Doctor Who‘s latest episode Once, Upon Time was stuffed to the gills with twists, reveals and exciting moments – but alongside all the floating Daleks, rampaging Cybermen and terrifying Weeping Angels, perhaps the most crowd-pleasing surprise was the return of Jo Martin’s alternate Doctor.
First introduced in 2020 episode Fugitive of the Judoon, Martin’s Time Lord (a forgotten incarnation wiped from the Doctor’s memories) reappeared as the current Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) relived her past self’s memories, with the show glitching between both actors as well as allowing a bit of conversation between them via handy reflective surfaces.
It was a great cameo return that hopefully presages more involvement from Martin in future episodes – but also, this appearance confirmed a crucial detail about the character that fans had been wondering for quite some time.
Specifically, ever since January 2020 we’ve been wondering… what do we call her? While she is the Doctor, it’s confusing to call both her and Whittaker’s characters the same thing, and when introduced she didn’t have a handy John Hurt-style designation (i.e. the War Doctor) to set her apart from the “main” incarnations.
Fans tried a few different things, including the ‘Ruthless Doctor’ (a bit of a play on her human identity, Ruth Clayton, as well as her apparently tougher nature), but in the end it was the ‘Fugitive Doctor’, named after the episode she first appears in, that stuck.
And now the BBC seems to have acknowledged that. While in her first two appearances (in Fugitive of the Judoon and The Timeless Children) Martin was simply credited as ‘The Doctor’, in Once, Upon Time her credit has been updated to read ‘Fugitive Doctor’.
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Clearly, the Beeb saw how well the name had caught on with fans, and decided to incorporate it into the show proper. Like the War Doctor, it’s unlikely to ever be said on-screen but it helpfully encapsulates Martin’s role as a Doctor on the run, and also helps set her apart from any other incarnation.
Now all we have to do is wait for a character to use the word ‘Thasmin’, and we’ll know the fans have really taken over.
Doctor Who continues on Sundays on BBC One. For more, check out our dedicated Sci-Fi page or our full TV Guide.