Withnail intended for Uncle Monty to rape Marwood
- Withnail is gay while Marwood isn't and he came on to Marwood at some point in the past and was rejected. He feeds his uncle Monty the bullshit story about himself being the one who rejected Marwood as a defense mechanism. Withnail attempts to punish Marwood for rejecting him by telling Monty that Marwood is an active homosexual in exchange for the cottage knowing that Monty will probably come up there and try to rape Marwood.
One or more of the characters is a Time Lord.
- Specifically, Marwood is most definitely the Doctor, or possibly the eighth Doctor's son (Given their family resemblance). This, of course, makes Withnail also a Time Lord by association.
- There was a cartoon Doctor Who Expanded Universe thing in which Richard E. Grant played the Doctor, with a personality not altogether unlike Withnail's. Also note Withnail's "synous nicotine based" technobabble. He must be a Time Lord too.
- The Eighth Doctor had a tendency, in any part of the canon, to get amnesiac at the slightest provocation. This could be one of his many periods of amnesia, or even possibly a section of his life during his 100 year exile on Earth in the EDA novels. He demonstrates a slightly Doctor-ish personality as well: he uses very poetic description during his narration, he has a panic attack over being confined by normality, he's the sensible one throughout most of the film, he shows something of a pacifism with regards to the chicken, and, considering the ED As and their loose grasp on canon and continuity, the leather jacket he's carrying about could very well be Fitz's.
- They're actually all the Doctor. The film is taking place in the head of the Eighth Doctor as he lies dying and preparing to regenerate. He meets a possible next incarnation (Grant) and is also attacked by an alternate version of himself (Griffiths was rumoured to be the planned Eighth Doctor if the original BBC series had continued) trying to become real by 'having' him. Not wanting either alternative, he shaves his head, puts on a leather jacket and heads off to Manchester to become Christopher Eccleston, but instead ends up in Derbyshire and becomes John Hurt.
- Also, the actor who plays the owner of the tearoom had previously played the Lord President of the Time Lords! (That's him in the page image for the story.)
- Alternatively, the film depicts the Great Intelligence's attempt to kill the Eighth Doctor with alcohol poisoning.
- Well, obviously. Here's how this plays out.
Marwood is an Unreliable Narrator and the reason there are so few women in the film.
- Marwood is quite possibly gay. Note how snuggly he is with Withnail, how Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today? he gets pretty much all the time, and his impressive shabby chic fashion sense. And he's The Narrator and the eponymous "I", so it's fair to say the film is from his perspective. Perhaps he is gay more or less to the point of being a He-Man Woman Hater, or at least women just don't appear on his radar. Since he's in denial about being gay, he's not getting laid, which combines with him being young and attracted to his roommate to make him enormously sexually frustrated, so he therefore doesn't notice women. The only women who have a speaking role are the schoolgirls at whom Withnail directs a drive-by slut-shaming; Withnail, who is very important to Marwood, is capable of putting women on Marwood's radar by interacting with them.
- Another reason for the lack of women is the title character's "acute deprivation". Let's not forget that these two (as well as their real life counterparts) used to take bottles to off-license and use that money to get new booze. They were broke and couldn't afford having girlfriends, according to the author's own words.
Withnail is immortal.
There are a few reasons for this: on the commentary, Paul McGann comments that he looks as though he's been there "forever' in one of the early scenes in the flat, in regards to how well he fits with the setting, his almost suicidal alcohol consumption (he drinks lighter fluid and lives, for God's sake!), his bitterness about the state of his career, his gaunt, almost vampiric appearance, his slightly anachronistic clothing, his desperation for Marwood not to leave (which could be interpreted as wanting to keep at least one constant in his life), his arrogant disdain for everyone and everything (he's always the oldest person in the room)...