10 Terrible Doctor Who Ideas That Nearly Happened
4. Mark Gatiss' Doctor Who Revival
When Russell T Davies brought back Doctor Who in 2005, it was zippy, vibrant, and modern. The faster pace was a breath of fresh air that reinvigorated Doctor Who for a new generation, while staying true to the show's core ethos.
However, things could have been much different.
In the early 2000s, future new series writers Mark Gatiss and Gareth Roberts, along with future Doctor Who Magazine editor Clayton Hickman, were devising their own Doctor Who reboot.
Instead of introducing the young energetic Doctor blowing up a central London department store, their pilot introduced a sixty-something Doctor working in an antique shop in a sleepy village. And instead of 13 episodes at 45 minutes, Gatiss wanted to do seven three-part serials, totalling 21 episodes!
Gatiss, Roberts, and Hickman acknowledged that they were too meek in their Doctor Who pitch, highlighting ways to save money rather than sell an exciting adventure series.
It's likely that if this version of Doctor Who had got off the ground then it would've been a fun little curio like the TV Movie. But it feels highly unlikely it would've spawned 19 years of telly.