10 Doctor Who "Plot Holes" That Really Aren't

There’s nothing Doctor Who fans love to hate more than a good old plot hole. But in a world as outlandish as the Doctor’s, do we really need to scrutinize the logic so closely?

After all, this is the show that gave us a sentient universe masquerading as a frog on a chair; the “last pure human”, comprising a brain in a jar and a sheet of skin; actual, literal cat people; and loads more besides.

Accepting this sort of stuff is par for the course, so why should so-called "plot holes" be any different?

Well in fairness, although the world of Doctor Who is one where lots of things are possible, it’s not one where anything is possible. Indeed, sometimes writers will accidentally contradict themselves, or each other. Or sometimes they have no option but to bend the logic a little.

That said, lots of the "plot holes" that people often point out really aren’t that big a deal. In fact, many of them aren't really plot holes at all.

Blink established that a touch from a Weeping Angel sends you back in time. But subsequent Angel stories have proved that this is merely the tip of the iceberg.

In The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone, we see them grab hold of the Doctor’s jacket (without sending him back in time), then put Father Octavian in a headlock.

The Angels Take Manhattan continues this trend, with Julius Grayle’s Angel grabbing River Song’s arm and not letting go – to the point where she can only escape by breaking her wrist.

Both these cases contradict what we've previously learnt: that Weeping Angels automatically send anything they touch back in time. For some this was a stretch too far, taking the Angels too far from their original premise. But that doesn't make it a plot hole.

Sending someone back in time might be the most gratifying way for an Angel to dispatch their victim – but that doesn’t mean it’s the only way. Indeed, the evidence we’ve seen suggests that Angels have a choice: to feed off the time energy from their victims straight away; or to be more sadistic, and snap their necks.

Far from being a gimmick that reduces the Angels’ power and impact, this development makes them all the more terrifying.