5. The Web Of Caves (1999)
Steven Moffat and Geoffrey Sax are among a number of Doctor who luminaries to have made their first TV contribution to the show in the form of a spoof. In 1999, as part of Doctor Who Night, Mark Gatiss teamed up with David Walliams to write three sketches for the event. Although The Web Of Caves, screened in black and white, is a pastiche on the early 60s stories, Mark Gatiss Doctor is styled on the then incumbent Doctor, the Eighth, as played by Paul McGann. He is very much the English gentleman, highlighting the quintessential Britishness of the programme in its early days. David Walliams alien character, meanwhile, parodies the gap between the enormity of an aliens threat storywise and the creatures rather tame realisation on screen, both in appearance and characterisation. Several monsters and alien races have inadvertently looked more comedic than scary, such as the Monoids and the Menoptera, but Walliams here is a humanoid alien. In actual fact, with that hair piece he resembles one of the 1970s disco glam Movellans from Destiny Of The Daleks. Despite having been off screen for 10 years (apart from the one off TV movie and Children in Need special), the show remained such a recognisable part of British television, if not a national treasure, that it was still open to parody. 1999 would be a good year indeed for Doctor Who spoofs.