Doctor Who

Marco Polo - S1-E4

Other mistake: In episode seven, Kublai Khan refers to backgammon as a game of cards....obviously he's not an experienced backgammon player.

Inside the Spaceship - S1-E3

Other mistake: William has a bit of a nightmare, completely throwing the others during one scene by saying the same line ("It's not very likely") twice, and fumbling the line "You knocked both Susan and I unconscious". He also omits the scripted explanation for the melted clocks.

Invasion of the Dinosaurs - S11-E2

Other mistake: The Tyrannosaurus rex which appears in this story does not actually roar; instead it says the word 'roar' several times. There may be little scientific evidence as to what sound a T. Rex made, but it is unlikely that any of them spoke fluent English.

The Mind Robber - S6-E2

Other mistake: When the Doctor pulls Zoe and Jamie back into the TARDIS, look at the scanner screen. It has the words 'Producer Peter Bryant' written on it.

The Dalek Invasion of Earth - S2-E2

Other mistake: Ian has completely forgotten the distinctive shape of a Dalek. It's only when the Dalek starts speaking that Ian says to the Doctor, "that voice". Yet later when they are at the saucer, he talks to the Doctor about the new back of the Dalek having a disk on them now.

Matty W

The Mind Robber - S6-E2

Other mistake: The Master says he wrote 5,000 words a week for 25 years and Zoe says "but that's over half a million words." Yes it is, to be exact, six and a half million words. (5,000 x 52 x 25 = 6,500,000).

Doctor Who mistake picture

The Five Doctors - S20-E7

Other mistake: The Cyber Leader is supposed to follow the Master's footsteps exactly in order to get across the chessboard. He doesn't. This cannot be classed as a character mistake because the Cyber Leader knew what was involved. I believe this mistake was caused by the actor not being able to see the chessboard through his helmet.

The Invisible Enemy - S15-E2

Other mistake: When Marius injects the cloned Doctor and Leela into the real Doctor, the syringe is full of air, although the later graphic shows them in liquid.

Earthshock - S19-E6

Other mistake: In episode 4, as the Doctor, Tegan and Nyssa are being led away from the bridge, the Cyberleader loses his footing when he gets to the bottom step, and stumbles/trips up (He recovers himself very quickly; so quickly in fact, that this mistake was left in the finished episode). (01:24:45)

The Time Warrior - S11-E1

Other mistake: After Linx plants his flag in the ground claiming Earth, Irongron and Bloodaxe look offscreen for no reason, as though the shot is finished.

The Green Death - S10-E5

Other mistake: The end titles of episodes 2, 5, and 6 of "The Green Death" were run backwards and upside-down. According to some published accounts, this was due to the telecine operator forgetting to rewind the end title film sequence before playback.

The Sensorites - S1-E7

Other mistake: In episode one, when the crew wonders what The Sensorites will do them, the camera zooms in on the Doctor as he says, "or kill us?". It then jerks with an audible click as though hitting something.

The Awakening - S21-E2

Other mistake: What happens to Tegan's bag when the plague victim transforms into the cavalier? It doesn't appear to be left behind, even when the cavalier later vanishes.

Matty W

The Horns of Nimon - S17-E5

Other mistake: In episode 3, watch the scene where the co-pilot is shooting; you can see his pants rip straight down the seam at the back - which unfortunately happens to be the part of him facing the camera at the time. He then wanders around for most of the rest of the episode with the tear in his pants plainly visible.

The Daemons - S8-E5

Other mistake: When the Master is in the cavern, he lights the candles with a taper, then shakes out the taper which snaps in half.

Planet of the Spiders - S11-E5

Plot hole: At the climax of episode 2, the Doctor is about to catch Lupton when the latter simply teleports to safety. So why didn't he do that in the first place, before engaging in a 15-minute chase?

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

Planet of the Spiders - S11-E5

Trivia: The first thing the Third Doctor does on-screen is collapse out of the TARDIS, which is also the last thing he does in that incarnation.

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.