Doctor Who Series 10: 10 Biggest WTF Moments

4. The Talking Crows

Doctor Who The Eaters of the Light Doctor Nardole
BBC

A time machine that’s bigger on the inside than the outside, a man who can cheat death by regenerating every cell in his body into a completely different form, and statues than can send you back in time. We can happily suspend our disbelief for such things. But talking crows? I mean, come on. There are limits. This is being facetious of course, but the crows were a source of annoyance to many and have taken their place alongside the egg-moon and the Kandyman in the pantheon of the too ridiculous even for Who.

It’s all rather sweet and entirely in keeping with the story when it turns out that the reason why they don’t talk anymore is because they are remembering Kar with their signature call. But when they first appear with a slightly more extensive vocabulary as familiars for the audience and Nardole, a fair few eyebrows will have been raised.

Not only can they talk, but they are prophetic too. Exchanging pleasantries with each other about the inclement Scottish weather would have probably been a step too far. So yes it’s a definite WTF moment, but don’t dismiss the crows. Do we really want to give them something else to talk about?

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Paul Driscoll is a freelance writer and author across a range of subjects from Cult TV to religion and social policy. He is a passionate Doctor Who fan and January 2017 will see the publication of his first extended study of the series (based on Toby Whithouse's series six episode, The God Complex) in the critically acclaimed Black Archive range by Obverse Books. He is a regular writer for the fan site Doctor Who Worldwide and has contributed several essays to Watching Books' You and Who range. Recently he has branched out into fiction writing, with two short stories in the charity Doctor Who anthology Seasons of War (Chinbeard Books). Paul's work will also feature in the forthcoming Iris Wildthyme collection (A Clockwork Iris, Obverse Books) and Chinbeard Books' collection of drabbles, A Time Lord for Change.