10 Notorious Doctor Who Urban Legends
5. The Cartmel Masterplan Was Going To Ruin The Doctor's Character
The mythical Cartmel Masterplan (a term that was invented by Who fans) was an idea devised primarily by classic-era script editor Andrew Cartmel.
Supposedly, the plan was going to reveal that the Doctor had a hand in shaping Time Lord society, making the character much more powerful and important than we originally thought he was. This ultimate goal was hinted at throughout Sylvester McCoy's final two seasons, but in the end, the Cartmel Masterplan never made it to the screen due to the show being cancelled in 1989.
While this plan is famous within Doctor Who fan circles, there's a common misconception that the Cartmel Masterplan would've been an earth-shattering, "this changes everything" type of reveal, similar to the recent Timeless Child twist.
This has led many fans to bash the Cartmel Masterplan for "ruining the mystery" of the Doctor, but in reality, Cartmel never wanted to completely flip the character on his head, and he never wanted to outright reveal a massive, Timeless Child-esque backstory.
Instead, he simply wanted to drop hints that there might be more to the Doctor and his history, leaving fans to fill in the blanks - if they wished to do so.
"All I wanted to do [with the Cartmel Masterplan] is throw the Doctor back into shadow again and just give hints of what was going on. And [with The Timeless Children] there’s a lot of detail in specifics, which is the last thing you want."
Over the last few months, fans have compared Chris Chibnall's Timeless Child reveal to the Cartmel Masterplan, but the crucial difference between the two is that Cartmel only wanted to tease and hint, rather than presenting his ideas as firm canon.