Lord Sutcliffe

“	What a beautiful speech. The rhythm and... and vocabulary are quite outstanding. It's enough to move anyone with an ounce of compassion. So it's really not your day, is it?	„
	~ Sutcliffe to the Doctor, in response to his speech about how the measure of a civilisation is how it values the life of an unimportant person.

Lord Sutcliffe is the main antagonist of the Doctor Who episode "Thin Ice".

He is a greedy and xenophobic aristocrat, who keeps a sea creature imprisoned in the Thames. He feeds it with people to make cheaper fuel.

He was portrayed by Nicholas Burns.

Biography[]

Sutcliffe was a wealthy businessman, whose family had owned a large sea serpent, which was kept chained in the River Thames. The family would feed people to the creature for its dung, which Sutcliffe sold as fuel as it was hotter and could burn for longer than coal, even underwater. The creature's dung was greater than anything else at the time of the Industrial Revolution. During frost fairs in London, Sutcliffe would use them to lure unsuspecting people onto the frozen river to be food for the creature. It is known that Sutcliffe's henchmen were able to persuade con artists to lure people to the fair to increase the crowd.

In 1814, (the year of the last great frost fair) Sutcliffe planned to detonate explosives to crack the ice during the fair and cause all the attendees to fall into the river and be devoured by the creature, to cause widespread panic and deaths before the ice thaws and keep the creature a secret. He met the Twelfth Doctor and his companion Bill Potts. When Sutcliffe made racial remarks towards Bill (due to the colour of her skin), the Doctor came to his companion's defence and punched Sutcliffe in the face. After his henchmen restrained the Doctor and Bill, Sutcliffe had them sent to the fair where they were tied up to also become food for the creature.

Luckily, the Doctor and Bill were able to break free from their binds and planned to set the creature free without it eating the people at the fair. Bill, along with help from some urchins, was able to get people off ice to safety, whilst the Doctor moved the explosives to the creatures chains.

When Sutcliffe detonated the explosives, the creature was freed from its chains, causing the ice to crack. Sutcliffe met his end after falling through the ice into the river and drowned. His fortune was left to his cousin, but the Doctor changed the name on the will to that of an urchin named Perry, who is eventually deemed the legitimate heir.

Personality[]

Sutcliffe was a self-admitted sociopath; when the Doctor told him that the measure of a civilisation is how it values the life of an unimportant person, he responded that the speech would move anyone "with an ounce of compassion", then added that it wasn't the Doctor's lucky day. He was utterly ruthless and unscrupulous, seeing the people fed to the sea serpent and the creature itself as nothing more than pawns and fodder to be exploited in order to increase his wealth and power.

Sutcliffe was also profoundly racist, instantly accosting and undermining Bill Potts simply because of her skin color and because she had set foot in his house, prompting the Twelfth Doctor to punch him in the face. What disgusted the Doctor the most about him, however, is that he was a normal human rather than an alien, saying that him being an alien would explain his complete lack of humanity.

Navigation[]

Villains

The Rani
Classic | Big Finish | Mrs. Flood | Bigeneration

Weeping Angels
Angel Bob | Statue of Liberty | Rogue Angel

Autons
Nestene Consciousness | Channing | Troll Doll | Mickey Auton

Versions of the Doctor
The Valeyard | Time Lord Victorious | Dream Lord

The Division
Awsok | Gat | Weeping Angels (Rogue Angel)

Ravagers
Swarm | Azure | Passenger

Akhaten
Mummy | Vigil

The Beast's Spawn
Abaddon (Bilis Manger)

Krillitanes
Mr. Finch | Mr. Wagner

The 456
456 Ambassador | Brian Green | Johnson | John Frobisher | Rupesh Patanjali

Shadow Kin
Corakinus | Kharrus | Rannus

Adipose
Matron Cofelia

Clockwork Repair Droids
Control Node | Half Face Man | Repair Droid 7

Judoon
Judoon Captain | Pol-Kon-Don

Order of St. Agnes
Gorgon

Family of Blood
Scarecrows

House
Nephew | Uncle | Auntie

Church of the Silence
Madame Kovarian | Colonel Manton | Headless Monks | Silents

Blathereen Family
Slitheen-Blathereen (Leef Apple Glyn Slitheen-Blathereen | Tree Lorn Acre Slitheen-Blathereen)

Zygons
Bonnie | Brelarn | Broton | Elizabeth I Zygon | Sheriff Norlander

Anti-Zone
Ribbons | Flesh Moths

Nazis
Adolf Hitler | De Flores | Karl | Miss Wyckham

Urbankans
Monarch | Persuasion | Enlightenment

The Brethren
The Host | Father Angelo

Max Capricorn
Captain Hardaker | Heavenly Hosts

The Pharm
Aaron Copley | Billy Davies

Helen A
Happiness Patrol | Kandy Man | Daisy K | Joseph C | Fifi

Harries & Harries
Dale | Greg | Vic

Ood Operations
Klineman Halpen | Solana Mercurio | Kess | Bartle

Hyperion III
Vervoids | Doland | Rudge

Bannermen
Gavrok | Arrex | Callon | Keillor

Iceworld
Kane | Belazs | Kracauer

S-Rax
Morgaine | Mordred | The Destroyer

Stenza
Tzim-Sha | Remnants | SniperBot

Carrionites
Lilith | Mother Doomfinger | Mother Bloodtide

Mars Probe 7 Conspiracy
General Carrington | Reegan | Bruno Taltalian | Sir James Quinlan

Morax
Morax King | Morax Queen

Finetime
Dots (Mantraps) | Lindy Pepper-Bean

Operation Golden Age
Charles Grover | General Finch | Mike Yates | Professor Whitaker | Butler

Primords
Eric Stahlman | Harry Slocum | John Bromley | Private Wyatt

Sisters of Plenitude
Matron Casp | Novice Hame | Sister Jatt

Republican Security Forces
Brigade Leader Lethbridge Stewart | Director Stahlman | John Benton

Interplanetary Mining Corporation
Captain Dent | Morgan | Wilfred Norton

Inter Minor
Kalik | Orum | Drashigs

Sycorax
Sycorax Leader | Roboforms

Shoal of the Winter Harmony
King Hydroflax | Scratch | Mr. Brock | Dr. Sim

Night Travellers
Ghostmaker | Pearl

Solomon's Crew
Solomon | Solomon's Robots

Noghai
Tegana | Acomat | Malik

Global Chemicals
BOSS | Jocelyn Stevens | Hinks

Aztecs
Tlotoxl | Ixta | Tonila

Voord
Yartek | Alternate Twelfth Doctor

Moroks
Lobos | Ogrek

Weng Chiang
Mr. Sin | Li H'sen Chang | Tong of the Black Scorpion

Robot Knights
Sheriff of Nottingham

Saturnyns
Rosanna Calvierri | Francesco

Ancient Lights
Martin Trueman

Chameleons
The Director | Captain Blade | Spencer

Dominators
Rago | Toba | Quarks

War Lords
The War Lord | Security Chief | Smythe | Von Weich | Chief Scientist

Missbelindrachandra One
Missbelindachandrabots | AI Generator