10 Doctor Who Moments That Broke The Fourth Wall

1. The Clumsy Zarbi (The Web Planet)

Doctor Who Remembrance Of The Daleks Renegade Dalek
BBC Studios

While this is a different kind of fourth wall break when compared to the rest of our list, it's just too funny to not give a shout-out to.

So far, we've discussed moments where characters talk (or look) directly to the camera. But did you know there are a couple of moments in the show where characters interact with the camera, on a physical level?

Just over five minutes into the third episode of 1965's The Web Planet, there's a quick moment where one of the ant-like Zarbi creatures is charging down a narrow opening, only to run straight into the camera, causing the shot to wobble out of position. The poor stunt guy bolted into that bug suit clearly couldn't see where he was going, creating a bizarre blooper that, strangely, wasn't removed from the final edit - check it out for yourself in the video below.

The Zarbi weren't the last villains to interact with the camera either. During the battle between the Imperial and Renegade Daleks in the fourth episode of 1988's Remembrance Of The Daleks, the scene ends with one of the Renegades firing a blast of energy right at the camera, destroying it, and causing a transition to the next scene.

It's an interesting touch that effectively demonstrates the power of these Renegade models... until they're completely obliterated by the Special Weapons Dalek moments later, that is.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!