Posted in: BBC, Doctor Who, TV | Tagged: doctor who

Doctor Who: BBC Radio Sketch Show Dead Ringers Spoofs The Cringe

The Disney+ era of Doctor Who was mercilessly spoofed on the premiere episode of the new season of BBC Radio 4's sketch show Dead Ringers.

Somehow, not everyone is a fan of Doctor Who's Disney+ era. Yes, we're sure you're as shocked as we are. SHOCKED. The BBC Radio 4 sketch comedy series Dead Ringers kicked off its new season this week with a skit that mercilessly lampooned a key element of the past seasons.

The sketch sounds familiar to everyone who watched the first season of the Disney+ version. Here, the Fifteenth Doctor, his companion, and UNIT confront the Monster of the Sketch, which comes complete with a monster-like voice. But before the battle begins, the Doctor first has to show love to everyone by HUGGING! Yes, he hugs everyone, "the person with a handicap", "the person of color", "the trans person", because the show is all-inclusive! The Monster looks on and basically dies of cringe. You could say The Doctor once again defeats the bad guys without violence. Instead, his unrestrained positivity and on-the-nose sledgehammer mawkishness saves the day… and sends viewers running away, as some claimed. It's an utterly merciless takedown that BBC satirical comedy always goes for. It identifies the most irritating elements of a hit TV show or a public figure and spoofs them to death.

The writers of Dead Ringers are putting their feelings about Russell T Davies' even more camp tone for the series front and centre. Hell, hugging has been a major hallmark of the series since it returned in 2005. The classic series featured virtually zero hugs. The series has been making up for lost time in the last twenty years, and some fans may have gotten nauseous. Some people… just don't like hugs. Especially the British. Russell T Davies really, really, really likes hugs. But then so did Steven Moffat and Chris Chibnall when they were showrunner. The official Doctor Who YouTube channels should cut a video together of all the hugs of the last twenty years – it would be hours long.

Before you accuse the show of hating, you should know that members of the Dead Ringer production are long-time Doctor Who fans. Several of the cast members have played roles in the Big Finish Doctor Who audio dramas. Key cast member and impressionist Jon Culshaw has played a spoof of Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor for decades on Dead Ringers. Main writer Nev Fountain wrote the alternate universe BBC audio drama Doctor Who: Death Comes to Time, which featured Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred in a "final Seventh Doctor" story that's now non-canonical and featured Stephen Fry and John Sessions as renegade Time Lords.

You can hear this episode of Dead Ringers here. The Doctor Who spoof comes midway through the episode.

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