Bombay was a city in India. According to Bernice Summerfield, it had a horrible stench, and "smell[ed] like no other place I've ever visited". In her opinion, 1887 Bombay was a "city whose people think that the function of a river is to act as a latrine upstream and a launderette downstream."
As its river opened out onto the Indian Ocean, it was a natural port, and one of the lynchpins of the British Raj's hold over India. P&O naturally serviced the port, and it was for the Matilda Briggs that the Seventh Doctor, John Watson, and Sherlock Holmes once waited in the city. (PROSE: All-Consuming Fire) Indeed, the SS Bernice sailed from Bombay in 1926. (TV: Carnival of Monsters) It remained a vital transportation hub even as transport technology changed. In the 21st century, Bombay had a T-Mat centre. (TV: The Seeds of Death)
Behind the scenes
- Bombay was renamed Mumbai but has never been given this name in-universe.
- Sam Dastor, who played Professor Narayan in the Big Finish Doctor Who audio story The Emerald Tiger, was born in Bombay.