10 Doctor Who Episodes Where Everybody Dies

That's *a lot* of death in such a short amount of time.

The Caves Of Androzani Fifth Doctor Peri
BBC

Across Doctor Who's nearly sixty-year history, the show has often taken pride in killing off its entire supporting cast, wiping out planets, crashing spaceships, and generally ensuring the Whoniverse's occupants have a miserable time.

'Everybody lives!' was boldly declared by the Ninth Doctor as he saved the day in 2005's The Doctor Dances, but this is far from the case in a worrying amount of Doctor Who episodes. On occasion, the Doctor hasn't saved the day, been particularly heroic, or even stopped the villains.

For a show about time travel, exploration, peace, hope, and wonder, there really is a lot of killing. Whether by means of mass exterminations, garish explosions, grisly murders, or entire realities being obliterated, Doctor Who has never shied away from letting absolutely everyone die. Even with the Doctor on the scene, some episodes have featured no survivors other than the regular cast - and sometimes, even the Doctor hasn't made it out alive.

Looking at some of Doctor Who's bloodthirstiest showdowns across time and space and their Death Tolls, these are 10 Episodes Where Everybody Dies.

10. Turn Left

The Caves Of Androzani Fifth Doctor Peri
BBC

2008's Turn Left saw a whole reality go up in smoke with everyone in it. This was a world where Donna Noble never met the Tenth Doctor, saved him from the clutches of the Racnoss, or eventually travelled with him. Because of his death, the events of the show were rewritten in a rather bloodthirsty way.

Sarah Jane Smith and the Bannerman Road gang? Dead. Killed on the moon in Royal Hope Hospital alongside Martha Jones.

London and everyone in it? Nuked by the crashing Titanic starliner the Doctor wasn't there to stop.

Sixty million Americans killed when they turn into Adipose, and Donna isn't on the scene.

Captain Jack and his Torchwood team? Died stopping the Sontarans' invasion.

With the help of Rose Tyler, Donna travels back in time to the moment she chose to turn right instead of left at a fork in the road - a decision she has to change to correct time and set the universe right. Realising that the only way to change history is to jump in front of a car, Donna sacrifices herself and destroys this reality.

Waking up in 'the real world', the Doctor realises she's been under the influence of a reality-changing Time Beetle feeding on potential energy. However, there's something worse just around the corner...

Death Toll: A whole reality. So, a lot.

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Eden Luke McIntyre is a Scottish writer, editor and script consultant, with an MA in TV Fiction Writing. He writes content for TV, radio, stage, and online, and was appointed as a BBC Writers Room Scottish Voice in early 2020. Eden can usually be found rambling about Doctor Who, The Beatles, and obscure things that no one cares about.