Doctor Who: 10 Worst Twelfth Doctor Moments
6. The Justification Of Nardole
For the majority of series 10, The Doctor was followed around by a cue-balled cyborg known as Nardole. He first appeared in the 2015 Christmas episode with a purpose and then proceeded to just sort of hang out afterward with no discerning purpose. Then midway through series 10 in the episode Extremis, his purpose was explained. It didn’t help matters.
The tacked-on reason Nardole gave was that River Song sent him to make sure The Doctor didn’t take any extreme actions following her death. This was a cheap use of a beloved character to justify another character that is likely around because he amuses the showrunners. So why not use that? If they explained Nardole was still around because he amused The Doctor it would’ve made more sense than the heavy-handed reason they came up with.
On top of that, almost every moment with Nardole is a less than desirable moment. The actor Matt Lucas may have been the second funniest performer on Little Britain, but on Doctor Who, he’s a whole lot of nothing. With larger than life characters such as Missy and Bill, Nardole adds nothing and at times even detracts.