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Peter Harness Pitched the Returns of the Meddling Monk and the Mara

During the watch-along of The Zygon Invasion/ The Zygon Inversion, writer Peter Harness revealed that he pitched storylines that would bring back two classic Doctor Who antagonists, the Meddling Monk and the Mara.

Harness apparently called the former How the Monk Got His Habit, and says he envisioned Matt Berry (Toast of London) as the troublesome Time Lord. It involved the Monk hearing “Ra-Ra-Rasputin” by Boney M, and travelling back to Russia in 1917 to play the track to Rasputin – who then loses his mind and avert the Russian Revolution. Sounds nuts? Yep, we agree – it would’ve been marvellous.

The Monk was originally played by Peter Butterworth in The Time Meddler and The Daleks’ Master Plan.

https://twitter.com/mrpeterharness/status/1259850246076710913

Following Kill the Moon, Harness pitched several ideas, including one featuring the Fifth Doctor enemy, the Mara (Kinda; Snakedance), although sadly he can’t remember anything about it now. (Unless he’s just saying that so he can pitch it again in the future…?)

While tweeting along to The Zygon Invasion/ The Zygon Inversion, Harness said that he’d love to write for Doctor Who again, his last episode being The Pyramid at the End of the World in 2017. Would you like to see him back? Would you like to See Matt Berry as the Monk? Or are you dreaming of the Mara?

Philip Bates

Editor and co-founder of the Doctor Who Companion. When he’s not watching television, reading books ‘n’ Marvel comics, listening to The Killers, and obsessing over script ideas, Philip Bates pretends to be a freelance writer. He enjoys collecting everything. Writer of The Black Archive: The Pandorica Opens/ The Big Bang, The Silver Archive: The Stone Tape, and 100 Objects of Doctor Who.

Peter Harness Pitched the Returns of the Meddling Monk and the Mara

by Philip Bates time to read: 1 min
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