10 Times Doctor Who Wanted You To Hate It

9. Robert Holmes Vs The Taxman (The Sun Makers)

Legendary Doctor Who writer Robert Holmes had a specific axe to grind when writing his 1977 serial The Sun Makers.

Around this time he was becoming increasingly frustrated with the British tax system, and how unforgiving it was to freelancers. This ended up directly influencing the script, as he recalled in one interview:

“Being fairly helpless in everyday terms, I realised I could get my own back by writing something – and what better than the anarchic boundaries of Doctor Who to convey my message!”

Consequently, The Sun Makers evolved into a political satire about a profit-hungry corporation who keep the working class at bay through excessive taxation.

The story begins with the Fourth Doctor and Leela saving a man whose tax bill has brought him to the point of suicide, and ends with them bringing about a rebellion.

Along the way there are plenty of allusions to the British tax system – from a route called P45 (after P45 forms) to an anxiety-inducing drug called PCM (a nod to Per Calendar Month).

Additionally, the villain of the piece is a (tax) Collector, who is literally liquidated at the climax. There are also the Collector's guards called Inner Retinue, a not-so subtle jab at Inland Revenue, the British organisation responsible for taxation.

In other words Robert Holmes hates taxes and he knows you do too, and that's exactly what he was trying to stoke up while writing the story.