Fans of the revived series of Doctor Who will be aware that the first few series had episodes that shifted the focus away from the Doctor and instead had other characters in the lead roles. Although the title hero would appear in the episodes in a minor way and would still take part in the adventure in a small way. This has had mixed results. Steven Moffatts Blink introduced an exciting and truly scary enemy in the Weeping Angels. Whereas Love and Monsters in 2006 had an exceptionally awful story and an uninspired guest appearance from Peter Kay. Frankly the less said about it the better. What you probably do not know is that there was an episode that did away with the Doctor altogether. The 1965 episode Mission to the Unknown saw a completely separate cast from the rest of the series. It featured a Space Security Agent trying to get back to Earth to warn them about a Dalek invasion. The stand-alone story was devised when another serial was cut from four episodes to three. This left a gap in the schedule and the writers decided to create a filler episode that would set up a later story arc. Terry Nation, who wrote the script, had intended for it to be a test to see if the Daleks could work by themselves. If the episode had been successful we might never have gotten to see the Doctor fighting his greatest enemies ever again.
