A 6–0 thrashing at the hands of Peter Ebdon ended Doherty's International Championship at the first round stage and he lost 6–3 to Mark Davis in the second round of the 2015 UK Championship, having whitewashed Tony Drago 6–0 in the opener. His best runs of the season were a pair of last 32 exits at the German Masters and Welsh Open, 5–1 to Stephen Maguire and 4–2 to Joe Perry respectively. His end of season ranking of 57 was the lowest of his 26-year professional career. He had two last 16 showings during the 2016–17 season and would have dropped off the tour at the end of the season as he was outside of the top 64 in the world rankings. However, the day before the 2017 World Championship started it was announced that Doherty would receive an invitational tour card for the next two years.