10 Doctor Who Episodes Where Evil Won
Winning? Is that what you think it's about?
You can't win them all, even when you're the Doctor. The stakes are almost always far higher for the Doctor too, as a loss could mean the destruction of life as we know it, putting football scores and romantic rejections firmly into perspective.
It's a rare occurence, but there are several times when evil wins the day in Doctor Who. Sometimes it's a small victory, like the Cult of Skaro living to fight another day, while other times the victories are much larger.
When the Doctor loses, there are often devastating consequences. Look at the impact of the Tenth Doctor's death in Turn Left, for example. In the space of two years, Britain was devastated by a nuclear explosion and became a full-on fascist state. Thankfully for everyone, this was in an aborted timeline, but the Doctor's losses have dramatically affected the prime Doctor Who timeline, too.
Look at how the Doctor's apparent victory in Pyramids of Mars led to the destruction of all life in the universe! What was it Rassilon said? To lose is to win, and he who wins shall lose?
However, sometimes evil wins outright, leaving a lasting mark on the Doctor's psyche.
10. The Sound of Drums
Has the Doctor ever been more on the back foot than he is during The Sound of Drums? His arch nemesis, the Master, has stolen his TARDIS, and has convinced the United Kingdom to vote him into 10 Downing Street. That's already a pretty big victory for the Master, but his hot streak only continues once he's installed in the PM's office.
From inside Downing Street, he orders the destruction of the Racnoss ship and also provided the funds for Professor Lazarus to turn into a scorpion monster. All while orchestrating the fateful first contact between Earth and the Toclafane, just so he can be in a room with the American President.
At the end of The Sound of Drums, the Master has assassinated the President of the United States, unleashed the Toclafane on Earth, and had the Doctor, Captain Jack, and Martha's family arrested. Worse still, everyone spends twelve months enslaved and imprisoned by an increasingly insane Master.
Even when the Paradox Machine is destroyed and the effects of the Master's year of terror are reversed, the trauma remains with the Doctor, Jack, the Jones family, and Lucy Saxon.