Confronting Aristocratic Racists and Gargantuan Serpents in Regency London

Thin Ice might be Doctor Who's best depiction of historical racism.

Plot Summary

During an accidental detour to London in 1814, the Doctor and Bill confront a racist aristocrat holding a sea serpent in bondage under the frozen Thames.

Notable for:

• First trip into the past for Bill

• Immediately follows Smile

Pete commentary

• So this is Bill’s “go to the past” episode. It turns out to do a lot more than that, filling in a key component of Capaldi’s Doctor. After his reboot in Series 9, this story provides a look under Twelve’s armor, and unpacks his coldness in perhaps the best way. It’s a smart choice to do it here, since exploring the Doctor’s humanity requires he deal with humans, championing the vulnerable and innocent (the street urchins) and confronting the truly despicable (Sutcliffe).

• The cold open has a nice vibe. I love the looks on both of their faces when the elephant walks out in front of them. It’s London, but the Thames is frozen and there’s an elephant walking on it. Naturally Bill thinks it's a parallel world. But Frost Fairs were apparently a real thing, and I like how this episode lets Doctor Who mine history for the strange and unexpected – you don’t always have to lean on alien influence to do something interesting. Like Bill, we’re all thinking, “I have questions” and the story, to its credit, answers a few.

• When Bill refers to her melanin, you think the episode might be paying mere lip service to historical racism, essentially saying, “Let’s acknowledge racism but then have a fun adventure.” But to its credit, it successfully weaves the racist attitudes of the past into the script without overwhelming the story and making it too message-y (a la Rosa). The Doctor’s “whitewash” comment nicely keeps it alive as well.

• Love the Doctor’s joke about Pete, and not just because it lets me plausibly claim I was a Doctor Who companion (but no one remembers). Considering the Doctor has experienced this exact phenomenon (people getting erased from history and memories), this is arguably foreshadowing his “I’ve seen it all” indifference later.

• Capaldi giving his hat to the little girl is a sweet moment. This, with the Pete joke, remind us of the Doctor’s kind exterior before going deeper to the uglier layers.

• That happens when the Doctor grabs the sonic out of the kid’s hand after he’s been pulled (mostly) under the ice. It’s definitely a harsh moment, and for a few minutes you feel like you’re watching Series 8 again. But this time we get a serious exchange between Bill and the Doctor, and not just banter (which is typically what you’d get with the Doctor and Clara). The Doctor staying steady and calm as Bill lays into him is Capaldi at his finest, and by the end you’re on his side, even though you have sympathy for what Bill is going through. “I’ve never had the time for the luxury of outrage.” Here it is, two seasons in: a persuasive speech on why the Twelfth Doctor is who he is.

• BUT it’s also balanced by his passion. He kind-of, sort-of reverses himself later when he punches Sutcliffe. No question that is outrage. And it proves both the Doctor’s and Bill’s points – because he does this, they get captured, so it wasn’t a wise choice. But it also ignites the Doctor’s passion, deepens his bond with Bill, and shows us why they’re drawn to each other. It’s a great way for the companion to emphasize why the Doctor needs companions to bring out his humanity and not be a cold, calculating “last of the Time Lords,” as much as that might make logical sense sometimes.

• The diving suits look amazing. So much that you forget how they got them. They actually never explain it as far as I can tell, and you don’t really care.

• Similarly, the origin of the creature is never talked about. It doesn’t really matter where it came from ultimately, though you do wonder where it ends up, like Bill does. If you think about this, Legend of the Sea Devils, and a whole host of other adventures, someone should do a roundup of massive monsters still on the loose in Earth’s oceans. There are probably enough for a Godzilla-esque battle royale – a great idea if you want it, RTD.

• Something’s a bit off with the pacing of this episode. I never quite feel like I’m in the right mode to listen closely or be ready for action. It might be that when they’re in peril from the creature, they don’t really seem to be in peril. It just kind of stares at them. I get we’re supposed to feel pity for it, but why didn’t it try to eat them?

• Capaldi’s speech on the true way to measure human progress is quite good. He’s coasting a bit on reputation here – it’s not approaching, say, the high of The Zygon Inversion – but it believably impresses Bill.

• Ultimately this, along with the other episodes bookending it – Smile and Knock Knock – are all about the Doctor and Bill's relationship and how they complement each other. I like that this one isn’t afraid to emphasize the Doctor’s role as her teacher while also giving Pearl Mackie good material to show Bill’s passion and her agency.

• Speaking of, the choice the Doctor presents to Bill is reminiscent of both The Beast Below and Kill the Moon. Kill the Moon is the better parallel for Capaldi – in that one, he ditched Clara and the Earth to let them figure out things for themselves. Here he stays, advising and supporting Bill, but not abandoning her – a nice bit of punctuation on how Twelve has evolved, and is making better choices. He’s ready to be a teacher.

• The creature eating Sutcliffe is a bit convenient, and CGI’d to the max. It’s find to have him get his just desserts, but it’s pretty by the numbers, and the bad FX don’t help.

• Vault scene! Not the best one, though, as much as you sympathize with Nardole

What did Pete’s family think?

• Grace thought it was really good, liked that there was serious and funny things, especially that the Doctor was listening to Bill. She liked when the Doctor punched someone. Good ep for Bill.

Four Questions to Doomsday - Pete

1. Why did the Randomizer take us here? Time for some comfort food after the challenge of Flux and the fraught Church, so why not do the Rando’s favorite Doctor? Also, it might have felt a need to show the humanity of Capaldi’s Doctor after the emotive Gatwa.

2. What if the evil plot had succeeded? Say, Sutcliffe kills the Doctor and Bil. He harvests the humans, gets more fuel, and ends up conquering the world economically. Maybe this happened in a parallel world, and Lumic is his descendant?

3. Where's the Clara splinter? She’s in charge of locking the front door of the wet suit store that the Doctor and Bill easily pillage.

4. Dalek, Ogron, Professor Hayter, Viscount Banger, Fixed Point in Time, or Lady Cassandra? Dalek. Seems like it’s going to be conventional, but then it shows surprising layers.

Chris commentary

• Love the butterfly discussion and it's tearing me apart that I can't compare it to Space Babies yet! The audience will know it too! How does it feel to be in the Truman Show, Pete? :) 

• Same goes for the "a crown?!" reaction in Devil's Chord. 

• Doctor Disco? I'd forgotten that bit. Made me laugh. Same with "it's not wrestling unless it's in zero G with tentacles." Funnier episode than I remember.

• And darker! Confronting the doctor with the question of how many people he's murdered? Whoosh. Jesus. 

• Almost a Jesus bingo! Only mentioned as an expletive in War Games, and by a vicar in The Next Doctor. 

• Directions to the wardrobe room bingo! in Unquiet Dead it's exactly the same: First left, second right, third on the left, go straight ahead, under the stairs, past the bins, fifth door on your left.

• Let's talk race in Regency London. Roughly 20,000 black people, according to very rough (and probably very low) contemporary estimates from the late 18th century. Census in 1801 and 1811 didn't care, it was about finding fighting age men. Doesn't count "mulattos" or "quadroons" who were numerous and often passed for white – whiteness, as WEB DuBois noted, was a 19th and 20th century invention. Out of a total population approaching 1 million in London, so 2% is the minimum. But it would make sense for the population to congregate around port areas and the river. London was the biggest port in the world, a center for traders inc slave traders.

• 1807 act prohibited slave trade in the Empire. (US banned slave imports in the same year.) Mostly a way to gain the moral high ground against Napoleon, who had just reintroduced it. Slavery still legal in Empire until 1833. Slavery on English soil was prohibited already in law, that had been tested in the 18th C.   

• This was the last frost fair, there was an elephant, and people did drown. Printing presses!

• In 1814 there was no police force. It was up to the watermen to keep order and break up fights.

• Food and drink on the ice! Let's imagine you're there. Would you consume Brunswick Mum, Old Tom, Lapland mutton, purl (wormwood ale)?

• Would you play the EO Tables (roulette), Rouge et Noir (patience), Te-Totum (dice/spinning top), Wheel of Fortune, the Garter? 

• Food historian Ivan Day, who has tried to replicate the revellers' cooking techniques, says it would take over 24 hours to roast the animal in front of a fire. A single animal could have fed 800 people. Mutton was served in slices and in mince pies.

• The tents - made out of sails and propped up with oars - were called "fuddling tents" for the ruinous effect of the strong liquor.

• The temporary pubs - like modern day pop-ups - had interesting names. In 1814, one was called The City of Moscow to reflect the freezing conditions. Another name: Crown and Anker By John Frost. Women would walk round with baskets of hot apples on their heads covered by a cloth to keep them warm. Often the families cooking were the same butchers who had been doing it in previous centuries.

• Among the items which survive to this day is a piece of gingerbread wrapped in blue paper with a note that it had been bought on the frozen Thames.

• The fog was intense, they got that bit right. 

• Printer George Davis, who set up a printing press on the ice to sell his book, "Frostina" wrote: “Among the more curious of these was the ceremony of roasting a small sheep, which was toasted or rather burnt, over a coal fire, placed in a large iron pan… The delicate meat when done, was a shilling a slice and termed Lapland mutton.”

• Another contemporary account: “At every glance, there was a novelty of some kind or other. Gaming was carried on in all its branches. Many of the itinerant admirers of the profits gained by E O Tables, Rouge et Noir, Te-totum, wheel of fortune, the garter, were industrious in their avocations, and some of their customers left the lures without a penny to pay the passage over a plank to the shore. Skittles was played by several parties, and the drinking tents were filled by females and their companions, dancing reels to the sound of fiddles, while others sat round large fires, drinking rum, grog, and other spirits. Tea, coffee, aud eatables, were provided in abundance, and passengers were invited to eat by way of recording their visit. Several tradesmen, who at other times were deemed respectable, attended with their wares, and sold books, toys, and trinkets of almost every description.”

• Stevie Wonder mention in Sarah Dollard's script! "Under the bridge over there … it seemed like a romantic spot." Bill: You're married? Doctor: Good ones are always taken

• The ice froze for a distance of 1k, the fair took place over 5 days (1-5 Feb), so plenty of time for multiple Doctors to visit. River to Rory in A Good Man Goes to War: 

• RIVER: It's my birthday. The Doctor took me ice skating on the River Thames in 1814, the last of the great Frost Fairs. He got Stevie Wonder to sing for me under London Bridge. RORY: Stevie Wonder sang in 1814? RIVER: Yes, he did. But you must never tell him.

Four Questions to Doomsday - Chris

1. Why did the Randomizer take us here? Not just the randomizer's fave doctor, but the randomizer's fave season?! 5 eps so far, a record? Not willing to let go of the xmas spirit!

2. What if the evil plot had succeeded? If they had succeeded, we'd never know how great a companion Pete was. We would have forgotten him altogether. We wouldn't even know about the time-surfing Goblins that erased him. Thank goodness that didn't happen!

3. Where's the Clara splinter? Making sure the Doctors stay apart. 

4. Dalek, Ogron, Professor Hayter, Viscount Banger, Fixed Point in Time, or Lady Cassandra? Frosty Dalek