10 Biggest Doctor Who 'What Ifs'

It's always a fun notion delving into 'What if'. You're literally peeking into the wild imaginings of the mind-boggling multi-verse. Every decision we make could potentially create an entire sub-universe that revolves around that different outcome. The same can be said for a television series, especially one that prides itself in dabbling within the fourth dimension like Doctor Who.

There are many possible scenarios that can be altered if the opposite took place. Things that could literally change the course of Doctor Who as we know it. Scary really when you think too hard about 'what could be'. You only have to look at Turn Left, for instance, and see the damaging implications of what would've happened had Donna not been there to tell The Doctor to stop. In short, the world went to pot, and many of The Doctor's companions suffered as a consequence.

Things became even more frightening when delving into Big Finish's Anti-Genesis. In the fourth box set featuring Derek Jacobi's War Master, we saw what the universe would look like if the sadistic renegade bent reality to his design, namely altering the events of Genesis of the Daleks. Yeah, that storyline got dark pretty quickly. A lot of horrific scenes, and darkening imagery told within the audio format, demonstrating the harsher nature of 'what ifs'.

For better or for worse (or just plain curiosity) here's ten reality bending scenarios that ponders on different outcomes that could've fundamentally reconstructed Doctor Who into a completely different product. And, in some cases, create a very different journey for The Doctor to undertake.

It's no secret that William Hartnell became incredibly difficult to work with during his latter years on Doctor Who. Illness began to become a crux in his performance, toppled with his increase in frustration towards higher management. This reached its heights when John Wiles took over as producer from Verity Lambert. To put it bluntly, the two of them got on like a house on fire.

In fact, it got so bad that John Wiles couldn't even speak directly with William Hartnell. Tensions just kept rising as William Hartnell's difficulty became almost unbearable, making producing the show a headache inducing experience for John Wiles. This made him want to outright get rid of William Hartnell all together. In essence, this was the birth of regeneration. At least as a concept.

John Wiles tried to use Brian Hayles script, The Celestial Toymaker, to write out the star by having him become invisible due to the villain's fantastical powers within his imaginary reality. Upon returning to screen in a physical form William Hartnell was to be replaced by another actor, with the narrative reasoning explained as a by-product of the Celestial Toymaker's games. However, this idea never came to fluwision, forcing John Wiles to leave as producer after his failed attempts to rid William Hartnell from the role.

Things certainly would've been interesting had John Wiles had his way, kicking William Hartnell out the TARDIS five stories prior to his inevitable exit. Plus, regeneration wouldn't have been an established element, nor a reasoning behind The Doctor's sudden change, meaning the longevity of Doctor Who would be left in the air, with future producers being forced to come up with other bizarre scenarios to recast the pivitotal role.