10 Unmade Doctor Who Stories We Wish We'd Seen

In a follow-up to The Deadly Assassin, the Doctor Who production team wanted to return to Gallifrey for the following season. That story ended up as The Invasion of Time, a conspiracy thriller caper lightyears away in tone from Robert Holmes' masterpiece. However, the original pitch for the season 15 finale was markedly different.

Killers of the Dark would have revealed that the planet of the Timelords was also home to a race of Cat-People whose culture was similar to those of Asian countries. Not much is known about the story other than it was to feature a gladiator-style battle in front of a stadium full of cat people. Perhaps this would have written out Leela the way Louise Jameson had always wanted, sacrificing her life in battle for the Doctor?

David Weir's script got as far as the costume stage, with designer Dee Robson submitting design sketches. In the end, script editor Anthony Read and director Gerald Blake decided it would be far too difficult to achieve on Doctor Who's already tight budget. Instead, they opted to make Invasion of Time, which introduced us to the Outsiders instead - Gallifrey's, cheaper to realise, humanoid population who had turned their backs on Timelord society.