Theory:Doctor Who television discontinuity and plot holes/Arachnids in the UK


 * Its never clarified what "conspiracy" Hakim believed was happening. Was he under the assumption something was blocking the rubbish chute in the flat?
 * I thought it was something to do with rubbish disposal generally, a failure in council services maybe. This is backed up by the hotel being built on a site with untreated rubbish underneath, but not why Hakim knew about it or why he was collecting bags of rubbish in his flat.


 * The spider in the flat somehow knows how to use doors. (Unless it was hiding in Anna's bedroom and waiting for her, there was no way for the door to be closed. Additionally, it somehow managed to open a door that opened inward, not outward, which would requite intelligence not normally seen by an arachnid.)
 * I always thought the spider crawled under the door


 * At the end of the episode, music is used to lure the spiders in the hotel into the safe room. However, early in the episode it's established that spiders are all over the city, so there must still be giant spiders around Sheffield.
 * Though the Doctor implies aside from the one in Anna's flat, all the spiders had returned home.
 * Spiders of that size are physically impossible, even the smaller mutants would be too heavy to support themselves much less crawl around on the ceiling, and they would suffocate because of their respiratory system. The atmosphere isn't oxygen rich enough for insects that large anymore.
 * DWU's laws don't apply to ours. Plus, the spiders did start to die from oxygen starvation the bigger they grew.


 * When the Doctor traps a spider with a line of salt in the flat, the spider is easily large enough to step over it, or it could just crawl on the walls to reach the Doctor.


 * It was vinegar and garlic; the Doctor explained the acidity in the vinegar would dissuade the spider from attempting to step past the line as it would be painful. Plus the Doctor had thought about the walls and ceiling in advanced; take note that an entire square of "spider repellent" was present.
 * At the end of the episode, the Doctor seems to have forgotten about the spider she trapped in Anna's flat. Unless she dealt with it during the hours before night fall.
 * It's implied she dealt with it off-screen.