Doctor Who: Flux episode 2 explained — When was the Doctor the President of Gallifrey?

Doctor Who spoilers follow.

The universe was (sort of) destroyed at the end of Doctor Who last week, but a little thing like total annihilation isn't enough to keep our good Doctor down, not for long anyway. At the start of Flux's second episode, Jodie Whittaker's character barely has enough time to say, "We’re still here, wherever here is," before she gets sucked into a new and not-so-improved version of the Crimean War, which now features a bunch of grunting Sontarans.

Before they can lend a helping hand, Yaz and Dan are quickly spirited away elsewhere, one to the Temple of Atropos on a planet called Time, and the other to... well, Liverpool. That leaves the Doctor to stop the conflict on her own, until, that is, she comes across Mary Seacole, the legendary British-Jamaican nurse who set up the "British Hotel" during the Crimean War.

While Dan fights Sontarans in the modern day with nothing more than a wok and a Wookiee wannabe for company, the Doctor comes to discover that the Sontarans have always been on Earth – or at least that will soon be the case if their temporal attack works in their favour.

Their plan is to take advantage of all the Flux-ed up chaos and transform Earth into a Sontaran outpost. The Crimean War is the perfect time to do so, apparently, because there's "So much conflict, so much opportunity..." Oh, and the commander also wants to ride a horse. We're sure there are easier ways to pony up like that, but we digress.

Before Sontaran shit hits the fan, the Doctor asks an injured soldier to set up a parlay with their leader. The catch here is that the Doctor doesn't reveal herself to be the Doctor. Instead, she claims to know the Doctor, and will happily share info on them if her demands are met. The Sontaran agrees, happy to try and improve his standing after such an embarrassing capture.

But what's most interesting about this scene is the way that the Doctor describes herself as "a former President of Gallifrey". And no, she's not lying. For the most part, this Doctor Who revival has largely overlooked that bizarre chapter in the Doctor's past, but long-time Whovians will recall that everyone's favourite Time Lord did indeed preside over Gallifrey briefly in the '70s, and more than once, in fact.

The first instance of this took place in the fifteenth season of the original show during an arc known as 'The Invasion of Time', which aired in 1978. The Fourth Doctor, Tom Baker, was in the lead at this point, and this story also marked the final appearance of Louise Jameson as his companion Leela.

After the Doctor nominated himself President during 'The Deadly Assassin' story, it turned out that he technically won by default because the other candidate had died. However, it wasn't until 'The Invasion of Time' that the Doctor actually returned to Gallifrey and claimed the presidency, complete with a full inauguration.

This didn't last, though, because by the time 'Arc of Infinity' aired in 1983, our good President Doctor referred to his former teacher, Borusa, as the new Time Lord President. Things then flipped round again later that year when the Fifth Doctor, Peter Davison, took over from Borusa in 'The Five Doctors'.

You'd be forgiven for thinking that the Time Lords go through Presidents faster than the Doctor gets through Companions because three years later, in 1986, we learn that our Doctor, now Colin Baker, has since been deposed.

This is revealed during 'The Trial of a Time Lord' when the Inquisitor points out the Sixth Doctor can't be the Lord President of Gallifrey anymore because he "wilfully neglected the responsibility" of his office. When asked to stand again later on in the same story, our Doctor then declines, presumably because he got bored of writing out "Lord President Doctor" on every Christmas card.

As if that wasn't confusing enough, the Seventh Doctor, Sylvester McCoy, later referred to himself as "President-Elect" in 'Remembrance of the Daleks', although he might have just been messing with the Daleks at this point.

In 2017, Big Finish came to the rescue and tried to untangle some of this timey-wimey nonsense with a new audio story called 'Time In Office', which directly addressed that period after Peter Davison took over in 'The Five Doctors' before Colin Baker's trial. Here, fans learned a lot more about Gallifreyan tradition and what life was like for the Doctor as President.

Still with us? Treat yourself to some fish custard because we're pretty much done with all that timey-wimey stuff. The only question that remains is why did the Doctor decide now was a good time to remind us of her political past?

Of course, the Presidency was mentioned at least in part to intimidate the Sontaran captor and bring him on board. But it's also worth noting that 'The Invasion of Time', that episode where the Doctor first took on this role, also heavily featured the Sontarans, so this #humblebrag was actually pretty relevant to the situation at hand.

By the end of 'Flux''s second episode, the Doctor and her pals are able to defeat the Sontarans on two fronts, but hold the victory dance because the TARDIS is then hijacked and summoned to the planet known as Time. There, the Doctor is unfortunately reunited with Swarm and his two companions, Azure and the Passenger.

Their goal? Well, their overall aims aren't exactly clear just yet, beyond messing with the Doctor that is, but in this moment, they try to repair the temple of Atropos by blasting "the full force of time" through Yaz. Ouch.

Okay, sure, it's going to take more than "rice pudding and hard liquor" to get our faves out of this one, but if anyone has a chance of saving Yaz, and the whole universe by extension, it's Lord High President Doctor Who of Gallifrey!

Doctor Who: Flux (aka series 13) airs weekly every Sunday night on BBC One in the UK. In the US, the show airs on BBC America, with series 1-12 available on HBO Max.

For more information on Doctor Who: Time Fracture, head this way – tickets are also available via retailers including LOVEtheatre, London Theatre Direct, Fever and Ticketmaster.

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David Opie

After teaching in England and South Korea, David turned to writing in Germany, where he covered everything from superhero movies to the Berlin Film Festival. 

In 2019, David moved to London to join Digital Spy, where he could indulge his love of comics, horror and LGBTQ+ storytelling as Deputy TV Editor, and later, as Acting TV Editor.

David has spoken on numerous LGBTQ+ panels to discuss queer representation and in 2020, he created the Rainbow Crew interview series, which celebrates LGBTQ+ talent on both sides of the camera via video content and longform reads.

Beyond that, David has interviewed all your faves, including Henry Cavill, Pedro Pascal, Olivia Colman, Patrick Stewart, Ncuti Gatwa, Jamie Dornan, Regina King, and more — not to mention countless Drag Race legends. 

As a freelance entertainment journalist, David has bylines across a range of publications including Empire Online, Radio Times, INTO, Highsnobiety, Den of Geek, The Digital Fix and Sight & Sound. 

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