10 Dropped Doctor Who Plot Threads We'll Never Get Answers To

7. Ace's Ambiguous Ending

Doctor Who Sleep No More Ending
BBC Studios

When Doctor Who was dropped by the BBC in 1989, many things came to an abrupt end. Sylvester McCoy's time as the Doctor was suddenly over, as was John Nathan-Turner's lengthy tenure as producer.

In addition, this cancellation also claimed another notable victim: the Doctor's companion, Ace, whose fate has never been properly addressed in the show.

While McCoy's Doctor did return to regenerate in the 1996 TV movie, Ace wasn't with him, which is rather odd, considering that the end of Survival - the final serial of the classic era - sees the pair walking off into the distance, with the Doctor saying "Come on Ace, we've got work to do!" hinting that they will continue travelling together.

That final scene was full of hope and optimism, so then... what happened to Ace after this point, and why wasn't she with the Doctor in the TV movie?

While the character has been given a lot of love in novels and Big Finish audio dramas since 1989 (and we do know that, if the show hadn't been cancelled, there were plans to bring her to Gallifrey and turn her into a Time Lord), Ace was basically just dropped, and actress Sophie Aldred didn't get a definitive onscreen ending like McCoy did.

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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.