Sutcliffe (Thin Ice)
Sutcliffe (Thin Ice) - Based on his character alone, Lord Sutcliffe doesn't seem the type to offer out rooms to rent in his family home. The statement at the bottom of this page: "to apply, individuals had to go to Kitty, Sutcliffe's private secretary" further suggests that the name relates to Perry (Thin Ice). Are we 100% sure Rooms to Rent! isn't referring to the later Lord Peregrine Sutcliffe.
Talk about it here.
- You may be looking for Sutcliffe (The Juror's Story).
Lord Peregrine Sutcliffe (PROSE: Rooms to Rent!) (born c. 1783) was a businessman in the 19th century.
Biography
Lord Sutcliffe utilised a sea serpent, sold to him by the Master, (PROSE: Dismemberment) underneath the River Thames by feeding it humans attracted to the frost fairs who were eaten by the creature. It would later defecate faeces which could burn for longer and hotter than coal, even underwater which was greater than anything they had at the time of the Industrial Revolution. He kept the creature chained up underneath the Thames and as a result, would cause the Thames to freeze over. Sutcliffe used this to lure people into the frost fairs which he'd feed the creature with to carry on producing his fuel. He also had two of his men convince con artists to lure others there and rob them to increase the size of the crowds further.
On 8 February 1814, the first frost fair in years had arrived. As the frost fairs were becoming a rare occurrence, he planned to detonate an explosive which would crack the ice and feed everyone in it to the creature to carry on his fuel. However, the Twelfth Doctor and Bill learned of his endeavours, The Doctor outright assaulting him. However, the man had his henchmen capture the pair, where he proceeded to weakly justify his reasons for harming the creature, citing the deaths from mining coal and how he has advanced the British Empire only to be countered by the Doctor. Angered, Sutcliffe sent them to the lake where he planned to feed them to the creature as well. However, the pair escaped, Bill convincing the people to get off the ice while the Doctor rewired the explosives to free the creature. As a result, the ice cracked open with Sutcliffe on it and he drowned.
He left a will to his cousin when he died, but the Doctor rewrote it to be granted to the orphans on the streets of the frost fair instead. (TV: Thin Ice)
Legacy
After his death, his home, located near the Thames, became "affordable housing" for the community, with priority for "orphans and other urchins". The rent was nominal and free grub was provided three times a day. To apply, individuals had to go to Kitty, Sutcliffe's private secretary. (PROSE: Rooms to Rent!)
Personality
Sutcliffe was a self-admitted sociopath; when the Doctor told him that the measure of a civilisation is how it values the life of an unimportant person, he responded that the speech would move anyone "with an ounce of compassion", then added "So, it's really not your day, is it?". He was utterly ruthless and unscrupulous, seeing the people fed to the sea serpent and the creature itself as nothing more than pawns and fodder to be exploited in order to increase his own wealth and power.
Sutcliffe was also profoundly racist, instantly accosting and undermining Bill simply because of her skin colour and because she had set foot in his house, prompting the normally non-violent Doctor to punch him in the face. What disgusted the Doctor the most about him, however, is that he was a normal human rather than an alien, saying that him being an alien would explain his complete lack of humanity. (TV: Thin Ice)
