Doctor Who Series 10: 7 Big Questions After 'Thin Ice'
3. Were They Any Other Call-Backs To Doctor Who Of Yesteryear?
The previous two episodes of series 10 shared something of
an old-school feel - music to the ears of many a disenchanted fan. They also
made direct references to the first Doctor’s era, such as the photograph of
Susan Foreman in the Doctor’s university study.
Thin Ice is also heavy on nostalgia, but its inspiration is rooted more in the 1970s, in particular the Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith. Peter Capaldi is at his most Tom Baker like in this one, particularly when he is reading the bedtime story to the orphans. His alien intonations and exaggerated facial expressions channel the Fourth Doctor perfectly.
Pearl Mackie’s Bill Potts is very much scripted in the Sarah Jane mould, and Thin Ice includes some lovely nods to Elisabeth Sladen’s popular character, such as when Bill sticks out her tongue at the Doctor, and when she makes the unconvincing suggestion that the barrels might contain rum. But the interplay between the two of them when trying to convince the Overseer that they have been sent by Lord Sutcliffe wouldn’t have been out of place in 1975.
There is also a somewhat oblique reference to the Sixth Doctor’s companion Peri when the Doctor rewrites history by making the orphan boy Perry the long lost heir to Lord Sutcliffe. It might have been too obscure a link were it not for the fact that Bill, who herself has a name more usually male, points out that the heir cannot be a girl.