The ramifications of the Doctor’s decision to render Ashildr “functionally immortal” at the conclusion of ‘The Girl Who Died’ came home to roost as he found her again, robbing carriages as a Highwayman in 1651 in ‘The Woman Who Lived’.
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While the 17th Century does not appear to be a regular stomping ground for the Doctor, who seems to have a predilection for Victorian times of late, he has enjoyed a few similar encounters you might like to look up…
‘The Visitation’ (1982)
Although he may well have blamed the Great Fire of London on the Terileptils, in all fairness, the Doctor had a little to do with it too. Attempting to get Tegan back to Heathrow, he managed the right place but the wrong time arriving in 1666.
As well as tussling with the Terileptils, he encountered a highwayman and actor named Richard Mace, who was cut from the same cloth as Sam Smith.
It’s also infamously the story where the Doctor’s sonic screwdriver was destroyed (and did not make an appearance again until 1996’s TV movie).
‘The Awakening’ (1984)
Visiting Tegan’s grandfather, the TARDIS crew ran into another threat from the 17th Century – the Malus.
Walled up in the church at Little Hodcombe, this war machine’s malign influence was the first stage of an invasion and caused the recreation of a battle between the Roundheads and Cavaliers to become dangerously realistic.
It also triggered the temporal displacement of another poor soul, the bemused Will Chandler.
‘Silver Nemesis’ (1988)
Richard Maynarde was another displaced citizen of the 17th Century, having travelled forward in time with his mistress on the hunt for the Nemesis statue.
In amongst the dizzy celebratory cocktail of elements thrown together for Doctor Who’s 25th Anniversary, this reformed criminal turned well-meaning servant of the ambitions Lady Peinfote found himself adapting to life on the mean streets of Windsor, 1988.
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