10 Moments That Almost Killed Doctor Who

When Doctor Who relaunched in 2005 with Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor, it managed to score big in terms of ratings, and the series was born again. Unfortunately, Eccleston only stuck around for one series, and was replaced by the inimitable David Tennant.

While Eccleston managed to build a great deal of buzz around the relaunch, Tennant's Tenth Doctor took the show to another level. His performance was amazing and struck an incredible chord with the public, becoming the face of the show for several years before deciding it was time to leave the TARDIS on 1 January 2010, in The End of Time Part 2.

At this time, the word "cancel" was being spoken a lot, because it wasn't just Tennant leaving. Russell T Davies, the showrunner who breathed new life into Doctor Who, was departing as well. With both of them departing at the same time, the BBC was concerned about the series' long-term prospects, as Steven Moffat explained in 2014:

"I think there were plans maybe to consider ending it. David owned that role in a spectacular way... so the idea that Doctor Who could go on at all in the absence of David was a huge question."

According to Moffat, it was RTD who actually saved the show by telling the BBC plain and simple, "You are not allowed to end it." And it seems they listened!

Clearly, Russell felt that there was lots more 'absolute content' to come...