Inspector Spacetime/Characters

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


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With Inspector Spacetime's long and storied history, it has managed to gather quite a list of various characters. A long list.

The Inspectors

An Infinity Knight from the planet Kayaclasch, the Inspector is our main character, the one who shows us the wondrous bounty of the universe and of history. Because it's not just where we are, but when.

The First Inspector

The first Inspector was played by Leslie French.

A versatile theatre actor who specialized in Shakespearean roles, French at first seemed an odd choice for the patronising, cantankerous, and notably lower-middle class First Inspector. Although pleased by the programme's popularity at first, he left suddenly at the start of the fourth season to avoid being typecast. On television, he went on to appear in such programmes as Dixon of Dock Green, Z-Cars, The Avengers, and The Singing Detective. He returned once to the series, making a brief cameo in the 20th Anniversary Special.

  • Noble Bigot with a Badge: Especially at the very beginning of the show. He mellows a bit as his tenure progresses.
  • Old-Fashioned Copper: This Inspector, having a more classic 'police man' feel about him in comparison to his successors, could sometimes have elements of this trope.

The Second Inspector

The second Inspector was played by Christopher Lee.

He has often been summed up as "Sherlock Holmes in space", a cold and austere man who nevertheless has a passion for high culture and fine art, always dressed in the latest understated and conservative fashion.. except of course for those battered Wellington boots. When he truly wished to "brood over the cosmos" he would play his ocarina. Word of God has said the show was just playing to Lee's strengths as an actor, but this hasn't stopped the popular theory that the change from French's version was somehow a "promotion", prompting a more upper-class outlook.

Lee filmed two IS movies while the First Inspector's televised run was still being taped and aired. These movies, which posited a half-human Inspector, are now considered alt-canon. Following French's abrupt decision to leave the show, hastily conscripting Lee to reprise the role on television was therefore the obvious choice. While his new(-ish) version of the Inspector quickly proved to be quite popular, Lee has never made any bones about the fact that he became the Inspector mainly because it offered a steady paycheck. After his departure from the series, he never reprised the role in film or television, except for the 20th Anniversary Special, where he was persuaded to (literally) phone in an amusing voice cameo. ("Crikey! That's what you used to sound like?!") The positive reception to this led to him further agreeing to reprise the role in a series of radio dramas which are considered quite good and, more importantly, canonical.

  • Money, Dear Boy: A mild example. Lee has never been known to turn down a steady acting job.

The Third Inspector

The third Inspector was played by Bernard Fox.

The Third Inspector is well known for his abhorrence of any sort of strenuous physical activity, and his habit of taking long tea breaks at (seemingly) the very worst moments. Continuing the theory mentioned above, some claim that following the events of "The Crime Sports" this Inspector was somehow "retired", even though he pretty much kept on doing what he always had.

Unlike French and Lee, Fox cheerfully embraced the role from the start, came back for a guest appearance whenever he was invited, and has been a beloved fixture at worldwide IS conventions for forty years.

  • Let's Get Dangerous: This Inspector may not have liked to exert himself, but when he did... watch out.

The Fourth Inspector

The fourth Inspector was played by Marius Goring.

Goring was a surprising choice for Inspector given the over-full nature of his filming schedule at the time.

The Fourth Inspector is known for his crazily colored iconic ascot and knee socks, affinity for small candies—particularly wine jellies and sherbet lemons (some suggest that Albus Dumbledore's affection for treats and sherbet lemons was an homage to the Fourth Inspector). He is also known for his extraordinarily high body count.

He returned to the series twice for guest-appearances: the Twentieth Anniversary special, and "The Only Inspector."

  • Dissonant Serenity: It took a lot to visible rattle the Fourth Inspector.
  • The Eeyore: Conversely, he never tended to display a lot of overt humor and good cheer. Of course, he had reason enough to be gloomy.
  • Knife Nut: Most metamorphoses of the Inspector used the Optic Pocketknife as rarely as possible, but Four cut a lot of throats in his time. He's also the only Inspector to use a Pocketknife balanced especially for throwing.
  • When He Smiles: Which made those oh-so-rare smiles he did unleash all the more glorious.

The Fifth Inspector

The Fifth Inspector was played by Lynda Bellingham.

Bellingham is the first, and so far only, actress to take on the role of the Inspector. She had the absolute worst wardrobe of all the Inspectors, most egregiously a hat that must be seen to be believed. (One expanded universe novel even made it into a sentient life-form.) She also liked ampersands and took to wearing them in the most unlikely of places.

The metamorphosis from 4th to 5th was very difficult for the Inspector to achieve. Continuing the theory mentioned above, some have speculated/joked that after "retirement" comes "death" and then "rebirth" into a new childhood..

Re-appeared on the show in "The Only Inspector", only a year after leaving, which was lampshaded: "Too soon! Too soon!".

She later went on to be cast in That Ripoff as an Inquisitor. The hat she wore in the role was considered by many a wink to her wardrobe as Inspector. (This would be neither the first nor last time That Ripoff stole an actor from IS or gave a cameo role, such as in the case of Landlord's recent role as George the Security Guard in "Closing Time", to an Inspector.)

  • Obfuscating Stupidity: Or perhaps "Obfuscating Ditziness". Her wardrobe and carefree exterior was cover for an icepick of a mind.

The Sixth Inspector

The Sixth Inspector was played by Graham Chapman.

The Inspector was one of Chapman's final roles. Defying expectation, Chapman's Inspector was one of the most somber and monochrome. The extreme colors of the Doctor in That Ripoff at the time was seen as a move by the Ripoff's producers to distinguish themselves from IS.

This was also the era in which some of the episodes just got weird (much to the delight of many fans). The most (in)famous example is probably all those puppets turning up in the episode Mindscrew.

  • Failure Knight: Nothing ever went right for this Inspector. Nothing. Some fans claim that his taking on Jeffery was symbolic of his failure, while Jeffery's death shows his failure at failing. And after that, he failed to recruit any new Associates for the rest of his run[2]. In his final episode, he is sentenced to banishment in an alternate universe and can return home only by dying.

The Seventh Inspector

The Seventh Inspector was played by Stephen Fry.

Fry had one of the shorter tenures as Inspector and is best known for all of the 'what could have beens' and his associates. The scripts, in a misguided attempt to "rein in" the weirdness of the Chapman years, were reduced to repetitive explosive-laden pablum, while the budget had been slashed to almost the level of That Ripoff. After limping along for three lackluster seasons, the plug was pulled on the show. The Seventh Inspector is very popular in fan fiction because of this, many like to imagine how the series would have ended if it had hired better writers.

Particularly (in)famous episodes include "Cattlefield", in which fans finally got the answer to the age-old question of whether or not the X7 has internal plumbing (The answer is yes, but, as with many a living thing, it is sometimes problematic.) and "Spectre Night", which is either a load of pro-Creationist rubbish or the one shining jewel of the era.

  • The Scrappy: The least popular of all Inspectors. While most blame this on his abysmal scripts, some have felt that Fry either just wasn't a good enough actor for the role or was forced by the producers to play the character in a way that didn't utilize what strengths he did have, or both. The fact that Chapman left the role only because of his deteriorating health did not help matters.

The Eighth Inspector

The Eighth Inspector was played by Steve Carrell.

Carrell's turn as Inspector was an early attempt to revive the series after the disappointment of Fry's run. Carrell starred in a made-for-TV movie alongside Anne Hathaway who played his Associate, Charity Galloway. Many (though not all) fans prefer to pretend this movie never existed and sometimes choose to disregard the movie as canon. (Although as noted above, it at least allowed Stephen Fry to end his version of the Inspector on a note of dignity.}

The Eighth Inspector's books, which were more tightly written and not subject to horrible theatrics, are notably better, as were his respective radio-broadcasts, which he was widely acclaimed for writing, often poking fun at his short run as the Inspector. The Inspector's primary Associate in the later books and broadcasts was Fitzwilliam Fort, an amateur detective.

The Ninth Inspector

The Ninth Inspector was played by Mark Williams.

Mark Williams revived the Inspector with sad humor and a genuine presence. Unfortunately, his obligations to the Harry Potter franchise cut his tenure to only two seasons. Williams also played the Inspector in a charity event with Daniel Radcliffe as his associate. Many fans were upset to learn that the combination was for the charity special only, however most forgave the writers when the second season brought in new associate, Lily Taylor.

The Ninth Inspector had a curious aversion to leather.

The Ninth Inspector traveled with Rory Williams in his first season. Rory's role ended when he learned how to cheat death and had to lose all of his memories as a consequence. Darvill would go on to play the exact same character on that Ripoff, with memory loss and cheating death skills full in tact.

  • The Stoic: As a result of being Last of His Kind, the Ninth Inspector became more and more detached adopting a "stiff upper lip" persona that he'd hold even in the most dire of situations.
  • The Dandy: This Inspector's ridiculously posh outfits, even moreso than the Second, often drifted into this territory.

The Tenth Inspector

The Tenth Inspector was played by Daniel Landlord (later credited as Christopher Obi).

Landlord played the first Black Inspector in the series. Landlord was a virtual unknown when cast, but some fans consider him the best of the recent Inspectors.

The Tenth Inspector is known for his coke-bottle glasses, endless string of bizarre and humorous shirts, and strong character growth. The Tenth Inspector is also bookended by two of the favored Associates—Lily and the Constable.

The Eleventh Inspector

The Eleventh Inspector is played by Travis Richey.

Richey is currently most known for being the Inspector chosen to feature in the short clip in the TV show Community. The clip, from early in his run while he still traveled with the Constable, is credited with truly reviving the fandom.

The Eleventh Inspector is known for his bowler hats.

The Eleventh Inspector traveled with the Constable and is currently traveling with young couple, Angie Lake and Aidan Davies. Brooke Rhapsody, a puzzle shrouded with mystery, is also part of his life. His time has been marked by an increasing popularity among the denizens of the universe that can cause problems when he needs to save the day and simply doesn't have time for all the autographs. His companions have been known to be kidnapped just so that the kidnappers get a chance to meet him causing the Eleventh Inspector to start seriously questioning whether he should just make his companions wear a bell.

Associates and Supporting Cast

The X7 Dimensioniser.

  • Cargo Ship: Some fans continue to ship the X7. with the Inspector, although all writers have been quite staunch in the fact that this is ridiculous, and has no basis in canon.
  • Mode Lock: Has been stuck in its present form ever since landing in the Sprint Street Phone Box Manufacturing Works in the very first episode.
  • Starfish Alien

Classic Associates

Susannah Overseer (First Inspector)

Played by Carla May Studebaker in the series and Maureen O'Brien in the radio plays.

Irma Rong and Bart Gilbert (First Inspector)

Aiden (Second Inspector)

  • Cool Sword: Never seen without his high-tech claymore.
  • Noodle Incident: Born in Scotland of the far-distant future; most of what little the audience learns about that place and time came from the comments he would occasionally drop. ("Course I know what an elephant is. The wretched beasts came blundering around every time they opened the Sgian-dubh Gate.")

Peter/Petula (Second Inspector)

Yosif (Third Inspector)

Markus Rogen (Third Inspector)

Superintendent Irvine Leith, London Branch, Exo-Pol (Fourth Inspector)

Mary Sue Brown (Third and Fourth Inspectors)

FE-Line

Infinity Knight Lunda (Fourth Inspector)

  • Insistent Terminology: Lunda was an Infinity Knight, not an "Infinity Dame."
  • Knight Templar: Willing to do whatever it took, including (see below) dying a couple of times, finally taking the Bolt in Space on a one-way trip out of Space, into another dimension, to keep it away from the Orange Warden forever.
  • Suspiciously Similar Substitute: A rare in-universe example; she regenerated twice while on the show (everybody kept dying around the Fourth Inspector...) and, very much unlike the Inspector's various incarnations, all three times was played by similar-looking actresses who portrayed the role in much the same manner. This provoked both a million fan-theories about male/female Infinity Knight biology and many complaints of Unfortunate Implications, especially since along with being tall and thin, all three actresses were black.

Layla (Fourth Inspector)

Reena (Fourth Inspector)

Veneziana (Fourth and Fifth Inspectors)

  • Action Girl / Faux Action Girl: Drifts back and forth between these two. She is good with a lasso, but she's not quite as tough as she looks or pretends.
  • Americans Are Cowboys: Or at least their 24th century descendants are. Always wears a bushranger hat and carries a lasso. She did eventually ditch the spurs.
  • Fan-Preferred Couple: She and Thorough and that lasso spawned a thousand fan-fics, even though there was never a hint of official attraction between them on-screen.
  • Nice Hat: Never seen without it.
  • Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Considering the accent they came up with for the character to sport, it's surprising this didn't happen more often than it did.
  • Overly Long Name: So long the viewer never even hears all of it: "Veneziana Lopez Kelly Gab.. Heck, mates, just call me Veneziana."
  • Running Gag: Afraid of horses, and so is constantly having to deal with them.

"Someday, we're gonna crack open the door to that X7 and there's gonna be a goldurn horse crammed inside."

Thorough Visor (Fourth and Fifth Inspectors)

Nymeria of Planet Kraken V (Fifth Inspector)

Jeffrey (Sixth Inspector)

Theodora "Dynamo" McRae (Seventh Inspector)

  • Action Girl: Attacked a Blorgon with a hockey stick. Yeah.
  • Hormone-Addled Teenager
  • More Dakka: Her answer to most problems.
  • Straw Feminist: Thanks to the era's lackluster scripts, she sometimes edged into this territory.
  • Stuff Blowing Up: Would compulsively leave dynamite in buildings to have this affect. Joined up with the Inspector after almost doing as much to the X7.

Charity Galloway (Eighth Inspector)

Fitzwilliam Fort (Eighth Inspector)

Jimmy McSporran (Eighth Inspector}

  • Expanded Universe: Fort and McSporran have never appeared on the actual show, but have proved popular in various radio dramas and novels.

New Associates

Rory Williams (Ninth Inspector)

  • Ancient Grome: In regards to the other show. He spent a brief stretch of time posing as a Greek Demi-God in on the show; the other one tried to play homage to this, but got the nationality wrong, making him Roman.
  • Badass: Considered one of the most epic associates to date, often completely upstaging the Inspector. Enemies often exploded when he came on screen.
  • Combat Medic
  • Immortality: The story of his inability to die needs no repeating here.
  • Laser-Guided Amnesia: At the end of his tenure lost his memories. The author, however, was not ready to give up the role, and continued it on that other show, hoping to improve upon its quality.

Lily Taylor (Ninth and Tenth Inspector)

  • Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Her ultimate choice. After her brief time as the Good Lamb, in which she personally saves countless billions of lives from the Blorgons, the Immortals offer Lily a seat in their pantheon. Lily spends her remaining time on the show debating this, before ultimately choosing to accept her destiny as the Good Lamb, and ascending to watch over the universe with the Immortals.
  • Audience Surrogate
  • I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Part of her reasons for leaving Minnie; she felt she wasn't good enough for her.

Minnie Smythe (Ninth and Eleventh Inspectors)

  • Ascended Extra: Originally only appeared in the episode Lily as the girlfriend that Lily leaves behind, but was eventually picked up as an Associate by the Eleventh Inspector.
  • Always Second Best: She is always being compared to Lily by the Inspector.
  • Deadpan Snarker: At times.
  • Heartbreaking in Hindsight: A lot of hints dropped in the beginning of her first episodes as an Associate become much worse once you learn what really happened in between Lily and her.
  • Lovable Nerd
  • Pair the Spares: With Joanna.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Over the course of her travels with the Inspector. She faced the Circuit-Chaps single-handedly to save the Inspector and Joanna, for crying out loud!

Captain James Haggard (Ninth and Tenth Inspectors)

Played by Tom Hardy.

  • Gayngst: Went through deep emotional trauma due to his inability to accept his pansexuality.
  • Touched by Vorlons: Given the gift of immortality by the Good Lamb's enveloping wool.
  • Who Wants to Live Forever?: Almost entirely averted. Haggard's immortality is of the no-drawbacks kind, and he remains very cheerful about (this aspect of) his condition.

Yorke (Tenth Inspector)

Mona Virtue (Tenth Inspector)

  • Catch Phrase: Commonly called the Inspector and other aliens "Time Dude"!
  • Fiery Redhead: Averted. One of the most quiet and demure associates on the show.
  • Mind Rape: Some consider her eventual fate this.

Joanna Martin (Tenth and Eleventh Inspectors)

  • All Love Is Unrequited
  • Bi the Way: After spending her entire tenure pining after the Inspector, she was suddenly revealed to be bi so she could be in a relationship with Minnie.
  • Bunny Ears Lawyer: Spent most of her first episode annoying the Inspector by constantly introducing herself, complimenting his shirt, then going up behind him and repeating the process. Won the Inspector over by successfully arguing that taking the travel agency to Mars—while amusing—was in fact illegal and getting them all returned safely.
  • Clingy Jealous Girl: Her eyes turn green every time Lily is mentioned.
  • Pair the Spares: With Minnie.

Constable Wigglesworth (Tenth and Eleventh Inspectors)

Camilla Sea ( Tenth Inspector)

Angelica "Angie" Lake (Tenth and Eleventh Inspector)

Aidan Davies (Eleventh Inspector)

Brooke Rhapsody (Eleventh Inspector)

Geneva Stilton (Eleventh Inspector)

Special Episode Associates

Maura

Robbie McMillan

Othbo Perth

Villains

The Blorgons (aka Blogons)

These robots (although they're occasionally called cyborgs) first appeared in 1962's The Blorgons, having been created by Vosrda to commit armed robbery, burglary, and mail fraud on his behalf. They would eventually become the Inspector's most iconic enemy.

  • Art Evolution: The Blorgons benefited greatly from the new series' increased budget. You can barely see the duct tape at all these days.
  • Catch Phrase: "ERADICATE!"
  • Spell My Name with an R: Following initial confusion over the pronunciation of their name, the fanbase is divided on the spelling of "Blo(r)gon," and BTV seems to have changed their official stance multiple times during the show's run—one official episode guide even referred to the race as the "Blorgrons," the "Blogrons," and the "Blogrolls" on the same page. Needless to say, this isn't a controversy that'll end any time soon: Although a majority of fans seem to favor "Blogon" at present, the programme officially calls them "Blorgons".

The Digifleet of the Circuit-Chaps (also known as the Kybermenschen)

  • Creepy Monotone: Subverted in "The Lost Asteroid" when the Inspector first attempts to communicate with the Digifleet in an imitation robotic accent, and the Circuit-Chaps counter with a characteristically chipper comeback.
  • Dissonant Serenity: The Circuit-Chaps are always in infamously high spirits, even when they're plotting the destruction of all organic life.
  • Do Androids Dream?: The eerie question surrounding the Kybermenschen is whether they actually possess the mechanical equivalent of emotions or are merely simulating them to put their opponents off balance.
  • Turned Against Their Masters: In "The Retirement Home of the Circuit-Chaps", the Inspector learns about the Second Industrial Revolution on their home planet that led to their ascendance.
  • Weaksauce Weakness: In early episodes the Chaps were completely invulnerable to everything except lead particles, which clogged up their condensers and caused them to overheat. This worked well for a while, but as the series wore on the weakness was exaggerated to the point where anything even related to lead—lead bullets, lead plumbing, lead paint, lead pencils, etc.—would make them explode.
  • You Will Be Assimilated: "You will be modified," the Circuit-Chaps reassure ordinary appliances and everyday gadgets before turning them into cheerfully murderous conscripts of the Digifleet.

The Sergeant (earlier known as the Post Master)

  • Affably Evil: Treats his rivalry with the Inspector as a friendly competition.
  • Beard of Evil: His infamous mustache. Subverted when he shaved it upon his eigth rejuvenation, much to the Inspector's shock.
  • Blonde Guys Are Evil
  • Dirty Cop: Although he is no longer associated with any police force, he still wears a police uniform, and often uses police slang.
  • Eyepatch of Power: Gained one after the Knife Fight with the Inspector in Series Four.

The Instructor

  • Anti-Villain: As her name suggests, this Infinity Knight set out to literally "educate the dear Inspector" rather than commit any outright villainy. The program was always very coy about whether she took this task upon herself, or was carrying out Infinity Knight orders with enthusiasm.
  • Obfuscating Disability: A borderline example, in that she always wore dark glasses and carried a white cane, but never explicitly tried to pass herself off as being blind.

Oscar del Manhattan

A Corrupt Corporate Executive with a collection of artifacts from across time and space, which he kept atop his skyscraper in Las Vegas, Nevada, including a heavily-damaged Blorgon.

  • Big Bad: Revealed to be behind the season's Arc Words- "The Stars are Vanishing". As detailed below, he was adding them to his collection.
  • Corrupt Corporate Executive
  • Death by Materialism: Was killed when he couldn't reach the X7 while his museum was collapsing, due to trying to carry so many of his artifacts at once. Though the Inspector tried to save him, del Manhattan just kept trying to grab one more artifact, and trying to pick up the ones he dropped, forcing the Inspector to leave him behind.
  • Greed: As detailed to the Inspector, del Manhattan literally wanted to rip the stars from the sky, label them, and stick them in a lovely glass case for all the world to see and marvel at.
  • "I Want" Song: Has one of the few Villain Songs in IS history.

Vosrda

  • Evil Cripple: Following a near-lethal dose of radiation, Vosrda replaced the entire top half of his body with Blorgon cybernetics. The sight of his terrifyingly spindly little legs struggling under the weight of a robotic pepper shaker has driven many a child behind the sofa.
  • Mad Scientist: Well, he DID create the Blorgons, and he DID try to kill everyone with them.

Yorke

Ms. Patch

An old lady who knits and drinks tea. She also wants to kill the Inspector and steal Brooke Rhapsody's powerful weapons. She is the the leader of the Quiet Organization.

The Indictor

A One-Arc Wonder, the Indictor prosecuted the Inspector for his war crimes before revealing that he was a form of future (or past!) incarnation of the Inspector, created from the collected Order in the Inspector's soul.

Commissioner Sassafrass

Played by Sean Connery.

An ancient and powerful Infinity Knight who's credited with establishing the first police department on Kayaclasch. Wielder of an artifact called the Truncheon of Sassafrass. Thought to have retired thousands of years ago, until the events of "The Last Minutes."


Aliens and Monsters

The Homene Awareness and the Clothons

The Oddities

The Sloughers

The Snarling Lions

An observer-effect-dependent species, the Lions only exist when they're being observed by other lifeforms, vanishing as soon as you blink. Not that you'd dare turn your back on a fearsome, ferocious-looking lion... which is just what they want. They absorb quantum energy by brutally killing people who look them, or are even aware they exist.

The Rostraans

The Lirusians

A species of aliens who are due to move in once the humans have left the Earth. A kind race, quite open to peaceful relations with humans.

The Time Deviants

They look human and can blend in seamlessly with our society, but they're soulless psychopaths who feed off of chaos and destruction.

The Quiet Men

When you look at these aliens, they will cause you to remember meaningless things so you don't focus on them. If you do remember them, that means that they don't care if you remember or not...because you'll be dead soon. They cannot shut up.

The Orange Warden. The Blue Warden.

These two bring new meaning to the phrase "Sufficiently Advanced Alien". Members of the Pantheon of Immortals (see below).

The Immortals

A pantheon of mostly benevolent cosmic beings who maintain the balance in the universe. Among others, includes the Orange and Blue Wardens, the Prankster (the Big Bad of The Mary Sue Predicaments, and Lily Taylor/The Good Lamb.

  1. ↑ (clockwise from top) Leslie French, Christopher Lee, Bernard Fox, Marius Goring, Lynda Bellingham, Graham Chapman, Stephen Fry, Steve Carrell, Mark Williams, Christopher Obi (billed as Daniel Landlord), Travis Richey
  2. ↑ OK, yes, there was Benjamin, but who ever remembers Benjamin?
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