10 Doctor Who Storylines That Were Suddenly Abandoned

Story arcs are all the rage these days, though the audiences' patience doesn't always match it. Interconnected plot threads culminating in an almighty revelation at the end of the series is good, just as long that revelation feels earned. The trouble with story arcs is that there will always be audience members that drop off along the way - particularly if a story arc spans multiple years - while for others, the pay off is never going to be as good as what they came up with in their own heads. Doctor Who has never traditionally been a show with on-going story arcs, The Key To Time and Trial Of The Timelord aside, with multiple episode stories having little effect on the next adventure. But since the show returned to our screens in 2005, long running mysteries have gone hand in hand with monster of the week episodes. Bad Wolf, Torchwood, Harold Saxon; these arcs were pretty much resolved at the end of each series. But when Steven Moffat took over, these stories tended to run a bit longer. While Moffat remains the master of spinning so many story webs, many gave up before the end of the Eleventh Doctor's tenure. The danger of keeping a story line running too long is the danger that it has to be abandoned or irrevocably changed, whether it be the departure of a pivotal actor, or an event that changes the direction of the show before the story arc can be resolved. Like many shows - Lost we're looking at you - Doctor Who is guilty of dropping storylines over its fifty year history. From series cancellations to inconvenient deviations from the series's canon, 10 storylines that were suddenly abandoned...