HomeWorld ( planet ) HomeWorld was the central governing body of a system spreading across many planets , including Birling and the asteroid housing the Prison . The Governor had been the head of the HomeWorld Government , but had been disposed after an election scandal . There had been a Lopo outbreak on the planet Birling , one of the outer colonies , after those in opposition to the Governor , specifically the Professor of Acupuncture and Astrology , convinced the public on those planets that the vaccines against the old disease stunted children ' s growth in an attempt to prevent them from voting and therefore prevent them from voting for the Governor . This , plus the restriction of ships carrying the vaccine to the outer colony , caused Birling to go into quarantine while the Honorary Chair of MedAuth , Helen , who was also the Governor ' s wife , was visiting , trapping her there . This was the first stage of the Governor ' s downfall as he spent so much time communicating with his trapped wife that he neglected to focus as much as he should have on the upcoming election . However , the disease soon mutated and affected even the adults who were vaccinated as children . Many people died , including Helen . The government was then blamed for not having supplied enough vaccine , despite much of the reason that people weren ' t being vaccinated was due to the propaganda of the opposition . This bad publicity made the Governor fear not being re - elected , causing his Chief Advisor , Marianne Globus , to perform a " slight statistical correction " of votes to make sure he still won . However , some people noticed the vote rigging , causing a public out - cry . To assure the public that he was innocent of these claims and that he was law - abiding , he commissioned the building of the Prison . He also managed to put some of his opponents into the Prison to prevent them from causing trouble . However , a journalist for TransNet noticed the precision with which the voting had been manipulated , causing the Governor to only just win in each of the rigged seats . While the journalist ' s questions were blocked by the Governor ' s legal council , the journalist persisted . The opposition got behind the journalist , forcing the Governor to face the accusations and promised an inquiry . The inquiry was lead by Lafcardio , a law professor , and he exonerated the Governor . The public took the opposite view to Lafcardio , and the Governor had to fire Marianne Globus and issue an apology . This still didn ' t calm the public , and the opposition were put into power . The Prison was completed under the new government , and most of the previous government were put into it after it was completed with the Governor at its head , the jailer of his former friends . Many other prisoners were sent to the Prison over time , with 428 prisoners at its peak . The 428th prisoner was the Twelfth Doctor . The then government then decided to eliminate the prisoners in the Prison , causing power failures sending the Prison into shut - down and causing the Custodians to attack and kill all the inhabitants of the Prison . The Doctor and Clara Oswald , with the help of the reluctant TARDIS , managed to save a large portion of the inhabitants but sadly couldn ' t save them all . While the Governor was in the Prison , the HomeWorld government started to fail due to unpopular policies . The Lopo epidemic had spread across the outer colonies , requiring supplies to be constantly sent out from the centre of the HomeWorld . Because the cost of these supplies was greater than the income generated for the Government from these colonies , the HomeWorld Government decided to focus on the needs of the central HomeWorld over those of the outer colonies , an idea named HomeWorldFirst , which would have restricted the supplies being sent out to the amount of return the Government was getting from them . This , along with plans to build a shopping centre on a park , caused public outrage and a protest movement which the government couldn ' t control , eventually leading to the government ' s downfall with very little bloodshed . As the Governor was the only viable alternative to the Government , the Government started the series of events in the Prison with the intention of eliminating the Governor and all witnesses , which the Doctor thwarted . The public were calling for the Governor to be reinstated at the head of the Government , painting him as a hero in comparison to the one they had before . It is unknown whether or not the Governor accepted the position . ( PROSE : " The Blood Cell " )