Doctor Who Season 15’s Huge Ex-Doctor Cameo Explained

Review

Warning: Spoilers ahead for Doctor Who season 15, episode 5, «The Story and the Engine.»While continuing Doctor Who season 15’s theme of supernatural encounters, «The Story and the Engine» also brings back a previous iteration of the show’s main character who only recently left the show. I’m speaking, of course, about Jo Martin’s Fugitive Doctor. After making her debut in 2020 as the then-latest in a long line of actors to play the Doctor, Martin reprised her role in another three episodes and hasn’t been seen since 2022’s «The Power of The Doctor.» The Fugitive Doctor’s season 15 cameo comes out of nowhere and is over just as quickly, but holds a lot of meaning.

Martin’s return in the Doctor Who season 15 cast comes as a surprise for several reasons. Her version of the Time Lord was introduced as part of Chris Chibnall’s Timeless Child storyline. The twist retconned the Doctor’s backstory to include countless regenerations from before William Hartnell’s era that can’t be remembered by the show’s main character. Chibnall’s drastic change to the established canon was met with an almost universal uproar among Whovians, and Russell T. Davies has mentioned it only sparingly since his return. Now, it looks as though he wants to address it quite heavily again.

Why Jo Martin's Fugitive Doctor Returns In Doctor Who Season 15

The Fifteenth Doctor briefly summons the memories of a previous regeneration

The Fugitive Doctor only steals the show for a few moments in «The Story and the Engine.» In fact, within the world of the show, she doesn’t return at all. She only resurfaces for the sake of the audience, as it’s actually Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor who is having the conversation with Abena (Michelle Asante). From the moment Fifteen meets Abena, he is sure he recognizes her from somewhere but struggles to remember exactly where. Eventually, Fifteen realizes he met Abena during his time as Jo Martin’s version of the Doctor.

ABENA: «Typical Doctor. Irresponsible»

FIFTEEN: «I have never…Wait…That’s it. Abi, the daughter of Anansi. Abena, that is your full name, isn’t it?»

ABENA: «Don’t you dare speak it. You are not worthy. I grew up trapped with Anansi, terrified someone would win me in a bet. I’d heard about you, traveling through time. I had faith you would help. Instead, you left me. I’m here because of you. You humiliated me, Doctor.»

FIFTEEN: «You look so different now. I am sorry that I couldn’t take you with me.»

FUGITIVE DOCTOR: «I was a fugitive back then. Anansi was wrong to offer that bet. And frankly darling, I was busy in a different story that might be finished one day.»

— Doctor Who season 15, episode 5, «The Story and the Engine.»

Martin appearing as the Doctor to recount her last meeting with Abena is something new for Doctor Who. The show quite often has the current version of the Time Lord discussing occurrences from previous lives without cameos from the relevant former Doctor. However, Martin’s tenure as the Doctor hasn’t been anywhere near as prominent as other actors, so it makes sense that Doctor Who feels the need to jog the audience’s memory about which Doctor Abena met. Not only did their meeting happen offscreen, but words aren’t quite enough to summon the image of who the Fugitive Doctor is.

When The Fugitive Doctor & Abena Met: Timeline Explained

Jo Martin's Doctor was on the run from Division

Placing the Fugitive Doctor’s meeting with Abena on the Doctor’s larger timeline is generally quite easy. Martin’s character was introduced as a version of the Time Lord from before the era of William Hartnell’s First Doctor. So, any interactions she has had, or ever will have, will have taken place before the events of 1963’s «An Unearthly Child,» which was Doctor Who‘s first ever installment. Therefore, Jo Martin’s Doctor must have interacted with Abena the first time around before regenerating into who everyone recognizes as the First Doctor.

It’s not yet been revealed exactly where in the order of pre-Hartnell Doctors that Martin’s iteration falls.

Zeroing in on exactly when before the Hartnell era the meeting with Abena took place is trickier. Thankfully, Martin’s character openly declares in «The Story and the Engine» that she was a fugitive back then, which explains why she was unable to rescue Asante’s character and take her away to safety in the TARDIS. That’s where the trail ends. It’s not yet been revealed exactly where in the order of pre-Hartnell Doctors that Martin’s iteration falls. We know there were countless versions of the Time Lord during this time, but Martin is the only actor to play an established example.

The Fugitive Doctor is on the run from Division, which is a Time Lord organization that enlisted the Doctor as an assassin. This is the life from which Martin’s character was running, which explains why she is especially brash and far more ready to resort to violence than other versions of the Doctor. Her very presence in the show is the clearest view of what the Doctor was like while under the thumb of Division.

Jo Martin's Doctor Who Season 15 Cameo Risks Creating A Timeless Child Plot Hole

The Doctor should not remember Abena from their last encounter

As she was brought into Doctor Who as part of the Timeless Child storyline, Martin’s character opened up several plot holes that then-showrunner Chris Chibnall failed to adequately address. Many of them, he ignored. That said, the one solid piece of lore embedded in the twist was that the First Doctor was a much more definite new beginning for the Time Lord than the regenerations that had preceded it, and would remain just as definite after future transformations. In short, Division wiped the Doctor’s mind after serving the black-ops group, so he doesn’t remember anything from before the Hartnell era.

Because this encounter was pre-Hartnell, Fifteen should have no idea who Abena is, but he recognizes her at once and eventually works out where he remembers her from.

At least, that’s how it’s supposed to be. Although the Doctor is now aware he’s missing memories from an unknown number of previous lives, he shouldn’t have access to them. Weirdly, «The Story and the Engine» seems to either forget or ignore that fact. Fifteen speaks to Abena as if he directly remembers being the Fugitive Doctor and meeting Asante’s character for the first time. Because this encounter was pre-Hartnell, Fifteen should have no idea who Abena is, but he recognizes her at once and eventually works out where he remembers her from.

Jo Martin has also reprised her role as the Fugitive Doctor in Doctor Who audio adventures.

Granted, the Doctor’s usually-sharp memory does struggle to identify Abena for an uncharacteristically long time. So, it could be that the Fugitive Doctor’s memories are still in there somewhere and some of them bubble to the surface after being revived by Abena’s presence. While this is certainly possible, «The Story and the Engine» doesn’t do a very good job of communicating whether that is the case or not, nor does Fifteen seem particularly surprised he suddenly has access to memories he previously couldn’t tap into. So, this needs clearing up so the Timeless Child story doesn’t become even more convoluted.

Jo Martin's Return Sets Up Future Doctor Who Appearances

The Fugitive Doctor implies she will be back to finish her story

Because of how divisive the Timeless Child arc was, I wouldn’t have been surprised if Davies had just largely ignored it as Doctor Who surges onward. It was softly retconned when the Toymaker returned in «The Giggle,» but the explanation of the God of Games meddling with the Doctor’s timeline can only repair so much of the damage. So, Jo Martin’s return pretty much confirms Doctor Who is ready to bring the storyline back into the spotlight at some point, and the Fugitive Doctor is a big and recognizable part of that.

Martin’s Doctor even references the possibility of a more substantial return while speaking with Abena. When justifying her decision not to rescue Abena, the Fugitive Doctor says she was busy in a «different story that might be finished one day.» In other words, Fifteen — as it’s actually him who’s speaking — is admitting that the Doctor had very different priorities back then and didn’t prioritize heroics. Not only that, but the suggestion that Martin’s era may be «finished one day» screams to me that Davies wants to revisit that period of the Doctor’s life in Doctor Who‘s immediate future.

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