10 Most Hated Doctor Who Characters

By Jack Morrell /

9. The Absorbaloff

The showcase alien villain from the series two episode €˜Love & Monsters€™, there€™s no love for the Absorbaloff, one of the most tragic missteps in Doctor Who history. It€™s not the fault of the production design. Created as the result of a Blue Peter competition, nine-year-old William Grantham originally intended the creature to be huge €“ about the size of a bus, in fact, which would have precluded casting middle-aged comedian Peter Kay to run about in terrible make-up and what appears to be a loincloth. No, it€™s the writing €“ €˜Love & Monsters€™ was one of the episodes that was written around the absence of the Doctor, like the far superior €˜Blink€™ and €˜Turn Left€™. Without the main character anchoring the show, the story has to be clever and engaging, and this wasn€™t that. Left bored by the story, the bodysnatching Absorbaloff, with his ridiculous name and, yes, Peter Kay dancing around in his pants, was the thing everyone remembered: the howling mistake everyone pointed at. Loathed by everyone who€™s ever watched the episode, the Absorbaloff would only ever appear once, and once was more than enough.