Sunday 3 March 2019

G is for... Goth


Chancellor Goth was a high ranking member of the High Council of Time Lords, and political leader of the Prydonian Chapter - the same house to which the Doctor had belonged. he was widely tipped to succeed as President when the present incumbent stepped down. On the day this was due to happen, the President was assassinated, with the blame being placed on the Doctor, who had come to Gallifrey after experiencing a vision of the event. Goth was eager for the Doctor to be tried quickly and put to death, but he claimed the Presidency himself and so was able to remain at large to investigate further. he knew that the real assassin had actually been someone standing close to the President. It transpired that the Master was back on Gallifrey, working on a scheme to extend his life. Knowing that the Master had access to the Matrix, the Doctor mentally joined with this in order to find out where he was hiding. The Master's assassin was also in the Matrix, and was hunting him. This proved to be Goth. When the Master realised that Goth had been defeated, he tried to trap the Doctor in the Matrix - fatally wounding Goth in the process, as he was of no further use to him. The dying Chancellor was found in the catacombs, where he revealed that he had found the dying Master on the planet Tersurus. He smuggled him back to Gallifrey to help him, as he had learned that he was not going to be chosen as the new President. The Master had merely used Goth so that he could gain access to the Presidential regalia, which would have enabled him to access the Eye of Harmony and so gain a new regeneration cycle.

Played by: Bernard Horsfall. Appearances: The Deadly Assassin (1976).
  • Fourth and final appearance by Horsfall in the series, all in stories directed by David Maloney.
  • His second appearance was as one of the Time Lords at the Doctor's trial in The War Games, leading many fans to assume that this character was also Goth.
  • Tersurus is the setting for events in the Comic Relief adventure "The Curse of Fatal Death", wherein we learn that the indigenous population communicate through breaking wind.

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