10 Unanswered Doctor Who Mysteries
10. Who Was Orson Pink?
A pivotal plot point in the 8th series of modern Who was the growing romance between Clara Oswald and fellow teacher Danny Pink. There was a genuine chemistry between the two, but they never appeared to exit the dating stage, and there was no inference that they had 'consummated' the relationship.
However it was strongly inferred in the 8th season episode Listen that the two eventually 'hooked up' and produced a child. In a delightfully nuts moment in this episode, Clara is approached by a man in a spacesuit while she is on a date with Danny, with the man inside the helmet looking remarkably like her date.
The man is revealed to be Orson Pink, who infers in a later conversation that Clara is 'family', the revelation appearing to insinuate that Orson is Clara and Danny's grandchild. At the very least Orson appears to definitely be in Danny's bloodlines as both characters are portrayed by the same actor, Samuel Johnson.
This idea of Danny and Clara having a family is undone however when Danny dies in the penultimate episode, Dark Water. While there was the possibility that Clara may have fallen pregnant to Danny before his death, this theory was obliterated when Ms Oswald herself died in the next season.
So if Orson wasn't Danny and Clara's grandchild, who exactly was he? Did the deaths of Danny Pink and Clara undo his existence? Was this just a plot hole or a mystery to be untangled? Sadly, we will probably never know.