10 Moments That Almost Killed Doctor Who
4. The 2005 Revival That Almost Never Was
Today we know the 2005 revival of Doctor Who was a resounding success, so it's hard to imagine that it was almost squashed before it hit our screens. But it was!
In June 2004, less than a year before the Ninth Doctor would explode his way onto television, newly-appointed Director General of the BBC Mark Thompson – who clearly hates fun – made it one of his first ports of call to try and axe the first series of Doctor Who before it entered production.
It would appear that this request came down from Doctor Who's old nemesis Michael Grade. Grade, at this point, was Chairman of the BBC Board of Governors, and was one of the people involved in Doctor Who's hiatus and near-cancellation in the mid-1980s.
Luckily, it was quickly determined that things were simply too far along, and that cancelling Doctor Who at this stage would represent a significant waste of time and resources. But just think how different things could've turned out if Thompson had got the job a few months earlier, and had been able to put a stop to our favourite show about a mad man with a box.
There’d have been no Day of the Doctor, no Blink, no Heaven Sent, and no Love & Monsters! Actually, maybe Thompson had a point with that last one.