Doctor Who: 10 Lessons It Can Learn From The Thick Of It

5. Too Much Comfort Reduces Efficiency In the beginning of series 3, we meet the unlikely new head of the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship, Nicola Murray. One of the few bright spots in her first day on the job is when she discovers a fantastically comfortable and supportive chair (that actually belongs to Glenn) in her office (that previously belonged to Glenn). Soon, however, Malcolm arrives to order her to replace it and sit on a normal chair rather than on a "massive vibrating throne." While it would be easy to view Malcolm as the bad guy in the equation (that chair looks super comfortable), he does have a point that can be applied to Doctor Who as well as ruining a woman's first day in her new job. While it's true that unnecessarily changing a successful formula for a show is a bad idea, becoming too comfortable in one creative niche can lead to complacency and then to an uninteresting television program. Paint-by-numbers episodes and repeats of previous plots with different characters are surefire ways to drive away viewers, even without depriving them of their comfortable furnishings.