10 Doctor Who Rumours That Were Actually True

9. Bill Potts: The One-Series Wonder

Doctor Who flying Daleks rumour
BBC

Whenever a new companion walks through those TARDIS doors, it's always natural to wonder how long they'll stick around for. After all, we know that the show has to switch up its cast at some point, which means that a companion's dark, depressing exit might very well be imminent.

Pearl Mackie's Bill Potts wasn't exempt from this speculation, and right from the start of her Series 10 debut, it was theorised that her Doctor Who stint would be over at the end of her first year. In particular, the Daily Star (yes, them again) printed the rumour that Mackie "will only be in Doctor Who for one season, and will depart at Christmas when Peter Capaldi bows out."

While this rumour was an easy bet to make - as mentioned, Capaldi's exit had already been confirmed, and it was assumed that incoming showrunner Chris Chibnall would want to start with a clean slate - some fans hoped that Bill would last a wee bit longer, perhaps getting a full year of adventures with our brand-new Doctor.

Unfortunately though, those hopes were dashed with her gruesome fate in the Series 10 finale, and her final goodbye in the 2017 Christmas special.

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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.