10 Times Doctor Who Jumped The Shark (And Nuked The Fridge)

There are many, many types of Doctor Who fans. These types run the gamut from those who praise everything in the programme, happy so long as there are new episodes to watch, to others who use every creative decision as an excuse for predicting the end has come and the chop cannot surely be far away. This last group of fans claims that Doctor Who has "jumped the shark" each time something happens that they can't personally stomach. The Master is a woman? Moffat has jumped the shark! Yet this use of "jumped the shark" isn't technically correct (sorry, fellow fans). The term refers to a moment in Happy Days when the leather-wearing Fonz ski-jumps over a literal shark (it's a truly dire episode). This moment is accepted by many as marking the beginning of a distinct fall in quality and the long, lingering end for the series. With the passage of time, the phrase came to describe any time a gimmick or preposterous plot device was introduced to a show that not only failed to boost ratings but actually caused an exodus of viewers. The shark jumping, then, came to be a harbinger of cancellation: the last, sad, pitiable and unsuccessful attempt for a series to remain relevant. A phrase that's closer to what these fans mean is "nuking the fridge", referring to the sequence in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull when Indy shields himself from a thermonuclear detonation simply by hiding in a fridge. The naked incredulity caused by this affront to common sense is so intense that all suspension of disbelief is tossed aside and the audience is no longer willing to accept the events in the story. The Master becoming Missy did nuke the fridge for some fans and they're vociferously keeping to that opinion, at least for now. Whether or not Missy nuked a major appliance and jumped a Great White is a mystery that only time can solve since it's too early to tell if viewers will be put off long term. Doctor Who has, of course, nuked the fridge so often that all that's left of it is a small pile of ash at the bottom of a deep, glowing crater. However, as far as truly jumping the shark goes, Classic Who has only engaged in the sport a small number of times and NuWho has been remarkably resistant to the idea of strapping on water skis and vaulting over big fish with lots of teeth. Indeed, once all viewing sources are added into the figures, the revived series has enviably level numbers, leading many to wonder if the producers can basically get away with pretty much anything these days. To answer that question, the best course may be to look to the history of the television series to see how previous producers fared when they thought they could do anything. Here are five intriguing examples from the classic series of when viewers were finally pushed too far followed by five recent examples from the revived series of scorched freezers. Whether these recently nuked fridges will irritate viewers enough that ratings fall is something that will become clearer later this year. Thankfully, one of the strengths of Doctor Who's format is that it can bounce back from dizzying drops in viewership. Apart from that one time of course when, disastrously, the shark caught hold of Doctor Who mid-jump and could not finally be beaten off (hint - it happened in 1989). Bear in mind, as this list goes through the cases of ratings failures, the situation for Doctor Who becomes ever more dire and tempers may fray. Fans at the time weren't happy either.