14 Doctor Who Urban Legends That Are Actually True
9. Redrafting The Five Doctors
Five Doctors reunited on screen back in 1983 to celebrate Doctor Whos 20th anniversary (in the aptly titled feature-length special The Five Doctors) but things could have been very, very different. In the original draft of the script, written by Terrance Dicks, the star of the show was Tom Baker whose Fourth Doctor would steal the Masters TARDIS and head to Gallifrey to unravel Borusas plot while the other Doctors fought off an array of threats in the Death Zone. It was to be an adventure which wouldve no doubt satisfied the Fourth Doctors legion of dedicated devotees and it was a clever concept on the BBCs behalf to capitalise the shows landmark festivities by attempting to recreate the unequivocal success of Tom Bakers tenure (he had handed over the reigns to Peter Davison two years previously). The man himself threw an almighty spanner into the works, however, when he refused to reprise his iconic role for the special owing to the fact that he had only just left it. As such, the script was subsequently rewritten but the Fourth Doctor wasnt completely left out of the proceedings - footage from his unused serial Shada was edited into the episode and his waxwork model from Madame Tussaud's was used for all the cast publicity shots. The BBC are nothing if not ruthlessly resourceful.