The Death of Doctor Who Death?

Guest contributor Craig Sightings on whether dead characters should stay dead.

Last year I was left shocked when Steven Moffat murdered fan-favourite character Osgood in “Death in Heaven”. Equally shocking was seeing the armed guards allowing it to so easily happen in the first place, but I digress. It was a horrible moment that left me stunned and throughout the rest of the episode I wondered if it would be revealed the character had somehow survived…

The end credits came and there was no resurrection in sight. Later, when I visited DWTV, there was an interview with Steven Moffat who stated that the character really was dead. Moffat explained that the reason he did this to Osgood was to show how evil Missy was and that the death had to happen to a character that the audience generally liked. For those that did it certainly worked.! He later denied theories from fans that it was in fact a Zygon that died.

As a fan of the character I was left feeling sad, but ultimately that a death had some meaning in the show, something I feel had been lost in more recent years. Yes people still die but it’s largely relegated to the smaller roles or extras. Star Trek fans will be familiar with the term “red shirts” which is often applied to this notion. Basically they are the characters you just know are expendable and couldn’t really care less about if they die.

Now it has been recently announced that Osgood is coming back for Series 9 and I’m left divided. On the one hand I’m glad to see a character I really liked returning, but on the other I can’t help but feel this could be a bit of a dangerous and, yes, cheap move. If there is no lasting consequence in the Whoniverse when death is concerned then why should we, the audience, care? Each time this happens it dimishes future deaths. When someone perishes we can just say, ‘Oh of course they’re not really dead!’ And the moment becomes meaningless.

This isn’t a problem just related to Osgood’s return naturally. Plenty of characters in Doctor Who’s history have come back from the dead. Clara has died and returned a couple of times now. Rory did it so many times it eventually became in-joke. Missy is also coming back this year, but I think I’m far more accepting of it happening to major villains because it’s just what they do. When death happens to a more ordinary character any subsequent resurrections feel cheaper.

Resurrection of course happens frequently within the realms of sci-fi or fantasy where the rules of real life can be bent, but I feel that even other genre shows that I’m watching of late make death feel more impactful. Mention the words ‘red wedding’ to a fan of Game of Thrones and watch their face pale. Without going into full details the episode this refers to saw some very significant characters meet a very, very nasty fate. As a non-book reader that avoided spoilers I was left genuinely shaken for a good while after. And it wasn’t the first time the show had the audacity to kill one (or two) of the show’s major characters and I’m sure it won’t be the last. Several years on these deaths have not been reverted and are still felt.

There’s always a chance that with a time travel show such as Doctor Who Osgood’s return will take place in a time period before her untimely end. But even if this is the case seeing a character happily walking about again not so long after they have perished does somewhat diminish the moment. I felt this especially with Danny who was back just one episode after his death in Last Christmas. Yes even as a dream figure this did seem a bit too quick and lessen his demise. It gave Clara closure, but in real life we are rarely given such luxuries from the those who are taken from us.

Death is cruel and that’s how it should be. Ultimately, I’ll wait and see how this development pans out, but I just hope it’s not as a simple as it looks and that the dead can stay dead for a change. Thanks for reading.