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{{Times S1}}{{article | publication = The Times | file = 2005-05-16 Times p15.jpg | px = 550 | height = | width = | date = 2005-05-16 | author = | pages = 15 | language = English | type = | description = | categories = censorship, violence | moreTitles = | morePublications = | moreDates = | text = Dandified Daleks An absurd ruling takes the fun out of Doctor Who The British Board of Film Classification has replaced the living-room sofa: it's become something to hide behind for those who find the exploits of Doctor Who too scary. The Board has ruled that the latest series must have a restricted classification on DVD because some scenes are unsuitable for those under the age of 12. For every parent worried that their own involuntary shivers during the Doctor's adventures will reveal to their offspring just what a wimp Daddy really is, the BBFC has provided an escape clause. Many, however, will see this ruling not as a helping hand for nervy fathers but the interfering arm of the nanny state, intent on exterminating all free thought. For the BBFC's principal objection to Doctor Who lies not in concern that it may be too frightening, but a politically correct nervousness about depicting "the use of violence to resolve problems". The censors take issue with one scene where the Doctor "tortures" the last of the Dalek race. Aside from the question whether a creature whose primary objective is to exterminate all mankind doesn't perhaps deserve a lithe of its own medicine, where, it has to be asked, did the members of the BBFC spend their own childhoods? Clearly not watching the original Doctor Who, or indeed engaging with any significant work of children's fiction. No story can fire a young mind if it is all kittens and cotton wool. Indeed, some of the most successful children's tales, from Harry Potter to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, contain elements of cruelty. What makes them morally appropriate for children is not an absence of conflict, but a demonstration that good can triumph if it asserts itself. }}

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