10 Doctor Who Characters Who Don't Deserve The Hate
8. Elton Pope
It's no secret that Love & Monsters is one of the poorer episodes of Doctor Who. Of course, the Abzorbaloff itself deserves no defending. Nobody needs to be reminded of that tiny loincloth in a hurry!
That said, the questionable elements of this episode do overshadow the elements that were actually successful.
Elton Pope is a good example of this. The idea of a character who grew up searching for a mysterious man they encountered as a child holds a lot of potential - so much so that it essentially became the premise for Amy Pond. We don't often get to see the other side of the Doctor's influence - the people who don't become a friend or a companion, but the people he saves and then leaves behind.
The framing device of Elton using a camcorder to tell his story was a charming way of presenting things, as he walks us through some of the alien invasions from early NuWho. Marc Warren is super likeable in the role, and the character has impeccable taste in music to boot.
"You can't beat a bit of ELO". Damn right Elton.
Yes, he does use and manipulate Jackie Tyler, and he does have a very unorthodox relationship with a paving slab by the story's end, so he's not a saint. But he does get unfairly caught up in the general hate for this episode.