The Fantasy Review’s look at when the Doctor almost had a reunion with Susan years ago!
After the season 1 (2024) finale of Doctor Who, you might be wondering if we will be seeing Susan once again in one of Ncuti Gatwa’s upcoming seasons.
However, this is not the first time a reunion between the Doctor and Susan has been teased, and it’s not even the first time the teasing was done by Russell T Davies!
Who is Susan in Doctor Who?
Susan is the Doctor’s granddaughter, first seen in An Unearthly Child (portrayed by Carole Ann Ford) all the way back at the first episode of Doctor Who in 1963. She is followed home from her school on Earth by two teachers who are worried/curious about her.
These teachers, Ian Chesterton, and Barbara Wright, discover the TARDIS, the Doctor, and become the first companions we see on screen.
In The Dalek Invasion of Earth, a storyline from season 2 in 1964, Susan remains on Earth after they defeat the Daleks. She falls in love and wants to settle down and marry. This is a sudden and heartbreaking farewell for the Doctor, and William Hartnell gives perhaps one of the most famous speeches in all of Doctor Who:
The Doctor’s Reunion With Susan
In the expanded universe, the Doctor does indeed return to see Susan. However, in the main TV show, we are told by the 15th Doctor that he never returned to see his grandchild.
But, he almost did.
So, now we travel back to 2005. Christopher Eccleston’s 9th Doctor is showing off for Rose, offering her any place or time in the universe to visit. He ends up taking her to the end of planet Earth (romantic) in The End of the World, but they do briefly stop at the 22nd Century.
Rose asks to go 100 years into her future. The Doctor complies and says, “Right out of those doors is the 22nd Century. That’s a bit boring though. Do you want to go further?”
He almost stopped. Rose could have said, “nope” and walked out of the doors, straight into the 22nd Century.
It was in the 22nd Century that the Daleks invaded Earth and the Sol system, and where the Doctor had left Susan to make a life for herself outside of the TARDIS. Maybe she even heard the TARDIS arrive and ran to meet him. Who knows?
Concluding Thoughts
Of course, this could have been at any point in the 22nd Century. Maybe it was years before the First Doctor arrived with Ian, Barbara and Susan. Perhaps the TARDIS landed somewhere in America or Asia?
But I don’t think so. If he landed in the 22nd Century, he landed in London, where he left Susan, because when Rose joined him only moments ago, they were also in London near the Thames.
This reunion with Susan would have been a bit too complex for the new viewers of Doctor Who in only the second episode of its revival in 2005. Perhaps, now we have had decades to learn everything we need to know, it is time we get to meet Susan on the screen once again.
