10 Classic Doctor Who Spoofs That You Have To See
The power of the parodies.
The fact that a show as outlandish as Doctor Who should itself become the subject of a wealth of parodies across various media is surely testament to its iconic status. Given its longevity, the program itself might have degenerated into self-parody but the flexibility and endless possibilities of all of space and time future proof the Doctor from falling on his own sword. There have been occasional moments of self-parody (Invasion Of Time and Love And Monsters are examples) but more often than not it is the dominant contemporary culture which is parodied within the show, including the likes of the British tax system (The Sunmakers), Thatcherism (The Happiness Patrol) and the banking crisis (Time Heist). Last year UK copyright law was amended to take account of the added powers to not only create spoofs through photo and video manipulation software but to also freely publicise them, allowing them the chance to go viral through social media and community video site uploads. So long as the creator of the derivative work can demonstrate an element of parody, there is theoretically an unambiguous protection from legal challenge by the owners of the original material. As such, fan based online spoofs are blossoming, with their success judged through the number of hits and shares. The official Doctor Who Magazine even legitimises the better ones in its regular U Tube round up feature. But just as with talent shows such as The X Factor, the worst of them stand side by side with the best, squeezing out the mediocre in a pincer movement to command the viewers attention. Even the stars have got in on the act, parodying other art forms with a Doctor Who twist, such as Arthur Darvils hilarious version of Frozens Let It Go and the leaving video at the end of David Tennants reign in the TARDIS in which the original artists (the Proclaimers) join in with the shenanigans as the cast and crew create their very own video to I Would Walk 500 Miles. As swamped as the Whoniverse now is by spoofs and pastiches, fans could be forgiven for overlooking their long history. Within months of its first broadcast, the show has fallen victim to varying degrees of parody. Whether it be a work of gentle imitation or flagrant burlesque, from Clive Dunn to Alan Carr, the show has offered ripe pickings for a send up. Heres a run down of some of the more memorable TV offerings to date.