History WhatCouldHaveBeen / DoctorWhoNewSeries

* Creator/JKRowling was offered to write an episode back when Russell T. 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!

* [[Recap/DoctorWho60thASTheGiggle "The Giggle"]]: Creator/BernardCribbins was meant to film more scenes as Wilfred Mott outside of his short appearance in "Wild Blue Yonder", but ultimately passed away before he was able to. To that end, there was also meant to be a short [[TheCharacterDiedWithHim acknowledgement of Wilf's passing]], but that was vetoed by Phil Collinson on the grounds of it clashing with the happier dénouement.

* "[[Recap/DoctorWho2021NYSRevolutionOfTheDaleks "Revolution of the Daleks"]] was meant to end with a complete Dalek conquest of Earth, as a result of them killing most of the world's leaders. Ryan and Graham's departure, then, was motivated by a need to help rebuild the planet.

* [[Recap/DoctorWho60thASTheGiggle "The Giggle"]]: Creator/BernardCribbins was meant to film more scenes as Wilfred Mott outside of his short appearance in "Wild Blue Yonder", but ultimately passed away before he was able to.

* According to Creator/RussellTDavies, the title sequence was initially meant to include a shot of the Fourteenth Doctor and Donna (later, the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby) hanging out the TARDIS doors and [[BreakingTheFourthWall waving to]] [[ThankingTheViewer the viewer]]. Creator/StevenMoffat was responsible for cutting it.

* [[https://thedoctorwhocompanion.com/2023/11/29/beep-the-meeps-true-intentions-were-revealed-early-on-in-original-doctor-who-the-star-beast-draft/ As in the original "Star Beast" comic, the Meep's true nature was meant to be revealed in the early portions of the episode,]] [[ExecutiveMeddling but execs ultimately shut that down.]]
* Russell T. Davies briefly considered expanding the plot of "Wild Blue Yonder", with "a cellar full of robot killers" and "a vault on the ship [with] Creator/WilliamHartnell inside it" being on the table before he scaled back and went with the plot we see today.
* Creator/BernardCribbins was meant to film more scenes as Wilfred Mott outside of his short appearance in "Wild Blue Yonder", but ultimately passed away before he was able to.

* [[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E5TheTsurangaConundrum "The Tsuranga Conundrum"]]: Due to the TroubledProduction of the episode, writer Tim Price was ultimately unable to finish the script for this episode, leaving Creator/ChrisChibnall to write it himself. Price is still mentioned in the credits for the creation of the Pting.
* [[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E6DemonsOfThePunjab "Demons of the Punjab"]]: Producer Matt Strevens offered Creator/SachaDhawan a role in this episode, but Dhawan turned it down for scheduling reasons. He would later appear in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E1E2Spyfall Spyfall]]" as O/[[spoiler:[[Characters/DoctorWhoMasters The Master]]]].

* "[[Recap/DoctorWho2021NYSRevolutionOfTheDaleks "Revolution of the Daleks"]] was meant to end with a complete Dalek conquest of Earth, as a result of killing most of the world's leaders, with Ryan and Graham departing out of a need to rebuild the planet.

* very early on, Russell T Davies was writing Penny Carter as the new companion, before Catherine Tate came back to reprise Donna.

* Remember how Russell T Davies tried to get Creator/JKRowling to write an episode in Series 1? Late in the Tenth Doctor's run, Davies wanted Rowling to ''star'' in an episode, too, in which she fell into the Franchise/HarryPotter universe thanks to a minion of [[Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures the Trickster]]. The idea was, they'd had Creator/CharlesDickens and Creator/WilliamShakespeare on, why not bring on another famous British author? In the end, David Tennant, fearing a JumpingTheShark moment, convinced Davies to drop the idea.

** ''Then'' Coleman decided to stay for Series 9, and old!Clara became the last layer of the DreamWithinADream. Series 9 '''was''' her last season, but this raises the question of how different things would have been had it been introducing a new companion — as noted above, Steven Moffat admitted in 2018 that [[Recap/DoctorWho2014CSLastChristmas "Last Christmas"]] secondary character Shona was ''strongly'' in the running for that position. How would [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E1TheMagiciansApprentice "The Magician's Apprentice"]]/[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E2TheWitchsFamiliar "The Witch's Familiar"]] play out with someone who didn't know the Daleks and Missy? How would [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E3UnderTheLake "Under the Lake"]]/[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E4BeforeTheFlood "Before the Flood"]] work with a Doctor and companion who weren't PlatonicLifePartners? Might [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E5TheGirlWhoDied "The Girl Who Died"]]/[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E6TheWomanWhoLived "The Woman Who Lived"]] have been companion-free (Clara is virtually absent in the latter as is)? Who would Bonnie the Zygon have masqueraded as? And biggest of all, what would the overall StoryArc and finale have been?