Bristol was a city in and ceremonial county in England. It was home to the Twelfth Doctor's companion, Bill Potts. The Doctor's own place of work for several decades, St Luke's University, underneath which he hid a mysterious vault, was located in Bristol.
Geography
Bristol was located in England, near the River Severn and the Avon valley. (PROSE: Rags) It was located just across the Bristol Channel from Cardiff. (TV: Army of Ghosts)
Bristol's landmarks included Clifton Suspension Bridge. (PROSE: Reckless Engineering) The city was known to have had at least two universities: St Luke's University (TV: The Pilot) and Bristol University. (PROSE: Rags)
Totterdown was a district of Bristol, on a steep hill south of the river, which was largely damaged by bombing in World War II. Against the district's brightly coloured houses remained an "eccentric wasteland". (PROSE: Rags)
Local businesses included Redcliffe Lettings and The Fabric Mill. (TV: Knock Knock) The Money Tree was a wine bar in the city's financial district. The Ragged Staff was the name of at least three pubs in Bristol. (PROSE: Rags) Debbie's Kebab Chalet was located on or near the St Luke's campus. (AUDIO: Dead Media)
Streets in the city included Bath Road, (PROSE: Rags) Cardinal Road and Mill Lane. (TV: Knock Knock) The Arnos Vale cemetery was located down Bath Road. (PROSE: Rags)
Bill Potts lived in at least two homes within the Bristol area. The first was a flat she shared with her foster mother, (TV: The Pilot) and the second, although for only a short time, was 11 Cardinal Road. (TV: Knock Knock, Extremis)
History
18th century
In 1756, Sir Geoffrey Balsam owned a brassworks on the outskirts of Bristol. Gorembe was one of the many slaves who was forced to work there. (AUDIO: The Behemoth)
20th century
Sometime after escaping the Forge Alpha Facility in 1915, two vampires named Matthew and William Moore bought a theatre in Bristol. (PROSE: Project: Valhalla)
Before being taken through the Cardiff Rift on 18 December 1953, Emma-Louise Cowell lived in Bristol. (TV: Out of Time)
The First Doctor, Susan Foreman, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright attended a performance of The Crucible by Arthur Miller in Bristol on 9 November 1954. (PROSE: The Witch Hunters)
In the 1970s, the Unwashed visited a Bristol cemetery as part of their Unwashed and Unforgiving Tour. Revellers were led by the Ragman to kill everyone at The Money Tree bar. They were later stopped by the Third Doctor. (PROSE: Rags)
21st century
In 2001, Nimrod came to Bristol to kill William Moore. He attended a play which had been directed by Moore and stayed after the audience and actors had left. He confronted Moore on the stage and shot a stake through his heart. (PROSE: Project: Valhalla)
In 2008, Jen vanished in Bristol after playing Combat 3000. She had been kidnapped by Uvlavad Kudlak but was saved by Sarah Jane Smith and her friends. After this she returned to Earth. (TV: Warriors of Kudlak)
In 2009, calls to the emergency services from Bristol City Centre suggested that children were pointing at the sky. (TV: Children of Earth: Day Three)
The Twelfth Doctor accidentally landed the TARDIS in Bristol when trying to get Clara Oswald home for a date with Danny Pink. After the TARDIS was shrunk, they encountered and defeated the Boneless, who had killed several local humans. (TV: Flatline)
The Twelfth Doctor later returned to Bristol with Nardole, where they spent a number of decades guarding a vault beneath the campus of St Luke's University. It was here, in 2016, where he first encountered Bill Potts. (TV: The Pilot)
Alternative timelines
Blood Heat
In an alternate timeline where Earth was ruled by the Silurians in 1993, Ace located the ruins of Bristol and nearly fell from Clifton Suspension Bridge. (PROSE: Blood Heat)
Reckless Engineering
In another alternate timeline, the Eighth Doctor, Anji Kapoor and Fitz Kreiner visited a post-apocalyptic Bristol in 2003. The ruins of the city were inhabited by Wildren. The Doctor travelled back to 1843 and was able to revert events back to the correct timeline. (PROSE: Reckless Engineering)
References
After crashing into Fang Rock in his steam yacht, Henry Palmerdale was desperate to get to Bristol and so searched the lighthouse for a means of communication. (TV: Horror of Fang Rock)
According to the novel Gulliver's Travels, its protagonist Lemuel Gulliver and his shipmates set sail from Bristol on 4 May 1699. (TV: The Mind Robber)
Behind the scenes
- Doctor Who Magazine editor Clayton Hickman was born in Bristol.
Location information
Though it's possible that a real world location doesn't exist in the same geographic space in the Doctor Who universe, such cases are few and far between. Thus, the map at right is probably a good indicator of the DWU location of Bristol.
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