Doctor Who character
The Black Guardian
Affiliated with	Council of Guardians
Race	Not applicable
Home planet	Not applicable
Home era	Various
First appearance	The Armageddon Factor
Last appearance	Enlightenment
Portrayed by	Valentine Dyall

The Black Guardian is a character in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. He was played by Valentine Dyall. Image File history File links Blackguardian. ... The Armageddon Factor is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from January 20 to February 24, 1979. ... Enlightenment is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was originally broadcast in four twice-weekly parts from March 1 to March 9, 1983. ... Valentine Dyall (7 May 1908–24 June 1985) was a British actor, known for many years as The Man in Black, narrator of the BBC Radio horror series Appointment With Fear. ... A broadcast of the long-running and popular British science-fiction series Doctor Who. ... Doctor Who is a long-running British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC about a mysterious time-travelling adventurer known only as The Doctor, who explores time and space with his companions, fighting evil. ... Valentine Dyall (7 May 1908–24 June 1985) was a British actor, known for many years as The Man in Black, narrator of the BBC Radio horror series Appointment With Fear. ...

The Black Guardian is an anthropomorphic personification of the forces of entropy and chaos, the counterpart of the White Guardian, a personification of order. The two Guardians balance out the forces in the universe, although the Black Guardian seems to desire to upset the balance in favour of chaos and evil while the White Guardian prefers to maintain the status quo. The Guardians both appeared in Season 16 of the programme, where all six serials of that season were linked together in the quest for the Key to Time, an artifact of immense power that would give the wielder supreme power over all existence. ASIMO is an anthropomorphic robot created in 2000 by Honda. ... Ice melting - a classic example of entropy increasing Entropy is a concept in thermodynamics, statistical mechanics and information theory. ... The White Guardian is a character in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... This is a list of Doctor Who television serials. ... The Key to Time is the umbrella title for a story arc that links all six serials of Season 16 of Doctor Who. ...

The Black Guardian as seen in The Armageddon Factor

The White Guardian gave the Fourth Doctor the task of finding the scattered six segments of the Key at the beginning of The Ribos Operation. Once the Doctor had assembled the Key the Black Guardian disguised himself as the White and attempted to trick the Doctor into handing it over. The Doctor saw through the deception after the Guardian appeared indifferent to the fact that the sixth segment — Princess Astra of Atrios — had ceased her independent existence by becoming part of the Key. The Doctor then dispersed the Key, earning the Black Guardian's eternal enmity and forcing the Doctor, for a period, to attach a randomizer to his TARDIS time machine to avoid being tracked through time and space. Image File history File links BlackGuardianAF.jpg The Black Guardian from The Armageddon Factor. ... Image File history File links BlackGuardianAF.jpg The Black Guardian from The Armageddon Factor. ... The Armageddon Factor is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from January 20 to February 24, 1979. ... The Fourth Doctor is the name given to the fourth incarnation of the Doctor seen on screen in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. ... The Ribos Operation is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from September 2 to September 23, 1978. ... The Third Doctor emerging from the TARDIS in the 1970 serial Spearhead from Space. ...

The next appearance of the Black Guardian was in the 1983 serial Mawdryn Undead, the first of three linked serials known as the Black Guardian Trilogy. He enlisted a young public school student named Vislor Turlough, offering the young man (who was really an alien exiled on Earth) passage home if he killed the Doctor (then in his fifth incarnation), and death if he failed. Turlough joined the TARDIS crew, struggling with the dilemma and eventually chose loyalty to the Doctor in Enlightenment, the last serial of the trilogy. The use of the Enlightenment crystal apparently banished the Black Guardian, although the White Guardian warned that he would return, angrier now that the Doctor had thwarted him twice. However, the character has yet to make a return appearance in the television series. 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Mawdryn Undead is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was originally broadcast in four twice-weekly parts from February 1 to February 9, 1983. ... A public school, in current English, Welsh and Northern Ireland usage, is a (usually) prestigious independent school, for children usually between the ages of 11 or 13 and 18, which charges fees and is not financed by the state. ... Mark Strickson as Turlough (from Mawdryn Undead). ... Earth (often referred to as The Earth) is the third planet in the solar system in terms of distance from the Sun, and the fifth in order of size. ... The Fifth Doctor is the name given to the fifth incarnation of the Doctor seen on screen in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. ... Enlightenment is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was originally broadcast in four twice-weekly parts from March 1 to March 9, 1983. ...

Other appearances

The Black Guardian features in the Virgin Missing Adventures spin off novel The Well-Mannered War by Gareth Roberts. In that story he finally catches up with the Fouth Doctor and Romana, and they are forced to leave the known universe. The canonicity of spin off novels is unclear, and in this story in particular. It is of course possible that the Doctor was later able to return to the universe. The Virgin Missing Adventures (often referred to simply as MAs in fandom) were a series of novels from Virgin Publishing based on the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who, which had been cancelled in 1989, continuing the story of the series from where the television programme had left off. ... Doctor Who spin-offs refers to material created outside of, but related to, the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... The Well-Mannered War is a Virgin Missing Adventures original novel written by Gareth Roberts based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... Gareth John Pritchard Roberts (born 5 June 1968) is a British television writer, best known for his work on various comedy series and soap operas. ... In the context of fiction, the canon of a fictional universe comprises those novels, stories, films, etc. ...

In the BBC Books spin-off novel The Quantum Archangel by Craig Hinton, the Black Guardian appears briefly with the White Guardian and four others, who form a Council of Guardians that oversee reality. Although extremely powerful, the Guardians apparently cannot be seen to act directly, which is why they can only affect things through agents like Turlough or the Doctor. BBC Books is the book publishing division of BBC Worldwide, the commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation. ... The Quantum Archangel is a BBC Books original novel written by Craig Hinton and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... Craig Hinton (born 1964 in London) is an author most associated with his work for various spin-offs from the BBC Television series Doctor Who. ...