10 Things About Doctor Who That Seem To Confuse Non-Fans

5. Earthbound

BBC

If the Doctor can travel through the whole of space, why is he always on Earth? This one is a valid question and it's one that is regularly posed by non-fans (and even some dubious devotees) but the truth of the matter is that he isn't always on Earth at all - though admittedly is he on for it a lot of the time.

The Doctor loves the human race which is the main reason he just can't keep away, though it also doesn't help that the BBC's budget doesn't yet stretch fair enough for the show to set up its production base on other planets. It makes it more relatable, too, for an extraterrestrial excursion to be taking place in familiar territory. If it wasn't on Earth, they wouldn't be extraterrestrial, would they?

During the show's formative years the writers tried to give their analytical audience a narrative explanation as to why the Time Lord spends most of his time on Earth and that was because he'd actually been exiled here by his people. These days, though, he's just doing it for the Vine. Of course, the Doctor is always having loads of adventures away from Earth, the viewers just never get to see them, is all.

So there's always that.

Doctor Who Editor
Doctor Who Editor

Dan Butler is the Doctor Who Editor at WhatCulture.com. When he isn't writing his own articles or editing other people's, he can be found trawling the internet for gifs of Steven Moffat laughing. Contact him via dan.butler@whatculture.co.uk.