Pope (Shadow World)
His Holiness, the Pope, the Bishop of Rome was a virtual construct of the leader of the Catholic Church.
Following a series of suicides, the Pope met with the Twelfth Doctor at St Luke's University, where he summoned him to the Vatican to read the Veritas. (TV: Extremis [+]Loading...["Extremis (TV story)"])
Behind the scenes
According to Steven Moffat, the appearance of the Pope in a BBC drama had to be cleared with the BBC in advance, as the title of Pope is considered more sensitive compared to other world leaders. It was decided that the Doctor would treat the Pope with utmost seriousness, despite his previous irreverence towards other leaders.[1] This was likely due to previous controversies between the BBC and the Catholic Church, such as the controversy surrounding the ultimately cancelled BBC Three commissioned sitcom Popetown (which incidentally also featured a character portrayed by Matt Lucas).[2] As a result, the Pope that appears in Extremis is also not based on any real world Pope.
Footnotes
- ↑ Doctor Who: The Complete History - 87 p. 67. Hachette Partworks, Panini UK (12 December 2018).
- ↑ BBC News - BBC pulls controversial Popetown
