10 Moments That ALMOST Changed Doctor Who Forever

It's fitting that for a show about time travel there are so many alternate paths and major turning points in Doctor Who history. Some of the most notable of these would have reshaped Doctor Who as we know it, for better or for worse. So join us as we ponder What If? What if Sarah Jane Smith was killed off? Fourth Doctor serial, The Hand of Fear, was the final regular appearance of Sarah Jane Smith, with the Doctor casually dropping her off in Aberdeen instead of her home in South Croydon. For Sarah, this obviously wasn't ideal, but considering the alternate ending the showrunners originally had in mind, it sort of worked out for the best. After Elizabeth Sladen informed the producers that she wished to depart the show, attention was turned to developing her exit. Around this time, Who veteran Douglas Canfield was commissioned to write a serial called The Lost Legion, part story involving a conflict between two groups of aliens. This story was set to be Sladen's last, and the plan was to have one of the aliens kill her off, making her one of the few companions in the show to actually die. With a capital D. However, when the showrunners grew concerned about the progress being made on The Lost Legion, it was abandoned, and the Hand of Fear, including Sarah Jane's new ending, was readied in its place. Just imagine if she'd been killed off, though. Part of the reason the early New Who years are considered such a golden period is because of spin-offs like The Sarah Jane Adventures. Would a similar spin-off still have happened, or not? Either way, the Who-niverse wouldn't have been the same, and frankly, just having less Elizabeth Sladen in our lives would have been a disaster full stop. All the more when you consider she was taken from us far too soon as it is. What if the Tenth Doctor regenerated early? Despite being little more than a ruse to get bums in seats the following week, the cliffhanger to the Stolen Earth still stands as one of the greatest WTF moments in Doctor Who history. We all thought Russell T. Davies had committed the ballsiest of ballsy acts, killing off the nation's golden boy in a truly shock twist, only for him to cop out within the first few seconds of Journey's end. But what if? Well, interestingly, Russell T. Davies had thought about recasting Tennant at this stage, albeit only for a scene or two. He said, quote, If I had my time again, I'd have milked that. I'd have cast a whole new doctor, a superstar for one scene, Ian McKellen, Judi Dench, have them run around the TARDIS, then discover the hand and regenerate back. Imagine! Why didn't I? Celeb cameos aside, having the Doctor actually regenerate here would have made the numbering simpler to track, if nothing else. That, and it would have helped his vanity issues. Getting the next proper Doctor introduced in the middle of the finale would have been bizarre, though, and it's easy to see how it wouldn't have worked. Plus, having the most popular Doctor ever go out by getting sucker-punched by a bronze dustbin while doing a slow-mo Baywatch run wouldn't have been the most epic of endings, would it? What if there were no bug-eyed monsters? Doctor Who without Daleks is like existing without pizza. It's not even worth thinking about. The show probably wouldn't have succeeded if the immense popularity of the Daleks hadn't boosted its ratings sky high. However, Sidney Newman's vision for Doctor Who was predominantly educational, and he adamantly did not want any bug-eyed monsters. Producer Verity Lambert took a gamble on the Daleks, and boy did it pay off. Dalek mania was huge, and their very presence has contributed to Doctor Who's enduring popularity. Everyone is excited. to see when a new Doctor will be pitted against them, and it's almost like a rite of passage, though not every incarnation gets the chance. As such, it's difficult to even contemplate a world without the Daleks. Sure, the show's creativity and fantastical concepts would probably have made it worth checking out, especially in the early 60s when there was nothing else like it, but the Daleks quickly became the core of the show's appeal and were what made Doctor Who a household staple. If the Daleks had never trundled onto the show, So Doctor Who might not have made it out of the 60s, and we'd know it as some Some weird old TV show in which an old man lived in a tiny box with a teenager. So thank you, Verity Lambert. What if the tweet-alongs never happened? The last few seasons of Doctor Who can all be traced back to Doctor Who fan and journalist Emily Cook, organising a number of episode watch-alongs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Fans came together virtually to re-watch episodes like The Girl in the Fireplace, The Doctor's Wife and The Day of the Doctor. And these events got so big that they attracted national news coverage, along with actual Doctor Who creatives joining in and providing live Twitter commentary. One of those creatives was Russell T Davies, who tweet-alonged The The Stolen Earth and Journey's End. on the 19th of April 2020 alongside David Tennant and Catherine Tate. Reconnecting with Doctor Who in this way got the trio chatting about a potential return, which led to Russell contacting the BBC and the rest is... Disney. It's fascinating to consider what might have happened had those tweet-alongs never gone ahead. There would almost certainly have been a larger gap between The Power of the Doctor and the next episode of the show than the 13-month wait we had until The Star Beast, because the BBC wouldn't have had such an obvious successor to Chris Chibnall right at their doorstep. In hindsight, some would argue that it would have been for the best had Russell not returned. But at the same time, we'd never have got great episodes like Wild Blue Yonder, fantastic villains like Lux, and I wouldn't have had a cameo in Lucky Day. I'm kidding, guys. It wasn't me. At the very least, Russell kept the lights on, preventing the power of the Doctor from marking the start of a two- or even three-year wait until the next series. What if the TV movie was a hit? Starring the lovely Paul McGann as the dashing Eighth Doctor, the 1996 TV movie was meant as a backdoor pilot for a US-produced continuation of the show. Unfortunately, the US ratings weren't great, and its reception wasn't exactly sparkling either, which killed those hopes and dreams of further episodes to come. But what if the TV movie had succeeded? Its UK ratings were actually pretty good, so this wasn't a million miles away from happening. We'd have entered an era of a very Americanised Doctor Who series, which us Brits may lament, but considering that this whole endeavour was backed by American companies and targeted American audiences, you can't really blame them. With Doctor Who continuing in this way, and with Paul McGann sticking around as the 8th Doctor, it's possible the 2005 revival wouldn't have happened, which would have been a travesty, quite frankly. We'd probably also have seen some crazy canon changes too, with stuff like the Doctor and the Master being revealed as brothers, and the Doctor searching for his father all featured in early versions of the TV movie's Bible. The big net gain here is getting much more of Paul McGann as the 8th Doctor, Although even his biggest fans probably wouldn't sacrifice the 2005 What if William Hartnell left in The Celestial Toymaker? It's no secret that William Hartnell became difficult to work with during his latter years on Who. Illness began to take its toll, coupled with his increase in frustration towards upper management. This reached its apex when John Wiles took over as producer from Verity Lambert. It got so bad that Wiles couldn't even speak directly with Hartnell, and tensions continued to rise. Something had to change, and this is essentially where Regeneration was born. At least, this is where the idea for the Doctor to change his face was born. Wiles tried to use Brian Hale's script to write out Hartnell by having him become invisible due to the villain's fantastical powers within his imaginary reality. Upon returning to the screen in a physical form, Hartnell's Doctor was to be replaced by another actor, with the narrative reasoning explained as a byproduct of the Toymaker's games. But this idea never came to pass. Things would have been fascinating had Wiles got his way, kicking Hartnell out of the TARDIS five stories prior to his actual exit. Regeneration wouldn't have been a properly established element, nor a reasoning behind the Doctor's sudden change, meaning the longevity of Doctor Who would have been left in the air. This simply might have ended with whoever took over from Hartnell in the selection. What if the 2005 revival never happened? It's difficult to imagine things playing out any other way, but yes indeed, we very nearly lived in the worst timeline where the 2005 revival never happened. In June 2004, less than a year before The Ninth Doctor exploded his way onto television, newly appointed Director General of the BBC, Mark Thompson, who clearly hates fun, made it one of his first ports of call to try and axe the first series of Doctor Who before it entered production. It would appear that this request came down from Doctor Who's old nemesis, Michael Grade. Wade, at this point, was chairman of the BBC Board of Governors and was one of the people involved in Doctor Who's hiatus and near cancellation in the mid-1980s. Fortunately, it was quickly deemed that things were just too far along and that cancelling Doctor Who at this stage would represent a significant waste of time and resources. But just think how different things could have turned out if Thompson had got the job a few months earlier. He would have likely been able to put a stop to the show for good, killing one of the BBC's biggest cash cows of the 21st century in the process. Doctor Who might never have returned, and if it did, it wouldn't look anything like the 2005 revival we did get. Russell T. Davies wouldn't have took the helm, we might not have seen Moffat or Chibnall as showrunner, we wouldn't have got about a billion average Mark Gatiss episodes, and worst of all, Rory's ponytail in Amy's Choice would never have come to pass. Thank God Thompson's request was slapped into another timeline. What if we saw the ninth Doctor in The Day of the Doctor? Christopher Eccleston having a starring role in the 50th anniversary is one of those great Doctor Who what-ifs that most fans would give their right legs to see. Okay, maybe not that far, but we all want to see it, don't we? The day of the Ninth Doctor actually came closer to happening than you might think, too, because not only did Stephen Moffat plan the story with Nine involved, he actually spoke to Eccleston about doing it. That's sadly where the story ends, though, because Eccleston politely declined. As a result, Moffat created the War Doctor to fill Fill the gap that was intended for 9, as he didn't. believe Paul McGann's Eighth Doctor was a suitable one to have fought in the Time War. Not only would an episode with Matt Smith, David Tennant, and Christopher Eccleston have been brilliant to witness, it would have also kept the canon of the show a bit neater by not having a bonus Doctor sandwiched in the middle, as great as John Hurt was. The day of the Doctor was already huge, but can you imagine how much bigger it would have been with Eccleston along for the ride as well? It might have also signalled the repairing of Christopher Eccleston's relationship with Doctor Who and led to further appearances in the show over the last 10 plus years. Although probably not when a certain someone returned in 2023. What if Peter Capaldi stayed for series 11? We haven't yet had a modern Doctor who's survived a change of showrunner, but it hasn't been for lack of trying. In early 2016, with the switch from Steven Moffat to Chris Chibnall looming, Peter Capaldi revealed that the BBC had asked him to stay on in the role, but that he hadn't yet made up his mind. Moffat himself would later add, quote, "...Chris tried to persuade him to stay. I thought that he might want to opt out, but I think he came close to staying." So what if Capaldi had stayed? Series 11 is one of the most criticized series in the revival, so how would it have fared with Capaldi at the helm? The stories would perhaps have been different, but either way, Capaldi had already demonstrated a knack for elevating weaker material. At the same time, the show's ratings have been dwindling by series 10, so another year of The Twelfth Doctor might have left Doctor Who in a more precarious position. Series 11 saw a spike in ratings due to the novelty of the first female Doctor, so without that, how would Doctor Who have fared? The biggest change, of course, would have been not getting a fee. female Doctor for series 11. Although you have to imagine that change would have simply occurred for series 12, given that it's difficult to imagine Capaldi staying that long. Interestingly, this would have meant the 13th Doctor only got one full series before being derailed by the pandemic, which would have made that era feel even more curtailed than it was. What if there was a female Doctor in the 1980s? Doctor Who's struggles in the mid-to-late 80s are well-documented, but what isn't as well-documented is the completely different path it almost took. In a pitch dated October 1986, Doctor Who co-creator Sidney Newman presented his ideas for how he would reverse the show's fortunes, which included bringing back Patrick Troughton as the Doctor in an effort to steady the ship. This would then pave the way for a bigger transformation altogether. The first female Doctor. Newman's pitch read in part, quote, At a later stage, Doctor Who should be metamorphosed into a woman. This requires some considerable thought, mainly because I want to avoid a flashy Hollywood Wonder Woman, because this kind of heroine with no flaws is a bore. Given more time than I have now, I can create such a character. He then also requested a substantial fee, his name in the credits, and also to become the show's executive director. I mean, you can't blame the guy for trying. It goes without saying that Newman was a highly respected name in TV circles, and in Doctor Who circles especially, but his ideas were ultimately discarded. However, it's interesting to consider how different Doctor Who would have been had the seventh or eighth Doctor been a woman. Doctor Who was already beyond saving at this point, so it probably would have still been cancelled, and you can imagine how that would have been twisted by some into blaming the Doctor's new form. Would we have seen another female Doctor before Jodie Whittaker, or would things have played out exactly like they did? Well, we will never know, but the history of the show would have been radically different indeed. And that concludes our list. Well, we've taken a look at moments that almost changed Doctor Who forever, so why not check out 10 moments that changed Doctor Who forever? In the meantime, I've been Ellie for WhoCulture, and in the words of River Song herself, goodbye, sweeties.