10 MORE Times Doctor Who Lied To Your Face

The shock cliffhanger to Frontios Part One saw the Fifth Doctor's TARDIS get blown to bits on the surface of the titular planet.

While there was never any serious intention to get rid of the Doctor's time machine, rumours began circulating that this was the end for the TARDIS. Unsurprisingly the press seized upon the controversy, with the Evening Mail asking Sandwell schoolchildren to pick their own TARDIS replacements.

A Mr. S. Peters of Tring even wrote to the Daily Express to decry the axing of the TARDIS as "sacrilege" before inviting likeminded people to make their distaste known to the BBC.

In a DVD documentary, Peter Davison theorised that it was JNT himself who spread the rumours of the TARDIS' axing. Whether or not that's true, we can all agree that some of the greatest lies are by ommission. So JNT and the BBC's refusal to comment only stoked the flames of public opinion. That, coupled with the announcement of Colin Baker's casting, helped to generate tons of free publicity for Davison's final season.

Clearly all this press fervor left an impact, as a preview of Attack of the Cybermen in the Fife Free Press a year later asked whether Colin Baker would still have his TARDIS with him!