theory time!
the “great intelligence” in the bells of st john is the same as the great intelligence in the 1967 serial the abominable snowman and the 1968 serial the web of fear. it’s also in the snowmen.
at the end of web of fear, it escapes. ms kizlet is implied to have been around five or six years old when it first started controlling her. she looks in bells of st john to be at least 50 years old.
therefore, we can infer that it started controlling her very soon after the events of web of fear.
this raises a bunch of other things:
- what was it doing in the 40 odd years before wifi was invented
- for the great intelligence the order of events is the snowmen -> abominable snowmen -> web of fear -> bells of st john
- the doctor has beaten it four times it must really hate him by now
- we still know p much nothing about it
- the doctor is not aware that it is the great intelligence
- he has almost not certainly realised he’s facing the same thing as in the snowmen