Doctor Who: 10 Great Villains Who Were Badly Wasted

3. The Broken Man

As mentioned, it's a shame when a great monster becomes a tiny detail in a romance, even if it is for the best of the story. 'Hide' however, took the bold move of injecting romance as a tiny detail in a story about a great monster. The Broken Man is genuinely scary; it moves in an unnatural way, it looks terrifying and it always seems to occupy the corner of the Doctor's eye. Another case of an incredibly frightening monster only being a sub-plot in a thrilling episode, the Broken Man was largely regarded as a ghost, and then swept under the carpet as soon as the Doctor knew what he was. There was so much promise for this creature, and whether you liked the ending or not, there's surely more story to tell than a quick, panicky sequence of the Doctor being stalked by the Broken Man. We probably won't see him again: his story's been tied up. But the possibilities surrounding this character are fantastic, and it's a shame he was only briefly seen, even if the episode was brilliant, after all.