Doctor Who Series 11: 10 Huge Questions We Are Asking After The Witchfinders
5. When Did The Doctor Meet Houdini?
The constant name checks from the Doctor are getting a little bit tiresome at this stage, but if indeed the Doctor wasn’t lying about learning the art of escapology from the famous magician, at least this one turned out to be a lifesaver.
The Doctor has mentioned Harry Houdini on a few occasions over the years. His knowledge of his skills came in very handy when escaping from the Eight Legged on Metebelis 3 (Planet of the Spiders) and when tied up with rope on Nerva Beacon (Revenge of the Cybermen). In the animated adventure Dreamland the Doctor again uses some tricks he claims to have learnt from the escapologist.
In Planet of the Ood, a handcuffed Donna directly asks the tenth Doctor if he happens to know Houdini. He doesn’t answer her directly, but implies that even Houdini’s skills couldn’t get her out of them. Surprisingly we’ve yet to see the magician in a televised episode of Doctor Who, but he does make several appearances in the various spin-off worlds.