Did you just threaten to spank her on prime time TV?

While Amy (Karen Gillan) cracks the code, Rupert Graves makes spanking threats in an attempt to impress (BBC Dr Who)

Has spanking finally gone mainstream? Probably not yet, but yesterday in the wake of the 50 Shades phenomena, we had a review of a book about a female submissive published by Penguin of all people and then in the evening we had a couple of spanking references in a show aimed at young people before the watershed yet.

Ever since Dr Who relaunched a few years back it has danced with sexual innuendo and homosexuality despite its rather young target audience. But last night we had a couple of scenes that would have been common place 30 or 40 years ago but have been all but extinguished from western society on screen, namely a flirtatious spanking threat. This set the tone for their banter for the rest of the show.

Before you get too excited, it was tame enough and is only mentioned here as a social observation. But Dr Who sidekicks, Queen Nefertiti (Riann Steele) and an Edwardian big game hunter (Rupert Graves) who are pictured above with Dr Who regular (centre) Karen Gillan, get into a silver screen-style flirtatious tussle that end with the hunter threatening to take the Queen over his knee for a spanking.

Who knows, if the horses weren’t too frightened, maybe it is a theme that will be explored again after the watershed.