Doctor Who: 5 Surefire Ways To Push The Doctor's Buttons

4. Tell Him He Can't Do Something

The quickest way to make the Doctor want to do something is to tell him not to do it, especially if said thing is mysterious. If the people around him are strict rule-followers, he can't resist seeing what happens when those rules are broken. For example, in The Long Game, the Ninth Doctor and Rose meet Cathica, a journalist working on Satellite 5. She wants to be promoted to Floor 500 from where no one returns, but once she realises the Doctor is poking around in the news company's operations, she says she doesn't want to be involved. The Doctor keeps trying to draw her in, hoping that she'll be inspired to ask real questions about what's been happening instead of being a mere conduit for filtered stories. Not only does the Doctor become annoyed when he is restricted but he can't understand why anyone would be willing to restrict themselves, either. And remember, in the case of the Second Doctor, not following the rules is what forced his regeneration and had him exiled to Earth in the first place. Did he make do and keep poking at mysterious things? Of course he did.