10 Biggest Doctor Who Missed Opportunities
5. Letting The Spinoffs Die
One of the strengths of RTD’s Doctor Who is its world-building.
Despite the weekly planetary invasions, Earth feels very grounded in Russell’s series, in a way that it doesn't in other eras. The characters feel more real, the world feels more lived in, and there’s a sense of interconnectivity that ties everything together. It’s the closest we’ve ever got to Doctor Who being a true ‘franchise’.
A huge factor in that were spinoffs Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures. These shows had followings in their own right, and would occasionally cross over into the main show - much to fans' delight.
Sadly, both spinoffs were eventually retired for wildly different reasons, and nothing rose to take their place (well, except Class, which is solid, but didn't come anywhere close to filling the void). As a result, the world of Doctor Who has felt a little bit emptier for the last decade or so.
Thankfully, with a UNIT spinoff heavily suspected to be on the way (about which we are very excited), it looks like a course-correction is imminent. About damn time!