10 Times Doctor Who Got Way Too Dark For A Family Drama

2. The Final Fate Of Humanity?

Russell T Davies' iteration of Doctor Who is widely seen as one of the more optimistic but, if you scratch beneath the surface, the writer's work has a very dark centre. In Midnight, for example, the occupants of the shuttle are close to throwing a woman and the Doctor to their death and his episodes of Torchwood are as dark as it can get. For every 'Allons-y!', there's a tragic death, while humanity is conned by aliens posing as politicians and brainwashed by their media. Of course, Davies' humour leaves this to a large extent with the political cynicism beyond younger viewers. However, Davies' inherent dark worldview could be seen to go too far in Series 3 finale The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords. While many viewers remember the machinations of John Simms' nutty Master, the Dobby Doctor or the pseudo-messiah imagery of the conclusion, it's easy to forget one of the darkest concepts in all Who fiction - the Toclafane. The Classic Series posited that man went to the stars and endured, much like in Star Trek. However, Davies shows us his view of humanity, one that when faced with the ultimate end would fillet themselves into spherical murder machines, much like the Daleks (the Toclafane were devised originally as a replacement when the Daleks rights weren't guaranteed for NuWho) and become gleeful, childish butchers. The reveal of a child's cyborg head inside a metal football is one of the show's darkest ever images.