Doctor Who: 10 Things That STILL Don't Make Sense

These Doctor Who mind-bogglers range from immersion-breaking to straight up laughable.

By Alex Cuthbert /

With a show that changes hands week after week and from writer to writer, sooner or later, the cracks (in time) are bound to appear.

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Writers are busy folk, and they can’t rightfully be expected to consume the entire 60-year catalogue of Doctor Who to ensure they aren’t contradicting someone else’s work. This can, on occasion, lead to the odd inconsistency. Sometimes, writers even manage to do this to their own previous works – and sometimes, they even manage to do it within a single episode.

And then there are the times they apparently didn’t care enough to bother explaining something, or seemingly didn't think it through in the first place. Writers are only human after all, and if they didn’t slip up, us fans would be out of a job, because there’d be nothing to point out. We’ll forgive them.

In this list, we won’t be talking about plot holes per say, but rather the smaller details and the "I'll explain later's" that, upon taking a step back, make you realise that some things in Doctor Who really don't make a lick of sense.

10. Pting In Prison

Revolution of the Daleks kicks off with an all-too brief prison sequence that had a lot more promise than the rest of the episode. Seriously, imagine an entire episode set in space prison, with the Doctor attempting to control a riot started by all their greatest enemies.

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Like Doctor Who's version of Batman: Arkham Asylum.

Anyway, this prison sequence features some fun monster cameos – including, but not limited to, our old friend the Pting. The Pting – which you might recall, depending on how much you’ve suppressed your memories of the Tsuranga Conundrum – is that angry little Minion that killed Roy Kent. It's also a rather unique creature, in that it can eat literally anything. Which is relatable.

In fact, while introducing the Pting, the database mentions that they are impossible to imprison: they have toxic skin so can never be touched, and can eat all non-organic matter, so would easily be able to munch their way out of confinement. It's a throwaway line, but it helps establish the Pting as a fairly unstoppable little force of nature.

So what did the writers do in its very next appearance? Stick it in jail, naturally.

BBC Studios

It’s not like they even had to do much research to avoid this one.

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