20 Things Doctor Who Wants You To Forget
7. Ooh I Say Matron
Doctor Who is good old fashioned, clean-humoured family entertainment. Most of the time. Its target audience is 0-99 and the program continues to appeal to the younger market with various ranges of cuddly toys, video games, books and kiddies clothing. In the UK, that all-ages reach gives booksellers and libraries cataloguing issues, with Doctor Who books being variously displayed in the children’s section, the teen section or the adult sci-fi/fantasy section.
For a pre-watershed program, the BBC has at times sailed close to the wind. To be fair, some of the material just lends itself to smutty innuendos – none more so than the sonic screwdriver. But rather than turning in her grave, Mary Whitehouse (who founded in 1965 the National Viewers’ and Listeners’ Association) would probably be rolling her eyes as if to say, not again, because Doctor Who has always allowed its writers and actors to have a little bit of fun at the expense of childhood innocence.
It’s all there to have a snigger at, but the Fourth Doctor blowing on the phallic shaped creature from the pit is not something the BBC particularly wants to draw attention to. And to be honest, it’s a sight that most of us would like to forget too.