Doctor Who: 15 Greatest NuWho Deaths So Far

Everything has it's time, and everything dies. That's certainly true when it comes to Doctor Who characters. Ths show goes through an awful lot of supporting cast due to the Doctor travelling to a different location every week, and a lot of those supporting characters are killed. Often this is to demonstrate the danger that the main characters face, or to set up some sense of mystery, dramatic irony or catharsis. Whatever the reasoning behind them, these deaths have led to a number of memorable scenes.

They've also led to the writers getting reputations for being character-killers (we're looking at you, Moffat! Though the others aren't far behind... Russell T Davies death rate is suprisingly high).

Key deaths within the series haven't just been restricted to supporting characters, either. There wouldn't be much tension if the heroes always survived, and sometimes even main or recurring characters don't make it out of an episode alive. Some do manage to make it out of an episode, but still die over the course of the adventure. An awful lot of villains don't tend to make it either, which isn't always a bad thing as it means our heroes win, but these deaths can be just as painful. Some villains you just can't hate.

There won't be any regenerations on this list, as it's debateable whether this counts as a death or is merely a character changing into a new form. With that out of the way, let's follow the Grim Reaper back through time. 

Sometimes, the death of a minor character can be almost as effective and saddening as the death of a major character, and that's definitely true of Blink's Billy Shipton. He gets a very limited set of scenes - one when he's telling Sally about the abandoned cars found outside the house haunted by the Weeping Angels, one meeting the Doctor after being sent back in time, and then the last in the hospital, seeing Sally for one final time. 

Billy is first introduced as a young, cocksure police officer. However, the Weeping Angels catch him and catapult him into the past, where he's forced to live out his life in order to make sure the Doctor's message gets to Sally Sparrow. Just a few hours after she meets the young version of him, Sally meets the old, dying version in hospital. The sudden gut punch of just how short life can feel makes the scene really affecting, and the reminiscent tone that Louis Mahoney (who plays old Billy) injects into his performance makes it sadder still.

The cherry on the top, if that's not too nice an image, is the fact that Billy knows he has until the rain stops to live. It's so hauntingly delivered by Mahoney that it makes the slower scene still more compelling and heart-wrenching.