Charles Banerjee

Charles Banerjee was a resident of Soho in 1925. He worked with John Logie Baird to create television.

Born in Cheltenham, Charles got the job as Baird's assistant. In 1925, Baird arranged for Charles to buy a dummy from Mr Emporium's toy store. He entered, where the store's clerk offered him the Stooky Bill ventriloquist's dummy for six pence. Charles then took the dummy back to Baird, who tested it for his new invention, television, the following day. Baird and Banerjee placed the dummy's head before the camera and began their test - the first ever television recording. Though a success, the bright lights caused the dummy to catch fire while a giggle played.

However, Charles began suffering hallucinations of the doll and perpetually hearing the giggle in his head. Disturbed, he returned to the shop the following day to confront the clerk. The man revealed himself to be the Toymaker who challenged Charles to a game to remove the giggle from his head. Charles lost, leading him to be turned into a life size dummy similar to Stooky Bill. The Fourteenth Doctor eventually found Charles when trapped in the Toymaker's domain. Charles explained what happened to him but, unable to help, the Doctor was forced to flee.

When the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Doctors defeated the Toymaker in a game of catch and subsequently banished him from reality, the timeline changed so that Charles, though still purchasing Stooky Bill, never returned to the toyshop to make his ill-fated deal. (TV: The Giggle ^[+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"])