Bristol Bristol was a city in and ceremonial county in England . It was home to the Twelfth Doctor ' s companion , Bill Potts . The Doctor ' s own place of work for several decades , St Luke ' s University , underneath which he hid a mysterious vault , was located in Bristol . Geography . Bristol was located in England , near the River Severn and the Avon valley . ( PROSE : " Rags " ) Bristol ' s landmarks included Clifton Suspension Bridge . ( PROSE : " Reckless Engineering " ) The city was known to have had at least two universities : St Luke ' s University ( TV : " The Pilot " ) and Bristol University . ( PROSE : " Rags " ) Totterdown was a district of Bristol , on a steep hill south of the river , which was largely damaged by bombing in World War II . Against the district ' s brightly coloured house s remained an " eccentric wasteland " . ( PROSE : " Rags " ) Local businesses included Redcliffe Lettings and The Fabric Mill . ( TV : " Knock Knock " ) The Money Tree was a wine bar in the city ' s financial district . The Ragged Staff was the name of at least three pubs in Bristol . ( PROSE : " Rags " ) Streets in the city included Bath Road , ( PROSE : " Rags " ) Cardinal Road and Mill Lane . ( TV : " Knock Knock " ) The Arnos Vale cemetery was located down Bath Road . ( PROSE : " Rags " ) Bill Potts lived in at least two homes within the Bristol area . The first was a flat she shared with her foster mother , ( TV : " The Pilot " ) and the second , although for only a short time , was 11 Cardinal Road . ( TV : " Knock Knock " , " Extremis " ) History . 20th century . Sometime after escaping the Forge Alpha Facility in 1915 , two vampires named and William Moore bought a theatre in Bristol . ( PROSE : " Project : Valhalla " ) Before being taken through the Cardiff Rift on 18 December 1953 , Emma - Louise Cowell lived in Bristol . ( TV : " Out of Time " ) The First Doctor , Susan Foreman , Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright attended a performance of " The Crucible " by Arthur Miller in Bristol on 9 November 1954 . ( PROSE : " The Witch Hunters " ) In the 1970s , The Unwashed visited a Bristol cemetery as part of their Unwashed and Unforgiving Tour . Revellers were led by the Ragman to kill everyone at The Money Tree bar . They were later stopped by the Third Doctor . ( PROSE : " Rags " ) 21st century . In 2001 , Nimrod came to Bristol to kill William Moore . He attended a play which had been directed by Moore and stayed after the audience and actors had left . He confronted Moore on the stage and shot a stake through his heart . ( PROSE : " Project : Valhalla " ) In 2008 , Jen vanished in Bristol after playing Combat 3000 . She had been kidnapped by Uvlavad Kudlak but was saved by Sarah Jane Smith and her friends . After this she returned to Earth . ( TV : " Warriors of Kudlak " ) In 2009 , calls to the emergency services from Bristol City Centre suggested that children were pointing at the sky . ( TV : " " ) The Twelfth Doctor accidentally landed the TARDIS in Bristol when trying to get Clara Oswald home for a date with Danny Pink . After the TARDIS was shrunk , they encountered and defeated the Boneless , who had killed several local human s . ( TV : " Flatline " ) The Twelfth Doctor later returned to Bristol with Nardole , where they spent a number of decades guarding a vault beneath the campus of St Luke ' s University . It was here where he first encountered Bill Potts . ( TV : " The Pilot " ) Alternative timelines . Blood Heat . In an alternate timeline where Earth was ruled by the Silurian s in 1993 , Ace located the ruins of Bristol and nearly fell from Clifton Suspension Bridge . ( PROSE : " Blood Heat " ) Reckless Engineering . In another alternate timeline , the Eighth Doctor , Anji Kapoor and Fitz Kreiner visited a post - apocalyptic Bristol in 2003 . The ruins of the city were inhabited by Wildren . The Doctor travelled back to 1843 and was able to revert events back to the correct timeline . ( PROSE : " Reckless Engineering " ) References . After crashing into Fang Rock in his steam yacht , Henry Palmerdale was desperate to get to Bristol and so searched the lighthouse for a means of communication . ( TV : " Horror of Fang Rock " )