10 Times Doctor Who Has Ripped Off Other Franchises

2. Hammer Horror

Perhaps one of the most famous periods of the show that copied another franchise were the years when Philip Hinchcliffe and Robert Holmes took inspiration from the classic and Hammer horror movies in the early Tom Baker era. Script editor Holmes loved these films and saw them as a perfect vehicle for the kind of darker, scary Doctor Who he liked to write. This era wasn't the first to use horror motifs - the Ice Warriors owes a huge debt to The Thing From Another World while the Dæmons gives us the classic Dennis Wheatley style Devil worshipping iconography. However, the Hinchcliffe era utilises horror films the most with many of the serials being pastiches of creepy classics. The Brain of Morbius is a version of Frankenstein, Planet of Evil is a mash up of Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Forbidden Planet, while Pyramids of Mars is a homage to The Mummy. Taking the elements of classic horror and presenting them to a family audience caused some complaints but led to one of the show's most enduring eras. The success of Mummy on the Orient Express shows there's still mileage in the idea.