February 24, 2025
From killer seeds to art theft in Paris, relive some of the Doctor’s adventures that share a deadly connection...
While every Doctor Who story brings something new to the show’s long-running legacy, fans often spot common themes amongst their favourites. Whether it’s a recurring villain, a repeated destination in the TARDIS, or even similar episode names – for example, have you ever wondered just how many story titles end in “-of Death”?
In honour of the “Livestream of Death”, taking place on the official Doctor Who YouTube channel, here’s your guide to some of the deadly adventures featured in the stream’s highlights...
The Seeds of Death
Season 6 (1969)
Set in the not-too far future, this Second Doctor adventure sees the return of Martian species the Ice Warriors, who plan to use teleportation (or “T-Mat”) technology to invade an Earth that has become complacent with the introduction of faster-than-light transport. Their plan? To send explosive seed pods to Earth that suck up the nearby oxygen, making the planet more inhabitable for themselves – but at a grim cost for humanity!
The Ambassadors of Death
Season 7 (1970)
Working for UNIT on Earth, the Third Doctor and Liz Shaw find themselves in the middle of a troubling conspiracy following the disappearance of a crew of Earth astronauts. What should have been the first contact between humans and a new species of alien visitor becomes a staged plot of vengeance to frame the unfortunately radioactive aliens, in an attempt to turn the people of Earth against them. Maybe humans will be ready to welcome these ambassadors back some other time...?
The Ambassadors of Death appears on the Collection Season 7 Blu-ray.
The Robots of Death
Season 14 (1977)
As well as one of the most quintessentially ‘sci-fi’ titles on this list, The Robots of Death is also a well-loved Fourth Doctor serial. Landing aboard a giant sand-mining vehicle, the Doctor and Leela become embroiled in a mechanical murder mystery. But could it really be a crewmember behind the senseless killings aboard Storm Mine 4, or is it possible the suspect is one of the unnervingly human robots upon which this society depends...?
The Robots of Death appears on the Collection Season 14 Blu-ray.
City of Death
Season 17 (1979)
The Fourth Doctor gains another entry on the List of Death for his Parisian adventure with Romana II. Bouncing between the present day and the era of Leonardo da Vici, the Time Lord pair come face-to-face with an alien art thief, who plans to use forgeries of the Mona Lisa to fund a time-travelling experiment to revive his fallen race.
City of Death appears on the Collection Season 17 Blu-ray.
Empire of Death
Season 1 (2024)
"Titles of Death” took a bit of a backseat in the TV series for quite some time, until Season 1’s explosive finale in 2024. Witnessing the ascension of his old enemy Sutekh, the Fifteenth Doctor, Ruby and Mel are forced to flee the God of Death’s influence, as he uses the power of the TARDIS to spread death across all of time and space. Almost everyone else the Doctor knows falls victim to the Dust of Death; until the Doctor and his friends manage to reverse the process by dragging Sutekh through the Time Vortex!
Empire of Death appears on the Season 1 boxset, available in the UK on DVD, Blu-ray and steelbook.
Now that you’re all caught up on some of the Doctor’s deadliest adventures, enjoy some highlights from each of these stories in the Livestream of Death!
