10 Things Everyone Always Gets Wrong About Modern Doctor Who
2. David Tennant Improvised "Are You My Mummy?"
We all love a great improvised line or moment.
"Hey, I'm walking here!" from Midnight Cowboy. "You talkin' to me?" from Taxi Driver. Heath Ledger's Joker clapping in The Dark Knight. David Tennant dropping "Are you my mummy?" in The Poison Sky.
Wait, hang on, did that last one actually happen? I mean, the internet says that it did, so it must be true, right?
In fact, there is precisely zero actual evidence for this being true. Like a lot of things on this list it's one of those widely-held online beliefs that doesn't actually have any rock-solid sources backing it up.
Helen Raynor's script for this episode can be found in the BBC's Writers Archive, and lo and behold, on page 36, scene 60, the Doctor is scripted to say, "Are you my mummy?"
Throughout the two-parter, the Doctor and Colonel Mace had been butting heads. The Doctor, at this moment, still didn't take Mace seriously, especially after showing the Doctor UNIT's new fancy weaponry. So for the Doctor to pull out a quip here and essentially dismiss Mace was a smart way for the scene to go.
You'd think if it had been improvised, that it would've been mentioned in Doctor Who Confidential, or brought up at one of the many Doctor Who panels Tennant has appeared at. But it hasn't.
It's certainly a believable rumour, to give it credit. Tennant is a fan of all things Who and has quite the sense of humour, and it's the perfect reference to make in that moment!