Cuthbert Simpson

Cuthbert Simpson was a Time Lord who pursued the Eighth Doctor. He became the butler to George and Elizabeth Wallace in Banquo Manor.

Finding the Doctor
Using quantum extrapolation, the Time Lords predicted where the Doctor would next visit. There were several hundred possibilities. Simpson was sent to Banquo Manor in 1898. He served there for a century before the Doctor's arrival. During this time, Simpson set up an Artron inhibitor to drain the Artron energy from the Doctor's TARDIS should it land. Another of its effects was to prevent any nearby Time Lords from regenerating.

At Banquo Manor
Simpson had his own room under the stairs. He resented visitors entering. The room was well organised with everything in neat piles. When Richard Harries arrived to perform his experiments at the manor, all the staff apart from Simpson and the maid, Beryl Green, were dismissed. Simpson implanted Harries' rats with nano-cams and used them to keep tabs on the residents.

Simpson was present at Harries' experiment. Harries was killed when his headset overloaded; Simpson helped retrieve the body when it fell into the fiery wreckage of the machine. He was interviewed by Inspector Ian Stratford and his colleague, Sergeant Baker; they were treating the death as murder.

Simpson informed Ian that he had seen Dr. Friedlander (the Doctor) and his associate, Fitz Kreiner, near Harries' lab in the conservatory, shortly before his death. When Friedlander went for a walk, Simpson attacked him and believed that he had killed him.

Simpson and Beryl found the body of Harries returned to its former place in the master bedroom. It was believed to have been stolen. Simpson left Beryl to recover from the shock while he went to tell Stratford. On their return, Beryl was found dead.

Simpson fetched the manor's shotgun for Stratford after the murder of George and Elizabeth. He used it to shoot Harries' re-animated body. Harries then knocked him through a banister, breaking his leg. Friedlander joined them, unaware who had attacked him.

Stratford and Hopkinson carried him as they ran. The residents barricaded themselves into the room. Friedlander deduced that when Catherine fell unconscious during the experiment, connection was made with Harries. He was acting as her subconscious dictated. She halted him by thinking hard. Simpson was unable to move easily due to his leg injury.

Catherine left with Harries. She was controlling him all along, having the residents killed. Harries returned and tore Simpson's eyes out. He then escaped with the rest through the window. However, the others climbed down; Simpson's injuries meant that he fell and was gravely injured. Despite his blindness he was still able to see via the rats. He then seemingly died of his injuries, unable to regenerate due to his Artron inhibitor.

Gaining the code
However, Simpson had not died; it took him fifty years to recover from his injuries and another twenty to find Susan Seymour. He visited her and she gave him the randomiser seed code for the Doctor's TARDIS and the accounts of her late husband, Hopkinson and also those of Richard Harries. Simpson could only read these via the nano-cams in the rats. He then transmitted this information to Gallifrey. (PROSE: The Banquo Legacy)

Personality
Most thought Simpson to be constantly smug. John Hopkinson considered his voice to have a condescending tone. He faithfully served George, attending to his problems and helping him out.

Although he maintained his normal tone of voice, Simpson was upset at the death of Beryl. Even near death, he refused to give the Doctor the inhibitor and when he finally learnt the Doctor's randomiser seed, Simpson looked forward to returning home. (PROSE: The Banquo Legacy)