Obviously Doctor Who doesn’t gamble. He doesn’t need to.

Freed from the constraints of time and space that restrict the rest of us to merely linear timelines, the Doctor’s freewheeling ability to time travel means he could – if he wanted – never lose. Admittedly, it would be a pretty meaningless existence compared to the way he usually spends his time (if that is the right expression) but it does beg the question as to why he is ever surprised about anything.

When all is said and done, he has the means in any story that looks to be turning out badly to simply rewind, recalibrate and start over. It would not make for such great TV but it would save him an awful lot of heartache. And with two hearts to deal with, that must be quite uncomfortable.

For the rest of us, the ability to chart timelines and the pulses, ebbs and flows of human life is something that we can only do in a restricted narrow sense offered by such bookmaking software as the betfair sports trading app. It is the sort of thing the Doctor would tut at and disparage, but for those of us without a sonic screwdriver, a TARDIS and 900 or so years of experience to draw on, it is about as good as it gets.

In our primitive human way, as the Doctor would testily call it, we are a species that universally likes to gamble. It is one of the great commonalities of all human civilization – much like religion, belief in life after death and fear of Cybermen. In other words, we delight in the unpredictable, unfolding nature of the linear time frame we are restricted to. You could say it is a way of making the best of the situation, but in turning it into a form of child-like guessing game it does show us for the happy, playful innocents that the Doctor has such a soft spot for. The Doctor may not gamble, but in many respects the rest of us simply do not have any option.