Doctor Who: 20 Things You Didn't Know About The Ninth Doctor

5. Steven Moffat Recently Released A Ninth Doctor Scene From The Day Of The Doctor

Doctor Who the Ninth Doctor Christopher Eccleston
BBC

At one point in time, the Ninth Doctor was going to have a significant role in The Day Of The Doctor, but when Eccleston turned down the opportunity, Steven Moffat changed course and created the War Doctor in his place.

This means that early drafts of the episode's script were written with the Ninth Doctor in mind, and while the full version of this script remains under lock and key, Moffat did recently release the Ninth Doctor version of the barn scene.

Doctor Who The Day Of The Doctor Ninth Doctor script
Observe Books/Steven Moffat

This excerpt - spanning a couple of pages - was released in 2018 as part of A Second Target For Tommy, a collection of Doctor Who short stories intended to raise money for writer Tommy Donbavand, to support him in his health struggles.

Sadly, Tommy passed away in 2019.

For Doctor Who fans, the book was an opportunity to support a great cause, and catch a glimpse of this early, alternate version of the 50th anniversary episode.

The Ninth Doctor barn scene plays out similarly to the final War Doctor version, only the Moment isn't Rose Tyler, and the dialogue is significantly different. Either way, it's a fascinating slice of Doctor Who history.

Contributor
Contributor

Danny has been with WhatCulture for almost nine years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. He has been writing and video editing for 10+ years, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers and uploading them to YouTube (they're admittedly a bit rusty by today's standards). If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order or to tell you about the making of 1988's Remembrance of the Daleks, Danny is the person to ask.