Doctor Who: 10 Cleverest Classic Who References In NuWho

7. The Doctor Retires - The Snowmen

The 2012 Christmas special featured an obvious call-back to the past with the return of the Great Intelligence. Cleverly, when the Doctor shows the Intelligence a map of the London Underground, he€™s effectively prequelising 1968€™s The Web of Fear. However, this is not the only way that The Snowmen harks back to the past- or at least, a potential past. When we meet the Doctor in this episode, he€™s retired to a cloud hovering over Victorian London. With the loss of Amy and Rory in the previous season, his wanderlust has gone and he€™s taken to pottering around the TARDIS. In narrative terms, that€™s a big deal- the Doctor is defined by his restless need to explore. It seems like the sort of gambit that could only be pulled off in the new series. It was, however, first mooted in the 70s, with the Fourth Doctor. The idea- provisionally titled 'The Doctor Retires'- was pitched to the Doctor Who production team by Douglas Adams, pre-Hitchhiker€™s Guide. Tom Baker, then at the peak of his popularity, was appreciative, and when Adams took over as script editor he attempted to use the concept in Shada. However, producer Graham Williams, wary that an already zany show would drift into outright self-parody, put a stop to it. Perhaps the time wasn€™t right. The Doctor of the 70s was a more straightforwardly heroic character. Only now, when the character is portrayed with greater complexity, could such a narrative gambit be pulled off meaningfully.