Doctor Who: 10 Most Cringeworthy Moments Of The Revived Series So Far

10. Rose's "I've Got The Bronze Speech" (Rose)

Not long ago, an article appeared on this very site about why she is the perfect Nu-Who companion and it's hard to argue with a WhatCulture writer (although admittedly so many try anyway). However, Rose is not immune to cringey moments and this is especially true in her eponymous first episode which has more than the usual share of them (the burping garbage bin, Auton Mickey, etc, etc). In fact, it's hard to believe sometimes that the new series went on to be such a success with a first episode like this, given how many moments of utter cringe it contains.

One such moment occurs when Rose is attempting to rescue the Doctor from the Nestene Consciousness. As she uses an axe to chop through a chain, she takes the opportunity to punctuate each blow with an observation about how much her life sucks, culminating in her pride that she's won the bronze in gymnastics. The bronze, mind you, not the gold - and she's taking the time to say all this to herself as she's chopping.

Granted, the main reason this moment strikes us as so frankly bizarre is that Doctor Who had before this point never been a series given to soliloquy. The original series let us hear the Second Doctor's thoughts once and the Fourth Doctor often talked to himself (and to the camera), and no, that business with Hartnell and the Christmas wish doesn't count. To have Rose interrupt the action to go into this little speech, therefore, is a rather strange moment indeed. Hell, even the music slows down for it.