Doctor Who Portrayed As Modern Day Noir

The television show Doctor Who, (2005-present), can be seen as modern day noir to some extent. Doctor Who can be seen as modern day noir because it has multiple elements that are used to characterize the genre of noir. Some characteristics of noir that are portrayed in Doctor Who are a morally ambiguous protagonist, a fatalistic viewpoint of the protagonist, the femmes fatales. The Doctor is a morally ambiguous character that struggles with making the correct choices at times even though he is basically good. Since the Doctor is a time traveler, he also has a fatalistic viewpoint on life and believes that a person’s destiny cannot be changed. The television show also portrays multiple femmes fatales, the Doctor’s companions. His companions are often shown as love interests
One example of the Doctor’s moral ambiguity is in The Family of Blood, (Charles Palmer, 2007). In this episode, the Doctor is being chased by the Family of Blood who want his time lord lifespan, but he knows that if they obtain it then it will destroy them. Knowing this he turns himself human and hides his powers away to save them, but after seeing all the mayhem they have caused once he turns back he decides to torture them all by trapping them in time. This episode shows a sense of moral ambiguity because at first his actions towards the Family of Blood were good morally, but in the end when he chose to torture them his moral ideals towards the family of blood had changed. Another example of the Doctor’s moral ambiguity is his treatment of the Master in the episode The End of Time, (Euros Lyn, 2009). In this episode, the Master returns from the dead and when the Doctor finds out that he is, he is scared and wishes that he wasn’t back. However, when the Master is killed by the President of Gallifrey, the Doctor is filled with anguish because he