Doctor Who: 10 Great Ideas That Went Absolutely Nowhere

5. The Paternoster Gang

Doctor Who Jo Martin the Fugitive Doctor
BBC Studios

Appearing out of nowhere in the Series 6 episode A Good Man Goes to War, The Paternoster Gang aided the Eleventh and Twelfth Doctors in various quests.

Madame Vastra the Silurian, her human wife Jenny, and their Sontaran butler Strax appeared five times on television, including a Christmas special, the 100th episode of NuWho, and the Twelfth Doctor's first adventure. Not a bad spread.

Despite putting minimal effort into explaining where they came from and how they met the Doctor, the show gave the Gang a decent treatment once they were established. Plans were tentatively discussed for a spinoff starring the trio, but Steven Moffat vetoed the idea in fear of overexposing audiences to Doctor Who content.

They have lived on in the form of audio stories, novellas, and magazines, but a lot of potential was left on the table by not giving them their own show. The group was tailor-made for a kid-friendly series in the vein of The Sarah Jane Adventures, but it just wasn't meant to be.

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Jacob Simmons has a great many passions, including rock music, giving acclaimed films three-and-a-half stars, watching random clips from The Simpsons on YouTube at 3am, and writing about himself in the third person.