Doctor Who: 10 Historical Figures That Need To Be Explored
4. Socrates And Hippocrates
Ancient Greece. How, in a show about time travel, has one of the most interesting and significant eras of history barely been touched upon? (The answer is probably, as it is in most cases, budget. But still...). Ancient Greece was arguably responsible for the very inception of western civilization, politically, philosophically and culturally. It is, to this day, referred to as the birthplace of democracy.
The other thing Ancient Greece is most synonymous with is its deep, sprawling mythology - there's enough material for Who to work and gel with to set an entire season in this single time period: the Minotaur, Midas, the Cyclops, Icarus, Prometheus... the list goes on, though our vote goes to Medusa. An alien who turns people to stone just by looking at them almost feels like it was created for the show.
But who would you take along for the ride? After all, this is a list about historical figures. Writers and painters are overdone - it's about time the show gave us something different - a philosopher (and this period of history is the right place to look for such a person).
Socrates is the obvious choice here, a man who could really get to the core of who the Doctor is, especially if we find our protagonist in one of their many 'Who exactly am I?' phases (and, lets be honest, those do seem to happen fairly often). Socrates was a man focused on logic, results and reasoning, and could probably rival the Doctor in terms of solving the puzzle of the week.
Whilst we're on the topic of rivals for the Doctor, why not bring in the forefather of medicine, Hippocrates - arguably the most famous physician in history (a man who might take some issue with The Doctor's chosen name...). Whilst there is no evidence of these two Greek luminaries being acquainted, they were alive at the same time, so it's not too much of a stretch - and putting them side by side, whilst slightly cheating for the purposes of this list, is just far too tempting. With these two in his gang, The Doctor could probably afford to put his feet up for a week and let others do the work for once.