The Time Meddler (TV story)

The Time Meddler was the ninth and final story of Season 2 of Doctor Who. This story was the first pseudo-historical: a historical story with science-fiction elements other than the presence of the regular characters and the TARDIS. (Although there were science-fiction elements mixed with historical facts in a portion of The Chase, this was the first full story to combine the two.)

The Monk was the first Time Lord other than the Doctor and Susan to appear in the series, although the term Time Lord would not be invented for another four years. The Monk also became the series' first recurring individual villain.

This story contains the first reference to what will become the Time Lord's non-interference policy. Although the Doctor never mentions it directly, he clearly shuns those who meddle with time. As in The Space Museum, time is shown to be malleable, contradicting the view of time presented in The Reign of Terror. The concept of time would later be enlarged upon in numerous stories including Attack of the Cybermen, Blink, and The Wedding of River Song.

It is evident that this story was produced in the 1960s. All the Monk's possessions are contemporary to that era, and he refers to the TARDIS as a modern police box. Only his gramophone is old fashioned, and that was intended to be a tape recorder in the script.

Synopsis
The Doctor, Vicki, and a new companion, Steven Taylor, arrive in Saxon Northumbria on the eve of the Viking and Norman invasions. It is 1066, a pivotal moment in British history, and the hand of a mysterious Monk is at work in the nearby monastery, intending that history takes a different course.

The Watcher (1)


A bored Vicki is sloping around the TARDIS, clearly missing the company of Ian and Barbara. The Doctor offers to take Vicki back home if she is so unhappy, especially due to the fact that he never really gave her much of a choice when they left Dido. This conversation is interrupted by a sound coming from the TARDIS' living quarters. Convinced that it is a Dalek, the Doctor and Vikci prepare themselves to defend an attack, however instead of a Dalek a human form is revealed to the travelers - that of Steven Taylor who collapses to the ground.

As this revelation is discovered the TARDIS materialises on a rocky shore line. From atop a cliff a monk looks down at the time machine clearly paying it a lot of attention.

Meanwhile in the TARDIS Vicki and the Doctor are helping Steven to re cooperate. Steven explains that as the Mechonoid City collapsed he escaped from the rubble and began to look for the Doctor. Luckily finding his space ship and collapsing before the Doctor and his companions left the planet. As he starts to feel more normal Vicki begins to explain that the TARDIS is a time machine - however Steven is far from convinced and brands the TARDIS an IDBY - I Don't Believe You. Putting his doubts to one side the Doctor suggests that Vicki go and show Steven where to get washed and changed in order for them to go and explore.

In the outside world two humans, dressed in tunics and living in primitive tent like structures are interrupted when another of their party comes to inform them of the fact that a box has landed on the beach - suspecting it to be washed up from a ship wreck. The two men go off to explore it.

The travelers have now disembarked the TARDIS and are exploring their surroundings. Vicki discovers a Viking helmet that the Doctor dates to the tenth or eleventh century and suspects that this is where they have found themselves. Steven remains skeptical saying that the helmet may have been left there as the plaything of a child. The Doctor and his friends decide to go off exploring. The Doctor goes off alone leaving Vicki and Steven to make their own way. As the travelers go off the Monk sneaks out from behind a rock and inspects the outside of the TARDIS, trying the door before moving on. He makes his way up the cliff and makes his way towards a monastery. Contemplatively he enters and locks the door behind him. Soon singing starts.

The two men who have gone to look for the TARDIS are disappointed to discover that the ship is no longer there due to the high tide. The men speculate that the waves have dashed the ship against the rocks.

Later on that day the Doctor is exploring the local area. He stumbles across the homestead of the couple that went to look for the TARDIS. As he begins to snoop around looking for clues of the time he has landed in he turns to have a stick pushed against his throat, trapping him in position. It is discovered that the stick belongs to the wife of the house. She apologises for her rough behaviour saying that you can't be too careful with strangers. She soon becomes very hospitable, offering the Doctor mead and chatting with him. From his conversation with her he discovers that is the Summer of 1066, just the Viking invasions that led to the Battle of Hastings. Whilst the woman is fetching more mead for him, the singing, which has been continuing throughout the Doctor's conversation with the woman, begins to to distort and warp as if it is created by an inhuman voice. The Doctor quickly cross examines the woman guessing that the monastery has only just come back into use and that no one has seen any of the monks. With this information he goes up to explore the mysterious building.

In another area Steven and Vicki are interrupted in their explorations by another figure. They hide in the undergrowth waiting for the man to disappear, however he bends and seems to be inspecting something very closely. Worried that it may be something of theirs Steven confronts the man which ends up in a scuffle. Steven is hit and the man escapes - however Steven has got what the man was looking at. It is a modern day watch.

By this time the Doctor has found his way to the monastery. Little does he know he is being expected by the monk who unlocks the door for him. The Doctor moves throughout the building following the sound of the singing. Eventually he finds the source of the noise - a gramophone attached to a large amplifying device. The Doctor stops the record but before he goes any further bars crash down trapping him in the room. The monk makes his way towards the Doctor laughing manically.

The Meddling Monk (2)
For the character, see The Monk.

The Monk makes the Doctor breakfast with his toaster, electric griddle, and teapot.

Steven and Vicki have spent the night in a clearing and the next morning head off back to the TARDIS, little realising Wulnoth has overheard them. Within minutes they are ambushed by Wulnoth, Eldred, and a band of Saxons and taken to the village council. After a heated discussion they convince Wulnoth they are but travellers and are given some provisions to travel on, though Vicki is equally heartened to hear from Edith that the Doctor passed by her hut on his way to the monastery. Steven and Vicki decide to visit the monastery next to try to find their missing friend. The Monk denies having seen anyone, but gives himself away by describing the Doctor too accurately, and so Steven and Vicki decide he must be a prisoner inside the monastery. They decide to break in after dark.

The Monk has meanwhile been surveying the seas with a telescope and is pleased to finally sight a Viking ship on the horizon. Soon the Vikings land and two small groups are sent to search the area, with one group of three heading toward the Saxon village. One of the Vikings finds and attacks Edith, leaving her traumatised, and in response the Saxons round up a posse and go hunting for the invaders. The three Vikings are drunk when they are found and the giant that attacked Edith is cut down, though his companions Sven and Ulf manage to flee. Eldred has been badly wounded and Wulnoth takes him to the monastery for help.

At the monastery Steven and Vicki steal in under cover of darkness. They too find the gramophone and are stunned. Meanwhile the Monk spies them but is prevented from dealing with them by the arrival of the Saxons at the door bearing the injured Eldred, whom Wulnoth insists be taken into the Monk's care. Steven and Vicki find the Doctor's cell—empty, bar the Doctor's cloak.

A Battle of Wits (3)


Steven and Vicki discover a secret passage, and assuming the Doctor has taken the same passage himself, try to follow him. The Doctor has returned to Edith in the Saxon village. He soon hears of the Viking invasion scouting party (the Monk pumps Eldred for the same information while treating him) and, upon leaving Edith's house, decides to head back to the monastery to track down Steven and Vicki, having learned they have gone there. By chance this is the same course of action the Doctor's companions decide upon, having first discovered an atomic bazooka pointing out to sea at the beach near the TARDIS, though the ship has now been submerged beneath the incoming tide.

The Monk is intent on using the Vikings for his own ends and, once Wulnoth has departed his monastery, produces an elaborate check list that builds to a meeting with King Harold himself. There is another knock at the monastery door and this time it is the Doctor who has the upper hand when the door is answered. Fooled into thinking he is being held at gunpoint, the Monk is marched back inside and is about to answer a few questions when there is yet another knock at the door. When the Doctor and Monk answer they are overpowered by the two Vikings, Sven and Ulf. In the ensuing confrontation the Monk is able to slip away, leaving the Doctor as the Viking prisoner. It is a state of play that does not last long. The Doctor knocks out Sven and then ensures Ulf is securely tied up.

The Monk has meanwhile used his freedom to persuade the villagers to light beacon fires on the cliff tops, lying that he is expecting materials by sea when in fact he wishes to lure the Viking fleet to land nearby. Wulnoth says he will light the fires, but is very suspicious.

Steven and Vicki return to the monastery via the secret passage and investigate the crypt, where a heavy power cable emanates from a sarcophagus. When they look inside, they are flabbergasted: the Monk has his own TARDIS.

Checkmate (4)
The Monk has meanwhile returned to the monastery and is once more under the Doctor's control. He reveals his plan is not to help the Vikings but to lure them to the coast where he hoped to destroy the invasion fleet with atomic bazookas. This would prevent the Viking invasion and thereby shore up King Harold to such an extent he would then not lose the Battle of Hastings. In short, the Monk is a Time Meddler who left the Doctor's own planet some fifty years after the Doctor himself. Steven and Vicki have found further evidence of his meddling in his TARDIS: a journal recording his meeting with Leonardo da Vinci to discuss powered flight, providing anti-gravity lifts to help build Stonehenge, and using time travel to collect a fortune in compound interest from a bank. The Doctor denounces the Monk for seeking to alter history and forces him to reveal his TARDIS, where they find Steven and Vicki. Together the time travellers piece together the Monk's immoral plot, the Monk insisting the plan will stabilise England and benefit Western civilisation.

The Vikings have meanwhile freed themselves from their bonds and decide to avenge themselves on the monks who have imprisoned them. Eldred spots them and, despite his injuries, flees to the village where he raises Wulnoth and a squad of Saxons to deal with the marauders.

At the monastery the tables have turned. Ulf and Sven have formed a contrived alliance with the Monk and have tied up the Doctor's party while the three of them decide to take the neutron grenades down to the cannons on the beach. The scheme is foiled however when the Saxons arrive and engage the fleeing Vikings in a nearby clearing, presumably killing Sven and Ulf in battle.

The Monk hides while this fighting rages, little knowing that the Doctor and his friends have been freed and are tampering with his TARDIS. With his scheme in ruins, the Monk decides to leave and returns his TARDIS. The Doctor has gone and left a note assuring the Monk has meddling days are ended. When the Monk looks inside his TARDIS he realises the Doctor has disabled the dimensional stabiliser and the interior of his ship has shrunk beyond use, leaving him stranded in 1066 with an angry band of Saxons nearby. The tide having gone out, the Doctor and his friends are, however, free to leave in their TARDIS, and journey onward to the stars.

Cast

 * The Doctor - William Hartnell
 * Vicki - Maureen O'Brien
 * Steven Taylor - Peter Purves
 * The Monk - Peter Butterworth
 * Edith - Alethea Charlton
 * Eldred - Peter Russell
 * Wulnoth - Michael Miller
 * Saxon Hunter - Michael Guest
 * Ulf - Norman Hartley
 * Viking Leader - Geoffrey Cheshire
 * Sven - David Anderson
 * Gunnar the Giant - Ronald Rich


 * The Time Meddler Uncredited Cast

Crew

 * Writer - Dennis Spooner
 * Director - Douglas Camfield
 * Producer - Verity Lambert
 * Script Editor - Donald Tosh
 * Designer - Barry Newbury
 * Assistant Floor Manager - Gillian Chardet
 * Costumes - Daphne Dare
 * Fight Arranger - David Anderson
 * Make-Up - Monica Ludkin
 * Make-Up - Sonia Markham
 * Percussion - Charles Botterill
 * Production Assistant - David Maloney
 * Special Sounds - Brian Hodgson
 * Studio Lighting - Ralph Walton
 * Studio Sound - Brian Hiles
 * Studio Sound - Ray Angel
 * Theme Arrangement - Delia Derbyshire
 * Title Music - Ron Grainer

Story notes

 * This is the first story in which the acronym TARDIS is said to stand for "Time and Relative Dimensions in Space", rather than the singular "Dimension" as had been used in An Unearthly Child. This was an error made by Maureen O'Brien during recording, and was retained throughout much of the series' history.
 * The working title for this story was The Monk. The working title of episode 1 was The Paradox.
 * All episodes exist as 16mm telerecordings, though a 12 second sequence showing two Saxons being stabbed to death in episode 4 is still missing from the print. The audio portion of this sequence survives from an off-air recording and is included on the DVD release as a special feature.
 * A print of episode 2 is held in the Film & TV Library. Incomplete prints of all episodes were found in Nigeria in 1985. Complete prints of episodes 1 and 3 were returned to the archive in 1992.
 * Telesnaps for this episode are held by a private collector.
 * During production of this story, new producer John Wiles began taking over production duties.
 * William Hartnell, displeased at the number of changes the production underwent, play-acted throwing a temper tantrum during the rehearsal of this story.
 * No next episode caption is present on episode 4. Instead, an extended version of the theme music is heard as images of the three lead actors appear on screen.
 * Some versions of this story, especially those distributed in the US during the 1980s, cut the sequence in which the Doctor and Vicki discover Steven hiding in the TARDIS.

Ratings

 * The Watcher - 8.9 million viewers
 * The Meddling Monk - 8.8 million viewers
 * A Battle of Wits - 7.7 million viewers
 * Checkmate - 8.3 million viewers

Myths

 * Peter Butterworth was chosen because of his roles in Carry On films. (He did not appear in a Carry On film until August 1965.)
 * The Doctor's race are identified as Gallifreyans. (The word Gallifrey is not used until the Third Doctor story The Time Warrior.)
 * Due to the fact Episode 4 ends with no lead-in to the next serial and instead ends with a unique sign-off showing closeups of the three leads, it's been suggested that perhaps this was at one point expected to be the final episode of the series. (The ending is rather similar to The Reign of Terror, the previous finale, and there is no indication the series was in danger of cancellation at this point, given it was still the height of Dalekmania.)

Filming locations

 * Ealing Television Film Studios

Production errors

 * A deadbolt lock can be seen in the monastery door in episode one, albeit without any handles attached to it.
 * The blankets seen at the beginning of episode three don't match those seen in episode two.
 * When Steven acquires the watch, after the fight in the first episode, he asks Vicki "still think this is 10th century England?". The year is 1066, so therefore it's the 11th century. This could be a character mistake, not a production error. It's neither. At this point in the story, only the Doctor knows the year for certain, so Steven only has the Viking helmet and the Doctor's musings at the beginning of the story to go on. Call it an estimation.

Continuity

 * At the outset of the story, the Doctor and Vicki discuss the departure of Ian and Barbara in The Chase, and the Doctor mentions his granddaughter Susan. Later, the Doctor regrets that Barbara could not be there to see (and, no doubt, fill in the facts of) this period of history.
 * The Meddling Monk again returns during DW: The Daleks' Master Plan, in the novel NA: No Future, and in the audio story BFA: The Book of Kells.
 * Steven stows away onboard the TARDIS at the end of the previous story, DW: The Chase.
 * Vicki refers to their visit to New York during the events of DW: The Chase, including the Empire State Building.
 * The Doctor's handwriting is completely different from that in DW: The Sensorites.
 * The Eighth Doctor and his companion Mary Shelley would later meet Harold Godwinson during the Battle of Hastings. (BFA: Mary's Story) While in his sixth incarnation, the Doctor and Peri Brown encountered Harold, who was then operating under the alias of "Hereward the Wake", in the aftermath of the battle. (DWAN: The Real Hereward)

Timeline

 * This story takes place after DW: The Chase
 * This story takes place before DWM: Are You Listening?

DVD releases

 * Region 2 4 February 2008


 * PAL -


 * Region 4 2 April 2008


 * PAL -


 * Region 1 5 August 2008


 * NTSC -

Contents:
 * Verity Lambert Obituary - A concise essay looking back at the career of one of Doctor Who's co-creators
 * The Lost Twelve Seconds - A small part of Episode Four is still missing, and this short item uses an off-air audio recording and an original script to place the missing 12 seconds in context
 * Restoration - Featurette showing the techniques used in the restoration of this story
 * Stripped for Action - The First Doctor - A look back at the First Doctor's colourful comic strip adventures
 * Verity Lambert Photo Gallery
 * Radio Times Listing (PDF)
 * Production Notes Subtitles
 * Photo Gallery
 * Audio Commentary by producer Verity Lambert, Peter Purves (Steven Taylor), story editor Donald Tosh and designer Barry Newbury, moderated by Clayton Hickman

Rear Credits:
 * Starring William Hartnell with Peter Purves and Maureen O'Brien
 * Written by Dennis Spooner
 * Produced by Verity Lambert
 * Directed by Douglas Camfield

Notes:
 * Restored for DVD release by Doctor Who Restoration Team

VHS releases
This story was released as "Doctor Who: The Time Meddler".
 * UK Release: June 2000 / US Release: October 2003
 * PAL - BBC Video BBCV7275
 * NTSC - Warner Video E1854
 * It was released as part of The First Doctor Collection in the UK.
 * It was released as part of The End of the Universe Collection in the US.


 * Editing for VHS and DVD releases was completed by Doctor Who Restoration Team.

Novelisation and its audiobook

 * Main article: The Time Meddler (novelisation)


 * This story was novelised as The Time Meddler by Nigel Robinson in 1988.