… by… a factor…
Richard Burton died shortly after completing this film, so that might be where your teacher got confused.
I saw John Hurt walking along the south bank in London earlier this year. He got all excited as I was wearing a bowler hat as usual and he came over to talk to me. A lovely man, but he wears his years on his face.