11 Great Doctor Who Moments The Writers Chickened Out Of

There have been some truly incredible moments in Doctor Who's history that have managed to make the viewer gasp, cheer, and cry, often at the same time. The original Hartnell era gave us so many, from the introduction of the Daleks to the death of Katarina, the first ever companion to not survive their travels with the Doctor, with future years seeing the great moments keep coming. Regenerations into new personas, the revelation that the Doctor was a Time Lord, Rose being trapped on a parallel Earth, the first return of The Master, Who fans have been spoilt for epic moments.

Unfortunately, some of these moments have proved a little 'too big' for the head writers to go along with, chickening out on their own bold decisions so as not to offend their fanbase. Of course, the irony of this backtracking is that it was those choices to go back on their original decisions that we Whovians actually find offensive.

Making a truly game changing moment does take skill and execution, but it takes some real fortitude to stick with these decisions, irrespective of the potential fallback. Without this, the show just becomes disposable, and that's something Doctor Who should never become.

So sit back and reflect on what might have been, as we look at the great Doctor Who moments that the head writers backed right away from.

The Daleks are synonymous with Doctor Who as much as the TARDIS and The Doctor's need for travelling companions. Even in their original 1963 form, their metallic exterior and matching personalities always caused one to shudder, especially when they screeched out their iconic phrase, 'Exterminate!'

The Russell T Davies era for Doctor Who was outstanding in making the Daleks the villainous threat they had once been, making them the seemingly undefeatable foe we always remembered. The story arc for the creatures from Skaro (apart from the poor episodes set in Manhattan) was enjoyable, and fitted nicely into a coherent timeline. Thanks to this we were able to get a real sense that the threat and number of Daleks wavered, depending on what had resulted in previous episodes.

The decision to bring about the Daleks ultimate destruction at the hands of the 'Doctor Donna' at the end of the fourth season was a huge moment, with the Metacrisis Doctor's decision to commit genocide one with significant implications. The episode was a fitting end to the once great villain, while also bringing to a close the outstanding Time War arc.

Then Matt Smith and Steven Moffat came along and undid all the good work. While the return of the Daleks from their own extermination may have been justifiable with decent scripting, there is basically no justification given for how they survived or managed to return. The fact they returned looking like M+M's just rubbed salt into the wounds.