Doctor Who history: How the Doctor (accidentally) became engaged over cocoa

While we’ve seen plenty of it in the New Series, in Classic Doctor Who, we rarely saw the Doctor’s romantic side. But we did have a brief glimpse of it when he accidentally became engaged to an Aztec woman.

Since the Doctor Who TV movie back in 1996, there’s been a noticeably stronger emphasis on making the Doctor more romantic than he had been in the Classic Series, particularly during Nine, Ten and Eleven’s eras. He’s developed arguably closer, less platonic bonds with some of his companions, he’s kissed many of them (many of them by this point), and he’s even been married!

We didn’t see this happen so much in the Classic Series, certainly not to the same extent. And we certainly never saw the Doctor kiss anyone. However, he did accidentally get engaged in his First incarnation over a cup of cocoa.

In the classic serial The Aztecs from Season One, the Doctor and his companions arrive in an Aztec tomb. They’re able to leave it easily enough, but unfortunately, the tomb was designed so that no one could enter it easily, only leave.

While Ian becomes a warrior, his granddaughter Susan becomes a handmaiden and Barbara gets mistaken for a god, the Doctor meets a woman called Cameca. While initially, the Doctor was mainly interested in her as a way of potentially finding a secret entrance into the tomb, over time, he grows very fond of her, and the two quickly develop a close bond.

However, the Doctor didn’t intend for them to become as close as they did.

A cup of cocoa

When the Doctor sees Cameca carrying cocoa beans, he asks if she wouldn’t mind sharing a cup with him. Cameca seems very keen on the idea, and it’s only as he’s drinking the cocoa that the Doctor understands why: in Aztec culture, sharing a cup of cocoa with someone counts as proposing to them. (The look on the Doctor’s face during this moment is hilarious, and perhaps one of the funniest moments of Hartnell’s Doctor.)

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While the Doctor is initially (and extremely) shocked, he doesn’t seem too against the idea. However, he does eventually ask Cameca to help him find a way to get back into the tomb. Even though she knows that he will leave her, she agrees to help him.

Their goodbye to each other is quite an emotional scene, and as funny as the Doctor finding himself accidentally engaged to someone is, you can actually believe that with Cameca, the idea of marriage was far from a horrifying one. But he also needed to continue travelling, too.

Overall, the Doctor’s relationship with Cameca is, while short, still a fascinating and extremely early glimpse of the Doctor having more of a romantic side, something that wouldn’t be explored again for several decades. It’s one of many reasons why The Aztecs is still an absolutely classic story.

Have you seen The Aztecs? Is it one of your favorites? What did you think of the Doctor’s bond with Cameca? Let us know in the comments below.