Doctor Who: 10 Most Cringeworthy Moments Of All Time

By Terry Warner /

1. The Happiness Patrol

Oh dear. Where to start? There's just so much that's embarrassing about the story. Everybody points to the Kandyman, a bizarre robot that looks like Bertie Bassett and has a comedy voice, but he's probably one of the better elements of this tale. Much worse is taking an actress of the quality of Sheila Hancock and sticking her in a red wig stroking a rubber dog. Then there's some midgets running through pipes, a set that looks as if sixth formers from a dodgy comprehensive built it and go-karts that travel at 3mph. However, for pure squirm in your seat horror there's the crude political allegory that would insult a six year old and the simply awful moment when Sylvester McCoy's Seventh Doctor talks a couple of really bad actors out of shooting him with some obvious and clumsy dialogue delivered with all the subtlety of a Teletubbie. All together now: "Look me in the eye. Pull the trigger. End my life." Sigh. It's as if Ric from the Young Ones had been script editor.