10 Terrible Doctor Who Ideas That Nearly Happened

10. The Young Doctor Adventures

Keen to cash in on Doctor Who's overnight success in 2005, the BBC tapped Russell T Davies for spinoff ideas.

One concept that was pitched to RTD was a CBBC show that would focus on the Doctor's childhood on Gallifrey. For obvious reasons, Davies declined to pursue the idea further, and developed The Sarah Jane Adventures instead.

It was the right call, as a series of The Young Doctor Adventures would've risked destroying any sense of mystery surrounding the character. For starters, how could you develop a whole show around the Doctor's childhood and not reveal their birth name?

Sure, the Doctor's Theta Sigma nickname from The Armageddon Factor would provide a decent workaround, but then what would their parents call them? What would those parents be like?

And then what would the stories be like? Would we have young versions of the Doctor and the Master running rings around their tutors at the Academy, and having food fights in the canteen?

It sounds like what the BBC really wanted was Harry Potter with timey-wimeyness and TARDISes instead of spells and Quidditch. Thankfully, Russell nipped this one in the bud.