10 Awesome Doctor Who Ideas That Nearly Happened

For Doctor Who's return in 2005, Russell T Davies commissioned writer Robert Shearman to create a story which would see the show's most iconic villains back on our screens. The eventual episode, Dalek, proved to be a huge hit, and is now regarded as a quintessential Doctor Who story.

One slight obstacle stood in RTD's way however, as the Daleks were the property of the Terry Nation estate, with the BBC needing their permission to bring the creatures back.

Just in case he wasn't granted permission, RTD prepared a backup idea which featured most of the same elements and plot points, except the Daleks were replaced with what we would later know as the Toclafane.

Thankfully, the Terry Nation estate and the BBC eventually reached an agreement, but the idea of the Toclafane potentially being this overarching villain of early NuWho (like the Daleks ended up being) is pretty darn intriguing, especially considering their link to humanity - a species we know the Doctor is rather fond of!