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Who says Doctor Who is just a light and fluffy family show?
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00:00There are often things written in the media or on forums about whether Doctor Who is too scary for children.
00:06And there have been lots of moments over the years that have certainly pushed that fear factor to its limits.
00:12Even for the adults too.
00:13I'm Ellie with Who Culture here with the 10 Darkest Doctor Who Moments.
00:18Number 10. The Boneless's Murals Flatline
00:21The Boneless were belligerent beings from a two-dimensional universe
00:25who caused the 12th Doctor all sorts of problems by shrinking the TARDIS exterior while he was still inside it.
00:32They eventually converted into surreal-looking 3D monsters that could have come straight out of a Salvador Dali painting.
00:38Ooh, now there's a killer episode concept.
00:41Terrifying though they were emerging from the ground and giving chase in a suitably dark tunnel,
00:46the Boneless were at their most sinister in 2D.
00:49The pre-credit sequence shows a frightened man on the phone to the police saying,
00:53I can't speak up, they might hear me. They are everywhere.
00:56Before being snatched from underneath and ending up on the wall as a screaming mural.
01:00Later, PC Forest is also muralised as she searches a missing person's room.
01:04The Boneless slither towards her, then brutally pull her into the floor.
01:08Barely a second goes by when Clara and Riggsie burst into the room after hearing PC Forest screams,
01:13only to discover her nervous system graphically displayed on the wall like a twisted art piece.
01:18The episode's writer believed that Doctor Who should be, and I quote,
01:22utterly terrifying and filled with body horror.
01:25Stringing out people's innards was certainly one way to make that statement,
01:28demonstrating that the Boneless were savage creatures who could not be bargained with.
01:33Does anyone else just think of Cassandra when they hear of the Boneless?
01:36I know that's not what she is, but that's where my mind goes.
01:39Number 9. Using humans for parts.
01:41The girl in the fireplace.
01:42The fourth TARDISODE, remember those?
01:46Depicts the SS Madame de Pompadour sustaining severe damage in an ion storm.
01:51In the aftermath, it shows a member of the injured crew relieved to see something mechanical sounding approaching her.
01:56But in an instant, that relief turns to terror as she is killed off camera.
02:00We're all familiar with the story of the Doctor going back and forth through the 18th century French fireplace
02:05to see slash snog Renette, aka Madame de Pompadour.
02:09While Rose and Mickey search the 51st century ship equipped with ice guns.
02:13They come across something truly disturbing though, even for 51st century standards.
02:18A human eye and a beating human heart, both wired into the machinery of the ship itself.
02:24Turns out that the Clockwork's droids were programmed to repair the ship by any means necessary,
02:29including harvesting the parts from the 50 strong crew,
02:32and believing that Renette's brain could be compatible to replace the ship's broken command circuit.
02:37We get an idea of the grisly ordeal the crew went through when Rose and Mickey are tied down
02:41and threatened by a droid's mini circular saw.
02:44Presumably the entire crew was butchered alive.
02:46A show for kids, you say? Really?
02:48Number 8. Daleks murdering a family, the Stolen Earth.
02:53The Daleks really embodied Terry Nation's alien fascist creation during Russell T. Davis' first showrunning era.
03:00We had a single Dalek exterminating its way through Henry Van Staten's bunker,
03:03the reality bomb test on a group of unlucky people, and one other, which we'll get to later on.
03:08Apart from the excellent Asylum of the Daleks and the Dalek reconnaissance scout in Resolution,
03:13they haven't reached that consistent level of fear since those 9th and 10th Doctor days.
03:18The Stolen Earth and Journey's End sees the Daleks at the height of their devastating power,
03:23invading the earth and subjugating humanity.
03:25One man makes a fatal mistake by telling his family to get back inside the house
03:30before throwing a brick at a Dalek and yelling,
03:33Get back in the sky! Get back where you came from and leave us alone!
03:36In that moment, you know exactly what's going to happen next.
03:39Three Daleks immediately move into an attack formation at the front of the house,
03:42and the music builds as if to serve as a warning of the horror that's about to unfold.
03:47Maximum explosive extermination of a husband, a wife, and their young son.
03:51Don't cross the Daleks.
03:53Number 7. Donna helps Miss Evangelista silence in the library.
03:57Technology can be a wonderful thing in Doctor Who,
04:00such as River Song's sonic screwdriver being fitted with equipment that allowed the Doctor to save her.
04:05It can also be a freakish thing, as we saw with Miss Evangelista.
04:09The sight of her remarkably clean skeleton.
04:12I mean, you've got to hand it to the Vashto Narada.
04:14They're very efficient.
04:15Waste not, want not.
04:16Sorry, that in itself is a very dark moment,
04:19but it's what happens next that gets this moment a slot on this list.
04:23With everyone gathered round Miss Evangelista's remains,
04:25they suddenly hear her voice politely asking,
04:28sorry, where am I?
04:29River explains to a distressed Donna that it's a data ghost.
04:32The communicator on Miss Evangelista's spacesuit held an impression of her living consciousness
04:37for a short period after she died.
04:39The Doctor tries to comfort Donna by putting it poetically
04:41that the data ghost is a footprint on the beach and the tides coming in.
04:45Miss Evangelista asks for the nice woman,
04:48our very own brilliant Donna,
04:49who acted kindly towards her previously.
04:52And Donna comforts Evangelista as she slowly fades away.
04:55It's a really haunting sequence,
04:57the sort of thing that stays with you long after it's over.
05:00And also every child that watched that,
05:01you cannot deny,
05:02spent the next few days walking around going,
05:05ice cream,
05:06ice cream,
05:07ice cream,
05:09ice cream.
05:10Number six,
05:10creation of the peg dolls,
05:13night terrors.
05:14Why do we need to remind Ellie of this moment?
05:17This was creepy as hell!
05:18The eerie,
05:19eyeless,
05:20sing-song,
05:21wooden peg dolls were brought to life as part of eight-year-old George's pantophobia,
05:25a crippling fear of absolutely everything.
05:28Anything he found scary was sealed in his bedroom cupboard,
05:31a doll's house,
05:31the sound of the lift,
05:32and even his kindly old neighbour,
05:34Mrs. Rossiter.
05:35Not merely content with chasing Amy and Rory around the doll's house while omitting the sound of creepy childish laughter,
05:40the peg dolls also possess the ability to transform people into more of their kind,
05:45a fate suffered by Amy and the landlord Purcell.
05:49These transformations are the stuff of nightmares,
05:50literally,
05:51and were horrifyingly realised on screen.
05:53I mean,
05:54the sounds are a mixture of wood creaking and bone cracking and the CGI of the hair emerging from the top of her head.
06:01Oh my god,
06:02it's so creepy and still quite impressive today, actually.
06:05Maybe you're just better off getting the Barbie dream house instead.
06:08Arguably no other episode in the modern era has conveyed a sense of childlike horror better than Night Terrors did,
06:15and these peg doll scenes will no doubt freak out the adults just as much.
06:19Tick tock goes the clock,
06:22he cradled and he rocked her.
06:27Tick tock goes the clock,
06:30even for the doctor.
06:34Hey,
06:34if I've got to be terrified,
06:36you've got to be terrified too.
06:37You're welcome.
06:38Number five,
06:39Floor Zero Massacre,
06:40The Parting of the Ways.
06:42Captain Jack was right not to promise the rest of the people on Floor Zero that they'd be safe.
06:47But hey,
06:47no doubt fuelled by his win on the weakest link,
06:49at least Roderick was extremely confident that the Daleks no longer existed.
06:53However,
06:54as soon as they blow up the android on Floor 495,
06:57the Daleks descend the elevator shaft,
07:00much to Linda's horror,
07:01who's observing events on a monitor.
07:03A lot of people die in Doctor Who,
07:04but it's usually people involved in the story directly.
07:07It's rarely a massive group of innocent people,
07:09and it's rarely as chilling as this.
07:11The slow,
07:12processional manner in which the Daleks move
07:14provides a devastating contrast to the mass panic of the helplessly huddled humans,
07:19all of which comes to a conclusion in a cacophony of
07:21exterminate,
07:22screaming,
07:23Dalek gunfire,
07:24and Linda's reaction to what she's just witnessed.
07:27Still think the Daleks don't exist,
07:28Roderick,
07:29or would you like to review your answer?
07:31Number 4.
07:32Breaking the emotional inhibitor,
07:34The Age of Steel.
07:35While the Daleks started New Who as the more menacing monsters,
07:39the Cybermen have stomped back strongly with some terrifying turns in Series 10 and in Series 12.
07:45Notwithstanding the gruesome scene where we see people being upgraded in a whirl of saws and scissors,
07:50John Lumic's Cyberman design was too robotic.
07:53You sometimes forget that these machines were once living, breathing people.
07:57Then again, perhaps that was the point.
07:59To make scenes like this one all the more affecting.
08:02After the Doctor and Mrs. Moore successfully navigate their way through the cooling tunnels
08:06underneath the cyber conversion factory,
08:08Moore takes out a Cyberman with an electromagnetic bomb.
08:11The Doctor begins examining it by removing the front plate to reveal its inner workings.
08:15But in doing so, he realises that its emotional inhibitor is broken.
08:19The Cyberman reacts by saying,
08:21Why am I cold?
08:23And goes on to explain that her name is Sally,
08:26and that she was going to get married to Gareth the following day.
08:28Even with a cyber voice, you can hear the anguish, the pain.
08:32It's one of those rare moments that brings humanity to the Cybermen,
08:36and truly makes you realise how horrifying it is that there's a lost, terrified soul somewhere inside that cold metal shell.
08:43Number 3, Gas Mask Transformation, The Empty Child.
08:47Ooh, I knew this one was coming.
08:50Look, it might not be the darkest moment on this list,
08:53but it's undoubtedly the most iconic, and traumatised a whole generation of children.
08:57The entire scene, with Christopher Eccleston's 9th Doctor and Richard Wilson's Dr. Constantine,
09:02is crafted with incredible intrigue and tension,
09:05thanks to Stephen Moffat's writing and Murraygold's unsettling score.
09:09Constantine's coughing and spluttering makes you sense something bad is about to happen,
09:13and as the Doctor's examination of the Gas Mask-wearing patients draws the same impossible conclusion,
09:18they've all got the same injuries, right down to the scarring on the back of their hands.
09:23And then the camera cuts to Constantine's own hand, which bears the exact same mark.
09:28His coughing intensifies, and before long, he utters those four famous words,
09:32Are. You. My. Mum. Me.
09:38The Doctor can only look on, helpless to intervene,
09:41as Constantine's face morphs into a gas mask.
09:45I don't want to watch it again, please don't make me see it again.
09:49We all needed our mummies after witnessing that, let's be honest, I think I need my mummy right now.
09:53Now this scene was originally even darker,
09:56with producer Phil Collinson noting that the sound of Constantine's skull cracking
10:00was edited from the final broadcast.
10:03Um, that was probably the right decision.
10:04It's not like we needed it to be any more scary than it already was.
10:09Please. No more.
10:11Number two.
10:11Don't cremate me. Dark water.
10:14Following Danny Pink's shock death,
10:16the Doctor and Clara end up at the 3W Institute in an effort to track him down.
10:21Inside, both are welcomed, the Doctor in particular, by Missy,
10:25who calls Doctor Chang.
10:26Chang asks the Doctor and Clara,
10:27is there a particular dead person you want to talk to?
10:30The BBC received over 100 complaints for the scene that follows.
10:34It's not visually vicious, like many others on this list,
10:37but it's quite possibly the most psychologically traumatising.
10:40In Chang's office, the Doctor and Clara ask what 3W means.
10:44Chang replies, the three words,
10:45and braces them for a shocking revelation.
10:48He tells them that the 3W's founder, Dr. Scorosa,
10:51played white noise through a translation machine,
10:53and recorded a babble of voices, which he believed were from the recently deceased.
10:58Scorosa managed to isolate some of the voices,
11:00and Chang warns of the bone-chilling words they're about to hear.
11:04Don't cremate me.
11:05Don't cremate me.
11:07In other words, the dead are still conscious,
11:09and are aware of what's happening to their bodies.
11:11Feeling cold?
11:12Well, you're probably still in a mortuary fridge.
11:14Screaming in agony?
11:15Probably shouldn't have chosen Burn, Baby, Burn for your committal song.
11:18The BBC defended this plotline,
11:20reminding everyone that the Doctor dismisses it as a con and a racket.
11:24Which it is.
11:25Still, remember that a lot of people's minds were uploaded to the Nethersphere,
11:28and most would have been put down as a burner by default.
11:32Number 1.
11:33Scooty's devilish demise, The Impossible Planet.
11:36Whose clever idea was it to go through all these terrifying moments?
11:39Because I am not gonna sleep tonight.
11:41Russell T. Davis mentions in The Writer's Tale how much he loves The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit.
11:47And we agree, it's one of the best stories in modern Doctor Who,
11:50and the best of series 2 to boot.
11:52This is mainly down to how scarily the beast is portrayed,
11:56via Will Thorpe's possessed Toby Zed, terrifying,
11:59Gabriel Wolfe's demonic vocals,
12:01Don't turn around.
12:03and an impressive looking CGI beast.
12:06There are also plenty of hide behind the sofa moments
12:08that will give the grown-ups a few nightmares, never mind the children.
12:11But the one that tops them all is Scooty's death scene in The Impossible Planet.
12:15After hearing from the base's computer that someone has gone out onto the planet's inhospitable surface
12:20without a space suit,
12:21Scooty wanders over to a window and watches in disbelief
12:24as Toby bathes in the black sun.
12:27Toby turns around, an evil grin on his face,
12:29and tries to tempt her to join him,
12:31before slowly breaking the glass protecting Scooty from the endless depths of space.
12:36From the unsettling red eyes and ancient texts plastered across Toby's face,
12:40which is terrifying,
12:42to Scooty pleading for her life as she realises what's happening,
12:45it's really disturbing,
12:46as is the sight of her corpse floating towards the black hole a few minutes later.
12:50So yeah, a TV show that is well and truly appropriate for kids.
12:54Is that true?
12:54Well, we'll let you decide.
12:56Now that's the darkest moments that we talk about,
12:58but why not check out 10 dark Doctor Who facts that are never spoken about,
13:03to just prove my point even more that this show is certainly not always appropriate for kids.
13:07In the meantime, I've been Ellie with WhoCulture,
13:09and in the words of Riversong herself,
13:11goodbye, sweeties.
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