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Conrad Clark is one of the two secondary antagonists (alongside Desiderium) of Series 15/Season 2 in the Disney+ era of Doctor Who. He is the leader of a conspiracy theory group called Think Tank who is determined the expose the "lies" of UNIT and The Doctor.
He was portrayed by Jonah Hauer-King.
Biography[]
Lucky Day[]
Conrad was born sometime in 1998 to Moira Clark, who was physically abusive towards him.
After midnight on New Year's Day in 2007, a nine-year-old Conrad encountered the fifteenth incarnation of The Doctor and his companion Belinda Chandra, who were trying to find their way back to 24 May 2025. The Doctor gave Conrad a fifty pence piece, telling him that today was his lucky day. Conrad quickly went to tell his mother about seeing the TARDIS, only to be slapped him across the face by her and accused of "ruining her night".
In 2018, Conrad attempted to get a job at UNIT, but was rejected by it's leader Kate Stewart for being untrustworthy. Following this, Conrad founded Think Tank in order to expose the "lies" of UNIT and The Doctor.
By 2025, Conrad became the host of a podcast called "Lucky Day" in reference to what the Doctor said to him when they met. His investigations led him to Ruby Sunday, a previous companion of the Doctor. He first saw her when she appeared a year prior (just after Maestro's defeat), it was just after he got target by a creature known as the Shreek. After an interview, Ruby gave him an antidote for that, and they entered a relationship. Conrad claimed to Ruby that his mother had passed away from liver cancer (however, Ruby later found out that she was still alive and was now living in France in an accommodation paid for her by Conrad).
One night, Conrad along with Ruby and some of his friends went on a trip and visited a pub. It appeared that two Shreeks were outside the pub. Conrad admitted to Ruby that he had not taken the antidote as he wanted to be brave like the Doctor (when in reality, he did not take the antidote because he thought it was fake). Conrad went with Ruby outside to deal with the Shreeks and were soon joined by Kate and several members of UNIT. However it was then revealed that the Shreeks were actually two of Conrad's friends in Shreek costume to lure UNIT into the open, Conrad revealed his true nature and his friends proceeded a livestream to the country and added perpetuate disinformation about aliens not existing. He also accused UNIT's wheelchair using scientific advisor Shirley Bingham of claiming benefits and also questioned Ruby on if the name she was using was her real name. Ruby was shocked and saddened that Conrad did not truly love her and was just using her to discredit UNIT. Kate had Conrad and his friends arrested for the incident. As he was taken away, Conrad threatenly told Ruby that he would see her soon.
A scandal breaks out and caused the public to deeply hate UNIT. Conrad was later released and continued his campaign against UNIT, going as far as to release the names and addresses of every person working for UNIT, prompting Ruby's family to be moved to a safe house. Ruby decided to fix this by going to UNIT HQ, Kate discovered that an analyst, Jordan Lang, is working with Conrad. As protestors surrounded UNIT headquarters, Jordan sneak Conrad into the building but is incapacitated by him. Angry, Kate decided to have gloat about how he was livestreaming his intrusion as he continued to insult UNIT's legacy, even Kate's late father, Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge Stewart and threatened Ruby with a gun he had took from an unconscious UNIT solider and questioning the whereabouts of the Doctor. Then, Kate decided to release the real Shreek upon him. Even after cowardly begging for mercy, Conrad regained his composure before he got his left arm bitten off by the Shreek. Conrad survived the attack and was sent to prison for his actions. Since Conrad admited on his livestream to lying about UNIT, the public's view of UNIT became positive.
Later Conrad is seen in a prison cell with an alien tech that was designed to reattach his arm from the Shreek. Later he sees a bright light in his cell, where he found himself in the TARDIS and encountered The Doctor (the one from 2007) where he explained about what he does and berated Conrad for what he did to Ruby. At first Conard believed it to be fake but told him about Belindra Chandra. However, this was before he defeated Alan Budd with her (and after meeting Joy Almondo), making the Doctor look for her in the first place. When The Doctor revealed that by the time Conrad turned 49, he will die in a prison cell, "boiling in anger and poison" (meaning heart attack) and while Conard still refuse to believe that this is reality, The Doctor returned him back to his cell, where upon return, he encountered a woman named Mrs. Flood (who was actually an incarnation of a Time Lady called The Rani), who revealed that what he experienced was real and showed him a key saying it was his "lucky day" and intended to help him escape.
Wish World[]
It was later revealed that Mrs. Flood and her bi-genarated incarnation (who considers herself as the Rani and Mrs Flood as a Rani) needed Conrad Clark to create a false world made from a wish Conrad (who had become God of Earth) made from Desiderium, the God of Wishes from the Pantheon of Discord. Conrad resided in a room in The Rani's Bone Palace.
Their goal was to wait until people doubt that the titular "Wish World" was real, this would cause it to break and release Omega, the founder of the Time Lords from the Underverse. In the meantime, Conrad took care of Desiderium, who was just a baby, and broadcasted himself across the world, reading a story about the Doctor, referring to him as "Doctor Who".
The Reality War[]
Conrad continued to serve as God of Earth and care for Desiderium. After Ruby uses an Indigo device to teleport into his room, Conrad confronts her at gunpoint. Ruby thanked Conrad for creating a better world rather than a violent one. She speaks of how there had been moments when they were together that he was happy and points out that all the time they were together, Conrad never mentioned to Ruby about his father, which made Ruby suspect as to why Conrad gave everyone a family in his world. This statement makes Conrad become defensive. Ruby then teleports behind Conrad and retrieves Desiderium, whom she kisses on the forehead and wishes for Conrad to be happy. This makes Conrad disappear.
After the bi-generated Rani is devoured by a now monstrous Omega (who is sent back to the Underverse by the Doctor) and Mrs. Flood escapes by using a Time Ring, it was discovered that Conrad was now happily working as a chief cook and bottle washer in Lewisham with no memories of his earlier actions.
Trivia[]
- Similar to Lindy Pepper-Bean, Conard started out as a sort of ally but would later reveal his true self as a villain. And like Lindy (presumably), he somehow escapes deaths, that being freed from Mrs. Flood.
- Conrad is also similar to fellow Doctor Who villain Lance Bennett (who appeared in the 2006 Christmas special "The Runaway Bride") as both are men who were in a romantic relationship with a companion of the Doctor (Conrad was Ruby's boyfriend whilst Lance was Donna Noble's fiancé) before it is revealed that they did not truly love the companion and were just using them (Conrad was using Ruby in an attempt to discredit UNIT whilst Lance pretended to love Donna in order to spike her with Huon particles so she could be used to awaken the offspring of the Empress of the Racnoss). Both also meet their downfall at the hands of an alien (Conrad had his arm bitten off by the Shreek (it was later reattached) before being sent to prison whilst Lance was betrayed by the Empress of the Racnoss, who fed him to her offspring).
- Fans of the franchise have also grown to despise Conrad and wished he was killed in the episode.
- A group called "Think Tank" also served as the main antagonists of the 1974 story Robot, with the score even quoting a similar melody from that story. Whether they are directly related to Conrad's Think Tank are unknown.
- Conrad could be considered the evil counterpart of Elton Pope (the protagonist of the 2006 Doctor Who episode "Love and Monsters").
- Both characters encountered the Doctor in both their childhood and adulthood (Conrad encountered the Fifteenth Doctor whilst Elton encountered the Tenth Doctor).
- Both were raised by their mothers. However, whilst Conrad's mother was abusive towards him, Elton had a loving mother.
- Both witness The Doctor with a companion dealing with a threatening alien (Conrad secretly witnessed the Doctor and Ruby dealing with a Shreek whilst Elton witnessed the Doctor and Rose Tyler deal with a Hoix)
- Both were in a group (Conrad was the leader of Think Tank whilst Elton was a member of L.I.N.D.A) which were later disbanded (Think Tank disbanded after Conrad was sent to prison whilst L.I.N.D.A ceased to exist after all the members with exception to Elton fell victim to the Abzorbaloff).
- Both later bond with a female ally of the Doctor in order to get information (Conrad got close to Ruby whilst Elton befriended Rose's mother Jackie).
- However, the difference between the two is that Elton had good intentions whilst Conrad did not (until Ruby wished for him to be happy). Another difference is that Elton's mother had died in his early childhood whilst Conrad claimed that his mother had died when she was in fact still alive.
