Sutekh made a dramatic and unexpected return to the Whoniverse in Series 14. But who is this classic Doctor Who villain?
Very occasionally, the Doctor comes up against a baddie with seemingly god-like powers, and there were quite a few of these when Russell T Davies took over for his second stint as Doctor Who showrunner. There was the Celestial Toymaker, Maestro, and then there was Sutekh – a horrendously powerful Doctor Who baddie who hadn’t been seen since 1975’s ‘Pyramids of Mars.’
Sutekh’s absence from the Whoniverse is surprising given that he featured in one of the most popular Doctor Who adventures of all time, written by one of its most celebrated writers, Robert Holmes.
Well, kind of. Robert Holmes did indeed write the bulk of ‘Pyramids of Mars,’ reworking an earlier draft by the writer Lewis Greifer, who is credited with creating Sutekh. The serial itself was authored under the fake name of Stephen Harris, which was a pseudonym for Holmes and Greifer.
In ‘Pyramids of Mars,’ an archaeologist called Marcus Scarman unearths a forgotten tomb in Cairo, Egypt, in the year 1911. And there is a mysterious alien power present within the tomb, which takes possession of the unwitting Scarman and enslaves him.
It turns out that Scarman has been taken over by the imprisoned ‘Egyptian god’ Sutekh, who actually belongs to a powerful alien race known as the Osirans. In ‘Pyramids of Mars,’ Sutekh has been sealed inside a pyramid on the red planet by his brother Horus. Although he can’t move, he is able to control people with his mind, and Sutekh makes Scarman build an army of mummies who, in turn, construct a missile which will fire at Mars and release Sutekh from his prison.
Of course, the Doctor manages to thwart this plan and, enraged, Sutekh uses a time tunnel to bring Scarman and his minions to Mars and release him.
Ultimately, the Time Lord defeats the last of the Osirans but, being an all-powerful alien entity, he is not so easily destroyed; the Doctor simply extends the time tunnel so that Sutekh can never reach the end, effectively causing him to die of old age. Or so we thought.
For Doctor Who fans, ‘Pyramids of Mars’ was the last they ever saw of Sutekh until his dramatic and, frankly, terrifying return at the end of ‘The Legend of Ruby Sunday’ in 2024. In this particular story, the Time Lord is investigating a mysterious woman who has been following him through time and space like a bad wolf – sorry, I mean, bad penny. Everywhere the TARDIS lands, the woman is there, and in ‘The Legend of Ruby Sunday’ the Doctor employs the services of UNIT to try and figure out who this woman is, and why she is scattered throughout time.
Initially, it seems like she could be the Doctor’s long-lost granddaughter, Susan. After all, the woman’s name is Susan Triad of S. Triad Technologies, and this is an anagram of the word ‘TARDIS.’ But the Doctor can’t be sure of her identity until he meets her in person, as she may have regenerated.
Unfortunately, things only get more complicated when the Time Lord finally meets Susan face-to-face. As she prepares to give a televised speech, a mysterious entity starts to manifest around the TARDIS – an entity which, apparently, has been clinging to the TARDIS’ shell for some time. Susan Triad’s skin melts away, and she takes on a zombie-like appearance. “Did you think I was family, Doctor?” she sneers.
Other people get possessed, too – namely UNIT’s Harriet Arbinger (or ‘harbinger’) whose face transforms into a skull. The harbinger reference is particularly interesting, as there was another ‘harbinger’ in the earlier episode ‘The Devil’s Chord.’ So, presumably, Sutekh has been tampering with the Doctor’s adventures for some time.
What isn’t explained, though, is which manifestation of Sutekh is the real one. Sutekh appears as a fearsome, dog-like creature sitting on top of the TARDIS, but then he is also Susan Triad, and Harriet Arbinger. Are these people that Sutekh has simply possessed, or did he create them? Or are they actually Sutekh himself, just in different forms? Could Susan Triad still be Susan Foreman, the Doctor’s granddaughter? At this stage, there are many unanswered questions.
What is clear, though, is that Sutekh is the infamous “one who waits,” whose presence has been foretold since ‘The Giggle’ – an entity so powerful that even the Celestial Toymaker didn’t dare face him. Presumably, Sutekh also played a role in the abandonment of Ruby Sunday as a baby; in ‘The Devil’s Chord,’ Maestro alludes to the fact that “he” was present on Christmas Eve 2004, when Ruby was left outside a church on Ruby Road. Could Ruby herself be part of the Osiran’s grand plan to ensnare the Doctor?
Certainly, at the time of writing, things don’t look too good for the Doctor. The synopsis for the season finale ‘Empire of Death’ says this: “The Doctor has lost, his ageless enemy reigns supreme, and a shadow is falling over creation. Nothing can stop the devastation… except, perhaps, one woman.” And it promises to be an epic conclusion, given that the episode has been given an extended run-time and a midnight cinema screening in the UK.
So it remains to be seen just what Sutekh wants and how, exactly, the Doctor will defeat him. But he is arguably one of the most powerful Doctor Who villains the Time Lord has ever encountered, so it promises to be nothing if not dramatic.
What is your theory about Sutekh and how he connects to Ruby Sunday? And do you think Susan Triad could really be Susan Foreman? Let us know in the comments below.
One funny, specific error: “name is Susan Triad of S. Triad Technologies, and this is an anagram of the word ‘TARDIS.’”
Actually…
[Pushes up glasses]
…it is an anagram of the ACRONYM ‘TARDIS’.
😉