20 Cancelled Doctor Who Episodes You Need To Know About

The eleventh episode of Series 2 was originally assigned to national treasure Stephen Fry (who had first crossed paths with Doctor Who in 2002, starring in the webcast Death Comes to Time).

Fry was given free rein to develop a story for the revived series. This was provisionally titled, and set in, The 1920s – a setting he had previously used for his 2003 film Bright Young Things.

The script Fry ultimately ended up writing was reportedly a reworking of the Arthurian myth Gawain and the Green Knight (which, in true Doctor Who style, was revealed to have alien origins) and featured a scene of the TARDIS landing on a “strange planet”. Truly revolutionary stuff there Stephen.

Whether or not it was still set in the 1920s by this point is unclear. Either way, it was deemed too ambitious for a slot so late in production – and in what is surely one of the biggest downgrades in the show’s history, was swiftly replaced by Fear Her.

Initially pushed back to 2007, it was shelved for good when Fry proved unavailable for rewrites. He would later appear in Doctor Who as MI6 boss C in Spyfall, but is yet to write for the show.