On the planet Karn resides the primitive Sisterhood of Karn. The Sisters worship the sacred flame of eternal life, which contains many mystical properties. Karn has been subjected to many unwanted visitors over the centuries and the Sisterhood of Karn has often dealt with them in an unfriendly way. However, they have on occasion been a source of great help to the Doctor in Doctor Who.

The Brain of Morbius

★★★★★

TX: 3-24/1/1976

Written by Robin Bland      Directed by Christopher Barry

The legendary Time Lord Morbius led a rebellion against the Time Lords. He was thwarted and executed, but his brain survived and was retrieved by the Frankensteinian mad scientist Mehendri Solon and taken to Karn. There, Solon and his henchman Condo began rebuilding Morbius’ body using the dismembered parts of creatures and people that crash landed on the planet, including a Mutt from The Mutants. However, they maintained an antagonistic relationship with the primitive Sisterhood of Karn that worshipped the sacred flame of eternal life. The Sisterhood is led by Maren and her sister Ohica. The Sisterhood dislike the Time Lords of Gallifrey and therefore try to execute the Doctor because they assume that he is a spy! However, the Doctor wins favour with the Sisterhood by boosting their sacred flame to eternal life. The Fourth Doctor and Sarah-Jane Smith landed on Karn and quickly became embroiled in Solon’s evil scheme – Solon wanted the Doctor’s head for Morbius! With help from the Sisterhood and a revealing mind-bending duel, the Doctor and Sarah-Jane were able to defeat Morbius for good. The Brain of Morbius is a homage to Frankenstein. Many classic stories in the Philip Hinchliffe/Robert Holmes era of Doctor Who were pastiches of hammer horror movies. This led the series to come into conflict with Mary Whitehouse of the National Viewers and Listeners Association, who felt that Doctor Who had become unsuitable, in her opinion, for children.

The Night of the Doctor

★★★★★

TX: 14/11/2013

Written by Steven Moffat      Directed by John Hayes

The Eighth Doctor and Cass crash land on the planet Karn and are both fatally injured. The two are tended to by the Sisterhood of Karn after being extracted from the wreckage of Cass’s crashed spaceship. Ohila, the head of the Sisterhood (she may be a possible relation of Ohica from The Brain of Morbius), urges the Doctor to fight in the Time War and bring an end to the devastating conflict between the Daleks and the Time Lords. The Eighth Doctor accepts the Sisterhood’s elixir of life and this enables his engineered regeneration into the War Doctor. The Doctor renounces that he is “Doctor, no more!” before leaving to join the battle.

The Magician’s Apprentice

★★★★★

TX: 19/9/2015

Written by Steven Moffat      Directed by Hettie MacDonald

Davros’ agent, Colony Sarff visits the Sisterhood of Karn and many others in search of the Doctor. Sarff kidnaps the Doctor, his companion Clara, the TARDIS and the Master (Missy) and takes them to Skaro, the home-world of the Daleks. Davros talks to the Doctor about his philosophy and about their first meeting when Davros was a child. Meanwhile, Clara and Missy (who have both survived extermination) navigate their way through the Dalek city thanks to Missy disguising Clara as a Dalek. The dying Davros tricks the Doctor into believing that he has a better side and out of compassion, the Doctor unknowingly helps Davros by pouring regeneration energy into the Dalek race through Davros’ life support cables, making them invincible. Missy arrives, kills Sarff and rescues the Doctor in the nick of time and the time travellers make their escape after Missy pokes Davros in the eye. The regeneration energy also poured into the insane Daleks that were disposed of in the sewers beneath the Dalek city, which Missy and Clara made their way through. The regenerating insane Daleks attack the Dalek city causing a civil war. In the ensuing destruction, the Doctor and Clara escape in the TARDIS whilst Missy is captured by the Daleks. The Doctor notes (after a trick played by Missy, into trying to make him kill Clara encased in a Dalek) that the word ‘mercy’ was programmed into the vocabulary of the Daleks. The Doctor travels back in time to save a young Davros from the handmines on the battleground of the Kaled-Thal War on Skaro, thereby teaching him an important lesson about mercy for the future. I regularly hosted screenings of Doctor Who at my house throughout sixth form and university.

Hell Bent

★★☆☆☆

TX: 5/12/2015

Written by Steven Moffat      Directed by Rachel Talalay

The Twelfth Doctor finally returns to his restored childhood home of Gallifrey. He sends the corrupt Rassilon into exile before re-assuming the Presidency of the Time Lords. Despite warnings from the Sisterhood of Karn and the Time Lords, the Doctor attempts to rescue his deceased companion Clara Oswald. He uses a stolen Gallifreyan TARDIS to rescue Clara in her last second of life. The Doctor puts Clara into a time loop but he is forced to erase his memories of her. The Doctor later arrives in a diner, searching for someone who he cannot remember the name of. The mysterious waitress (Clara) listens to his story before leaving in the diner (a disguised TARDIS) with Ashildr/Me to have adventures of their own together. “Nothing’s sad until it’s over, and then everything is.” The Doctor gets a new sonic screwdriver and he closes the TARDIS doors with a snap of his fingers (Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead).