Meddling Monk
Encyclopedia
The Meddling Monk, or simply The Monk, was a fictional character
in the British
science fiction television series Doctor Who
. Played by the British comic actor
Peter Butterworth
, the character appeared in two stories: (The Time Meddler
and The Daleks' Master Plan
, written and co-written respectively by Dennis Spooner
) as an adversary of the First Doctor
.
Other than the Doctor
and Susan
, the Monk was the first member of the Doctor's race to appear in the programme, and the second Doctor Who villain (after the Dalek
s) to make a return appearance.
The Monk was the possessor of a stolen Mark IV TARDIS
– superior to the Doctor's and with a fully functioning Chameleon Circuit – and claimed to have left the Doctor's then-unnamed home planet
some 50 years after the Doctor did. At this early stage in the history of the series, the name Time Lord
and the details of the Doctor's origins had not yet been devised.
The Monk liked to meddle in history and to change it for his own amusement and for what he considered to be the better: lending mechanical assistance to the builders of Stonehenge
; giving Leonardo da Vinci
tips on aircraft design; making money by using time travel to exploit compound interest
; and, when the Doctor first encountered him, attempting to prevent the Norman Conquest as part of a plan to guide England into an early age of technological prosperity. On that occasion he wore the guise of a monk
in order to gain the trust of the 11th-century locals of Northumbria
, hence the name by which he became known. (His actual name was never revealed in the series.)
The Doctor stranded the Monk in the 11th century by stealing his TARDIS's dimensional controller, which reduced the interior dimensions of the time machine to minuscule size. The Monk eventually restored his ship and tracked the Doctor to a volcanic planet, where he attempted to maroon his enemy by destroying the Doctor's TARDIS's lock. However, the Doctor managed to repair it and next materialised in Egypt, with the Monk still following him. While there, the two encountered the Dalek
s, and the Doctor stole the directional unit from the Monk's TARDIS (later destroying it when he tried to use it in his own ship, as it was incompatible), causing the Monk to lose control over his TARDIS's navigation. The two never met on-screen again, the Monk being last seen marooned once more, this time on a desolate, icy planet.
Unlike the Doctor's subsequent Time Lord adversaries, such as the Master
, the Monk was presented as a comic figure: a fairly well-meaning but childish man who was not half as clever as he thought he was, and who never seemed to realise the seriousness of what he was doing. The fact that his plans always failed to come to fruition, at least on-screen, also helped maintain the comic tone, disguising how dangerous a person like the Monk could really be.
For some time, there was erroneous speculation among fans that the Monk was actually an earlier regeneration of the Master (see also the War Chief), propagated mainly by the 1980s Doctor Who role-playing game published by FASA. However, this theory has not been as widespread in recent years, and was contradicted by the statement that the Doctor and the Monk had not met previously, whereas it is known that the Master and the Doctor knew each other before leaving Gallifrey, as well as in the spin-off material.
In the Doctor Who Monthly
comic strip 4-Dimensional Vistas (DWM #78-#83), the Monk teamed up with the Ice Warrior
s in a complex plan to build a giant sonic weapon. In this portrayal, the character (who piloted a TARDIS also shaped like a police box
) did not wear a monk's habit, and was referred to as "the Time-Meddler"; however, it was clearly the same character. The Monk was easily defeated by the Fifth Doctor
. He later reappeared in Follow That TARDIS! (DWM #147), in which the Sleeze Brothers
hijack the Doctor's TARDIS in order to pursue the Monk across time and space after he damages their car.
The Monk also turned up in the New Adventures
novel No Future
by Paul Cornell
, in which he was given the name "Mortimus". The novel was the last of a story arc published to coincide with the series' 30th anniversary in 1993, in which the Seventh Doctor
encounters various alternate realities that have been created due to the Monk's meddling with time, including a reality where the Third Doctor
was killed in his confrontation with the Silurians (Blood Heat
), attempting to distract the Doctor while he helps the Vardans
to invade Earth, thus getting their mutual revenge on the Doctor for their losses during their past confrontations with him. Although the Monk seemingly traps the Doctor on the same ice planet he was himself exiled to, thanks to the betrayal of the Doctor's companion Ace
, it is revealed at the conclusion of the novel that Ace was simply pretending to side with the Monk to defeat him, the novel ending with the Monk being apparently captured by a Chronovore that he had imprisoned to help him alter time. A chapter removed from the novel would have revealed the Monk was a former operative of the Celestial Intervention Agency
; later books have hinted at this.
In the Past Doctor Adventures
novel Divided Loyalties
by Gary Russell
, a young Mortimus is portrayed as a friend of the Doctor's, and a member of a cabal of rebellious young Gallifreyans at the Academy known as "the Deca". The group also included the Doctor, the Master
, the Rani
, Azmael (from The Twin Dilemma
), the War Chief, and Drax (from The Armageddon Factor
). The Monk of an artificially-created parallel universe
made a brief appearance in the PDA The Quantum Archangel
, working with the Master, the Rani and Drax to destroy the Earth.
The Eighth Doctor
discovers a new incarnation of the Monk in the Big Finish Productions
audio drama The Book of Kells
. Voiced by Graeme Garden
, the Monk is once again pretending to be a human monk, this time at the Abbey of Kells
in Ireland
, 1006. Calling himself Thelonios
, he used the illuminated art skills
of the other monks to create a circuit to repair his TARDIS. He also had his own companion
, who happened to be the Doctor's former companion, Lucie Miller
. It turns out that several of the Doctor's recent adventures had been manipulated behind the scenes by the Monk. He and Lucie reappear in The Resurrection of Mars
, this time waking up cryogenically-frozen Ice Warrior
s on the Martian moon of Deimos
, centuries before history says they should. When Lucie realizes what kind of person the Monk is, she leaves him. He in turn coaxes another of the Doctor's companions, Tamsin Drew, to join him. After that, he sets off to reunite with the Daleks, hoping to get his final revenge on the Doctor, in Lucie Miller / To the Death, only for his plans to backfire when the Daleks betray him, resulting in the deaths of Tamsin, Lucy, and the Doctor's great-grandson Alex, although the Monk saves the Doctor and Susan to make up for his role in the Dalek attack.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
in the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
science fiction television series Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
. Played by the British comic actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
Peter Butterworth
Peter Butterworth
Peter William Shorrocks Butterworth was an English comedy actor and comedian, best known for his appearances in the Carry On series of films. He was also a regular on children's television and radio and appeared in seven early episodes of Doctor Who in 1965 as the 'The Meddling Monk'...
, the character appeared in two stories: (The Time Meddler
The Time Meddler
The Time Meddler is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 3 July to 24 July 1965...
and The Daleks' Master Plan
The Daleks' Master Plan
The Daleks' Master Plan is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The twelve episodes were aired from 13 November 1965 to 29 January 1966...
, written and co-written respectively by Dennis Spooner
Dennis Spooner
Dennis Spooner was an English television screenwriter and story editor, known primarily for his programmes about fictional spies and his work in children's television in the 1960s...
) as an adversary of the First Doctor
First Doctor
The First Doctor is the initial incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by the actor William Hartnell from 1963 to 1966. Hartnell reprised the role in the tenth anniversary story The Three Doctors in 1973 - albeit in a...
.
Other than the Doctor
Doctor (Doctor Who)
The Doctor is the central character in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who, and has also featured in two cinema feature films, a vast range of spin-off novels, audio dramas and comic strips connected to the series....
and Susan
Susan Foreman
Susan Foreman is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The granddaughter and original companion of the First Doctor, she was played by actress Carole Ann Ford from 1963 to 1964, in the show's first season and the first two stories of the second season...
, the Monk was the first member of the Doctor's race to appear in the programme, and the second Doctor Who villain (after the Dalek
Dalek
The Daleks are a fictional extraterrestrial race of mutants from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Within the series, Daleks are cyborgs from the planet Skaro, created by the scientist Davros during the final years of a thousand-year war against the Thals...
s) to make a return appearance.
The Monk was the possessor of a stolen Mark IV TARDIS
TARDIS
The TARDISGenerally, TARDIS is written in all upper case letters—this convention was popularised by the Target novelisations of the 1970s...
– superior to the Doctor's and with a fully functioning Chameleon Circuit – and claimed to have left the Doctor's then-unnamed home planet
Gallifrey
Gallifrey is a fictional planet in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who and is the homeworld of the Doctor and the Time Lords...
some 50 years after the Doctor did. At this early stage in the history of the series, the name Time Lord
Time Lord
The Time Lords are an ancient extraterrestrial race and civilization of humanoids in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, of which the series' eponymous protagonist, the Doctor, is a member...
and the details of the Doctor's origins had not yet been devised.
The Monk liked to meddle in history and to change it for his own amusement and for what he considered to be the better: lending mechanical assistance to the builders of Stonehenge
Stonehenge
Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument located in the English county of Wiltshire, about west of Amesbury and north of Salisbury. One of the most famous sites in the world, Stonehenge is composed of a circular setting of large standing stones set within earthworks...
; giving Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
tips on aircraft design; making money by using time travel to exploit compound interest
Compound interest
Compound interest arises when interest is added to the principal, so that from that moment on, the interest that has been added also itself earns interest. This addition of interest to the principal is called compounding...
; and, when the Doctor first encountered him, attempting to prevent the Norman Conquest as part of a plan to guide England into an early age of technological prosperity. On that occasion he wore the guise of a monk
Monk
A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...
in order to gain the trust of the 11th-century locals of Northumbria
Northumbria
Northumbria was a medieval kingdom of the Angles, in what is now Northern England and South-East Scotland, becoming subsequently an earldom in a united Anglo-Saxon kingdom of England. The name reflects the approximate southern limit to the kingdom's territory, the Humber Estuary.Northumbria was...
, hence the name by which he became known. (His actual name was never revealed in the series.)
The Doctor stranded the Monk in the 11th century by stealing his TARDIS's dimensional controller, which reduced the interior dimensions of the time machine to minuscule size. The Monk eventually restored his ship and tracked the Doctor to a volcanic planet, where he attempted to maroon his enemy by destroying the Doctor's TARDIS's lock. However, the Doctor managed to repair it and next materialised in Egypt, with the Monk still following him. While there, the two encountered the Dalek
Dalek
The Daleks are a fictional extraterrestrial race of mutants from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Within the series, Daleks are cyborgs from the planet Skaro, created by the scientist Davros during the final years of a thousand-year war against the Thals...
s, and the Doctor stole the directional unit from the Monk's TARDIS (later destroying it when he tried to use it in his own ship, as it was incompatible), causing the Monk to lose control over his TARDIS's navigation. The two never met on-screen again, the Monk being last seen marooned once more, this time on a desolate, icy planet.
Unlike the Doctor's subsequent Time Lord adversaries, such as the Master
Master (Doctor Who)
The Master is a recurring character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. He is a renegade Time Lord and the archenemy of the Doctor....
, the Monk was presented as a comic figure: a fairly well-meaning but childish man who was not half as clever as he thought he was, and who never seemed to realise the seriousness of what he was doing. The fact that his plans always failed to come to fruition, at least on-screen, also helped maintain the comic tone, disguising how dangerous a person like the Monk could really be.
Other appearances
- This section concerns the appearances of the Monk in various non-TV media.
For some time, there was erroneous speculation among fans that the Monk was actually an earlier regeneration of the Master (see also the War Chief), propagated mainly by the 1980s Doctor Who role-playing game published by FASA. However, this theory has not been as widespread in recent years, and was contradicted by the statement that the Doctor and the Monk had not met previously, whereas it is known that the Master and the Doctor knew each other before leaving Gallifrey, as well as in the spin-off material.
In the Doctor Who Monthly
Doctor Who Magazine
Doctor Who Magazine is a magazine devoted to the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
comic strip 4-Dimensional Vistas (DWM #78-#83), the Monk teamed up with the Ice Warrior
Ice Warrior
The Ice Warriors are a fictional extraterrestrial race of reptilian-like humanoids in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The race originated on Mars, and first appeared in the 1967 serial The Ice Warriors where they encountered the Second Doctor and his...
s in a complex plan to build a giant sonic weapon. In this portrayal, the character (who piloted a TARDIS also shaped like a police box
Police box
A police box is a British telephone kiosk or callbox located in a public place for the use of members of the police, or for members of the public to contact the police...
) did not wear a monk's habit, and was referred to as "the Time-Meddler"; however, it was clearly the same character. The Monk was easily defeated by the Fifth Doctor
Fifth Doctor
The Fifth Doctor is the fifth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He is portrayed by Peter Davison....
. He later reappeared in Follow That TARDIS! (DWM #147), in which the Sleeze Brothers
The Sleeze Brothers
The Sleeze Brothers was a comic book limited series published by Epic Comics, between August 1989 and January 1990 , lasting for 6 issues. A collection of the six issues were later released in 1990, along with a final extended issue in 1991. It was written by John Carnell, with art by Andy Lanning...
hijack the Doctor's TARDIS in order to pursue the Monk across time and space after he damages their car.
The Monk also turned up in the New Adventures
Virgin New Adventures
The Virgin New Adventures were a series of novels from Virgin Publishing based on the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who...
novel No Future
No Future
No Future is an original novel written by Paul Cornell and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Seventh Doctor, Ace and Bernice. A prelude to the novel, also penned by Cornell, appeared in Doctor Who Magazine #209...
by Paul Cornell
Paul Cornell
Paul Cornell is a British writer best known for his work in television drama as well as Doctor Who fiction, and as the creator of one of the Doctor's spin-off companions, Bernice Summerfield....
, in which he was given the name "Mortimus". The novel was the last of a story arc published to coincide with the series' 30th anniversary in 1993, in which the Seventh Doctor
Seventh Doctor
The Seventh Doctor is the seventh incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by the actor Sylvester McCoy....
encounters various alternate realities that have been created due to the Monk's meddling with time, including a reality where the Third Doctor
Third Doctor
The Third Doctor is the third incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by actor Jon Pertwee....
was killed in his confrontation with the Silurians (Blood Heat
Blood Heat
Blood Heat is an original novel written by Jim Mortimore and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Seventh Doctor, Ace and Bernice. A prelude to the novel, also penned by Mortimore, appeared in Doctor Who Magazine #205...
), attempting to distract the Doctor while he helps the Vardans
The Invasion of Time
The Invasion of Time is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from 4 February to 11 March 1978...
to invade Earth, thus getting their mutual revenge on the Doctor for their losses during their past confrontations with him. Although the Monk seemingly traps the Doctor on the same ice planet he was himself exiled to, thanks to the betrayal of the Doctor's companion Ace
Ace (Doctor Who)
Dorothy Gale McShane, better known by her nickname Ace, is a fictional character played by Sophie Aldred in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
, it is revealed at the conclusion of the novel that Ace was simply pretending to side with the Monk to defeat him, the novel ending with the Monk being apparently captured by a Chronovore that he had imprisoned to help him alter time. A chapter removed from the novel would have revealed the Monk was a former operative of the Celestial Intervention Agency
Celestial Intervention Agency
The Celestial Intervention Agency is a fictional organization of Time Lords in the universe of the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who....
; later books have hinted at this.
In the Past Doctor Adventures
Past Doctor Adventures
The Past Doctor Adventures were a series of spin-off novels based on the long running BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who and published under the BBC Books imprint. For most of their existence, they were published side-by-side with the Eighth Doctor Adventures...
novel Divided Loyalties
Divided Loyalties (Doctor Who)
Divided Loyalties is a BBC Books original novel written by Gary Russell and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
by Gary Russell
Gary Russell
Gary James Russell is a freelance writer and former child actor. As a writer, he is best known for his work in connection with the television series Doctor Who and its spin-offs in other media...
, a young Mortimus is portrayed as a friend of the Doctor's, and a member of a cabal of rebellious young Gallifreyans at the Academy known as "the Deca". The group also included the Doctor, the Master
Master (Doctor Who)
The Master is a recurring character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. He is a renegade Time Lord and the archenemy of the Doctor....
, the Rani
Rani (Doctor Who)
The Rani is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. She was played by Kate O'Mara. The word "Rani" means "queen" in the Urdu and Hindi languages and "The Rani" follows the naming convention for other renegade timelords, "The Doctor," "The Monk," "The War...
, Azmael (from The Twin Dilemma
The Twin Dilemma
The Twin Dilemma is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four twice-weekly parts from 22 March to 30 March 1984, the first to star Colin Baker in the title role.-Synopsis:...
), the War Chief, and Drax (from The Armageddon Factor
The Armageddon Factor
The Armageddon Factor is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from 20 January to 24 February 1979...
). The Monk of an artificially-created parallel universe
Parallel universe (fiction)
A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...
made a brief appearance in the PDA The Quantum Archangel
The Quantum Archangel
The Quantum Archangel is a BBC Books original novel written by Craig Hinton and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Sixth Doctor and Mel, the Master, and an appearance by an alternate version of the Third Doctor...
, working with the Master, the Rani and Drax to destroy the Earth.
The Eighth Doctor
Eighth Doctor
The Eighth Doctor is the eighth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by Paul McGann...
discovers a new incarnation of the Monk in the Big Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays based, primarily, on cult British science fiction properties...
audio drama The Book of Kells
The Book of Kells (Doctor Who audio)
The Book of Kells is an audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. This audio drama was produced by Big Finish Productions.-Plot:...
. Voiced by Graeme Garden
Graeme Garden
David Graeme Garden OBE is a Scottish author, actor, comedian, artist and television presenter, who first became known as a member of The Goodies.-Early life and beginnings in comedy:...
, the Monk is once again pretending to be a human monk, this time at the Abbey of Kells
Abbey of Kells
The Abbey of Kells is a former monastery located in Kells, County Meath, Ireland, 40 miles north of Dublin. It was founded in the early ninth century, and the Book of Kells was kept there during the later medieval and early modern periods before finally leaving the Abbey in the 1650s...
in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, 1006. Calling himself Thelonios
Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Sphere Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer considered "one of the giants of American music". Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "Epistrophy", "'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser"...
, he used the illuminated art skills
Illuminated manuscript
An illuminated manuscript is a manuscript in which the text is supplemented by the addition of decoration, such as decorated initials, borders and miniature illustrations...
of the other monks to create a circuit to repair his TARDIS. He also had his own companion
Companion (Doctor Who)
In the long-running BBC television science fiction programme Doctor Who and related works, the term "companion" refers to a character who travels with, and shares the adventures of the Doctor. In most Doctor Who stories, the primary companion acts as both deuteragonist and audience surrogate...
, who happened to be the Doctor's former companion, Lucie Miller
Lucie Miller
Lucie Miller is a character in a series of audio plays produced by Big Finish Productions for BBC7 based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
. It turns out that several of the Doctor's recent adventures had been manipulated behind the scenes by the Monk. He and Lucie reappear in The Resurrection of Mars
The Resurrection of Mars
The Resurrection of Mars is an audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. This audio drama was produced by Big Finish Productions....
, this time waking up cryogenically-frozen Ice Warrior
Ice Warrior
The Ice Warriors are a fictional extraterrestrial race of reptilian-like humanoids in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The race originated on Mars, and first appeared in the 1967 serial The Ice Warriors where they encountered the Second Doctor and his...
s on the Martian moon of Deimos
Deimos (moon)
Deimos is the smaller and outer of Mars's two moons . It is named after Deimos, a figure representing dread in Greek Mythology. Its systematic designation is '.-Discovery:Deimos was discovered by Asaph Hall, Sr...
, centuries before history says they should. When Lucie realizes what kind of person the Monk is, she leaves him. He in turn coaxes another of the Doctor's companions, Tamsin Drew, to join him. After that, he sets off to reunite with the Daleks, hoping to get his final revenge on the Doctor, in Lucie Miller / To the Death, only for his plans to backfire when the Daleks betray him, resulting in the deaths of Tamsin, Lucy, and the Doctor's great-grandson Alex, although the Monk saves the Doctor and Susan to make up for his role in the Dalek attack.