10 Times Doctor Who Got Way Too Dark For A Family Drama

10. Silence Will Fall

There's a fine line between legitimate scares and those designed to actually terrify younger members of the audience. The show has been criticised throughout its various incarnations for getting it wrong and some of these will be discussed later on in this article. Of course, whatever you put up on screen, there will be some child who finds it terrifying. Children suffer from the oddest phobias, some finding things like birds or even mud disturbing. However, of the many criticisms levelled at current showrunner Steven Moffat, one that keeps being repeated is that he seems to delight even more than Robert Holmes in "scaring the little buggers". One creation that could be judged as too dark for a family audience are the Silence, the spooky combination of the Scream and Men in Black. Visually, they're one of the shows most disturbing creations, their clothes dripping wet, their long, pasty fingers and their elongated faces with a mouth that can suck the life out of you. However, Moffat goes one step further - and possibly one step too far - by giving them the power to be forgotten the moment they're out of your eye line. For younger viewers this means there could be a Silence right behind you, or in your bedroom, or outside of your window. As concepts go, that's utterly terrifying.