Edwin Bracewell
Dr. Edwin Bracewell was an android modelled after a Scottish human made by the Daleks after they landed in 1941. He was placed in a War Room alongside Winston Churchill. He was unaware of his origins, and was implanted with memories of a human life and the creation of the Daleks as a weapon called an 'Ironside' for Britain.
History
When Churchill summoned the Doctor and Amy Pond to his base, he introduced Bracewell to them, who proudly showed off his 'creations'. The Doctor caused the Daleks to reveal their true nature. When Bracewell tried to stop the Daleks, they revealed him as their own creation, blasting his hand off.
After the Doctor foiled the Daleks' original plan, they revealed that Bracewell's android body contained an Oblivion Continuum as a power source, and threatened to use it as a bomb and destroy the planet. The Daleks activated the bomb and fled.
The Doctor and Amy tried to stop the Oblivion Continuum from detonating by using Bracewell's memories - which had been stolen from an actual human and contained every detail and emotion of his human life - to force Bracewell to embrace his humanity. Memories of the postal office his 'parents' worked in and nearby ash trees, the trenches of the First World War, and the death of his parents were not enough. It was only when Amy reminded him fancying someone he knew he shouldn't - Dorabella - that his android programming was broken, thus deactivating the weapon.
Afterward, Bracewell assumed the Doctor would deactivate him as he was Dalek technology, and had "no business" on Earth. At first he accepted this fate, but was overjoyed when he eventually caught on to their hints they would do otherwise. Instead, they encouraged him to seek out a normal human life, looking for the postal office and Dorabella. (DW: Victory of the Daleks)
It is possible that there was an actual human Edwin Bracewell, as the Doctor mentioned that the android probably had the memories of a real human implanted in him. If this is the case, then it is likely that the Daleks killed the real Bracewell after they extracted his memories or transfered his brainwaves to the android. It is also possible that the real human had another name.
Sometime after those events, Bracewell found one of the final paintings by Vincent van Gogh. He showed Winston Churchill the painting and they recognised it as a message for the Doctor. Churchill tried to ring the Doctor to alert him, but was diverted to River Song in the 52nd Century, alerting her of its existence. (DW: The Pandorica Opens) The Doctor eventually changed the timeline such that the painting, and therefore these later events, no longer existed. (DW: The Big Bang)
Behind the scenes
- Amy called Edwin 'Paisley' and 'Paisley Boy' and head writer Steven Moffat is also a 'Paisley Boy'.
- Bracewell may be named after the Bracewell probe (or the physicist who proposed the idea, Ronald N. Bracewell). A Bracewell probe is an autonomous A.I. that would act as an emissary between two alien races for which distance would make other modes of communication unfeasible.
- Bracewell's portrayal in 'Victory' is not unlike the introduction of Davros in Genesis of the Daleks . As in that story, the "Ironsides" are intended as a weapon to win a war, and rebel against their 'creator'. Davros created the Daleks, the Daleks created Bracewell and made him believe he created them. Davros lost his eyesight and movement of his left arm in undisclosed circumstances, and Bracewell uses spectacles and loses the use of his left hand over the course of 'Victory'. Davros is an organic life-form who turns himself into a cyborg, Bracewell an artificial life-form made to resemble a cyborg. Davros' greed for power and disdain for life and emotions is what leads to his madness, the slaughter of his army, and his own death; Bracewell's embrace of his own human emotions save his army and himself. Davros tortures the Doctor's companions, knowing that they will feel pain where he will not; the Doctor believes that he can make Bracewell act human by forcing him to feel pain.
