10 Doctor Who Villains Who Should NEVER Return

The Great Intelligence was a mysterious being that supposedly pre-dated the universe, and actually first appeared back in 1967 alongside the Second Doctor, Patrick Troughton. The Second Doctor described it as “a sort of formless, shapeless thing floating about in space like a cloud of mist, only with a mind and a will.” The Doctor has always had a way with words.

The Great Intelligence then went on to be a recurring villain, of sorts, across Series 7, first appearing in the Christmas special 'The Snowmen', that saw Ian McKellen performing the voice of a threatening snow globe, and then again very briefly at the end of The Bells of Saint John, this time using the face of Richard E Grant.

It wasn’t until the end of the series, The Name of the Doctor, where the Great Intelligence was properly given the spotlight. In the episode, the Great Intelligence captures the Doctor’s allies and lures him to the site of his grave, Trenzalore, to force him to open his own tomb with the intention of stepping into the Doctor’s time-stream to alter the events of the past, and ultimately destroy the Time Lord.

The Great Intelligence’s intentions are never really clear and his associates, dubbed “the Whisper Men”, are arguably more interesting and much scarier. Not even the talents of veteran actors Ian McKellen and Richard E Grant could make this villain truly captivating. It is such a wasted opportunity, as the Great Intelligence could have been a good substitute for the Master, being an entity of seemingly timeless knowledge, but that was not to be the case.

The current whereabouts or fate of the Great Intelligence have been left open and ambiguous, but unless they can find a good reason to bring him back, better off just leaving him wherever he ended up.