When Doctor Who Was Cleverer: The Stories That Made You Think
Feature by Gustaff Behr.
Once upon a time, Doctor Who was one of the smartest, most subversive shows on television. It didn’t just serve up high-concept sci-fi and quirky British charm, it challenged viewers with sharp, thoughtful political and social commentary. What made it brilliant wasn’t just what it said, but how it said it.
Classic and early modern Doctor Who thrived on allegory and satire. It critiqued power, corruption, fear, and blind idealism from all sides. It asked questions. It mocked both the Left and the Right. And most importantly, it trusted its audience to think for themselves.
In recent years, though, that balance has slipped almost completely. The delivery often feels one-sided, less like political exploration, more like moral posturing. Subtlety has sometimes given way to sermons, and clever villains have been replaced by obvious caricatures. What once felt timeless and provocative can now feel simplistic, even smug. So let’s look back at when Doctor Who poked fun at extremes on both ends of the spectrum, warned against lazy thinking, and reminded us that no side has a monopoly on truth:
Right-Wing
The War Games (1969) – War as a Machine Without Morality
This final Second Doctor story delivers a powerful critique of militarism and authoritarianism. Humans are abducted by alien War Lords and forced to reenact historical wars, their minds manipulated, and lives treated as disposable. The serial focuses less on individual villains and more on the machinery of war itself; how systems of hierarchy, propaganda, and blind obedience sustain violence. It’s a sharp condemnation of how nationalism and military glorification can strip people of morality and autonomy.
Genesis of the Daleks (1975) – Fascism and Genetic Purity
One of Doctor Who’s most iconic political allegories, this Dalek origin story draws clear parallels to Nazism. Davros, their creator, embraces racial superiority and total control which is a direct reflection of fascist ideology. What makes the story so powerful is its ending: the Doctor is faced with the option to destroy the Daleks, but he hesitates, questioning whether he has the right to do so. It’s a thoughtful exploration of the ethics of power and the dangerous appeal of authoritarian certainty.
The Sun Makers (1977) – Capitalist Bureaucracy Run Amok
Citizens live under a bureaucratic, profit-obsessed, oppressive regime ruled by a ruthless tax collector. The story parodies the Inland Revenue and capitalist greed, where people are worked to death for the profit of a faceless corporation. It’s not just about capitalism; it’s about the absurdity of systems that prioritize money over humanity. Despite its dark message, the satire is as funny as it is unsettling.
Aliens of London / World War Three (2005) – Fear, Power, and Profit
This episode talks about warmongering and the manipulation of intelligence through the Slitheen, a grotesque alien race of capitalists who infiltrate the British government. They create fake alien threats to justify war, all in the name of profiting from the aftermath. It’s a clear critique of the Iraq War and the politics of fear. What makes it stand out though, is its playful tone, despite the farting aliens, the episode delivers a serious warning about how fear can be used to manipulate the public and how governments often act in their own self-interest, disguised as patriotism.
The Long Game (2005) – Media Manipulation and Corporate Control
A jab at mass media manipulation, this episode presents a future where a powerful media corporation controls what the public knows and doesn’t know. The satire targets right-leaning media empires (think Rupert Murdoch), illustrating how easily public opinion can be shaped when the news is bought and sold. Focused on the dangers of a corporate-controlled press, it stands as one of the show’s more sophisticated commentaries on influence and narrative control.
Midnight (2008) – Fear, Paranoia, and Mob Mentality
Set almost entirely in a cramped transport shuttle, this story strips away the usual spectacle and delivers a tense psychological horror story about societal breakdown. When an unseen entity infiltrates the shuttle, the passengers, initially friendly and ordinary, quickly turn on each other. Accusations fly, reason disappears, and fear drives the group into tribalism, with the most ‘othered’ person singled out. The brilliance of “Midnight” lies in how it exposes the fragility of civility under fear, and how easily people abandon their principles for the illusion of safety. It’s not just a story about alien threats, it’s a sharp allegory for authoritarian populism, xenophobic hysteria, and how mob rule can replace democratic values when fear takes hold.
Turn Left (2008) – The March Toward Fascism
In this alternate timeline, the Doctor is dead, and Britain quickly falls into a fascist dystopia. Foreigners are sent to labor camps, martial law is declared, and fear becomes the driving force behind policy. The story draws on historical events, evoking images of the Holocaust and nationalist extremism. It serves as a warning about the gradual, often unnoticed slide into authoritarianism that starts with small, seemingly insignificant decisions.
Oxygen (2017) – Life for Sale
Capitalism taken to its literal extreme, where workers must pay for the air they breathe. Suits keep people alive…until it becomes more profitable to let them die, showcasing corporate cost-cutting and privatization with biting efficiency.
Left-Wing
The Macra Terror (1967) – Propaganda and Collective Delusion
In a seemingly perfect society, citizens obey rules, and ignore unpleasant realities. The truth is that giant crabs control them, but this fact is ignored because it’s inconvenient. There is a much deeper reading here: Regardless of political orientation, a society that punishes free thought is doomed.
The Trial of a Time Lord (1986) – Institutionalized Morality
Systems that claim moral superiority can often be the most dangerous of all. Serials like this one offer a more abstract political satire, targeting the hypocrisy and corruption of so-called ‘moral authorities’. The Time Lords, supposedly the morally Just in this trial, are exposed as self-serving manipulators who twist the truth to suit their own interests and hide their failings. It’s a pointed critique of institutionalized “goodness”.
Paradise Towers (1987) – Post-Utopia Collapse
Reflects how utopian social planning can go horribly wrong when institutions fail by framing the story inside a once-grand social housing project that falls into tribal warfare and cannibalism. Bureaucrats enforce pointless rules while caretakers become dangerous zealots. The story is a reflection of failed social engineering where noble intentions give way to chaos and absurdity when no one’s left to manage the details.
The Happiness Patrol (1988) – Enforced Obedience
Parodying extreme political correctness or ideological purity, the Seventh Doctor lands on a world where unhappiness is punishable by death. The government, obsessed with joy and positive thinking, eliminates dissent with pastel-colored fascism. It’s both ridiculous and chilling but also a sharp commentary of ideological purity and forced conformity, relevant to both sides but particularly pointed toward left-leaning authoritarianism masked as compassion.
Gridlock (2007) – Welfare Dependence Gone Wrong
The story showed us a welfare state gone absurdly wrong. Citizens were stuck for decades in traffic, dependent on a government system that had long since collapsed. It’s an allegory for over-reliance on failing institutions and a commentary on the dangers of blind trust in bureaucratic systems that no longer function as intended. The message wasn’t anti-help or anti-government, it was anti-passivity, a jab at the complacency that sometimes accompanies utopian promises.
Hitting Both Sides
Yeah, not every episode has to pick a side, sometimes working together works even better.
The Robots of Death (1977) – Exploitation Beneath Luxury
A socialist-like society runs on robotic labor until the robots revolt. The story criticizes the fantasy of a frictionless, equal society that ignores the ethics of its foundation. Even in “perfect” systems, someone is always paying the price.
Vengeance on Varos (1985) – Authoritarianism as Entertainment
This serial satirizes the marriage of capitalism and sensationalist media. Set on a world where public executions are televised for entertainment and political decisions are made through audience votes, it exaggerates media-driven populism and draws parallels to modern day cancel culture. The story takes a shot at both neoliberal exploitation and mob democracy.
The Beast Below (2010) – Ignoring Injustice for Comfort
In this episode, the citizens choose to ignore the source of their comfort to preserve it. It criticizes state paternalism (the government hiding the truth “for their own good”), democratic apathy, and the public’s willingness to turn a blind eye to injustice when it benefits them. Wait a minute…didn’t we just get a heavy-handed “government hiding the truth for your own good” episode recently?
The Era Shapes the Message
This is true of all fiction, but…not everyone realizes that messages that once resonated with one side of the political spectrum can, in a different era, be embraced or criticized by the other.
Take “The Happiness Patrol,” originally viewed as a leftist critique of authoritarian cheerfulness and political repression, is now often interpreted as a satire of enforced political correctness and ideological purity, concepts more commonly criticized by the Right. The image of people being punished for not appearing joyful now evokes comparisons to cancel culture, social media callouts, or performative activism, things typically associated with contemporary conservatism.
Serials like “The Beast Below” and “The Trial of a Time Lord” further show how political messaging can evolve. The former, once a cautionary tale against civic apathy, can now be seen as a critique of technocratic paternalism or even monarchy. The latter, originally a satire of bureaucratic corruption, now resonates with critics of moral absolutism and institutions that claim to act in the public’s interest, regardless of political affiliation.
What set classic and early modern Doctor Who apart was its balance. Its satire didn’t punch down or up, it punched around. It was subversive without being smug, critical without being condescending. It made the viewer think, not just agree.
Today, Doctor Who lacks nuance, instead preaching rather than provoking. Many episodes feel like they’re wagging a finger instead of holding up a mirror. Political messaging is most effective when it critiques systems of power, not just the people the writers happen to disagree with. It should challenge everyone, not just the designated “bad guys.”
You’ve probably heard the phrase, “today’s enemy is tomorrow’s friend.” This plays out in real life, as evidenced by China, Japan, and South Korea, countries with historical tensions now forming alliances in response to shifting global dynamics. Yesterday’s opposition doesn’t always last, raising the question: what happens when the politics you’re preaching today become outdated or even ridiculed tomorrow?
