10 Things Doctor Who REALLY Wants You To Forget
7. RTD Hates The Shalka Doctor
Doctor Who recently canonised the Shalka Doctor by including the head of Richard E Grant in the holographic roll-call of incarnations aboard Rogue's ship.
The Shalka Doctor was the original Ninth Doctor, as featured in the 2003 animation Scream of the Shalka. This iteration was rendered non-canon when Christopher Eccleston came along in 2005, and has mostly been forgotten ever since.
These assorted holo-heads are the Doctor's way of distracting Rogue from executing him, but they're also a pretty good distraction from an incendiary quote by Russell T Davies.
In a 2005 interview published in Doctor Who Magazine #360, RTD opened up about his thoughts on Scream of the Shalka, and let's just say he didn't have much love for Richard E Grant's version of the Doctor:
"I thought he was terrible. I thought he took the money and ran, to be honest. It was a lazy performance."
It's clear Russell views Grant's floating head as a make-good to his close friend and Scream of the Shalka writer, Paul Cornell.
But it's also clear we won't be seeing more of the Shalka Doctor onscreen anytime soon!