It's hard to believe how much the structure of Doctor Who has changed over the years. When it first began, seasons contained up to 45 half-hour episodes. That dropped down to around 25 episodes per season in the 70s and then just 13 to 14 in the 80s. Modern Doctor Who has longer episodes, but experienced a similar progression, from a consistent 13-episode season to only six episodes in Series 13, and eight episodes in the last season.
It's not uncommon to see shorter season lengths these days, but it always prompts the question: What are we missing out on? For instance, the most recent season of Doctor Who ended with the Doctor telling Ruby that she had fundamentally changed his perspective on family, a claim that fell flat after fans only saw them interact a handful of times.
More than just season length, fans may be about to see whether the episodes themselves were weakened by the decision to cut scenes that might have helped get their points across more clearly. For the show's 61st anniversary, the Doctor Who YouTube channel just dropped a compilation of 14 scenes removed from the last year's worth of content.
Some of these scenes were cut for good reason, as they didn't add much to the plot, but others could have helped audiences connect with the characters and stories. This article breaks down all 14 deleted scenes, including what they would have included, why Russell T. Davies said they were cut, and whether they should have been kept in the final cut.
Doctor Who's 2023 and 2024 Deleted Scenes
- The Giggle, Scenes 9-12
- The Giggle, Scene 27
- Space Babies, Scene 16
- Space Babies, Scenes 40-42
- Space Babies, Scene 63
- The Devil's Chord, Scene 9
- The Devil's Chord, Scene 23
- The Devil's Chord, Scene 72
- The Devil's Chord, Scene 74
- 73 Yards, Scenes 3-4
- 73 Yards, Scenes 53-54
- The Legend of Ruby Sunday, Scenes 41, 44, and 45
- Empire of Death, Scene 35
- Empire of Death, Scenes 59-63
The Giggle, Scenes 9-12
This clip featured Kate Stewart telling Donna that UNIT was keeping Wilfred safe, with Donna pushing back that her whole family deserves protection. The entire scene is only about 30 seconds long, but it explains how UNIT found the Doctor, features Donna's beloved defiance, and puts Kate in a position where she is not in control.
According to Davies, the scene was cut because "it spoils that sweeping entrance, to stop and have a chat. And get to Mel faster!” And fair enough. Donna already demanded that her family be kept safe, so audiences can assume that UNIT took care of them. This episode was jam-packed, and that scene is unnecessary. There's just too much else to cover. But it would have been nice to see more conflict between the Doctor's various allies.
In "The Stolen Earth" and "Journey's End," audiences got to see a ton of the Doctor's former companions come together, and they had very different ideas about how to stop the Daleks. From blowing up Earth or the Daleks' ship to following the Doctor's every order, they use vastly different methods to achieve the same goal. That element isn't nearly as present in the latest era, and it would be nice to see some more tension. Cutting it from this episode made sense, but those differing opinions and power levels should have been recycled for use in Season 1.
The Giggle, Scene 27
When the Doctor and Donna went back to 1925, they got trapped by the Toymaker in a hallway full of endless doors until they were separated. But this was apparently a longer scene originally, with an extra 30 seconds of the duo opening doors and appearing out of other parts of the same hallway.
The reason for cutting this scene was listed as simply "Cut for time," and I don't blame them. It does nothing constructive, other than doubling down on just how frustrating it would be in the Toymaker's domain. The final scene has conversation between the two characters pretty much the entire time until they are pulled apart, which allows character dynamics to be developed. The extra footage is, at best, a weak Scooby Doo hallway chase homage, and it absolutely should have been cut.
Space Babies, Scene 16
This scene from "Space Babies" featured Ruby telling the babies about her own abandonment in infancy, which gives the audience a glimpse of her pain, how she tries to cover it with her appreciation for her adopted mother, and even a mention of snow, which will become so integral to her character throughout the season.
The official reason for its exclusion was: "Cut for time, which is a shame, Millie's wonderful here." It really is a shame, because it would have been an opportunity for audiences to connect with Ruby more, particularly on a topic that will define her arc on the show. Her association with snow gets explored later on in the episode, but that moment focuses more on the Doctor than it does on her.
Probably the more accurate reason this scene was cut is that it is pretty much the same as the Doctor's conversation with Poppy. Both characters talk about being abandoned as children, who found them, and how that initial pain doesn't keep them from being amazing people. For the episode's sake, we don't need to hear that speech twice. If I had to choose, I would pick the Doctor's conversation over Ruby's, but it would have been nice to see more of her personality in this episode.
Space Babies, Scenes 40-42
This section of "Space Babies" is one of the longest deleted sections, but it seems pretty similar to Scene 27 from "The Giggle." The scene features the Doctor and Ruby looking for the Bogeyman, Ruby stepping in goo and the Doctor inspecting what appears to be shed skin.
The problem is, not much happens in the scene. There's more than a full minute of exploration, without much new information being given about the characters or the villain. According to Davies, the scene was "Cut to get to the Bogeyman faster," and that was a good decision. While there's something to be said for building tension, that requires more than just time. This scene would need to be completely rewritten in order to serve any purpose, so cutting it was the right call.
Space Babies, Scene 63
Three of the cut scenes were from the episode "Space Babies," which was definitely one of the weakest entries from Season One. The final deleted sequence comes after the Doctor and Ruby stop the Bogeyman from being ejected into space. This felt like it should have been a bigger moment, especially since the creature turns out to be a baby itself, but the new scene doesn't add much.
The Doctor and the Bogeyman are both recovering, with the Doctor hesitantly asking if it is alright. But when it growls in response, the Doctor leaves the room and locks it in, before smiling. But what exactly is he smiling about? Sure, they saved the creature, but the Doctor is still afraid of it, so the babies certainly would be. And yet, the end of the episode shows it transformed into a docile pet.
There did need to be a scene between them saving the Bogeyman and leaving, but this isn't it. For those that found the moral pretty weak to begin with, this scene just confuses it further. Davies explained that the scene was "Not needed, though a wide shot of this scene plays on the screens behind Jocelyn." Die-hard fans might be interested in knowing that it happened, but it doesn't really add anything to the episode that wasn't already there.
The Devil's Chord, Scene 9
The first deleted 'scene' from "The Devil's Chord" is just one line: "Someone has stolen music!" The Doctor announces it after seeing how bad the performers are at EMI Recording Studios, in a moment that seemingly started his discussion of how music is a natural part of humanity.
Davies explained that this line was cut because it "Felt a bit psychic of the Doctor, how does he know it’s stolen?" The line that ends up in the final draft allows for more options, with the Doctor objecting that "you can't lose or steal it or kill it." Since it's such a tiny change, there's not much to say about it. The idea came across just fine in the official version, although the cut declaration might have worked better when editing together a trailer.
The Devil's Chord, Scene 23
The next cut scene comes after Maestro arrived in 1963, using a tuning fork to figure out where the Doctor and Ruby had run off to. There's not much unique to the scene, as the concept of the tuning fork as Maestro's tool ends up being shown later on. With that in mind, Davies explained it was "Cut for time, get on with it!"
Once again, this seems like a good cut to be made. The scene lasts just under a minute and doesn't really do much. There's a bit more time to enjoy Jinkx Monsoon's performance, but the scene honestly seems to just exist to show off the costume. While it was a great outfit, there is no need to spend so long on something that doesn't drive the story forward.
The Devil's Chord, Scene 72
Scene 72 features the Doctor and Ruby running up a stairwell after defeating Maestro, with the Doctor warning Ruby that time is going to "go crazy for ten minutes." Why ten minutes? Who knows. But Ruby laughs and shares that she likes the crazy. Davies' explanation for this being deleted is that "this explains what’s about to happen. Just let it happen instead!"
That's a pretty classic bit of writing advice, as there's definitely some telling, not showing, happening here. But I want to push back on that a little bit, because while it's telling the audience what will happen to the world, it's showing them a lot about the Doctor's dynamic with Ruby. He tries to be protective over her, but she rejects his concern because they have a shared thrill for the wilder parts of time travel.
So far, this is the first deleted scene I feel should have been kept in. It lasts 12 seconds, but even that little time helps audiences understand the characters' connection. Half of this season is about the Doctor and Ruby losing each other, so the audience needs as much interaction between them as possible first. There's definitely an argument that they were together much longer than fans experienced, but it takes moments like this for that off-screen history to feel real.
The Devil's Chord, Scene 74
After defeating Maestro, the Doctor and Ruby run up to the roof, where they can hear music returning to the world. In the final version, the camera stays focused on the main characters, but the deleted scene shows a brief montage of the people who made that music, from a ballerina to a guitar player to an opera singer.
According to Davies, this was a "Nice idea, but not really needed." And that might be true. The episode works without it. But it is weakened by its absence, because the cut scene is a callback to an earlier part of the episode. When Ruby performed a song on the rooftop, the camera cut to the people of London being affected by it, proving music was necessary to humanity. The three individuals in the cut scene are the surviving members of the group shown to be affected by the piano earlier in the episode.
With the callback intact, audiences get a tangible example of some of the people saved by the Doctor and Ruby. These people become symbols of humanity, instead of just extras. But without it, the earlier montage falls a bit flat. Audiences don't get to connect with ordinary humans. They see Maestro as a danger to the Doctor, Ruby, and the Beatles. Both montages together prove that it matters to people who aren't actively in the music industry.
Of all of the deleted scenes, Scene 74 from "The Devil's Chord" is the one I most strongly believe should have made the final cut. Keeping that 16 seconds would have made the episode much more structurally coherent and driven home the moral infinitely more than the three-minute music number "There’s Always A Twist At The End."
73 Yards, Scenes 3-4
After the Doctor disappears in "73 Yards," Ruby quickly decides to find somewhere warm to wait and figure out why he left. But this cut scene shows her as much more stubborn. There is a much longer period of her sitting around, along with a time jump, before she is willing to move on. She tells the TARDIS (and presumably the Doctor) that she has to go because she is cold and hungry, but begs him not to leave without her.
Russell T. Davies's reason for getting rid of the scene is pretty simple: "It’s already a long, slow opening, get on with it!" That's a fair point. There have already been over 3 minutes in the episode by the point where this scene would have been, and there's no need for another 2 and a half minutes of Ruby waiting. But while I agree that the scene deserved to be cut, it's not just a matter of timing.
The real problem with this scene is that it babies the audience. While Ruby is narratively talking to the Doctor, the scene is effectively telling the audience that she would have waited longer, but she had to take care of her biological needs. That's something they could guess without having to be told outright.
Show her developing frostbite, show her talking to the box to keep her spirits up, something to communicate that she stayed as long as she could. And then have her move on. While it wasn't necessary to eliminate her stubborn decision to wait altogether, it was certainly better than having an in-character message to the audience that Ruby leaving should not be seen as her abandoning the Doctor.
73 Yards, Scenes 53-54
"73 Yards" provides the audience with a fake solution, having Ruby stop Roger ap Gwilliam as a possible way to get rid of the old woman. In the final cut, she sees his resignation on the news, looks out the window, and asks the woman if she will finally go away. The deleted scene had Ruby waking up, racing excitedly to the window, and then falling apart when the woman was still there.
While the final version might have simply replaced the cut version, Davies implied that they might have orignally both existed. His reasoning for removing the scene was that it was "Much more effective to cut on the earlier scene, as Ruby asks the Woman, 'Can you leave me alone now?'" If both scenes were supposed to be in the episode, then Davies is right. It would be silly to have her break down there, when she already saw the woman wasn't gone in the previous scene. Believing she might have left just because Ruby went to sleep doesn't really make any sense.
But there's a much bigger factor at play here, which ties into some of the fans' complaints about this episode. In both versions, Ruby is disappointed that the woman stuck around, but the final version made it seem like her freedom would have been an added bonus, while the deleted scene made it seem like getting rid of the woman was the whole point. It's completely understandable that Ruby wants to be rid of the force causing everyone to abandon her, but that can't be her only motivation.
According to the Doctor, Roger ap Gwilliam is destined to be "the most dangerous prime minister in history." Ruby knows that he is abusing Marti. And Ruby finally steps in when it's suggested that Gwilliam is going to launch nukes. Many fans felt she already waited too long to intervene, but the deleted scene seems to imply that all of that wasn't actually why she did it anyway. She didn't care what he did. She just wanted to escape the woman. That implication speaks horribly of Ruby, and it's a good thing it didn't make it into the final cut.
The Legend of Ruby Sunday, Scenes 41, 44, and 45
The deleted segment of "The Legend of Ruby Sunday" is a bit confusing at first, because the lines are exactly the same as they are in the final cut. The deleted segment begins just after Harbinger named the Gods, and while the words are the same, the difference is what was focused on. The final version shows the TARDIS being surrounded by dust and the Doctor watching S Triad Technology change into the name Sutekh, while the deleted version just looks on the TARDIS from an ominous angle and shows the name change in the background.
Frankly, it's not even a deleted scene. All of the same things happen in both versions, except for the visual effect surrounding the TARDIS. As Davies put it, the final scene was "All tightened, sharpened and pulled up." The filming of both versions would have been nearly identical, with most changes taking place in the editing room and with the VFX crew. It's a bit clearer, which makes the final scene better, but there's no practical difference in the two versions to make it worth watching.
Empire of Death, Scene 35
The first deleted scene for the finale comes just after the Doctor and Ruby arrive in 2046, along with Sutekh-Mel. In the original, the Doctor kisses the memory TARDIS and then they leave, but the cut scene extends that moment, with Ruby questioning the Doctor on how her mother's name will help anything and the TARDIS disappearing because "the memory's died."
This was the biggest change in all the deleted scenes, and the implications are precisely why Russell T. Davies changed his mind. He explained, "We lost this because I didn’t want the Remembered TARDIS to die, I like the thought of it still out there somewhere." This provides an opportunity, if only for Tales of the TARDIS to continue, but it also creates some logistical problems.
At this point, the canon of Doctor Who is getting way too messy. When the metacrisis Doctor was created, he had to be sent away to a parallel world to keep the narrative clean. But there are now two Doctors and three TARDISes in existence at the same time and place. Based on the show's own canon, that should make the modern period virtually untouchable by time travel, but that just hasn't happened. If it gets addressed in the next season, fine. If not, it would have been better to kill the memory TARDIS and take the time to acknowledge the loss.
Empire of Death, Scenes 59-63
The final deleted scene from this compilation comes while the Doctor and Ruby are dragging Sutekh through the vortex. There's a lot of connecting dots happening in this clip, along with a return of "There’s Always A Twist At The End." The Doctor admits to having pulled his whistle-and-leash plan out of nowhere, but then opens a floor shaft in the real TARDIS—which is simultaneously a ceiling tile in the memory TARDIS—giving his past self the whistle before he and Ruby went to 2046.
Interestingly, Russell T. Davies is unsure about whether this scene should have been cut or not, saying: "This seemed terribly complicated. But watching it again now, it’s great, maybe we shouldn't have cut it. Though I don't think anyone wondered where he got his whistle from...?" Admittedly, I didn't wonder about that, because the memory TARDIS was full of marginally-useful items, and plenty of other things fell out of the ceiling along with the whistle.
Except, that didn't happen in the deleted scene. There, it was just the whistle, and the past-Doctor took it from the future-Doctor, rather than picking it up off the floor. It feels like the deleted scene would have created a complicated bootstrap paradox, but the Doctor brushed any concerns aside by telling Ruby that "we get one trick, once" when fighting a God. For fans who are concerned with the details, though, this probably would have driven them crazy, just like the events of the Series 5 finale.
Should this have been kept in? I don't know. On the one hand, it is over-complicated and breaks a ton of rules. On the other, the whistle just appearing and magically affecting the TARDIS doesn't make much sense either. If those two are the only options, I would personally say to cut this scene and make it all a matter of coincidence. After all, coincidences are what the whole season has drawn on since "The Church on Ruby Road".
But I would't say no to an ending that made more sense than either of these options.
In the span of just ten minutes, the creators of Doctor Who added a lot of detail, camera angles, and conversations that audiences didn't get to see in the official episodes. But for the most part, it seems like they made the right choice in getting rid of them. Many cut scenes either did nothing or made things even more confusing. But for a couple of rare gems, watching the deleted clips adds a lot to a season that long-time fans have struggled to fully connect with.