Doctor Who Flux: 10 Huge Questions After War Of The Sontarans

9. Why Does The Doctor See A Spooky House?

Doctor Who Flux (Series 13)
BBC

Before the Doctor wakes up and realises where she is, she sees a black and white vision of what looks like a derelict mansion, complete with various towers. Since it doesn’t relate to the rest of the episode, it will no doubt be of great significance further down the line. But do we have any potential clues as to the location?

The floating shape is somewhat reminiscent of the ruined citadel on Gallifrey (as first shown to the Doctor by the Master). It could, therefore, be part of another story constructed inside the Matrix (like the life of Brendan). That would make the house a fictionalised version of a real place.

If on the other hand it isn’t make-belief, could the house be a clue to the Doctor’s true origins before Gallifrey? Whatever the place is, the Doctor is drawn towards it, as if the building is calling her.

Is Swarm responsible for the hallucination? He’s already communicated with the Doctor through a series of telepathically induced visions, but this time there is no accompanying commentary and it would be odd for him not to be drawing attention to himself and their rivalry.

We might even have to wait until after the Flux for this one to be revisited. With the Doctor fearing she is about to see the end of the universe, this could be tied up with her regeneration story - a premonition about her final moments. Could that rickety old building be the 13th Doctor’s Trenzalore?

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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.