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Played by Ariyon Bakare
“I worked for centuries, and all I wanted was to be recognised – they told me that I should know my place.”
| First Regular Appearance |
| The Story & the Engine |
A former servant of the Storytelling Gods, the Barber seeks revenge for centuries of uncredited servitude. Capturing the Doctor and the occupants of Omo’s barbershop, to tell stories to power the Engine, the Barber aims to travel to the centre of the Nexus in order to destroy the Gods forever – and humanity with it.
Bitter and ruthless, the Barber is unafraid to use others for his own purposes, though, ultimately, he is redeemable – reclaiming his own story and living a normal human life, free of service to the Gods.
Character Bio
The Doctor first encounters the Barber, the shadowy new proprietor of his friend Omo’s barbershop, where he traps the Time Lord alongside other young men, forcing them to have their hair cut over and over again as they tell stories. Omo reveals that the Barber arrived suddenly, bringing his own clippers to the shop and, having used them on Omo, trapped him there – seemingly forever. The customers’ stories then feed the Barber’s engine, as he has turned the barbershop into a transport which will take the Barber to the heart of the Nexus.
At first, the Barber tries to convince the Doctor and Belinda that he is really all the Storytelling Gods in one – but, in truth, the Barber was once the Gods’ servant, collecting stories to ‘feed’ them. The Barber even built the Nexus from their essence, which sustains all the Gods by transferring stories between them. Working with Abena, the daughter of Anansi, the Barber claims his plan is to take the place of the Storytelling Gods and rule fairly – only to reveal he is actually looking for vengeance because the Gods put him in his place and cast him out. The Barber aims to destroy their essence and, consequentially, humanity itself, as people will no longer be able to tell stories.
Abena realizes the danger of this plot and works with the Doctor to overthrow the Barber and stop his machine. The Doctor eventually convinces the Barber to reclaim his own story from the Gods and free the people trapped in the shop. The Doctor then tells the Barber to continue collecting stories but, this time, for his own sake. Omo bestows a real name upon him, and the newly-named Adétòkunbo begins to set up shop – for real this time.
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Actor Information
The Barber is played by Ariyon Bakare. Bakare returns to the Whoniverse having previously played the Leonian villain Leandro in the Twelfth Doctor adventure The Woman Who Lived.