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

1. The Alternate Ending To The Parting Of The Ways Removes His Regeneration

Doctor Who the Ninth Doctor Christopher Eccleston
BBC Studios

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.

According to the BBC's fact file for the episode, this alternate ending was "written and filmed". In this version, the TARDIS scans Rose, and the message "LIFEFORM DYING" is displayed on the TARDIS scanner.

Clearly, the intent here 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 (presumably during preview screenings), but when Eccleston's departure was prematurely unveiled, this plan was scrapped.

-

Want more Ninth Doctor content? Check out his nine best episodes here.

Doctor Who Quiz: How Well Do You Remember The 9th Doctor?

Ninth Doctor Who
BBC

1. Where Did The Ninth Doctor First Meet Rose?

Her Flat

On The Powell Estate

At Henriks Department Store

By The London Eye
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.