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Due to a revelation of the backstory of Doctor Who and the loss of mystery in his background, Andrew Cartmel came up with a way to restore the mystery and allow a more varied set of possibilities in future storytelling. This was known as the "Cartmel Masterplan".

The Cartmel Masterplan is a backstory developed by primarily by Andrew Cartmel, Ben Aaronovitch and Marc Platt that was intended to restore some of the mystery of the Doctor's background. Although hints were dropped in the last two seasons, the proposed revelations never materialized on screen as the programme was taken off the airwaves in 1989.

Some of the stories during the Seventh Doctor's tenure, part of the so-called "Cartmel Masterplan", were intended to deal with the lack of mystery by suggesting that much of what was believed about the Doctor was wrong and that he was a far more powerful and mysterious figure than previously thought. In an untelevised scene in Remembrance of the Daleks, the Doctor stated that he was was "far more than just another Time Lord." The suspension of the series in 1989 meant that none of these hints were ever resolved. The "Masterplan" was used as a guide for the Virgin New Adventures series of novels featuring the Seventh Doctor, and the revelations about the Doctor's origins were written into the novel Lungbarrow by Marc Platt. However, the canonicity of these revelations is unclear.

In the Cartmel Masterplan, Susan Foreman was the granddaughter of the mysterious Gallifreyan founder known as "the Other," who may have been reincarnated as the Doctor. The Doctor had traveled back to the dawn of Time Lord civilisation and rescued Susan, who recognised him as her grandfather. The Doctor did not initially recognise her, but knew that this was somehow true. This version of Susan's origins is reflected in many other Doctor Who spin-offs, which are of unclear canonicity.

The Other was first mentioned in the novelisation of Remembrance of the Daleks by Ben Aaronovitch as a shadowy figure in Time Lord history, one of the founding Triumvirate of Time Lord society after the overthrow of the cult of the Pythia that had, until then, dominated Gallifrey. The other two members of the Triumvirate were Rassilon and Omega.

Of the three, the Other's origins are the most obscure, with the circumstances of his birth and appearance being a mystery. Like Rassilon, various contradictory legends surround the Other, some hinting that he had powers surpassing that of Rassilon or Omega, and some even suggesting that he was not born on the Time Lords' home world of Gallifrey. Even his name is lost to time, which is why he is simply referred to as "the Other". A minor Gallifreyan festival known as Otherstide is celebrated yearly in his honour.

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