Doctor Who: 10 Behind The Scenes Bust-Ups BBC Doesn't Want You To Know

7. John Wiles Vs. Maureen O'Brien

Doctor Who John Barrowman Steven Moffat
BBC Studios

An often overlooked dispute that resulted in the departure of a great companion, Maureen O'Brien's Vicki was written out of Doctor Who in the 1965 serial The Myth Makers, all because the actress was vocal about the way her character was being portrayed.

When these criticisms - such as O'Brien complaining about Vicki's dialogue - reached the ears of producer John Wiles, he wasn't pleased in the slightest. In fact, rather than working with O'Brien to talk through some of the issues she had with Vicki, he thought "to hell with it" and decided to have her written out instead, forcing writer Donald Cotton to make amendments to the script.

O'Brien was reportedly shocked when she was told that The Myth Makers would be her final Doctor Who story, and while she clearly wasn't too enthusiastic about playing Vicki, it was rather underhanded of Wiles to just get rid of her with a snap of his fingers.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for almost nine years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. He has been writing and video editing for 10+ years, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers and uploading them to YouTube (they're admittedly a bit rusty by today's standards). If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order or to tell you about the making of 1988's Remembrance of the Daleks, Danny is the person to ask.