Doctor Who: 10 Most Disturbing Episodes

When thinking about the time-travelling antics of the BBC's classic television series Doctor Who, you're probably likely to recall epic tales of fun and adventure. For the most part - even despite its darker elements - the series has always been an enjoyable Sci-Fi romp with bright visuals and plenty of comedy. However, quite a few outings strayed away from that and delved into something far more gruesome.

Throughout Doctor Who's incredibly long run and multiple iterations, it's had audiences terrified thanks to some scary creatures and creepy scenarios. Seeing these more disturbing episodes added a significant change of pace to the series and kept each outing feeling fresh. Still, it didn't stop viewers everywhere from feeling truly haunted by these grotesque and often disgusting episodes.

When you run a show for as long as this, you'll always see many outlier chapters that switch up the formula and approach the series from a different angle.

The following ten entries are the cream of the crop for the Doctor's sways into a disturbing territory, as each one presented viewers with something unexpected and shocking.

Doctor Who has been home to some rather grotesque ghoulies within its lifetime, but the monsters from this petrifying outing deserve credit for being some of the most disturbing. However, the episode itself also managed to cram a tonne of scary concepts into its runtime, thanks to the religious connotations and violent methods of battling the foes.

"The Curse of Fenric" was a four-part Doctor Who serial. It saw the Seventh Doctor and his companion Ace battle against an ancient evil entity known as Fenric, who is accidentally set free by a scientist examining Viking ruins. The malevolent being then uses his disgusting vampiric Haemovores to attempt to destroy all life on Earth.

Those who have typrophobia were probably unable to watch this episode, thanks to the Haemovores' grotesque designs. Their Lovecraftian visuals made the vampiric sea-creatures look disgusting, as they had plenty of tentacle prints across their faces but were still humanoid.

This indeed was a horrifying episode, which saw the Doctor face off against vile creatures, possession and blood consumption.