Theory:Doctor Who television discontinuity and plot holes
If this thread's title doesn't specify it's spoilery, don't bring any up.
Welcome to the TARDIS wiki discussion forum for Doctor Who discontinuity and plot holes. Through this page via the links below you can discuss plot holes and discontinuity (point of continuity in stories that does not make sense with regards to other stories).
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 favorite episodes of Doctor Who.
Note that 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 notion of removing discontinuity sections from mainspace article pages was deemed approved by community consensus at Forum:Discontinuity revisited.
Please do not attempt to add discussion of narrative discontinuity on the episode pages themselves.
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 of St Bartholomew's Eve a.k.a. "The Massacre"
- /The Ark
- /The Celestial Toymaker
- /The Gunfighters
- /The Savages
- /The War Machines
Season Four - 1966
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
Season Eight - 1971
Season Nine - 1972
Season Ten - 1972-73
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
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
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
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
Seventh Doctor - Sylvester McCoy
Season Twenty-Four - 1987
Season Twenty-Five - 1988''''-1989'
Season Twenty-Six - 1989
Eighth Doctor - Paul McGann
Television Movie - 1996
- /Doctor Who (1996), 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
Christmas Special - 2005
Interactive Christmas Special - 2005
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
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.
Children in Need Special - 2007
Christmas Special - 2007
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
Christmas Special 2008
2009 specials
Animated Mini-Series - 2009
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
Doctor Who: The Adventure Games
Christmas Special 2010
Series 6 - 2011
Other
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)
