10 TV Characters Killed In Desperate Attempts To Boost Ratings

Despite the fact that he was a mega fan of the show, had appeared as a side character in one of the Fifth Doctor's stories and had plans of surpassing the legendary Tom Baker for the show's longest run as the Doctor, things never really got going for Colin Baker's Sixth Doctor.

By the time he picked up the TARDIS keys, it was clear that the show was increasingly struggling to justify itself. Budgets were increasingly slim and stories felt increasingly low quality, but the biggest crime was undoubtedly the decision to make Baker's Doctor one of the most unlikeable in the history of television.

A character who, at the start of his tenure at least, was arrogant, short-tempered, angry and even violent towards some of his friends, this one decision essentially put the nails in the coffin for the original run of the legendary series. In fact, the concerns from the BBC grew so big that they attempted to pull the show twice during Baker's two seasons as the Doctor.

In one final, desperate, attempt to save the show and its ratings, the show runners hastily fired Baker, brought in Sylvester McCoy and wrote in a regeneration story inbetween seasons. Baker, who became the show's shortest-lived Doctor at the time, wasn't even present for his death scene and the show would be cancelled just three years later in 1989.