The idea that adulterers are flogged on Gallifrey comes from a piece of strange slash fiction I read once, and which I am not going to reference here. It was truly awful. But I decided that a variation on the theme might be interesting. It draws attention to the alien nature of Gallifrey.

“If you do not, then your fiancé will be publicly humiliated,” said the guard. “He will be flogged in the city square as a deviant. He will be imprisoned and his status as a privileged citizen of Gallifrey will be stripped. He may even lose his right of inheritance. And you, of course, will be expelled from Gallifrey as an alien with no right of abode here.”

It is not completely unlikely. After all, torture does seem to form a part of Gallifreyan society. Look at Deadly Assassin, when The Doctor was subjected to a nasty session of interactive interrogation, and the Castellan himself was subjected to the mind probe in The Five Doctors. This is a society with some primitive ideas and advanced technology at the same time. And that was the first point I wanted to get across.

The second point of this story was to deal once and for all – well not quite – with Idell. When the charges were dismissed, and all was well, Remonte stood and formally set her aside. I had always intended to do that, but brought it forward a little bit so that I could move on with other plotlines. It means one of Marion’s opponents is now taken out of Gallifreyan social circles. There are still plenty more, though – Madame Oakdaene, Madame Ravenswode, Oriana de Lessage, to name three.