10 Dark Doctor Who Moments You Weren't Allowed To See

Much like the Doctor Who of 2024, the 1996 TV Movie was an American co-production, and needed to appeal to both UK and US audiences.

In practice this meant many things, including a more grounded approach to peril and violence. Nothing epitomises this more than the scene where the Seventh Doctor steps out of the TARDIS in San Francisco and is immediately shot dead.

That was all well and good for the US, but back in the UK, some of the more extreme moments of violence were deemed too shocking, and had to be removed in order for the movie to land a pre-watershed slot, and a ‘12’ certificate, rather than a ’15’.

Specifically, the classification board ordered the removal of the gunfight that takes place prior to the TARDIS landing – about 40 seconds of material in total – and some of the more distressing parts of the Doctor’s surgery. A close-up of the Master snapping Chang Lee’s neck was also taken out.

The uncut version was eventually broadcast in the UK in 1999 and has since been made available on home media, but curiously, the version currently on iPlayer is the censored edit. Yet another reason to support physical media!