The Fugitive Doctor | |
---|---|
Doctor Who character | |
First appearance | "Fugitive of the Judoon" (2020) |
Last appearance | "The Power of the Doctor" (2022) |
Introduced by | Chris Chibnall |
Portrayed by | Jo Martin |
Information | |
Appearances | 4 stories (4 episodes) |
Companions |
|
Chronology |
The Fugitive Doctor [lower-alpha 1] is an incarnation of the Doctor, [5] [6] [7] [8] the protagonist of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who . She is portrayed by the English actress Jo Martin, the first person of colour to play the role. [9]
Within the programme's narrative, the Doctor is a Time Lord, from the planet Gallifrey. The Doctor travels in a time-travelling space ship, the TARDIS. Possessing alien physiology, the Doctor, when critically injured, can regenerate into a new body, gaining a new physical appearance and personality. This plot device has allowed a number of actors, both male and female, to portray the Doctor through the decades. Each actor to play the Doctor offers a different take on the Doctor's essential personality.
It was initially unknown where this incarnation, who is encountered during the Thirteenth Doctor's (Jodie Whittaker) era, fit within the show's fictional chronology, although many commenters speculated that she was from the Doctor's past, prior to the First Doctor. [7] [10] [11] It was confirmed so in "Once, Upon Time" (2021) from a period that was erased from the Doctor's memory, along with multiple other incarnations. The Thirteenth Doctor first encounters her on Earth, where she had hidden herself from the Time Lords, for whom she had been compelled to work as part of the mysterious "Division".
The Fugitive Doctor is the darkest incarnation of the character, with an acerbic tongue and a short temper. [12] She is a battle-hardened figure who does not suffer fools gladly, with an authoritative and composed demeanour who will happily use weapons specifically her sonic gun rather than the sonic screwdriver that she later uses when shes developed a conscience in future regenerations.
The Fugitive Doctor first appears in "Fugitive of the Judoon", disguised as human tour guide Ruth Clayton by means of a Chameleon Arch. As Ruth, she lives alongside her "husband" Lee in 21st century Gloucester with no knowledge of her true nature. The Judoon locate her and invade the city, intending to present her to Galifreyan Commander Gat. [5] Lee, a fellow Time Lord and fugitive, directs Ruth to a lighthouse, where her previous identity is restored. [13] At the same time, the Thirteenth Doctor finds a police box buried in the grounds – Ruth's TARDIS. As they reveal their identities to one another it transpires that neither Doctor recognises the other, leading to confusion between the pair as they both assumed the other was a future version of themselves. After tricking Gat into accidentally killing herself with a malfunctioning gun, the Fugitive Doctor parts with her other self acrimoniously. [14]
She reappears in "The Timeless Children", when the Thirteenth Doctor is trapped in the Matrix by the Master. He informs her that she is the Timeless Child, and had lived many lives prior to what she believed to be her first incarnation. In trying to escape and reconcile this knowledge with her identity, she encounters a projection of the Fugitive Doctor. [15] The projection reminds her that she has never previously been defined by her past before disappearing. [16]
The Fugitive Doctor reappears in "Once, Upon Time". [17] In that episode, the Thirteenth Doctor has been cast back into her past timestream to her previous visit to the Temple of Atropos, where she last confronted the Ravagers known as Swarm and Azure. Thirteen finds she has no memory of the events, but upon spotting her reflection in a mirrored wall panel sees she is in her Fugitive Doctor incarnation. The Thirteenth Doctor learns that the Fugitive Doctor had led a team of Division operatives, including the Lupari officer Karvanista, to capture the two Ravagers and uses her past self's methods as an inspiration to fix the situation in the present.
In "The Vanquishers", Karvanista finally reveals to the Thirteenth Doctor that he was actually once the Fugitive Doctor's companion. However, she abandoned him at some point, which has made him bitter towards the Doctor. Karvanista is unable to tell the Thirteenth Doctor anything about her past as the Fugitive Doctor because the Division has implanted a device in his brain that will kill him if he tries. The Doctor later recovers a fob watch containing all of her lost memories, but she chooses to deposit it deeper into the TARDIS for safe-keeping until a time that she really needs it, rather than recovering those lost memories.
The Fugitive Doctor reappears in "The Power of the Doctor" as an AI hologram which is used to trick The Master after he has stolen the Doctor's body. The Fugitive Doctor assists Yaz and Vinder to bring the Doctor back.
On 23 April 2022, Big Finish Productions announced that Jo Martin would reprise her role for The Fugitive Doctor Adventures , a series of Doctor Who audio dramas following her incarnation of the Doctor after the events of "Fugitive of the Judoon". [18]
Unlike all other incarnations of the character, Martin's Doctor will readily make use of available weaponry to decisively end conflict. She exhibited this violent streak when she attacked a Judoon, before manipulating a foe into unknowingly killing themselves with it. [14]
The character is intended to hark back to earlier Doctors, to suggest that she is from the Thirteenth Doctor's past. She declines to use a sonic screwdriver and refers to the TARDIS as her "ship", much like the First Doctor. [13] The interior of her TARDIS is also modelled after the set used in the 1960s, with white walls and an identical central console. [12] [19] The Fugitive Doctor didnt disown the name of Doctor like the War Doctor did because she didnt want to make the promise of "never cruel or cowardly, never give up, never give in" in the first place, like the name would later become, hence her darker nature. Both incarnations being labelled by words "War" and "Fugitive" and not being numbered demonstrates their characters lessened moral compass with the War Doctor and absent with the fugitive.
Her costume was designed by Ray Holman to reflect her sterner nature. Black combat trousers and boots both hint at a Doctor accustomed to fighting and call back to the costume of the Twelfth Doctor. A dark-coloured Scottish tweed waistcoat and frock coat, with a period cut after the classic Doctors, add to the suggestion of a fiercer incarnation. [20] A brightly coloured shirt with a stand collar and frilled cuffs provide a contrast to hint at the Doctor's eccentricity [15] and were made from African Kente cloth as a tribute to the actor's heritage and the significance of her casting. This Doctor has also occasionally worn a pair of yellow sunglasses with this outfit. [20]
Jo Martin was cast as the programme's first black Doctor, a milestone which met with much praise from commentators. [21] [22]
It was not announced prior to the broadcast of the character's first appearance in "Fugitive of the Judoon" that a new Doctor would be debuting. Promotional materials credited Jo Martin only as playing Ruth, while she herself was not told that she would be playing the Doctor until she was offered the part after her audition. She was then only able to tell her husband the character she was playing. [12]
Martin's performance as the Fugitive Doctor has been lauded by critics, [2] [23] with some expressing their desire to see more of the character on screen. [16] [24] Conversely, Merryana Salem of Junkee criticised the reveal that the Doctor had previously been a woman as undermining Whittaker’s significance as the first female incarnation. [25]
I'll refrain from delving too deeply into what Jo Martin's "Impossible Doctor" means
The First Doctor is the original incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by actor William Hartnell in the first three series from 1963 to 1966 and the tenth anniversary story The Three Doctors from 1972 to 1973. The character would occasionally appear in the series after Hartnell's death, most prominently as portrayed by Richard Hurndall in the 1983 multi-doctor special The Five Doctors, and as portrayed by David Bradley in the 2017 Twelfth Doctor episodes "The Doctor Falls" and "Twice Upon a Time" and in the 2022 Thirteenth Doctor episode "The Power of the Doctor", the latter previously having portrayed Hartnell himself in the 2013 biopic An Adventure in Space and Time.
The Judoon are a fictional extraterrestrial species of mercenary police from the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who and its spin-offs, first appearing in the Series 3 episode "Smith and Jones" (2007).
Jo Martin is a British actress. She played Natalie Crouch in the BBC One sitcom The Crouches, which aired between 2003 and 2005. She joined the cast of Holby City in 2019 as neurosurgeon Max McGerry. Martin portrayed an incarnation of the Doctor known as the Fugitive Doctor in Doctor Who.
The Thirteenth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. She is played by Jodie Whittaker, the first woman to portray the character, in three series as well as five specials.
Yasmin "Yaz" Khan is a fictional character created by Chris Chibnall and portrayed by Mandip Gill in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. In the show's eleventh series, starting with the first episode, Yasmin serves as a companion of the Thirteenth Doctor, an incarnation of the alien time traveller known as the Doctor ; she would part ways with the Doctor in "The Power of the Doctor", the Thirteenth Doctor's final episode, and was the last person with her before she regenerated on her own. She is one of just two full-time companions to be present throughout the entirety of an incarnation's tenure, the other being Rose Tyler who starred alongside Christopher Eccleston's Ninth Doctor.
"Rosa" is the third episode of the eleventh series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who. It was written by Malorie Blackman and executive producer Chris Chibnall, and directed by Mark Tonderai, and was first broadcast on BBC One on 21 October 2018.
The twelfth series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who premiered on 1 January 2020 and aired until 1 March 2020. It is the second series to be led by Chris Chibnall as head writer and executive producer, alongside executive producer Matt Strevens, the twelfth to air after the programme's revival in 2005, and the thirty-eighth season overall. The twelfth series was broadcast on Sundays, except for the premiere episode, continuing the trend from the eleventh series. Prior to the eleventh series, regular episodes of the revived era were commonly broadcast on Saturdays. The series was followed by the 2021 New Year's Day special, "Revolution of the Daleks".
"Resolution" is an episode of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who. It was written by showrunner, head writer and executive producer Chris Chibnall, directed by Wayne Yip, and was first broadcast on BBC One on 1 January 2019. The special follows the eleventh series as a New Year's Day special episode, instead of the traditional annual Christmas special. "Resolution" was the only episode of Doctor Who to air in 2019, preceding the twelfth series in 2020.
"Fugitive of the Judoon" is the fifth episode of the twelfth series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who, first broadcast on BBC One on 26 January 2020. It was written by Vinay Patel and Chris Chibnall, and directed by Nida Manzoor.
The thirteenth series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who, known collectively as Flux, was broadcast from 31 October to 5 December 2021. The series is the third and last to be led by Chris Chibnall as head writer and executive producer. It is the thirteenth to air following the programme's revival in 2005, and the thirty-ninth season overall. The series, initially announced in November 2019, was the last to be broadcast on Sunday nights, continuing the trend set by the previous two series. It was followed by three associated specials, all of which aired in 2022.
"The Haunting of Villa Diodati" is the eighth episode of the twelfth series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who, first broadcast on BBC One on 16 February 2020. It was written by Maxine Alderton, and directed by Emma Sullivan. The episode stars Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor, alongside Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole and Mandip Gill as her companions, Graham O'Brien, Ryan Sinclair and Yasmin Khan, respectively. The episode is about the historical origins of the 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley, portrayed by Lili Miller, and takes place at the Villa Diodati in 1816 where she was inspired to write the work. The episode also featured the return of the Cybermen in their first television appearance since the tenth series finale "The Doctor Falls" (2017). The episode was watched by 5.07 million viewers, and received positive reviews from critics.
"The Timeless Children" is the tenth and final episode of the twelfth series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who, first broadcast on BBC One on 1 March 2020. It was written by Chris Chibnall, and directed by Jamie Magnus Stone. It is the second of a two-part story; the previous episode, "Ascension of the Cybermen", aired on 23 February.
"Revolution of the Daleks" is a special episode of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who, first broadcast on BBC One on 1 January 2021. It was written by Chris Chibnall, and directed by Lee Haven Jones. The episode follows the twelfth series as a New Year’s Day special, continuing on from "The Timeless Children" (2020).
"Once, Upon Time", prefixed frequently with either "Chapter Three" or "Flux", is the third episode of the thirteenth series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who, and of the six-episode serial known collectively as Doctor Who: Flux. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 14 November 2021. It was written by showrunner and executive producer Chris Chibnall, and directed by Azhur Saleem.
"Survivors of the Flux", prefixed frequently with either "Chapter Five" or "Flux", is the fifth and penultimate episode of the thirteenth series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who, and of the six-episode serial known collectively as Doctor Who: Flux. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 28 November 2021. It was written by showrunner and executive producer Chris Chibnall, and directed by Azhur Saleem.
"The Vanquishers", prefixed frequently with either "Chapter Six" or "Flux", is the sixth and final episode of the thirteenth series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who, and of the six-episode serial known collectively as Doctor Who: Flux. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 5 December 2021. It was written by showrunner and executive producer Chris Chibnall, and directed by Azhur Saleem.
Karvanista is a recurring character in British science fiction series Doctor Who. The character made his first appearance during the episode "The Halloween Apocalypse" in the thirteenth series otherwise entitled as Flux. Karvanista is played by actor Craige Els. It was revealed that Karvanista was a companion to the Fugitive Doctor in "Once, Upon Time".
The Fourteenth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. He is portrayed by Scottish actor David Tennant, who previously portrayed the Tenth Doctor and was last seen on the programme in that role in 2013.
Ruth and Lee, are in fact another Doctor and her companion
Lee had been her companion
she is definitively the Doctor
The Timeless Child became an agent for "The Division," the Time Lord C.I.A. basically, and it was during this period of time that the Doctor was Ruth and hid on Earth and all that.
she had a past regeneration she couldn't remember
Ruth and Lee Clayton are two Time Lords