Doctor Who: 10 Times The Doctor Shouldn't Have Bothered With Mercy

8. The Doctor Forgives The Brigadier... And Forgets

This entry, on the list of merciful acts, is a little bit different. In all his meetings with the Silurians, The Doctor has always stood in the middle of the forever raging argument between their race and the humans in claims to inhabit Earth. Both races do have a rightful claim to the planet. In "The Silurians", a war is threatening to break out after a nuclear reactor is built on the site of a hibernating Silurian base. The Doctor does his best to prevent a long battle by sending the Silurians back into hibernation in the hope of awakening them one by one to try and come to a peaceful agreement between them and humanity. Unbeknownst to The Doctor, the Brigadier orders the Silurian base to be blown up. The Doctor watches, disgusted by the genocide. The event is never mentioned again and The Doctor continues his work for UNIT. Being in exile on Earth, The Doctor probably had no choice but any of the other incarnations probably would have left with no communication with Lethbridge-Stewart again. Sometimes, humanity is the villain. The Doctor is just as merciful with them as any other race.