Doctor Who: 10 Great Villains Who Were Badly Wasted

9. Davros

The first series finale brought just the Daleks back, then the second one used Cybermen and the Daleks, the third the Master, then the fourth gave us the Daleks, the last remaining member of the Cult of Skaro, a nice shiny red Dalek I forget the purpose of, and the big man himself, Davros. It was to be just like the good old days: the Doctor jostling with a fellow genius. The potential for 'The Stolen Earth'/'Journey's End' was limitless. Unfortunately, the great Davros was now reduced to being, in the Doctor's words, "The Daleks' pet." He wheeled around the room quoting a prophecy - that never came true by the way - and claimed that his greatest victory was seeing the Doctor realise he turned his companions into weapons; gone were the tense, incredibly-acted stalemates that he might have enjoyed with the Fourth Doctor, replaced by Davros imprisoning Ten, and telling him how his final plan was to destroy the whole universe. All it took to destroy him in the end was a superpowered Donna Noble flicking a few buttons; a deus-ex-machina was always going to happen, we knew that, but Davros never really felt like the Daleks' creator, just an elderly man on the door, shouting harmless platitudes at the heroes whilst the real danger was further inside the ship. It was an all-right performance from Tennant, but not a return to the glory days of Who.