Series Arcs
Bad Wolf
Bad Wolf
"I keep hearing those words. Everywhere we go. Bad Wolf..."

The first time we heard anything to do with Bad Wolf was in The End of the World. The Moxx of Balhoon can just about be heard mentioning the 'Bad Wolf scenario' in a conversation with the Face of Boe. The second reference came in the next episode, The Unquiet Dead, when Gwyneth reads Rose Tyler's mind and is frightened by what she sees, most notably 'the big bad wolf'.

The third reference to the mysterious Bad Wolf was in Aliens of London/World War Three, when a young boy is seen spray-painting the words on the TARDIS doors. The Doctor makes him clean it off (and quite right too!), and warns him that if he does it again, he'll 'av him! Next, in Dalek, when the Doctor and Rose visit Utah in 2012, Henry van Statten's private helicopter is called 'Bad Wolf One'. Coincidence?

In addition, one of the channels broadcasting from Satellite Five in The Long Game, is called BADWOLFTV, while, in Father's Day, a poster on the wall has had the words 'Bad Wolf' graffitied on it.

The bomb Captain Jack rides in The Doctor Dances, has 'SCHLECHTER WOLF' written on its side, and in Boom Town, the Doctor, Rose and Jack arrive in Cardiff to discover a new project called the Blaidd Drwg project, set up by Margaret Blaine. She plans to build a new nuclear plant at the heart of the city, and, when questioned about where she got the name from, Blaine says that she chose it purely because it sounded good. But Blaidd Drwg is, in fact, Welsh for Bad Wolf, which leads the Doctor to finally realise that it's not the first time he and Rose have encountered the words on their travels.

RoseThe Series 1 finale, Bad Wolf and The Parting of the Ways, finally explains the mystery behind the Bad Wolf. It is revealed that, by looking into the Heart of the TARDIS, Rose is able to use the energies of the time vortex to spread the words 'Bad Wolf' throughout time and space, as a message to lead herself to that specific moment to ultimately save the Doctor from the Daleks.

There were yet more references to the Bad Wolf in Series 2. In Tooth and Claw, the Host tells Rose that there's 'something of the wolf about her', and refers to the fact that she 'burnt like the sun' when she absorbed the time vortex. Later in the series, in Love & Monsters, Victor Kennedy tells the rest of the group that all computer records of Rose Tyler have been wiped out by the 'Bad Wolf Virus'. In episode 13, Doomsday, the Doctor and Rose say goodbye on a beach in Norway called Dårlig Ulv Stranden, which translates as Bad Wolf Bay. In the Series 3 adventure Gridlock, a poster saying 'Akurō' can be seen in one of the cars. Akurō is Bad Wolf in Japanese, although 'evil wolf' would be a more accurate translation.

In Forest of the Dead in Series 4, a drawing of a blonde woman can be seen stuck on the wall next to another drawing of a wolf, foreshadowing the return of Rose later in the series. In Episode 11, Turn Left, Rose informs the Doctor and Donna of the approaching Darkness by sending Bad Wolf as a warning to the planet Shan-Shen.


Pick an arc: Bad Wolf | Torchwood | Saxon