10 Most Bizarre Doctor Who Moments

5. BENNIIIIII! (Orphan 55)

Doctor Who Orphan 55 Vilma
BBC Studios

The episode that spawned a thousand mocking memes, Orphan 55 is deservedly derided by fans. It really is atrocious, but on the plus side, its nonsensical plot, bad dialogue, and unintentionally hilarious characters did give us a good laugh.

On that final point, say hello to married couple Vilma and Benni, whose holiday at the Tranquility Spa is soon interrupted by bloodthirsty beasts. The episode positions them as one of the story's emotional backbones, but in a misfire so grand that it's almost impressive, they actually ended up as a massive laughing stock.

Vilma screaming out "BENNI" every five seconds became an iconic meme overnight, while Benni's death scene - which was clearly aiming for horror, but actually ended up on comedy - is poorly-acted, poorly-shot, and all over the place tonally. If it doesn't make you wince, then your cringe tolerance must be incredibly high.

All in all, it's hard to comprehend that Vilma and "BENNNNIIIIII" made it all the way from the page, to the shoot, to the edit, and to our screens, without anyone involved raising a hand and pointing out how comical their characters are.

Still, at least we got some good banter out of them.

Contributor
Contributor

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!