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The Fugitive Doctor? More Captain Jack? These are some of Doctor Who's biggest wasted ideas.
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00:00Do you ever get that feeling when you're watching a great TV show and a storyline starts to unfold
00:05that really does have some great potential and then all of a sudden it gets completely forgotten
00:09about? Well, Doctor Who is no exception. So with that in mind then, I'm Ellie with Who Culture,
00:15here with 10 great ideas that went absolutely nowhere in Doctor Who.
00:21Number 10. Gwen's Ancestry
00:23Gwen Cooper is a no-nonsense, arse-kicking member of the Torchwood team. She started
00:28off as a police officer and then stumbled across Captain Jack Harkness and his gang and eventually
00:33joined them to fight those alien threats that the Doctor doesn't quite get round to. However,
00:38this was not the first time Whovians had seen her face. In the third episode of New Who,
00:44the ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler travel to Cardiff in 1869 where they encounter ghost-like aliens
00:49called the Gelf and Charles Dickens. They also bump into Gwyneth, a clairvoyant servant played
00:55by Eve Miles who also plays Gwen Cooper in Torchwood. Now this was actually addressed when
01:01the tenth Doctor meets Gwen in series 4 and he deduces that she is from an old Cardiff family
01:06and through something called spatial genetic multiplicity, she has the same face as her
01:11ancestor. Now while the showrunners could have done something with this, Gwen's connection to her
01:16psychic forebear is never mentioned again. What could have been an interesting storyline exploring the
01:22connection between Gwen and Gwyneth was instead a quick line to get around a case of double casting?
01:27Number 9. The Minister of War
01:29Who would have thought that a throwaway line would have caused so much trouble? In the two-part story
01:34Under the Lake and Before the Flood, the Doctor encounters a number of underwater miners who he
01:39must protect from an army of ghosts. And one of the miners is a woman named O'Donnell, who is a big fan
01:45of the Doctor. She reels off all of his greatest hits, recounting the times that he saved the Earth from
01:50danger. She tells him about Harold Saxon, the moon being an egg and the Minister of War. But the Doctor
01:55is just as confused by this as we are and asks O'Donnell who that is. However, he stops himself
02:01realising that this is an adventure that is yet to come. Under the Lake and Before the Flood came out
02:05in 2015 and fans are still waiting to find out who the Minister of War is. Some have theorised that it
02:12could be the Master, Amiga or the Warlords, but for now they are just guesses. At this point, it does feel
02:18unlikely that we'll ever get a follow-up to this, or maybe there were never any plans for one and we
02:23all just need to get a life. Number 8, Ryan's Dyspraxia. Dyspraxia is a disorder that can affect
02:29a person's motor skills and coordination. It's a severely underrepresented condition in the media,
02:34which is what made the announcement of Ryan Sinclair so exciting. Played by Tosun Cole, Ryan accompanied
02:40the 13th Doctor between 2018 and 2021. He lost his mother at a young age, has a frosty relationship with
02:47his father, and he has dyspraxia. Now, showrunner Chris Chibnall did everything right when creating
02:52the character, and he even consulted charity The Dyspraxia Foundation on how Ryan should be
02:57portrayed. The initial buzz surrounding the character achieved its goals of drawing attention
03:02to the condition, but as time went on, mentions of it in the show got less and less common.
03:07Basically, Ryan only had dyspraxia when the plot called for it, and the rest of the time,
03:11he acted as if it didn't affect him at all. Now, this is such a shame, as the show had the
03:15opportunity here to shed some light on this relatively obscure condition. Now, yes, they
03:19did drum up some initial interest in the subject when Ryan's character was first revealed, but they
03:24didn't really do anything meaningful with it in the actual show, other than trying to portray the
03:28connection between Ryan and Graham as he taught him to ride a bike.
03:32Number 7, Jackie Tyler in Survival. Now, this is something that is completely fan-driven,
03:39and hasn't actually been explored, set up, or even hinted at by the show itself. Well, at least not
03:44intentionally. Still, it's such a brilliant idea, so we thought it deserved a bit of a shine. And it
03:49revolves around actress Michelle Martin, who holds a very special distinction in Doctor Who history.
03:54Now, obviously not counting the two leads of Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred, her character
03:58was the last person to speak in 1989's Survival, the final serial in Classic Who before it was taken
04:05off the air. But what's extra notable about this is that her nameless neighbour character bears a
04:10striking resemblance, both in appearance and personality, to Jackie Tyler, a character who was
04:16introduced in the next regular episode of Doctor Who in 2005. It's insane to think that someone with
04:22such Jackie Tyler energy was the very last guest character seen in Classic Who, and though the
04:27opportunity was there for the show to confirm that they're the same person, that opportunity has never
04:32been taken. Obviously, this isn't a huge glaring flaw or anything like that, but it would have been a
04:37brilliant way to further strengthen the bridge between the Classic and Modern eras. Plus, it does
04:42actually make sense in-universe. Jackie was born in 1967, putting her in her early 20s during the
04:48events of Survival. And the neighbour also lives in Perryvale, London, which isn't actually that far
04:53away from Jackie's Powell estate home in the 2005 revival. But alas, this is pure headcanon for now.
05:01Number 6, 13's Fobwatch.
05:03The finale of Flux saw the 13th Doctor hide a Fobwatch containing her lost memories deep within
05:09the TARDIS, which was a strange decision considering that her whole mission in this
05:13series was to uncover the truth about her past, but okay, fair enough. Clearly, showrunner Chris
05:17Chibnall was just saving the watch for a future story, right? Well, no. Eve of the Daleks and Legend
05:23of the Sea Devils came and went without so much as even a mention of it, and with the 13th Doctor now
05:28having regenerated, it's unlikely that this plot thread will ever be revisited. And that's so
05:33frustrating, and also such a shame. Think of the craziness that could have unfolded were the Doctor
05:38to dive into that watch's secrets. We could learn more about Gallifrey, the Division, and the Doctor's
05:43own history. The watch could have even served as a way to revisit previous Doctors. Now, Chibnall
05:48invented a way to bring back classic Doctors in the power of the Doctor through the Guardians of the
05:54Edge, even though he already had a solution sitting right there. At the very least, the watch could
05:58give us more memories of the Doctor's missions with Carbonista, and more screen time with that
06:03good doggo wouldn't go amiss. 5. The Paternoster Gang
06:08Appearing out of nowhere in the Series 6 episode of Good Man Goes to War, the Paternoster Gang aided
06:13the 11th and 12th Doctors in various quests. Madame Vastra the Silurian, her human wife Jenny,
06:19and their Sontaran butler Strax, appeared five times on television, including a Christmas special,
06:25the 100th episode of New Who, and the 12th Doctor's first adventure. Despite putting minimal effort
06:30into explaining where they came from and how they first met the Doctor, the show gave the gang a
06:35decent treatment once they were established. Plans were tentatively discussed for a spin-off
06:39starring the trio, but Steven Moffat vetoed the idea in fear of overexposing audiences to Doctor Who
06:45content. Haha, how times have changed! They have lived on in the form of audio stories,
06:50novellas, and magazines, but a lot of potential was left on the table by not giving them their
06:55own show. The group was tailor-made for a kid-friendly series in the vein of the Sarah
07:00Jane Adventures, but it just wasn't meant to be. But maybe times are changing!
07:044. The War Doctor
07:06First things first, John Hurt as the War Doctor looks absolutely incredible. Rugged and worn down
07:13by the weight of combat, dressed in raggedy clothes and wearing a grizzled expression on his face,
07:18this version of the Time Lord gives off major John Wayne vibes, an old gunslinger back in town
07:24for his final shootout. The Elephant Man actor played the role as part of the show's 50th
07:28anniversary special, The Day of the Doctor, where it's explained that he committed atrocities during
07:34the Time War and that his future incarnations have shunned his memory out of shame. A star like
07:39John Hurt was always going to be hard to tie down, but it would have been fantastic to see
07:43the War Doctor in more than one story. They managed to get him to commit to Merlin. He was used
07:49brilliantly in The Day of the Doctor, so this is more a case of untapped potential rather than a
07:53flat-out wasted idea. But just think how awesome it would have been to explore his days in the
07:58Time War in greater detail. Despite Hurt's passing in 2017, the role could be recast for a spin-off or
08:04standalone episode, like David Bradley as the first Doctor. So come on, Russell. Another spin-off on
08:10the way?
08:113. Captain Jack's Missing Years
08:14Despite some negativity that might have been floating around John Barrowman in recent years,
08:18Captain Jack Harkness remains one of the most beloved creations from the New Who era. An immortal
08:24conman from many centuries in the future, a Jack appearance alongside the 9th or 10th Doctors was
08:29always a treat, and he even resurfaced during the 13th Doctor's tenure, busting her out of space
08:35prison. As explored in the Torchwood series, Jack is a multi-faceted character who has done and seen
08:40a lot across his never-ending life, but he's actually missing two entire years of his memory,
08:46as explained in the episode The Doctor Dances. Those years were wiped from his mind by the Time
08:50Agency, his former employers, and despite this posing some very intriguing questions about the future
08:55face of Bo, the characters never really seemed very interested in finding out more about them.
09:00He doesn't even pursue these memories in the Big Finish audio series, which usually mops up loose
09:05ends from the TV show like some sort of plot janitor. But with Barrowman sadly seeming out of the picture
09:11when it comes to Doctor Who, those two years might just remain a mystery for the rest of Jack's life.
09:16So basically forever.
09:182. The Fugitive Doctor
09:20Joe Martin first appeared as Ruth Clayton in the episode Fugitive of the Jadoon,
09:25A seemingly normal woman, Ruth's world is turned upside down when the rhino-headed aliens invade her
09:30hometown in search of her. She eventually discovers that she isn't Ruth Clayton at all,
09:35she's actually a version of the Doctor from some unknown point in their timeline.
09:39It's believed that this fugitive version of the character is from their very distant past,
09:44before their time as the First Doctor. However, as of right now, we still don't really know an awful
09:49lot about this incarnation of the Doctor. The Fugitive Doctor has mainly appeared in projections
09:53and holograms since her first appearance, which has been thoroughly unhelpful when it comes to
09:58learning more about her. Joe Martin is brilliant in the role, and it would be so great to see more
10:03of her. But considering that things like this don't tend to pass from showrunner to showrunner,
10:07it's unlikely that RTD will choose to explore the Fugitive Doctor further. We also want to know
10:12where she got that coat from, because that thing is snazzy.
10:15Number 1. The Cartmel Master Plan
10:18Andrew Cartmel was a script editor on Doctor Who between 1987 and 1989, during the 7th Doctor era
10:25of the show. Alongside other writers like Mark Platt, Cartmel devised several plots to help bring
10:31some mystique back to the show and turn around its falling ratings. These ideas have been dubbed
10:36the Cartmel Master Plan by fans. Regrettably, the Master Plan never saw the light of day,
10:41as Doctor Who was cancelled before the new storylines were put in place.
10:44And this is hugely disappointing, as these plans sounded amazing.
10:48Cartmel planned to make the Doctor a demigod, one of Gallifrey's founding fathers alongside
10:53Rassilon and Amiga. He also planned to introduce an alter ego called The Other,
10:57a shadowy figure deeply connected to the planet's past.
11:01Now, fragments of these ideas made it into episodes of the TV show Pre-Cancellation,
11:05as well as other media-like books, but this all came too late to save the show,
11:09which was confined to the television waste bin until 2005.
11:13Now, would the Cartmel Master Plan have rescued Doctor Who? Well, it's impossible to say,
11:17but the potential that it had makes it one of the most intriguing what-ifs in the show's
11:22storied history. And that concludes our list. If you think we missed something,
11:26then do let us know in the comments below, and while you're there, don't forget to like,
11:30and subscribe, and tap that notification bell so you never miss a Who Culture video again.
11:34Also, head over to Twitter and follow us there, and Instagram as well, and I can be found across
11:39various social medias just by searching Ellie Littlechild. I've been Ellie with Who Culture,
11:44and in the words of Riversong herself, goodbye, sweeties.
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