Doctor Who: 10 Great Ideas That Went Absolutely Nowhere

Andrew Cartmel was a script editor on Doctor Who between 1987 and 1989, during the Seventh Doctor era of the show.

Alongside other writers like Marc Platt, Cartmel devised several plots to help bring some mystique back to the show and turn around its falling ratings. These ideas have been dubbed "The Cartmel Masterplan" by fans.

Regrettably, the Masterplan never saw the light of day, as Doctor Who was cancelled before the new storylines were put in place. This is hugely disappointing, as these plans sounded awesome.

Cartmel planned to make the Doctor a demi-god, one of Gallifrey's founding fathers alongside Rassilon and Omega. He also planned to introduce an alter-ego called The Other, a shadowy figure deeply connected to the planet's past.

Fragments of these ideas made it into episodes of the TV show pre-cancellation, as well as other media, like books. This all came too late to save the show though, which was confined to the television waste bin until 2005.

Would The Cartmel Masterplan have rescued Doctor Who? It's impossible to say, but the potential that it had makes it one of the most intriguing "What Ifs?" in the show's storied history.