History WhatCouldHaveBeen / DoctorWhoNewSeries

* Peter Harness noted on [[https://twitter.com/mrpeterharness/status/1259782884761706497/ his twitter]] that he had a story idea in 2015 called "How the Monk Got his Habit" where the Monk made his return, having decided to interfere with Russian history on a whim after listening to "[[Music/BoneyM Rasputin]]" in his TARDIS and see what would happen if he played the song to the actual Rasputin. Rasputin goes insane, which somehow leads to the total aversion of the Russian Revolution and human history becoming wildly chaotic, forcing the Monk to call in the Doctor for help. The Monk would eventually regenerate into looking like Rasputin in order to ensure history goes back on course. Harness' HypotheticalCasting for the Monk was Creator/MattBerry.

** Davies' original pitch for the two-parter 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.

** Creator/RussellTDavies first posited that the Game Station would be run by a mentally-enhanced teenager named Edward, but quickly came to dislike this idea. He first replaced Edward with an elderly man and then, inspired by ''Film/MinorityReport'', with a pale, androgynous Controller instead.

* 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, as he decided he was ready to move on and wanted to watch Moffat's stories as a fan. Had Tennant stayed for that series, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E1TheEleventhHour "The Eleventh Hour"]] would have started with Amelia Pond meeting an injured Tenth Doctor, only for Amy to meet him years later unscathed. The season finale would have revealed a TimeyWimeyBall showing that Amelia had met Ten at the end of his life, on the brink of regeneration.

* 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, as he decided he was ready to move on and would like to watch Moffat's stories as a fan. And had Tennant stayed for that series, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E1TheEleventhHour "The Eleventh Hour"]] would have started with Amelia Pond meeting an injured Tenth Doctor, only for Amy to meet him years later unscathed. The season finale would have revealed a TimeyWimeyBall showing that Amelia had met Ten at the end of his life, on the brink of regeneration.

** Creator/ChrisChibnall also considered bringing back the Sea Devils, but decided that doing two races of monster was much tougher and the story was "so clearly about the Silurians and what the Silurians want".

* Kate Stewart was originally intended to be in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E7ThePyramidAtTheEndOfTheWorld "The Pyramid at the End of the World"]], but Jemma Redgrave had a scheduling conflict with ''Series/HolbyCity''.

* Imagine how many things would've been different if Eccleston had decided to stay on beyond the first season. For one thing, plans for a Series 2 with the Ninth Doctor would have included a story dealing with Captain Jack's missing memories. However, these were scrapped after Eccleston's departure, as the creative team decided to write off Jack as they felt that David Tennant needed room to establish his Doctor without another, more established male companion around.

** Alonso Frame's original role in the story was that he would appear when the Doctor and Donna travel to the Shadow Proclamation, assisting them in dealing with his superiors there. He would then journey with them in the TARDIS to the Dalek Crucible, only to be exterminated. His role was given to Harriet Jones as his actor wasn't available for filming. Davies noted in the DVDCommentary if Harriet's actress was also not available, his backup plans to fill in that role were Elton Pope from [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E10LoveAndMonsters "Love & Monsters"]] or [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E8HumanNature Joan Redfern's great-great-granddaughter]][[note]]This character idea saw use in a different context for [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime "The End of Time"]][[/note]].

** 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 console room at the end was originally going to be a RebuiltSet of the classic series white console room. All five ended up getting cut due to budget (and the third was doubly shot down when Creator/KarenGillan mentioned that she couldn't swim). A classic series console room would eventually appear in the War Doctor's TARDIS in [[Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor "The Day of the Doctor"]], and a more elaborate version would appear in a different TARDIS in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E12HellBent "Hell Bent"]], the Series 9 finale.
** Gaiman also says that he originally wrote this episode as a Tenth Doctor tale, and it had to be retooled for the Eleventh.

** Davies mentions in ''The Writer's Tale'' that the {{Cliffhanger}} in an early draft would be ''Rose'' getting possessed by the Beast which he loved, but it was subsequently discarded as he then decided that her subplot in a dream sequence in the Powell Estate while possessed was too cumbersome for the overall story.

** Creator/RussellTDavies considered setting the story in suburban London, with a spaceship sealing off a section of the city under an enormous dome while an alien was hunted through the streets. The dome aspect was dropped because it was used in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsonsMovie''.

** Davies had written a scene in which the Master would throw the results of the Doctor's past actions back in his face by mockingly thanking him for getting Harriet Jones out of the way (in "The Christmas Invasion") and making it easier for him to take over; he decided to leave this one out because he was concerned it would be a little ''too'' cruel.

** In his first draft of the episode, Buckingham Palace was destroyed by the ''Titanic''. The Doctor stops the ship from crashing, but not before it smashes through the palace. In this version, instead of wishing the Doctor a Happy Christmas, the Queen is heard to curse the Doctor. This same early draft also featured a hoped-for cameo by Prince Charles. Davies spared the Palace as he felt it was too negative an ending for a holiday episode. Ironically, the alternate universe timeline created in the events of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E11TurnLeft "Turn Left"]] showed that the ''Titanic'' would've hit Buckingham Palace without the Doctor around.

** Alonso Frame's original role in the story was that he would appear when the Doctor and Donna travel to the Shadow Proclamation, assisting them in dealing with his superiors there. He would then journey with them in the TARDIS to the Dalek Crucible, only to be exterminated. His role was given to Harriet Jones as his actor wasn't available for filming.

* The costume department originally intended for the Tenth Doctor to wear [[https://images.app.goo.gl/mG2Fcv472SZvVidd8 Japanese army boots]][[https://medium.com/tennant-costumes/designing-the-doctor-87714cc2603d with his outfit]], and was [[http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/doctor-who/news/a868200/doctor-who-david-tennant-outfit-shoes-converse-fight/ initially resistant]] to David Tennant's idea of him wearing the now-iconic Converse trainers.

* The costume department originally intended for Ten to wear some kind of boots, and was [[http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/doctor-who/news/a868200/doctor-who-david-tennant-outfit-shoes-converse-fight/ initially resistant]] to David Tennant's idea of him wearing the now-iconic Converse trainers.

* 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, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E1TheEleventhHour "The Eleventh Hour"]] would have started with Amelia Pond meeting an injured Tenth Doctor, only for Amy to meet him years later unscathed. The season finale would have revealed a TimeyWimeyBall showing that Amelia had met Ten at the end of his life, on the brink of regeneration.

** Alonso Frame's original role in the story was that he would appear when the Doctor and Donna travel to the Shadow Proclamation, assisting them in dealing with his superiors there. He would then journey with them in the TARDIS to the Dalek Crucible, only to be exterminated. His role was given to Harriet Jones.

** Then Coleman decided to stay on for the Christmas special. [[Recap/DoctorWho2014CSLastChristmas "Last Christmas"]] reconciles the Doctor and Clara in a DreamWorld, but the BittersweetEnding reveals that in the ''real'' world she is now an elderly, feeble woman who can't travel with him anymore, with the Doctor spending the titular last Christmas with her in a parallel to her and old!Eleven's reunion in [[Recap/DoctorWho2013CSTheTimeOfTheDoctor "The Time of the Doctor"]], the previous Christmas special.

* Creator/RobertShearman was invited to develop ideas season five, but by this time, his focus had increasingly turned to prose and he struggled to develop workable ideas for the series.

* At last, Creator/StevenMoffat intended [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E12TheDoctorFalls "The Doctor Falls"]] to be his last ''Doctor Who'' script and work as showrunner, which is why all the recurring characters' fates are neatly tied off by the end. [[http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/doctor-who/news/a834617/doctor-who-christmas-special-almost-scrapped/ As originally written]], it ended with Twelve's regeneration into Thirteen,[[note]]Presumably with ''no'' advance word on who the new Doctor would be, springing his becoming a woman on the fans as a complete surprise[[/note]] Moffat figuring that Creator/ChrisChibnall would produce and script the 2017 ChristmasEpisode as Thirteen's first adventure. This would have been the first time the special doubled as a Doctor's introductory story since [[Recap/DoctorWho2005CSTheChristmasInvasion "The Christmas Invasion"]] post-Series 1. Unfortunately, Chibnall wanted to start his tenure with Series 11, and with the BBC's Christmas schedules increasingly packed Moffat realized this raised the threat of not only no ChristmasEpisode for 2017 but no more Christmas episodes ''period''. Moffat decided not to let the tradition die and, once he'd convinced Peter Capaldi to do one more episode, revised "The Doctor Falls" to have Twelve putting off his regeneration ''just'' long enough for the events of [[Recap/DoctorWho2017CSTwiceUponATime "Twice Upon a Time"]] to unfold. Ironically, Chibnall then chose to move the holiday special to New Year's Day.

** The Slitheen (or another family of Raxicoricofallapatorians) were originally going to be used in place of the Ood, having become subservient to humanity in the milennia since "Aliens of London", but the presence of a returning monster was felt to distract from the story of the pioneering humans, which was meant to be the story's heart.

* [[Recap/DoctorWho2005CiNSDoctorWhoChildrenInNeed 2005 Children in Need Special]]: A deleted line established that the Tenth Doctor's Cockney accent was a result of him mentally imprinting on Rose's accent during his regeneration. Until someone pointed out that using that logic, the Second Doctor should also have had a Cockney accent, and the Sixth Doctor should have an American accent.[[note]](If not for that little complication however, it would actually have served as a little bit of FridgeBrilliance as to why the Fourth and Seventh Doctors happened to share the same accent as their initial companions, beyond the simple coincidences of Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen both being from Liverpool, and Sylvester [=McCoy=] and Bonnie Langford both being Scottish.)[[/note]]