The Mark of the Rani: Why This Time Lord Deserves Another Shot

For all the talk about the Daleks, the Master, and the weeping angels, one of Doctor Who's most intriguing villains remains strangely underused. The Rani, a renegade Time Lord scientist who first appeared in 1985, has been left to gather metaphorical dust while her peers continue to terrorise the Doctor across formats. It is a curious oversight given that her particular brand of cold, calculating menace feels more relevant than ever.

The character was conceived by writers Pip and Jane Baker as a foil to the Master, but where the Master chases chaos and power, the Rani chases data. She experiments on humans, treats entire civilisations as petri dishes, and views compassion as an inefficiency. Played with icy relish by the late Kate O'Mara, she remains one of the few Doctor Who antagonists whose threat comes entirely from her mind rather than a weapon or a flag.

Australian viewers of a certain vintage will remember the original broadcast well. The Mark of the Rani aired on the ABC in the mid-1980s, slotted into the Saturday evening slot the public network had reserved for the show throughout the Tom Baker and early Colin Baker years. For kids growing up in Adelaide or Brisbane, the Rani's debut felt like a refreshing change of pace from the bombast of Davros and the Daleks.

The story's legacy is complicated, however. The Sixth Doctor era was a turbulent one, and The Mark of the Rani became caught up in production reshuffles that have coloured how fans discuss it. That turbulence has, unfairly, spilled over onto the Rani herself.

Origins of a renegade Time Lord

The Rani emerged from a specific moment in Doctor Who's history. Pip and Jane Baker had been brought in to write for the increasingly polarising Sixth Doctor, and they wanted a new kind of foe. Rather than another would-be conqueror, they pitched a Time Lord whose treason was scientific rather than political, one who saw Gallifrey's exile of her as a release from tedious ethics review, not a punishment.

Kate O'Mara was an inspired choice for the role. She brought the theatrical poise she had honed on stage and in long-running British soaps, lending the Rani a brittle wit that cut through the Sixth Doctor's bombast. Her two televised stories sit alongside a small but well-regarded run of Big Finish audio dramas, where writers have continued to flesh out her history.

What makes the Rani particularly fascinating is her amorality. She is not cruel for cruelty's sake. The atrocities she commits in The Mark of the Rani are part of an experiment to accelerate the Industrial Revolution, and she views the deaths that result as unfortunate but acceptable data points. That clinical detachment, dressed up in Regency gowns and Gallifreyan arrogance, makes her one of the show's most unsettling creations.

A scientist where others were conquerors

Compare the Rani to her contemporaries and her uniqueness becomes obvious. The Master wants dominion. Davros wants revenge. The Black Guardian wants chaos. The Rani wants to find out what happens, and she wants to find out now. Her scientific method is the engine of her villainy, and Doctor Who has rarely returned to that particular well since.

This scientific lens can produce stories with genuine teeth. Imagine a Rani story set in modern Australia, where she has set up a covert laboratory in a regional university town, conducting experiments on biotech startups. The horror writes itself: not monsters under the bed, but plausible deniability and peer-reviewed menace. UNIT's Kate Stewart has crossed paths with morally ambiguous scientists in recent years, and a Rani cameo would slot neatly into that tradition.

Why her 1985 tale faded from rotation

The Mark of the Rani has never quite recovered its critical standing. The story was broadcast during a period when Doctor Who was under genuine threat of cancellation, and the BBC's marketing of the Sixth Doctor era was, charitably, inconsistent. Australian viewers who watched on the ABC would have seen it sandwiched between wider scheduling turbulence, leaving audiences uncertain when new episodes would arrive.

Part of the problem is that the story shares so much with its predecessor. The Two Doctors had aired only a year earlier, and the Sixth Doctor's companion Peri was still finding her footing. The Rani never quite got the standalone showcase she deserved. Big Finish has done admirable work filling in the gaps, but audio dramas reach a fraction of the audience that televised stories do.

Then there is the simple matter of competition for the show's villain slots. The Master returned in 2007 to enormous fanfare, the Daleks have never really gone away, and the weeping angels became a cultural phenomenon. Even relatively obscure foes have made comebacks, but the Rani remains parked on the sidelines, waiting.

A villain built for the streaming era

Streaming has changed what Doctor Who can be. Long-form arcs, morally grey characters, and slow-burn mysteries are now the lingua franca of prestige telly, and the Rani is perfectly suited to that environment. Her scientific background, her Time Lord origins, and her willingness to experiment on humans all map neatly onto the patient storytelling that platforms like Disney+ and iPlayer now favour.

There is also a comparison to be drawn with how certain artists have successfully reinvented themselves for new audiences. The way Latin crossover acts succeed by leaning into their distinctiveness rather than sanding it off offers a useful model for reintroducing the Rani. The lesson is simple: do not dilute the character, lean into her alienness, her amorality, and her unfashionable commitment to data over feeling.

Big Finish has, in many ways, already laid the groundwork. The audio dramas have fleshed out her history, introduced other renegade Time Lords with similar ethics, and even hinted at a return the televised show has yet to deliver. For Australian fans who track down these stories through imports or digital releases, the Rani has remained a constant, even as the TV show has largely forgotten her.

Echoes of the Rani across the Whoniverse

The Rani's influence lingers even when she does not appear. Modern Doctor Who has revisited the Time Lord renegade concept several times, most notably with the Master and, more recently, with the weeping angels biology. The same instinct that made those creatures biologically chilling also makes the Rani conceptually chilling: she is alien in her values, not just in her biology.

The Master has also borrowed from the Rani in subtle ways. Post-2007 portrayals have leaned into scientific experimentation more than earlier iterations did, and that shift owes a quiet debt to the 1985 template. Even the hybrid concept from the Peter Capaldi era carries echoes of Rani-esque genetic manipulation.

There have also been near-misses. The Rani was reportedly considered for inclusion in multi-Doctor specials, and fan campaigns for her return have surfaced around every anniversary since 2013. Australian fan groups, particularly those based around Melbourne's long-running convention circuit, have been especially vocal. Their arguments tend to be the same: she is a complete character, waiting to be used.

What modern showrunners could do with her

A modern Rani story could be genuinely groundbreaking. Whoever inherits the franchise next has the opportunity to introduce a female Time Lord villain with a clearly defined worldview, scientific credibility, and a moral stance that makes her genuinely frightening. There is no need to soften her or give her a redemption arc; the Master's many reinventions have shown the show can sustain a recurring villain across decades.

The character could also fit neatly into the show's growing interest in biotech and AI. A Rani who has embraced modern laboratory equipment, who has buried herself inside a university research department, and who is conducting experiments that would terrify any ethics board would feel fresh and frightening in equal measure. The horror is in the mundanity. The lab coat replaces the cape.

There is also the storytelling economy to consider. The Master and the Daleks now require considerable setup; the Rani is comparatively blank canvas. A writer could reintroduce her with a single cold open, a lab scene, and a familiar cackle, and audiences would be caught up within minutes. That economy is gold in a streaming landscape where episode counts are tight and arcs need to earn their place.

The fan case for her comeback

The argument for bringing the Rani back is straightforward. She is a fully realised character from the classic era, still resonant, still marketable. Kate O'Mara's passing in 2016 added an elegiac quality to the campaign, but the character lives on through Big Finish and through the loyal audience that remembers her original appearances.

For Australian viewers especially, the Rani carries an additional layer of nostalgia. Many of us first caught the show on the ABC in the 1980s, and The Mark of the Rani was part of that shared cultural inheritance. Bringing her back would be a small but meaningful gesture to long-time fans who have stayed with the show across decades, multiple regenerations, and a transformation into a global multimedia property.

Doctor Who has always been a show about second chances. The Doctor regenerates. Companions move on. Even the Master keeps coming back. The Rani has earned her turn, and the modern era finally has the tools to do her justice. All that is missing is the courage to pick up the story Pip and Jane Baker began four decades ago and let their renegade scientist loose on the universe once more.