"When the Doctor went to Downton" is a Crossover fanfic of Doctor Who and Downton Abbey available here
.
Told in thirteen chapters, it explores the adventures of the Doctor and Amy in 1921 rural England where they land at an old family manor known as Downton Abbey. Going undercover as his old alias John Smith, the Doctor forces Amy to act like an Edwardian maid - which she doesn't have much talent for - and investigating what drew his TARDIS to this quiet village. Together, they'll save a young lady and defeat an old foe.
Tropes:
- Accidental Misnaming: Isobel calling Amy "Mrs. Wilburton".
- Anachronistic Clue: Amy's speech to her not being from the 1920s.
- Awesome, but Impractical: When Daisy is presenting Mary's soup on a silver platter with all the formalities of a dinner, Anna interjects and takes it off her plain as she says that Mary is just going to sip it in bed and would rather it got to her warm.
- Call-Back: The fact that Sybil is a nurse in the series is made use of very well in this fan fiction (to request a doctor for her sick sister and to need to be at home to give her father the chance to come to terms with her marriage), as is the fact that Rory is a nurse in his series - to make a joke.
- Calling the Old Man Out: Sybil gives Mr Carson a talk-down about disapproving of her marriage in Chapter 3.
- Cannot Tell a Joke: Lord Grantham - he tries to joke about Tom and Sybil dating but it comes out as cringeworthy.
- Chekhov's Gun: The soup. It's mentioned in the synopsis and the author notes, first seen in the story in the first chapter before becoming important to discovering the clockwork monsters.
- Cliffhanger: It's not exactly a cliffhanger, but the reader has to assume that it was the clockwork monsters' interference making Mary feel sick, and then how the Doctor explains what's going on to the family as the story ends right as he convinces the monsters to leave.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Daisy and Amy, supposedly, and Amy exploits it to try and hide the fact she's unfamiliar with the period.
- Crossover: A realistic one in fanfiction - the Doctor could end up in the 1920s.
- Empty Nest: Lord Grantham and Cora are far from having one, but it's discussed when they come to accept the independence and marriage of their youngest child, probably because she's the youngest.
- Exact Words: When Lord Grantham asks for Amy to "fetch the Doctor", he's referring to Dr. Clarkson but is ambiguous.
- Fiery Redhead: Amy, in a borrowed characterisation from Doctor Who, who boisterously announces her entrance in the first chapter and gets angry over her forgotten name in the fourth chapter, even though she's a lowly maid. Lampshaded by Thomas and complained about by O'Brien:Thomas: "Always weird, the redheads. Feisty, aspirational, but strange."O'Brien: "Not another extremist red-head!"
- Fish out of Temporal Water: Amy, she asks what year it is and if they're "cool".
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: Mary and Anna, still, with Mary convincing Anna to brin some food to her sickbed when the rest of her family haven't let her eat all day due to being sick.
- Hypocritical Humor: Sybil chastises Daisy for trying to spoon-feed Mary, then immediately goes and holds a glass of water to Lord Grantham's mouth - he snatches it from because,as she said, they can look after themselves.
- If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...: One from Lord Grantham, but he holds Tom to a higher standard as it's not "don't hurt her" but "do everything to make her happy".
- Last-Name Basis: A product of the time, so the married or older servants go by Mr/Mrs X.
- Meatgrinder Surgery: The Doctor's opinion on some of the old medical contraptions. In contrast, when Cora hears the screwdriver in "sonic screwdriver" , she is scared.
- Misplaced Accent: Used and discussed In-Universe, Lord Grantham noticing how strange it is that Amy has a strong Highlander accent when she's supposedly from Yorkshire.
- Mr. Smith: The Doctor's alias as a doctor, again.
- Mythology Gag:
- References Gwen's ambition, Thomas's broken hand, and Jane's mysterious departure in Chapter 1, and Prisoner Zero in chapter 13.
- There's an implied one to the Doctor Who "Girl in the Fireplace" episode with the fireplace in Mary's room as short-term foreshadowing to the clockwork monsters (they appear later in the same chapter).
- Papa Bear: Lord Grantham being protective over his daughters.
- Rebellious Princess: A lady, not exactly a princess, but the effect is the same for Lady Sybil, who ran away to get married and who continues to show her rebellious streak here as she returns to tell her family.
- Second Love: the story refers to Matthew's wife Lavinia dying recently, and how he doesn't want Mary to be dying, too.
- Switching P.O.V.: uses it a bit, like chapter 3 is definitely Tom Branson's because of the comments about Sybil.
- Technologically Blind Elders: Invoked by the Dowager Countess, who questions whether to trust a non-traditional doctor and, most importantly, the sonic screwdriver.
- Two Lines, No Waiting: there are a few sub-plots, but a large one is people coming to accept Tom and Sybil's marriage, which gets about as much time as the main story and is contrasted with it by being progressed just as action in the main plot has stalled.
