10 Worst Doctor Who Moments Of 2024
Which of this year’s Doctor Who moments deserve to be destroyed by Sutekh’s dust of death?
2023 was a big year for Doctor Who, but 2024 was just as monumental.
We got the show’s full launch on Disney+, and the debut season for Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson, which took us from a futuristic baby spacestation to a post-apocalyptic 2046, via '60s London and an English country house.
Following this, Steven Moffat is bringing joy to the world with his ninth Christmas special – a rip-roaring adventure involving dinosaurs, multiple Doctors, and the Orient Express.
Along the way, Mrs Flood kept us guessing, the Silurians and Villengard returned, and the identity of “The One Who Waits” was finally revealed.
There was much to enjoy, and we’ll be counting down the year’s best moments in a future list. But first, let’s get the negatives out of the way – the things that weren’t so great about Doctor Who in 2024, and the concerns we have going into 2025.
From missteps to misfires to missed opportunities, this is where the show dropped the ball this year...
10. Wasting The Beatles
The Devil’s Chord featured the Fab Four in their first proper Doctor Who role, following a stock footage cameo in 1965's The Chase. But you could hardly call it a Beatles episode.
The group’s screen time accounts for a mere ten minutes, with Paul and John getting a slightly bigger role but George and Ringo basically disappearing after the first act. The story also didn’t feature a single note of Beatles music, due to notoriously high copyright costs.
Now sure, without this premise, we wouldn’t have got the complete and utter gem that is “I’ve Got A Dog”, or the iconic image of the TARDIS landing on Abbey Road.
But if you can’t do The Beatles justice, why bother featuring them in the first place? The whole thing reeks of wasted potential, and considering the enormous hype around The Beatles finally being in Doctor Who, the fact that their presence was ornamental at best was a massive letdown.
And speaking of music-related missed opportunities, special mention must go to the TARDIS jukebox, which has been used just once so far (with planned appearances in Space Babies and Empire of Death left on the cutting room floor). Justice for the jukebox!