The Valeyard as portrayed by Michael Jayston

The Valeyard is a fictional character from the long-running British science fiction television series, Doctor Who. In the serial The Trial of a Time Lord, comprising the whole of Season 23 of the series, the Time Lords place the Sixth Doctor on trial and the Valeyard serves as the prosecutor. The character is played by Michael Jayston. Michael Jayston (born 29th October, 1935 in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire) is a British actor. ... A fictional character is any person who appears in a work of fiction. ... The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a country in western Europe, and member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the G8, the European Union, and NATO. Usually known simply as the United Kingdom, the UK, or (inaccurately) as Great Britain or Britain, the UK has four constituent... A broadcast of the long-running and popular British science-fiction series Doctor Who. ... The Doctor Who 2005 television series logo. ... The Trial of a Time Lord is the name used on screen for all fourteen episodes comprising the 23rd season (1986) of the original Doctor Who series. ... Tom Baker as the Doctor, in the Time Lord ceremonial robes of the Prydonian chapter (from The Deadly Assassin). ... Colin Baker (born June 8, 1943) is a British actor who is best known for playing the sixth incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... Michael Jayston (born 29th October, 1935 in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire) is a British actor. ...

The Valeyard appears in all four segments of Trial - The Mysterious Planet, Mindwarp, Terror of the Vervoids and The Ultimate Foe. In episode 4 of The Mysterious Planet it is stated that "valeyard" means "learned court prosecutor". The Mysterious Planet is a 4 episode Doctor Who serial, featuring Colin Baker as The Doctor. ... The Mysterious Planet is a 4 episode Doctor Who story. ... Terror of the Vervoids is the title commonly used for a 4 episode Doctor Who story. ... The Ultimate Foe was an name given at different times to two different serials of the BBC science fiction television programme Doctor Who. ...

During the course of the trial, the Doctor was accused of "conduct unbecoming a Time Lord" and transgressing the First Law of Time. As prosecutor, the Valeyard presented the the events of The Mysterious Planet and Mindwarp as extracts from the Matrix, the computer network that serves as the repository of all Time Lord knowledge. The Valeyard used these extracts as evidence of the Doctor's meddling in time and space. Throughout the presentation of the evidence the Doctor barracked the Valeyard, calling him names such as "the Boneyard" and "Knacker's Yard" and only the interventions of the Inquisitor, another Time Lord, kept the trial going. The Doctor is the only known name of the central character in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who, and also featured in a vast range of spin-off novels, audio dramas and comic strips connected to the series. ... The Matrix, in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who, is a massive computer system on the planet Gallifrey that acts as the repository of the combined knowledge of the Time Lords. ... Lynda Bellingham as the Inquisitor (from Terror of the Vervoids) The Inquisitor (who was never given a name on screen) played an important part in The Trial of a Time Lord, the story which spanned the whole fourteen episodes which comprised Season 22 of the British science fiction television series...

What was not discovered until later was that the Matrix extracts had been tampered with to show the Doctor in the worst possible light. In The Mysterious Planet this involved the editing of particular scenes. Scenes of the mercenary Sabalom Glitz attempting to buy "secrets" from the robot Drathro were censored completely. In Mindwarp substantial portions of the extract were falsified entirely by the Valeyard. The most significant alteration was when the Time Lords intervened in the brain transplant experiments of Lord Kiv and his scientist Crozier. In the Matrix extract, it appeared that Yrcanos was possessed and that he killed the Mentors and the Doctor's companion Peri. Nicola Bryant as Peri Brown. ...

When the Doctor presented in his defense the future events of Terror of the Vervoids, he began to suspect that the Valeyard was tampering with the evidence, but lacked proof. The Doctor was forced to destroy the human-plant hybrids known as the Vervoids when they ran rampant on a space liner. If they had been allowed to reach Earth they would have eliminated all animal life. The Valeyard tampered with the scenes and made it appear as if the Doctor had commited genocide. Genocide has been defined as the deliberate killing of people based on their ethnicity, nationality, race, religion, or (sometimes) politics, as well as other deliberate actions leading to the physical elimination of any of the above categories. ...

In The Ultimate Foe, the Master appeared in the Matrix revealing that it was possible to infiltrate it. Sabalom Glitz and the Doctor's future companion Melanie Bush were presented to the Court to rebut the Valeyard's accusations. It was then revealed that the the Valeyard was, in fact, the Doctor himself - or rather, a distillation of the Doctor's evil side, a potential dark version who might exist between his twelfth and final incarnations. Roger Delgado as the Master For alternate meanings, see The Master (disambiguation) The Master is a supporting fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... Bonnie Langford as Melanie Bush (from Paradise Towers). ...

The Valeyard was also revealed to be acting at the behest of the High Council of Time Lords to cover its corruption in the Ravalox affair. The "secrets" were information from the Matrix. Ravolox was Earth, but the Time Lords moved it through space, killing virtually every human being living on it. To prevent the Doctor discovering the secret and revealing it, they used the Valeyard to try to have the Doctor executed under the pretence of a trial. The reward for the Valeyard's actions would have been to give him all of the Doctor's remaining regenerations and make his existence concrete. However, the Valeyard would then have slain every member of the Court as well, using a particle disseminator located within the Matrix.

The Doctor entered the Matrix and fought and defeated the Valeyard in a fictional world of his creation. The Inquisitor revealed that Peri had indeed survived and was married to Yrcanos. The Master and the Valeyard appeared to be trapped in the Matrix, but at the end of the serial, the Valeyard was seen disguised as the Keeper of the Matrix. The subsequent whereabouts of the Valeyard have never been disclosed in the television series.

Other appearances

The Valeyard has appeared in some of the spin-off media. In these stories, the Doctor is aware that he has the potential to become the Valeyard and tries to step away from any path that might lead him to that future. In the Virgin Publishing Missing Adventure Millennial Rites by Craig Hinton, the Sixth Doctor succumbed to his darker side and became the Valeyard very briefly, but snaps back to normal. Doctor Who spin-offs refers to material created outside of, but related to, the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... Virgin Publishing is the book publishing arm of Virgin Enterprises, the company originally set up by Richard Branson as a record company. ...

In the BBC Books novel Matrix by Robert Perry and Mike Tucker, the Valeyard himself appeared. After possessing the body of the Keeper, he acquired control over the Dark Matrix, the repository of all of the Time Lords' evilest impulses, and tried to use it to take revenge on the Doctor. However, he lost control of the Dark Matrix and was eventually killed. BBC Books is the book publishing division of BBC Worldwide, the commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation. ...

The Big Finish Productions' Doctor Who Unbound audio drama He Jests at Scars... features an alternate Valeyard who defeated the Doctor, once again voiced by Michael Jayston. Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces audio plays based on British cult science fiction properties. ...