loading . . . 10 MORE Times Doctor Who Lied To Your Face As the BBC assure us that Doctor Who's future is confirmed with or without Disney, it's hard not to think of that scene from The Eleventh Hour. You know the one – the Doctor tells little Amelia Pond that everything's going to be alright, right after he's observed that "grown-ups tell you everything's going to be fine and you think they're probably lying to make you feel better". When we previously talked about Doctor Who lying to you, the selections were often about preserving big surprises, enhancing the viewer experience, or convincing you that Nicola Bryant was American. For this second list, we've got a few more lies designed to keep a big secret or pull off a massive surprise. However, the Disney deal and the panic over the future of Doctor Who adds a new dimension. Included here are blatant lies that deny the reality of the current situation in the interests of preserving good relations with the House of Mouse. Maybe in years to come, we'll get a bit of honesty about just what's gone on behind the scenes of Doctor Who over the past three years. For now however, we're all expected to believe that "it was always the plan" to end up in this exact situation. 10. No Daleks In Series 11 The Thirteenth Doctor's first series boldly resisted bringing back elements from the past, with showrunner Chris Chibnall promising Radio Times that "We’ve got a new Doctor, all-new characters, all-new monsters, and all-new stories." When pressed on what this meant for the Daleks back in 2018, Chibnall rather cheekily replied that they wouldn't appear "this year." He was right of course – they appeared in 2019's New Year's Day special, Resolution. But because Resolution was filmed as part of the Series 11 production, this is a very obvious bending of the truth. There wasn't even that much of a gap between the Series 11 finale and Resolution. The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos aired on 9 December 2018, just over three weeks before the broadcast of the New Year's Day special! So yes, technically, Chris Chibnall wasn't lying, but also technically, the Daleks do appear as part of Series 11. Oddly enough though, Resolution was then included on some editions of the Series 12 box-set, despite being a very clear continuation of Series 11 with the whole Ryan's dad subplot. Still, it's a showrunner's rite of passage to lie to the press about returning monsters, so we'll let Chris Chibnall off the hook with this one. Citizen of the Universe, Film Programmer, Writer, Podcaster, Doctor Who fan and a gentleman to boot. As passionate about Chinese social-realist epics as I am about dumb popcorn movies. 9. Russell T Davies Will NEVER Return To Doctor Who In 2019, RTD told Radio Times that returning to Doctor Who would "be like coming back to a job I did 10 years ago, wouldn’t it? Who would do that?" Who indeed? A year earlier, RTD had been even more adamant in his desire never to return to the TARDIS, saying: "Really, think about it. Go back to the job you had 13 years ago. Or go back to your old school. Walk in, say hello, take your old seat. And start giving instructions! Watch everyone’s faces. Shortly before they call the police. Move on! And besides, why look back? The future is golden." Four years later, Russell T Davies did walk in, take his old seat and start giving instructions. And nobody called the police, no matter what they thought of Empire of Death. So was RTD lying when he said all of this? Maybe. Or maybe he did genuinely believe he wouldn't go back until lockdown (and David Tennant and Catherine Tate) convinced him otherwise. Either way, it would certainly be interesting to hear how he feels about his decision to actually return. 8. Matthew Waterhouse In Time-Flight All of us probably experienced our parents lying to us about death in our youth. Spoiler alert: your rabbit didn't get taken to a special rabbit farm. Oh, and Matthew Waterhouse isn't in Time-Flight! Now yes, before you write in, Matthew Waterhouse is in Time-Flight. He appears as an illusion of Adric in Part Two, but we're specifically talking about the decision to include him in the Radio Times credits for Part One. As that particular issue of the Radio Times would have gone to press before Earthshock Part Four had aired, producer John Nathan-Turner was keen to protect the big surprise that Adric would be killed off in the final moments of that episode. Apparently, Waterhouse's contract also extended into the production of Time-Flight, which gave Nathan-Turner and writer Peter Grimwade the opportunity to deploy Adric. So while the Radio Times listing wasn't strictly a lie, the implication that the listing made was a huge misdirection about the fate of Adric, and was intended to make people believe he would still be alive. Lesser producers than JNT wouldn't even consider the implications of not including Matthew Waterhouse in the pre-broadcast credits for Time-Flight. It's proof of Nathan-Turner's commitment to the viewer experience, by protecting big surprises like the death of Adric. Citizen of the Universe, Film Programmer, Writer, Podcaster, Doctor Who fan and a gentleman to boot. As passionate about Chinese social-realist epics as I am about dumb popcorn movies. 7. Searching For The Twelfth Doctor At San Diego Comic-Con in 2013, Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat told Digital Spy that "the search for the Twelfth Doctor has barely begun." Less than two weeks later, Peter Capaldi was unveiled as the Twelfth Doctor in a live show spectacular on primetime BBC1. Once again, Steven Moffat had lied through his teeth. In fact, at the time of his interview with Digital Spy in July 2013, Peter Capaldi's casting had been known by the Doctor Who production team for quite a while. Even the idea of a "search" for the Twelfth Doctor was a lie, with Peter Capaldi being the first choice to play the part. There would have been other names as back-ups in case Capaldi said no of course, which is probably where those Rory Kinnear and Ben Daniels rumours came from. But Capaldi was always Moffat's man, and in fact, Moffat had briefly considered casting him as the Eleventh Doctor before Matt Smith entered the picture! Fundamentally though, lifelong Doctor Who fan Peter Capaldi was never going to say no. And savvy Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat was hardly going to kick Capaldi out of his kitchen after his successful audition. Still, it's another example of a little white lie leading to another big reward – this time during Doctor Who's glorious 50th anniversary year, in which Capaldi's Twelfth Doctor (or rather, his eyebrows) was unveiled in spectacular fashion. And really, with Matt Smith's regeneration on the horizon, we should've known that the search for his replacement hadn't "barely begun". The search for the next Doctor Who isn't something you rush at the last minute, is it? Citizen of the Universe, Film Programmer, Writer, Podcaster, Doctor Who fan and a gentleman to boot. As passionate about Chinese social-realist epics as I am about dumb popcorn movies. 6. Colin Baker's Regeneration When the newspapers broke the gossip, they stated that Baker had declined the BBC's offer of doing four final episodes. While the kids at home probably wouldn't know this in advance, the fact remains that Baker's lack of involvement in Season 24 had been widely reported in the press. Flash-forward nine months and we find the Sixth Doctor lying face down on the floor of the TARDIS console room. Had Colin changed his mind? Why, of course not – instead, it was decided that Sylvester McCoy would dress in Colin's costume and a curly blonde wig, to convince the nation that they were seeing the Sixth Doctor regenerate before their very eyes! The finished result is one of the least believable effects sequences ever done in Doctor Who. And that really is saying something. You can clearly see the join between McCoy's brown hair and his blonde wig, no matter how much distortion they put on his face. We didn't say these would be convincing lies, did we? 5. The Final End Of The Daleks When Patrick Troughton gravely stated that it was "the final end" at the climax of The Evil of the Daleks, the BBC genuinely didn't know if the Daleks would be coming back. Terry Nation had gone off to America in the hope of selling his creations to the US television market. However, every subsequent claim that the Daleks have been defeated once and for all has become one of Doctor Who's most consistent lies. Fundamentally, Doctor Who NEEDS the Daleks, so every apparent genocide against Skaro's finest rings a bit hollow. There's always a hidden army of Daleks in a pocket universe or lightyears away, or a small faction of them always survives, allowing them to return and plot their revenge against the Doctor. It's the same with the Master, whether he's left to rot on the planet Xeriphas or shot dead by his vengeful wife, we know that some day further down the line, the Doctor's best frenemy will be back to cause chaos once more. And once more again. And again. And would we want it any other way? No matter how many people claim that they're tired of the Daleks or the Master, they would be distraught if Doctor Who truly delivered the final end for either of the Doctor's greatest enemies. And frankly there's been a Dalek-shaped hole in the show for the past couple of years, so please, keep lying to us about this one! Citizen of the Universe, Film Programmer, Writer, Podcaster, Doctor Who fan and a gentleman to boot. As passionate about Chinese social-realist epics as I am about dumb popcorn movies. 4. "It Was Always The Plan" For Ncuti Gatwa To Exit During his last appearance in Doctor Who behind the scenes material, Gatwa stated that it was "always the plan" for him to do two seasons, and that his knees were telling him it was time to quit the role. Fast forward a few months and he's bending those knees while leaping about the stage in his new play Born with Teeth! And if it was always the plan, why did he let slip on a 2024 episode of Graham Norton that filming was due to start on Doctor Who season 3 "next year"? In reality, the plan was clearly for Ncuti to do one or two more seasons, and then move on. However, Disney dragged its feet on committing to future seasons, and thus, here we are. You can't blame an up-and-coming talent like Gatwa for wanting to stretch his knees a little, can you? And you also can't blame him for obfuscating the truth – it's not like Disney, Russell, or anyone else involved is actually going to admit that their shiny new reboot hasn't gone to plan. At least, not yet. No doubt the tell-all memoirs and interviews will emerge one day! Citizen of the Universe, Film Programmer, Writer, Podcaster, Doctor Who fan and a gentleman to boot. As passionate about Chinese social-realist epics as I am about dumb popcorn movies. https://whatculture.com/tv/10-more-times-doctor-who-lied-to-your-face?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=bluesky
