Every Doctor's DARKEST Moment In Doctor Who 

You might notice that the Third Doctor doesn't have an entry. Unfortunately, part of his entry received a Content ID claim, so we decided to trim out the entire entry rather than leave it with a jarring cut in the middle. To make sure every Doctor is accounted for, here's the Third Doctor's entry, as originally scripted! "It's well known that the Third Doctor was always a bit handy with his fists. Generally, however, Venusian aikido was only ever used in self-defence. The same can't be said for his handiness with an Ogron blaster in Day of the Daleks. Escaping the siege of Auderley House, the Doctor comes across two slow-moving Ogrons advancing on him. Watching the scene as broadcast, the Doctor has plenty of time to take another route, but he chooses not to. Instead, he turns the blaster on one of the Ogrons and vaporizes the poor thing. It's a shocking moment from a character who never tires of lecturing people on the merits of pacifism. Perhaps inspired by Star Wars' infamous "Han shot first" debate, this scene was re-edited for the 2011 special edition release. Some blaster effects were added, coming from the Ogrons' direction, to suggest that the Third Doctor was indeed firing in self-defence. But we know the truth, don't we Doctor?"

"You would make a good Dalek." Chilling and, at the time it was said, very nearly true. Said by the damaged Dalek to The Doctor's ninth incarnation.

The First Doctor convincing Nero to burn down Rome to avoid an easily escapable situation and than laughing manically as the City of Rome visibly burns behind him is the single darkest and most hilarious moment on the show.

No, Thirteen’s darkest moment was the entirety of “Kerblam!”

I like it when you actually embrace classic doctor who too often you forget to dive into that aspect of the show

I think one reason The Doctor felt such guilt over the Time War was that The Fourth Doctor had a chance to avert it, didn't, and he blames himself for what happened, especially since The Time Lords gave him permission to take action to make the Daleks less dangerous .

Surely the Doctor's darkest moment of all was when the War Doctor decided that the best thing for all concerned was to destroy Gallifrey and wipe out both the Time Lords and the Daleks with The Moment?

The Darkest Third doctor moment has to be Inferno. When the earths core erupts lava and He refuses to save the Alt Dimension version of his friends and leaves them to die a horrible death. It was so influential it caused the Third doctor to have a phobia of fire.

As for the Tenth Doctor what about the ending of The Family of Blood. “The fury of a time lord”.

Thirteen killed all the spiders. Ten was about to kill the Racnoss in a suicide attack but Donna stopped him. Eleven made Amy not trust him.

Another really dark moment is when The Seventh Doctor tricks the Daleks into destroying Skaro in Genesis of the Daleks. While destroying the Daleks is a good thing, the Daleks weren’t the only ones living on Skaro at the time, there was also the Thaals. The original Daleks story takes place in the far future, so they were definitely there. While it’s not clear if these Thaals were more like the militant group (Genesis) or the peaceful, hippie types (The Daleks), the point remains. This isn’t brought up anywhere, but it certainly happened.

U saying “but we know the truth don’t we doctor” sounded like an evil villain lecturing the doctor about his darkness.

The third Doctor shooting Ogrons only stands out if you consider if you consider a handgun a particularly awful way for killing. In 'The Monster of Peladon' he kills way more Ice Warriors (who aren't a direct threat to him personally) using Eckersley's teleporting statue. The fourth's decision in 'Genesis' is more of a big picture morality issue than a particularly dark moment. In the same episode he turn s off Davros' life support system briefly and threatens to do so permanently if Davros doesn't order the Dalek's destroyed. He also attempts to kill Davros in 'Destiny of the Daleks' with a bomb and only fails because the Daleks remove it before he hit's the detonator. In 'The Brain of Morbius' he straight up murders Solon with poison gas. In 'The Ribos Operation' he kills the Graff Vynda-Kwith a bomb, though there was a big element of self defense there. The fifth's (apparently) killing the Master is pretty vicious, but he also directly kills Monarch in 'Four to Doomsday,' the cyber-leader in 'Earthshock,' and Omega in 'Arc of Infinity.' Ten's bit in 'The Waters of Mars' is more like one of his dumbest moments. He could have taken the survivors to some safe non-human world or far enough into the future to save them without changing history. His decision to torture the Family of Blood for all eternity is a lot darker and requires some rather god-like off screen shennanigans to achieve. As for Eleven, I can't help but say Solomon had it coming. He had, after all, murdered all the Silurians on the ship. A much darker moment comes at the end of 'The Girl Who Waited' when he slams the Tardis door shut to keep older Amy from getting in. That was cold even it necessary.

So glad someone mentioned that he impaled the goblin king.

The problem with making the Doctor the hero, occasionally weighted down by power and loneliness and his - darnit! - individuality, is that it ignores a basic chilling reality (one actually heightened by The Timeless Child idea): this is an alien cosplaying as a human. I start to think we know too much.

Yeah I'd say the stuff with the Fourth Doctor snapping necks like he's a black ops video game style character is darker than him deciding to take the "I wouldn't kill Baby Hitler" side of the moral "Is it right to kill baby Hitler?" hypothetical.

I just gotta say this, Ellie. I absolutely love your hair. It's beautifully straight, glossy, and I think it's red-ish.

The way I see 11s is that Solomon pushed him over the edge with nearly killing Brian who was technically part of his family

The thing I find kinda funny about Ncuti's first episode is that he was hinted to be a clean slate mentally with the whole out of order therapy thing in the specials, then he gets upset and murders 😂 must just be in the doctors blood

The night is darkest just before the dawn.

12:16 As Jake Peralta (Brooklyn 99) said once: "Cool motive, still a murder"

Ten’s top 5 are darker than any one else’s darkest

The problem with 13th and 15th moments is that unlike the rest, these are not portrayed as "dark" in the show. The show presents it as something good.

I have a theory about Solomon. Remember, the Eleventh Doctor knows for certain that the person he hates the most is himself. And whose retconned face does Solomon have...?

In a deeper version of the Night of the Doctor, the sisterhood of Kaan actually just gave him a regular drink, not a regeneration drink, as they knew the solider was in him all along.

After the 15th doctor is finish I bet they will do “10 more darkest doctor moment”

No the 13 master thing did have to do with the masters skin, that's what the perception filter was about she could have shown him to be a spy without removing the filter.

I honestly think that the Fourth had rather justifiable fears the absence of the Daleks would 1) screw up his own history and 2) leave the Timelords unchecked. Frankly, his own people could be a pack of "Rickies" when they really get rolling.

Six strangling Peri is not only disturbing, it's just a stupid and uncharacteristic choice for the character to make...alien values addled from post-regenerative trauma or not. It could've been handled differently. I think it hurt the 6th Doctors character portrayal going forward.

I think we all came here for the Timelord Victorious

Jodie's darkest moment was making an excuse to blank Graham about his cancer concerns

I do recall reading somewhere on the internet, so it must be true, that Terrance Dicks said that Pertwee's Doctor shooting the Ogron was a mistake. Well as has been commented recently "That's alright then!"

That whole church spire bit bothers me, not because it was dark, loved that. Just, how did that goblin ship crashing down on a church spire not get noticed, especially when a clergy is on the way to the door for the baby.

THANK YOU, you and I agree regarding the Fifth Doctor. When I saw that scene, I was horrified. For all the Doctor knew, the Master didn't have any more regenerations left yet he just stood there while the Master appears to be burning to death. I was quite disappointed, since the Fifth Doctor is thought to be one of the gentler incarnations.

Dark doctor who stories i feel is when the show is at its best. We need another era like Tom Baker's early years

For the First Doctor I say it would be at the end of the Massacre when he refused to save Anne and all of Steven’s friends from the time.

12:32 and have a delicious ruby sundae 😂😂😂

I still miss K-9....=))

2:34 “a man who never would.” You keep telling yourself that Doctor. 😂

Tenth doctor: genocide is wrong Thirteenth doctor: oh baby a triple

10 killing the Racknos genocide infanticide and wanting to commit suicide assumably cos of the loss of Rose literally just giving up on his entire moral code and willingness to live War wiping out the time lords and daleks 13 killing a large amount of giant spiders just to get rid of the threat bare in mind theyre just animals and not evil

The 8th Doctor choosing to Regenerate into a warrior is very dark

The War Doctor’s Darkest moment: The Time War The Fugitive Doctor’s darkest moment: telling Thirteen to get off her ship. How rude

To be honest, I disagree with the choice for the Fourth Doctor. The decision to not destroy the Daleks is in fact one of his most morally correct moments, not just for that Doctor, but the character as a whole, as he realises destroying one monster would only create another, and an eye for an eye is never the way. “If I do it, wipe out a whole intelligent species, I’d become like them, I’d be no better than the Daleks.” I’d argue his darkest moment is in Image of the Fendahl, when side-character Max is possessed by the Fendahl and begs the Doctor to give him a gun, stating that he wishes to end his life rather than suffer at the hands of the monster. The Doctor obliges.

Just started rewatching the first special again notice a lady behind the doctor, Donna and her daughter that has her phone aimed in the opposite direction from where the spaceship is crossing the sky could this be a plant that will come back in the future season and explained i think it will considering who's running the show again

A slight correction to Thirteen's darkest moment. She DOES actually use his skin colour against him. She's already revealed him as a spy to the Nazis, then she unnecessarily removes the perception filter saying, "Now they'll see the real you!". It's literally one of the most needlessly cruel things the Doctor has ever done.

The fifteenth doctor went in with a bang, sang the goblin King to letting him use his gravity gloves to kill him.

Darkest moments you're not even close just ask the Silence ❤

Daleks are the worst creatures in the galaxy. They kill without any type of emotion and no remorse. Can’t imagine that letting them die as a dark moment.

but later on didnt a dalek run over the wires destroying the daleks in incubation but the master killed the 4th doctor almost destroying the universe would you help him?

Disagree about the Fourth Doctor, I would go for his poisoning Solon in Brain of Morbius or his advice to Professor Sorenson to commit suicide in Planet of Evil.

How can you possibly say that NOT Destroying the Daleks was the fourth Doctor's darkest moment. Nothing could be further from the truth. Having watched that particular story countless times, m ost recently a couple of weeks ago, I can honestly say he wasn't moralizing about the World being a better place. He was moralizing about whether or not he had the right to commit genocide like the Daleks were guilty of several times over. He was basically saying that if he destroyed the Daleks he would basically be nobetter than they were. And that is a noble point of view when you think about it. Whether you want to think about it or not.

if the Fourth Doctor did destroy the Daleks in Genesis of the Daleks, the Time War would of started immediatly. just listen to Doctor Who Unbound: Doctor of War

I like the idea of the list, but TBH you could do a full list each for 1 and 9-12 easily, The issue with most of the picks, aside from having 3 irrelevant entries at the end (the 3 Noctor's can't do dark things, it would be wrong) is the circumstances, which Ellie touches on. The 1st did much darker things, being cold/logical isn't inherantly dark. Laughing as a city burns, that's dark, Most of the rest of the old era Doctors are hard tbf. The 2nd, big picture, doesn't count. 3rd, doesn't count, live fire and it wasn't only himself he was protecting. 4th, big picture, doesn't count. 5th, Maybe. I'd argue though, that the Doctor fears no species as much as his own so, big picture? 6th doesn't count, he had no idea who he was or what he was doing. And he stopped. 7th, big picture, doesn't count. 8th, We didn't see enough tbh. That being said, there's some darker bits in big finish stuff. 9th, Dalek was bad, but he had an understandable motive. I'd argue his treatment of Adam, or Mickey is worse. 10th, He almost wasn't himself, he assumed he could deal with any consequence. Arrogant, sure, dark no. The family of Blood, peak dark, peak Doctor, Cruelty for cruelties sake/vengeance for John Smith. 11th, nah, mercenary sure, but dark? Starship UK, he gave into his dark side when he decided to lobotomise the beast. He had to be reminded there is always a better way. 12th, aside from allegedly regenerating into the 1st Noctor (We are sure that wasn't Missy/The Rani/Jenny/Clara in a pocket dimension?). Time Heist. Not "being" the architect and causing all that happens. The fact that he likely figured out he was the architect inside a minute and didn't pull the plug, that's dark.

I would argue that 12's could have been abandoning Clara in Kill The Moon or Killing the Android in Deep Breathe (if he did) Both have much darker implications than him shooting a timelord. They're also presented as much darker in their respective episodes. I think there's arguments to be made to back all 3 as the darkest mind you but I think I'm biased because killing the timelord felt like it was written for shock value so it never actually felt that deep to me.

Very good!

The basic flaw with Genesis of the Daleks is that the Doctor has been sent to destroy the series go-to monster to revive ratings and sell merchandise. None of us watching at the time actually fell for the idea that he'd succeed.

The Third Doctor's Darkest Moment was when he got replaced by a therapy app...?

I'd also say the 13th Doctor's darkest moment could also be the actual genocide(s) she committed.

Thank you.

5 never went near the controls!

Of course 11s is an unintentional moment from Chibnall who doesn't understand morality lmao

For the two Doctors who weren't mentioned: The Fugitive Doctor probably did some shady stuff with Division, but instinctively de-horning a Judoon was pretty messed up. For the War Doctor, we know he didn't use the Moment, but considering using it had to be his darkest moment.

I'm sorry, but the Master's skin colour is TOTALLY relevant in that decision.

3:00 end of sponsorship

Were is 'Cornell runway'?

i clean for a guy that is a therapist on better help, BE NICE.

What happened to the 3rd doctor?

Were is the third doctor in the video

5:29 why you gotta go giving Hollywood ideas for their gritty remake?

Really? _Not_ destroying the Daleks was Four's darkest moment? How about gassing Mehendri Solon with cyanide in Karn, in a desperate attempt to kill Morbius? Which btw was only necessary because of his amazing stupidity to leave Solon alone with his monster, when he was perfectly capable of dismantling Morbius' body himself. The universe _might_ be better off without the Daleks, but we all know the Whoniverse wouldn't.

For the second I dont know how about flying the ice warriors entire fleet into the sun or blowing up the dominators in their ship

To be fair to the 15th doctor, I don't think he intended to kill the goblin king. Maybe he just wanted to stop the ship by damaging it.

Where is the 3rd dr

I do agree that 8 choosing to become The Warrior is fairly dark, but I’d say that him becoming Zagreus was definitely another massive contender for his darkest moment - and the entire season that follows with his exile outside the universe featured quite a few very dark choices of his. The entire Scherzo episode was very dark. 8 definitely has more than his fair share of dark moments; I love how much they really have detailed his fall from the bright happy doctor in the movie to the doctor that chose to become the warrior; he is definitely my favourite for a reason ;)

Did I miss the 3 doctor?

Damn this is my favorite doctor who youtube channel, thank you for making this channel

I don't think you can call his skin colour irrelevant. As much as such things probably don't matter to her, it would to the Nazis and thus his torture and such would be extra aggressive and sadistic. And she should have known that.

They have books/ audio drama about time lord's Victorious, diff version of 10th doctor

All life is sacred, by the way, unless it's 2 hunting down and melting Ice Warriors with a solar-powered heat gun. 1969, baby. Crazy....

The Doctor has always been a "Lonely God".

Thirteen also genocided the cybermen, daleks and most of the sontarans to the flux, along with killing the spiders in the slowest most painful way possible. All with a righteous smile. I swear, Jodie’s series may have been the worst by far in terms of writing (some of the supposedly “dark” stuff is downright evil and the attempt at justification makes her look so dumb) but on the whole they added a lot to the doctor’s moral ambiguity and detachment from human ideals. They are an unbelievably powerful alien and we need to be frequently reminded of that or we get too complacent. It is in fact one of the main reasons I love the character so much! So much darkness, yet so complex, nuanced, redeemable and easy to root for. Over the course of the entire show, all told, SUCH a well written character.

I mean for 3 I feel like that could actually Just be a forgotten effect in an effect heavy episode.

Nefertiti wasn't black. She was Greek.

Brother: He never raised his voice. That was the worst thing. The fury of the Time Lord. And then we discovered why. Why this Doctor who had fought with gods and demons, why he’d run away from us and hidden. He was being kind... We wanted to live forever, so the Doctor made sure that we did. 😱

My pick for the fifth Doctors darkest moment was not nearly killing the master. That can be explained away by trying to foil the Master's attempt at global domination. In my opinion it doesn't even come close to the death of Adric and his refusal to recue him. He could have just used the tardis to land in the ship and rescue Adric and still let the ship kill off Barney and Friends and things would have been fine. Granted Adric was NOT the most popular character and everyone more or less HATED him. But still, he could have saved adric and didn't.

This might well mess with your perception, but I believe the 13th Doctor's darkest moment was when they let Grace die: they were still less than 16 hours into their regeneration cycle; as the 12 they'd previously used dormant regeneration energy to heal Davros, the 13th, who was "still cooking" in their own words could have easily healed Grace after she fell. I posit that 13 LET GRACE DIE so it would cement their bond to Yaz, Ryan and Graham.

I don't remember 5 touching the controls, and 6 was in post regeneration fugue state, so not responsible. Alternatives: 5 about to kill Davros. 6 it has to be the Shockeye death. For the 8th I think you have to go beyond his 2 brief outings on TV, and then for me his most obvious dark moment was letting the Weeping Angels take the Monk despite the Monk crying and begging the Doctor's help in Doom Coalition: The Side of the Angels.

I'm not sure it's really fair to judge the First Doctor's actions in that first serial. That was during the period when he was still envisioned as the villain. But you needed an entry for him, that was the obvious one, so judge we will. After reading a few other comments, I agree that Thirteen's darkest moment was the spiders. Otherwise, good list, especially for highlighting Three's penchant for shooting our favorite Ogron from Twitter, Gruntleigh, right in the face. That's always a good time.

At least Cassandra didn't start shouting, "MOISTURE! I need MOISTURE!" and start turning into a carrot.... ;-P

For 2nd doctor choice, he bootrap tomb of cbyermen, any one trying to open it again, would be shocked to death, only good thing, the cybermen couldn't get out too

Three was more "footsy" than "handsy".... lots of kicking... it was the era of the "Action Doctor"...

Since they have far more leeway than the Doctor, someone could do "The 10 Darkest Moments from Each Doctor's Companions" or, and I know you think that she is incapable of doing any wrong, @ellielittlechild, but "The Top 10 Darkest River Song Moments in Doctor Who."

9:40. We can be Celestial.

Lol...Sinister Salt-Shakers...I dig that..😜✌️🥃

9=john hurt, 10=chris eccleston, 11 and 12=david tennant, 13=matt smith, 14=michael jayston aka the valeyard, 14 alternate=peter capaldi, ergo, the 1st paradox doctor. jodie whittaker, 15 alternate the 2nd paradox doctor. i suppose ncuti gatwa could be 16 the 3rd paradox doctor.

What is the war Doctor darkest moment

Hmmm. So are we even suggesting 14 is responsible for all those God-like beings that emerge throughout his timeline? Well, if it isn't the consequences of my actions....

I think it's reputation is more down to ropey writing, crap effects, terrible writing and an overly long run time. Please please let this out of time horrendously tripe series RIP. 😢

Two looked too much like Moe Howard of the Three Stooges for me to take him seriously...