| The following article is written from an Out of Universe perspective. |
Numerous undeveloped stories were conceived for Leftover. These stories were submitted or developed for production, but for various reasons never aired.
Undeveloped stories during the show's run
Series One
To be added.
Series Two
To be added.
Series Three
To be added.
Season Four
To be added.
Proposed Season Five stories
As Leftover was officially cancelled on 20 June 2005, it's fifth season was never produced. The show's producers, however, had already devised plans for future seasons, which could have begun airing as soon as the following spring.
New Team
As Leftover had an ongoing problem with having too many main characters to use from episode to episode, the cast had to be reduced. This controversial decision was made by Ira Steven Behr, as he felt that the issue had gotten out of hand, and they only were allowed 3 main characters, and no-one else was wanting to do it, requiring him to impose this restriction.
Katie Tollinger was kept at Paul Cornell's request, as she was considered the main character of the show. Sarah Jane Smith was also kept due to popularity with the fans. The final main character the writing team chose was Jo Jones, as she was not only also popular with the fans, but provided comic relief that the other characters did not. Melanie Bush was downgraded to a recurring character. They considered having Liz Shaw fill this role, but found the storyline potential more limited with Liz as opposed to Mel, as well as the fact that Cornell felt that she needed to be redeemed in the eyes of fans a little more. Liz was to be written out completely due to Behr's decision to reduce the main cast.
Sarah's Arc
According to Paul Cornell, Sarah Jane Smith would have had a major arc of the season. She was chosen as she was the most popular character out of the Leftover team. The arc was to be a sequel to the previous season's "Miss Winters" trilogy, delving into why Miss Winters was trying to kill Leftover. Cornell approached David Bishop to curate the arc, as he wrote the most popular episode of the trilogy, Ghost Town. Cornell also commented that he considered the possibility that Bishop could have been his successor on Leftover moving forward, if it was renewed for a sixth season.
Bishop's storyline was about an alien worshiping cult who were split into two chapters, both of whom took a great interest in Sarah, claiming she was the herald which precedes the alien arrival. The White Chapter, who wanted to protect Sarah at all costs as they believed the aliens would bring an Age of Enlightenment to the human race. The Crimson Chapter, however, wanted Sarah dead as they believe the aliens are coming to kill everyone. It would also have given Leftover more global stakes, rather than simply just the team trying to save Hollywood each week.
A new recurring character would be introduced this season who would primarily appear in the episodes that were a part of the arc. The character's name would have been Will Sullivan, brother of former companion to the Fourth Doctor and Sarah, Harry Sullivan. He would have befriended Sarah, and helped out Leftover on some of their missions. Two further characters of importance would have been introduced this season. The keeper of the White Chapter, Sir Donald Wakefield, a billionaire who throughout the series who wants nothing more than to travel to space. There was also the keeper of the Crimson Chapter, who was originally going to be an original character, but, due to Cornell wanting it to tie in with the season arc, may have been changed to the Master.
This arc would have consisted of 4 episodes. The first episode would have set up the arc, and been a murder mystery set at a tomb uncovering in Italy. Episode 7 would have Leftover accept the offer from Will to go to Antarctica to see the base, only to find a conspiracy to do with a discovery of what is under the ice. Episode 9 would have been set in the US, where the Crimson Chapter try to cause a deadly virus outbreak. We find out that Will has been a member of the Crimson Chapter this whole time, but has second thoughts. The keeper would convince Will to cary out Sarah's murder, before Jo, who Will correctly identifies as a member of the White Chapter, stops him by shooting him, with the cliffhanger being the Crimson Keeper proceeding to make an attempt on Sarah's life. Episode 10 picks up right after Episode 9 would leave off, resolving the cliffhanger, before Sarah finds out that Jo was Sir Donald's cousin the whole time, and Sarah gets invited to a space flight. Due to Sir Donald dying of cancer, Jo would have taken his place, before a climactic showdown between the final Crimson Chapter member and Sarah and Jo. This would have ended the season in a cliffhanger, but Paul Cornell forbade this, as it involved killing off Jo, as well as the fact that he wanted the final showdown to be with the Master.
"Time's Fabric"-type story
According to Judith Reeves-Stevens, speaking at a convention in 2009, she and her husband had planned to write another story in the same vein as Time's Fabric. The episode would focus on a woman arriving at the Leftover base, who claims to be Katie's daughter from another parallel universe. A universe where Katie had not become a companion of the Doctor. She said that there would have been a mix of scenes set in our universe, and hers, and eventually, they would have been forced apart from each other.
The Master Arc
The main villain of Season Five, if the show were not axed, would have been the Master, according to Ira Steven Behr, in which case he wouldn't have been the main villain of Doctor Who: Season 43. The plan was, at least at time of cancellation, Was for The Master to be tied into Sarah's Arc of The Season, For an episode that was to have The Master kidnapping and interrogating Jo, (Which was later revamped and put into Season 43 but Jo was swapped for The Rani.) And there was for the Master to battle Leftover in an epic two-part finale, where he is elected President of the United States. This plot arc was later incorporated into the Master's aim to take the presidency of the Time Lords in Season 43.
Mel's Source Code Episode
According to Toby Whithouse, in a 2014 Interview, he had planned to pen an episode in Season Five which featured Mel being invited to a new technology development studio where she would have ended up being forced to break some kind of Source Code for a programme. The villains which would be big bat-like creatures disguised as humans. It would have been revealed that these creatures would be trying to break the source code of the universe and they would offer Mel to lead them to true enlightenment. However, in the end, Mel would overcome this and she and him in return blow up the base and stop the bat creatures.
UNIT Alien War Episode
According to Paul Cornell, in a 2013 interview, there was plans to have a UNIT story in Season Five, which would have shown Leftover talking UNIT down from launching the world into an intergalactic war when a missile (from a war that took place in a thousand galaxies away) strikes the planet and kills 5000 people.
This story eventually became the Season 46 opener, Cannon Fodder.
A Mark of a Berserker
In 2010, Joseph Lidster said there were plans for him to write an episode that featured a pendant that when someone touched it, would take over their bodies and soul. This episode was still in the rough conception stage when the series was cancelled in 2005.