10 Doctor Who Episodes That Were Doomed From The Start

Doctor Who has been through quite a lot over the years. We've had Daleks, Cybermen, the Master, the Time War, weird little slug guys from Thoros-Beta, and the occasional universe-ending catastrophe.

But sometimes, the biggest threat to the programme hasn't been lurking in the shadows of a distant planet. It's been happening behind the cameras.

For a show that's been running for over 60 years, Doctor Who has had its fair share of production nightmares. From freezing film sets and last-minute rewrites to cancelled episodes, unfinished adventures, and some rather questionable monsters, there have been times when getting an episode on screen has been a bigger challenge than saving the universe itself!

But which Doctor Who episodes struggled most? And which of them were fighting such an uphill battle that they were essentially doomed right from the word go? Let's just say that some of these really were bigger disasters than a malfunctioning TARDIS...

Legend of the Sea Devils had all the ingredients: the long-awaited return of one of the show's most iconic monsters in a swashbuckling pirate adventure?! Sign me the hell up, what could go wrong?

Well, quite a lot actually.

The crew was already coming off the back of the absolutely gruelling conditions of filming Flux during the pandemic, and the specials that followed were no easier. Legend of the Sea Devils was filmed under very strict COVID conditions, with the production having to contend with cast and crew bubbles, testing protocols, elaborate sets and ships, period costumes, and a huge amount of VFX in non-ideal conditions.

Furthermore co-writer Ella Road has confessed that the very task of completing the script was "mad and accelerated". Chris Chibnall has also confirmed that the BBC asked him to make an extra episode fairly late in the day – widely believed to be this one, which would explain its rushed writing process.

Overall then it's no surprise that the episode itself is a hot mess. The Sea Devils are underused, the plot is all over the place, and the editing and direction is amateur at times, with the choppiest of choppy action scenes and a hilarious moment where a Sea Devil channels his inner Mario when jumping onto his ship.

It's a right shame, really. The production team have obviously put in a tremendous amount of effort to make this work, but the circumstances clearly worked against them.