Doctor Who Season 11: 10 Huge Questions After 'Demons Of The Punjab'

Last week we noted that the Doctor’s spirituality had become something of a defining feature for this series. She is never reluctant to take about her inner feelings and motivations, and there is almost a priest-like quality to some of her interactions. In a season in which the stories have been fairly straightforward and one-dimensional, this has been the one area where the writers have been allowed to philosophise. Even Graham was at it here with his deep comments about the nature of the human condition: “I don’t think any of us know the real truth of our lives because we’re too busy living them from the inside.”

The Doctor is happy to participate in the rituals of others, from the funeral of Grace to the blessing of Eve Cicero, and now we see her taking a priestly lead by officiating a wedding. She uses it as an opportunity to impart her own spiritual wisdom, making sure to describe it as her faith rather than universal truth. So what is it that the Doctor believes in?

Hope is important to her, but love even more so. It is a touching message especially for those going through situations in which faith would only be a form of denial. In the protestant tradition, a wedding is little more than a promise, a contract sealed by certain vows about future behaviour. Here, the Doctor sees the ritual as meaningful in and of itself. Prem and Umbreen in committing to each other, in that moment are the most important people in the universe. It is a sacramental view of faith, one that the cynics among us might describe as pie in the sky.