The Roundheads (novel)

The Roundheads
Doctor:	[[doctor::Second Doctor]]
Companion(s):	Ben Jackson Polly Wright Jamie McCrimmon
Main enemy:	Captain Stanislaus
Main setting:	London, England, Amsterdam, Holland and aboard the Teazer, Earth, December 1648 London, the Kingdom of England, Earth, 30 January 1649
Key crew
Publisher:	[[publisher::BBC Books]]
Writer:	Mark Gatiss
Release details
Release number:	6
Release date:	November 1997
Format:	Paperback Book, 282 Pages
ISBN:	ISBN 0-563-40576-7
BBC Past Doctor Adventures
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You may be looking for the titular group.

Publisher's summary

"I tell you - we will cut off this King's head. Aye, with the crown on it!"

It is December 1648. Although victorious over the Cavaliers in the Civil Wars, the Roundheads are struggling to retain power. Plans are afoot to spirit King Charles from his prison, and the Doctor and his companions become embroiled in the intrigue...

Ben finds himself press-ganged and on board a mysterious ship to Amsterdam. Polly is an unwitting accomplice in the plot to rescue the King, and the Doctor and Jamie find themselves arrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London under suspicion of conspiracy.

Can the Doctor and Jamie escape, manage to find Ben and Polly and still ensure that history remains on its proper course?

Characters

• The Doctor
• Jamie McCrimmon
• Ben Jackson
• Polly Wright

References

The Doctor

• The Doctor mentions his granddaughter, Susan Foreman.

Individuals

• Susan was very keen on the period of history of the English civil wars.

TARDIS

• The Doctor manages to get lost in the TARDIS on his way to the library, and in a rare display of its partial sentience (last seen in DW: The Edge of Destruction), the TARDIS guides him back to the console room by opening previously unseen doors, while showing him into a room containing the book he was looking for along the way.
• The Doctor states that he began his travels 'a very, very long time ago'.

Notes

• This story is the first historical to take place after the last on-screen regular historical; DW: The Highlanders.

Continuity

• The Doctor reminisces about his first trip with Ben and Polly, when Ben kept insisting to be taken back to his ship because he'd be late. (DW: The Smugglers)
• The Doctor again uses his ability to speak in a foreign accent (in this case - Scandinavian), last seen in DW: The Highlanders.
• The Doctor induces sleep using hypnosis, a feat last seen in DW: The War Machines. It is strongly implied that he was taught this skill by the Master.
• The Doctor, Ben and Polly previously visited this same time period in ST: The Feast.
• The First Doctor previously met Charles I's father King James I in 1605 and 1609 (MA: The Plotters, MA: The Empire of Glass) whereas the Second Doctor would later meet his son King James II in November 1688 (CC: The Glorious Revolution).

Timeline

• This story occurs after DW: The Macra Terror
• This story occurs before ST: The Slave War

External links

• The Roundheads at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
• The Discontinuity Guide to: The Roundheads at The Whoniverse