The Fifteenth Doctor encountered one of his strangest adversaries when he visited a barbershop in present day Lagos, Nigeria. The barber was kidnapping customers and using their stories to power a giant spider. Thankfully, the Doctor was able to overload the barbershop with many stories from his own lives which defeated the spider.

The Story and the Engine

★☆☆☆☆

TX: 10/05/2025

Written by Inua Ellams    Directed by Makalla McPherson

The TARDIS lands in present day Lagos, Nigeria. All seems calm and well at the market. However, sinister things are afoot at a nearby barbershop. The barber is using customers’ stories to power a giant spider (in a different dimension) attached to the barbershop. The Story and the Engine is similar to Midnight, Class: Detained and Wild Blue Yonder in the respect that they are stranded in a small room in space. There are also elements of The Web of Fear and The Mind Robber in this episode. The Doctor is able to overload the barbershop with his many stories about his own lives, including the Fugitive Doctor. This allows the Doctor and the other prisoners of the barber enough time to escape the barbershop, moments before the spider disintegrates. The Doctor leaves, proud that he has embraced African culture. In 2011, I went to Ghana, Africa when I was 16 in order to work with a charity on a construction site to build a sustainable school. I also had a Nigerian flatmate at university. Doctor Who has a strong connection to Nigeria because the show was broadcast there in the 1970s. In 2013, nine episodes of lost 1960s Doctor Who stories The Enemy of the World and The Web of Fear were found in Nigeria by TV archivist Philip Morris. The Story and the Engine was a big step forward in terms of representation in Doctor Who as almost the entire cast of the episode is black. I have many black friends and I have also had black girlfriends over the years, including a Nigerian girlfriend and a Nigerian flatmate. I have also had a black Brazilian girlfriend. This episode also proudly celebrated African culture through gorgeous storytelling animation, which weaves in Nigerian heritage and mythology.