Doctor Who Series 10: 11 Easter Eggs & References You Might've Missed In 'Thin Ice'
10. "It Makes A Noise"
When two street urchins pinch the Doctor's sonic screwdriver out his pocket, Bill calls it a "magic wand". The Doctor corrects her, but she still doesn't understand how it's sonic. "It makes a noise," the Doctor snaps.
This exchange is practically identical to a scene from 2008's The Next Doctor. In that, the Tenth Doctor encounters Jackson Lake, a man believing himself to be the Doctor (played by The Walking Dead's David Morrisey). Jackson has his own "sonic screwdriver", which is really just a regular screwdriver, and when he's asked how it's sonic, he taps it on the door and says "well, it makes a noise."
This isn't the only time that the sonic has been called "a magic wand" either, as Elton Pope called it that in 2006's Love And Monsters. Clara, on the other hand, refuted the term in 2014's In The Forest Of The Night. "Not everything can be fixed with a sonic screwdriver," she says. "It’s not a magic wand."