Doctor Who Series 12: 10 Huge Questions After Spyfall Part 2
8. Will The Doctor Wipe More Minds?
We’ve seen the Doctor do this before, most notably to Donna Noble, but that was to save her life. He had little choice. As a solution to the temporal anomalies that the Doctor’s adventures create it is extreme and unnecessary. In the original Doctor Who series, it was the Time Lords who exercised this power, punishing the Doctor by wiping Jamie and Zoe’s memories of him.
The Doctor has always been reluctant to take such a drastic measure. In The Pilot he changes his mind, just as he is about to wipe Bill Potts’ memories. The thirteenth Doctor does it twice in Spyfall on the basis of not wanting to interfere with the extraordinary lives and achievements of Ada Lovelace and Noor Inayat Kahn.
There is an interesting comparison to be made with Barton’s failed attempt to reformat and clear the minds of his human subjects, and Ada’s objections to the process suggest that this questionable side to the Doctor’s meddling in time could become a theme going forward.
Will the Doctor feel pushed into doing the same to Graham, Yaz and Ryan? Certainly, memories and their suppression is part of the Doctor’s own arc with the Timeless Child. There is a chance that the Doctor might relent again, especially if she finds out she has been the victim of the same invasive treatment.