10 Most Hated Doctor Who Episodes

There’s a lot to love about Neil Gaiman’s sophomore story, but even the episode’s keenest defenders (this writer included) can see that his original vision was significantly derailed.

The end result is a script that struggles to cram in a busy plot, a major villain, and some heavy series arc plotting into a single episode. Without a doubt, it should have been a two-parter.

Much of Nightmare In Silver’s polarising reputation stems from the inclusion of Angie and Artie, the two children under Clara’s charge as a nanny. These children are perhaps the true antagonists of the story, as they are irredeemably annoying throughout (granted, this is more a fault in the writing than the acting, but still).

This episode is also controversial due to Gaiman’s reimagining of the Cybermen, which sees them dressed up like an Iron Man parody, capable of patching out any and all faults in their design. Not only is this the biggest departure from the original vision of the monsters in the show’s history, but the suspension of disbelief required to accept that the Cybers can install an app to make them immune to getting shot is a little much.

Lastly, we'd be remiss not to mention what is possibly the Doctor’s worst line of all time, which closes out the episode after Clara leaves the TARDIS:

"Impossible girl. A mystery wrapped in an enigma, squeezed into a skirt that's just a little bit too tight."

It's very icky, to say the least. It doesn't even sound like something the Doctor would say. A strange inclusion indeed.