Theory:Doctor Who television discontinuity and plot holes

This is the main page on this wiki for the discussion of discontinuity in Doctor Who television stories. Feel free to use this list to create pages that discuss in detail all the continuity errors that you've found — or think you've found — in your favourite episodes of Doctor Who.

The notion of removing discontinuity sections from mainspace article pages was deemed approved by community consensus at Forum:Discontinuity revisited. Therefore, please do not attempt to add discussion of narrative discontinuity on the episode pages themselves.

Tech notes

• The slash (/) in front of episode names is necessary in order to create a link back to this page, and to prevent a link to the main article itself. The slash at the end merely performs a slash trick, thereby removing the slash at the front from displaying.
• All titles must be italicised, per T:ITAL
• When adding new episodes to this list, it is critically important that they be placed into Category:DW TV discontinuity.

First Doctor - William Hartnell

Season One - 1963-64

• An Unearthly Child a.k.a. "100,000 BC", "The Tribe of Gum"
• The Daleks a.k.a. "The Mutants", "The Dead Planet"
• The Edge of Destruction a.k.a. "Inside the Spaceship", "Beyond the Sun"
• Marco Polo a.k.a. "A Journey to Cathay"
• The Keys of Marinus
• The Aztecs
• The Sensorites
• The Reign of Terror a.k.a. "The French Revolution"

Season Two - 1964-65

• Planet of Giants
• The Dalek Invasion of Earth
• The Rescue
• The Romans
• The Web Planet
• The Crusade
• The Space Museum
• The Chase
• The Time Meddler

Season Three - 1965-66

• Galaxy 4
• Mission to the Unknown a.k.a. "Dalek Cutaway"
• The Myth Makers
• The Daleks' Master Plan
• The Massacre
• The Ark
• The Celestial Toymaker
• The Gunfighters
• The Savages
• The War Machines

Season Four - 1966

• The Smugglers
• The Tenth Planet

Second Doctor - Patrick Troughton

Season Four - 1966-67 (continued)

• The Power of the Daleks
• The Highlanders
• The Underwater Menace
• The Moonbase
• The Macra Terror
• The Faceless Ones
• The Evil of the Daleks

Season Five - 1967-68

• The Tomb of the Cybermen
• The Abominable Snowmen
• The Ice Warriors
• The Enemy of the World
• The Web of Fear
• Fury from the Deep
• The Wheel in Space

Season Six - 1968-69

• The Dominators
• The Mind Robber
• The Invasion
• The Krotons
• The Seeds of Death
• The Space Pirates
• The War Games

Third Doctor - Jon Pertwee

Season Seven - 1970

• Spearhead from Space
• Doctor Who and the Silurians
• The Ambassadors of Death
• Inferno

Season Eight - 1971

• Terror of the Autons
• The Mind of Evil
• The Claws of Axos
• Colony in Space
• The Dæmons

Season Nine - 1972

• Day of the Daleks
• The Curse of Peladon
• The Sea Devils
• The Mutants
• The Time Monster

Season Ten - 1972-73

• The Three Doctors
• Carnival of Monsters
• Frontier in Space
• Planet of the Daleks
• The Green Death

Season Eleven - 1973-74

• The Time Warrior
• Invasion of the Dinosaurs
• Death to the Daleks
• The Monster of Peladon
• Planet of the Spiders

Fourth Doctor - Tom Baker

Season Twelve - 1974-75

• Robot
• The Ark in Space
• The Sontaran Experiment
• Genesis of the Daleks
• Revenge of the Cybermen

Season Thirteen - 1975-76

• Terror of the Zygons
• Planet of Evil
• Pyramids of Mars
• The Android Invasion
• The Brain of Morbius
• The Seeds of Doom

Season Fourteen - 1976-77

• The Masque of Mandragora
• The Hand of Fear
• The Deadly Assassin
• The Face of Evil
• The Robots of Death
• The Talons of Weng-Chiang

Season Fifteen - 1977-78

• Horror of Fang Rock
• The Invisible Enemy
• Image of the Fendahl
• The Sun Makers
• Underworld
• The Invasion of Time

Season Sixteen - 1978-79

• The Ribos Operation
• The Pirate Planet
• The Stones of Blood
• The Androids of Tara
• The Power of Kroll
• The Armageddon Factor

Season Seventeen - 1979-80

• Destiny of the Daleks
• City of Death
• The Creature from the Pit
• Nightmare of Eden
• The Horns of Nimon
• Shada (incomplete; not broadcast)

Season Eighteen - 1980-81

• The Leisure Hive
• Meglos
• Full Circle
• State of Decay
• Warriors' Gate
• The Keeper of Traken
• Logopolis

Fifth Doctor - Peter Davison

Season Nineteen - 1982

• Castrovalva
• Four to Doomsday
• Kinda
• The Visitation
• Black Orchid
• Earthshock
• Time-Flight

Season Twenty - 1983

• Arc of Infinity
• Snakedance
• Mawdryn Undead
• Terminus
• Enlightenment
• The King's Demons
• The Five Doctors

Season Twenty-One - 1984

• Warriors of the Deep
• The Awakening
• Frontios
• Resurrection of the Daleks
• Planet of Fire
• The Caves of Androzani

Sixth Doctor - Colin Baker

Season Twenty-One (continued) - 1984

• The Twin Dilemma

Season Twenty-Two - 1985

Format changes to 45-minute episodes

• Attack of the Cybermen
• Vengeance on Varos
• The Mark of the Rani
• The Two Doctors
• Timelash
• Revelation of the Daleks

Season Twenty-Three - 1986

25-minute episodes resume.

• The Trial of a Time Lord
  • The Mysterious Planet
  • Mindwarp
  • Terror of the Vervoids
  • The Ultimate Foe

Seventh Doctor - Sylvester McCoy

Season Twenty-Four - 1987

• Time and the Rani
• Paradise Towers
• Delta and the Bannermen
• Dragonfire

Season Twenty-Five - 1988-89

• Remembrance of the Daleks
• The Happiness Patrol
• Silver Nemesis
• The Greatest Show in the Galaxy

Season Twenty-Six - 1989

• Battlefield
• Ghost Light
• The Curse of Fenric
• Survival

Eighth Doctor - Paul McGann

Television Movie - 1996

• Doctor Who, a.k.a. "Enemy Within", "The TV Movie" or "The Movie"

Ninth Doctor - Christopher Eccleston

Series 1 - 2005

• Rose
• The End of the World
• The Unquiet Dead
• Aliens of London
• World War Three
• Dalek
• The Long Game
• Father's Day
• The Empty Child
• The Doctor Dances
• Boom Town
• Bad Wolf
• The Parting of the Ways

Tenth Doctor - David Tennant

Children in Need Special - 2005

• Children in Need Special

Christmas Special - 2005

• The Christmas Invasion

Interactive Christmas Special - 2005

• Attack of the Graske

Series 2 - 2006

• New Earth
• Tooth and Claw
• School Reunion
• The Girl in the Fireplace
• Rise of the Cybermen
• The Age of Steel
• The Idiot's Lantern
• The Impossible Planet
• The Satan Pit
• Love & Monsters
• Fear Her
• Army of Ghosts
• Doomsday

Christmas Special - 2006

• The Runaway Bride

Series 3 - 2007

• Smith and Jones
• The Shakespeare Code
• Gridlock
• Daleks in Manhattan
• Evolution of the Daleks
• The Lazarus Experiment
• 42
• Human Nature
• The Family of Blood
• Blink
• Utopia
• The Sound of Drums
• Last of the Time Lords

Animated Mini-Series - 2007

Produced as part of the behind-the-scenes series, Totally Doctor Who.

• The Infinite Quest

Children in Need Special - 2007

• Time Crash

Christmas Special - 2007

• Voyage of the Damned

Series 4 2008

• Partners in Crime
• The Fires of Pompeii
• Planet of the Ood
• The Sontaran Stratagem
• The Poison Sky
• The Doctor's Daughter
• The Unicorn and the Wasp
• Silence in the Library
• Forest of the Dead
• Midnight
• Turn Left
• The Stolen Earth
• Journey's End

Proms Special 2008

• Music of the Spheres

Christmas Special 2008

• The Next Doctor

2009 specials

• Planet of the Dead
• The Waters of Mars
• The End of Time

Animated Mini-Series - 2009

• Dreamland

Eleventh Doctor - Matt Smith

Series 5 - 2010

• The Eleventh Hour
• The Beast Below
• Victory of the Daleks
• The Time of Angels
• Flesh and Stone
• The Vampires of Venice
• Amy's Choice
• The Hungry Earth
• Cold Blood
• Vincent and the Doctor
• The Lodger
• The Pandorica Opens
• The Big Bang

Christmas Special 2010

• A Christmas Carol

Series 6 - 2011

• The Impossible Astronaut
• Day of the Moon
• The Curse of the Black Spot
• The Doctor's Wife
• The Rebel Flesh
• The Almost People
• A Good Man Goes to War
• Let's Kill Hitler
• Night Terrors
• The Girl Who Waited
• The God Complex
• Closing Time
• The Wedding of River Song

Christmas Special 2011

• The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe

Series 7 - 2012

• Asylum of the Daleks
• Dinosaurs on a Spaceship
• A Town Called Mercy
• The Power of Three
• The Angels Take Manhattan

Christmas Special 2012

• The Snowmen

Series 7 - 2013

• The Bells of Saint John
• The Rings of Akhaten
• Cold War
• Hide
• Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS
• The Crimson Horror
• Nightmare in Silver
• The Name of the Doctor

50th Anniversary Special

• The Day of the Doctor

Christmas Special 2013

• The Time of the Doctor

Twelfth Doctor - Peter Capaldi

Series 8 - 2014

• Deep Breath
• Into the Dalek
• Robot of Sherwood
• Listen
• Time Heist
• The Caretaker
• Kill the Moon
• Mummy on the Orient Express
• Flatline
• In the Forest of the Night
• Dark Water
• Death in Heaven

Christmas Special - 2014

• Last Christmas

Series 9 - 2015

• The Magician's Apprentice
• The Witch's Familiar
• Under the Lake
• Before the Flood
• The Girl Who Died
• The Woman Who Lived
• The Zygon Invasion
• The Zygon Inversion
• Sleep No More
• Face the Raven
• Heaven Sent
• Hell Bent

Christmas Special - 2015

• The Husbands of River Song

Christmas Special - 2016

• The Return of Doctor Mysterio

Series 10 - 2017

• The Pilot
• Smile
• Thin Ice
• Knock Knock
• Oxygen
• Extremis
• The Pyramid at the End of the World
• The Lie of the Land
• Empress of Mars
• The Eaters of Light
• World Enough and Time
• The Doctor Falls

Christmas Special - 2017

• Twice Upon a Time

Thirteenth Doctor - Jodie Whittaker

Series 11 - 2018

• The Woman Who Fell to Earth
• The Ghost Monument
• Rosa
• Arachnids In The UK

Other

"They may not be in the Whoniverse, but anything for sport, innit?"

The following episodes are generally considered wholly discontinuous with the main series, and so therefore can't have "continuity errors" as such. Another way of looking at it is that they are continuity errors. Nevertheless, as this is a forum, they're included more or less for pure sport.

Pilot Episode

• "The Pilot Episode" (unaired)

Jim'll Fix It Mini-Episode - 1985

• A Fix with Sontarans

Search Out Science Mini-Episode - 1990

• Search Out Space

Children in Need Special - 1993

• Dimensions in Time

Comic Relief/Red Nose Day Special - 1999

• The Curse of Fatal Death