If you ever hear a mysterious ticking sound, you might assume that its the clock in your house. But you might be wrong. It could instead be the chilling sound of the butchering Clockwork Robots, out of control repair droids that will fix their ships by any means necessary, including the use of human remains… The Clockwork Robots have appeared a couple of times throughout Doctor Who’s history.

The Girl in the Fireplace

★★★★★

TX: 06/05/2006

Written by Steven Moffat    Directed by Euros Lyn

The Tenth Doctor, Rose and Mickey arrive on the spaceship SS Madame de Pompadour in the 51st Century. The spaceship was heavily damaged by an ion storm. However, the ship’s onboard service droids were unaffected due to their clockwork nature. The clockwork robots unfortunately cannibalised the crew, repairing the ship with organic human components. 

The Clockwork Robots then establish time windows on the ship to 18th Century France. I got an A in my French GCSE and I have been to France many times! The robots are stupid and they believe that repairing the ship’s computer can be achieved through the use of the brain of the real Madame de Pompadour, a French aristocrat who was the mistress of King Louis XV. 

The Doctor befriends young Reinette (Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson aka Madame de Pompadour) and pops up throughout her life making a deep romantic impression on her. After all, nice guys do well because we are rare! He rides in on a horse heroically to save her from the clockwork monstrosities when she is 37 years old. But this breaks the final time window. However, the Doctor is able to find another escape route back to the SS Madame de Pompadour through Reinette’s fireplace, where they first met when she was a child.

Deep Breath

★★★★☆

TX: 23/08/2014

Written by Steven Moffat    Directed by Ben Wheatley

The sister ship of the SS Madame de Pompadour, the SS Marie Antoinette crash lands on prehistoric Earth. Another set of clockwork robots begin repairing the ship with organic dinosaur flesh and then later human components. By the 19th Century, the Clockwork Robots have established a base beneath a Victorian restaurant called Mancini’s. 

The newly regenerated Twelfth Doctor, Clara and the Paternoster Gang track down the clockwork robots to the restaurant after following a trail of intrigue through Victorian London that began with a T-Rex in the River Thames. The clockwork robot leader, the half-faced man makes his escape through the use of a hot air balloon made of human skin. The Doctor fights to the death with the half-faced man until the half-faced man falls from the balloon and is impaled on a spire. Shortly after making their goodbyes to the Paternoster Gang for the final time, the Doctor asks Clara Oswald in the TARDIS whether he is a good man… a question that she doesn’t know the answer to. Madame Vastra paraphrases the Brigadier in Planet of the Spiders, Robot when she says “well then, here we go again!” regarding the Twelfth Doctor’s regeneration.