10 Times Doctor Who Definitely Wasn’t A Family Show

Season 10’s Extremis plays with a very interesting concept. The Twelfth Doctor is approached by the Vatican to read a document called ‘The Veritas’, which supposedly contains the terrible truth of the universe, which unites holy men and scientists alike in fear. This hidden truth, it transpires, is that the universe these characters inhabit is just a simulation. Upon uncovering this revelation, anybody who reads the Veritas is compelled to take their own life.

There are multiple suicides throughout the episode, including that of the US President, but perhaps the most morbid scene comes when Bill and Nardole find themselves at CERN, where they are greeted by a group of drunken scientists who are in the middle of some sort of ‘last supper’. “We all go together when we go”, their leader announces, and they begin counting down to the detonation of the explosives they have rigged under the tables. The whole scene is presented in such a matter-of-fact way, and the way that, as a group, these bright minds rationally conclude that death is the only way out and resign themselves to this is rather chilling, as is the fact that Bill and Nardole are powerless to stop it.