Heartbeat

A heartbeat (also spelled heart beat) was the cycle in which a heart pumped blood through the veins. (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Space War ^[+]Loading...["Doctor Who and the Space War (novelisation)"], Instruments of Darkness ^[+]Loading...["Instruments of Darkness (novel)"])

Heart rate referred to the measurement of heart beats in terms of BPM. After a camera operator was sent into the 456 ambassador's chamber, Dekker noted that there were three heartbeats being monitored. John Frobisher speculated that the 456 had a heart for each of their three heads. In actual fact, these were the heartbeats of three distinct forms of life: the 456 ambassador, the camera operator, and a human orphan hooked up to the ambassador. (TV: Children of Earth: Day Four ^[+]Loading...["Children of Earth: Day Four (TV story)"])

The Master was plagued with a drumming sound which subsequently drove him mad. These "drums" were said to have been the sound of the heartbeat of a Time Lord. (TV: The Sound of Drums ^[+]Loading...["The Sound of Drums (TV story)"], The End of Time ^[+]Loading...["The End of Time (TV story)"])

As a result of a binary vascular system, Time Lords had two heartbeats, (TV: Spearhead from Space ^[+]Loading...["Spearhead from Space (TV story)"] et al.) which were collectively referred to as a "heartsbeat". (PROSE: Set Piece ^[+]Loading...["Set Piece (novel)"]) The Doctor's heartsbeat could be detected by a switch on the TARDIS console known as the LTD switch. This switch would automatically pilot the TARDIS in order to retrieve the Doctor. (AUDIO: The Beast of Orlok ^[+]Loading...["The Beast of Orlok (audio story)"])

Through extraction chambers, Time Lords could extract an individual from the last moment of their time stream "between one heartbeat and the next". Their physical processes would remain in a time loop while they were kept conscious. As a result, however, they would not feel their heartbeat, which remained frozen. (TV: Hell Bent ^[+]Loading...["Hell Bent (TV story)"])

Cybermen and Daleks could detect heartbeats in other lifeforms. (TV: The Age of Steel ^[+]Loading...["The Age of Steel (TV story)"], Doomsday ^[+]Loading...["Doomsday (TV story)"]) Emojibots could also detect heartbeats, which they used to identity a human from. As a result, they incorrectly read the Twelfth Doctor as two humans after detecting his two heartbeats. (TV: Smile ^[+]Loading...["Smile (TV story)"])

According to Dr Constantine, those effected by the Empty Child Syndrome had no heartbeat. (TV: The Empty Child ^[+]Loading...["The Empty Child (TV story)"])