10 Most Cringeworthy Doctor Who Moments From The 60s

3. Toberman - Tomb Of The Cybermen (1967)

Most of the entries on this list are moments that make us want to cover our faces with our hands, but this one, possibly more than any others, is uncomfortable for entirely different reasons. Once upon a time, The Tomb of the Cybermen had a reputation for being one of the greatest stories that we would never see. Given what we knew from the novelisation and what we could see in the telesnaps of the set, it just had to be the greatest story the '60s had ever produced. We were even willing to ignore the evidence of our earballs when listening to the audio recordings - all those dodgy American accents should have told us otherwise. Then it got discovered - and apart from being one of Matt Smith's favourite stories, people tend not to talk about it much anymore. It's not just the barely passable American accents, nor the comedic sexism against Victoria (and yes, that's just how it's played) that make this one tough to watch. It's more to do with the treatment of Toberman, who is Kaftan's...bodyguard? Manservant? ...Slave? The race dynamics in this story are pretty tough to figure out, given that Toberman is one of the few parts played by a Black actor in '60s Who and given that he's played almost as a savage. Even before the Cybermen take over what little of a brain he has, he communicates in monosyllables and seems to have no desires of his own, apart from the desire to flex his muscles (which, admittedly, are impressive). Otherwise, "If I wish to , I can," Kaftan says at one point, and it's her death that snaps him out of the Cybermen's grip. Then, even more worryingly, the Doctor himself appears more than willing to use Toberman's rage to his own advantage. Sure, Toberman gets a heroic death at the end - but does that really make us feel any better about the rest of it?