Doctor Who: Could Sutekh return in the New Series?

Gabriel Woolf plays Sutekh in the Pyramids of Mars.

(Photo credit: Doctor Who/BBC. Image obtained from: BBC Press.)

With Sutekh’s recent return in the Fourth Doctor audios, we have to ask: could he also return in the TV series, too?

Over the past week, we’ve been reviewing quite a few Doctor Who stories involving Sutekh. Unsurprisingly, this isn’t a coincidence. This month, Sutekh returns once again to face the Fourth Doctor in Kill the Doctor! and The Age of Sutekh.

So to catch up on his previous encounters with the Doctor, we looked at the phenomenal Classic Series story Pyramids of Mars, and the reasons why it was so successful.

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Then we listened to Sutekh’s encounter with the Seventh Doctor and Bernice Summerfield in The Triumph of Sutekh.

And only today, we reviewed the first half of his reunion with the Fourth Doctor in the audio story, Kill the Doctor!

Watching and listening to all of these stories has made me think. Sutekh is a rather brilliant character. Certainly, he’s one of the most powerful foes that the Doctor’s ever faced. And fans certainly haven’t objected to his return in the audios. So is it possible that a return to the TV series could work, too?

Reintroduction

One thing that could be tricky with his return is that Sutekh has only ever appeared in one TV story. While fans of the Classic Series may love his character, he doesn’t have quite the same amount of iconic power as, say, the Daleks, the Cybermen or the Master.

Then again, neither did the Great Intelligence. After all, while it is a great villain, it had only appeared in two Doctor Who stories before Steven Moffat brought it back in The Snowmen. And it had been well over four decades since their appearances in The Abominable Snowmen and The Web of Fear.

So there’s a precedent for bringing back an arguably less prolific foe. Moffat even found a way of introducing it to a completely fresh audience by telling an origin story for the monster.

Sutekh’s origins?

Could the same be done for Sutekh? Could the Doctor encounter a version of him before they met in Pyramids of Mars?

Of course, it would have to be done exactly right. The Doctor would need to avoid introducing herself to Sutekh at all, as Sutekh had no idea who he was in Pyramids of Mars.

But there just might be an interesting story to tell with Sutekh’s origins. Not in a way that makes him a “tragic” or “sympathetic” villain. That’s not what makes Sutekh so fantastic. He’s actually pretty straightforward: he literally hates all life in the universe.

We could see how he was hunted down by the rest of his race, the Osirans, at least. Perhaps even some of the devastation he originally caused before he was imprisoned. (Well, as much devastation as could be afforded on a BBC budget. Which wouldn’t likely be much.)

Sutekh has made various appearances in the expanded universe, including 2015’s The Triumph of Sutekh with the Seventh Doctor.

(Photo credit: Doctor Who/Big Finish Productions.

Image obtained from: Big Finish Productions.)

Other Osirans

Or perhaps the audience could be introduced to the character through other members of the Osiran race. The expanded media has covered this in great detail, after all. For example, members of Sutekh’s race, and even his family, have appeared in books, audios and comics. Sutekh’s son Anubis has even appeared in the Tenth Doctor’s comics.

Perhaps we could be introduced to other powerful Osirans in the TV series. Whether they were good or evil, Sutekh would at least be mentioned, if not even greatly covered, so the audience of the New Series would be more aware of who or what he was.

An enemy worthy of a finale

Either way, one of these two ideas would be great for reintroducing the character, especially for setting them up for an epic finale. After all, one thing that makes Sutekh so brilliant is that he wants to wipe out the universe. More importantly, he’s powerful enough to achieve that.

So he’d be the perfect villain to use for a truly epic finale. Especially if his full power was unleashed, or about to be. There was a reason he was saved for the last story of the current season of the Fourth Doctor Adventures, after all.

It would be fantastic to see Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor against such a powerful foe. And with such high stakes, there could also be a lot of great drama to be gained from the return of Sutekh.

Next: Review: Kill the Doctor! (Fourth Doctor audio)

What do you think? Should Sutekh return to the TV screens? Or should he remain a strictly one-off villain? Tell us in the comments below.

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