13 Doctor Who Earth Invasions That Everyone Really Should Remember

Thankfully, Doctor Who’s UNIT was, more often than not, on hand to help the titular character save the day. These invasions often resulted in some amazing Doctor Who villain reveals, especially in adventures when the Doctor’s rival made an unexpected or anticipated return to the show. There were plenty of notable invasions of Earth in Doctor Who, but only a selection were so wild that humanity remembered them – raising questions as to why certain invasions didn't have more of a lasting impact.

13 The Daleks Occupy London

"The Dalek Invasion Of Earth" (1964)

The classic Doctor Who Dalek story “The Dalek Invasion of Earth” famously saw the Doctor’s granddaughter, Susan, depart the TARDIS. When Team TARDIS landed in 22nd-century London, Daleks were spotted rising out of the River Thames and lining the streets.

“The Dalek Invasion of Earth” was an astounding invasion of Earth that sat with the population for long after they were stopped. The Daleks utterly destroyed London and left it in pieces, and the physical damage took time to be fixed. This played a part in why Doctor Who said goodbye to Susan, as she fell in love with a human and decided to help him rebuild society, along with the remaining survivors of the Dalek’s tyranny, marking the story out as a pivotal episode in the show's human chronology.

12 UNIT Faces The Cybermen

"The Invasion" (1968)

While the classic Doctor Who era serial “The Invasion” wasn’t the first time the Doctor encountered the Cybermen, it was the first occasion that the villains invaded Earth on such a large scale. With Tobias Vaughn’s assistance, the Cybermen took over London’s sewers and started to either kill off the population or analyze them for conversion.

This resulted in a huge battle in the streets between the Cybermen and UNIT’s soldiers, and later, the Cybership heading for Earth was destroyed by a government rocket. Although humanity didn’t know about the incoming spacecraft, anyone on the ground would have undoubtedly spotted the hundreds of Cybermen storming the streets, making this a theoretically unforgettable invasion.

11 The Ice Warriors Disperse Their Pods Across Earth

"The Seeds Of Death" (1969)

Doctor Who’s Ice Warriors returned in “The Seeds of Death” and attempted to take over Earth using the planet’s own T-Mat system. In the year 2086, Earth had access to instantaneous travel, and the Ice Warriors took charge of its Moonbase before sending out their seed pods across the planet.

The pods arrived in several cities across the UK, killed many people, and ruined local areas with its foam. The mysterious foam caused anyone who inhaled it to lose oxygen drastically, an image that anybody who encountered one shouldn’t have forgotten anytime soon. This was an occurrence on Earth that technically could have been ignored, but there circumstances were so strange that to do so feels realistically impossible.

10 Dinosaurs Roam London

"Invasion Of The Dinosaurs" (1974)

The titular event in the serial “Invasion of the Dinosaurs” was so wild that it bordered on unbelievable, even by Doctor Who standards. Sarah Jane and the Third Doctor were stunned to find 1970s London in complete despair, as the population looted the streets and UNIT attempted to regain some form of control. However, the various species of dinosaurs that also roamed the area were even more astonishing.

Anyone who wasn’t a part of UNIT wasn’t aware that the dinosaurs were transported through time as part of a plan to wipe civilization clean. Any time aliens arrived on Earth was memorable enough, but there was no way humanity should have ever forgotten dinosaurs in the street. Doctor Who strangely didn’t reference this serial again after this, but the events weren’t reversed either, so it would have remained a memorable occasion.

9 The Auton Shop Dummies Wake Up

"Rose" (2005)

The Ninth Doctor’s first meeting with Rose Tyler also involved him facing the Nestene Consciousness again. After the Nestene brought all the shop window dummies across the UK to life, the Autons descended on the population and brutally killed many, although one lucky survivor was Rose’s mother, Jackie.

This invasion in “Rose” was a great way for Doctor Who to return to screens after decades off the air, and it was a moment that humanity wouldn’t forget quickly. One moment, everything was peaceful, and people were happily shopping, but within seconds, families were being slaughtered by the Nestene’s animated footmen. Those affected should have remembered this forever, although they probably forced themselves to ignore any mannequins while shopping afterwards.

8 The Slitheen Take Over Downing Street

"Aliens Of London" & "World War Three" (2005)

The first season of Doctor Who after its 2005 reboot was a busy time for Earth invasions. The Slitheen made their first appearance in the episode “Aliens of London,” which saw their ship crash into Big Ben and plummet into the River Thames. This was publicly broadcast for the world to see, and there was constant coverage of the ship’s mysterious arrival throughout the entire escapade.

The world unknowingly watched as the real threat bartered for nuclear launch codes and huddled in fear over what the fallout would look like. At the end of “World War Three,” 10 Downing Street was blown up, and Doctor Who technically broke the Geneva Convention, something that the population should have never forgotten. These events led to Harriet Jones’ campaign for Prime Minister, although many seemed to forget her experience with aliens when it came to her downfall at the hands of the Doctor in “The Christmas Invasion”.

7 Humans With A+ Blood Climb To The Roof

"The Christmas Invasion" (2005)

Christmas Day 2006 was hectic in London, especially when a third of the world’s population randomly climbed to the roof of the nearest building while possessed by the Sycorax. The species’ ship loomed above the city and taunted humanity in “The Christmas Invasion,” the Doctor’s first story in his tenth incarnation, and when the Sycorax found a sample of A+ human blood on a space probe, they used it to control them.

With such numerous people at risk, including the British Royal Family, the UK faced one of the most stressful Christmas Days of their lives. Many were in a panic as they tried to talk their loved ones down from the edge, whereas others didn’t recall it at all as they were in a trance. A majority of humanity should have remembered this Doctor Who Christmas forever, even if it was just because it snowed after the aliens left.

6 The Domination Of Cybus Industries

"Rise Of The Cybermen" & "Age Of Steel" (2006)

While John Lumic’s EarPods initially seemed like a groundbreaking invention, the surviving residents of Pete’s World highly regretted purchasing them by the end of “Age of Steel.” The Cybus Industries invention allowed the company to control the free will of anyone who wore them and gain whatever personal data they wished to access.

The EarPods eventually took over the brains of the wearers and forced them to walk the streets in a trance and straight toward the nearest conversion center. Those who hadn’t jumped on the EarPods trend, if they were fortunate enough to be missed by the villainous metal men, were forced to watch Cybermen line the streets and march others straight to their deaths. Lumic was stopped, and humanity may have carried on peacefully, but those who paid attention would know that there were other Cyber factories out there with millions of inactive Cybermen.

5 Ghosts & The Daleks Vs. The Cybermen

"Army Of Ghosts" & "Doomsday" (2006)

With the exception of Donna Noble, who was scuba diving in Spain at the time, the entire world should have remembered the skies of Earth full of Daleks and Cybermen. Humanity was amazed when their loved ones came back to visit them in the form of blurry ghosts in “Army of Ghosts,” but it was later revealed that these figures were actually Cybermen.

Inside Torchwood, the Cult of Skaro emerged, and a full-blown war kicked off between the two of Doctor Who’s best recurring villains. As both tyrannous groups killed off as many of each other as possible, the streets below suffered too, and many humans were needlessly killed either in the crossfire or directly by the Cybermen and Daleks. The Battle of Canary Wharf’s list of the dead was monumental, but there was also damage to the entire world because of the millions of Daleks and Cybermen that were violently ripped across the planet and into the void, creating what should have been a lasting legacy.

4 The Sontarans Poison Earth With ATMOS

"The Sontaran Strategem" & "The Poison Sky" (2008)

While a lot of humanity didn’t realize that an alien invasion was happening in “The Sontaran Stratagem” and “The Poison Sky,” they did remember choking on the poisonous gas that emitted from their cars’ ATMOS. The system was a creation of the Sontarans’, who were using it to poison the Earth with clone feed for a brand-new army.

Although Planet Earth was none the wiser about the Sontarans’ presence, they knew that ATMOS spitting out dangerous fumes at them wasn’t normal. Humanity might have put these events down to global warming and general pollution, although the sheer amount of it and the chaos it caused clearly proved otherwise. The Doctor also ignited the atmosphere to burn the clone feed, and it should have been incredibly difficult for anyone who looked out the window not to spot it.

3 The Daleks Test The Reality Bomb

"The Stolen Earth" & "Journeys End" (2008)

Out of all of Doctor Who’s invasions on Earth, humanity should remember the events of “The Stolen Earth” and “Journey’s End” more than any other. The sudden arrival of dozens of planets in the sky was impossible to miss, and the Daleks’ domination of suburban streets resulted in the deaths of many.

The Daleks used the humans to test out the Reality Bomb, and several people perished either during the experiments or were shot down when they refused to follow orders. These events impacted human history, especially for Adelaide Brooke, who went on to be the commander of Bowie Base One after a Dalek spared her as a child during this time. The trauma of these events might have forced humanity to forget for their own peace of mind, but the one person who definitely didn’t remember it was Donna Noble.

2 The CyberKing Invades Victorian London

"The Next Doctor" (2008)

The Cyber invasion of Victorian London in “The Next Doctor,” an initially implied a multi-Doctor story, was briefly forgotten by humanity, but it was later remembered. The CyberKing was a ship that looked exactly like a Cyberman, which, when activated, menacingly towered above London. Because of the CyberKing’s size, it was physically impossible for anyone nearby not to see it.

The huge structure tore through the city, creating a panic on the ground below, splashing water from the Thames and crushing anything in its path. The Eleventh Doctor was later surprised in “Flesh and Stone” that nobody remembered this, but after the Big Bang Two, the cracks in time were sealed, and these forgotten events were reestablished, as he confirmed in The Sarah Jane Adventures. Despite this brief blip, it was possible that history books simply thought this moment was so unbelievable that it was ignored.

1 The Toymaker Manipulates Humanity's Minds

"The Giggle" (2023)

“The Giggle” saw the most recent invasion of Earth in Doctor Who, although it was humanity itself that was creating problems. The Toymaker in Doctor Who was always a manipulative and tricky figure, but in “The Giggle,” he drove humans to insanity, made them turn on one another, and caused them to believe that they were always right.

UNIT would notably remember these events, especially because of the Toymaker singing the Spice Girls, but also because of the destruction humanity caused to itself. Doctor Who season 14 didn’t mention this outside of UNIT afterward, and it seemed that the Toymaker’s meddling didn’t cause much lasting impact, although this could be because there was no visible threat for humans to pin the blame onto. Still, it was likely that the population remembered the overall chaos of the situation.

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  The latest season of Doctor Who introduces the Fifteenth Doctor, joined by new companion Ruby Sunday. Their first adventure begins with "The Church on Ruby Road," where they face powerful new foes and unravel the mystery surrounding Ruby's origins. The Doctor grapples with the aftermath of a unique regeneration event and battles enemies more formidable than ever before.

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  Doctor Who (1963) is a British science fiction television show that follows the adventures of the Time Lord known as the Doctor, who travels through time and space in the TARDIS, a time-traveling ship disguised as a British police box. The Doctor, played by various actors over the years, encounters numerous foes and allies while striving to right wrongs and save civilizations.