Doctor Who: 10 Times The Doctor Acted Completely Out Of Character For No Reason
5. Torturing Someone To Get Information
No matter what the Doctor is driven to do in extreme situations, he should always be the moral core of the story. Even if he is forced to use violence, there must always be the sense that the Doctor is in the right.
But for a while, back when BBC Worldwide were printing the Eighth Doctor Adventures and fans looked to the novels for new, ongoing Doctor Who, the range editors felt that the Doctor could and should adopt a more aggressive stance. Chapter 18 of the novel Timeless by range editor Stephen Cole begins with the Doctor ordering an acquaintance to hold down a man called Tommo so the Doctor can sit on the balding fellow's chest and pluck out his last few remaining hairs. He's doing this simply to extract information.
Yes, that's right, the Doctor indulges in a spot of light torture just to find something out. In earlier times, he would simply have tricked Tommo into spilling the beans or he would have used his vast intellect to deduce the necessary information. But Cole thought it would be more in keeping with the Doctor's new approach for the Time Lord to act like an unimaginative sadist.