10 Doctor Who Flops The BBC Has Buried
3. Dimensions In Time
The BBC was clearly scrambling to keep Doctor Who relevant during the wilderness years, prompting them to do all sorts of weird and unexpected things with the IP.
The pinnacle of that weirdness was the 1993 Children In Need special Dimensions In Time, which combined the pulpy, fantastical, timey-wimey world of Doctor Who with the chip shops, pubs, and laundrettes of Eastenders.
Bringing back the first seven Doctors in a story that saw them join forces with the Eastenders crew in an effort to stop the Rani, the resulting project is a cringe-fest from start to finish. With frustratingly cheap production values (even by Doctor Who standards), a nonsensical plot, and the nightmarish floating heads of the First and Second Doctors (which hilariously bounce around the screen like that old DVD logo), Dimensions In Time was a misguided effort on just about every level.
Considering that Dimensions In Time is one of the most-watched Doctor Who stories ever, all it did was solidify the public perception of Doctor Who at the time: that the show was a joke. You won't find many fans who'll come to its defense, and the BBC, unsurprisingly, hasn't been eager to put it out on streaming.