Top 10 Massive Plot Holes in Doctor Who

To a stellar sign-off episode for Donna Noble, and one of Ten’s most memorable adventures - with Rose, Martha, Mickey Smith and Sarah Jane all involved. The invention of a Doctor double did prove a pretty good ploy for the story… But then the real Doctor drops his doppleganger off in Rose’s parallel universe, asking her to help the double become a better person. But if the Meta-Crisis Doctor really is a duplicate with ‘same memories, same everything’, then he’s a better person already, right? It’s no wonder Rose looks confused.

Yes, we definitely dig the whole ‘alien monster you forget you’ve seen as soon as you’ve seen it’ idea. And the Silence did scare their way through most of Matt Smith’s tenure in the TARDIS. But, given that anyone who’s ever seen a snippet of the Moon Landing is subliminally conditioned to kill the Silence on sight – as per “Day of the Moon” – how come Clara puts up zero fight in “The Time of the Doctor”? As a school teacher, she’s surely seen the ‘one small step’ recording at least once…

Danny Pink was a divisive character in general, with Clara’s on-again/off-again love interest fetching fewer fans than most supporting characters. But by far the most annoying thing about him is his direct descendant that shouldn’t really exist, Orson. A heroic pilot from the future who’s inspired by Danny’s toy soldier figurine – supposedly passed through the generations as a family heirloom – Orson saves the day in “Listen”. But, Danny hasn’t had kids when he dies during “Death in Heaven”. So, Orson’s supposed heritage seems sketchy, to say the least.

“Heaven Sent” is probably one of the finest Twelfth Doctor episodes, but there is this one niggle that won’t go away. If Twelve’s trapped in a never-ending cycle, in a remote castle that keeps resetting itself, why doesn’t the 400-times-harder-than-diamond wall reset, too? After four and a half billion years, the Doctor finally breaks through to force an epic escape, but how’s that possible? Steven Moffat has suggested that the wall breaks the rule because it isn’t an actual room – but that feels more a flimsy afterthought than a proper explanation.

It’s a definitive scene, yes. But does it make sense? No, not really. Amy and Rory are about to prompt a paradox in 1930s New York, but not before the Weeping Angels wheel out their big guns. But the Statue of Liberty’s made of copper, which goes against the Angels’ inherent made-of-stone biology. And was no-one in New York watching (and therefore stopping) the city’s world-famous, suddenly-sentient statue? And if they weren’t how come Amy and Rory can look away for their face-to-face heart-to-heart with no consequences whatsoever? Go figure.

The Daleks’ not-so-dulcet tones are instantly recognisable, even if you’ve never seen a single second of “Doctor Who”. So, quite how the Doctor manages to stage an episode-long chit-chat with his greatest enemy, without twigging who he’s talking to, is anybody’s guess. “Asylum of the Daleks” introduces Oswin, who seems to be manning some kind of soufflé-powered spaceship. Only she’s actually operating from inside a Dalek, and Eleven only knows it when it’s right before his eyes. Oswin is a self-proclaimed genius, but is she really that good?

It’s a question which ranks right alongside ‘What’s the Doctor’s name?’ and ‘What’s a Time Lord’s favourite food?’. Just how old is our favourite time traveller? Because the writers sure don’t seem to know. At last count in Classic Who he’s 953. But Christopher Eccleston reverse ages and rounds that down to a square 900, in the revived series. Since then, even the Doctor seems unsure. In fairness though, what even is age when you bend, break and befuddle the rules of time as frequently as this? It’s no wonder he stopped counting.

A demonic villain introduced when Rose tries to save her father from his ‘fixed point in time’ death, the Reapers supposedly rally whenever a paradox is created – in order to sterilise a damaged timeline. The idea works in “Father’s Day”, as the winged monsters terrorise a wedding until Rose’s dad realises the fate he can’t avoid. But there have been plenty of paradoxes in the show since then, without a Reaper in sight. You had one job, guys. One job.

It’s intense. Emotional. Annd entirely avoidable. We’re with the Weeping Angels once again – but this time the problems lay elsewhere. Amy Pond’s sudden departure proved a gut-wrenching moment for Eleven, who finds himself forever separated from his favourite companion. But is he, really? The guy’s got a time machine and all of time and space at his fingertips… So, why not just visit 1930s NYC every so often? What’s truly heartbreaking is that Amy’s fridge-freezer was probably stocked with fish fingers and custard, just in case he ever did.

The Doctor has faced some pretty formidable weapons in his lifetime (however long that is…), but nothing beats the Reality Bomb for sheer size, scale and – we’re sorry to say – stupidity. Not content with simply threatening to end life on Earth, or grind entire galaxies to dust, the Daleks go and devise an all-out existence-ender. A super-super-weapon primed to pummel every molecule of matter in every parallel universe, Davros’ plan fails in our reality – but it must have worked in some other dimension – meaning everyone’s already dead, anyway. Brilliant.