10 Most Hated Doctor Who Characters

5. Grace Holloway

Doctor Who Grace
BBC

In Grace's defence, when a character's first scene involves them effectively killing off the hero, it makes it hard to like them. Daphne Ashbrook appears as the cardiologist in the Doctor Who Movie from 1996, alongside the Seventh and Eighth Doctors. After Sylvester McCoy's Doctor is shot while exiting the TARDIS, she attempts to perform surgery on him, leading to his death and resurrection.

She is one of the few characters pre-2005 who has not been able to return for the Big Finish audio dramas, due to licensing issues. This means that her only outing with the Doctor saw her kill him (accidentally) and become the first companion to express romantic feelings toward the Time Lord. At the time, this was part of a number of departures that the American-backed movie made from the series.

The Doctor's half-human status was also revealed and while this has nothing to do with Grace, it has led to the movie being somewhat reviled by fans overall. It is likely that Paul McGann's Doctor was saved from this by his continuing audio adventures, along with The Night of the Doctor. All of this is a shame, as the producers revealed during a reunion special that had the series continued after the film, Grace would have returned as an ongoing companion.

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Contributor

Seán is the host and head writer/presenter for TrekCulture, as well as a writer/presenter on WhoCulture and WhatCulture Horror. He has authored two novels, dozens of short stories, and hundreds of articles for WhatCulture. He holds a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from University College Dublin. As part of his work with TrekCulture, Seán has been invited to participate in collaborations with Roddenberry Entertainment, as well as contributing to several Star Trek community projects. An avid fan of Star Trek, Doctor Who, and the horror genre at large, Seán's expertise has helped develop these channels to the successes they are today. As host of the Ups & Downs series on TrekCulture, Seán has become internationally recognised for his positive yet critically informed approach to reviewing every episode of modern Star Trek, ensuring he is one of the go-to voices in the Trek community. Favourite Quote to describe himself: "I'm serious about what I do, just not always about the way that I do it"