10 Most Cringeworthy Doctor Who Moments From The 70s

6. Hugged To Death By Mummies - Pyramids Of Mars (1975)

Pyramids of Mars consistently comes in at the top of any poll of Doctor Who's best stories. It's certainly one of the best Tom Baker stories, and it manages to intermarry horror and science fiction in a way that only stories of the Hinchcliffe era can manage. It also has one of the stupidest deaths ever filmed. In episode two, Sutekh's mummies are chasing the poacher around the grounds of the Scarman estate, presumably for unleashing Roberta Tovey upon us all. When they finally do catch up to him, the two mummies take him into their arms and do a group hug. No, really. They do. And it kills him. It also temporarily kills all the tension in an otherwise genuinely horrific story. Luckily it recovers fairly quickly after this moment, but it's rather difficult to watch this scene without alternating between hysterical giggles and wondering if there could have been a better way to achieve this and still p!$s off Mary Whitehouse.