Bessie: Difference between revisions
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{{Infobox Object | {{subpage tabs}} | ||
|image = | {{cleanup|[[Bessie 2]] should get its own page.}} | ||
| | {{Infobox Object | ||
|type = Car | |image = Bessie during chase sequence Spiders.jpg | ||
|origin = | |aka = Betsy, Bessie 2 | ||
|appearances = | |type = [[Car]] | ||
}} | |origin = [[Earth]] | ||
'''Bessie''' | |used by = {{il|[[Third Doctor]]|[[Fourth Doctor]]|[[Seventh Doctor]]|[[Eighth Doctor]]|[[Eleventh Doctor]]|[[Liz Shaw]]|[[Alice Obiefune]]|[[River Song]]}} | ||
|appearances = [[Bessie/Appearances|'''''see list''''']] | |||
|first = Doctor Who and the Silurians (TV story) | |||
Bessie | |voice actor = Stephanie Cole | ||
|clip = Bessie - The car that drives itself - The Daemons - Doctor Who - BBC | |||
}}{{ImageLink}} | |||
'''Bessie''', also called '''Betsy''' ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Timebenders (comic story)|Timebenders]]'', [[PROSE]]: ''[[Countdown to TV Action (short story)|Countdown to TV Action]]'') and, later, '''Bessie 2''', ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Remembrance (comic story)|Remembrance]]'') was the [[Third Doctor]]'s main mode of transport during his [[exile on Earth]], although other incarnations of [[the Doctor]] have also used the [[car]] on rare occasions. She was an [[Austin (car)|Austin]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[A Home From Home (audio story)|A Home From Home]]'') | |||
A canary-yellow [[Edwardian era|Edwardian]] roadster, she was a key part of his compensation package from [[UNIT]], and the only specific demand he made of [[Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart|the Brigadier]] when he agreed to be UNIT's [[scientific advisor]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Spearhead from Space (TV story)|Spearhead from Space]]'') Despite being beloved by the Doctor, the car was frequently ridiculed and underestimated by the Doctor's friends. Heavily tricked out, the car's many modifications often bewildered his associates. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Dæmons (TV story)|The Dæmons]]'', ''[[The Time Monster (TV story)|The Time Monster]]'', ''[[Battlefield (TV story)|Battlefield]]'') The Brigadier in particular was dismissive of the car's abilities and, at least early on, didn't even believe it was capable of basic locomotion. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Ambassadors of Death (TV story)|The Ambassadors of Death]]'') | |||
== | == Modifications == | ||
The Doctor made several modifications to Bessie during his time at UNIT. These included: a [[conversion engine]], which made Bessie completely [[carbon neutrality|carbon neutral]], nullifying all forms of [[carbon emission]]; ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Terror of the Master (audio story)|Terror of the Master]]'') an [[anti-thief device|anti-theft]] [[force field]], ([[TV]]: ''[[The Ambassadors of Death (TV story)|The Ambassadors of Death]]'') which magnetically trapped anyone attempting to steal Bessie; a remote control, ([[TV]]: ''[[The Dæmons (TV story)|The Dæmons]]'') with which the Doctor could steer the car from a distance, and enabling him to prevent {{Delgado}}'s attempt to escape following the events at [[Devil's End]]; and a [[Super drive|minimum inertia hyperdrive]], which allowed him to drive at breakneck speed and still come to a sudden stop without the car's occupants being tossed through the [[windscreen]] by [[inertia]], which the [[brake]]s absorbed. The Doctor made use of this inertia absorption to overtake the Brigadier's [[Land Rover]] after Lethbridge-Stewart had declined to travel in Bessie in fear of the car's reliability. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Time Monster (TV story)|The Time Monster]]'') The Doctor also included [[inertial dampener]]s. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Hidden Realm (audio story)}}) | |||
The Third Doctor claimed that she could even outperform a [[Formula One]] racing vehicle, as a result of his modifications. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Terror of the Master (audio story)|Terror of the Master]]'') | |||
== History == | |||
=== Before the Doctor === | |||
Although not yet having been bestowed the name, Bessie was first completed in [[1910]]. During this time, cars were a rare sight on the road, which was mostly frequented by [[pony|ponies]] and [[horse]]s. Her first owner was a wealthy [[lord]], who travelled between his country house and [[London]] home in the car. On one night Bessie was stolen by a drunken footman, with the resulting damage causing the lord to replace her. She was then acquired by a "city gentleman", who had his butler drive him around and kept Bessie in a garage in [[Chelsea]]. | |||
During [[World War II]], Bessie's owner volunteered for battle, selling the car off to a young woman, who used her as an [[ambulance]] in the [[Spanish Civil War]]. She was then returned back to [[London]] with a new owner, who used her to work the [[black market]] during [[the Blitz]], giving her a less conspicuous coat of paint for the job. Bessie was damaged, and her owner killed, in a bomb blast during this time. Without an owner, Bessie ended up in a lockup for years. Eventually, Bessie was found again and, as a vintage model, became the matter of quite some interest. She was sold to a high class car dealership, who restored her and put her on show in the window. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Bessie Come Home (audio story)|Bessie Come Home]]'') | |||
=== UNIT days === | |||
When he began his exile on Earth, a recently [[regenerated]] [[Third Doctor]] stole an antique roadster which was parked near the entrance to [[Ashbridge Cottage Hospital]] to get around. He liked it, believing "it had character." After seeing the car returned to its original owner, Dr [[Beavis]], the Brigadier said he thought he could get something like it. This was the Doctor's only formal request, as a condition on which he'd be willing to become [[UNIT]]'s [[scientific advisor]]. The original car was [[red]], unlike Bessie, which was [[yellow]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Spearhead from Space (TV story)|Spearhead from Space]]'') | |||
Soon after, Bessie was spotted in the car dealership by [[Brigadier]] [[Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart]], who bought her as a gift for the Third Doctor, who had recently joined him at UNIT. Bessie was then unveiled to the Doctor at [[UNIT HQ]], who named her Bessie ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Bessie Come Home (audio story)|Bessie Come Home]]'') after an old friend. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Mission (audio story)|The Mission]]'') The Doctor and the Brig took Bessie out for a short drive almost straight away. The Doctor then set about refurbishing Bessie. On one night, he hooked her up to the navigational computer from [[the Doctor's TARDIS|his TARDIS]], unintentionally granting her consciousness. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Bessie Come Home (audio story)|Bessie Come Home]]'') The Doctor made these repairs in a UNIT [[garage]] where he did not wish to be disturbed. ([[TV]]: ''[[Doctor Who and the Silurians (TV story)|Doctor Who and the Silurians]]'', [[AUDIO]]: ''[[Terror of the Master (audio story)|Terror of the Master]]'') | |||
According to the Brigadier, the Doctor used UNIT funds to build Bessie (and later, [[Whomobile|the Whomobile]]), which he considered a potential misuse of public funds. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Hello Goodbye (short story)|Hello Goodbye]]'') | |||
Shortly after getting the final repairs in place and attaching his personal license to Bessie, the Doctor took her out for a test drive to [[Wenley Moor]] to attend a meeting at [[Wenley Moor nuclear research facility|an underground nuclear research centre]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Doctor Who and the Silurians (TV story)|Doctor Who and the Silurians]]'') The Doctor claimed he named Bessie after [[Liz Shaw]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Change of Mind (comic story)|Change of Mind]]'') Liz was driving Bessie when she was captured by two of [[Reegan]]'s heavies. Bessie was later used by the Brigadier and some of his men to drive to where the Doctor and Liz were being held prisoner, as no UNIT [[jeep]]s were available. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Ambassadors of Death (TV story)|The Ambassadors of Death]]'') | |||
[[ | |||
[[ | Bessie was transported to the [[Inferno Earth]] with the Doctor during his attempts at lifting his exile by bypassing the Time Lords' additional inhibitors. ([[TV]]: ''[[Inferno (TV story)|Inferno]]'') [[File:BessieTopUpTAOD.jpg|thumb|left|Bessie with her top up. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Ambassadors of Death (TV story)|The Ambassadors of Death]]'')]] | ||
When the Doctor's experiment to bypass his exile by turning the [[Time-Space Visualiser]] into a [[time bridge]] resulted in history being changed so that [[Nancy Norton]] and [[Brokk]] conquered the world, UNIT HQ was only protected from the changes in history by the artron energy gathered around the Doctor's equipment. When Liz was captured and taken out of the base, the Doctor, the Brigadier, and Sergeants [[John Benton]] and [[Mike Yates]] travelled out of the base in Bessie, using surplus components from the bridge to provide the car with an artron energy reserve until they could return to the base and restore history. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Eye of the Giant (novel)|The Eye of the Giant]]'') | |||
The Doctor drove Bessie to [[Luigi Rossini]]'s [[circus]] ([[TV]]: ''[[Terror of the Autons (TV story)|Terror of the Autons]]'') and to [[Stangmoor Prison]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Mind of Evil (TV story)|The Mind of Evil]]'') | |||
Bessie proved instrumental in capturing {{Delgado}}. When he attempted to steal the Doctor's car and make good his escape following the events at [[Devil's End]], the Doctor used his remote control to steer the Master back to the waiting UNIT soldiers, who took him into custody. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Dæmons (TV story)|The Dæmons]]'') Bessie was briefly pulled into [[Omega]]'s [[Anti-matter universe|universe]] during his attempt to capture the Doctor. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Three Doctors (TV story)|The Three Doctors]]'') At one point, Bessie was green. The Doctor and [[Jo Grant]] travelled in it in [[2 June]], [[1953]] chasing after [[Elizabeth II]]'s [[chariot]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Where's the Doctor? (comic story)|Where's the Doctor?]]'') The Doctor later drove it to [[Llanfairfach]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Green Death (TV story)|The Green Death]]'') | |||
{{ | [[File:Anti-matter organism.jpg|thumb|Bessie, about to be transported to the [[anti-matter universe]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Three Doctors (TV story)|The Three Doctors]]'')]] | ||
Shortly after Jo left him and the [[Third Doctor|third incarnation]] of the Doctor had temporarily left Earth, his [[Fifth Doctor|fifth incarnation]] arrived on Earth and borrowed Bessie while helping UNIT defeat the [[Xaranti]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Deep Blue (novel)|Deep Blue]]'') | |||
Bessie was also abducted with the Doctor into the [[Death Zone]], where it was heavily damaged by one of the thunderbolts that periodically rained down upon the landscape. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Five Doctors (TV story)|The Five Doctors]]'') Although the car was forgotten by the Time Lords for a while, it was eventually sent back to Earth after spending some time in the Death Zone. | |||
One of the many versions of [[Clara Oswald]] created after she entered the Doctor's [[time stream]] saw the Third Doctor driving in Bessie. She called out to him, but he didn't hear her. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Name of the Doctor (TV story)|The Name of the Doctor]]'') | |||
With his waning interest in affairs at UNIT and Earth, the [[Fourth Doctor]] soon lost interest in Bessie, though he did have use for her on several Earthbound adventures with [[Sarah Jane Smith|Sarah]] ([[TV]]: ''[[Robot (TV story)|Robot]]'', [[COMIC]]: ''[[Death Flower (comic story)|Death Flower]]'', ''[[Counter-Rotation (comic story)|Counter-Rotation]]'', ''[[Mind Snatch (comic story)|Mind Snatch]]'', and others). He also used Bessie after Sarah was no longer travelling with him, ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Fire Feeders (comic story)|The Fire Feeders]]'') and even when [[Leela]] had joined him. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Devil's Mouth (comic story)|The Devil's Mouth]]'') He also used it when travelling with [[Young (The Sea Devil)|Miss Young]] ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Sea Devil (comic story)|The Sea Devil]]'') and, according to one account, whilst with [[Joan Brown]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Doomcloud (comic story)|Doomcloud]]'') | |||
=== Later travels === | |||
[[File:Seven brig bessie.jpg|thumb|[[Seventh Doctor|The Doctor]] is delighted to be reunited with Bessie. ([[TV]]: ''[[Battlefield (TV story)|Battlefield]]'')]] | |||
It was unclear what happened to Bessie after this early period of the Fourth Doctor's life. According to one account, it was simply in storage aboard [[The Doctor's TARDIS|the TARDIS]], seen there as late as the [[Sixth Doctor]]'s travels with [[Frobisher]] and [[Peri Brown|Peri]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Changes (comic story)|Changes]]'') Another account had it that [[the Brigadier]] had it "put into mothballs" at some point, having realised that the Doctor's visits to Earth were becoming more and more infrequent. It was brought out briefly in [[1997]] as the Brigadier and UNIT worked with the Doctor's [[Seventh Doctor|seventh incarnation]] to battle [[Morgaine]]; it was briefly criticised by [[Ace]], until the Doctor demonstrated its capabilities. ([[TV]]: ''[[Battlefield (TV story)|Battlefield]]'') | |||
The [[Eighth Doctor]] used it while defeating the [[Mars]] invasion later in 1997. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Dying Days (novel)|The Dying Days]]'') [[R Spendsmith]] saw the [[Ninth Doctor]] had broken down on the side of a [[road]] in an "old yellow vintage thing" next to a confused [[the AA|AA]] [[Man (Have You Seen This Man?)|man]] sometime in early [[2005]]. Spendsmith later wrote about this encounter on [[www.whoisdoctorwho.co.uk|whoisdoctorwho.co.uk]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Have You Seen This Man? (short story)|Have You Seen This Man?]]'') | |||
[[Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart]] later gave Bessie to [[John Benton]], partly as a joke as Benton once was a used car salesman. Benton then spent his time fixing Bessie. This proved useful when the [[Silurian]]s started attacking [[Kate Stewart]] and [[Petronella Osgood]] in [[Scafell]] as it became the only working car, and allowed them to escape. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Call to Arms (audio story)|Call to Arms]]'') | |||
[[Jo Grant|Jo]] and [[Clifford Jones]] drove Bessie for their return in [[Llanfairfach]] where they defeated more [[giant maggot]]s. ([[WC]]: ''[[Hello Boys! (webcast)|Hello Boys!]]'') | |||
[[File:BessieMonsterTruck.jpg|left|thumb|Bessie transformed into a monster truck. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[What He Wants... (comic story)|What He Wants...]]'')]] | |||
Fancying himself an "artist," the [[Eleventh Doctor]] once decided to "pimp up" Bessie by hooking her up to the [[TARDIS matrix]] and turning on the random setting which transformed Bessie into a monster truck. [[Alice Obiefune]] later struggled to drive the newly transformed Bessie to save the Doctor from a group of possessed individuals under the control of the [[Talent Scout]] in [[1931]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[What He Wants... (comic story)|What He Wants...]]'') He later referred to this "regenerated" Bessie as "Bessie 2". ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Remembrance (comic story)|Remembrance]]'') | |||
== Other information == | |||
=== Technology === | |||
[[File:Gravity stabiliser.jpg|thumb|"Bessie's" gravity stabiliser. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Vortex (comic story)|The Vortex]]'')]] | |||
Bessie had a built in [[increased gravity stabiliser]], which the Doctor said could resist the force of a [[tornado]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Vortex (comic story)|The Vortex]]'') | |||
=== Registration === | |||
Initially, Bessie carried the [[number plate|registration license plate]] ''[[WHO 1]]''. By seeming coincidence, at the time of the [[Seventh Doctor]]'s encounter with [[Morgaine]], the plate had been changed to ''[[WHO 7]]''. ([[TV]]: ''[[Battlefield (TV story)|Battlefield]]'') When the [[Eighth Doctor]] utilised Bessie during the [[1997]] invasion of Britain, a UNIT soldier reported the number plate as "'''W'''hiskey, '''H'''otel, '''O'''scar '''8'''," that is, ''[[WHO 8]]''. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Dying Days (novel)|The Dying Days]]'') After the [[Eleventh Doctor]] transformed Bessie into a monster truck, the number plate once again read ''WHO 1''. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[What He Wants... (comic story)|What He Wants...]]''; ''[[Remembrance (comic story)|Remembrance]]'') | |||
== Behind the scenes == | |||
[[File:Nelvana Doctor Who 14.jpg|thumb|[[Nelvana]] series concept art, featuring a flying version of Bessie.]] | |||
* The actual registration ''[[WHO 1]]'' was already in use in real life by another motorist, so Bessie was actually registered under a different number plate, ''MTR 5''. Special ''WHO 1'' number plates were made, which were used on the car when filming on private ground or on the public highway with permission from the police.{{fact}} | |||
* A photograph of [[Jon Pertwee]] driving Bessie appears in the frame of a mirror owned by Pertwee's character, Paul Henderson, in the 1971 film {{wi|The House That Dripped Blood}}. At the time of filming, Pertwee was still playing the Doctor. | |||
* In its first appearance, ''[[Doctor Who and the Silurians (TV story)|Doctor Who and the Silurians]]'', Bessie acts in a way comparable to the [[Volkswagen Beetle]] character {{w|Herbie}}. In 1973, Jon Pertwee appeared on ''[[Disney Time]]'' and appeared alongside Herbie, at which point the two stars briefly fought, causing Pertwee to note that while they were similar Bessie was much nicer than Herbie. The two then made up and introduced {{wi|The Gnome-Mobile}}. | |||
* [[Phil Collinson]] said he paid 50 pence for a ride on Bessie round a shopping centre when he was a child.{{fact}} | |||
* In the cancelled animated series by [[Nelvana]], an updated design for Bessie as a flying car was conceived. | |||
* The appearance of the Third Doctor on Bessie in ''[[The Name of the Doctor (TV story)|The Name of the Doctor]]'' was [[archive footage]] taken from ''[[The Five Doctors (TV story)|The Five Doctors]]''. | |||
* In September 2017, the car went on permanent display at the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu, as part of the On Screen Cars exhibition.<ref>[https://www.beaulieu.co.uk/news/time-warp-bessie-brings-doctor-beaulieu/ Time warp Bessie brings ''Doctor Who'' to Beaulieu]</ref> | |||
* By narrating the 2021 audio story ''[[Bessie Come Home (audio story)|Bessie Come Home]]'', and being revealed as sentient in that story, Bessie has become one of a relatively small number of sentient vehicles in the [[Doctor Who universe|''Doctor Who'' universe]]. Other than a vast array of [[TARDIS]]es, including [[the Doctor's TARDIS]], this category includes [[the One (spaceship)|the One]], the [[Squidget]], [[Ship (Set Piece)|Ship]] from [[PROSE]]: ''[[Set Piece (novel)|Set Piece]]'', and [[Ship (Warlock's Cross)|Ship]] from [[AUDIO]]: ''[[Warlock's Cross (audio story)|Warlock's Cross]]''. The Doctor's TARDIS has also been given a voice of her own in stories such as [[TV]]: ''[[The Doctor's Wife (TV story)|The Doctor's Wife]]'' and [[PROSE]]: ''[[The Library of Time (short story)|The Library of Time]]'' (a short story which is narrated by the TARDIS herself, much like ''Bessie Come Home'' would later do for Bessie). | |||
== External links == | |||
* [http://freespace.virgin.net/dr.dean/who1/bessieinformation.htm Who1 - The Bessie Homepage] | |||
{{Dwlx}} | |||
== Footnotes == | |||
{{reflist}} | |||
[[ru:Бесси]] | |||
[[Category:Bessie| ]] | |||
[[Category:Cars and trucks]] | [[Category:Cars and trucks]] | ||
[[Category: | [[Category:Sentient vehicles]] | ||
[[Category: | [[Category:Vehicles stolen by the Master]] | ||
Latest revision as of 18:15, 3 November 2024
Bessie 2 should get its own page.
These problems might be so great that the article's factual accuracy has been compromised. Talk about it here or check the revision history or Manual of Style for more information.
Bessie, also called Betsy (COMIC: Timebenders, PROSE: Countdown to TV Action) and, later, Bessie 2, (COMIC: Remembrance) was the Third Doctor's main mode of transport during his exile on Earth, although other incarnations of the Doctor have also used the car on rare occasions. She was an Austin. (AUDIO: A Home From Home)
A canary-yellow Edwardian roadster, she was a key part of his compensation package from UNIT, and the only specific demand he made of the Brigadier when he agreed to be UNIT's scientific advisor. (TV: Spearhead from Space) Despite being beloved by the Doctor, the car was frequently ridiculed and underestimated by the Doctor's friends. Heavily tricked out, the car's many modifications often bewildered his associates. (TV: The Dæmons, The Time Monster, Battlefield) The Brigadier in particular was dismissive of the car's abilities and, at least early on, didn't even believe it was capable of basic locomotion. (TV: The Ambassadors of Death)
Modifications[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Doctor made several modifications to Bessie during his time at UNIT. These included: a conversion engine, which made Bessie completely carbon neutral, nullifying all forms of carbon emission; (AUDIO: Terror of the Master) an anti-theft force field, (TV: The Ambassadors of Death) which magnetically trapped anyone attempting to steal Bessie; a remote control, (TV: The Dæmons) with which the Doctor could steer the car from a distance, and enabling him to prevent the Master's attempt to escape following the events at Devil's End; and a minimum inertia hyperdrive, which allowed him to drive at breakneck speed and still come to a sudden stop without the car's occupants being tossed through the windscreen by inertia, which the brakes absorbed. The Doctor made use of this inertia absorption to overtake the Brigadier's Land Rover after Lethbridge-Stewart had declined to travel in Bessie in fear of the car's reliability. (TV: The Time Monster) The Doctor also included inertial dampeners. (AUDIO: The Hidden Realm [+]Loading...["The Hidden Realm (audio story)"])
The Third Doctor claimed that she could even outperform a Formula One racing vehicle, as a result of his modifications. (AUDIO: Terror of the Master)
History[[edit] | [edit source]]
Before the Doctor[[edit] | [edit source]]
Although not yet having been bestowed the name, Bessie was first completed in 1910. During this time, cars were a rare sight on the road, which was mostly frequented by ponies and horses. Her first owner was a wealthy lord, who travelled between his country house and London home in the car. On one night Bessie was stolen by a drunken footman, with the resulting damage causing the lord to replace her. She was then acquired by a "city gentleman", who had his butler drive him around and kept Bessie in a garage in Chelsea.
During World War II, Bessie's owner volunteered for battle, selling the car off to a young woman, who used her as an ambulance in the Spanish Civil War. She was then returned back to London with a new owner, who used her to work the black market during the Blitz, giving her a less conspicuous coat of paint for the job. Bessie was damaged, and her owner killed, in a bomb blast during this time. Without an owner, Bessie ended up in a lockup for years. Eventually, Bessie was found again and, as a vintage model, became the matter of quite some interest. She was sold to a high class car dealership, who restored her and put her on show in the window. (AUDIO: Bessie Come Home)
UNIT days[[edit] | [edit source]]
When he began his exile on Earth, a recently regenerated Third Doctor stole an antique roadster which was parked near the entrance to Ashbridge Cottage Hospital to get around. He liked it, believing "it had character." After seeing the car returned to its original owner, Dr Beavis, the Brigadier said he thought he could get something like it. This was the Doctor's only formal request, as a condition on which he'd be willing to become UNIT's scientific advisor. The original car was red, unlike Bessie, which was yellow. (TV: Spearhead from Space)
Soon after, Bessie was spotted in the car dealership by Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, who bought her as a gift for the Third Doctor, who had recently joined him at UNIT. Bessie was then unveiled to the Doctor at UNIT HQ, who named her Bessie (AUDIO: Bessie Come Home) after an old friend. (AUDIO: The Mission) The Doctor and the Brig took Bessie out for a short drive almost straight away. The Doctor then set about refurbishing Bessie. On one night, he hooked her up to the navigational computer from his TARDIS, unintentionally granting her consciousness. (AUDIO: Bessie Come Home) The Doctor made these repairs in a UNIT garage where he did not wish to be disturbed. (TV: Doctor Who and the Silurians, AUDIO: Terror of the Master)
According to the Brigadier, the Doctor used UNIT funds to build Bessie (and later, the Whomobile), which he considered a potential misuse of public funds. (PROSE: Hello Goodbye)
Shortly after getting the final repairs in place and attaching his personal license to Bessie, the Doctor took her out for a test drive to Wenley Moor to attend a meeting at an underground nuclear research centre. (TV: Doctor Who and the Silurians) The Doctor claimed he named Bessie after Liz Shaw. (COMIC: Change of Mind) Liz was driving Bessie when she was captured by two of Reegan's heavies. Bessie was later used by the Brigadier and some of his men to drive to where the Doctor and Liz were being held prisoner, as no UNIT jeeps were available. (TV: The Ambassadors of Death)
Bessie was transported to the Inferno Earth with the Doctor during his attempts at lifting his exile by bypassing the Time Lords' additional inhibitors. (TV: Inferno)
When the Doctor's experiment to bypass his exile by turning the Time-Space Visualiser into a time bridge resulted in history being changed so that Nancy Norton and Brokk conquered the world, UNIT HQ was only protected from the changes in history by the artron energy gathered around the Doctor's equipment. When Liz was captured and taken out of the base, the Doctor, the Brigadier, and Sergeants John Benton and Mike Yates travelled out of the base in Bessie, using surplus components from the bridge to provide the car with an artron energy reserve until they could return to the base and restore history. (PROSE: The Eye of the Giant)
The Doctor drove Bessie to Luigi Rossini's circus (TV: Terror of the Autons) and to Stangmoor Prison. (TV: The Mind of Evil)
Bessie proved instrumental in capturing the Master. When he attempted to steal the Doctor's car and make good his escape following the events at Devil's End, the Doctor used his remote control to steer the Master back to the waiting UNIT soldiers, who took him into custody. (TV: The Dæmons) Bessie was briefly pulled into Omega's universe during his attempt to capture the Doctor. (TV: The Three Doctors) At one point, Bessie was green. The Doctor and Jo Grant travelled in it in 2 June, 1953 chasing after Elizabeth II's chariot. (COMIC: Where's the Doctor?) The Doctor later drove it to Llanfairfach. (TV: The Green Death)
Shortly after Jo left him and the third incarnation of the Doctor had temporarily left Earth, his fifth incarnation arrived on Earth and borrowed Bessie while helping UNIT defeat the Xaranti. (PROSE: Deep Blue)
Bessie was also abducted with the Doctor into the Death Zone, where it was heavily damaged by one of the thunderbolts that periodically rained down upon the landscape. (TV: The Five Doctors) Although the car was forgotten by the Time Lords for a while, it was eventually sent back to Earth after spending some time in the Death Zone.
One of the many versions of Clara Oswald created after she entered the Doctor's time stream saw the Third Doctor driving in Bessie. She called out to him, but he didn't hear her. (TV: The Name of the Doctor)
With his waning interest in affairs at UNIT and Earth, the Fourth Doctor soon lost interest in Bessie, though he did have use for her on several Earthbound adventures with Sarah (TV: Robot, COMIC: Death Flower, Counter-Rotation, Mind Snatch, and others). He also used Bessie after Sarah was no longer travelling with him, (COMIC: The Fire Feeders) and even when Leela had joined him. (COMIC: The Devil's Mouth) He also used it when travelling with Miss Young (COMIC: The Sea Devil) and, according to one account, whilst with Joan Brown. (COMIC: Doomcloud)
Later travels[[edit] | [edit source]]
It was unclear what happened to Bessie after this early period of the Fourth Doctor's life. According to one account, it was simply in storage aboard the TARDIS, seen there as late as the Sixth Doctor's travels with Frobisher and Peri. (COMIC: Changes) Another account had it that the Brigadier had it "put into mothballs" at some point, having realised that the Doctor's visits to Earth were becoming more and more infrequent. It was brought out briefly in 1997 as the Brigadier and UNIT worked with the Doctor's seventh incarnation to battle Morgaine; it was briefly criticised by Ace, until the Doctor demonstrated its capabilities. (TV: Battlefield)
The Eighth Doctor used it while defeating the Mars invasion later in 1997. (PROSE: The Dying Days) R Spendsmith saw the Ninth Doctor had broken down on the side of a road in an "old yellow vintage thing" next to a confused AA man sometime in early 2005. Spendsmith later wrote about this encounter on whoisdoctorwho.co.uk. (PROSE: Have You Seen This Man?)
Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart later gave Bessie to John Benton, partly as a joke as Benton once was a used car salesman. Benton then spent his time fixing Bessie. This proved useful when the Silurians started attacking Kate Stewart and Petronella Osgood in Scafell as it became the only working car, and allowed them to escape. (AUDIO: Call to Arms)
Jo and Clifford Jones drove Bessie for their return in Llanfairfach where they defeated more giant maggots. (WC: Hello Boys!)
Fancying himself an "artist," the Eleventh Doctor once decided to "pimp up" Bessie by hooking her up to the TARDIS matrix and turning on the random setting which transformed Bessie into a monster truck. Alice Obiefune later struggled to drive the newly transformed Bessie to save the Doctor from a group of possessed individuals under the control of the Talent Scout in 1931. (COMIC: What He Wants...) He later referred to this "regenerated" Bessie as "Bessie 2". (COMIC: Remembrance)
Other information[[edit] | [edit source]]
Technology[[edit] | [edit source]]
Bessie had a built in increased gravity stabiliser, which the Doctor said could resist the force of a tornado. (COMIC: The Vortex)
Registration[[edit] | [edit source]]
Initially, Bessie carried the registration license plate WHO 1. By seeming coincidence, at the time of the Seventh Doctor's encounter with Morgaine, the plate had been changed to WHO 7. (TV: Battlefield) When the Eighth Doctor utilised Bessie during the 1997 invasion of Britain, a UNIT soldier reported the number plate as "Whiskey, Hotel, Oscar 8," that is, WHO 8. (PROSE: The Dying Days) After the Eleventh Doctor transformed Bessie into a monster truck, the number plate once again read WHO 1. (COMIC: What He Wants...; Remembrance)
Behind the scenes[[edit] | [edit source]]
- The actual registration WHO 1 was already in use in real life by another motorist, so Bessie was actually registered under a different number plate, MTR 5. Special WHO 1 number plates were made, which were used on the car when filming on private ground or on the public highway with permission from the police.[source needed]
- A photograph of Jon Pertwee driving Bessie appears in the frame of a mirror owned by Pertwee's character, Paul Henderson, in the 1971 film The House That Dripped Blood. At the time of filming, Pertwee was still playing the Doctor.
- In its first appearance, Doctor Who and the Silurians, Bessie acts in a way comparable to the Volkswagen Beetle character Herbie. In 1973, Jon Pertwee appeared on Disney Time and appeared alongside Herbie, at which point the two stars briefly fought, causing Pertwee to note that while they were similar Bessie was much nicer than Herbie. The two then made up and introduced The Gnome-Mobile.
- Phil Collinson said he paid 50 pence for a ride on Bessie round a shopping centre when he was a child.[source needed]
- In the cancelled animated series by Nelvana, an updated design for Bessie as a flying car was conceived.
- The appearance of the Third Doctor on Bessie in The Name of the Doctor was archive footage taken from The Five Doctors.
- In September 2017, the car went on permanent display at the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu, as part of the On Screen Cars exhibition.[1]
- By narrating the 2021 audio story Bessie Come Home, and being revealed as sentient in that story, Bessie has become one of a relatively small number of sentient vehicles in the Doctor Who universe. Other than a vast array of TARDISes, including the Doctor's TARDIS, this category includes the One, the Squidget, Ship from PROSE: Set Piece, and Ship from AUDIO: Warlock's Cross. The Doctor's TARDIS has also been given a voice of her own in stories such as TV: The Doctor's Wife and PROSE: The Library of Time (a short story which is narrated by the TARDIS herself, much like Bessie Come Home would later do for Bessie).
