Throughout its history, Doctor Who has frequently attracted debate about its suitability for children. From a Dalek being tortured in Dalek to Adolf Hitler being locked in a cupboard in Let’s Kill Hitler, Doctor Who has been no stranger to controversy in the press and the media. In an attempt to tell engaging, real-world tales, writers for the programme have occasionally pushed the boat out a little too far for the sensitivity of their audience. In 2014, Doctor Who experienced a noticeable shift in tone to a far darker style of storytelling during Series 8, to coincide with the arrival of the grumpier Twelfth Doctor (Peter Capaldi). Perhaps this was also part of a deliberate effort to make Series 8 less family friendly and more adult than the previous two series had been. This therefore makes it less surprising that Series 8 is now regarded as the most controversial season in Doctor Who’s history and one of the darkest series of the show since the Russell T Davies era 1. Indeed, 2014 saw both Ofcom and the BBC receive record numbers of complaints for some of the series’ content. But to what extent is this gloomy season a dark adventure? 

Deep Breath

★★★★☆

TX: 23/8/2014

Written by Steven Moffat      Directed by Ben Wheatley

In 2010, the BBC received almost 5,000 complaints about a cartoon of Graham Norton being flashed up over the dramatic ending of The Time of Angels, advertising the next show. No matter how trivial the complaint, it is clear that Doctor Who’s audience certainly takes the show very seriously. On this occasion, Doctor Who was criticised for it’s inclusion of a lesbian kiss between two of it’s protagonists, Madame Vastra and Jenny Flint.

This scene sadly gave way to homophobic accusations from other countries that the BBC was pursuing ‘a gay agenda’. There were even accusations of bestiality made by some critics, based on the Silurian heritage of Madame Vastra and that her wife Jenny was human. This certainly seems like a flippant complaint to the more tolerant among us. However, in China, this scene was censored from the final edit, prompting us to hope that tomorrow’s more accepting world will not excise homosexual scenes of this nature from any television programme.

Robot of Sherwood

★★★★☆

TX: 6/9/2014

Written by Mark Gatiss     Directed by Paul Murphy

An oft-overlooked, fun episode from Mark Gatiss, even Robot of Sherwood could not escape the contention of this season. A week before transmission in September 2014, the BBC cut a scene involving Robin Hood decapitating the Sheriff of Nottingham, revealing him to be a robot. The scene was smoothly edited out to avoid controversy, amidst the recent news of the beheading of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff by ISIS.

This was not the first time that Doctor Who faced questions of being gratuitously violent. A drowning scene in The Deadly Assassin famously brought the wrath of social conservative Mary Whitehouse, the founder and first president of the National Viewers’ and Listeners’ Association, down upon the BBC. However, this was largely seen as a positive event for ratings by then-producer Philip Hinchcliffe. Despite this view, Whitehouse’s comments that the scene was unsuitable for children were taken seriously by the BBC. Consequently, Hinchcliffe was moved on to other programmes and Doctor Who was therefore gently toned down by its next producer, Graham Williams, between 1977 and 1980. Russell T Davies’ first era as the Doctor Who showrunner (2005-2010) also drew some criticism for its unsuitability for kids because of some of its dark and adult content, which is displayed throughout this blog post.

Kill the Moon

★★☆☆☆

TX: 4/10/2014

Written by Peter Harness      Directed by Paul Wilmshurst

Certainly one of the most divisive episodes of Doctor Who seen in recent years, Kill the Moon has garnered a particular level of notoriety within the fandom. This space-age adventure sees the Doctor and Clara make the shock discovery that Earth’s (bacteria spider-infested) moon is in fact the egg of a giant space creature. You’re still with me, right?

Quite apart from this ludicrous scientific premise, the episode’s political message also drew criticism for advocating a pro-life stance on abortion, when the question was raised as to whether Earth should kill the unborn creature before the Moon hatched. Writer Peter Harness would return to pen the equally topical The Zygon Invasion / The Zygon Inversion. However, this political allegory would garner critical acclaim, rather than widespread derision for his morally contentious story from 2014.

Mummy on the Orient Express

★★★★★

TX: 11/10/2014

Written by Jamie Mathieson      Directed by Paul Wilmshurst

As one of my favourite Twelfth Doctor stories, Mummy on the Orient Express always summons up positive feelings inside me upon repeat viewings of this quintessential episode of Doctor Who. Ironic, given its brutal theme of a horrifying mummy appearing only to its victims on a space train, before killing them within 66 seconds. The outward appearance and prosthetic of the Mummy (known as ‘the Foretold’) was very graphic, and alarmed even me upon the release of the first trailer for this adventure.

The BBC shifted Doctor Who back by one hour from it’s traditional timeslot, to an 8:30 pm, near-watershed start time: the latest in it’s entire history. This was partly in preparation for the shocking appearance of the Mummy in this episode. Whilst I respect the reasoning for this decision, I joined the chorus of fans who criticised the later timeslot. We slammed it for potentially losing child viewers and disallowing young adult fans like myself the time to get ready and pre-drink before heading out into town on a Saturday night. Doctor Who belongs in it’s Saturday teatime slot of around 6 pm. However, despite this being a terrific episode from new writer Jamie Mathieson, the Mummy signalled the temporary end of that schedule.

Dark Water

★★★★★

TX: 1/11/2014

Written by Steven Moffat      Directed by Rachel Talalay

Dark Water remains to date the most controversial episode of Doctor Who ever made. It’s disturbing proposed notion that corpses remain conscious after death (before being converted into Cybermen, including dearly loved characters like the late Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart) was a deeply unsettling one for kids, prompting a raft of complaints against the BBC. It seems unfortunate that this troubling idea cast a shadow over the return of one of the series’ most popular villains: the Master, now regenerated into a female incarnation called ‘Missy’ – a revelation that stirred its own level of controversy amongst certain sections of the adult Doctor Who fandom.

At the time of its broadcast, this episode did force me to wonder whether Steven Moffat was going too far. One of my then-flatmates was hugely distressed by the wider implications of the episode, given the recent loss of her grandmother, who had raised her from birth. It must be clear to the BBC that stories of this level of sensitivity should not be attempted again on Doctor Who.

Given the scale of the response to Series 8’s more contentious moments, it is clear that this season is the most controversial in Doctor Who’s history. However, this does not have any bearing on the quality of what I strongly believe to be one of the best and certainly one of the darkest seasons of modern Doctor Who.