10 Doctor Who Moments You Didn't Get As A Kid (But Do As An Adult)
Vertical sonic screwdrivers, sweary government advisors, and the Master's beard?!
In the 1970s, Doctor Who was described in the Daily Sketch as "the children's own programme that adults adore." It was a fairly prescient description of the show, given that those kids in the '70s grew up to be Doctor Who novelists, cartoonists, screenwriters, and showrunners.
That description also reflects the fact that Doctor Who has always been a family show, containing enough thrills and chills for the kids, and some smart storytelling to keep the mums and dads entertained. Or, as Douglas Adams apparently once reflected, Doctor Who has to be "simple enough for adults but complicated enough for children."
So it's understandable that Doctor Who writers throw in a few bawdy jokes and adult references to keep us simple-minded grown-ups entertained. These gags fly over our heads when we're watching Doctor Who as kids, because we're far more interested in the monsters and the end-of-world stakes, and simply don't have the prerequisite knowledge to understand them.
And then, once we grow up a little, we start to realise that River Song isn't talking about screaming in response to a scary monster.
10. Malcolm Tucker In Dark Water
When Peter Capaldi was cast as the Twelfth Doctor, there was a lot of discussion about whether he'd play the character like Malcolm Tucker, his foul-mouthed and iconic character from the political satire show The Thick of It.
Would he be telling the Daleks to 'eff off? Could we have the first Doctor to call Davros the c-word? Well, of course not – despite a slightly later broadcast time, Doctor Who still had to toe the line of family entertainment!
However, there were still some nods to Capaldi's infamous political spin doctor in his first series. There's the bit in Time Heist when he tells everyone to "shutetty up up up," but more overt is when the Twelfth Doctor and Clara investigate 3W's headquarters in Dark Water.
Handing over his psychic paper to 3W employee Doctor Chang, the Doctor pretends to be a government inspector, there to oversee the institute's controversial work. However, as Doctor Chang looks at the Doctor's 'ID,' he notes that there's swearing written all over it.
The Doctor explains that he's got a lot of internalised anger, and quickly takes back the psychic paper.
Government advisor? Internalised anger? Swearing? Yep, that sounds like Malcolm Tucker, a character who, to a nation of kids in 2014, would be far more alien than a Time Lord!