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

1. "Don't Cremate Me!"

Of all the times that Doctor Who became too dark for a family audience, surely the worst must be the Series 8 finale Dark Water/Death in Heaven. Can there be anything more terrifying for a younger member of the family than the concept that a deceased relative suffering after they've died and begging not to be burnt? But it doesn't stop there either, as writer Steven Moffat goes one step further. If granny or granddad don't get roasted, then they face an even worst fate - their corpses being resurrected against their will and turned into murderous Cybermen. The Cybermen have always been one of the show's darker concepts, a fear of man being replaced by technology and other stories, such as Attack of the Cybermen and Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel (and on audio the chilling Spare Parts), have shown the terror of people being subsumed into robots. However, Moffat's two part tale makes this personal, not just in the context of the show's loveable Danny Pink being brought back from death, but in traumatising the younger viewers with concepts that they are ill-equipped to process. For a child, death is baffling and disturbing enough but here they are shown that there is a fate worse than death. For anyone who had recently lost a cherished relation, this story would have been deeply upsetting and disturbing, making it easily the most obvious example of when the show was too dark for a family audience. What did you think of this list? Are there any other times Doctor Who got way too dark for a family drama? Join the conversation in the comments section below!