Doctor Who Season 2, Episode 5, “The Story & the Engine” is a delight on many fronts. Set in Lagos, Nigeria, the Fifteenth Doctor gives himself a bit of a holiday by visiting an old friend. After strolling through a busy marketplace, the Doctor gets to Omo’s Palace, where his old friend is waiting for him. But instead of a welcome visit, the Doctor finds himself trapped in another dimension. He also meets a deadly new foe known only as The Barber.
Penned by Nigerian playwright Inua Ellams, “The Story & the Engine” explores the significance of barbershops in the Black community. More specifically, it gets into how barbershops create a sense of family between customers and hairdressers. It’s a perfect story not just for Gatwa himself, but actors Sule Rimi and Ariyon Bakare, both of whom had previously appeared on Doctor Who. The episode even features Michelle Asante as Anansi’s daughter, Abena.
One surprise appearance no one saw coming, however, was Jo Martin’s Fugitive Doctor. Though her role in the story seemingly creates a continuity hole, there’s also a perfectly good explanation for it.
Doctor Who’s Fugitive Doctor, Explained
The Fugitive Doctor originally appeared as Ruth Clayton in the Series 12 episode, “Fugitive of the Judoon.” Originally presented as a seemingly innocent victim of the Judoon, Ruth is later revealed to be an alias for another incarnation of the Doctor. But this is not the most disturbing thing the Thirteenth Doctor learns. Instead of being a future regeneration, the Fugitive Doctor is revealed as a past regeneration – one that existed before William Hartnell’s First Doctor.
The Thirteenth Doctor spends the rest of Series 12 shaken by this revelation, until she learns about her erased history. In the Series 12 finale, the Thirteenth Doctor learns from the Master that she’s actually the Timeless Child. Though erased from her own memory, the Doctor’s adoptive mother, Tecteun, stored some version of this lost history in Gallifrey’s matrix.
Though the Doctor never truly recovers these memories, she does recover the chameleon arch that has them stored. But instead of reclaiming these lost memories, she stores them inside the TARDIS until she really needs them. That moment may have arrived off-screen following the events of the Doctor Who Season 1 finale, “Empire of Death.”
The Pantheon of Gods May Have Enticed the Fifteenth Doctor to Recover His Lost Memories
Since the Doctor Who 60th Anniversary specials in 2023, Russell T Davies has been focusing on the show’s more otherworldly elements. This led to the creation of whole new villains in the form of the Pantheon of Gods. Among the new villains include Maestro, Lux, the Not-Things, and goblins. Davies even brought back the Toymaker and officially introduced the Meep into Doctor Who canon. Even the terrifying Midnight entity made an unexpected return in Season 2’s “The Well.”
The biggest surprise return, however, was Sutekh in 2024’s Season 1 finale. Prior to “Empire of Death,” Sutekh’s sole Doctor Who appearance was in the 1975 serial, “Pyramids of Mars.” Given that the Doctor (like the audience) didn’t expect this one-time villain to reappear, this could easily be the inciting incident that would entice the Fifteenth Doctor to fully recover his memories. Even more so after the Toymaker made a surprise return as well. But there is another precedent for why this would be the moment he needs his full memories restored.
During the events of Doctor Who: Flux, the Thirteenth Doctor encountered two enemies she couldn’t remember: Swarm and Azure. Also known as the Ravagers, these two villains took advantage of the fact the Doctor couldn’t remember why they were enemies. It wasn’t until the Series 13 episode, “Once, Upon Time,” that she began to recollect when she first encountered them.
After jumping into her own timestream, the Doctor learned that as the Fugitive Doctor, she led a team of Division soldiers to the planet, Time. There, she captured Swarm and Azure inside the Temple of Atropos and had imprisoned them. But had she not jumped into her own timestream, the Thirteenth Doctor would have never learned this fact.
With so many god-like entities seemingly manipulating the Fifteenth Doctor’s current adventures, he literally cannot afford to be in the dark about any of his enemies. This appears to be the reason the Doctor is able to recall how he met Abena and the real Anansi. Of course, it’s possible he may not fully remember the details of that first encounter – especially since he didn’t recognize Abena at first.
On the other hand, he seems to have detailed recollections of his many off-screen adventures from his past incarnations. The encounter with Anansi and many other gods is implied to have happened when he was still the Fugitive Doctor. Whether or not Davies will elaborate on this story that “might be finished one day” in the remaining episodes is yet to be seen. For now, Davies is making it clear we haven’t seen the last of the Fugitive Doctor. She could make more future appearances that explore the Doctor’s lost past.
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