Doctor Who: 10 Times The Doctor Faced Consequences For Their Actions

Series 3’s magnificent two-parter Human Nature/The Family of Blood is one of the most wonderfully written pieces of Who ever put to the screen, and a strong contender for Tennant’s greatest story. What it isn’t, however, is the Tenth Doctor’s finest hour in terms of decision making.

When being hunted by The Family Of Blood, a pack of ruthless, body-snatching hunters, The Doctor decides the best course of action is to disguise himself as a human to cover his scent. Why? Because he’s being kind and doesn’t want to have to kill The Family. This is a Doctor who has already killed multiple adversaries in the past for the sake of the greater good, and yet here he decides to save one of the most irredeemably evil foes he’s faced to date, whilst putting the lives of others at risk. It’s a real strange hill for him to die on.

He also fails to consider that he might go and do the most human thing of all: fall in love, which, of course, he does. This oversight very nearly leads to John Smith never opening the pocket watch and trapping The Doctor in his subconscious forever. Even so, by the time John does eventually open the watch, many residents of the town of Farringham have already been murdered by the Family.

When Ten makes the ill-judged decision to offer John’s love, Joan Redfern, a chance to join him on the TARDIS, she points out that, had The Doctor not chosen her village to hide in on a whim, nobody would have died, which is completely true. As previously stated, this is far from Ten’s finest hour.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Perhaps next time, just skip to trapping the incredibly evil foe for all eternity, and don’t put others at risk just to save them.