10 Doctor Who Stories With WORSE Endings Than Flux

10. The Trial Of A Timelord (1986)

The Doctor is on trial for his lives, his companion Peri has been brutally murdered, and he stands accused of genocide. His prosecutor is revealed to be a distillation of the Doctor's dark side and is scapegoating his sixth incarnation to cover up a vast Timelord conspiracy.

The Trial of a Timelord is infamous for it's hastily hashed together conclusion. Eric Saward, script editor and co-writer resigned and pulled his original script, requiring executive producer John Nathan-Turner to bring in Pip & Jane Baker as last minute replacements.

The The Trial of a Timelord's finale is indicative of this last minute personnel change. It stumbles towards a conclusion, eventually resorting to the blow something up approach that Doctor Who loves so much. In this case, it's the Matrix archive, which has been corrupted with falsified evidence of the Doctor's crimes. The Doctor is subsequently cleared of all charges, and even offered the Presidency! Not only that, but the shocking death of Peri is retconned as a happy ending - if being married to Brian Blessed is a happy ending - complete with a pink tinged loving two-shot.

There's a fascinating, meta idea about watching a Doctor Who story where nothing is as it seems (see also Sleep No More) but sadly, Trial of a Timelord spectacularly fumbles this concept.