10 Doctor Who Flops The BBC Has Buried

9. The TV Movie

Doctor Who The Infinite Quest Tenth Doctor Martha Jones
BBC Studios

The TV Movie was one of several unusual Doctor Who projects produced during the wilderness years - the period of time when the show was off the air between 1989 and 2005.

Though the BBC was involved in making it, the TV Movie was mostly an American-led production, with the Fox Network reportedly considering a full series - but only if this backdoor pilot proved a success. And because that series never did materialise, it's clear that the parties involved felt that the TV Movie didn't strike the chords they wanted it to, whether from a ratings, critical, or fan-pleasing perspective.

It's not terrible by any means - Paul McGann's Eighth Doctor is actually rather wonderful, and it's worth watching for him alone - but the TV Movie is widely considered the black sheep of Doctor Who's mainline television outings.

What's more, the fact that the BBC decided to go in a new direction with Doctor Who in the years after the TV Movie aired makes it clear that the corporation considered it something of a failed experiment.

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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.