10 Times Doctor Who Got History Totally Wrong

Hey, BBC, how about opening a History text book now and then?

by Freddie Rochez

You can't have a time travel show without a few anachronisms. For years, fans of Doctor Who have devoted themselves to picking over every single scene of the show, looking for errors in continuity, cast and crew mistakes and, of course, historical inaccuracies. However, fifty years after the show first aired the number of anachronisms is actually surprisingly low. Ok, so episodes have included the occasional 19th Century television aerial or light switch. Characters also occasionally behave oddly when you actually stop and consider their native time period, or use figures of speech that are much too modern for them to know. But most of these mistakes are easily overlooked, and won't even register on a casual viewing.

And then there are the other errors. The great big glaring mistakes that anyone with even a casual knowledge of history should be able to spot. Dates and times that you thought everyone over the age of eight would know. Factual errors on events that are common knowledge, and so widely accepted that you begin to question the intelligence of the writers. In some cases, these simple incorrect facts can be enough to ruin an entire episode or serial by making it impossible to suspend your disbelief in the face of such a silly mistake.

Surprisingly, the NuWho episodes seem to have more errors than the Classic series. This can be put down to a shift in focus. When Doctor Who originally aired in 1964 it was intended as an educational show teaching kids about both science and history. It was in the show's interest to be as factually accurate as possible. The program quickly moved away from this, and the historical episodes quickly became pseudo-histories, with the Doctor fighting to preserve human history against meddling aliens and time travelers. With the focus more on entertainment that education, the writers have become less and less concerned with historical accuracy. We've looked through the past fifty years of Doctor Who to find the ten most painful historical errors in the show's long history.

Contributor
Contributor

With a (nearly) useless degree in English literature and a personal trainer qualification he's never used, Freddie spends his times writing things that he hopes will somehow pay the rent. He's also a former professional singer, and plays the saxophone and ukulele. He's not really used to talking about himself in the third person, and would like to stop now, thanks.