Doctor Who: 10 Things You Never Knew About Series 4 Of NuWho

9. The Shadow Proclamation Would Have Been Much Busier

It wasn't just the good guys that Russell T Davies wanted to bring together in the Series 4 finale. As early as the original series breakdown, compiled before the episodes had even been written, Davies detailed the scene in which the Doctor and Donna seek help from the Shadow Proclamation. Rather than being greeted by only half a dozen Judoon (all but one helmeted since there's only one rhino mask), they were instead going to be met by a throng containing almost every monster from the show since its revival, all of which irked about a missing planet. Rather than being space police, the Shadow Proclamation would have been more like bureaucrats, with the Doctor being forced to take a number, queue and fill out paperwork to rescue Earth. Riveting stuff. This scene made it through to the final draft and The Mill was gearing up to animate the sequence. Annette Badland, who had previously played Blon Fel-Fotch Passameer-Day Slitheen - or Margaret to her enemies - even recorded her dialogue for a cameo appearance. In the first series episode Boom Town, the exiled Margaret was regressed to an egg and returned to Raxacoricofallapatorius by the Ninth Doctor to be adopted and given a second chance. Her appearance in this scene would have been as an infant frightened by the Judoon. The Doctor would have caught her referred to as "Margaret" as he passed, but gets dragged off by Donna before he had time to acknowledge it. This scene was ultimately scrapped for budget reasons. Though all the costumes and CG models already existed, the number of performers needed to wear the suits and the special effects needed meant this was just too costly to film. Since it served no bearing to the plot, other than to emphasise the bedlam caused by Davros' machinations, this was the first scene to be downsized.