10 Most Cringeworthy Doctor Who Moments From The 70s

5. The Third Doctor In Drag - The Green Death (1974)

What many modern fans of Doctor Who may have forgotten is that the casting of Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor was initially a shock to viewers. They were used to Pertwee as a comedic actor, so the idea that he could be the lead in a semi-serious science fiction series was more surprising then than it is now. Granted, the producers did occasionally play to his comic strengths, letting him dress up as an old(er) delivery man in Spearhead From Space, or having him do his Lord Haw-Haw voice for an unbroadcast scene in Inferno. But these weren't terribly embarrassing moments, whereas his foray into drag for The Green Death definitely is. (We'll give him a pass for the weird faces he pulls when attacked by the Nestene Consciousness in Spearhead from Space - early days, after all.) Mind you, Jon Pertwee at that time did look a lot like Margaret Rutherford - or was it the other way around? - so picturing him as an old cleaning woman isn't that much of a stretch. But god, is it ever painful to watch, especially when he breaks into his old woman voice. We would make a joke about his still being the most masculine person in the scene since he's sharing it with Mike Yates, but that would be rude.