Violent Doctor Who scene ‘put show at risk of being cancelled before it started’

Doctor Who is no stranger to violence and monstrous creatures (Picture: BBC)

For the last six decades, Doctor Who has had kids (and adults) around the world hiding behind the sofa, and it’s easy to see why. 

While travelling through time and space, the titular Time Lord has battled devious Daleks, sinister Cybermen, and, who could forget, the wicked Weeping Angels.

All of these monsters have served as nightmare fuel for fans, but according to one Doctor Who writer, there was one scene involving an iconic monster that took things a little too far. 

Robert Shearman is the writer in question, and he penned the fan favourite episode, Dalek, for the first season of the Doctor Who revival.

Speaking at a recent BFI Southbank event held in partnership with the Doctor Who Appreciation Society (and reported on by Radio Times), the 55-year-old writer admitted in the early days he wasn’t sure where to draw the line with onscreen violence. 

Get personalised updates on Doctor Who

Wake up to find news on your TV shows in your inbox every morning with Metro’s TV Newsletter.

Sign up to our newsletter and then select your show in the link we’ll send you so we can get TV news tailored to you.

‘We weren’t sure in the first couple of drafts if we could even kill people on-screen anymore,’ he explained. ’It was that bizarre thing – I thought for a while we might have simply to stun people.’

Dalek was arguably the first truly scary in ‘New Who'(Picture: BBC) But it turns out the episode could have been so much worse… (Picture: BBC)

However, when Doctor Who boss Russell T Davies gave the all clear to start killing characters, Robert got a little carried away. 

‘‘’I went away and that day I wrote the scene where Simmons gets suckered – but it was much, much worse,’ he explained. ‘It went over his head and his skin had burnt off and Russell wrote back to me saying, “Please don’t try and get the entire show cancelled before we start”.’

Despite Russell making Robert tone down the violence, Dalek remains one of the revived series’ darkest episodes, with the story exploring the Doctor’s (Christopher Eccleston) bigotries and survivor’s guilt.

Robert did admit during the event that he was worried he’d made things too dark, especially after reading the relatively light and frothy Aliens of London and Rose, but Russell pushed him to take things further. 

In fact, it was so violent that Russell T Davies worried it might get the series cancelled before it even began (Picture: BBC) Doctor Who's scariest episodes

Our Deputy TV Editor Tom Percival shares his picks for the 10 scariest Doctor Who (2005-2025) episodes ever…

Blink – The grandaddy of Doctor Who scary episodes, this story introduced the world to the Weeping Angels and is in a two-horse race with Midnight for the title of ‘scariest New Who’ episode ever. Midnight – Speaking of which. Midnight is an absolutely terrifying tale about an invisible monster that turns the Doctor’s greatest weapon, his gift for the gab, against him. Dalek – Doctor Who’s most iconic villains had become something of a laughing stock before this episode aired, but after watching Dalek, I can guarantee those laughs turned to screams. The Waters of Mars – A Doctor Who episode that makes water scary… need I say more? Hide – Boasting one of the creepiest monster designs ever seen in the history of Who, Hide is an underrated banger. Heaven Sent – Heaven Sent sees the Doctor trapped in a labyrinthine castle and is rightly remembered as the best Peter Capaldi episode, but it’s The Veil – the creature that haunts the castle’s corridors – that earned it a spot on this list. The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances – ‘Are you my Mummy?’ The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit – A genuinely disturbing story about demonic possession and satanic worship in space. The Haunting of Villa Diodati – A brilliant haunted house story that reveals Frankenstein was inspired by the Cybermen. What more could a Doctor Who fan want? Lux – Everyone seems to agree that Lux was the highlight of Ncuti Gatwa’s second season, in part because of how downright creepy the villainous living cartoon at the centre of the story was.

‘The scene where Chris meets the Dalek for the first time,’ he revealed. ‘I was holding off for ages, and it was Russell who was always saying, “Just make it vicious”, and so I was allowed to go as dark as I possibly could.’

The latest season of Doctor Who recently came to a close with Ncuti Gatwa seemingly regenerating into Billie Piper. 

The decision to cast Billie as the 16th Doctor (if that is who she’s playing) has split the fandom, with some decrying it as desperate stunt casting while others have hailed it as revitalising their interest in the show.

Doctor Who is available to stream now on BBC iPlayer.

Got a story?

If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us [email protected], calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.