Why The Doctor Who Episode The God Complex Was Removed From Streaming

Season 6 of the 2005 "Doctor Who" revival is now missing an important episode. "The God Complex," a spooky hotel story that ranked among TVLine's best modern "Who" episodes, has been removed from the BBC streaming service iPlayer. 

The BBC's decision comes down to one specific actor involved in the episode. David Walliams, who plays the alien character Gibbis, is facing multiple allegations of sexual misconduct involving women and girls as young as 15. The BBC has responded to this news by scrubbing many of his projects from its streaming services. 

"These are serious allegations," a BBC spokesperson said in a statement (via Radio Times). "The BBC is looking carefully at all material featuring and written by David Walliams on our platforms. We are in the process of removing some programmes, including 'Little Britain,' whilst this review is underway."

While "Doctor Who" fans are sparing no tears for David Walliams himself, they have been critical of the decision to remove the episode from iPlayer. "This nonsense about changing or hiding art after the fact because a bad person was involved needs to end," one Redditor wrote on the "Who"-focused subreddit r/Gallifrey. 

Fans pointed out that plenty of other actors and writers involved with "Doctor Who" have since faced serious sexual misconduct allegations. Neil Gaiman, for instance, wrote one episode in Season 6 and another in Season 7; neither episode has been removed, despite Gaiman being accused of a string of disturbing sexual assault allegations in the past few years.

Another fan complaint is that removing "The God Complex" undermines the overall arc of Season 6. The episode features the major plot development of companions Amy (Karen Gillan) and Rory (Arthur Darvill) deciding to stop traveling with the Doctor (Matt Smith). With "The God Complex" cut out, first-time viewers watching on iPlayer might be confused when they jump from Episode 10 to Episode 12, only to find the Doctor suddenly traveling alone. It's a frustrating development for Whovians, who are already struggling after Disney Plus dropped their show last year. 

All is not lost for fans of "The God Complex," however. Not only is the episode still available at its American streaming home, AMC+, but there's a good chance the episode's removal is not permanent. "Doctor Who" has been through this sort of situation once before, after all, with the Season 2 episode "Fear Her."

That episode (which, notably, is both less important to the season's overall arc and far, far less beloved by fans) was removed from iPlayer in August 2024 because it featured a voice cameo from Welsh news presenter Huw Edwards. Edwards was charged with and later pled guilty to possession and distribution of indecent images of children.

Although fans complained that it was overkill to remove the entire episode due to a brief voice cameo, the move turned out to be temporary. After six months off iPlayer, "Fear Her" was reinstated with Edwards' voice dubbed over. It'll be harder for BBC to do the same thing with "The God Complex" — Walliams' role is far more substantial than Edwards' was — but it does offer some hope. Perhaps, in some shape or form, "The God Complex" will be back on iPlayer soon.