In a series as long running as Doctor Who, there are bound to be episodes that apparently contradict earlier stories. But these conicts can often be resolved to produce an even more satisfying narrative…

Feature by JONATHAN MORRIS

Opposite page: The Timeless Children (2020) revealed a possible new origin for the Time Lords. Below: Dr Who, his companions and his ‘ship’ are described in a three-page outline dated 16 May 1963, over six months before the series began on BBC Television. Inset below, left to right: William Hartnell as the Doctor in a publicity shot for the . rst episode, An Unearthly Child (1963); story editor David Whitaker; his successor, Dennis Spooner.

“Everything we were told was a lie.” So said a recording of the Master at the end of Spyfall Part Two (2020), referring to the founding history of Gallifrey. But his words didn’t just apply to the Doctor and himself. They also applied to the fans. Everything we had been told was a lie. Which, like the best Doctor Who stories, is both exciting and scary. It’s exciting because we’re being teased with new information, new secrets and dramatic revelations that will have us on the edge of our seats. And it’s scary because… well, what if we don’t like it? We’ve followed the Doctor’s adventures for years and have an emotional investment in all the continuity and mythology.

Doctor Who has no single author and has never really had a series bible as such.

What if it contradicts what (we think) has been established in previous stories? What if it doesn’t fi t into our understanding of what parts of the series ‘count’ (our ‘head canon’)? If it contradicts or ‘retcons’ a scene that left us elated or heartbroken, it can feel like we’re being told, “Oh, that thing you cared about? It didn’t actually happen.” It can feel like something is being taken away from us, as if great chunks of our past are detaching themselves like melting icebergs.