Jo confronts Barnham’s erased identity
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Summers introduces Jo to Barnham, a former patient of the Keller machine, who appears to be in good health. Jo attempts to engage Barnham in conversation about his treatment, setting the stage for discovering the machine's effects.
Barnham reveals he has significant memory loss, including forgetting his own name until Doctor Summers reminded him. This highlights the potentially damaging side effects of the Keller machine.
Jo abruptly ends the conversation, having gleaned the crucial information about Barnham's memory loss. She says goodbye, reinforcing the unsettling impact of the Keller machine's treatment on individuals.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Emotionally vacant—Barnham is a walking testament to the Keller machine’s success in removing ‘negative impulses,’ leaving him with no anger, no fear, and no true self. His state is eerie, almost inhuman, which heightens the horror of what the machine does.
Barnham is the emotional and narrative center of this event—a man reduced to a hollowed-out shell by the Keller machine. He interacts with Jo and Summers with polite detachment, admitting he couldn’t even remember his own name until the Doctor told him. His gratitude for the chocolates is mechanical, devoid of genuine warmth, underscoring the machine’s success in stripping away his humanity. Barnham’s condition serves as a stark warning of what the Keller machine is capable of: not just rehabilitation, but erasure.
- • None (he is a victim, not an active participant in his own fate)
- • To comply with the expectations of those around him (Summers, Jo)
- • That his current state is normal (he has no memory of who he was before)
- • That the Keller machine’s treatment was justified (implied by his lack of resistance)
Unsettled and morally conflicted—she is visibly shaken by Barnham’s hollowed-out state, which forces her to confront the ethical nightmare of the Keller machine’s true purpose.
Jo Grant initiates the interaction with Barnham, offering him chocolates as a gesture of kindness, but her attempt at connection is met with Barnham’s detached confusion. She probes him about his memory and treatment by the Keller machine, only to abruptly end the conversation when confronted with the full horror of his condition. Her emotional reaction—relief at seeing him ‘looking so much better’ followed by a hasty exit—reveals her growing discomfort with the ethical implications of the Keller process. Jo’s role here is that of a reluctant witness, forced to confront the human cost of the experiment.
- • To understand the full extent of the Keller machine’s effects on its subjects
- • To support Barnham in a small but meaningful way (offering chocolates, checking on his well-being)
- • That the Keller machine’s ‘treatment’ is unethical and dehumanizing
- • That the Doctor’s investigation is justified, but the reality of its findings is disturbing
Determined and morally outraged (implied by his off-screen actions and the context of his investigation into the Keller machine’s ethical violations)
The Doctor is referenced indirectly by Barnham, who mentions that the Doctor was the one who told him his own name. This implies a prior interaction where the Doctor likely assessed Barnham’s condition post-Keller machine treatment, reinforcing the Doctor’s role as the investigator uncovering the machine’s dangers. His absence in this scene is notable—his influence lingers in Barnham’s hollowed-out state, a testament to the machine’s devastation.
- • To expose the Keller machine’s true purpose and dangers to UNIT and the public
- • To protect humanity from psychological manipulation, especially given the Master’s involvement
- • That technology should never be used to strip away human identity or free will
- • That the Keller machine is a front for something far more sinister, likely tied to the Master’s plans
Professionally composed but internally conflicted—she is aware of the ethical issues but remains bound by institutional loyalty, masking her discomfort behind medical jargon.
Doctor Summers greets Jo and Barnham with professional detachment, describing Barnham’s physical health as ‘fit as a fiddle’ while downplaying the psychological devastation he’s endured. She facilitates the interaction between Jo and Barnham but remains clinically removed, her role as a medical professional overshadowing any moral unease. Summers’ demeanor underscores the institutional complicity in the Keller process—she is part of the system that enabled this experiment, even if she now recognizes its flaws.
- • To maintain the appearance of normalcy in the medical ward, despite the unethical nature of the Keller process
- • To ensure Jo’s interaction with Barnham is brief and controlled, likely to avoid further scrutiny of the program
- • That the Keller machine’s psychological effects are a regrettable but necessary side effect of the ‘treatment’
- • That institutional protocols must be followed, even when they conflict with ethical concerns
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Barnham’s headphones serve as a temporary escape from the oppressive reality of his condition, allowing him to retreat into the radio’s broadcasts before Summers interrupts him. Their removal by Barnham at Summers’ greeting symbolizes his compliance with institutional expectations, even as they highlight his detachment from the world around him. The headphones are a small but poignant detail, underscoring Barnham’s isolation and the futility of his attempt to reclaim normalcy through distraction.
The pack of Dairy Box chocolates, offered by Jo to Barnham, is a symbolic gesture of compassion in an otherwise sterile and dehumanizing environment. The chocolates represent Jo’s attempt to connect with Barnham on a human level, but their reception—Barnham’s polite but detached gratitude—underscores the futility of such gestures in the face of the Keller machine’s psychological devastation. The chocolates become a bittersweet metaphor for the inability of kindness to undo institutional harm.
The Keller machine is the silent, looming specter of this event, its presence felt through Barnham’s hollowed-out state and Jo’s growing unease. Though not physically visible in this scene, its influence is palpable—Barnham’s admission that he couldn’t remember his own name until the Doctor told him is a direct consequence of the machine’s psychological erasure. The machine’s role here is to serve as a metaphor for the dehumanizing potential of unchecked technological and institutional power, particularly when wielded by figures like the Master. Its off-screen hum (mentioned in the scene’s opening) lingers as a reminder of its ongoing, insidious operation.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The prison medical ward is a sterile, clinical space that doubles as a stage for the Keller machine’s psychological horrors. Its white walls and institutional furniture create an atmosphere of cold detachment, mirroring the emotional state of its patients. The ward is not just a setting but a character in its own right—it embodies the dehumanizing effects of the Keller process, where patients like Barnham are reduced to case files and treatment outcomes. The hum of the Keller machine in the background adds to the ward’s oppressive mood, reinforcing the idea that this is a place of erasure, not healing.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"The Doctor instructs Jo to secure the lab which motivates Jo to investigate Barnham. Doctor leaving sets the opportunity for Jo to investigate Keller machine patients."
Doctor Reluctantly Leaves Stangmoor"The Doctor securing the Brigadier's commitment to ban the Keller Machine parallels Jo's investigation into Barnham, the parallel focus is understanding and controlling Keller machine's power."
Brigadier concedes to Doctor’s demands"Introduction of Barnham provides Jo and Summers with the ability to discuss the potential of negative consequences that the Keller Machine instills."
Summers warns of the machine’s costThemes This Exemplifies
Thematic resonance and meaning
Part of Larger Arcs
Key Dialogue
"BARNHAM: It's just that I can't seem to remember anybody or anything very well."
"JO: Don't you remember being treated by the Keller machine?"
"BARNHAM: It's all a bit of a blank, I'm afraid. Do you know, you wouldn't believe this, but I couldn't even remember me own name. Not until the Doctor there told me."