Doctor Who: 20 Things You Didn't Know About The Ninth Doctor
1. The Alternate Ending To The Parting Of The Ways
While Russell T Davies obviously knew that Eccleston would be leaving after his first series, he wanted the Doctor's regeneration to be a surprise for the general public, and so, an alternate ending to The Parting of the Ways was devised.
Far from being merely conceptual, this alternate ending was actually written and filmed. In this version, the TARDIS scans Rose, and the message "LIFEFORM DYING" is displayed on the TARDIS scanner. The intent was to make people believe that Rose was about to die, not the Ninth Doctor.
This alternate ending was intended to be shown to the press during preview screenings, but when Eccleston's departure was prematurely unveiled by the BBC themselves, this plan was scrapped because the cat was already out the bag.
A surprise regeneration would certainly be a thrilling way to end a series, and who knows... maybe it's an idea RTD will revisit in the near future.
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