Leadworth

Leadworth
Type:	Village
First appearance:	The Eleventh Hour
Appearances:	see list

Leadworth was a village in Gloucestershire, (PROSE: Around Leadworth) and a location where Amy Pond, Rory Williams and Melody Pond spent a significant amount of their formative years. (TV: Let's Kill Hitler, The Eleventh Hour) It was also the first place that the TARDIS landed following the Doctor's regeneration into his eleventh incarnation. (TV: The Eleventh Hour) The Doctor openly hated being here, finding it boring. (TV: Amy's Choice)

The name Leadworth was derived from the nearby River Leadon, and the old English word 'worth' meaning "an enclosure or homestead". (PROSE: Around Leadworth)

Geography

Leadworth was located in the heart of Gloucestershire, (PROSE: Around Leadworth) roughly half an hour by car from the nearest city, Gloucester, (TV: The Eleventh Hour, PROSE: Around Leadworth) and forty miles from Tutshill. (PROSE: Around Leadworth) Despite this, an edition of The Leadworth Chronicle — a paper which proclaimed its dedication to "local news" in its masthead – prominently featured an article detailing the triumph of the Colchester Knights, a football side. (TV: Let's Kill Hitler)

The River Leadon ran just to the north of Upper Leadworth, across which was a rural area known as Leadon Fields. (PROSE: Around Leadworth)

Amenities

Leadworth had no airport nor a nuclear power station. It did have a post office, (TV: The Eleventh Hour) Leadworth Castle, a parish church called Leadworth Parish Church, (PROSE: Around Leadworth) a fire station, a hospital called Royal Leadworth Hospital, where Rory worked, (TV: The Eleventh Hour), a police station, a nightclub called The Wig and Cravat, a bookshop called Broderick Books, Leadworth Baths, a retirement home called Sarn Residential Home, (PROSE: Around Leadworth) and a pub (TV: The Vampires of Venice, PROSE: Rory's Stag) called The Horse & Jockey. (PROSE: Rory's Stag) It also had a football stadium where they sold football pies. (COMIC: Bow-ties for Goal Posts) Leadworth was located near a crop field. (TV: Let's Kill Hitler)

Using the psychic paper, Rory Williams was identified as Earl of Upper Leadworth, a presumably fictional title. (COMIC: Ripper's Curse)

History

Some time before Easter 1996, a mysterious crack in time had opened in Leadworth, linking it to an Atraxi prison. It allowed the shape-changing Prisoner Zero to escape into the village. On Easter, the Doctor's TARDIS, piloted by the Eleventh Doctor, who had just regenerated and could not properly steer the damaged craft, crashed near Amy Pond's house in her backyard.

In 2008, the village was invaded by the Atraxi, who had come in search of Prisoner Zero. The Doctor, for whom only a short time had passed, defeated Prisoner Zero and then ordered the Atraxi to leave. (TV: The Eleventh Hour)

Alternate versions

In a dream version of Leadworth created by the Dream Lord, Leadworth included Upper Leadworth, an area home to many pensioners and "slightly upmarket" according to Rory Williams. (TV: Amy's Choice)

In an alternate timeline where Professor Saurian had stopped the extinction of the dinosaurs, Leadworth was much the same, but the inhabitants were all reptilian creatures. (COMIC: Dino World)

Known residents

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• Amy Pond
• Augustus and Tabetha Pond
• Rory Williams
• Brian Williams
• Dr Ramsden
• Mr Henderson
• Mrs Angelo
• Jeff Angelo
• Mels
• Sharon (alternate timeline)
• Polly Browning
• Reg Browning
• Mrs Browning

Behind the scenes

• Most Leadworth scenes in The Eleventh Hour were filmed at Llandaff in Cardiff, about half a mile away from the main BBC Wales building. However, the Upper Leadworth scenes in Amy's Choice were filmed in the South East Wales village of Skenfrith.
• During filming of The Eleventh Hour, Steven Moffat described Leadworth as "basically Trumpton."
• If Leadworth truly is in Gloucestershire, then it joins a couple of other prominent fictional Gloucestrian locations. Moreton Harwood from A Girl's Best Friend and Stockbridge from various Doctor Who Magazine comic strips are also said to be from Gloucestershire — although Stockbridge has certainly moved around a lot over the years.