Tenth Doctor Era
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Tooth and Claw
The one where the Doctor licks wood... err... and notes his sonic screwdriver doesn't work on wood. Uhh... it's a door we're talking about, by the way.note
A band of hooded monks travel along a dirt road across the windswept Scottish moors. They enter the courtyard of the Torchwood Estate, belonging to Sir Robert MacLeish. Their leader, Father Angelo, approaches the steward and demands possession of the house. The steward stands his ground, as Father Angelo and his brethren have apparently had disagreements with Sir Robert's family for the past few generations. He dares to ask if Father Angelo will show the hand of God to take the house, to which Angelo retorts, "No. The fist of man." He and his monks proceed to show off their martial arts skills, with which they take over the house, knocking out Sir Robert, while taking his wife Lady Isabel and any other servants they find hostage and parading them into the cellars. Afterwards, they carry a covered cage into the cellar where they're keeping the hostages. When the steward tries to prod Father Angelo for answers as to what's inside the cage, Father Angelo simply replies "May God forgive me," and his monks remove the canvas, invoking screams of terror from their hostages.
In the TARDIS, the Doctor and Rose are doing what they do best — bopping around the universe and having fun: in this particular instance, the Doctor is trying to steer to Sheffield in 1979, so he can take Rose to see Ian Dury and The Blockheads in concert in Sheffield. Rose has even dressed accordingly for the time period, with a pink T-shirt and a denim minidress. When they land, they exit the TARDIS... and walk right into armed Scottish soldiers escorting a carriage through the Highlands, who point their guns at them — once again, the TARDIS has missed the mark, by a hundred years this time; it's 1879. Their leader Captain Reynolds, demands explanations for the Doctor's presence and Rose's "nakedness". Using psychic paper and a perfect Scottish accent, the Doctor claims that his name is James McCrimmon from the township of Balamory. Rose tries to do her own Scottish accent as well, but the result is so hilariously terrible that the Doctor passes her off as mentally ill.
An authoritative voice from the carriage the soldiers are escorting asks the Doctor and Rose to approach. To the Doctor's delight, it's Queen Victoria, who is on her way to Balmoral Castle. When Victoria sees the Doctor's psychic paper, she notes it says the Lord Provost has appointed the Doctor as her protector, meaning the time travellers are stuck in this time period for a while. The Doctor wonders why the Queen is travelling by road when there's a railway line to Aberdeen, and the Queen replies that a fallen tree has blocked the tracks, but she believes it was an assassination attempt, much like the six previous ones against her. The Doctor and Rose walk alongside the carriage as the entourage makes their way to the Torchwood Estate, where the Queen plans to spend the night. They squee about the fact that they're meeting Queen Victoria in the midst of their little detour, and Rose gets the Doctor to agree to a side bet that she can get Victoria to say "We are not amused", which she will spend the rest of the episode trying to do.
As the Queen's entourage enters the courtyard, a very queasy Sir Robert watches them from the window. Father Angelo and his monks are forcing him to commit treason against the crown under the threat of harm to his wife and servants. It takes a reminder from Father Angelo (in the guise of a servant) of the threatened consequences to get Sir Robert to do as asked. He goes downstairs to receive Victoria. Despite his cryptic efforts to tell Her Majesty that all is not right, Victoria insists on staying; the estate was a favourite spot of her late consort, Prince Albert, who was good friends with Sir Robert's father. They enter the manor, with Captain Reynolds deploying his men to guard the estate. He also carries a small leather box inside, which he locks in a safe. In the cellar, the captive in the cage, who appears to be a hooded man, puts his finger to his lips, intimidating the other prisoners into silence.
Sir Robert shows the Queen, Doctor and Rose the observatory, which contains a telescope his father designed. The Doctor notices it has far more prisms than a typical telescope, causing too much magnification for simple stargazing. Sir Robert admits he knows little of his father's eccentric work. Victoria mentions that Sir Robert's father was a polymath, equally versed in science and folklore, and that Albert was fascinated by local stories of a wolf. Before Sir Robert can tell the tale, however, Father Angelo interrupts, offering to take the guests to their rooms to prepare for dinner.
While Rose searches through the wardrobes for more appropriate attire, she discovers a frightened maid, Flora, hiding. Flora tells Rose what has happened. When the two leave the room to find the Doctor, they find that the disguised monks have knocked the soldiers out by drugging their drinks. They are captured, taken to the cellar and chained with the others.
In the cellar, Rose notices the caged man's alien-looking eyes and asks him what planet he's from. Amused, he tells Rose the human body he possesses was born ten miles away, a boy stolen by the Brethren, but he comes from a much longer distance. Rose offers to take the alien intelligence back home, but he does not wish to leave. He shall bite Queen Victoria, migrate into her body and begin the Empire of the Wolf. He says Rose has "something of the wolf" about her, but while she burned like the Sun, all he requires is the Moon.
While that's happening, at the dinner table, Sir Robert tells the Queen, the Doctor and Captain Reynolds a story. For the past three hundred years, livestock has been found ripped apart every full Moon. Once a generation, a boy vanishes, and there have been sightings of a werewolf. Sir Robert's father believed the story to be fact, and even claimed to have communicated with the beast and learned its purpose. However, the Brethren of the monastery in the Glen of Saint Catherine opposed his investigations. Sir Robert lets slip the truth about the ongoing situation as he ponders, what if the monks had turned from God and started worshipping the wolf? It is at that moment that the Doctor sees Father Angelo face the full Moon through the window, chanting in Latin, "Lupus magnus est, lupus fortis est, lupus deus est"note . The Doctor realizes the monks are with them right now.
The monks throw open the cellar doors and moonlight streams into the Host's cage, triggering a horrifying transformation. Rose rallies the other prisoners, telling them not to look, but to pull on the chains. As Father Angelo is transfixed with chanting at the Moon, Sir Robert apologises to the Queen for his betrayal and the leverage they used against him. The Doctor, slipping into his normal voice, demands to know where Rose is, but Father Angelo ignores him, continuing his chanting. The Doctor and Sir Robert rush to the cellar, leaving the Queen with Reynolds, who trains his pistol on Father Angelo, asking him what his goals are. Father Angelo replies, "The throne", and swiftly disarms Reynolds.
The Doctor and Sir Robert reach the cellar just as Rose and the other prisoners manage to break their chains, but the Host has finished his transformation into a werewolf and breaks out of the cage. The others run out of the cellar, the Doctor transfixed at the "beautiful" werewolf until the last second. He seals the door with his sonic screwdriver as the werewolf howls at the Moon. Above, Victoria surmises correctly that the monks had sabotaged the tracks to bring her here. However, she is not unprepared, after six attempts on her life, and pulls a small revolver from her bag, aiming at Angelo. He sneers at her skeptically, calling her "woman". The Queen retorts "The correct form of address is 'Your Majesty'!" and shoots him dead.
The women go to leave the house through the kitchen, while the steward organises his men. The werewolf has broken through the sealed door but is driven back momentarily by rifle fire. The women find the kitchen door locked and the courtyard beyond guarded by monks with rifles. The Doctor tells the men they should retreat upstairs. The steward refuses to believe him, thinking nothing could have lived through the rifle barrage, proven wrong moments later as the wolf suddenly seizes him and kills him. Sir Robert, Rose and the Doctor run.
The werewolf slaughters the remaining men and makes its way to the kitchen, where Lady Isobel and the other women huddle in fear. However, instead of killing them, it sniffs the air and leaves. Meanwhile, Victoria retrieves the mysterious box from the safe and meets with Sir Robert, Rose and the Doctor. As they try to escape through the windows, the monks open fire. The four run upstairs, pursued by the werewolf. They meet Reynolds, who confirms Victoria has the contents of the box and says he will buy them time to get away. He fires at the werewolf but is quickly torn apart as the others enter the library and barricade the doors.
However, the werewolf does not try to break through. The Doctor wonders what it is about the room that is protecting them from the wolf. Victoria demands to know what the creature is, and why the Doctor has lost his Scottish accent. The Doctor tries to explain, but she will have none of it, declaring sternly that this is not her world. When asked about weapons, the Doctor points out that they have the greatest weapons of all in this very room: books full of knowledge, which can give them clues as to how to fight back.
In the kitchen, Lady Isobel notices the monks are wearing mistletoe about their necks, a charm against werewolves. She notices sprigs of mistletoe on the kitchen floor and orders the other women to gather them. In the library, the Doctor comes to the same conclusion when he notices wooden details on the doors carved into the shape of mistletoe. He realises the walls are varnished with viscum album, which is oil of mistletoe. The werewolf is allergic to it, or the monks have trained it to be to control it, and Sir Robert's father knew this. Lady Isobel and the women cook the mistletoe into a broth. In the library, the others find an account of something falling near the monastery in 1540. The Doctor theorises that perhaps only a single cell survived, passing itself from host to host while it grew stronger with each generation. Now it wants to establish an empire, advancing technology and building starships and missiles fuelled by coal and driven by steam, laying waste to history. Victoria breaks in at this point, telling Sir Robert she would prefer to die rather than be infected. She asks him to find a safe place for something more precious and reveals the contents of the box: the Koh-i-Noor. The Queen had been taking it to the royal jewellers at Hazlehead to be re-cut.
The Doctor remembers that Prince Albert kept insisting on having the diamond cut down and was never satisfied with the shape or size. The Doctor has an epiphany: the diamond, the telescope, Prince Albert and Sir Robert's father are all connected. The Doctor asks, what if the two men were not just exchanging stories, but treated it all as real and had a trap for the wolf? Just then, the werewolf crashes through the skylight, forcing the others to flee the library. The werewolf nearly catches up with Rose, but Lady Isobel appears, throwing the mistletoe broth in the werewolf's face and forcing it away. Sir Robert kisses his wife and tells her to take the women back downstairs, while he and the others climb the stairs to the observatory.
The Doctor needs time. The doors to the observatory are not barred against the werewolf, as Sir Robert's father intended the wolf to come in. Sir Robert offers to place himself between the werewolf and them, willing to die with honour to atone for his betrayal. He holds the werewolf off with a sword. As his screams penetrate the door, the Doctor and Rose move the telescope to align it with the full Moon. The telescope is not a telescope, but a light chamber, magnifying the moon's rays. The werewolf may thrive on moonlight, but it can still drown in it.
The werewolf crashes through the door and moves to slash at Victoria, but the Doctor tosses the diamond on the floor. It catches the light, which intercepts the werewolf and suspends it in midair. The werewolf reverts to human form; the host asks the Doctor to make the light brighter, to end its life and the lupine wavelength haemovariform, as the Doctor calls it.
Honouring the request of the poor boy, the Doctor precedes to do so. The werewolf form reasserts itself, howls and fades away in the moonbeam. The Doctor notices Victoria's wrist is bleeding and wonders if the werewolf bit her after all, but the Queen dismisses his concern, saying it was just a splinter from the door.
In the morning, Victoria knights "Sir Doctor of TARDIS" and "Dame Rose of the Powell Estate". Having rewarded them, she banishes them from the Empire (not a problem for Rose, as she lives in the 21st century; the Doctor isn't even native to Earth). The Queen admits that she does not know who or even what they are, but that their world is steeped in terror and blasphemy and yet they consider it all fun and games. She makes it clear that she cannot allow this in her world, and warns them to consider how much longer they might survive such a dangerous life. During this she says, "I am not amused". Having won her bet with the Doctor, Rose cannot suppress a smirk, until Victoria adds that she is "not remotely amused".
The two make their way back to the TARDIS on the back of a farmer's cart, where the Doctor reflects it's always been a mystery how Victoria and then her children had contracted haemophilia. He muses that perhaps was just a Victorian euphemism for lycanthropy. Rose speculates humorously that perhaps even the royal family of her day are actually werewolves! As the TARDIS takes off, both of them laugh and howl at the idea.
Back at the Torchwood Estate, Victoria tells Lady Isobel that her husband's sacrifice and the ingenuity of his father will live on. The Queen has seen Britain has enemies beyond imagination and will establish an institute to research and fight these enemies: the Torchwood Institute. If the Doctor returns, he should beware, because Torchwood will be waiting.
Tropes:
- Accent Slip-Up: The Doctor puts on a Scottish accent while trying to pass as a native of the Scottish highlands. Later, whilst being chased by the werewolf, he forgets to keep using the accent in the heat of the moment and is eventually called out by the Queen.
- Actor Allusion:
- At one point Sir Robert, played by Derek Riddell, offers to go out of the window and help Queen Victoria down. She replies that he is like her very own Sir Walter Raleigh. Riddell had recently played Raleigh in The Virgin Queen.
- The Doctor's Brief Accent Imitation is of course Scottish, and close to (if not exactly, as is commonly believed) David Tennant's real accent.
- Admiring the Abomination: The Queen tells the Doctor and Rose off for doing this to the werewolf.
- All Monks Know Kung-Fu: When the monks announce they're taking over a mansion, they reveal Buddhist-style orange robes under their cloaks, do a dramatic, slow-motion leap over the heads of the astonished housekeepers, then beat up the residents with flashy quarterstaff attacks. Normally orange robes are worn by Buddhists, while frocks were worn by Franciscan friars — which are quite different from monks. Neither Buddhists nor Franciscans should have had a monastery in 19th century Scotland.Father Angelo: If you don't stand aside, we will take it by force.
Steward: By what power? The hand of God?
Father Angelo: No. The fist of man. - All There in the Script: In dialogue subsequently deleted in editing, the steward was called Jacob.
- Ambiguous Situation: We never learn if the werewolf is actually allergic to mistletoe or merely conditioned by the monks to believe it is.
- Anachronism Stew: There were evidently pump-action muskets in 1879.note
- Arson, Murder, and Lifesaving: Inverted. At the end, Queen Victoria starts by thanking the Doctor and Rose for saving the day, then switches to berating them for their irresponsible attitude and behaviour, winding up by telling them to get out and never return.
- Artistic Licence:
- The Koh-i-Noor diamond really exists, it really has a reputed curse on it and it really was re-cut by Prince Albert for Queen Victoria. In real life it's not a fist-sized brilliant, though — it's roughly the size and shape of a flattened plum. (For reference, the diamond in Snatch. is 80% as big and shaped similarly.)
- Queen Victoria in reality had very little power, so the Empire of the Wolf plan was rather futile. That said, the wolf probably did not know this, seeing as it arrived on Earth in the reign of Henry VIII, an era when the monarchy was still near all-powerful, and arguably still heading towards the zenith of its power with the Age of Absolutism. Additionally, Victoria had a lot of unofficial, informal power, and more importantly, in her capacity as constitutional monarch of the British Empire, and 'Grandmother of Europe', had access to royalty and rulers across the world - so even if the wolf had realised that she wasn't much use, it would have had other options ready to hand.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Rose spends the whole episode egging Queen Victoria into saying "we are not amused" as a reaction to what is going on. The Queen finally says it... And then explains that she is not amused by the way they were running around acting like the whole thing was some sort of game, sentencing Rose to be banished from the British Isles (over a hundred years before she's born) and declaring Britain's everlasting enmity to the Doctor from that day forward, which will bring some problems down the line through the Torchwood Institute.
- Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: Played with at the end. Queen Victoria is injured by what she claims to be a splinter, but the Doctor is concerned it might be a bite from the werewolf. On the way back to the TARDIS, the Doctor and Rose joke about the modern-day Royal Family being werewolves — given the Doctor's flippancy to what he earlier claimed would be a catastrophe, obviously he doesn't really believe it to be true (and if you watch the werewolf's demise, it doesn't actually get near enough to the Queen to scratch her before getting killed). Also, Victoria has already had all her children by this point, so she couldn't pass on this trait. The reference book Doctor Who: Creatures and Demons makes the suggestion that "Pete's World" split off from the regular universe when Queen Victoria was killed (not scratched) by the werewolf. (This makes some sense, considering the spread of Republican ideas around this era and the fact that Victoria's son Edward was not considered a particularly competent figure at this point.)
- Better to Die than Be Killed: Victoria expresses this sentiment. It's justified because the wolf intends to possess her, instead of killing her. And instead of allowing itself to be imprisoned, the wolf (or most likely, its host — though it's not clarified, that's what's implied) asks that the Doctor increase the moonlight so it's fully vaporized.
- Berserk Button:
- Queen Victoria does not appreciate being condescended to, as Father Angelo finds out the hard way.
- She also does not like the Doctor's Nightmare Fetishist tendencies and him and Rose treating it all as a big joke, and occupying themselves with trying to get her to say her Catchphrase, "We are not amused!" She might have a point about that one.
- Big Bad: The werewolf, who Father Angelo and his brethren worship as a god.
- Black Eyes of Evil: The werewolf's human form. This is how Rose knows that he's not really human.
- Brief Accent Imitation: The Doctor adopts a fake Scottish accent in order to fool Queen Victoria. David Tennant's natural accent is Scottish, though not quite the same as the one he uses in the episode. Rose also attempts a Scottish accent, but hers leaves... much to be desired.Rose: Och aye! I've been oot and aboot!Doctor: No, don't do that.Rose: Hoots, mon!Doctor: No, really don't.
- Catchphrase: Throughout the whole episode, Rose tries to get Queen Victoria to say "We are not amused". She succeeds.
- Changed My Jumper: Alluded to, as Rose (in a pink T-shirt and denim overall mini-skirt) is said to be "naked". She's actually dressed quite appropriately — if not stylishly — for the intended destination. The TARDIS just had other plans that day...
- Chekhov's Gun:
- The fact that Prince Albert had the Koh-I-Noor diamond cut down repeatedly, along with the diamond itself.
- The telescope in the observatory, which as the Doctor notes isn't capable of actual stargazing.
- Continuity Nod:
- The Doctor gives his name as "Dr. James McCrimmon", the full name of Jamie, companion to the Second Doctor.
- The wolf, pre-change, comments on how Rose has "something of the wolf" about her, and that she "burned like the sun"; both referencing the end of the previous series, where she became Bad Wolf.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Queen Victoria banishes the Doctor and Rose from the British Empire for having too much fun while saving her life. Admittedly, her values and theirs are a bit different due to the times, but creating Torchwood to fight both alien monsters and the Doctor himself arguably puts her squarely in the Ungrateful Bitch category. On the other hand, considering how much of a Nightmare Fetishist the Doctor (and increasingly, Rose) is, and how dangerous the Doctor is, you can also see the reasoning behind the Dude, Not Funny! attitude.
- Dude, Not Funny!: Queen Victoria is NOT amused by the Doctor and Rose's playful antics in the dire situation.
- Evil Plan: The alien wolf parasite thing wants to create "the Empire of the Wolf" on Earth, and the monks want to help him/it accomplish it because they worship it as a god.
- "Facing the Bullets" One-Liner: When Sir Robert is staring down the werewolf armed with nothing but an ornamental sword, he says this:Sir Robert: I committed treason for you. Now my wife will remember me with HONOUR!
- Fingertip Drug Analysis: The Doctor confirms that the library's doors have been soaked in mistletoe by licking them.
- For the Funnyz: Rose attempts to get Queen Victoria to say, "We are not amused", with increasing desperation. Eventually Victoria snaps at her and demands to know why she's being such a twit (not exact words, but the same feeling).
- Fully-Clothed Nudity: Rose, by the standards of the 19th century (polite society, anyway), is said to be "naked" because she's not wearing a full dress. The contemporary characters keep commenting on this. In fact, 19th-century Britain was a place where it wasn't uncommon for people to even take baths with clothes on.
- Going to Give It More Energy: This is how the werewolf is defeated. It's empowered by exposure to moonlight as a lupine wavelength haemovariform, but getting hit by a super-magnified beam of moonlight from the light chamber is enough to immobilize and then destroy it. As the Doctor explains:Rose: But the Wolf needs moonlight, it's made by moonlight!
The Doctor: You're 70% water, you can still drown. - Happily Married: If Sir Robert was not this trope then he would not have been so quick to commit treason to keep his wife safe (while it's doubtful that he would have sacrificed her if the marriage was going badly, since he seemed like a decent bloke, he was very quick, if very reluctant, to comply). They kiss several times in this episode once she and the servants are rescued, she braves the wolf to save him and the others, explicitly stating that she's going to help him if there's the slightest chance that he's still alive, and his last thoughts are of her.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Both Captain Reynolds and Sir Robert attempt to hold off the wolf, knowing full well that they don't stand a chance, but doing it anyway to buy the Queen time to escape.The Doctor: Bullets can't stop it!Reynolds: They'll buy you time, now run!
- Honour Before Reason: Sir Robert is determined to redeem himself for being blackmailed by the monks by fighting the werewolf. It quickly kills him — though he knows this going in, and does it not just to redeem himself, but to buy the Queen time to escape/the Doctor time to save her.
- How's Your British Accent?:
- When the Doctor and Rose exit the TARDIS only to find themselves face to face with Queen Victoria's guards, who are holding guns on them, the Doctor switches from his Estuary accent to a Scottish accent (which, contrary to popular belief, isn't actually David Tennant's natural accent) in an attempt to pose as a Scot.
- Rose attempts a Scottish accent, and is so hilariously bad at it (sounding more Canadian than Scottish) that the Doctor's expression is literally pained.Rose: Uh, uh... [adopts an extremely terrible Scottish accent] och aye, I've been oot and aboot!
The Doctor: [quietly to Rose] No, don't do that.
Rose: Hoots, mon!
The Doctor: No, really don't. Really.
- I Have Your Wife: Why Sir Robert goes along with the monks' Evil Plan.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Victoria might seem a tad ungrateful to respond to the Doctor and Rose saving her life by banishing them, but she does have a point about their glib attitude in the face of the wolf — to attempt to get her to say her Catchphrase all while people are dying horribly around them and treat it all as a game, to say nothing of the Doctor's Nightmare Fetishist tendencies, is beyond inappropriate. She also has a point when she wonders how much longer they'll survive their madcap lifestyle. (And her criticism does have an impact; although the Doctor and Rose continue to laugh in the face of danger in subsequent adventures, they never again act as blasé as they do here, nor does the Tenth Doctor with his subsequent companions Martha and Donna.)
- Knighting: The Doctor and Rose are knighted as "Sir Doctor of TARDIS" and "Dame Rose of the Powell Estate" by Queen Victoria... then immediately exiled.
- The Knights Who Say "Squee!": The Doctor and Rose meeting Queen Victoria.
- Kryptonite Factor: The monks have carefully conditioned the werewolf to think it's vulnerable to mistletoe, and cover themselves in it to protect themselves in case the wolf gets ideas. Likewise, Sir Robert's father coated the library walls with the stuff, which keeps the creature at bay for a while.
- Life Will Kill You: When Victoria mentions the legend that whoever possesses the Koh-i-Noor must surely die, the Doctor points out that the same is true of anything if you wait long enough.
- Literary Allusion Title: To Tennyson's poem "In Memoriam A.H.H.".
- Meal Ticket: Played for Laughs when the Doctor and Rose get their first look at the Koh-i-Noor and the Doctor mentions its monetary value.Rose: How much is that worth?The Doctor: They say... the wages of the entire planet for a whole week.Rose: Good job my mum's not here. She'd be fighting the wolf off with her bare hands for that thing.The Doctor: And she'd win.
- Men Are the Expendable Gender: All of the werewolf's victims are the men of the house. It passes over Lady Isobel and the maids, because they had the good fortune to wind up in the mistletoe-filled kitchen. The lower-ranking monks standing guard outside the house aren't seen to be killed, but it's not all that likely they'd have survived for long in Victorian Britain, at a time when they were only too happy to punish traitors to the Crown by hanging.
- Mercy Kill: The human inside the wolf asks to be killed once it's pinned in the focused ray of moonlight. The Doctor obliges.
- Mistaken for Gay:Sir Robert: I'm sorry, Ma'am. It's all my fault. I should've sent you away. I tried to suggest something was wrong, I... thought you might notice. Did you think there was nothing strange about my household staff?
The Doctor: Well, they were bald, athletic, your wife's away... I just thought you were happy. - Mythology Gag: The Doctor tells the Queen his name is "James McCrimmon". Victoria is played by Pauline Collins, who previously appeared on Doctor Who in a '60s serial as a character who, among other things, snogged the Second Doctor's companion by that name.
- Never Mess with Granny: 60-year-old Queen Victoria, having already had several attempts on her life, carries a gun in her purse.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The Doctor and Rose save Queen Victoria from a werewolf, but because they act like selfish, immature adrenaline junkies, she decides to found the Torchwood Institute to protect the British Empire against extraterrestrial threats. They then spend a good century robbing and murdering innocent alien passers-by, and nearly destroying the human race several times For Science!.
- Nightmare Fetishist: See Admiring the Abomination. While the Doctor and Rose save her from the werewolf, their gleeful attitude to the whole thing doesn't sit well with Queen Victoria.
- No Equal-Opportunity Time Travel: Rose also gets called out by Queen Victoria herself and several other characters who repeatedly describe her as being "naked", due to the short overalls and tights she wears through the episode.
- Noodle Incident: The Doctor apparently nearly lost his thumb while helping Skylab
fall to Earth. - Not So Above It All: When Rose bets him 5 quid she can get the Queen to say "We are not amused", the Doctor refuses as an abuse of his station as a time traveler. He accepts when she ups it to 10 quid.
- Not Using the "Z" Word: The Doctor explains that the monster is a "lupine wavelength haemovariform", but it's called a werewolf throughout.
- The Noun and the Noun: "Tooth and Claw".
- Oh, Crap!: After a long period of pondering, the Doctor realises the wolf isn't sniffing or scrabbling at the door. Then dust starts falling from the ceiling...
- Ominous Latin Chanting: In-universe. Lupus deus est...
- Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Once the werewolf is unleashed, the resulting confusion causes the Doctor to forget that he's supposed to be using a Scottish accent, on which Victoria pulls him up. Considering that the Doctor had earlier introduced himself specifically as "Dr. James McCrimmon from the township of Balamory", he's obviously not who he claimed to be.
- Our Werewolves Are Different: They're aliens, in fact.
- Persona Non Grata: The Doctor and Rose are banished from Great Britain by Queen Victoria. Not that he cares.
- Posthumous Character: Prince Albert, Victoria's late husband, turned out to know a lot more about werewolves than history records. It's his plan that saves his wife from the monks' plan.
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Angelo doesn't think Victoria has it in her to kill him, and derisively calls her "woman".Queen Victoria: The correct form of address is "Your Majesty"! [shoots Father Angelo]
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: When all is said and done (and knighted), Queen Victoria banishes the Doctor and Rose for life from Great Britain, chewing them out for thinking that playing with forces that terrify and kill regular people is "fun". There's also "blasphemy".
- Redemption Equals Death: The master of the house, Sir Robert, pulls a You Shall Not Pass! to make up for aiding the trouble currently brewing.
- Requisite Royal Regalia: The Koh-i-Noor diamond is a real Crown Jewel of Britain, though without any werewolf-melting properties (that we know about).
- Royally Screwed Up: The episode strongly implies that eventually the British Royal family might become werewolves. However at the time Victoria had already had all her children, and the Doctor is on good terms with Elizabeth II, so it's clearly a joke.
- Running Gag: Rose keeps trying to get Victoria to say that she is not amused.
- Shaky P.O.V. Cam: This is used for the werewolf chases to give its POV and for the thrills.
- Shout-Out:
- A couple of references to Robert Burns' poem To a Mouse.
- At the beginning of the episode, the Doctor tells Victoria's guard that he studied medicine with a Dr. Bell at the University of Edinburgh. Dr. Bell was one of Arthur Conan Doyle's teachers, and is likely the inspiration for Sherlock Holmes.
- He calls Rose a timorous beastie: "Wee, sleekit, cow'rin, tim'rous beastie, O, what a panic's in thy breastie!"
- The Doctor claims to be "from the township of Balamory".
- Side Bet: Rose spends the duration of the episode betting that she can get Queen Victoria to say "We are not amused," making every effort possible to get her to say it.
- Silk Hiding Steel:
- Sir Robert's wife Lady Isabel is a Proper Lady in fashion and gentle demeanour. She also boils up a batch of anti-werewolf brew and personally splashes it on the thing, thereby doing more damage than the men with their guns.
- Queen Victoria is also a Proper Lady, though a little closer to The High Queen, and with a flavour of Lady of War, as she proves when she faces down Father Angelo with only a slight tremor in her hands and coolly explains that after six assassination attempts, she has started coming prepared — and promptly draws a revolver from her purse. When Father Angelo snorts in disbelief, calling her "woman" and saying that she won't do it... she promptly snaps, "The correct form of address is 'Your Majesty'!" and shoots him dead.
- Skewed Priorities: When people are getting torn apart by the werewolf, Rose's main concern seems to still be trying to get Victoria to say she is not amused, which Victoria calls her out on.
- Socially Awkward Hero: Captain Reynolds was a very successful soldier in the field, but when he is dining with Queen Victoria, he embarrasses himself when laughing at her comment towards Rose and he is quickly scorned for it.
- Take That!: The Doctor gives Rose a summation of 1979:The Muppet Movie. Love that film. Margaret Thatcher. Urgh
- They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!: "The correct form of address is 'Your Majesty'!"
- This Is No Time for Knitting: The Doctor asks Rose to help him with a giant telescope as they're being chased by a werewolf. Rose comments that it's hardly the time for stargazing. The Doctor replies "Yes it is!" and uses the telescope to defeat the werewolf.
- Truth in Television: To an extent; Victoria being a carrier of hemophilia — despite it not being in her family previously — is a bona fide historical mystery (although there are some theories).
- Underdressed for the Occasion: Rose is wearing a denim overall miniskirt and a tight-fitting T-shirt that's appropriate for their intended destination of 1979. But the TARDIS does one of its famous missed landings and ends up in 1879 when such attire would be very inappropriate, and so the other characters see her as being "naked".
- Vertical Kidnapping:Steward: And I'm telling you, I'll sleep well tonight with that thing's hide upon my wall. [walks over, looks around] Must have crawled away to di- [is lifted up by the wolf] aaaarrghhh!!!
- The Virus: The episode has an actual werewolf.
- Warrior Monk: A cult of them take over Sir Robert's house with moves out of a wuxia film.
- Was Once a Man: The wolf's host was a boy who lived near the monastery. The monks abducted him as a child, and the wolf "ate his soul and sat in his heart". And yet, there's still a bit of the human left.
- Weaksauce Weakness: Directly addressed; when Rose wonders how a creature made up of moonlight can be destroyed by... too much moonlight, the Doctor quickly reminds her that she's made up mostly of water, but can still drown.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: The rest of the monks (aside from Father Angelo) disappear from the story, and their fate is never revealed.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Queen Victoria calls the Doctor and Rose out for giggling and acting silly immediately after a terrifying adventure.
- Who You Gonna Call?: Queen Victoria establishes the Torchwood Institute at the end of this episode because she's learned that her empire has enemies beyond other earthly countries.
- You Shall Not Pass!: Twice.
- Captain Reynold uses a gun to keep the wolf occupied long enough for the queen to take shelter. Despite being told by the Doctor that bullets have no effect on the wolf he calmly reloads his revolver and says "You do your duty [find a way to kill the wolf] and I'll do mine" then steps around the corner to face it.
- Sir Robert repents, and so of course has to die, so he volunteers to sacrifice himself to give the main characters more time to escape the werewolf, despite the fact that normal humans with guns had previously been shown not to slow it down at all. His death is not shown directly, so it is not known if or how he actually slowed it down.
- You Wouldn't Shoot Me: Father Angelo pulls this on the Queen. It ends about as you'd expect.
