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We asked you to help us create the ultimate Doctor Who episode. Here are the results
What would the ultimate Doctor Who episode look like? Who would it star? Who would direct it? Where would it be set?
Those were the questions we asked you – along with many others – and you voted like mad things. All the elements had to be from Who ’s past, because we weren’t asking you to create the ultimate Who movie, and indulge in complete fantasy casting (no matter how much you wanted Justin Bieber as the Doctor, with Michael Bay directing). We had to be realistic. Though death was no obstacle to taking part… Look, we make the rules, okay? You will obey!
And today, on the 48th anniversary of the show, we can reveal the results:
( Illustration by John Cooper )
Doctor Who “The Ultimate Adventure”
Written by: Neil Gaiman
Directed by: Graeme Harper
Starring: David Tennant as the Doctor
Companions: Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith, Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams and K9
Also featuring: Nicholas Courtney as The Brigadier
Main villain: The Master
Monster: Something completely new
Setting: Gallifrey
Title sequence: The Eccleston/Tennant time tunnel
A few notes on the voting:
• David Tennant and Matt Smith kept swapping first and second place throughout the voting period and Tennant eventually won by a margin of a mere six votes (which considering over 3,000 people took part is ridiculously close). Tom Baker came third. A few people flew in the face of past evidence about the quality of multi-Doctor stories and wanted a story featuring all 11 incarnations, while a small but significant number of people thought a pairing of Smith and Troughton would make great TV. They have a point.
• Also hotly contested was whether it should feature K9 or not – with the Yes contingent winning by just 13 votes! (41 strange people opted for Kamelion instead…)
• We asked how many companions (other than K9) you wanted and the overwhelming answer was two. Again, some people wanted “all of them” but the most specific and curious answer was “one, who vanishes at the beginning”
• Sarah Jane Smith just edged out Donna Noble and Amy Pond for the female companion role. Oddest suggestion was Dot Cotton.
• Rory trounced Captain Jack into second place for the male companion role. Bizarrely, more people wanted Adric than Turlough.
• The biggest winner of all was the Master, with 40% of the total vote in the Villain category. The Dream Lord came second.
• Neil Gaiman was way out in front for writing duties, with Steven Moffat second, Russell T Davies third, Douglas Adams fourth and Robert Holmes fifth.
• The least voted-in category was best director, possibly because people don’t notice the directors on TV shows so much. But the runaway winner was Graeme Harper, who has directed in both the classic series (“The Caves Of Androzani”, “Remembrance Of The Daleks”) and the new one (“Army Of Ghosts”, “Doomsday”, “Waters Of Mars” amongst others). Although we did say we were restricting voting to people who had worked on Who already, a number of people suggested Duncan Jones of Moon and Source Code fame in this category, and we have to admit, it’s an enticing idea…
