Doctor Who: 10 Most Infuriating Cliffhangers Of The Classic Series

3. Dragonfire (Episode 1)

In the most literal example of 'Doctor Who Cliffhanger' to be found on this list, this Sylvester McCoy adventure is particularly infuriating in that, as televised, it literally makes no sense to the viewer watching at home. The end of Episode 1 of Dragonfire shows the Doctor, deep in the caves of Ice World, lower himself into a seemingly bottomless chasm and hang on for dear life... for no apparent reason. What's worse, the beginning of Episode 2 shows the Doctor pulling himself up out of the chasm before casually continuing on his way, as if nothing at all unusual had even happened. The infuriating part was that as written, this actually did make sense. There was a scripted explanation for the Doctor's path being blocked (also present in the novelisation) which forced him to try to maneuver around it instead. This is absent in the televised version, though, which was edited due to time concerns making it look as if the Doctor places himself in mortal danger for no reason (except, that is, to provide the episode with some sort of a 'cliffhanger'). More's the pity.