10 Doctor Who Episodes That Were Never Made

1983's 20th Anniversary Special The Five Doctors is beloved by fans, but it was almost completely different. The original episode, written by Robert Holmes, was instead 'The Six Doctors' and would feature an additional, mysterious version of the Time Lord.

Holmes began writing his version of the Special in 1982 about the Doctors and their companions being summoned to the lost planet of Maladoom, before being trapped by the Master and the Cybermen. The Cybermen's latest plan was to download the Doctors' knowledge of time travel and give themselves the ultimate upgrade. Becoming 'CyberLords', they would use the Doctor's genetic code to time travel at will.

The extra Doctor, who would be played by Richard Hurndall, would actually be an android working for the Cybermen - an evil Doctor to trick the others. The production team decided that they should explain their choice to replace the late William Hartnell's First Doctor within the story, and revealing Hurndall to be a robot duplicate would fit.

In order to fund this ninety-minute special, the production team removed another serial from production - a mysterious, lost Dalek episode called 'The Return'. Little is known about The Return, but elements of the story would instead be used for the following year's Resurrection of the Daleks.

With the script for The Six Doctors becoming more complex and confusing as the writing process continued, it was decided to be dropped in favour of Terrance Dicks' version - the version we know today. Richard Hurndall remained as the First Doctor, but his recasting wasn't explained within the narrative.

Now titled 'The Five Doctors', Dicks' initial script would change again when Tom Baker decided to drop out of the project and leave the production without a Fourth Doctor. Rather than totally rewriting the script again, Dicks opted to use footage of the Fourth Doctor from another, infamous unfinished episode...