The Ballad of Reading Gaol

The Ballad of Reading Gaol was a poem written by the Irish poet Oscar Wilde. (PROSE: Mordieu) The poem referenced the writer's two years as a prisoner at Reading Gaol. (COMIC: Bat Attack!) The Eighth Doctor was familiar with the poem and when asked if he thought he was Oscar Wilde, quoted its lines "never saw a man who looked/With such a wistful eye/Upon that little tent of blue/Which prisoners call the sky." (PROSE: Mordieu)

Behind the scenes

• The poem was originally published in 1898 under the pseudonym C.3.3., a reference to the poet's prison cell number at Reading Gaol.