10 Best One-Time Only Doctor Who Villains

4. Sutekh (Pyramids Of Mars)

Doctor Who Pyramids of Mars Sutekh
BBC Studios

You know that feeling you get when you watch certain villains, and you just can't help but be impressed at how much of a badass they are? Well, here's one for you.

The villain in the Fourth Doctor story Pyramids of Mars, Sutekh - a member of the Osirans, an almost god-like race of beings - is one of the most powerful villains the Doctor has ever faced, and he certainly displayed his enormous strength on plenty of occasions throughout his single appearance in the show.

We don't often see villains who are able to make the Doctor feel well and truly helpless, but Sutekh did just that. At the beginning of the final part of the serial, he pretty much messes with the Doctor like he's a squeaky dog toy, telling him that he could kill him in any way imaginable, while also calling the mighty Time Lord a "plaything of Sutekh".

Oh yeah. Like we said - he's a badass.

Sutekh is a standout from the classic years of the show, and his enormous, devilish mask combined with his calm demeanour and well-spoken delivery made for a truly unsettling foe that we sadly didn't see a lot of.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!