Perkins was the Chief Engineer on the space-faring Orient Express.
He assisted the Twelfth Doctor in combating the Foretold, starting a timer whenever the Foretold attacked. He handed the Doctor a passenger manifest, a plan of the train and a list of stops for the previous six months. Later, he examined the history of the passengers to see if there was a pattern to the Foretold's attacks. While solving why it took the Foretold exactly sixty-six seconds to kill its victims, Perkins revealed that moving energy out of phase took "about a minute", and the Doctor realised that the Foretold had been using technology to take its victims out of phase.
After the threat was over, the Doctor subtly offered him a chance to travel with him, but Perkins politely declined, saying that the job of maintaining the TARDIS could change a man. (TV: Mummy on the Orient Express) He eventually got a job at the Space Mallard, showing tourists the 700 Wonders of the Universe. (GAME: The Saviour of Time)
Behind the scenes[]
- Perkins' character was based on a real person of the same name, a friend of writer Jamie Mathieson, from whom he extracted information about the real-life Orient Express. (DWM 478)
- On 14 December 2014, Frank Skinner appeared in character as Perkins in a video wishing Doctor Who fans a Merry Christmas.
- Skinner, a long-time Doctor Who fan, has readily admitted he has long wanted to appear in the series - he was in fact watching an episode of The Sensorites when he was offered the part of Perkins. He also wished that the scene where Perkins declines the Doctor's offer to join him could be refilmed with him saying "Yes!" (DWM 478)
