9. Jake And Ricky
With the long awaited return of one of the Doctor's most iconic adversaries, Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel was already bursting at the metallic seams so the inclusion of yet another sub-plot would've probably pushed it over the edge. Besides, much to the disdain of its viewers, Doctor Who is tragically only allocated 45 minutes of airtime a week which means that there's always something that ends up getting the chop. In the Earth-stomping two parter, the Doctor, Rose and Mickey were transported to an alternative universe (everything was practically the same but a little bit different) where they joined forces with Jake Simmonds, as played by CBBC alumni Andrew Hayden Smith, and Ricky as played by... erm, Noel Clarke. They were part of an elite team of resistance fighters, known as the Preachers, who were dedicated to the cause of opposing the incoming threat of Cyber invasion. Jake was strong, brave and resourceful while Ricky was basically Mickey's parallel doppelgänger who was better than him at
everything. In fact, apart from highlighting Mickey's underlying insecurities, there was no real reason for him to be there at all. At least, not in the broadcast version. Russell T Davies has revealed that Jake and Ricky were originally romantically involved which certainly makes his untimely death scene all the more poignant. Jake referred to him as his boyfriend at the end of The Age of Steel but his passing comment (which you can see watch for yourself
here) eventually ended up on the cutting room floor. So there you go. The greatest love story that was (n)ever told. Just think of the fan fiction.