10 Longest Gaps Between Doctor Who Character Appearances
With a universe to explore, it can be a LONG wait for Doctor Who to revisit certain faces...
Transcript
00:00 Although the universe is a vast place, the Doctor seems to bump into the same familiar
00:04 faces with alarming regularity, whether it's Captain Jack Harkness or the latest incarnation
00:09 of the Master.
00:10 However, there are other characters who go about their daily lives for decades without
00:14 ever bumping into the Doctor.
00:16 So with that in mind, I'm Ellie with WhoCulture, here with the 10 longest gaps between Doctor
00:22 Who character appearances.
00:24 10.
00:25 Joe Grant – 13,639 days Third Doctor companion Joe Grant was instantly
00:32 recognisable to Doctor Who fans in The Power of the Doctor when actress Katie Manning's
00:36 laugh could be heard during Graham's speech at the companion meeting.
00:39 But of course, this wasn't the first Doctor Who return that Manning had made since she
00:43 departed the role in 1973's The Green Death.
00:46 Joe's departure is one of the most melancholic exits in all of Doctor Who, and it was only
00:50 right that she made a return to the show, the long way round.
00:53 After Matt Smith's first series, Russell T. Davis wrote what many believed would be
00:57 his last script for The Doctor in the Sarah Jane Adventures two-parter Death of the Doctor,
01:02 which featured the long-awaited return of Joe.
01:05 Part One aired on the 25th October 2010, just over 37 years since Joe got engaged to Professor
01:11 Clifford Jones in the final episode of The Green Death on the 23rd June 1973.
01:17 Death of the Doctor also updated fans on the whereabouts of Ace, who missed out on this
01:21 list by a few thousand days, and Ian, but more on him later.
01:25 9.
01:26 The Mervellans - 13,721 Days
01:30 In one of those crazy rolls of the dice that only an exiting Doctor Who showrunner would
01:35 attempt, the Mervellans made a brief cameo at the start of Peter Capaldi and Stephen
01:39 Moffat's final series.
01:41 Making one appearance in Terry Nation's unloved final Dalek story, Destiny of the
01:46 Daleks, the logical androids were pitched as the Daleks' greatest enemies.
01:51 Not due to their strength, but due to the stalemate that was caused by the immovable
01:54 forces of logic and hatred.
01:56 They never appeared again, and probably never would have if it weren't for a mischievous
02:00 aside from Mark Gatiss.
02:03 Reading the script for the pilot, Gatiss observed that the Doctor, Bill and Nardole should arrive
02:07 during a Dalek skirmish with the Mervellans, just for the sheer hell of it.
02:11 It was a fun reference that gave fans a laugh without alienating the casual viewer.
02:16 Destiny of the Daleks concluded on the 22nd of September 1979, leaving an almost 38 year
02:22 gap before their cameo appearance in the pilot on the 15th of April 2017.
02:28 8.
02:29 The Sisterhood of Karn - 13,810 Days
02:34 Stephen Moffat was the king of the deep cut Doctor Who reference, and so it was that the
02:38 Sisterhood of Karn became recurring characters between 2013 and 2015.
02:44 Originally appearing in 1976's The Brain of Morbius, the Sisterhood were the keepers
02:48 of the Sacred Flame, which created the much sought after Elixir of Life.
02:53 The Fourth Doctor found time during his busy schedule, battling the resurrected Time Lord
02:57 villain Morbius, to reignite the flagging Sacred Flame.
03:00 37 years later, our time, the Eighth Doctor was in serious need of the Sacred Flame's
03:06 healing properties in 2013's The Knight of the Doctor, and it was the Elixir of Life
03:10 that triggered his eventual regeneration into the War Doctor.
03:14 Sisterhood member O'Heeler would later arrive on Gallifrey in the series' nine finale
03:19 Hellbent to chastise the Twelfth Doctor for his reckless behaviour.
03:23 To this day, this is the last time the Sisterhood has been seen in a televised story.
03:28 7.
03:29 The Zygons - 13,945 Days
03:34 The Zygons were David Tennant's favourite villain growing up, so it was a surprise that
03:38 they never appeared during his tenure.
03:40 Brilliantly designed, they were one of Doctor Who's most iconic one-shot monsters, until
03:44 they finally returned in 2013.
03:47 The inclusion of the Zygons in the 50th anniversary special The Day of the Doctor may have been
03:52 an added sweetener to get Tennant back on board, but recent development suggests that
03:56 the actor will take any opportunity to slip back into the role.
03:59 Between their first appearance in 1975 and their second appearance over 38 years later,
04:04 the Zygons featured in comics, audio dramas and novels, and were even mentioned in 2010's
04:10 The Pandorica Opens, but were never actually seen.
04:13 Their ability to shapeshift would have made them ideal foes for Aliens of London/World
04:17 War 3, but for whatever reason we got the Slitheen instead.
04:20 Thankfully, there was a much shorter gap between the Zygons' second appearance and their
04:24 third, which came in 2015's The Zygon Invasion/The Zygon Inversion.
04:29 They're still out there, among us, so hopefully we won't have to wait until Doctor Who's
04:33 90th anniversary in 2053 to see them again.
04:37 6.
04:38 Tegan - 14,101 days I mean, who can blame Tegan for staying away?
04:43 Her aunt got shrunk by the Master, her grandfather got kidnapped, and her cousin was almost killed
04:48 by the renegade Time Lord Omega.
04:50 Worse still, her travelling companion Adric crashed a freighter into prehistoric Earth
04:54 and she watched countless humans and Cylurians die.
04:57 It feels like over 38 years is a good amount of time to deal with that trauma.
05:01 That's how long it was between Tegan's ghostly apparition in the caves of Andrazani's
05:06 regeneration scene and her return in Jodie Whittaker's final story, The Power of the
05:10 Doctor.
05:11 Joining Tegan was Ace, who was last seen in Doctor Who 29 years ago in Dimensions in Time.
05:16 Yes, it counts.
05:17 So, she doesn't qualify for this list.
05:19 Even if you go with Ace's last regular appearance in 1989's Survival, she still doesn't quite
05:25 make the cut.
05:26 Tegan actress Janet Fielding, like many of the show's stars do, maintained a connection
05:30 with Doctor Who in her time away.
05:32 Interestingly, she served as Paul McGann's agent when he was the 8th Doctor in the 1996
05:38 TV movie.
05:39 5.
05:40 The Ice Warriors - 14,232 days
05:44 The Ice Warriors are one of Doctor Who's most fascinating creatures, because they're
05:48 not always villains.
05:50 Introduced as such in the 1967 serial of the same name, they later became allies of the
05:55 Third Doctor before falling back on bad habits, with their last appearance in the classic
05:59 series coming in 1974's The Monster of Peladon.
06:03 This wasn't the original intention, however, and both the 6th and 7th Doctors were supposed
06:08 to face the Ice Warriors, until Doctor Who's hiatus and cancellation sadly intervened.
06:13 The Martian warriors didn't even appear in the Rogue's gallery of foes menacing the
06:16 Doctors and the cast of EastEnders in Dimensions in Time.
06:20 Criminal.
06:21 Therefore, it took almost 40 years for the Ice Warriors to make their return to televised
06:25 Doctor Who in 2013's Cold War.
06:28 Doctor Mark Gatiss had always wanted to bring the creatures back, but was met with resistance
06:32 by a sceptical Stephen Moffat.
06:34 Eventually, though, Gatiss got his wish, and would even bring them back again four years
06:38 later in 2017's Empress of Mars.
06:42 4.
06:43 The Macra - 14,624 days
06:47 In a display of how confident Russell T. Davis' Doctor Who was in its third series, it brought
06:52 back a classic monster that nobody could have predicted, mostly because the monsters in
06:56 question were from a 1967 Patrick Troughton serial that has been lost from the archives.
07:01 Thankfully, the Macra aren't that hard to realise.
07:03 They're literally just giant crabs.
07:05 Still, it was an incredibly ballsy move by RTD to just throw them in the climax of Gridlock.
07:10 For hardcore fans, it was a proper drop your bacon sandwich moment, and for the less informed
07:15 Doctor Who viewers, they were giant menacing crabs.
07:17 The best of both worlds.
07:18 The final episode of The Macra Terror aired on the 1st April 1967, making the gap between
07:24 appearances just over 40 years by the time Gridlock aired on the 14th April 2007.
07:29 Could the gap between their second and third appearances be even longer, or much shorter?
07:34 Well, with RTD back at the helm, all bets are off.
07:37 3.
07:38 Alpha Centauri - 15,751 days
07:43 In another cheeky Hail Mary by Mark Gatiss and Stephen Moffat, and once again in their
07:47 final Doctor Who series, the duo brought back Alpha Centauri, a niche Doctor Who character
07:52 who hadn't been seen or heard from in decades.
07:55 The memorably designed character was once described by director Lenny Mane as a "giant
08:00 green dick".
08:01 Alpha Centauri appeared as such in the closing moments of Empress of Mars, and was again
08:05 voiced by Isan Churchman, reprising the role after 43 years.
08:09 Alpha Centauri wasn't a cheap bit of fan service either.
08:12 It actually made sense to the context and themes of Gatiss' story.
08:16 Airing as Britain made plans to leave the European Union, it portrays the great Martian
08:20 Empire's decision to join the wider galactic community.
08:23 The first representative they meet is Alpha Centauri, last seen in 1974's The Monster
08:28 of Peladon.
08:29 Aside from the political parallels, getting a giant green dick back on primetime BBC One
08:34 was exactly the sort of mischievous move you'd expect from Moffat and Gatiss.
08:38 2.
08:39 The Great Intelligence - 16,363 days
08:44 In a neat bit of foreshadowing, for the return of almost all of the web of fear back to the
08:48 archives, the big bad of Doctor Who's 50th anniversary year was revealed to be the Great
08:53 Intelligence, Son's Yeti.
08:55 The Great Intelligence made two memorable appearances during the Patrick Troughton era
08:59 as a malevolent, disembodied force able to influence those in its grasp.
09:03 The best-loved Great Intelligence story, The Web of Fear, was top of fan lists of lost
09:08 stories they wanted to see return, and they would eventually get their wish in 2013.
09:13 Before that exciting day, though, the Great Intelligence made its first appearance in
09:16 44 years, voiced by Sir Ian McKellen in the 2012 Christmas special The Snowmen.
09:22 Hilariously, the 11th Doctor has forgotten all about the Great Intelligence, given how
09:26 long it's been since they crossed paths.
09:28 This forgetfulness even leads to the Doctor accidentally giving the Intelligence the idea
09:32 to take over the London Underground in The Web of Fear.
09:35 It was another of Stephen Moffat's deep-cut Doctor Who references that hinted at the exciting
09:40 50th anniversary year to come.
09:42 1.
09:43 Ian Chesterton, 20,939 days
09:48 Ian Chesterton almost returned to Doctor Who for its 20th anniversary season in 1983, but
09:53 actor William Russell was unavailable.
09:55 Aside from a name check in The Sarah Jane Adventures and The Day of the Doctor, the
09:59 former Coal Hill teacher and original Doctor Who companion hasn't returned to the show
10:04 since he and his colleague Barbara Wright arrived in London 1965 at the end of The Chase.
10:10 After a hell of a long wait - 57 years - Ian returned to Doctor Who in The Power of the
10:15 Doctor as the elder statesman of Graham's companion support group.
10:19 Hilariously, he's flummoxed by the idea of the grumpy old man he met in 1963 now being
10:25 a young woman.
10:26 It was the perfect nod to Doctor Who's enduring legacy, and the importance of both William
10:31 Russell and Jacqueline Hill to the show.
10:33 Without Ian and Barbara, we wouldn't have The Doctor as we've known them in the 57
10:37 years since they left the TARDIS. Including Ian's cameo in a Doctor Who episode that
10:42 celebrated 100 years of the BBC was doubly brilliant, given that at 97 years of age,
10:48 William Russell has been around for almost the same amount of time.
10:51 And that concludes our list. If there's some characters that haven't made a return
10:55 that you would love to see back, then do let us know in the comments below.
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11:15 I've been Ellie with WhoCulture, and in the words of River Song herself, goodbye,