Doctor Who Flux: 10 Huge Questions After Survivors Of The Flux

7. Where Else Do Williamson's Tunnels Lead To?

williamson tunnels doctor who
BBC

The 1904 tunnels under Liverpool contain gateways to numerous times and places, including Liverpool itself in 2021, the planet Time, and the boat that Dan, Yaz and Jericho were travelling in. Williamson initially planned to use it as a refuge in the event of an apocalypse, though quite how he’d even be able to persuade people to hide there, quite apart from the logistics involved, is anyone’s guess.

But since All Hallows Eve the doorways have shifted, leading to all manner of nightmare worlds. The one he most fears, number nine, includes ‘death rays of death’. Could it be Skaro or a Dalek ship? Another one has a sketch of Cybermen on it, and another a note saying ‘watery ocean’ – which could well mean Sea Devils. The Sontarans are attacking the Earth from above and below, breaking in through one of the doors in the tunnels, so another door could lead directly to Sontar.

There’s a parallel here with the Passengers, who Swarm and Azure make out are places of refuge from the Flux, keeping thousands safe, when they are anything but. It was be surprising in the two are not directly linked in the finale.

We are likely to see the Temple of Atropos, on the mysterious planet Time, revisited. The Doctor struggles to accept it’s a real place so it’s hard to believe it will be just one of many worlds accessible through the tunnels. It would make sense if it was instead some kind of control centre and the apex of the time portals.

Contributor
Contributor

Paul Driscoll is a freelance writer and author across a range of subjects from Cult TV to religion and social policy. He is a passionate Doctor Who fan and January 2017 will see the publication of his first extended study of the series (based on Toby Whithouse's series six episode, The God Complex) in the critically acclaimed Black Archive range by Obverse Books. He is a regular writer for the fan site Doctor Who Worldwide and has contributed several essays to Watching Books' You and Who range. Recently he has branched out into fiction writing, with two short stories in the charity Doctor Who anthology Seasons of War (Chinbeard Books). Paul's work will also feature in the forthcoming Iris Wildthyme collection (A Clockwork Iris, Obverse Books) and Chinbeard Books' collection of drabbles, A Time Lord for Change.