- 5 minutes ago
From Gwen Cooper's psychic ancestry to the mysterious Minister of War, we explore 10 of the most promising Doctor Who storylines that were introduced with great potential, only to be completely forgotten.
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
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, ass-kicking member of the Torchwood team. She started off as a
00:29police officer and then stumbled across Captain Jack Harkness and his gang and eventually joined
00:34them to fight those alien threats that the Doctor doesn't quite get round to. However, this was not
00:39the first time Whovians had seen her face. In the third episode of New Who, the 9th Doctor and Rose
00:45Tyler travel to Cardiff in 1869 where they encounter ghost-like aliens called the Gelf and Charles
00:51Dickens. They also bump into Gwyneth, a clairvoyant servant played by Eve Miles who also plays Gwen
00:58Cooper in Torchwood. Now, this was actually addressed when the 10th Doctor meets Gwen in
01:03series 4 and he deduces that she is from an old Cardiff family and through something called
01:07spatial genetic multiplicity, she has the same face as her ancestor. Now, while the showrunners
01:13could have done something with this, Gwen's connection to her psychic forebear is never
01:18mentioned again. What could have been an interesting storyline exploring the connection between Gwen and
01:23Gwyneth 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 must
01:39protect from an army of ghosts, and one of the miners is a woman named O'Donnell, who is a big
01:44fan of
01:45the 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
01:55Doctor is just as confused by this as we are, and asks O'Donnell who that is. However, he stops himself
02:00realising 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
02:12it
02:12could be the Master, Amiga, or the Warlords, but for now, they are just guesses. At this point,
02:18it does feel unlikely that we'll ever get a follow-up to this, or maybe there were never any
02:22plans for one, and we all just need to get a life.
02:258. Ryan's Dyspraxia
02:27Dyspraxia is a disorder that can affect a person's motor skills and coordination. It's a severely
02:33underrepresented condition in the media, which is what made the announcement of Ryan Sinclair so
02:37exciting. Played by Tosun Cole, Ryan accompanied the 13th Doctor between 2018 and 2021. He lost his
02:44mother at a young age, has a frosty relationship with his father, and he has Dyspraxia.
02:49Now, showrunner Chris Chibnall did everything right when creating the character, and he even
02:54consulted charity the Dyspraxia Foundation on how Ryan should be portrayed. The initial
02:58buzz surrounding the character achieved its goals of drawing attention to the condition,
03:03but as time went on, mentions of it in the show got less and less common. Basically,
03:07Ryan only had Dyspraxia when the plot called for it, and the rest of the time, he acted as
03:11if it didn't affect him at all. Now, this is such a shame, as the show had the opportunity here
03:16to
03:16shed some light on this relatively obscure condition. Now, yes, they did drum up some
03:20initial interest in the subject when Ryan's character was first revealed, but they didn't
03:24really 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.
03:327. Jackie Tyler in Survival
03:35Now, this is something that is completely fan-driven, and hasn't actually been explored,
03:40set up, or even hinted at by the show itself. Well, at least not intentionally. Still, it's
03:45such a brilliant idea, so we thought it deserved a bit of a shine. And it revolves around actress
03:50Michelle Martin, who holds a very special distinction in Doctor Who history. Now, obviously not counting
03:55the two leads of Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred, her character was the last person to speak in
04:011989's Survival, the final serial in Classic Who before it was taken off the air. But what's extra
04:07notable about this is that her nameless neighbour character bears a striking resemblance, both in
04:12appearance and personality, to Jackie Tyler, a character who was introduced in the next regular
04:17episode of Doctor Who in 2005. It's insane to think that someone with such Jackie Tyler energy was the
04:24very last guest character seen in Classic Who. And though the opportunity was there for the show to
04:29confirm that they're the same person, that opportunity has never been taken. Obviously, this isn't a huge
04:35glaring flaw or anything like that, but it would have been a brilliant way to further strengthen the
04:39bridge between the Classic and modern eras. Plus, it does actually make sense in-universe. Jackie was
04:44born in 1967, putting her in her early 20s during the events of Survival. And the neighbour also lives
04:51in Perryvale, London, which isn't actually that far away from Jackie's Powell estate home in the 2005
04:57revival. But alas, this is pure headcanon for now.
05:00Number 6, 13's Fobwatch. The finale of Flux saw the 13th Doctor hide a fobwatch containing her lost
05:08memories deep within the TARDIS, which was a strange decision considering that her whole mission in
05:13this series 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 of
05:23the Sea Devils came and went without so much as even a mention of it. And with the 13th Doctor
05:27now having
05:28regenerated, it's unlikely that this plot thread will ever be revisited. And that's so frustrating,
05:34and also such a shame. Think of the craziness that could have unfolded were the Doctor to dive
05:38into 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 Carvanista, 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
08:10on the way?
08:113. Captain Jack's Missing Years
08:13Despite 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 multifaceted 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
09:04loose ends from the TV show like some sort of plot janitor. But with Barrowman sadly seeming out of
09:10the picture when it comes to Doctor Who, those two years might just remain a mystery for the rest of
09:15Jack's life. So basically forever.
09:182. The Fugitive Doctor
09:20Joan Martin first appeared as Ruth Clayton in the episode Fugitive of the Jadoon. A seemingly normal
09:26woman, Ruth's world is turned upside down when the rhino-headed aliens invade her hometown in search
09:31of her. She eventually discovers that she isn't Ruth Clayton at all, she's actually a version of the
09:36Doctor from some unknown point in their timeline. It's believed that this fugitive version of the
09:41character is from their very distant past, before their time as the First Doctor. However, as of right
09:47now, we still don't really know an awful lot about this incarnation of the Doctor. The Fugitive
09:51Doctor has mainly appeared in projections and holograms since her first appearance, which has
09:56been thoroughly unhelpful when it comes to learning more about her. Jo Martin is brilliant in the role,
10:01and it would be so great to see more of her. But considering that things like this don't tend to
10:05pass from showrunner to showrunner, it's unlikely that RTD will choose to explore the Fugitive Doctor
10:10further. We also want to know where 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 seventh
10:25Doctor era of the show. Alongside other writers like Mark Platt, Cartmel devised several plots to
10:30help bring some mystique back to the show and turn around its falling ratings. These ideas have been
10:35dubbed the 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. And this is hugely
10:45disappointing, as these plans sounded amazing. Cartmel planned to make the Doctor a demigod,
10:50one of Gallifrey's founding fathers alongside Rassilon and Amiga. He also planned to introduce
10:56an alter ego called The Other, a shadowy figure deeply connected to the planet's past.
11:01Fragments of these ideas made it into episodes of the TV show Pre-Cancellation, as well as other
11:06media-like books. But this all came too late to save the show, which was confined to the television
11:11waste bin until 2005. Now, would the Cartmel Master Plan have rescued Doctor Who? Well,
11:16it's impossible to say, but the potential that it had makes it one of the most intriguing what-ifs
11:21in the show's storied 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 various
11:39social medias just by searching Ellie Littlechild. I've been Ellie with Who Culture, and in the words
11:45of Riversong herself, goodbye, sweeties.