10 Doctor Who Mysteries You Didn’t Know Were Answered

Doctor Who has been around for such a long time, and juggles so many characters and storylines, that it’s surely not surprising it has more than its fair share of mysteries. Some of these have puzzled fans for literal decades, while others are mysteries that current showrunner Russell T. Davies is presumably planning to solve before the end of the season.

It’s fair to say that Doctor Who wouldn’t be the same without a mystery or two for fans to solve. Part of the fun of watching is trying to get one step ahead of the Doctor and work out what’s happening before he does. But not all the mysteries have neat tidy answers… or answers at all.

10What Is The One Who Waits?

When Russell T. Davies returned as showrunner in 2023, he brought with him a lot of exciting new mysteries. One of the biggest ones so far is the One Who Waits, teased as the Big Bad of the season, is. All audiences know so far is that the Toymaker, himself an incredibly powerful being, was so afraid of the One Who Waits that he ran away.

A few episodes later, in “The Devil’s Chord” the Maestro warned the Doctor that “the One Who Waits is almost here.” So audiences should see the end of this mystery sooner rather than later. But who is this mysterious entity? Some think it could even be the Doctor’s new companion, Ruby Sunday, because all signs point to her being something tremendously powerful.

9The Midnight Monster Remains An Enigma

One of the most beloved episodes of modern-day Doctor Who is “Midnight,” a terrifying story where the Doctor is trapped on board a tour shuttle on a distant planet. The shuttle breaks down, and then an entity of unknown origin possesses a passenger. This passenger can suddenly not speak for herself, only say the words of others. The other passengers are so afraid that they end up resorting to violence, and the Doctor is put at risk by the one thing he loves the most, ordinary humans.

The Midnight Monster is never seen and never named. But because “Midnight” is considered such a good standalone episode, there’s a high chance fans would actually be disappointed if a sequel took place and the monster was named. “Midnight” works better if audiences are left in the dark as much as the Doctor was. There’s no fear like fear of the unknown.

8The Minister of War Remains In the Shadows

One tantalizing tidbit from the 2015 episode “Before the Flood” still hangs over the show. In that episode, the character Alice spoke of events “pre-Harold Saxon, pre-the Minister of War, pre-the moon exploding and a big bat coming out.” Viewers already knew of Harold Saxon (a.k.a. The Master) and the exploding moon, but “the Minister of War” was something new. It’s new to the Doctor, as well, but he simply comments that he’ll find out soon enough.

It’s been almost ten years since the Minister of War was mentioned and people still don’t know who he/she/they could possibly be. When details about the episode “73 Yards” came trickling out, some people speculated that Roger ap Gwilliam could be the Minister of War, but this didn’t come to pass in the end.

7The Doctor’s Daughter Disappeared From The Show

At the end of the season 4 episode “The Doctor’s Daughter” the Doctor believed that his clone daughter Jenny was dead. But she popped back to life after he left, thanks to regeneration energy, and embarked on her own adventures across the universe. Her story was picked up in the Big Finish audios… but not in the actual show. Audiences are still waiting on a Doctor-Jenny reunion.

The show never picking up this plot thread is a little frustrating. Jenny would be a perfect character to catch up with, especially since she’s played by Georgia Tennant (née Moffett), the daughter of Fifth Doctor Peter Davison and the wife of Tenth/Fourteenth Doctor David Tennant. Why have Jenny revived in the first place if she’s never going to return to the show again?

6The Woman From “The End of Time” Remains Mysterious

During the events of “The End of Time” one Time Lady in particular got a lot of focus. She appeared to Wilfred at the beginning of the story, and she certainly seemed to know the Doctor. But at the end, when Wilf asked who the woman was, the Doctor did not answer. So who in Gallifrey could she be?

Russell T. Davies stated in Doctor Who: The Writer’s Tale – The Final Chapter that he originally intended for the character to be the Doctor’s mother, and that actress Claire Bloom came onto the production believing this was whom she was playing. But with the events of “The Timeless Child” that idea no longer makes sense. Post-retcon, the Doctor is a foundling with no biological parents left on Galifrey. So what The Woman could be is an incarnation of Tecteun, the Doctor’s adoptive mother. However, fans may never know, as “The End of Time” left The Woman’s true identity a mystery.

5What Exactly Happened In “73 Yards” Is Vague

Though most fans were left satisfied by the episode “73 Yards” plenty of people did point out that a few things didn’t make a lot of sense. The Doctor disrupts the fairy circle by accident, and as a result “Mad Jack” is freed, the Mysterious Woman appears and the Doctor disappears. But why exactly did the Doctor disappear? Where did he go? It’s never explained.

It’s also not explained how exactly the Mysterious Woman scares people away from Ruby. All it takes is one word from the entity, and this makes even Ruby’s adoptive mother abandon her. It’s a horrible situation for poor Ruby to have to face, because she never finds out exactly what it was the woman whispered. And Russell T. Davies said on the behind-the-scenes show Doctor Who Unleashed that he would never reveal it.

4The Monster In “Listen” Is Never Explained

“Listen” saw the Doctor trying to find out if there’s a frightening creature that can hide in plain sight. It was a great episode but a mysterious one. The Doctor and Clara found themselves at the orphanage where young Danny Pink, then known as Rupert, lived. He was being menaced by something on top of his bed, under the bedspread, something that never spoke. This encounter didn’t last long, but it was terrifying.

Even the Doctor, usually so reliable when it comes to these things, didn’t seem entirely sure what the monster under the bedspread was. He said there’s a possibility it could have been another kid playing a prank on Rupert. But if that was the case, why did the kid never speak? And why didn’t they come out from under the bedspread when they realized adults were in the room? Chances are it was something much more unfathomable than a naughty child.

3Where Does the Fugitive Doctor Fall On The Timeline?

In the episode “Fugitive of the Judoon” fans got a huge shock. There was another Doctor on the timeline, an incarnation played by Jo Martin. Audiences have seen glimpses of her past, but much of her story is mysterious at the moment. It’s uncertain where she fits into the line of Doctors– is she before or after William Hartnell’s First Doctor?

In an interview for Doctor Who Magazine #577, then-showrunner Chris Chibnall refused to reveal his thoughts on the Fugitive Doctor’s placement. So it might be a long time before fans get answers to those questions, if they ever do. Especially as the Fugitive Doctor hasn’t appeared on-screen since Chris Chibnall’s swansong, “The Power of Doctor.” One popular fan theory is that she’s between the second and third Doctors, but this has never been stated in the actual show.

2A Mysterious Figure Picked Up The Toymaker’s Tooth

The episode “The Giggle” presented the Toymaker as one of the deadliest foes the Doctor has ever had to face. It also transpires that the Toymaker has already defeated one of the Doctor’s other major foes, the Master. In fact, the Toymaker has gone so far as to imprison the Master within a gold tooth, which he proudly shows off.

At the end of the episode, the Toymaker was defeated and the gold tooth containing the Master’s essence fell to the ground. After that, audiences saw a mysterious hand picking it up. It appeared to be a female hand, and they were wearing red nail polish. But who was it? Some think it might be Kate Stewart’s hand and she’s putting the tooth away for safekeeping. But it could of course be a dangerous enemy of the Doctor who wants to bring the Master back to life… as has happened before.

1The Doctor’s Name Will Forever Remain A Mystery

The biggest mystery of Doctor Who appears in the very name of the show. Doctor Who? But audiences will likely never get an answer to that question. In fact, season 7 of the show was all about how dangerous the Doctor’s true name is. So the season 7 finale “The Name of the Doctor” didn’t actually reveal the Doctor’s name. Arguably, the show would be severely diminished if it had.

Some characters, such as the Doctor’s wife River Song, know the Doctor’s name. But fans are totally fine with never knowing for themselves. It’s a mystery that’s lasted over 50 years now and is central to the concept of the show. So new Doctor fans simply have to accept it: they will never know the main character’s name.