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

3. Blood On Their Hands

Yes, it's Season 22 again. As well as giving us a nasty, bullying Doctor and tales of brutish people dying horribly, Season 22 also ramped up the violence and gore to a level that made it far too dark for a family audience. The success of Season 21's Caves of Androzani led the production team to the erroneous conclusion that a harder edged style was the way to go. For parents sat with their children to watch their favourite show, this made for some uncomfortable viewing indeed. Attack of the Cybermen is the chief culprit here, a tale full of casual violence and populated by thoroughly nasty people. The scene that sticks in the memory is of Lytton's hands being crushed by two Cybermen, the camera delighting in showing the blood flowing down his wrists. Vengeance on Varos at least has a message behind the nastiness but this is rather lost when the story also indulges in constant acts of casual sadism and has the Doctor make quips when people die horribly. This is not a family show.