Eternal return

Eternal return, (PROSE: The Eternal) also known as cyclical time, (PROSE: Diamond Dogs) was the concept that history repeated itself in similar forms countless times. (PROSE: The Eternal)

By some accounts, this was how Gallifreyan history and also time generally functioned. (PROSE: The Infinity Doctors, Cold Fusion) An ancient Gallifreyan proverb stated that “Time moves in circles”, (PROSE: Lungbarrow, The Infinity Doctors) which was literally true due to the shape of time being a coiled spiral. (PROSE: The Infinity Doctors)

Behind the scenes

 * Several of Dr Who's Time Tales posit an eternal return of human history, with technological advances of the future leading to a desolation of Earth which leaves only two humans named Adam and Eve, thus causing history to be circular.