10 Times Doctor Who Broke Its Own Canon

10. The Fate Of The Mary Celeste

In 1872, the merchant ship Mary Celeste was found abandoned and adrift in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, leading to decades of speculation about what happened to the crew.

Was it an elaborate insurance scam? Was the ship attacked by a giant squid? Or was everyone chased overboard by Daleks?

That's the answer that Terry Nation provided in the First Doctor serial The Chase, which sees the crew of the Mary Celeste attacked by time-travelling Daleks, who are in pursuit of the Doctor's TARDIS. When faced with the Daleks, the terrified crew jumps overboard, with anyone left on the ship likely being exterminated.

Despite various non-canon comic-strips and short stories offering different solutions, The Chase's explanation was accepted as the answer to the Mary Celeste mystery within the Doctor Who universe – that was until The Eaters of Light came along in 2017, and directly contradicted The Chase.

Here, Nardole recounts the story of how an ambassador for an alien species called the Enzomodons digested the entire crew of the Mary Celeste, before tragically choking on a lifeboat. So how do we explain this contradiction?

If we're being kind, perhaps the folks who worked on The Eaters of Light knew Nardole was wrong, and intended for him to be relaying a second-hand story. Nardole is full of tall tales, so perhaps this is a rumour he's heard about the Mary Celeste's demise?

But if we're not being kind, this is a clear contradiction of the actual historical event itself.