Doctor Who Symbolism: What 10 Famous Villains Really Mean

5. Adipose Are The (Super) Nanny State

Another of Davies's non-too-subtle jabs at contemporary British culture, the Adipose were weird little creatures made up entirely of human fat that first appeared in the David Tennant episode "Partners in Crime". Spawned by a revolutionary weight loss pill, the drug turned out to be lethal to both the human hosts and the Adipose children that grew off their fat too. Davies himself has said that he based the character of Miss Foster, given the task of looking after babies of the Adipose after their home planet was lost, on Supernanny star Jo Frost. Frost's emergence into popular culture happened right around the same time that growing concerns about the "Nanny State" in the UK. That was the same time Jamie Oliver started kicking up a fuss about school dinners, and generally it looked like the government were going to be controlling not only the lives but - even more crucially - the diets of their constituents. Little aliens made of body fat, introduced to a populace plagued by obesity, which are potentially fatal? Couldn't get any more on the nose.