Doctor Who: 9 Ways To Kill The Doctor Permanently
No regenerations this time.
Over the years, the Doctor has survived a hell of a lot of dangerous encounters. In almost every single episode, the character stares death directly in the face and lives to tell the tale, but even though their Time Lord biology makes them a tough cookie to defeat (extra durability, two hearts, and so on) the Doctor isn't invincible - far from it.
In fact, there are plenty of situations - some theoretical, and some that are actually seen in the show - in which the Doctor would be outright killed, meaning that they're unable to heal their injuries and regenerate into a new body.
Of course, the writers aren't going to kill the main character off, so it's incredibly rare for us to see these deadly methods in use against the Doctor. But from time to time, we're shown that regenerating sometimes isn't an option, and that there are ways to kill the Doctor permanently, difficult though that may be.
So, for all you Time Lord bounty hunters out there, here are a few ideas to make your killing sprees a lot more efficient...
9. The Poison Of The Judas Tree
It's pretty hard to stay one step ahead of the Doctor, because the character is normally several dozen steps ahead of everyone else.
That said, the Eleventh Doctor was completely outplayed by River Song in the Series 6 episode Let's Kill Hitler, and if not for her last-minute change of heart, she would actually have ended up cancelling his regeneration and killing him outright.
This early version of River is intent on murdering the Doctor due to her brainwashing, which she tries (and fails) to do using weapons like guns and knives. Soon after though, she manages to succeed in delivering a fatal blow by giving the Doctor a cheeky kiss on the lips, infecting him with her poisonous lipstick.
It's later revealed that the Doctor has been contaminated with the poison of the Judas tree, which - as the TARDIS interface informs him - has "disabled" his ability to regenerate. The interface also adds that there's no cure, and that he'll be fully dead in around half an hour. Very grim indeed.
The Doctor is only saved when River decides to use up her entire stock of regeneration energy to heal him, but if this hadn't happened... then he was a goner.