Doctor Who: 10 Things You Didn't Know About The Rani
3. The Rani's Cancelled Auton Team-Up
Before Doctor Who's mid-1980s hiatus – and presumably before Kate O'Mara's casting in Dynasty – producer John Nathan-Turner had hoped to bring back the Rani in Season 23.
Following on from The Two Doctors, legendary Doctor Who writer Robert Holmes had been tasked with writing another three-part epic, set in Singapore and featuring the Autons, the Master, the Rani, and the Brigadier.
The dubiously titled Yellow Fever And How To Cure It would have followed on from The Mark of the Rani, with the dastardly Time Lady still saddled with Anthony Ainley's Master. A vague outline of the story and a script for part one is believed to have been written, but they've never surfaced.
What remains are the vague ideas of the Rani and the Master operating a street theatre in Singapore, presumably featuring Auton performers. The Sixth Doctor and Peri would then team up with a holidaying Brigadier to defeat the two Time Lords and their Auton army.
While the story sounds slightly overstuffed, a partnership between the Rani and the Autons does make sense. After all, she's a bio-chemist, so would surely be absolutely fascinated by the concept of living plastic!