Doctor Who: 10 Timey-Wimey Episodes (Not Written By Steven Moffat)

6. Mawdryn Undead - Peter Grimwade

Another episode fans often fail to recall when talking about stories that play with time travel is 1983's Mawdryn Undead which sees an immortal mutant stuck in a time loop pitted against the Doctor - assisted by two versions of his old friend, the Brigadier! Although the large part of the plot, the mutant Mawdryn aims to steal the Doctor's power of regeneration, is not particularly timey-wimey the sub-plot involving the two Brigadiers certainly is. Retired from UNIT and working as a public school teacher, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart fails to remember anything about the Doctor - apparently it is something to do with the nervous breakdown he suffered six years earlier. The Doctor has lost his TARDIS which he now deduces must have jumped a time track (yes, they're back!) and gone back to that date - meaning the younger Brigadier is having an adventure with Nyssa and Tegan (above). In the end, the two Brigadiers meet on Mawdryn's ship - shaking hands, they activate the Blinovitch Limitation Effect which is the name for the energy discharge that happens when two versions of the same thing from different points in its life meet (something ignored in more recent episodes when the Doctor, Amy and others meet themselves without any such repercussions). This discharge then causes the Brigadier to lose his memory. Phew. Feel free to pause a moment to recuperate before going to the next page... Ok, you've recuperated, let's move on.