10 Doctor Who Characters Who Died For No Reason

3. Father Octavian (Flesh And Stone)

Doctor Who Flesh And Stone Father Octavian death
BBC

Father Octavian and his group of clerics helped the Eleventh Doctor track down an escaped Weeping Angel in Series 5's The Time Of Angels/Flesh And Stone, a difficult mission that would turn out to be his last.

Octavian is actually the last B-character to be killed off in the story, surviving all the way to the final stages of the second episode. What's more, he comes within a few teeny footsteps of a potential escape route, but just when it looks like he's about to make it out, an Angel sneaks up and grabs him in a fatal headlock.

Not to point fingers or anything, but this is another death that the Doctor could've easily prevented. The hatch to that aforementioned escape route - the Byzantium's primary flight deck - has been open for a solid minute, and River Song has already crawled through. All the Doctor and Octavian have to do is follow her, but instead, the Doctor gets lost in his own thoughts, stands there, and rambles about the flow of time. Octavian, well aware of the stone assassins lurking nearby, insists that they leave, but the Doctor's lack of urgency costs him his life when the Angel strikes.

This one stings extra hard because of how awesome a character Octavian is. He's tough and stern, but also cool and likeable, a tricky balance that actor Iain Glen (who many fans will recognise from Game Of Thrones) absolutely nails.

It's a massive shame that his Whoniverse stint was cut short in such a needless fashion. Shakes fist angrily.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for almost nine years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. He has been writing and video editing for 10+ years, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers and uploading them to YouTube (they're admittedly a bit rusty by today's standards). If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order or to tell you about the making of 1988's Remembrance of the Daleks, Danny is the person to ask.