Ok, I know this is bad taste but what the heck? I’m an iconoclast. Well, I’m not but I’ve got a Sex Pistols CD somewhere and I’ve read a Michael Moore book. So I’m qualified to smirk in the face of tradition and roll my eyes at good taste. As an unofficial sequel to the genuine reaction at an un-named Doctor Who message board to the departure of Christopher Eccleston I present a selection of posts which no doubt would have been made had the Pope died during tonight’s Doctor Who and a newsflash interrupted "The End of the World".

"I can't believe he'd do this to us - I've lost all respect for the Pope"

"when will the bbc get a sense of priority?"

"He's only died. If he'd regenerated - THAT would've been news"

"at least there's a hospital bed free now - I don't feel very well"

"I say we all become Muslims – that’s the best way to get our own back on the Catholics for this"

"I’m choking on the last of my Easter eggs right now"

"What else would you expect from a Pole?"

"bring back grayam norton!!!"

"I haven’t felt this bad since Princess Diana split up"

"He’s not infallible anymore – a real pontiff would’ve had better timing"

"if I ever see him I’ll tw@t him"

"I rang the BBC – he’s definitely dead"

"The Sun’s saying Eddie Izzard or Richard E Grant will be the next Pope"

"I need a hug – preferably from someone not dressed in white"

"I feel like killing someone every time I see a cross"

"I don’t blame the Pope – I blame Peter Sissons"

"I’ve just bought some cocaine to try and help me get over it – how do I use it?"

"Maybe this was planned – maybe the next pope will actually be the master and the whole thing was scripted by RTD"

"this is typical – doctor who gets on all the front pages so the church has to steal our thunder"

"it’s days like this which make me ashamed of being a catholic"

"I won’t be able to watch the rest of the series now – I’ll be too scared of someone famous dying every week. Maybe even someone I liked"

"it wouldn’t surprise me to learn that ant or dec killed the pope just to get back at us for last week"

"you should’ve put a spoiler warning on this thread – some of us haven’t seen the episode yet and don’t want to know who dies"

"Will the newsflash be an extra on the DVDs?"

"I can’t see the ratings holding up now – the children have no spiritual leader anymore so they’ll all be out smashing cars not watching Doctor Who"

"Apparently the next Pope might be a woman"

"Wow – has anyone else noticed that he was Pope for 26 years, Doctor Who was on telly for 26 years!!! And his last few years were painful to watch too!!!"

"I think we’re overlooking the most important thing – that we should be thanking BBC3 for delaying the start of "Confidential" until the main programme had finished"

"First Callaghan now the Pope – I think we should start an OG dead pool for next Saturday!!"

"Is the pope now canon?!?"

"I just told my next door neighbour to cheer up because the Daleks are back soon and David Tennant is actually a pretty good actor. He told me to **** off because he was preparing tomorrow’s mass."

"maybe eccleston should be the next pope – he’ll find the vatican a lot harder to walk away from than the bbc – that’ll learn him"

"god did this because we blew up a church in the daemons – I hope barry letts tells him it was only a model before next Saturday"

"Part of me died today"