Death in all its forms....

[Jason Thompson]

OK, it's a family show, the central character is supposedly a pacifist and hates guns, but we all know Doctor Who has a sometimes horrendous body count. Whether its a non-speaking UNIT soldier, a (barely speaking) Pigbin Josh, a major supporting character, a villain, a companion, or even the Doctor himself, death has been meted out in many and varied ways from the Old Woman through to the DoctorDonna. So, call it morbid curiosity if you like, but what are your favourite deaths in the series? They can be your favourites for any reason. Did you find them perticularly inventive ways to dispatch a character? Did you find the death particularly emotional when you first saw it? Does it still affect you that way now? Did it make you cheer as the villain got his comeuppance? Was it unintentionally comical? As many or as few as you can think of. I'll post a few of mine later.

[SiHart]

I remember when I was very young and watching the show that a couple of deaths in season 18 really got to me. I didn't like Stimson's death at the claws of a Foamasi. Even worse and more upsetting was the death of the Marsh Child in Full Circle. Whether it was Tom's reaction or the way it wailed as it died I don't know, but it was really sad.

Of course Adric's death had a huge imapct too. I cried. I don't feel it quite as badly now, but there's still something quite poignant about it. Similarly I found the death of K9 Mk 3 in School Reunion pretty sad too (I cried then too... the tears snuck up on me!) but that's because I'm a big old softie!

Si xx

[Dirk Gently]

For spectacle the the death of Kane was unique (for Doctor Who) & highly memorable.
For emotion then Tom Baker's 'death' affected me mostly in Doctor Who history. I was quite shocked.

[shada pavlova]

How about what's-his-name the secretary in Revelation of the Daleks?

Worst. Extermination. Ever.

[SiHart]

Thinking about it, an even better and more memorable death was Earth Visitor Loman's in The Leisure Hive. The effect of his body being pulled apart was done really well for the time and his agonising scream made it all the more real and therefore all the more scary and memorable! (and horrible when they did it to the Doctor at the end of pt 1)

Si xx

[WhiteCrow]

Thinking about it, an even better and more memorable death was Earth Visitor Loman's in The Leisure Hive. The effect of his body being pulled apart was done really well for the time and his agonising scream made it all the more real and therefore all the more scary and memorable! (and horrible when they did it to the Doctor at the end of pt 1)

Si xx

I indeed had terrible nightmares after that, and I don't think I watched Doctor Who again until Full Circle.

[Si Hunt]

Jenny Tomasin! All Dalek deaths should involve waggling of the hands and going "Waaggghhhhh!"

Actually every death in that story is remarkable for different reasons.

"You before me!" Ooooooh!

"Good secretary's are so hard to come by!"

"Baaaastaaackkk!!" *sizzle*

".... Jobel?....." (tumble) (never mind the dislodged toupe, how wonderful that egotist Mr Jobel's last word is his own name!)

Si.

[Jon Masters]

I may well be biased, but Talons has a fantastic set of deaths - stabbed by midget, scorpion venom, strangled and placed in cabinet of death, bleeding to death after losing your leg to a giant rat , death ray and organic distillation (and its reversal, or whatever happens at the end)

One of the worst (and most pointless) deaths in contrast is Lexa's in Meglos. Poor old Jackie Hill

[Larry]

How about what's-his-name the secretary in Revelation of the Daleks?

Worst. Extermination. Ever.

where as I cheered out loud when the DJ got exterminated even if it was a naff death.


the most emotional death for me has to be Pete Tilers,

[Andrew Curnow]

I do remember being quite shocked by Adric's death back in 1982 - back then we used to tape-record every episode, but switch off when the end credits kicked in. It was a good 10 seconds into the end credits before I recovered from the sheer surprise of it and switched off the tape.

Mind you, I was even more distraught a fortnight later at the thought that maybe Tegan had been written out for good, so perhaps I'm just fickle.

But anyway... ignoring the subsequent retconning, I think Peri's death at the end of TOATL part 8 is one of the most striking and shocking the series ever did - I'm pretty sure that although we knew she was leaving in that episode, there hadn't even been a whisper that she was being killed off, so it really was (as with Adric) a total shock, and in the case of Peri, the manner of her death wasn't even heroic or triumphant, it was just a horrible and grisly demise.

[Pip Madeley]

I agree with Andrew about Peri's death, it's very shocking in the way that she effectively dies between scenes, she's gagged (no Tim ) and the rest is left to our imagination (really, no Tim ).

I thought the death of the Hostess in 'Midnight' was particularly effective when the Doctor asked if anyone knew her name. The Master's latest 'death' was also very affecting, particularly in the Doctor's reaction to it - actually the same goes for "Jenny" in the latest series.

As for crap deaths, there's plenty in 'Nightmare of Eden'.

[Jason Thompson]

Some good selections so far. I agree about Peri's being quite a grisly death. possibly the worst in the series. She doesn't die heroically, she's not trying to save anyone the way the other three dead companions are (yes, Katarina and Sara are companions, so ). She's just allowed to get caught up in an experiment by an amoral scientist and loses her life as a result (or she would have done if JN-T hadn't bottled it at the eleventh hour.). Colin's quiet, disbelieving, 'you... killed Peri,' always makes me well up a little.

On the less emotional side, I am quite partial to the Cyberman fused into the door in Earthshock, mainly because it's quite a striking image. In fact I like the 80s Cybermen deaths in general: they always seemed to give it their all, especially David Banks!

[NorthernStar]

Paul Darrow's death in Timelash springs to mind for entirely the wrong reasons. But fair play, it was memorable!

[Antony Cox]

For comic value, nothing can beat Soldeed's demise in Horns of Nimon! One of the most chilling deaths if the Mr Oak/Mr Quill scene in Fury from the Deep (I'm assuming Mrs Whatsername does actually die in that scene??). The melting of Kane I've always liked for it's effective realisation, and, though not an isolated death as such, I've always enjoyed Channing's delivery of "Destroy - total destruction!" in Spearhead as he visibly gets so much pleasure from it!

[Pip Madeley]

One of the most chilling deaths if the Mr Oak/Mr Quill scene in Fury from the Deep (I'm assuming Mrs Whatsername does actually die in that scene??).

Nope, in fact 'Fury From The Deep' is one of the few Who stories where everyone lives.

[Dave Lewis]

The Third Doctor's in Planet Of The Spiders... sometimes I play it back over and over again just to make sure he's really gone.

[Antony Cox]

Nope, in fact 'Fury From The Deep' is one of the few Who stories where everyone lives.

Wow, that's quite a feat - especially for that type of story!

[Antony Cox]

The Third Doctor's in Planet Of The Spiders... sometimes I play it back over and over again just to make sure he's really gone.

[Stuart Wallis]

Namin's death in Pyramids Of Mars is still pretty frightening and memorable. So is Lawrence Scarman's off screen death followed by his being found slumped in a chair, then Sarah shaking him... (I'll rephrase that...)

And for the wrong reasons, there's the over-acted attack of the cybermats (ahem!) and the boogieing electrocuted Cyberman in The Wheel In Space.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

How about what's-his-name the secretary in Revelation of the Daleks?

Worst. Extermination. Ever.

Worse than the slave in Destiny who casually sits down and reclines as if she's going to bed?

[Zbigniev Hamson]

Nope, in fact 'Fury From The Deep' is one of the few Who stories where everyone lives.

Although it has to be said it's quite odd the way it's done. There's several apparent deaths during the course of the story, but then there's the oddly tacked on "oh, by the way, don't worry we found everyone and they're all fine" bit of dialogue at the end. It seems even more of an afterthought than Peri's resurrection.

[WhiteCrow]

How about what's-his-name the secretary in Revelation of the Daleks?

Worst. Extermination. Ever.

That is one of the worst deaths ever. So bad I think his equity card should be burned.

Although thankfully we were spared Paul Jerricho's death scene in the Five Doctors. After the line "No not the mind probe", you can imagine how bad that could have got!

[Andrew Curnow]

Colin's quiet, disbelieving, 'you... killed Peri,' always makes me well up a little.

Absolutely agree, Jason. The pause, almost as if he can't even bring himself to say the word, is so well-judged.

[SiHart]

Worse than the slave in Destiny who casually sits down and reclines as if she's going to bed?

The dangers of badly directed extras!

Si xx

[Andrew Curnow]

Doesn't Peter D make a similar comment on the Resurrection commentary, about the gulf between the deaths of actors & the deaths of extras?