If you're looking for a word to describe the Doctor's legion of devoted followers (no - not that word!), then 'passionate' pretty much sums them up. Doctor Who fans don't just watch their favourite programme. Of course they don't. That would be silly, wouldn't it? They live, dream and breathe it. In fact, they're so passionate about the ongoing escapades of TV's favourite Time Lord that they even turn on each other whenever the opportunity presents itself. Don't get us wrong, as a community the Doctor Who fandom is generally a nice place to be. Every now and then, though, something happens that manages to rip us apart. Over the following pages you'll see 10 examples of show developments that proved to be so controversial that they even sparked a war within the show's fandom itself. Forget the Time War, these are the wars to end all wars. It's probably because they're so passionate that they react to things in such a dramatic way, of course. One thing is for sure, though, and that's that you won't like the Doctor Who fandom when its angry. If you're not a fan and you ever find yourself caught up amidst a fandom dispute, your safest best is to probably find the nearest form of cover and hide until the anarchy has stopped. Saying that, it's testament to the unequivocal strength and power of the Doctor Who fandom that nothing has managed to destroy it completely, but these events certainly tried...
Dan Butler is the Doctor Who Editor at WhatCulture.com. When he isn't writing his own articles or editing other people's, he can be found trawling the internet for gifs of Steven Moffat laughing. Contact him via dan.butler@whatculture.co.uk.
