Doctor Who: 10 Most Cringeworthy Moments Of The Revived Series So Far

It's enough to make you blush.

While fans were naturally overjoyed when their favourite science fiction series returned to television in 2005, they couldn't help but notice that a few things were different. The budget for special effects was better, for one thing. There were still the occasional dodgy effect but they weren't quite as dodgy as before. The pacing was faster too, better suited to a once-weekly 45 minute episode structure rather than the old fashioned 4 x 25 minute episodes spread out over several weeks.

The one thing that didn't change, though, was the show's ability to make even the most avid fan squirm with discomfort.

Fans sometimes cringe when they see something that is just so unbelievable that they can't quite suspend their disbelief any further. Or they're in the company of a non-fan and they have to hide their blushing as they laugh at the absurdity of a particular moment. Or, worst of all, they find themselves in full-on facepalm mode as they scream, "What were they thinking?" at their screens.

Each decade of the Classic Series gave us many such moments and the new series has been no exception. In fact, this list has been split up into moments from the first four years of the series (both the Eccleston and Tennant eras) and the last five, since there's no been scarcity of cringiness in the Matt Smith years or even in the Peter Capaldi... um, one. Who's ready for a cringefest?!

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Tony Whitt has previously written TV, DVD, and comic reviews for CINESCAPE, NOW PLAYING, and iF MAGAZINE. His weekly COMICSCAPE columns from the early 2000s can still be found archived on Mania.com. He has also written a book of gay-themed short stories titled CRESCENT CITY CONNECTIONS, available on Amazon.com in both paperback and Kindle format. Whitt currently lives and works in Chicago, Illinois.