Archie Maplin

Archie Maplin was a famous silent film star of the 1920s. The Doctor had decided to pay Maplin a visit in 1926 to honor a final request of Donna Noble, who had wanted to visit a silent movie set. At the time, Maplin was attempting, with little success, to film a movie called The Fun Fair, which was plagued by mysterious accidents and had driven Maplin to the brink of bankruptcy. Maplin was instrumental in aiding the Doctor in putting an end to the predations of Maximillian Love and Leo Miller on the backlot of the United Actors Studio. In repayment, The Doctor used a sheet of persuasion paper to convince a bank officer to both forgive the debts Maplin had already incurred and to give him a new loan to finally finance The Fun Fair.

The Doctor apparently had met Maplin previously from his point of view, but from Maplin's perspective, The Doctor's crashing of his gala party in Hollywood was his first encounter. (IDW: Silver Scream)

Behind the Scenes

Archie Maplin is meant to be a stand-in for real-life silent star Charlie Chaplin, whom Donna Noble had expressed an interest in visiting just prior to The Doctor being forced to wipe her memories (Journey's End). Maplin was originally intended to be Charlie Chaplin, but IDW was unable to successfully negotiate the rights to use Chaplin's likeness and name in the story (however, fellow real-life comedian Buster Keaton was depicted in a cameo form, and reference was made to Harold Lloyd). Maplin has been established as a rival of Chaplin's, and not an "in-world" replacement.