Rowlands

Lord Rowlands, or as the Third Doctor described him, "Tubby Rowlands", was the head of a department in the Ministry in the late 20th century. To stop Brownrose, the Doctor claimed he was friends with Rowlands and threatened: "I was saying to him in the Club only the other day, wrong sort of chap is creeping into your lot, Tubby, I said." (TV: Terror of the Autons)

Rowlands and the Doctor did indeed frequent the same bridge club, the Pemburton, along with Sir John Sudbury. (PROSE: The Scales of Injustice )

The Eighth Doctor once facetiously talked about "just telling Tubby Rowlands down the club, those rebels have got to know their place" to mock an unnaturalist. (PROSE: Unnatural History)

Behind the scenes

• It's never confirmed if the Doctor is really this friendly with Rowlands or is bluffing. In REF: The Doctor: His Lives and Times, the Brigadier says the Doctor used club ties and hob-knobbing with Rowland to keep UNIT supplied with the weapons it needed.