History WhatCouldHaveBeen / DoctorWho

** Other actors interviewed for the Seventh Doctor include [=McCoy=]'s real-life mentor Ken Campbell (who reportedly came across as a bit ''too'' sinister in auditions) and Chris Jury.

** Creator/JamesMcAvoy and Russell Tovey were contenders for the role of the Eleventh Doctor before Smith was cast.

** Creator/PeterCapaldi was considered for the role of the Eleventh Doctor by Moffat, but he didn't feel the timing was right. He was Moffat's first choice for the role of the Twelfth Doctor. Ben Daniels was considered in case Capaldi turned out to be unavailable.

** Mitchell, along with his comedic co-star Robert Webb, did end up lending their voices to the hijacker-scavenger's robotic henchmen in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E2DinosaursOnASpaceship Dinosaurs on a Spaceship]]", so it wasn't a total loss.

* In the Creator/RussellTDavies book ''The Writer's Tale'', there are places where he goes over the various episodes' production notes and gives feedback on ideas they didn't end up going with. Most notably, he talks about his expanded ideas for Davros, even going into background information and flashbacks, if "Journey's End" were more Doctor-specific instead of a MegaCrossover. Some of the dialogue on the drafted scripts is very awesome:

* Martha's home year was originally to have been 1913, which would have made "Human Nature"/"The Family of Blood" a "back to reality" story for her.

* Ah, the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartmel_Masterplan Cartmel Masterplan.]] Had the original series gone past season 26, the plan was for Andrew Cartmel and other writers to delve deeply into the Doctor's history, while revealing the Doctor as a Machiavellian [[TheChessmaster chessmaster]] (shades of this were revealed in some of Sylvester [=McCoy's=] stories like "Remembrance of the Daleks" and "Silver Nemesis"). Who was The Other? What was the real relationship between the Doctor and his "granddaughter" Susan Foreman? Had the Cartmel Masterplan gone through, we might have those answers. On the other hand, with this one there is some debate as to just how much of a Masterplan there really was -- the man it's named for has freely denied having any such plans, while other writers involved in the era have suggested that it was really intended to be more of a "mood and atmosphere" or a general attempt at making the Doctor a bit more mysterious than a thought-out StoryArc.

* Creator/JKRowling was offered to write an episode back when Davies was planning Series 1. Of course, she was writing [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince some book]] at the time and couldn't accept the offer, but just think. The writer of one of the most successful books in recent time giving a spin on one of Britain's most well-known series. Davies had wanted Rowling to ''star'' in an episode, too, where she fell into the Franchise/HarryPotter universe thanks to a minion of [[Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures the Trickster]]. The idea was, they'd had Charles Dickens and Shakespeare on, why not bring on another famous British author? In the end, David Tennant, fearing a JumpingTheShark moment, convinced Davies to drop the idea.
* Davies' original pitch for the two-part episode "The Empty Child"/"The Doctor Dances" cast Jack Harkness as an interstellar alien soldier named Jax, who met the Doctor while tracking a murderous escaped "alien-child creature" in Blitz-era London. The character was also conceived as a serious, hard-nosed figure who would have befriended the Doctor while intimidating Rose.
* "Boom Town" was a replacement for a story called "The New Team" by Paul Abbott, which would have been set in Pompeii. More importantly, it would have revealed that Rose was created by the Doctor to be "the perfect companion". This was never filmed because the writer couldn't do rewrites and Davies disliked the dark twist about Rose. An entirely different Pompeii story would be made three series later, however.
* Creator/NeilGaiman's "The Doctor's Wife" was originally the eleventh episode of Creator/MattSmith's first series, and as such had to be completely rewritten to feature Rory when pushed to the next series. Gaiman has mentioned significant bits of his script that never made it to the screen. First, there was supposed to be a scene where they were being sacrificed at the Planet of the Rain Gods when they got the message. Second, Nephew was supposed to be a monster of Gaiman's own creation, instead of an Ood. Third, the (in)famous TARDIS swimming pool would have finally made an appearance. Fourth, Idris as herself (before the TARDIS went inside her) would have been given more screen time. Fifth, the control room at the end was originally going to be from the classic series. All five ended up getting cut due to budget (and the third was doubly shot down when Creator/KarenGillan mentioned she couldn't swim). Creator/NeilGaiman also says that he originally wrote this episode as a Tenth Doctor tale, and it had to be retooled for the Eleventh. According to some reports, the villain House was originally supposed to be The Great Intelligence as a preview to his appearance in later seasons, but they couldn't acquire the rights in time.
* The original Daleks were supposed to have guns mounted on a ring around their midsection, for a 360 degree field of fire. It proved too expensive to do at the time, and this ability was never seen until the new series episode "Dalek". They were also going to have rounded bases rather than angular ones.

* The Tenth Doctor's epic send-off in "The End of Time" was just one option considered. The other possibility was a much smaller-scale one-part story about the Doctor befriending a family of aliens on Christmas Eve, and giving his life to save them from a radiation leak.

* An offer was made to Creator/DavidTennant by the new production team, stating that if he wanted to do one more series, they'd be happy to have him. Tennant declined, but later stated that if anything COULD have convinced him to stay, it was the knowledge that Creator/StevenMoffat was going to be in charge. And had Tennant stayed for that series, "The Eleventh Hour" would have started with Amelia Pond meeting an injured Tenth Doctor, only for Amy to meet him years later unscathed. The series finale would have revealed a TimeyWimeyBall showing that Amelia had met Tenth at the end of his life, on the brink of regeneration.

** Graham Crowden was first offered the role of Fourth Doctor but turned it down as he didn't want to commit to a long-running series. Michael Bentine and Richard Hearne were both considered but ultimately discarded when they each wanted too much influence over the show's scripts and production. Bernard Cribbins (who had previously appeared as Tom, the Ian {{Expy}} in the non-canonical ''Film/DalekSInvasionEarth2150'') was also shortlisted, but turned down because he had envisaged the show as BloodierAndGorier and wanted to carry a gun. (Ironically, the Fourth Doctor eventually cast eventually became notorious for tinkering with his scripts and starred in [[FamilyUnfriendlyViolence the most strikingly violent]] ''Who'' episodes ever.)
** Richard Griffiths is probably the actor most often considered for the role of the Doctor who then never went on to play the role – he seems to have been on the shortlist for playing the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Doctors. He is popularly assumed to have been favourite for the role of 8th Doctor had production of the show not ceased in 1989, as the next season would have been Creator/SylvesterMcCoy's last.

* When the TARDIS crew first uses the time viewer in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS2E8TheChase The Chase]]", they are shown stock footage of one of Music/TheBeatles' performances. However, the original plan was for them to perform dressed as old men, and the footage would have been from a reunion tour sometime in the future. The Beatles agreed to this, but some fool executive nixed the idea. Possibly for the good, as if it had gone through it would have been a massive real life FunnyAneurysmMoment given Creator/JohnLennon's early death.

** And he was supposed to be killed off again in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS21E5PlanetOfFire Planet of Fire]], as Anthony Ainley's contract expired.

* Creator/PeterCapaldi was asked to stay on for Series 11, Creator/ChrisChibnall's first season as showrunner, but ultimately decided to depart with Creator/StevenMoffat. Had he accepted, he would have become the longest-serving new series Doctor with at least four seasons plus specials under his belt, albeit with one less episode per season than his predecessors.

* Leela was originally conceived as a Victorian Cockney flower girl.

* Initially Creator/JennaLouiseColeman planned to leave after Series 8, so Clara Oswald's story is effectively wrapped up in the finale "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E12DeathInHeaven Death in Heaven]]". Then she decided to stay on for the Christmas special, so the BittersweetEnding of her and the Twelfth Doctor parting over mutual lies led into a DreamWorld reunion in "[[Recap/DoctorWho2014CSLastChristmas Last Christmas]]", which ended with the bittersweet reveal that in the real world she was now an elderly, feeble woman and couldn't travel with him again. ''Then'' Coleman decided to stay for Series 9, so old!Clara became the last layer of the DreamWithinADream. Series 9 '''was''' Clara's last season, and this raises the question of how different things would have been had it been introducing a new companion instead: How would "The Magician's Apprentice"/"The Witch's Familiar" play out with a companion who didn't already know the Daleks and Missy? How would "Under the Lake"/"Before the Flood" be different with a Doctor and companion who weren't PlatonicLifePartners? Might "The Girl Who Died"/"The Woman Who Lived" have been a companion-free storyline (Clara is virtually absent in the latter as is)? Who would Bonnie the Zygon have masqueraded as? Would "Face the Raven" gone out as the standalone story it was originally written as? And what of "Heaven Sent" and "Hell Bent"?

* Companion Clara Oswald, introduced in the back half of Series 7, was carried over into Series 8 as part of the transition from the Eleventh Doctor to the Twelfth. Initially Creator/JennaLouiseColeman planned to leave after Series 8, so Clara's story is effectively wrapped up in the finale "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E12DeathInHeaven Death in Heaven]]", but she decided to stay on for the Christmas special. ''Then'' she decided to stay on for Series 9 (partially because she liked working with Creator/PeterCapaldi so much), so the ending of "[[Recap/DoctorWho2014CSLastChristmas Last Christmas]]" had to be rewritten -- originally the Doctor's reunion with an elderly Clara was real, rather than the last layer of the DreamWithinADream world. So Series 9 was Clara's last season, and given how important she was to its StoryArc (many of the Doctor's actions stem from his tender, fiercely protective relationship with her), this raises the question of how different things would have been had it been busy introducing a new companion instead.

* Creator/KateWinslet was also suggested for the role of River Song.

** Mitchell, along with his comedic co-star Robert Webb, did end up lending their voices to the hijacker/scavenger's robotic henchmen in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E2DinosaursOnASpaceship Dinosaurs on a Spaceship]]", so it wasn't a total loss.
* Among the alternative pitches considered for the new DW were Dan Freedman's fantasy retelling, Matthew Graham's Gothic-styled pitch, and Creator/MarkGatiss' reboot, which would make the Doctor the audience surrogate character, instead of his companions.

* Speaking of the Master, he was supposed to be KilledOffForReal during season 11 in a HeroicSacrifice to [[FoeYay save the]] [[RedemptionEqualsDeath Doctor's life]]. "The Final Game", would have also been the final story for the Third Doctor. This was scrapped by Roger Delgado's untimely death in a car accident in Turkey while shooting ''The Bell of Tibet''.
** Said story would also have revealed the Doctor and Master to be two aspects of the same person.

* When the series was suspended for eighteen months between Seasons 22 and 23, a number of scripts for the original Season 23 had already been written. These later became the basis for novels (''The Nightmare Fair'', ''The Ultimate Evil'', ''Mission to Magnus'') by Target Books. Creator/BigFinish created and released audio play versions of the scripts as part of the ''Lost Stories'' range.

** Jenny from "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS2E2TheDalekInvasionOfEarth The Dalek Invasion of Earth]]" was considered as a replacement for Susan, which would have changed the tone of the series considerably. They decided to replace Susan with a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute.
** Samantha Briggs from "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E8TheFacelessOnes The Faceless Ones]]" was intended to be a companion, but her actress turned down the offer to become a regular.
** Ray: A WrenchWench who appeared in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS24E3DeltaAndTheBannermen Delta and the Bannermen]]"; the production team instead chose Ace, who joined in the next serial.
** Raine: A ClassyCatBurglar who would have replaced Ace had the series not been cancelled. Finally given existence by Creator/BigFinish, who have made audio versions of some of the cancelled scripts. Julia Sawalha (the Doctor's companion/fiancee from the non-canon Comic Relief story ''Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death'') was considered for the role.
** Penny Carter (who would have been the companion in series 4 if Catherine Tate had not come back to reprise the role of Donna). Russell T Davies's book ''The Writer's Tale'' details more about Penny: she would have been a journalist in her thirties, from the north of England, with a snobbish mother and amateur astronomer grandfather (later re-worked into the characters of Sylvia Noble and Wilfred Mott.) She was to be a love interest for the Doctor and join him after she discovered that her live-in boyfriend was cheating on her. A guest character in the episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E1PartnersInCrime "Partners in Crime"]] was ultimately named Penny Carter in homage to her.

* Ace would have gone to the Academy to become a human Time Lord. This was touched on in the ExpandedUniverse - it happened in the webcast ''Death Comes to Time'', was mentioned as the Doctor's original intent for her in the Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures novel ''Lungbarrow'', and was teased in a Creator/BigFinish adaptation of the original story "Ice Time," retitled "Thin Ice". In this version [[spoiler:Ace turns the chance down so as to keep the story in line with their continuity]].
* Of the scripts proposed for [[Recap/DoctorWhoTVMTheTVMovie The TV Movie]], the one filmed is the only one which ''didn't'' include or presuppose the destruction of Gallifrey. Though ''every one of them'' had the Doctor as half-human. The book ''Regeneration'' by Philip Segal and Gary Russell goes into detail about some of the proposals for a full ContinuityReboot series that preceded the TVM:

** "Barusa" would have been the Doctor's and Master's paternal grandfather, and on his last regeneration at the start of the series. He would have been mortally wounded by the Master, but his personality would have been [[BrainUploading Brain Uploaded]] into the Doctor's TARDIS so that he could continue to act as a mentor.
** Davros would still have created the Daleks on Skaro, but the Master would have been TheManBehindTheMan, and after disposing of Davros would have led the Daleks in an assault on Gallifrey.
** The Cybermen would have been reimagined as [[TheApunkalypse Apunkalyptic]] biker-punk barbarians with a love of BodyHorror hi-tech body modifications.

* There was a proposed Canadian animated series in the 90s.

** In ''Magazine/DoctorWhoMagazine'', Creator/RussellTDavies basically said that they considered ''dozens'' of options for what would be in the pit. Another was Davros. Not Daleks, mind, just Davros being a possibility. They eventually settled for Satan.
* Most of the special effects budget for "Fear Her" being given to "The Satan Pit" resulted in significant cuts (such as a cupboard monster), which is why you never see the dad monster directly and the disappearance of lots of people is communicated via people vanishing ''just'' offscreen.
* There's also ''The Dark Dimension'', a 30th Anniversary special that would have featured Creator/JonPertwee, Creator/TomBaker, Creator/PeterDavison, Creator/ColinBaker and Creator/SylvesterMcCoy, in a "dark dimension" where Creator/TomBaker's Doctor never regenerated. It certainly had potential.

-->'''*Or, while still trapped on the Crucible...*'''

* RTD's original notes and concept sketch for the Shadow Proclamation (which appeared on TV as a handful of Judoon and one official, the Shadow Architect) has a huge council chamber containing "[[ContinuityCavalcade every creature we've ever had]]", including a fifteen-foot adult Adipose, and Margaret Blaine the Slitheen, now a toddler being raised by the Jingatheen family, but still voiced by Anette Badland (who actually recorded the dialog for her scene.) This was axed because it would have used up half the episode's allotted budget in about 30 seconds.

* Had one of Creator/PatrickTroughton's ideas been used, the Second Doctor would've been a pirate-cum-Arabian-genie in blackface. Troughton later admitted that his main reason for the suggestion had been that he wasn't confident at first that the regeneration gamble would pay off, and if the series tanked with a new Doctor he didn't want to spend the rest of his career with people thinking "That's the man who killed Doctor Who" every time they saw his face.
** Even more astonishingly, there were serious proposals for Louise Jameson to play the NubileSavage companion Leela in blackface. Make-up test photographs survive and can be found online. In the end, her skin tone was slightly darkened to play the role, but more to "deeply tanned" than "horribly embarrassing racist masquerade".

* Creator/JKRowling was offered to write an episode back when Davies was planning Series 1. Of course, she was writing [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince some book]] at the time and couldn't accept the offer, but just think. The writer of one of the most successful books in recent time giving a spin on one of Britain's most well-known series. Davies wanted Rowling to ''star'' in an episode, too, where she fell into the Franchise/HarryPotter universe thanks to a minion of [[Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures the Trickster]]. The idea was, they'd had Charles Dickens and Shakespeare on, why not bring on another famous British author? In the end David Tennant, fearing a JumpingTheShark moment, convinced Davies to drop the idea.

* According to Creator/StevenMoffat, the initial plan was to have the Eleventh Doctor in a "piratey" outfit, but Creator/MattSmith wasn't happy with it--until, at the last minute, he discovered his on-screen costume. There were apparently photos of the alternate costume which Moffat showed to ''Magazine/DoctorWhoMagazine''. (The black clothes Matt wore for his initial photoshoot and interview, despite fan speculation, don't seem to have been an option.) Some photos did eventually surface, and turned out to be much more "insufferable Hoxton hipster" than "Jack Sparrow", supporting rumours that BBC ExecutiveMeddling initially wanted to make Smith's Doctor much more of a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute for Tennant's in concept and characterisation.

* While we're on alternate Doctor costumes--Colin Baker wanted his Doctor to dress in severe black velvet, but it got nixed as being too similar to the Master's outfit.
* The Tenth Doctor's epic send-off in "The End of Time" was just one option considered. The other possibility was a much smaller-scale one-part story about the Doctor befriending a family of aliens on Christmas Eve, and eventually giving his life to save them from a radiation leak.
* For some time it has been known that Creator/ElisabethSladen was not the first choice to play Sarah Jane Smith: a different actress was signed up, but it was felt that she wasn't suitable and the part was recast. The actress's identity was revealed in January 2012: [[http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2012/01/dwn100112002512-first-sarah-jane.html April Walker]].

** Rupert Davies, Michael Hordern, Valentine Dyall and [[http://www.walesonline.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/doctor-who-booming-voiced-actor-brian-7560996 BRIAN BLESSED]] turned down the role of the Second Doctor. Perhaps apocryphally, Troughton himself was William Hartnell's preferred choice for replacement.

** Graham Crowden was first offered the role of Fourth Doctor but turned it down as he didn't want to commit to a long-running series. Michael Bentine and Richard Hearne were both considered but ultimately discarded when they each wanted too much influence over the show's scripts and production. Bernard Cribbins (who had previously appeared as Tom, the Ian {{Expy}} in the non-canonical ''Film/DalekSInvasionEarth2150'') was also shortlisted, but turned down because he envisaged the show as BloodierAndGorier and wanted to carry a gun. (Ironically, the Fourth Doctor eventually cast eventually became notorious for tinkering with his scripts and starred in all of [[FamilyUnfriendlyViolence the most strikingly violent]] ''Who'' episodes ever.)

** Other actors interviewed for the Seventh Doctor include [=McCoy=]'s real-life mentor Ken Campbell (who reportedly came across as a bit '''too''' sinister in auditions) and Chris Jury.
** During the 90's there were many attempts to adapt the show for American audiences. One TV series idea would have featured Creator/BillCosby in the role, while a pitch for a movie included the Doctor being played by ''Music/MichaelJackson''. At some point, even Creator/JimCarrey was considered.
** Many, many actors were auditioned for the role of the 8th Doctor in the TV movie. The book "Regeneration" by Phillip Segal and Gary Russell detailing the tortured production of the TV Movie lists at least 30 names in total, including Mark [=McGann=], brother of Paul. The production team's initial frontrunners were Creator/MichaelCrawford, Liam Cunningham and Robert Lindsay.
** Initially the TV Movie was a full reboot of ''Doctor Who'' and both very different from what we got and very much at odds with existing continuity. Creator/PeterOToole was approached and provisionally accepted the role of Borusa during this early phase – Borusa would have been the Doctor's (and the Master's) grandfather in this continuity, instead of just an old teacher.

* An early idea for the Doctor's backstory was that the Doctor would turn out to be a refugee from a terrible future war that wiped out his people, and that he would be a LuddWasRight idealogue who thought that technology inevitably led to apocalypse. The first part of this is very similar to what happened in the revival series, coincidentally.
* An early concept of regeneration was that it was supposed to be like a [[HigherUnderstandingThroughDrugs bad acid trip]] - during regeneration (which was supposed to happen every 500 years or so) the Doctor would go through a 'metaphysical change' that would mess up his brain by [[ForcedToWatch forcing him to relive all of his most horrible memories]], explaining why his personality seemed radically different and somewhat traumatised at first.

** Also, he wrote an emergency, last-resort script for a 50th anniversary special in case ''none'' of the Doctors' actors were willing to participate in one! This special would have had Clara Oswald as the protagonist.

* Season 6 (Creator/PatrickTroughton's last) went through a number of twists and turns. At one point, Frazer Hines (Jamie) was going to leave halfway through in a story called "The Prison in Space" and be replaced by a new companion, Nik. Then, when Troughton made up his mind to leave at the end of the season, Hines agreed to stay until then. Rather than "The Prison in Space" being rewritten, it was cancelled and replaced by "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS6E4TheKrotons The Krotons]]".

* In 1997 there were plans for a crossover with ComicBook/JudgeDredd but it was scrapped due to the lack of success of [[Film/JudgeDredd the film.]]

* In 1997 there were plans for a crossover with ComicBook/JudgeDredd but it was scrapped due to the lack of success of [[Film/JudgeDredd the film.]]

* While a female Doctor is on the wishlist of many Whovians, creator Sydney Newman would have had one ready to go in 1987 if he came back as the showrunner.
* Companion Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman), introduced in the back half of Series 7, was carried over into Series 8 as part of the transition from the Eleventh Doctor to the Twelfth. Initially Coleman planned to leave after Series 8, so Clara's story is effectively wrapped up in the finale "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E12DeathInHeaven Death in Heaven]]", but she decided to stay on for the Christmas special. ''Then'' she decided to stay on for Series 9 (partially because she liked working with Creator/PeterCapaldi so much), so the ending of "[[Recap/DoctorWho2014CSLastChristmas Last Christmas]]" had to be rewritten -- originally the Doctor's reunion with an elderly Clara was real, rather than the last layer of the DreamWithinADream world. So Series 9 was Clara's last season, and given how important she was to its StoryArc (many of the Doctor's actions stem from his tender, fiercely protective relationship with her), this raises the question of how different things would have been had it been busy introducing a new companion instead.

* A number of sources report that Graham Williams and Creator/DouglasAdams seriously considered having Romana be played by a [[TheNthDoctor different actress]] in every story in Season 17, before deciding that it would be too much work and too stressful on the writers.

* Season 6 (Creator/PatrickTroughton's last) went through a number of twists and turns. At one point, Frazer Hines (Jamie) was going to leave halfway through in a story called "The Prison in Space" and be replaced by a new companion, Nik. Then, when Troughton made up his mind to leave at the end of the season, Hines agreed to stay until then. Rather than "The Prison in Space" being rewritten, it was cancelled and replaced by "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS6E4TheKrotons The Krotons]]".

* Ah, the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartmel_Masterplan Cartmel Masterplan.]] Had the original series gone past season 26, the plan was for Andrew Cartmel and other writers to delve deeply into the Doctor's history, while revealing the Doctor as a Machiavellian [[TheChessmaster chessmaster]] (shades of this were revealed in some of Sylvester [=McCoy's=] stories like "Remembrance of the Daleks" and "Silver Nemesis"). Who was The Other? What was the real relationship between the Doctor and his "granddaughter" Susan Foreman? Had the Cartmel Masterplan gone through, we might have those answers.

** Among the other actors considered for the TV Movie were Creator/RowanAtkinson and his ''TV Series/BlackAdder'' co-star Tim McInnerny.

* Ace would have gone to the Academy to become a human Time Lord. This was touched on in the ExpandedUniverse - it happened in the webcast ''Death Comes to Time'', was mentioned as the Doctor's original intent for her in the Literature/VirginNewAdventures novel ''Lungbarrow'', and was teased in a Creator/BigFinish adaptation of the original story "Ice Time," retitled "Thin Ice". In this version [[spoiler: Ace turns the chance down so as to keep the story in line with their continuity]].

* Creator/RussellTDavies has mentioned several times that for characters he's made, he had specific actors in mind. One of them was wanting Helen Mirren for Adelaide Brooke in "The Waters of Mars". Lindsay Duncan did an amazing job, but could you imagine having Oscar-winning actors on ''Doctor Who''?
* Kate Winslet was also suggested for the role of River Song.

* David Mitchell, along with his comedic co-star Robert Webb, did end up lending their voices to the hijacker/scavenger's robotic henchmen in "Dinosaurs On A Spaceship", so it wasn't a total loss.
* Among the alternative pitches considered for the new DW were Dan Freedman's fantasy retelling, Matthew Graham's Gothic-styled pitch, and Mark Gatiss' reboot, which would make the Doctor the audience surrogate character, instead of his companions.
* Jack Harkness was originally going to be in the Doctor's army at Demon's Run in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E7AGoodManGoesToWar A Good Man Goes To War]]", but John Barrowman was filming ''Series/TorchwoodMiracleDay'' at the time. It's often thought that Madame Vastra was created to replace him, which explains why she is rather more sexually flirtatious and less monogamous with Jenny than she is in later appearances.
* One of the drafts for the ''Doctor Who'' telemovie had [[LukeIAmYourFather the Master being the Doctor's half-brother]].

* "The Masters of Luxor" was a proposed script for the second serial, later published. The production team decided to go with Terry Nation instead, and thus gave us the Daleks. This rejection angered writer Anthony Coburn, who never wrote for the series again.

* Of the scripts proposed for the 1996 TV movie, the one filmed is the only one which ''didn't'' include or presuppose the destruction of Gallifrey. Though ''every one of them'' had the Doctor as half-human. The book ''Regeneration'' by Philip Segal and Gary Russell goes into detail about some of the proposals for a full ContinuityReboot series that preceded the TVM:

* There's also ''The Dark Dimension'', a 30th Anniversary special that would have featured Creator/JonPertwee, Creator/TomBaker, Creator/PeterDavison, Creator/ColinBaker and Creator/SylvesterMcCoy, in a "dark dimension" where Tom Baker's Doctor never regenerated. It certainly had potential.

* When the TARDIS crew first uses the time viewer in "The Chase", they are shown stock footage of one of the Beatles' performances. However, the original plan was for the Beatles to perform dressed as old men, and the footage would have been from a reunion tour sometime in the future. The Beatles agreed to this, but some fool executive nixed the idea. Possibly for the good, as if it had gone through it would have been a massive real life FunnyAneurysmMoment given John Lennon's early death.
* An offer was made to David Tennant by the new production team, stating that if he wanted to do one more series, they'd be happy to have him. Tennant declined, but later stated that if anything COULD have convinced him to stay, it was the knowledge that Steven Moffat was going to be in charge. And had Tennant stayed for that series, "The Eleventh Hour" would have started with Amelia Pond meeting an injured Tenth Doctor, only for Amy to meet him years later unscathed. The series finale would have revealed a TimeyWimeyBall showing that Amelia had met Tenth at the end of his life, on the brink of regeneration.
* The original plan for Season 24 would have revealed how the Doctor first met Mel. Then Colin Baker was fired, making this impossible.
* At one point, it was thought that because of rights issues, the new series would not be able to use the Daleks. In this case, the monster in "Dalek" would have been a Toclafane, and it would have been revealed that the Toclafane [[MakeWayForTheNewVillains wiped out the Daleks]].

** Rupert Davies, Michael Hordern, Valentine Dyall and [[http://www.walesonline.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/doctor-who-booming-voiced-actor-brian-7560996 BRIAN BLESSED]] turned down the role of the 2nd Doctor. Perhaps apocryphally, Troughton himself was William Hartnell's preferred choice for replacement.
** According to Jon Pertwee himself, he was number two on the shortlist of 3rd Doctor candidates. The first choice was Ron Moody, who has since said that he regrets turning the role down.
** Graham Crowden was first offered the role of 4th Doctor but turned it down as he didn't want to commit to a long-running series. Michael Bentine and Richard Hearne were both considered but ultimately discarded when they each wanted too much influence over the show's scripts and production. Bernard Cribbins (who had previously appeared as Tom, the Ian {{Expy}} in the non-canonical ''Film/DalekSInvasionEarth2150'') was also shortlisted, but turned down because he envisaged the show as BloodierAndGorier and wanted to carry a gun. (Ironically, the Fourth Doctor eventually cast eventually became notorious for tinkering with his scripts and starred in all of [[FamilyUnfriendlyViolence the most strikingly violent]] ''Who'' episodes ever.)
** Richard Griffiths is probably the actor most often considered for the role of the Doctor who then never went on to play the role – he seems to have been on the shortlist for playing the 5th, 6th and 7th Doctors. He is popularly assumed to have been favourite for the role of 8th Doctor had production of the show not ceased in 1989, as the next season would have been Sylvester [=McCoy=]'s last.
** Other actors interviewed for the 7th Doctor include Sylvester [=McCoy=]'s real-life mentor Ken Campbell (who reportedly came across as a bit '''too''' sinister in auditions) and Chris Jury.
** During the 90's there were many attempts to adapt the show for American audiences. One TV series idea would have featured Bill Cosby in the role, while a pitch for a movie included the Doctor being played by ''Michael Jackson''. At some point, even Jim Carrey was considered.
** Many, many actors were auditioned for the role of the 8th Doctor in the TV movie. The book "Regeneration" by Phillip Segal and Gary Russell detailing the tortured production of the TV Movie lists at least 30 names in total, including Mark [=McGann=], brother of Paul. The production team's initial frontrunners were Michael Crawford, Liam Cunningham and Robert Lindsay.
** Initially the TV Movie was a full reboot of ''Doctor Who'' and both very different from what we got and very much at odds with existing continuity. Peter O'Toole was approached and provisionally accepted the role of Borusa during this early phase – Borusa would have been the Doctor's (and the Master's) grandfather in this continuity, instead of just an old teacher.
** Among the other actors considered for the TV Movie were Rowan Atkinson and his ''TV Series/BlackAdder'' co-star Tim McInnerny.
** Hugh Grant has stated that he turned down the role of the 9th Doctor, and later expressed regret at this having seen how the series turned out.
** Bill Nighy is popularly assumed to have been the first choice of Russell T Davies for the role of 9th Doctor. Nighy has never confirmed he was specifically approached for the role of the 9th Doctor, saying that "it's disrespectful to whoever did it", but has admitted he turned down the lead role at some point.
** Chris Barrie was also considered for 9. Yes, that's right. [[Series/RedDwarf Rimmer]].
** Creator/JamesMcAvoy and Russell Tovey were contenders for the role of the 11th Doctor before Smith was cast.
** Russell T Davies liked the idea of Harry Lloyd in the role of the 11th Doctor. Yes, [[Series/GameOfThrones Viserys Targaryen]].
** Peter Capaldi was considered for the role of the 11th Doctor by Moffat, but he didn't feel the timing was right. He was Moffat's first choice for the role of the 12th Doctor. Ben Daniels was considered in case Capaldi turned out to be unavailable.

* Companion Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman), introduced in the back half of Series 7, was carried over into Series 8 as part of the transition from the Eleventh Doctor to the Twelfth. Initially Coleman planned to leave after Series 8, so Clara's story is effectively wrapped up in the finale "Death in Heaven", but she decided to stay on for the Christmas special. ''Then'' she decided to stay on for Series 9 (partially because she liked working with Creator/PeterCapaldi so much), so the ending of "Last Christmas" had to be rewritten -- originally the Doctor's reunion with an elderly Clara was real, rather than the last layer of the DreamWithinADream world. So Series 9 was Clara's last season, and given how important she was to its StoryArc (many of the Doctor's actions stem from his tender, fiercely protective relationship with her), this raises the question of how different things would have been had it been busy introducing a new companion instead.
* In an interview late in 2015, Steven Moffat confirmed long-term rumours that the War Doctor was only created because Christopher Eccleston (amicably) refused to play the Ninth Doctor in "The Day of the Doctor".

* Steven Moffat went into writing/developing Series 9 and the post-season ChristmasEpisode intending them as his last works as showrunner, hence the SeasonFinale three-parter returning the Doctor to his home world at last only to have him once again become a renegade, and parting him from Clara Oswald in a way that precluded grieving at length in future seasons. From there, he used the Christmas episode "The Husbands of River Song" to give closure to that character's story. In the end, however, he decided to stay on for Series 10 before calling it quits for good.
* Season 6 (Patrick Troughton's last) went through a number of twists and turns. At one point, Frazer Hines (Jamie) was going to leave halfway through in a story called "The Prison in Space" and be replaced by a new companion, Nik. Then, when Troughton made up his mind to leave at the end of the season, Hines agreed to stay until then. Rather than "The Prison in Space" being rewritten, it was cancelled and replaced by "The Krotons".

* Steven Moffat went into writing/developing Series 9 and the post-season ChristmasEpisode intending them as his last works as showrunner, hence the SeasonFinale three-parter returning the Doctor to his home world at last only to have him once again become a renegade, and parting him from Clara Oswald in a way that precluded grieving at length in future seasons. From there, he used the Christmas episode "The Husbands of River Song" to give closure to that character's story. In the end, however, he decided to stay on for Series 10 before calling it quits for good.

** Other actors interviewed for the 7th Doctor include Sylvester [=McCoy=]'s mentor Ken Campbell. and Chris Jury.

* Jack Harkness was originally going to be in the Doctor's army at Demon's Run in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E7AGoodManGoesToWar A Good Man Goes To War]]", but John Barrowman was filming ''Series/TorchwoodMiracleDay'' at the time.

* The whole show! ''Doctor Who'' was originally conceived as a series which would avoid cliches like bug-eyed monsters. Then along came the Daleks. And the Daleks' creator, TerryNation had created the Daleks to avoid the image of an actor in a suit, which ''Doctor Who'' would eventually do many times.

** Russell T Davies liked the idea of Harry Lloyd in the role. Yes, [[Series/GameOfThrones Viserys Targaryen]].

** Other actors interviewed for the 7th Doctor include Sylvester [=McCoy=]'s mentor Ken Campbell, and Chris Jury.

** Russell T Davies recommended Russell Tovey to Steven Moffat as the 11th Doctor when Moffat took over the producer role. Davies also liked the idea of Harry Lloyd in the role. Yes, [[Series/GameOfThrones Viserys Targaryen]].

* In an interview late in 2015, Stephen Moffat confirmed long-term rumours that the War Doctor was only created because Christopher Eccleston (amicably) refused to play the Ninth Doctor in "The Day of the Doctor".

* Speaking of the Master, he was supposed to be KilledOffForReal during season 11 in a HeroicSacrifice to [[FoeYay save the]] [[RedemptionEqualsDeath Doctor's life]]. The episode, ''The Final Game'', would have also been the final story for the Third Doctor. This was scrapped by Roger Delgado's untimely death in a car accident in Turkey while shooting ''The Bell of Tibet''.

* ''The Masters of Luxor'' was a proposed script for the second serial, later published. The production team decided to go with Terry Nation instead, and thus gave us the Daleks. This rejection angered writer Anthony Coburn, who never wrote for the series subsequently.
* When the series was suspended for eighteen months between seasons 22 and 23, a number of scripts for the original season 23 had been written. These later turned up as novelisations (''The Nightmare Fair'', ''The Ultimate Evil'', ''Mission to Magnus''). Some of these were made into novelizations by Target and later audio dramas by Creator/BigFinish, who released them as part of the ''Lost Stories'' range

** Samantha Briggs from "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E8TheFacelessOnes The Faceless Ones]]'' was intended to be a full companion, but her actress turned down the offer to become a regular.

* A story with an Eighth Doctor, considered for Richard Griffiths, was planned for the unmade season 27 in 1990. Known as "Network"[[http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Network_%28TV_story%29]]'', the story featured the Rani.
* Ace would have gone to the Academy to become a human Time Lord. This was touched on in the ExpandedUniverse - it happened in the webcast Death Comes To Time, was mentioned as the Doctor's original intent for her in the Literature/VirginNewAdventures novel Lungbarrow, and was teased in a Creator/BigFinish adaptation of the original story "Ice Time," retitled "Thin Ice". In this version [[spoiler: Ace turns the chance down so as to keep the story in line with their continuity]].
* Of the scripts proposed for the 1996 TV movie, the one filmed is the only one which ''didn't'' include or presuppose the destruction of Gallifrey. Though ''every one of them'' had the Doctor as half-human. The book ''Regeneration'' by Philip Segal and Gary Russell goes into detail about some of the proposals for a full ContinuityReboot series that preceded the TVM.

* The ''Literature/DirkGently'' series only exists because a strike prevented the Douglas Adams-penned ''Doctor Who'' story ''Shada'' from being filmed in its entirety for Season 17: the TimeTravel-based plot was recycled from the script.
* Some of the existing ''Shada'' footage was incorporated into Season 20's "The Five Doctors" when Creator/TomBaker chose not to participate. The existing footage was later compiled into a 1992 video (with Baker providing linking material), and the script was later adapted into a Big Finish audio story for the ''Eighth'' Doctor. Details [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shada here]].

* Ah, the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartmel_Masterplan Cartmel Masterplan.]] Had the original series gone past season 26, the plan was for Andrew Cartmel and other writers to delve deeply into the Doctor's history, while revealing the Doctor as a Machiavellian [[TheChessmaster chessmaster]] (shades of this were revealed in some of Sylvester [=McCoy's=] stories like ''Remembrance of the Daleks'' and ''Silver Nemesis''). Who was The Other? What was the real relationship between the Doctor and his "granddaughter" Susan Foreman? Had the Cartmel Masterplan gone through, we might have those answers.
* Had one of Creator/PatrickTroughton's ideas been used, the Second Doctor would've been a pirate-cum-Arabian-genie in blackface. (Troughton later admitted that his main reason for the suggestion had been that he wasn't confident at first that the regeneration gamble would pay off, and if the series tanked with a new Doctor he didn't want to spend the rest of his career with people thinking "That's the man who killed Doctor Who." every time they saw his face.)

* Creator/NeilGaiman's "The Doctor's Wife" was originally the eleventh episode of Creator/MattSmith's first series, and as such had to be completely rewritten to feature Rory when pushed to the next series. Gaiman has mentioned quite a bit of his episode that never made it. First, there was supposed to be a scene where they were being sacrificed at the Planet of the Rain Gods when they got the message. Second, Nephew was supposed to be a monster of Gaiman's own creation, instead of an Ood. Third, the (in)famous TARDIS swimming pool would have finally made an appearance. Fourth, Idris as herself (before the TARDIS went inside her) would have been given more screen time. Fifth the control room at the end was originally going to be from the classic series. All five ended up getting cut due to budget (and the third was doubly shot down when Creator/KarenGillan mentioned she couldn't swim.) Creator/NeilGaiman also says that he originally wrote this episode as a Tenth Doctor tale, and it had to be retooled for the Eleventh. According to some reports, the villain House was originally supposed to be The Great Intelligence as a preview to his appearance in later seasons, but they couldn't acquire the rights in time.

* Speaking of Eleven, there's a piece of [[http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/4/47084/1266003-tardis_concept_art.png concept art]] for Eleven's TARDIS, where everything is all black and teal and swooping lines.
* This seems to have made itself into the canon, as inspiration for [[http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vjlSL-yvbsA/UQFB6opZTQI/AAAAAAAABmQ/nGmCpM9PAio/s1600/TI+2013.jpg his 2013 TARDIS]]

* The Tenth Doctor's epic send-off in "The End of Time" was just one option considered. The other possibility was a much smaller-scale, one-part story about the Doctor befriending a family of aliens on Christmas Eve, and eventually giving his life to save them from a radiation leak.

* A small one but Susan at first was meant to have a crush on Ian.
* When the TARDIS crew first uses the time viewer in the episode The Chase, they are shown stock footage of one of the Beatles' performances. However, the original plan was for the Beatles to perform dressed as old men, and the footage would have been from a reunion tour sometime in the future. The Beatles agreed to this, but some fool executive nixed the idea. Possibly for the good, as if it had gone through it would have been a massive real life FunnyAneurysmMoment given John Lennon's early death.
* An offer was made to David Tennant by the new production team, stating that if he wanted to do one more series, they'd be happy to have him. Tennant declined, but later stated that if anything COULD have convinced him to stay, it was the knowledge that Steven Moffat was going to be in charge. And had Tennant stayed for that series, The Eleventh Hour would have started with Amelia Pond meeting an injured Tenth Doctor, only for Amy to meet him years later unscathed. The series finale would have revealed a TimeyWimeyBall showing that Amelia had met Tenth at the end of his life, on the brink of regeneration.
* The season following "The Trial of a Time Lord" would have revealed how the Doctor first met Mel. Then Colin Baker was fired, making this impossible.

* While a female Doctor is on the wishlist of many Whovians, creator Sydney Newman would have had one ready to go in 1987 if he came back as the showrunner.