Doctor Who

Timelash - S22-E5

Plot hole: The Bandrils not only know of the Time Lords but are capable of connecting to them, yet the Bandril are barely capable of space travel and can't produce their own food. So, the Bandrils are not very technologically advanced it seems, so why do they have ties with the High Council of the Time Lords? And how does either party benefit from such an association?

Revelation of the Daleks - S22-E6

Plot hole: The DJ fires the ultrasonic gun, to demonstrate it to Peri. The glass in the doors breaks. When The Daleks arrive the glass in the doors is unbroken. It then doesn't break the glass in the doors in any of the other times he fires the weapon.

Delta and the Bannermen - S24-E3

Plot hole: In episode 3, the swarm of "bees" attacking Gavrok and his men look nothing like real bees, being far too large when they approach the camera's position. (In fact, stock footage of a swarm of locusts was used.).

Dragonfire - S24-E4

Plot hole: At the end of episode 1, the 'cliffhanger' ending is that the Doctor climbs over some railings, and then, by looping his umbrella on the railing, he begins to climb down. He looks down and it seems to be a very long way down. This is resolved in episode 2 by having Glitz walk around and let the Doctor step on his shoulders. Not only is it silly, but because Glitz walked around, it also makes the previous 'cliffhanger ending' totally meaningless.

The Happiness Patrol - S25-E2

Plot hole: In episode 1, on both occasions that Silas P presents his card (first to Daphne S, then later to the Doctor), he gives it to his victims the wrong way around. They have to surreptitiously turn it over so that the side with his name on it is facing them, and then act surprised when he tells them to flip the card over to reveal the words "Happiness Patrol Undercover", as if they hadn't seen it before.

The Curse of Fenric - S26-E3

Plot hole: A line of dialogue in "The Curse of Fenric" indicates that the Russians planned to make their escape by "going to the North Way", in other words, escaping to Norway. However, the story is set in the summer of 1943, when Norway was under Nazi occupation. It would not be a smart idea for any Russian military personnel to head for Nazi-occupied Norway.

The Curse of Fenric - S26-E3

Plot hole: One sequence which makes little sense is when Ace triggers the booby-trap gas grenade on the chess board. Although the Doctor places a wastepaper basket over the grenade, the green toxic gas is very much present for the rest of the scene but does not harm either the Doctor or Ace, despite it being shown to have been lethal to the soldiers in a preceding scene. (NOTE: This error only applies the TV broadcast and the original video release; the error was noticed and corrected in 2003 for the DVD release of this Doctor Who story).

More mistakes in Doctor Who

The Doctor: This is a situation that requires tact and finesse. Fortunately, I am blessed with both.

More quotes from Doctor Who

The Chase - S2-E8

Trivia: Such was the popularity of Doctor Who in Britain in the mid-1960s that even the Beatles wanted to make an appearance in the show. So a scene was written into "The Chase" to allow them to appear. The idea had been devised of including a scene on the Time and Space Visualiser depicting a Beatles fiftieth-anniversary concert in 2015, with the Fab Four dressed up as old men. John, Paul, George, and Ringo themselves were interested in the proposition, but it was vetoed by their manager, Brian Epstein. It was then thought that an appearance by the Beatles on Top of the Pops might be used instead, but no such footage was available. Fortunately, the Beatles were scheduled to perform "Ticket to Ride" at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith on April 10th, 1965, and that footage was used instead.

More trivia for Doctor Who

Earthshock - S19-E6

Question: In Earthshock, season 19, at the end of episode 3, the Cyber Leader views his troops marching down the corridor. Each column is headed by a Cyber Leader. Is this a mistake, or is there more than one Cyber Leader allowed per army?

Answer: In 'The Five Doctors', three separate Cyberleaders are definitely used. So it's likely that Cyberleaders are like unit commanders, of which a fair-sized army might have several.

Daria Sigma

More questions & answers from Doctor Who

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.