First teased at the start of Series 5, the Silence didn't appear on our screens until The Day of the Moon, a full series later. At this point, they were heralded as one of the most inventive and disturbing monsters the Doctor had ever faced. Unfortunately, it was all downhill from there. The plan to make the Silence as shadowy and mysterious as possible ultimately backfired and the creatures became too nebulous to even carry the plot. Despite being intimately involved in the story arc that ran throughout the Eleventh Doctor's time as the Doctor, the characters inexplicably failed to put in an appearance in key episodes such as A Good Man Goes To War. In the end, the mystery surrounding the Silence became so drawn out and complex that hardly anyone could follow it. Were they actually the bad guys? Were they misunderstood heroes? Were they trying to save the universe, or destroy it? And what happened to the breakaway sect led by Madame Kovarian after The Wedding of River Song? They might have started out as one of the most terrifying villains since the show's inception but everyone was soon sick and tired of the overly convoluted plots surrounding the Silence.