Doctor Who (TV Series)

Thin Ice (2017)

Peter Capaldi: The Doctor

Photos 

Quotes 

• The Doctor : Human progress isn't measured by industry. It's measured by the value you place on a life... an unimportant life... a life without privilege. The boy who died on the river, that boy's value is your value. That's what defines an age. That's... what defines a species.

  Lord Sutcliffe : [moved]  What a beautiful speech. The... rhythm and- and vocabulary are quite outstanding. It's enough to move anyone with an ounce of compassion.

  Lord Sutcliffe : [sternly]  So it's really not your day, is it?

• Bill : Traveling to the past, there's got to be rules. If I step on a butterfly, it could send ripples through time that mean I'm not even born yet in the first place, and I could just disappear.

  The Doctor : Definitely. I mean, that's what happened to Pete.

  Bill : Pete?

  The Doctor : Your friend, Pete. He was standing there a moment ago, but he stepped on a butterfly. Now you don't even remember him.

  [Bill is horrified, then realizes he's joking] 

  Bill : Shut up! I'm being serious.

  The Doctor : Yeah, so was Pete.

  Bill : You know what I mean. Every choice I make in this moment, here and now, could change the whole future.

  The Doctor : Exactly like every other day of your life. The only thing to do is to stop worrying about it.

  Bill : [grumbles]  Okay, if you say so.

  The Doctor : Pete stopped worrying.

• Bill : Have you ever killed anyone? There's a look in your eyes sometimes that makes me wonder. Have you?

  The Doctor : There are situations when the options available are limited...

  Bill : Not what I asked.

  The Doctor : Sometimes the choices available...

  Bill : That's not what I asked!

  [pause] 

  The Doctor : Yes.

  [long pause] 

  Bill : How many?... Don't tell me: you moved on.

  The Doctor : You know what happens if you don't move on? More people die. The kids living rough near here, they may well be next on the menu. Do you want to help me? Do you want to stand here stamping your foot? Because let me tell you something: I'm two thousand years old, and I've never had the time for the luxury of outrage.

  [Bill notices something behind the Doctor. He turns around] 

  Kitty : What do you mean, "On the menu"?

• Bill : Regency England. Bit more black than they show in the movies.

  The Doctor : So was Jesus. History's a whitewash.

• The Doctor : Passion fights but reason wins.

• The Doctor : [whipering]  It's imperative that no one discovers where the stuff goes when it leaves here.

  Overseer : Oh, I know that, sir. We use unmarked carts.

  The Doctor : Ah. Are they ever followed?

  Overseer : Oh, no, sir.

  The Doctor : Have you checked this personally?

  Overseer : Oh, yes sir.

  The Doctor : All the way to Hampton?

  Overseer : No, to the steel mill, sir.

  The Doctor : [makes a shushing gesture]  Hampton's code for the steel mill.

  Overseer : Code, sir?

  The Doctor : Yes, we need to use code, otherwise anyone can walk in here and get you blabbing away like a fool.

• Bill : Is this stuff safe?

  The Doctor : Potentially.

  Bill : Potentially? What does potentially mean?

  The Doctor : Safe with a frisson of excitement.

• The Doctor : I care, Bill. But I move on.

• Bill : So how do we stay out of trouble?

  The Doctor : Well, I'm not the right person to ask.

  Bill : Okay, but- When you go somewhere dangerous, what do you take?

  The Doctor : [gesturing into the TARDIS]  First door on the left, second right, under the stairs, past the bins, fifth door on the left.

  Bill : What's that?

  The Doctor : The wardrobe. Pick a dress.

  Bill : So the TARDIS has dresses... and likes a bit of trouble. Yeah, I think I'm low-key in love with her.

  The Doctor : Me, too.

• Bill : Doesn't anyone notice the TARDIS?

  The Doctor : Your species hardly notices anything.

• [extra scene] 

  Bill : So, you had to find a piano?

  The Doctor : Yeah.

  Bill : And get it down onto the ice.

  The Doctor : Yes. Under the bridge, right there. Yeah.

  Bill : Why?

  The Doctor : Well, my wife wanted to sing with Stevie Wonder, and that seemed like a romantic spot. Oh!

  [the Doctor spots something that catches his interest and walks off] 

  Bill : Wait, you're married?

  The Doctor : I know. The good ones are always taken.

  [the Doctor direct's Bill's attention to the sword swallower] 

• Bill : Why all the fuss? It's just mud from the river, isn't it?

  The Doctor : Mud's one word for it.

  Bill : Is this even the right place? The creature's almost a mile away.

  The Doctor : The creature's *head* is almost a mile away.

  [Bill picks up one of the cut "mud" bricks with an ungloved and sniffs it] 

  The Doctor : I assume now we're at the other end.

  [realization strikes Bill and she drops the brick]