Doctor Who Flux: 10 Huge Questions After War Of The Sontarans
7. What's So Special About Liverpool?
For all its rich cultural heritage, and despite being the birthplace of Tom Baker and Paul McGann, apart from one flying visit by the first Doctor on Christmas Day 1965, Liverpool had only been referenced incidentally in a handful of Doctor Who scripts. With Doctor Who Flux, Liverpool joins the likes of London, Cardiff and Sheffield in being a central story location. And as Baker and McGann would no doubt agree, it’s about time.
Perhaps reflecting this development, next year Doctor Who: Worlds of Wonder, an interactive exhibition, will be opening at the city’s National Museum. One of Chibnall’s greatest contributions to the series has been to move away from the Londoncentric approach that still existed despite the new series being produced from Cardiff. It will no doubt please BBC executives as they seek to bring greater representation for other regions of the UK.
But what about the story based reason for this sudden interest in Merseyside by alien invaders? It looks to be all tied into the 19th century tunnel system created by Joseph Williamson. The tunnels stretch for miles and are still being excavated today by archaeologists keen to discover their original purpose.
Williamson has appeared in both episodes of Doctor Who Flux
so far. He seems to have wandered into the temple of Atropos directly from the
tunnels. Is there a time portal connecting the Earth to the planet Time?