Doctor Who: 25 time periods Thirteen and Team TARDIS should visit

“The Children of Edward” by Godfried Guffens [Public domain]

The Wars of the Roses, 15th Century England

Though Doctor Who has vaguely referenced it t a couple of times, the show has never tried to tell a story about this intra-family brawl for control of all England. Technically, the time period known as the Wars of the Roses stretches through 30-some years of history, as various members from the two ruling families of England battled each other for the throne.

This period of history has a little bit of everything: rebellions, secret weddings, family members living in exile, supposedly divinely inspired portents, and lots and lots of murder. Doctor Who would be positively spoiled for choice in terms of both intriguing characters and dramatic developments here.

Historical figures we might meet: The Yorks and the Lancasters are positively full of interesting historical figures, from Richard, Duke of York, and his badass wife Cecily who faced down an invading army alone, to her sons Edward, George, and Richard, two of whom became kings of England. And as far as those sons go? One married a woman rumored to be a witch, one was drowned in a barrel of wine at the order of another, and the third supposedly had two of his own nephews killed in the Tower of London. If that’s not enough, there’s also the addled King Henry VI and his aggressive queen Margaret of Anjou, as well Margaret Beaufort, an intriguingly manipulative and pious woman whose son would ultimately become Henry VII.

Potential adventures: The most obvious option might be to have Team TARDIS investigate the longstanding mystery of the Princes in the Tower. These two young boys, the sons of Edward IV, were sent to the Tower of London for their “protection” following their uncle Richard III’s decision to declare them illegitimate and seize the throne for himself. According to legend, he had his two young nephews killed and hid their bodies somewhere in the Tower. (Supposedly you can still run into their ghosts wandering the famous fortress.)

But, there’s no surviving evidence that proves conclusively what happened to young Edward and Richard after they disappeared. Rumors abounded, of course – that Richard had them killed, that they survived and King Henry VII killed them after he came to power, that they escaped entirely and fled the country. (There were actually several “pretenders” declaring themselves to be a lost Plantagenet prince during Henry VII’s reign.) Maybe it’s time for the Doctor to find out?