We’re about to reach the end of David Tennant’s brief but welcome return run as the Fourteenth Doctor. So, it’s time to start anticipating which villains the new Doctor, Ncuti Gatwa, will be facing in his upcoming run. Returning showrunner Russell T. Davies has already confirmed that the Fifteenth Doctor won’t be facing off against Daleks or Cybermen. At least not in his first season, anyway. Davies says both of the Doctor’s classic enemies need a “good pause.” As a long-time Whovian, I’d probably add the Master to that pause list as well, as excited as I’d be to see either Michelle Gomez or Sacha Dhawan, or, bless my hearts, both come back. 

Ncuti’s debut season will introduce new enemies. I’m always stoked for new and interesting villains. However, there are Doctor Who villains, fiends, foes, and frenemies from the show’s past and other mediums who can make a long-awaited return or a first-time debut onscreen. “The Star Beast” did excellent work of adapting a classic Doctor Who comic story and the Celestial Toymaker is coming back for the first time in decades in the final anniversary special, so digging into the past seems like a good move. Here are a few baddies we’d love to see face off against Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor in the near future.

The Rutans

One of the major bits of Doctor Who lore focuses on the Sontarans, a stout race of alien clones at constant war with their sworn enemies, the Rutans. We’ve seen the Sontarans make frequent returns to Doctor Who since their first appearance in 1973’s “The Time Warrior.” But the only time we’d ever seen a Rutan on TV was in 1977’s “The Horror of Fang Rock.” The Sontarans might not like to hear me say this, but it’s time for some more Rutans!

The Aggedor of Peladon

The Third Doctor serial “The Monster of Peladon” (1974) is one of the rare times we see the Doctor return to a planet to discover how its culture is progressing. (It takes place 50 years (in the series time, not ours) after the 1972 story “The Curse of Peladon.”) While the Aggedor wasn’t ultimately an antagonist, its role in the superstitions and reverence to the culture of Peladon would make a fun story. The show can revisit in perhaps another generation or two after we last saw them onscreen.

The Selachians

The Selachians are a frequent Big Finish audio antagonist. They are alien sharks who have been awkwardly shoved into big bulky battle-mech suits. They can roam outside the ocean and conquer the universe. I don’t know what else I have to say to convince you this would make an amazing monster to see on TV? You can call the episode “Shark Week.” Please make this Doctor Who villain come to life.

The Ravenous

We see a lot of the Doctor protecting others from their enemies, and we see the Master toy with the Doctor. But we rarely get a monster that exists as a direct threat to the Doctor. The Ravenous are Big Finish monsters and a total trigger warning for those with clown phobias. These killers are from a world inside the time vortex devour the regeneration energy of Time Lords. Given how few Time Lords are left in the universe after the Time War, the Ravenous hunting down Ncuti’s Doctor to feed on his energy could be a delightfully intense story.

Nobody No-One

Look, I like when Doctor Who gets weird. And you can’t get much weirder than this Big Finish foe who comes from an alternate universe where Word Lords exist instead of Time Lords. A being who travels in a CORDIS (Conveyance of Repeating Dialogue in Space-Time) and can manifest the spoken word into great power for himself is wild. Nobody No-One would make a great TV antagonist in this era of grand CGI budgets, and an excellent foe for a character whose primary trait is running his mouth. 

Gangers

One of the biggest themes of Doctor Who is having empathy and understanding the plight of others. But a lot of the villains we run into are fairly black and white as far as being “bad.” The Gangers, introduced in the Eleventh Doctor two-parter “The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People,” were synthetic avatars of humans created to do dangerous tasks. They gained sentience and then resisted the painful deaths they were often subjected to when seen as disposable.

When the Doctor left them, Gangers were starting to push for rights in society, but the episode did reveal that the technology for making them still existed centuries later in the future. Revisiting the Gangers at a later time when their ongoing fight for autonomy is still a struggle would be a great opportunity to show another antagonist with a morality that has to be addressed.

Raxacoricofallapatorians

This one is a stretch, but hear me out. The Slitheen, a family of criminals from the planet Raxacoricofallapatorious (good luck, spell check!), appeared in three episodes of Christopher Eccleston’s first and only season in 2005. They were also in the spin-off series The Sarah Jane Adventures. They’re also one of the most quickly mocked aliens in Doctor Who, with good reason. They’re a fart joke… and not a particularly good one.

But they’re also a weird relic of the last time the show was brand new again and struggling to find its voice, tone, and footing. And when Davies brought one back for “Boom Town” towards the end of that season, he still managed to do it in a way that made even these cringey characters interesting and layered. I would love to see him tackle this alien again with his contemporary sensibilities. Perhaps he can take this past punchline and turn it into something amazing.

Other Time Lords

The Master and the Doctor are fun and all, but there are a whole host of antagonistic Time Lords from Doctor Who’s history that could make a welcome appearance. While they’ve shown up in comics and audio dramas, sometimes the continuity for them gets murky and could serve to be solidified a bit more by the TV show. The First and Second Doctor’s time lord antagonists the Monk and the War Chief would be a welcome sight, as well as The Rani who vexed the Sixth and Seventh. 

Big Finish audios feature an interesting take on a Time Lord antagonist with the Renegade, also known as “The Eleven.” This character suffers from a regenerative dissonance. This means all of their previous regenerations still exist as separate, active identities within their mind. Basically, imagine a multi-Doctor episode played by one actor.

And let’s not forget Rassilon himself, who has appeared twice since 2005 played by Timothy Dalton and Donald Sumpter. Even if Gallifrey is still a smoldering ruin, Sumpter’s Rassilon was exiled by the Doctor and could still be out roaming the universe. And maybe he is still a bit annoyed by it all.

There are lots of favorite monsters from the 60 years of this show that would be a welcome sight, will we see any of them, or will a new cadre of baddies make us hide behind the couch? Only time will tell.

The post DOCTOR WHO Villains We’d Love to See the Fifteenth Doctor Face appeared first on Nerdist.

Doctor Who is back, y’all! The first of three 60th anniversary specials, “The Star Beast,” kicked off a set of adventures with Fourteen and Donna Noble. We had the pleasure of meeting Doctor Who comic and audio characters Beep the Meep and the Wrarth Warriors. And, here at Nerdist, we also had the fun challenge of searching for Doctor Who Easter eggs, callbacks, and references to previous events in this episode. While some are expressly pointed out, others are not quite so obvious. Let’s take a look at what we have spotted so far.

Jump to: “The Star Beast” // “Wild Blue Yonder”

Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Special “The Star Beast” Easter Eggs and References

Once Upon a Time Lord 

“The Star Beast” starts with the Doctor and Donna Noble addressing us directly. The Doctor begins his story about traveling with Donna, saying “once upon a Time Lord.” It’s more than just a clever phrase. It is the name of a recent Doctor Who graphic novel by writer Dan Slott and artist Christopher Jones starring the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones. In this story, the Pyromeths capture Martha. She distracts them by telling epic tales of the Tenth Doctor facing off against foes like the Daleks, Cybermen, Ice Warriors, and more. 

The Tenth Doctor and Donna Noble’s Greatest Hits, Recapped

At this point, Donna can’t recall her travels with the Doctor. And, to be honest, some fans have forgotten them too. It has been 15 years, after all. (We can help you with remembering Donna’s ending.) Thankfully, Doctor Who uses her opening dialogue to take us down memory lane with plenty of flashbacks. We see several images from their journey, including the Empress (a.k.a. the arachnid lady) from when they first met in 2006’s “The Runaway Bride.” 

We also get glimpses of a Sontaran from “The Sontaran Stratagem,” a skull in a spacesuit from “Silence in the Library,” the evil wasp from “The Unicorn and the Wasp,” the Pyrovile villain from “The Fires of Pompeii,” and the Adipose spaceship from “Partners in Crime.” But that’s not all! We see the eye of a Dalek from “The Stolen Earth/Journey’s End” and the planet Midnight from the episode of the same name. And of course we see a glimpse of the metacrisis event that led to the Tenth Doctor’s controversial decision to wipe Donna’s mind.

CyberDog 

The Doctor lands in the Camden Town section of London and begins to wander the streets. We see a place called CyberDog in the background. It doesn’t draw the attention of the Doctor but some fans would assume its an in-universe reference to the Cybermen. In actuality, CyberDog is a real clothing store in that area. As far as Easter eggs go, there’s a Doctor Who short story involving this store called “Dummy Massacre.” In it, a blogger was inside CyberDog in March 2005 when the Autons attacked. This is the same event we witnessed through Rose and the Ninth Doctor in “Rose.” The mysterious blogger took over the conspiracy theory website, Who Is Doctor Who?, from Clive Davis (RIP) and wrote about his harrowing experience.

Every Era Begins with a Rose… Sort Of

Rose Noble’s name is an obvious nod to Rose Tyler, the first companion of the modern era. We learn a lot about Rose in this episode, including why she chose that name and her connection to the Doctor. But, there’s more to this reference. We now have three different eras of Doctor Who: classic, modern, and the new Russell T Davies era that we are calling Bad Wolf for now. And each of those eras begin with a Rose… sort of.

The show’s first companion went by Susan Foreman; however, her real first name is apparently Arkytior, which means Rose in Gallifreyan. This is established in the 1994 Doctor Who short story “Roses.” (No, it did not inspire Rose Tyler’s name. Davies got that from his TV drama Bob & Rose.) Is it totally canon? Not really, considering it hasn’t come up on the show yet. But it’s fun anyway. Now, Rose Noble is ushering in yet another chapter in Doctor Who’s story. 

Donna Noble’s Theme Rises

As Donna and Rose leave the Doctor at the Camden Market, we can hear Donna’s theme music in the background. Remember when companions each had their own theme songs? It was truly an iconic time in Doctor Who history. 

Allons-y!

It’s been a long time since we’ve heard that catchphrase. The Doctor says it to Donna’s husband Shaun Temple as they prepare to drive off towards the spaceship crash landing site. 

Who the Hell Is Nerys?

While in the car with Shaun, the Doctor says he’s a friend of Donna’s old frenemy Nerys. We met her during “The Runaway Bride” as the jealous friend who tried to make a move on Donna’s then-fiancé Lance. We never learn a lot about her, but Donna and Nerys remained friends despite Nerys being shady. She is in attendance at Donna’s wedding to Shaun, which we witness from afar. But apparently things have gone south with their relationship. Later in “The Star Beast,” Donna calls Nerys a viper who can’t keep her mouth shut. We never see her in this episode, but we get the feeling she’s still lurking in the grass nearby. 

Donna and That Lottery Money

Despite Donna having her memories wiped by the Doctor, she ultimately ended up with a great life. In “The End of Time Part 2,” the Doctor left the Noble family a huge lottery ticket and she married the love of her life. However, we discover that Donna gave away all of her money because she was under the veil of memory suppression. Therefore, the “Doctory” parts of her pushed her to want to help the world versus helping herself. We appreciate the goodwill but girl, that was millions of pounds. 

Additional Doctor Who Easter egg: Shaun mentions that the ticket was a “triple rollover,” which references what Donna notes about the ticket when she receives it.

UNIT’s First Scientific Advisor 

During his investigation of the “crash” (technically landing) site, the Doctor encounters Shirley Anne Bingham. She certainly recognizes this version of him, even though he cleverly recalls when he was wearing a bowtie and, later on, a woman. The most interesting part of this is the Doctor saying he was UNIT’s first scientific advisor. This is a reference to the early days of the Third Doctor era when got into trouble with the Time Lords. They disabled his TARDIS and left him stuck on Earth. He took a job with UNIT and begrudgingly became their scientific advisor. 

Shirley Anne Honors Shirley Coward

Speaking of the fantastic Shirley Anne, her name itself is a fun Doctor Who Easter egg. It’s a nod to Shirley Coward, a vision mixer on the show during its first lead actor transition. The term/concept of regeneration wasn’t used on the show quite yet, but that’s exactly what happened when William Hartnell passed the torch to Second Doctor actor Patrick Troughton. Shirley expertly laid shots of both actors on top of each other and created a distortion effect that made this transition seamless, eerie, and iconic.

Beep the Meep and the Wrarth Warriors

This episode’s monsters and big villain both come from ‘80s era Doctor Who comics. If you’d like to read up more on their history, check out this post. Basically, the show closely sticks to their origin story, honoring a part of Who that some fans didn’t know about until now. 

The Shadow Proclamation Is Still Alive and Well, We Guess

Fourteen is completely over the shenanigans between Beep and the Wrarth Warriors. So he brings them together in a dingy garage, invoking a few sections of the Shadow Proclamation to stop the ongoing violence. He particularly calls out section 15, which Rose Tyler clumsily (and incorrectly) used in “The Christmas Invasion.” She was trying to take on the role of the Doctor while Ten was recovering from regeneration, but her words did not scare the Sycorax. Gotta love a fun Doctor Who callback, right? This rule means that murder is not a rule of war. And what does Beep do shortly after? Murder. 

Binary. Binary. Binary. 

With Donna’s permission, the Doctor unravels the failsafe and Donna regains her memories. She begins to say “binary” repeatedly, which was what she previously said when the Time Lord knowledge began to overwhelm her brain and cause her to stutter. 

Rose Noble’s Workshed and Villain Creatures

We discover that the metacrisis split itself between Donna and her daughter Rose. It was housed within Rose’s DNA all along. This explains why Rose chose her name along with the specific types of furry toys she made. The teen’s workshop shed door resembles the door of the TARDIS. And each of her creatures loosely resemble monsters that Ten and Donna encountered in the past. We see a stuffed Dalek, Judoon, Adipose, Cyberman, and Ood. There is a furry, brown doglike creature that could represent Cybershade, which were animal-like versions of Cybermen. Interestingly, the latter creature is from a Doctor-only story, “The Next Doctor.” Rose is basically a walking Doctor Who Easter egg and we love her.

Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Special “Wild Blue Yonder” Easter Eggs and References

The Doctor Meets Isaac Newton… Again 

At the beginning of “Wild Blue Yonder,” the TARDIS materializes and spins into an apple tree. It just so happens to be the tree that Isaac Newton is sitting under. No, he does not have the title “Sir” quite yet. The Doctor and Donna humorously introduces him to the word gravity, which he mishears as “mavity.” This interaction changes the future and we hear Fourteen and Donna use the word mavity instead. 

But this isn’t the first time that the Doctor has encountered Mr. Newton. In “The Pirate Planet,” the Fourth Doctor claimed that he dropped apples on Newton’s head and later explained gravity to him. 

The TARDIS Plays Wild Blue Yonder 

As the TARDIS arrives on that ill-fated spaceship, it plays a song called “Wild Blue Yonder.” This inspiration for the episode’s title is the colloquial title for the US Air Force’s theme song. As Donna notes in the episode, the song is actually a war cry, which means something wicked is coming their way. It’s a strange choice for a spaceship shaped like a British police box but the TARDIS is blue. 

HADS Saves the TARDIS

The Fourteenth Doctor explains why the TARDIS made a quick exit with his sonic screwdriver. He references the ship’s defense mechanism, known as the Hostile Action Displacement System (HADS). It is not the first time the series has referred to this system. HADS has been around since the Second Doctor’s era, although it didn’t use that specific name. In “The Krotons” the TARDIS exterior was under attack, so it dematerialized and rematerialized in a different (but nearby) location to remain safe. 

The HADS comes into play in “The Cold War” when the Eleventh Doctor enables it so the TARDIS can leave safely. It is supposed to land in a good spot at the North Pole but it goes to the South Pole instead. The Twelfth Doctor story “The Magician’s Apprentice” includes HADS activating to fool the Daleks into thinking the TARDIS was destroyed. Twelve rematerializes the ship with his sleek sonic shades. Interestingly, he calls it the Hostile Action Dispersal System, which is pretty much the same thing. 

The Fourteenth Doctor deactivated HADS after apparently getting stuck in orbit for three years. But Donna’s coffee spill and the Doctor’s fix activated the system once again. It is both useful and a pain in the butt, basically.

Licking Random Things to Discover the Truth

The Doctor tastes some weird goo to discover what it could be. This is very similar to how the Tenth Doctor tasted the pool of liquid (that was actually) blood in “The Christmas Invasion.”

Venom and Mass

After being chased by the not-thing versions of themselves, the Doctor and Donna try to figure out what’s going on. When they begin talking about the entities impossible mass, Donna makes a reference to how her husband complained about Venom getting much bigger than his human counterpart. He would wonder where the extra mass was coming from, which is a legit question. Of course, this refers to Tom Hardy’s Venom films.

The Flux Events Are Bothering the Doctor

Russell T Davies previously said that he would not change events of the past despite setting up his new era. He stood on this in “Wild Blue Yonder,” by referencing the events of the Flux. (Ahh the destruction of half the universe.) The (not real) Donna said she saw what happened in the Doctor’s last few years. And this is all the very recent past. Fourteen gets visibly upset by all of this, even punching a wall and screaming in frustration. The Doctor often runs forward and doesn’t look back too much, so it is interesting to see this character reconciling with the past. It’s not clear how the Flux could factor into the Fourteenth Doctor’s last foray nor if it will affect Fifteen in any way.

Salt Blocks Demons and Evil Entities 

The Doctor wasn’t just biding his time and trying to be funny when he said salt blocks demons, vamps, and other entities. Salt has been used to ward off evil spirits and negativity in many different religious practices for thousands of years. The episode suggests that it is all talk but many people swear by it. 

We Meet Again, Wilf

After 15 years, we finally see the Doctor and Wilf come together again. Wilf never gave up hope that he (and maybe Donna) would see the Doctor again. Why was Wilf randomly at that market by himself? Who knows. But the world is in complete disarray and Wilf is now in the TARDIS. Sadly, this is Bernard Cribbins last time on the show. He died in 2022 at the age of 93.

We can’t wait to see what other Doctor Who Easter eggs, references, and callbacks will come up in the next two specials. Happy 60th Anniversary to the greatest sci-fi series of all-time.

Originally published on November 25, 2023.

The post All the DOCTOR WHO 60th Anniversary Special Easter Eggs, Callbacks, and References appeared first on Nerdist.

Sixty years after its TV debut, Doctor Who is still going strong and heading into yet another era. The show’s Christmas 2023 special will be the first adventure for Ncuti Gatwa, who will portray the Fifteenth Doctor. Then, he will take over the TARDIS with Russell T Davies leading the way once again as a showrunner in the near future.  This era doesn’t have an official name yet—we are calling it the Bad Wolf era for now—but Davies is setting it apart from the modern era’s 13 seasons by dubbing it season one. (It will not reboot nor ignore previous events.) What can we expect from this fresh slate of stories across time and space? Here’s what we know about Doctor Who season one, which is not season 14 after all.

Doctor Who Season One’s Plot 

Doctor Who always teeters between a season-long arc and weekly adventures. Who knows what will happen in Ncuti Gatwa’s first season as the Doctor?! We know there will be lots of villains, time-traveling, and tough decisions made by The Doctor. This season will have eight episodes and, for now, the titles are unknown. Right now, the main focus is on the 60th anniversary specials with Fourteen and Donna Noble. 

We do know that the Christmas special—which technically counts as a part of season one—is called “The Church on Ruby Road.” And we do have some new information about it! Here’s what Doctor Who‘s website had to say:

The episode sees the Doctor come face-to-face with the mythical and mysterious goblins as his life collides with Ruby Sunday, played by Millie Gibson.

Little is known about Ruby Sunday as she was abandoned on Christmas Eve as a baby. Now living with her mum, Carla and grandmother, Cherry her world is about to be turned upside when she encounters the Doctor and the two set off on their first adventure together…

Davies himself said in an SFX interview that this special will reset the series, which isn’t shocking. “It’s completely a reinvention. Reinvention of the show, brand new, but not a reboot, it’s the same old show, everything starts again, everything’s seen through the eyes of Ruby Sunday and it’s that lovely feeling of here we go, a new era beginning,” said Davies. We wonder what new territory the show will traverse.

It seems that the show is in its cute villain era. We just got Beep the (Homicidal) Meep and now we are getting a goblin creature. Check out his photo along with a few others from the episode.

Click To View Gallery

We haven’t see substantial footage yet but we should be getting it soon.

Behind the Scenes

As previously stated, Russell T Davies is back as the showrunner for Doctor Who. The list of directors include Dylan Holmes Williams, Mark Tonderai, Julie Anne Robinson, Ben Chessell, and Jamie Donoghue. Composer Murray Gold also returns to the show as a composer. Bad Wolf Studios (named after the Rose/Nine story arc) is now a co-producer of the series. Doctor Who season one wrapped filming in July 2023 and is already working on season two.

Doctor Who Season One’s Cast 

Millie Gibson will co-star alongside Gatwa’s Doctor as Ruby Sunday. It will be exciting to see their relationship unfold because they make quite the stylish pair. The Christmas special cast includes Davina McCall, a popular British TV personality who will be playing herself. Michelle Greenidge will play Ruby’s mother Carla, Angela Wynter is Ruby’s grandmother Cherry, and Anita Dobson portrays Mrs. Flood.

Now, for the remainder of the season. Bonnie Langford will reprise her role as Sixth/Seventh Doctor companion Mel Bush and Jemma Redgrave is coming back as UNIT boss Kate Stewart. There are quite a few new faces coming to Doctor Who, including Lenny Rush as Morris, Aneurin Barnard as Roger ap Gwilliam, and Indira Varma as the Duchess. Jonathan Groff and Jinx Monsoon are also joining the cast in roles that have yet to be fully defined. Monsoon will portray “the Doctor’s most powerful enemy yet,” while Groff will appear in a historical episode. 

Doctor Who Season One’s Release Date

Doctor Who season one will hit BBC and Disney+ sometime in 2024. The Christmas special will air on Christmas Day 2023.

Originally published November 28, 2023.

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Doctor Who’s new era is giving us a lot of awesome changes. We are getting yet another clean slate with Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor and Millie Gibson’s Ruby Sunday, a new companion. And, of course, there’s a new (but not new!) showrunner taking the reins for this next chapter. Fans are already loving Russell T Davies’ return as the leader of this classic sci-fi series. Future episodes will also be available on Disney+ for US fans to enjoy. With all of these changes, it is not surprising that Doctor Who is delivering a new opening title sequence as well as a fresh upgrade to the interior of the TARDIS.

The first of three Doctor Who 60th-anniversary specials revealed these fun updates to the TARDIS and more. First, let’s talk about that new Doctor Who opening sequence. The time vortex looks like a colorful and daring realm of its own as the TARDIS sweeps through it in dramatic fashion. We hear the familiar theme song with yet another twist, thanks to the genius of composer Murray Gold. It’s a vibrant homage to opening title sequences from Doctor Who’s past, indeed. 

If this wasn’t enough to make you squee with delight, then surely you jumped for joy when the Fourteenth Doctor and Donna entered the TARDIS. A new Doctor typically results in a new TARDIS interior on Doctor Who, and this one doesn’t disappoint. It still has the tenets of a typical console room, complete with lots of round lights. At first, it seemed a bit too bright and lacking excitement. But, after watching David Tennant run around its ramps like a kid on Christmas, we got to see this TARDIS interior come to life with some beautiful colors. It looks like a proper spaceship with its otherworldly aura. Check out all the photos of the upgrade below.

Click To View Gallery

It remains to be seen if Ncuti’s Doctor will keep this new TARDIS interior or not. I’d personally love for this design to stick around for more than three episodes. But perhaps the creative minds behind Doctor Who have something even more splendid in store for Fifteen’s TARDIS. It does seem likely that Doctor Who will keep the new opening sequence for a while. There could be a slight variation in the theme song to differentiate between Doctors, but outside of that change, this title sequence is probably tied to this new “Bad Wolf” era. Doctor Who is back on TV, and we appreciate all of its wonderful gifts. 

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Doctor Who is celebrating 60 years of time and space adventures in style with a slate of anniversary specials with David Tennant’s Fourteenth Doctor and Donna Noble. The pair reunited in “The Star Beast,” as the Doctor went up against a very furry antagonist being chased by scary looking bug-like creatures. The adorable yet angry Beep the Meep and the Wrarth Warriors are brand new to many fans of the TV show. However, these characters are far from new to the overall Doctor Who universe. Here’s what you should know about the Big Finish and Doctor Who comics history of Beep the Meep and the Wrarth Warriors and how they appear in “The Star Beast.” 

The Doctor Who Comics and Big Finish Audios History of Beep the Meep and the Wrarth Warriors

Beep the Meep made his debut in the black-and-white comic story Doctor Who and the Star Beast (1980), written by Pat Mills and John Wagner with illustrations by Dave Gibbons. In the comics, Beep the Meep is big, furry, and white, much like the character appears in the TV show. Beep is the leader of the Meeps, a peaceful race who lived joyfully until their planet orbited near a Black Sun. The rays mutated them, making them an angry collective hellbent on conquering other planets. The Meeps were stopped by the Wrarth Warriors, a group of genetically engineered law enforcers with red eyes and a detachable claw for their left arm. The Star Council designed them specifically to deal with the Meeps, which they mostly succeeded at. However, Beep managed to escape death.

Beep’s ship crash landed into Earth, specifically the city of Blackcastle. The Meep leader put on a sweet front and befriended two kids named Sharon and Fudge. The innocent duo gave Beep shelter and the Fourth Doctor soon came along to help the fuzzy creature out. However, Beep the Meep’s true nature came to light. The Doctor teamed up with the Wrarth Warriors to defeat him. Following this story, Sharon became the Fourth Doctor’s next comic companion. 

Beep the Meep later made a brief cameo in Doctor Who Magazine #173’s Party Animals in 1991. This time, he appeared at a party that the Seventh Doctor and Ace attended. Here, Beep was colorized as a blue creature with yellow eyes. But we don’t see more action from him until 1996’s The Star Beast II. In that story, he got out on parole and wanted sadistic revenge. Once again, the Fourth Doctor got the upper hand, using black star energy to trap Beep inside For the Love of Lassie, a kids’ movie.

The most hilarious Beep the Meep comic appearance is Doctor Who Magazine #283’s TV Action! (1999). Beep tried to take over BBC’s TV hub to turn everyone in the UK evil, until the actor Tom Baker distracted him from his evil plan. You see, Beep the Meep thought Tom Baker was the Fourth Doctor (can’t imagine why…) and focused on destroying his longtime nemesis. The Eighth Doctor and Izzy came together to defeat Beep. 

Beep the Meep made the leap to audio stories with Big Finish’s The Ratings War, which was a CD that came with Doctor Who Magazine #313 (2002). Toby Longworth gave Beep the Meep a voice as the character faced the Sixth Doctor. Again, Beep tried to use TV to control the masses but he did not succeed. Once again, Beep ended up back in the hands of the Wrarth Warriors. In March 2019, Beep the Meep was in a Big Finish audio adaptation of Doctor Who and the Star Beast, with Bethan Dixon Bate providing the leader’s voice.

For the most part, the Wrarth Warriors only made comic and audio appearances to stop Beep the Meep. However, the Wrarth Warriors do briefly face the Slitheen family in the Russell T Davies’ story “Raxacoricofallapatorius,” which was in the book Monsters and Villains. In this adventure, they are still star police who deal with the Slitheen family’s illegal deeds. 

Beep the Meep and the Wrarth Warriors in Doctor Who’s 60th Anniversary Special Episode “The Star Beast” 

In the episode, Rose Noble, the Doctor, and pretty much everyone else in London except Donna Noble see a spaceship that appears to crash land in London. The ship lands in a steelworks mill; however, a separate vessel ends up near the Noble family home. Rose walks in an alleyway and runs into Beep the Meep (voiced by Miriam Margolyes). Who can resist a furry white creature with big brown eyes?! Beep is undeniably cute and Rose immediately tries to befriend this new alien creature. Meanwhile, large bug-like creatures are dead set on hunting him down.

The Doctor arrives at the Noble home, with Donna’s mum Sylvia trying to prevent Donna from remembering her TARDIS travels. Beep the Meep tells them that the bug creatures, known as Wrarth Warriors, cultivated Meepkind for their fur until the galaxy said that was no longer acceptable. So the Wrarth Warriors slaughtered them and said that they will hunt down Beep. We also learn Beep has two hearts like the Doctor. 

Things predictably go awry when the Wrarth Warriors and UNIT soldiers, who are under a mind spell of sorts, get into battle. They destroy poor Donna’s home as the Doctor works to get them and Beep the Meep out alive. The Doctor soon realizes the Wrarth Warriors are perhaps not the villains after all. He brings Donna and her family along with Beep to an abandoned garage. Fourteen then summons the two main Wrarth Warriors via teleportation. 

One warrior gives them the real story. He says the Meeps’ planet once basked in the light of the living sun. One day the sun went mad and became psychedelic, its radiation mutating all of Meep-kind into cruel beasts who live for conquest. Basically they all went mad and they can transfer this psychosis through their eyes. The Meep army captured the Galactic Council, beheaded them, and ate them. So, the Wrarth Warriors were summoned to stop them. They eliminated majority of Meepkind and now Beep the Meep, the cruelest of them all and the leader, is the only one left. Beep finally reveals his true nature and kills the two Wrarth Warrior leaders. This story largely lines up with the comic origins for Beep and the Wrarth Warriors. 

Beep the Meep’s ship did not crash at all. He purposely landed on Earth to use its dagger drive to gain energy by stabbing into the ground and burning everything within a five-mile radius for fuel. Yep, that means Beep the Meep would destroy the entirety of London to give his ship some more juice. Of course, the Doctor and the DoctorDonna (!!!) come together once again to save the day. They work together in the engine control room to disable the dagger drive system and render his ship useless.

The Doctor ejects Beep out of the capsule and into the custody of the Wrarth Warriors. Beep the Meep gets 10,000 years in prison but, before he goes, he says he will tell “the Boss.” We can assume this is the Celestial Toymaker, whom the Doctor and Donna will face in the upcoming specials. For more about him, check out our explainer about his Doctor Who history. 

It’s unclear if we will see Beep the Meep or the Wrarth Warriors in the next two Doctor Who anniversary specials. We doubt it considering the Toymaker is on the way. But it was fun to see deep-cut Doctor Who comic characters come to life to celebrate the show’s enduring legacy.

The post DOCTOR WHO’s Beep the Meep and the Wrarth Warriors Comic and Big Finish Origins, Explained appeared first on Nerdist.

It’s been a long time since Donna Noble ran (and verbally sparred) with the Doctor. She’s back and honestly better than ever in “The Star Beast,” the first of three specials celebrating Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary. There have been a lot of questions about how the Doctor and Donna would link up again considering Donna’s mind would “burn” if she remembered her TARDIS life. We get answers to that question and much more. Let’s get into what happens to Donna Noble (not Temple) in Doctor Who’s anniversary special.

How Does Donna Noble Reunite with the Doctor?

Donna and the Doctor’s reunion is actually rather chill. Fourteen arrives at a market and briefly wanders around before he sees someone carrying far too many boxes. He runs over to help and takes a couple of boxes only to reveal Donna’s face. Humorously, the Doctor stacks the boxes up and attempts to run away but Donna pulls him back in. To be fair, it was a rude move on the skinny man’s part. She says the boxes belong to Rose, which initially freaks the Doctor out until he discovers Rose is her daughter. 

As if on cue, a spaceship lands and everyone sees it except a briefly distracted Donna. That lady truly misses every damn thing. She doesn’t have a clue who the Doctor is at this point and no reason to be suspicious of his presence. 

Does the DoctorDonna Show Up in Doctor Who’s Anniversary Special? 

The issue of Donna Noble having to forget the Doctor and all her time travels has been a sore point for fans for many years. The Doctor may have thought he was doing what was best for Donna but he never gave her a choice. In “The Star Beast,” Donna’s mom Sylvia and Fourteen try to keep Donna from remembering anything but it is to no avail. As the Doctor keeps showing up, Donna becomes more suspicious about why he cares for her and her family. She finds herself doing things automatically, like holding his sonic screwdriver while he mans a protective shield. It all comes to a head at the steel factory when Donna makes the choice to go help the Doctor versus running towards safety with her family. 

We are thankful she made that choice. The Doctor needed the DoctorDonna’s help with shutting down Beep the Meep’s operation. He’s resistant but Donna makes the choice to allow him to unlock her memories and resurrect the DoctorDonna. The energy is so great that it manifests in her as well as her daughter Rose, which saves her life. The trio come together to thwart Beep’s plan to use London as a fuel source. But the Doctor knows that Donna and Rose cannot keep such vast knowledge in their heads. This time, Donna and Rose call him out, saying that they know what a male-presenting Time Lord could never understand: that you can simply choose to release that power. This gives Donna the agency that she didn’t get years ago. 

What’s Up with Donna Noble’s Daughter Rose and Her Husband Shaun Temple?

In the final episodes of the Tenth Doctor’s era, we “met” her husband Shaun Temple. The Doctor never interacts with him but he does watch Donna with Shaun, including on their wedding day, from afar. Fifteen years later, Shaun Temple is still married to Donna, who hilariously didn’t take his last name because Noble Temple sounded weird together. Shaun and Donna have a daughter named Rose. At first, it seems this name is from Donna’s subconscious that still remembers Rose Tyler. And this is sort of true, except the metacrisis was passed down to Rose. Donna’s daughter is trans and chose the name Rose to better fit her identity! But she’s also a Noble, which Shaun doesn’t mind because he loves his girls. So sweet.

Rose also unknowingly made stuffed animals in the likeness of villains her mom faced with the Doctor in a shed that mimics the TARDIS. And, because she doesn’t fit neatly into a binary, she was able to embrace that Time Lord energy and make a choice to let it go. Rose once felt strange and lost but now she’s fully aware of who she is as a person. Love to see it.

Sooo, Is Donna Noble Still Rich From Her Winning Lottery Ticket?

Donna Noble is rich in love and family support but not with money. This is wild considering the Doctor gave her a winning lottery ticket so she would have a good life. But Donna, still heavily influenced by the Doctor unbeknownst to her, gave the money away to help others in the world. Outside of slick remarks by Sylvia, no one seems to blame her for her choice. The Doctor may not give her another lottery ticket but he is trying to get her a job with UNIT. Her interview will have to wait because, well, she spilled coffee on the TARDIS console and now they are in flux somewhere. Good times. 

Does Donna Noble Die in the Doctor Who Anniversary Special?

No, Donna doesn’t die in the first special. But that doesn’t mean the Doctor can keep her safe from the Celestial Toymaker. Russell T Davies does hint that things won’t be very pleasant for Donna in this round. Time will tell what ultimately happens to Donna and the Fourteenth Doctor. Our bet is that he saves her life and regenerates as a result, like he did with her grandfather Wilf years prior.

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Nerdist’s resident Doctor Who expert and superfan Kyle Anderson is putting his fandom to the test in the ultimate challenge to name every single episode title from the show’s 60 year run– from memory.

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Doctor Who fans are ready to see David Tennant return as the Fourteenth Doctor (seriously, what is going on here?!) alongside the beloved Donna Noble in the 60th anniversary specials. But there’s even more Doctor Who excitement with Ncuti Gatwa taking over as the Fifteenth Doctor in his first season. While many of us will think of it as season 14, the show is officially going into a new era. So it will be season one once again. Gatwa will make his debut when Fourteen regenerates at the end of the final anniversary special before going off on his own adventures. We already know that Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor will travel with Millie Gibson’s Ruby Sunday. But there are some guest stars that have fans hype for the next chapter of Doctor Who. 

It is not unusual for more than one Doctor to link up. Time-traveling is strange business, after all. And it seems that the latest iteration of The Doctor will meet the original in some way. In his GQ Man of the Year acceptance speech, Gatwa revealed that the Fifteenth Doctor will share a scene with the First Doctor. He doesn’t give any more specifics but we can assume this will happen sometime in the first season. While William Hartnell died nearly 50 years ago, David Bradley has been playing recent portrayals of the First Doctor. However, it seems Doctor Who will use footage of Hartnell alongside Gatwa’s Doctor. Interesting.

Lenny Rush is also joining the cast as Morris. Interestingly, Russell T Davies refers to him as a member of the TARDIS team, a phrase typically associated with companions. It is not fully clear if he will travel with the Doctor for more than an adventure or two versus being a full-time companion like Ruby Sunday. Perhaps he will be more like a Mickey Smith who hangs around for a bit and then decides to do other things. Either way, we are excited to see him!

Doctor Who season 1 (still gotta get used to that) will also bring Bonnie Langford back as Mel Bush. She traveled with the Sixth and Seventh Doctors before returning many years later, making a brief cameo in the Thirteenth Doctor’s final episode. Now, she will come back for a full on adventure.

There are quite a few mysterious new faces to this franchise. Drag Race’s Jinkx Monsoon will portray the Doctor’s “most powerful enemy yet.”

After taking one look at this character, we would let them take complete control of our lives. The statement about Monsoon’s character being a major baddie is very similar to what showrunner Russell T Davies said about Neil Patrick Harris’ character set to appear in the anniversary specials. Could this be the same character after a regeneration? Maybe. Or perhaps it is the Rani coming back to play again. Who knows.

Jonathan Groff will also appear in the upcoming season of Doctor Who. Most of us Americans know him best as Hamilton’s King George III. He certainly can give us a ton of humorous drama. The details about his character are unknown at this time outside of him playing a “key role” in the narrative. But we do know that it will be a historical episode based on this first look photo.

Anita Dobson and Michelle Greenridge will also appear this season as well in undisclosed roles along with Aneurin Barnard as a character named Roger ap Gwilliam. Indira Varma, who made a previous guest appearance in Torchwood, is starring as the Duchess.

We don’t know a lot about those new named characters yet, but the answers will eventually come. It seems this season of Doctor Who is going to be a campy good time based off of these guest stars. 

Another familiar face that we see again is Jemma Redgrave’s Kate Stewart. The leader of the UK’s UNIT branch and daughter of the Brigadier promises some more fun with the Fifteenth Doctor. We cannot wait to get more information about Doctor Who’s fourteenth season. Until then we will patiently wait for a trailer to really see Fifteen and Ruby in action.

Originally published on May 8, 2023.

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Ncuti Gatwa’s upcoming role as the Fifteenth Doctor on Doctor Who along with the future episodes heading to Disney+ is further expanding the show’s massive US and Canadian fanbase. There are a ton of newbies who want to understand “that blue phone box show.” The show’s modern era (2005-present) is a common entry point for newer fans. However, many want to go back to the very, very beginning, a.k.a. the Classic era (1963-1989). There are also longtime fans who 1) grew up watching Classic Who and love to see it and 2) became fans via the modern era but want to explore the Classic Doctors. Thankfully, Tubi is providing a free gateway into Classic Doctor Who, bringing all of the available episodes to its platform. 

Until now, the Classic era episodes were only available to UK and US fans via BritBox, a paid streaming service courtesy of the BBC and ITV. We can presume Classic episodes will remain there for now. But with a zillion streaming services in the universe, some people simply don’t want to pay for another one. That is totally understandable. So the Classic era episodes of Doctor Who on Tubi are a good thing, indeed. In addition to the show’s episodes, there is also Classic Doctor Who: The Animated Lost Stories, which includes animated reenactments of live-action episodes lost to time. (Many of them are from the Second Doctor’s era.) All episodes will run on a dedicated FAST channel and are available on-demand. 

Tubi will also offer a “New to Who” collection to help new fans board the TARDIS with relative ease. Now is the time to expand our recruiting efforts, Doctor Who fans. We need more people to become one of us because, well, we are an awesome collective. The Classic Doctor Who episodes are free on Tubi right now, so stream away my friends.

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Doctor Who sprinted back onto television in 2005 after a lengthy hiatus. Since then, the show has been running full steam ahead with several Doctors and companions traversing time and space for mind-blowing adventures. This year, fans will celebrate sixty years of Doctor Who with a slate of anniversary specials that end with us meeting the show’s Fifteenth Doctor. Ncuti Gatwa is set to helm the greatest sci-fi series of all-time and it is going to be a blast. Doctor Who series 14 will reset the series once again with another “clean slate,” bringing in fresh faces and familiar creatives to kick off a new era.

We’ll get our first adventure with Gatwa on Christmas Day of 2023. Doctor Who‘s holiday special will air on December 25, 2023. In the United States, it will stream on Disney+. And recently, the streamer revealed the name of Ncuti Gatwa’s first Christmas special in a release sharing its holiday line-up. Disney+ shared that the Doctor Who Holiday Special will be called “The Church on Ruby Road.” Sounds like it this festive episode will feature the Doctor’s new companion Ruby Sunday, played by Millie Gibson. We’re excited to see how the two finally get to meet.

Here’s everything we know about Doctor Who series 14 so far. 

Doctor Who Series 14’s Plot 

Doctor Who? Plot? What does that mean? I am kidding. We can only assume that this season of Doctor Who will function like the others with a mix of episodic plots, two-parters, a few ongoing threads as the TARDIS team gels together, and some sort of seasonal arc. Based on a few outfits we have seen so far, we know that the Fourteenth Doctor will travel to several time periods in the past. This season will be short, however, with just eight episode and a Christmas special. 

Behind the Scenes 

Russell T Davies is returning as Doctor Who’s showrunner and a writer in season 14. He was previously the showrunner during the show’s early revival years from 2005-2010. Mark Tonderai, who directed Rosa, will return to direct a couple of episodes, too. Other directors include Dylan Holmes Williams, Julie Anne Robinson, Ben Chessell, and Jamie Donoughue. This is the first season that the show will be produced by Bad Wolf, Ltd. Filming for the series concluded in July 2023. 

Doctor Who Series 14’s Cast 

Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson will lead the series as the Fourteenth Doctor and Ruby Sunday, respectively. And, as always with Doctor Who, there will be a lot of guest stars. Bonnie Langford will reprise her role as the Classic era companion Mel Bush. Jemma Redgrave will return as UNIT leader Kate Stewart. Drag Race star Jinx Monsoon will portray the Doctor’s “most powerful enemy yet,” Lenny Rush will play a character named Morris, Jonathan Groff will also take on a key role in the season.

India Varma (Torchwood) is taking on a new role as the Duchess. Of course, there are other actors like Anita Dobson and Michelle Greenridge are taking on undisclosed roles. Hopefully we will know more about them as the season nears. 

Doctor Who Series 14’s Release Date 

Doctor Who season 14 will hit the BBC and Disney+ sometime in 2024, following Ncuti Gatwa’s first full episode in a Christmas 2023 special which will air on Christmas Day. 

Originally published on July 20, 2023.

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In the lead-up to the Doctor Who 60th anniversary, along with a trio of David Tennant-starring specials, the BBC has announced a very cool thing for long-time fans. Tales of the TARDIS will see in-canon reunions between various classic-era Doctors and their companions. Fifth Doctor and Tegan, Sixth Doctor and Peri, and Seventh Doctor and Ace will all have scenes together again. For Doctor actors who’ve passed, companions will get back together. These include First Doctor companions Vicki and Steven and Second Doctor companions Jamie and Zoe. Third Doctor companion Jo Grant will meet up with Clyde from The Sarah Jane Adventures.

The interstitials—written by showrunner Russell T Davies and Who writers Phil Ford and Pete McTighe—will weave between episodes of classic Doctor Who to create 90-minute omnibus versions. It sounds like so much fun! But people outside of the UK, and more than that people who don’t pay for a television license fee, can’t watch them. You see, these are only available on the BBC iPlayer, the public broadcaster’s on-demand service. Only people who pay for a license fee and live in the UK can legally watch programming on this service.

In an Instagram post, Davies explained that he’s not sure when, or if, the Tales of the TARDIS episodes will ever make their way elsewhere.

This is the latest in a series of programming and distribution choices which have left many a bit confused. There, all of Doctor Who is on some BBC service. In North America, it’s a different story. So here’s a quick rundown of what episodes you can see on what service.

Brand New Doctor Who Will Be on Disney+

As we reported a year ago, starting with the three David Tennant specials, all subsequent Doctor Who episodes, and presumably specials, will stream on Disney+. This is a massive deal that will bring the show to the streamer day-and-date as it airs on BBC One in the UK. It’ll be on Disney+ everywhere else in the whole wide world (that has Disney+).

Classic Doctor Who Is Still on BritBox

BritBox, the global streamer the BBC and ITV went in on together, has been the home of classic series Doctor Who—a catalogue of nearly 700 episodes, including missing episode animation and reconstruction—since 2017. This also has a number of specials and ancillary material for your viewing pleasure. If you want to catch up on the first 26 seasons of the show, BritBox is the place to do it.

Where Is the Rest of Modern Doctor Who?

This is a little bit trickier. In the United States, Doctor Who from 2005 through 2022 is on Max. This is not the case for Canada, which has been without a streaming home of modern Doctor Who since January. The Max deal came from back in the halcyon HBO Max days when the WB-owned service wanted people to come to them for quality programming. Presumably, this is a deal that’s in place for the foreseeable future, but given how ephemeral Max programming is, we wouldn’t hold our breath that everything from the Ninth through Thirteenth Doctors will remain there forever. Where will it go after that? No idea.

That means, come November 25, you’ll need three separate streaming services to watch the whole of Doctor Who in the US. This is why I advocate for physical media, folks.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.

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When it comes to Doctor Who’s modern companions, Donna Noble (played by the remarkable Catherine Tate) remains a fan favorite with a controversial arc. She started off as a rather annoying temp from Chiswick but her platonic chemistry with the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) and sharp wit made her a beloved companion. Donna became a very important person in the universe, discovering her own power and worth while traveling in the TARDIS. However, she saw some pretty heartbreaking things and her companion arc ended on a very sad note (more on that later). Donna Noble is returning for Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary on November 25 but some people have probably forgotten what happened to her years ago in the series. 

Any Doctor Who fan who knows Donna Noble cannot forget her heartbreaking fate in Journey’s End. Thanks to her touching the Doctor’s severed hand, she gained all the knowledge of a Time Lord. The “DoctorDonna” used this to stop Davros and save many planets in the process; however, she couldn’t save herself. The Doctor’s knowledge is simply too much for a human so the Tenth Doctor made the decision to wipe her mind. As he explains, this will keep her mind from burning up and killing her. All traces of her time with him left her memory in an instant. That scene is still a highly emotional and controversial moment among Doctor Who fans. 

But some fans may have forgotten Donna’s brief return in “The End of Time” in 2009. (It was approx. 2010 on Earth, considering Rose Tyler’s year away from home threw off the timeline a bit.) The Tenth Doctor Christmas special is his epic swansong that loops her back into the mix. The Master returns and tries to make every human a copy of him to take over the world. But Donna isn’t affected because her DNA is no longer the same. However, her memories began to seep through and are nearly restored. Thankfully, the Doctor installed a fail-safe to prevent this from happening. She even generates a pulse that helps to defeat some of the Master’s nearby clones as well as herself.

Towards the end of the episode, the Doctor saves her grandfather Wilfred, which triggers his regeneration. He holds off and sees Donna one last time as we see her marrying Shaun Temple. The Doctor also left her a winning lottery ticket to ensure her financial future. So that’s what happened to Donna Noble in Doctor Who. As we moved on with a new Doctor and showrunner, those previous companions like Donna, Martha, and Rose went off to live their lives… until now. Rose is still on parallel Earth and Martha could still be a freelance alien hunter. We will never know. But we are getting a glimpse into Donna’s life once again.

We now know that Donna is still married with a daughter, Rose Noble. Besides her child’s name, which is an obvious homage to Rose Tyler, Donna’s mind still has remnants of her TARDIS traveling days. In the anniversary specials trailer, she admits to her mom that she feels like something special is missing from her life. How will the Doctor keep her from remembering him and dying? Is she still wealthy? What is Donna Noble currently doing with her life? We will get those answers and more soon when “The Star Beast” hits Disney+ on November 25.

Originally published on August 30, 2023.

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It’s the most wonderful time of the year. No, we don’t mean the ‘Ber months and all their fall/holiday glory, even though they are absolutely awesome. We mean the triumphant return of Doctor Who for its 60th anniversary with a three-part special. Can you believe it’s been 10 years since we saw the Tenth and Eleventh Doctor join forces for an epic adventure?! Well, David Tennant is returning to Doctor Who, but he’s going to be the Fourteenth Doctor instead. We are still confused but very intrigued, especially because we are catching up with Donna Noble. It has been a long time since we last left her in the Whoniverse. The trailer for Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary is action-packed, gorgeous, and complete fan service in the best way with a nod to the past, thanks to Neil Patrick Harris’ Toymaker. We can’t wait until the first special hits on November 25!

Donna reveals to her mum that she feels like there’s something missing from her life in this Doctor Who trailer. That’s the understatement of the year. It’s clear that those suppressed memories of The Doctor and the TARDIS are still threatening to surface years later. Also, a spaceship crashing right in front of her eyes doesn’t help. Donna is not the only person dealing with some memories. The Doctor has a memory that is back and has something to do with a weird villain called the Toymaker. It looks like these Doctor Who specials will be unlike anything we’ve seen from the franchise so far.

Who Is Neil Patrick Harris’ Doctor Who Villain, the Toymaker?

Until this trailer, we weren’t sure about how Neil Patrick Harris’ character would play into the Doctor Who anniversary specials. His character is a classic Doctor Who villain called the Celestial Toymaker, who appeared in a First Doctor serial 57 years ago.

The 1966 serial, aptly titled “The Celestial Toymaker,” is mostly lost to time, with only stills and fragments of it existing. But the story involves the Toymaker forcing the Doctor’s companions to play childish yet deadly games. He would trap victims in a little universe called the Celestial Toyroom and manipulate them. Losing was a bad thing because, well, you’d become his plaything forever. The Doctor wins the game, and the Toymaker’s world is destroyed. Or so we thought.

How Will the Toymaker Play Into Doctor Who‘s 60th Anniversary? Will Donna Noble Die?

In the 60th anniversary specials, the Toymaker and his accomplices are no longer in that pocket universe. They are on Earth and threatening to do something so bad that the TARDIS itself has run away. But if there’s one being in the universe you cannot scare, it is the mighty Donna Noble. She’s not only fighting for the world but for the safety of her daughter Rose Noble, played by Yasmin Finney. The Doctor admits that he may not be able to save Donna this time. So there’s a chance that Donna Noble could die in Doctor Who‘s anniversary specials.

Let me tell you something, reader. If this show harms a hair on Donna or Rose Noble’s head, I will never forgive them for it. NEVER. The Doctor Who 60th-anniversary trailer ends as it should: with a closeup of Ncuti Gatwa’s gorgeous face. The Fifteenth Doctor is going to be awesome, indeed.

When Will the Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Specials Air?

The Doctor Who anniversary specials will start to air on November 25 on the BBC for those in the UK and Ireland and Disney+ for other countries, including the US. The first special, “The Star Beast,” will debut on that date followed by “Wild Blue Yonder” on December 2 and “The Giggle” on December 9.

Ncuti Gatwa will take over for a holiday special with his full season arriving in 2024.

Originally published on September 25, 2023.

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Sixty years of time and space travel, 15 Doctors (plus a few more), and hundreds of episodes have all led to this. The culmination of everything Doctor Who has been about since 1963. I only slightly jest, but it is pretty rad that fans of perennial deck building game Magic: The Gathering can now enjoy it in terms of their favorite sci-fi show (probably). As part of MTG‘s Universes Beyond imprint, which also recently announced Jurassic Park Magic cards, the various Time Lord incarnations, and their companions and villains are now playable cards. These Doctor Who Magic cards look pretty damn gorgeous, have to say.

Available for preorder October 13, Magic: The Gathering‘s Doctor Who line will have four separate, 100-card decks. Each will have 50 unique cards with brand new original Who artwork. The Blast from the Past Magic card set will feature all of the classic series Doctors and companions. Timey Wimey will have Doctors Nine, Ten, and Eleven. Meanwhile, the Paradox Power Doctor Who Magic card set will have the Twelfth and Thirteenth Doctors. And Masters of Evil will, of course, have all the baddies you could hope for. As part of WeeklyMTG on YouTube, the Magic team revealed a number of new Doctor Who cards and their abilities. Check out some of them in our gallery below, and watch the whole livestream on their channel.

Click To View Gallery

I’m not a Magic: The Gathering player personally, but I definitely am a Doctor Who fan. These cards are absolutely gorgeous, and I might just have to pick some up just to have them. Plus, it’s beyond awesome that the game calls the Doctors “Legendary Creatures.” Too right, MTG. Too right.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.

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Doctor Who is returning to our screens soon to celebrate sixty years of time and space adventures. We already know quite a few things about the show’s anniversary specials, including the return of Donna Noble and a Fourteenth Doctor who looks a lot like the Tenth Doctor. But one element of speculation swirled around Yasmin Finney’s character named Rose. There is some weird timey-wimey stuff happening here, so some people thought she could be an alternate version of former companion Rose Tyler. Others speculated that this Rose had a connection to Donna. Well, Doctor Who confirmed that Yasmin Finney’s Rose is the daughter of companion Donna Noble.

The show’s official Twitter (now known as X, sadly) page put speculation to rest in a Happy Birthday tweet for Yasmin Finney. The revelation of her as Rose Noble makes a lot of sense to explore in Doctor Who. We know that Donna got married to Shaun Temple and gained financial security, thanks to a lotto ticket left by the Doctor. So it is not shocking that she has a daughter who appears to be a teenager now. We still aren’t sure how Donna nor Rose will come into play in Doctor Who’s anniversary specials.

But we hope that their story will end happily, especially since we know the series will move on to Ncuti’s Fifteenth Doctor. Honestly, it would have been super cool for Rose Noble to travel with his Doctor. However, there’s that pesky issue of Donna not being able to remember the Doctor without her mind “burning up.” Sure, there’s a fail-safe in place but who knows how well that would work? And surely her own daughter would tell her about traveling with an alien in a fun blue space box, right? Donna does have small residual memories of her time with Ten, so that explains why she’d name her daughter Rose.

Either way, this extra tidbit about Rose being the daughter of Donna Noble makes us more hype for Doctor Who. Hopefully, we will get air date information for those specials soon.

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What a dang world. We are presumably close to the 60th anniversary of Doctor Who and we already know a lot. We know David Tennant is back as the Fourteenth Doctor. Catherine Tate is also back, and Neil Patrick Harris is joining. We know there will be three specials with Tennant as part of the anniversary celebration, complete with all three titles and a teaser. They’re interesting, for sure.

The first special will be “The Star Beast,” which is, funnily enough, the initial title for the movie Alien when it was in spec script form. Special two will be “Wild Blue Yonder;” some of the bits of that part of the teaser have “redacted” and static added. Seems pretty TARDIS-y to me. The third one, “The Giggle,” has our man NPH in it. “Laughing at the human race.” We also see our first glimpse of live-action Beep the Meep, a very weird character who made the jump to TV from the old comics. The name of that comic? “Doctor Who and the Star Beast.” Sooooo, that’s fun, innit?

The little teaser also shows us a few shots of Yasmin Finney, who will portray Donna’s daughter Rose Noble. Donna married her husband Shaun Temple, whom we last saw in “The End of Time.”

We still don’t know exactly when these specials will air or how frequently. Will it be one per month? One per week? Three days in a row? All we know for sure is the actual 60th anniversary of Doctor Who is November 23, 2023.

Originally published on May 15, 2023.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.

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The current era of Doctor Who continues to move forward with more time and space traveling fun. There have been dozens of stories that explore this universe’s lore, teach valuable lessons, and are just plain odd. In the days of streaming and marathon watching, it’s not impossible for a new or casual fan to catch up on Doctor Who. But who really has the time to go through many seasons of action?

A seasoned viewer could help them out by explaining a few core concepts from the show. But even those basics become super complicated without any viewing context. Thankfully there are more than a few solid episodes that showcase the essence of Doctor Who, capture its wonderful energy, and are wholly entertaining (even if they aren’t “the best”) while taking fans through a range of complex emotions. Current fans delight in watching them, causal fans have probably heard of them, and new fans would be able to get a solid feel of the show, even if they don’t necessarily understand everything that is going on.

Of course, every essential episode can’t be listed in this post. But, these episodes should be on any essential watch list for the modern era to represent each numbered incarnation of The Doctor.

The Essential Doctor Who Episodes for the Ninth Doctor

“Rose” (Season 1, Episode 1)

This one is quite obvious. “Rose” may not appear on most “best Doctor Who” episodes lists but it’s an essential watch for anyone who wants to get into the current era. It’s the best jumping on point; it sets up the show’s premise and establishes the Doctor. “Rose” is quirky, fun, a bit cheesy, and opens up this strange universe through the eyes of the very-relatable Rose Tyler.

“Father’s Day”(Season 1, Episode 8)

Many people would want to travel in the TARDIS to escape their boring daily lives, witness a historic event, or even get a peek into the future to satisfy their curiosity. However, human nature would tempt the best of us to alter the past or future in our favor.

Rose is a great companion, but her misstep in “Father’s Day” proves that 1) life-altering decisions should be left to the Doctor’s discretion; and 2) one person’s life or death really can alter the entire universe. This episode is a powerful way to introduce just one example of the feels that Doctor Who fans can’t get enough of. We love to be emotionally destroyed.

“The Parting of the Ways” (Season 1, Episode 13)

The Ninth Doctor introduces Rose—and by extension new fans—to the concept of regeneration in such a caring and gentle way. His optimistic attitude and reassurance that he is the same person with a different physical appearance makes the blow of “losing” him a bit less severe. Regeneration aside, “The Parting of the Ways” also shows how powerful and complex the bond between Doctor and companion can become over time.

Honorable Mention: “Dalek” (Season 1, Episode 6)

By the end of this episode, new fans will definitely understand that this villain and The Doctor have a long and complicated history. The Ninth Doctor and Rose’s relationship is quite solid at this point as she guides him away from making a terrible decision. And, if nothing else, it is interesting to see what Doctor Who thought 2012 would be like versus what it was actually like 8 years ago.

The Essential Doctor Who Episodes for the Tenth Doctor

“School Reunion” (Season 2, Episode 3)

Rose may have been the first companion for a lot of fans but she was simply the latest in a long line of TARDIS travelers. “School Reunion” provides a perfect gateway to help new fans connect the current era with the show’s classic episodes via Sarah Jane Smith—one of the most popular companions of all-time.

Casual and modern-era only fans will want to dive into the show’s original run after this episode. “School Reunion” explores what happens to a companion years after they stop traveling with the Doctor. How do they go back to a normal life? Does the Doctor simply forget them and move on? How would they handle seeing the Doctor with a new face? Those questions get answers here. Yes, there is some childish cattiness for a bit but Sarah Jane still rules.

“Blink” (Season 3, Episode 10)

A Doctor Who essential episodes list isn’t valid without “Blink”. Many fans and critics alike say it’s one of the best episodes ever—and they aren’t wrong. “Blink” introduces the terrifying Weeping Angels, wallops viewers with feels, and shows how vital a side character can be in the Whoniverse. Interestingly, the episode is both Doctor-lite and companion-lite, but that’s not a problem. It’s a terrifying and thrill

“Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead” (Season 4, Episodes 8 and 9)

Considering a two-parter as one entry might be cheating a bit but oh well. Ten and Donna are a companion match made in heaven and these episodes are awesome.

There’s the introduction of River Song, who will play a vital role in upcoming seasons, the Vashta Nerada, and a very emotional storyline for Donna Noble. Doctor Who’s trademark ingenuity and drama shine bright here, thereby making it a “must-watch” episode.

ing ride that shows Doctor Who at its absolute best.

Honorable mention: “The Stolen Earth/Journey’s End” (Season 4, Episodes 12 and 13)

We love a group effort. The Tenth Doctor gathers all his companions, some of their family members, Sarah Jane, Jack Harkness, and more for an epic adventure. There’s a lot to learn here about Davros and the Daleks as well as the power of the TARDIS. It’s a great sendoff for a ton of characters and a reminder that The Doctor must keep moving forward—even if they are alone.

The Most Essential Doctor Who Episodes for the Eleventh Doctor

“The Eleventh Hour” (Season 5, Episode 1)

“The Eleventh Hour” is another modern Doctor Who episode that would serve as a great starting point. Eleven’s introduction to Amelia Pond as a whimsical and weird figure, their reunion many years later, and his ability to save the world with his words all encompass the show’s lore and excitement. Oh, and don’t forget about the TARDIS and her amazing upgrade.

“Vincent and The Doctor” (Season 5, Episode 10)

THE FEELS. THE FEELS. This episode doesn’t require any real knowledge about the series to love it. It’s confirmation that this time-traveler definitely meets famous people from the past.

And sometimes it is fine to give someone a glimpse of their own future. Tony Curran’s portrayal of Vincent van Gogh is sheer perfection, there are dark forces afoot, and the final moments of this episode hurt in the best way possible.

“The Snowmen” (Season 7, Episode 6)

This episode dives in The Doctor’s psyche in a wonderful way. Eleven is reeling from a major loss and hiding in (Early? Late?) retirement. But, evil snowmen and a brilliant governess bring him out of his funk and back into his old life. Doctor Who and Christmas specials are a staple in this era and this is perhaps one of the best ones yet with great storytelling, dialogue, and the beginning of a new companion arc.

Honorable mention: “The Pandorica Opens” (Season 5, Episode 12)

This episode is all about going big or going home. Doctor Who isn’t always the best at continuity but this has quite a few ties that come together here. There’s so much going on here and some of it is frankly confusing but the ride is fun and wild—basically a way of life as a Doctor Who lover.

The Essential Doctor Who Episodes for the Twelfth Doctor

“Dark Water/Death in Heaven” (Season 8, Episodes 11 and 12)

Helloooo Missy. Doctor Who may be seen by outsiders as some silly little sci-fi series but its much darker than they could imagine. “Dark Water” brings back a couple of great antagonists and has an underlying morbidity that sets up an equally somber conclusion in “Death in Heaven.”

“Heaven Sent/Hell Bent” (Season 9, Episodes 11 and 12)

This one is pretty obvious. There are sweeping monologues from a very angry Doctor, Time Lord and Gallifrey action, and a great conclusion for the Doctor’s companion, Clara. These two episodes are pretty much perfect across the board and close an important chapter in Who history before the show’s soft “reboot” in Season 10.

“Thin Ice” (Season 10, Episode 3)

“Thin Ice” has so many wonderful things. Bill in a Regency era dress. The Doctor admitting that history was whitewashed. Bill taking the Doctor to task about his actions. The Doctor punching a racist for Bill.

There’s also some business about a big fish or something but that’s not what is really important here. “Thin Ice” won’t reveal anything new about the series but it’s a fun historical that tosses in lots of Easter eggs for current fans.

Honorable mention: “The Eaters of Light” (Season 10, Episode 10)

This episode is one of many (“Flatline,” “Turn Left“) that allow the companion to shine separately from the Doctor. “The Eaters of Light” combines real-life history with sci-fi and shows Bill rallying scared and young troops towards a fight.

There’s some social commentary sandwiched perfectly into all the drama that doesn’t detract from the story. And, the episode’s writer, Rona Munro, is the first writer to write for the classic and revived series.

The Essential Doctor Who Episodes for the Thirteenth Doctor

“Rosa” (Season 11, Episode 3)

“Rosa” takes Doctor Who in a new direction. It blatantly addresses the racism of Rosa Parks time period, accurately showing how the Doctor’s TARDIS team would be treated during that time.

There’s some great character development for Ryan and important conversations among different members of the team. This episode takes Doctor Who back to its original premise—an education series with some otherworldly elements thrown into the mix.

“Fugitive of the Judoon” (Season 12, Episode 5)

This episode is simply mind-blowing with Black woman incarnation of the Doctor, the return of the Judoon, and other great surprises. It causes the Doctor to rethink everything she knew to be true and shows how this show can quickly go in a new direction to throw everyone for a loop.

“Haunting of Villa Diodati” (Season 12, Episode 8)

This is one of the best episodes (so far) in Thirteen’s run. A famous historical figure, a haunted house of horrors, an unexpected version of a well-know villain, and The Doctor having to dress down her companions for thinking that they know best in these high-stakes situations. Doctor Who can get caught up in a lot of lore and twisted storylines but this feels simply like a good ghost story.

Honorable mention: “Demons of the Punjab” (Season 11, Episode 6)

“Demons of the Punjab” made more history with a story that focused on South Asian characters. Representation and Doctor Who have always had a complicated relationship but the show certainly got it right this time.

This tragic love story infused with odd will make many fans do some Googling to learn about the partition of India and expand their horizons. Doctor Who is fun and entertaining but it’s also an avenue to teach us more about the world around us and ourselves.

Of course, this is just a sample of episodes out of many. But this list is a great start to dipping into the wonderful (and weird) world of Doctor Who.

Originally published on March 26, 2020.

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We still have a little while before we see David Tennant (temporarily) take over the TARDIS as the Fourteenth Doctor. For the most part, he looks like an edgier version of the Tenth Doctor yet his outfit has a few key differences to make it unique. (Also, Tennant still has really great hair. He’s a blessed man.) I cannot confirm this but I am sure there are already people out there cosplaying this version of the Doctor. However, there’s something that is missing from the look. You know, a certain instrument that several Doctors love to use when they need to get themselves out of a jam or provide a quick tech fix. We’ve been wondering just how epic the Fourteenth Doctor’s sonic screwdriver would be if he got his own …and now we know that it is awesome. Doctor Who gave us the most dramatic sonic screwdriver reveal, one that is worthy of his chaotic glory. 

This sonic screwdriver is gorgeous. I love the gold and marble details as well as how it combines small aesthetic elements of several previous Doctors’ screwdrivers, including Ten and Eleven. It could be a hint that his Doctor had to piece this sonic together based on what’s in his storage (you know he has some room full of stuff) and infuse it with available elements. It is also a great way to honor the past for the 60th anniversary special.

We don’t know when we will be able to purchase the sonic screwdriver and complete our Fourteenth Doctor looks. But for now we will just continue to marvel at its beauty. We can’t wait to discover what’s going on with Fourteen and Donna when Doctor Who returns later this year.

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Doctor Who made its strange and surreal TV debut back in 1963, and the greatest sci-fi series of all-time is still going strong. The show is heading into yet another era with its first full-time Black Doctor at the helm of the TARDIS and showrunner Russell T Davies, who gloriously revived the show in 2005, back for fresh adventures. There have been thirteen seasons of Doctor Who with hundreds of episodes and several specials documenting the Doctor’s time and space adventures. Some seasons were stellar and rank among the best, with a combination of clever adventures, arcs with satisfying payoffs, brilliant writing, satisfying twists, epic Doctor monologues, and a solid TARDIS team while other seasons of Doctor Who fumbled in one or more of those areas.

So, let’s do something chaotic and fun (and not really that serious, so don’t attack me) in honor of the show’s enduring legacy. Here are all the seasons of modern-era Doctor Who so far, ranked from worst the best.

13. Doctor Who Season 7 (2012-2013)

This is one of the most chaotic seasons of modern Doctor Who, and that’s not a compliment, hence it being ranked at the bottom. There are some serious consistency issues on every level, from episodic quality to overall tone. Season seven is split into two parts that bids farewell to fan favorites Amy and Rory before introducing the (initially) mysterious Clara. In theory, it seems like a fine way to bridge the Doctor’s transition to a new traveling relationship. In practice, it is disjoined and awkward. The season doesn’t capture that “perfect bowl of sci-fi spaghetti” feel that the show frequently does so well.

Instead, it’s more like a TikTok concoction of random foods shaken together. There are a lot of half-baked ideas splattered against the walls and plot threads falling out of the bowl. Many of the mini-arcs, like the Impossible Girl, are a flash in the pan before the show sprints forward. A great redeeming factor, however, is the undeniable chemistry between Clara and Eleven. Watching them form a connection born from curiosity is a delight, a bright spot in the muddle that makes this Doctor Who seasons rank low among the rest.

12. Doctor Who Season 6 (2011)

Amy, Rory, and the Eleventh Doctor’s adventures continue in season six. Doctor Who often thrives on twists and mystery; however, this season’s many threads are a little too convoluted with an underwhelming ending. There is some fun along the way, thanks to pockets of ambitious storytelling and much-needed character development for Amy. The acting is sharp, and the visuals are more stunning than they’d been up until that point. Moments like the TARDIS coming to human form and the Doctor’s incredible monologue in “A Good Man Goes to War” balance out some of the missing emotional heft that normally anchors the series. 

11 . Doctor Who Season 8 (2014)

Twelve and Clara’s first full season together gives us a few sparks of joy. The gift that is Michelle Gomez’s Missy, a moon that’s actually an egg, and an overall darker tone to match a more serious Doctor were all highlights of this season. However, everything about the Danny/Clara dynamic including his character arc, a handful of meh episodes, and the beginning of the “Clara is sooo Doctor-like” push from Doctor Who is why this season is ranked down quite a few notches.

10. Doctor Who Season 11 (2018)

Doctor Who wiped its slate clean once again with a completely new era. Chris Chibnall took the helm and gave us our most diverse TARDIS team yet, including the show’s first full-time Doctor, Ryan, a Black man companion, and Yaz, a South Asian companion. Jodie’s first season as the Doctor starts off strong with a few misses in the middle and a lackluster finale, but her charm, and burgeoning relationship with her “fam” balances things out. 

9. Doctor Who Season 9 (2015)

This is the season when Capaldi’s Doctor truly comes to life. There are some great episodes here, including a fun Christmas special, “The Husbands of River Song,” and the sublime “Heaven Sent/Hell Bent” duo. The exit of Clara is a strong farewell, only for the show to reverse it for an alternative that upends the weight of her final choice. All of that goodness almost makes us forget the horrors of “Sleep No More.” Almost. A few too many two-parters aside, Capaldi’s performance can make any fan forgive some of its glaring issues. 

8. Doctor Who Season 13 (2021)

Yes, I will be in the minority by ranking this season of Doctor Who so high up, and that’s okay. In fact, I wasn’t wild about Flux upon first watch. But, after revisiting Jodie Whittaker’s very short final season, it comes together quite well despite all the external challenges the cast and crew faced. And, to be honest, this season is her standout performance as the Thirteenth Doctor. The concept of a season-long story arc filled with cliffhangers is quite ambitious and, though it gets messy at times, it comes together for an explosive finale. There are some pitfalls here, specifically how it sometimes feels like things are happening to Thirteen versus her being the driving force and agent of action. I think we can all agree that Thirteen deserved better overall, but the Flux gave us some fun along the way.

7. Doctor Who Season 12 (2020)

Jodie Whittaker gets into the groove of being lucky number 13 in this season. Doctor Who’s twelfth season boasts perhaps the best episode of her run (and a standout in the series overall), “The Haunting of Villa Diodati.” A few of the stories are ambitious and fun, including a couple of historical romps as well as futuristic adventures. We see some familiar faces (perhaps one too many), including the return of Jack Harkness and Cyber folks. And who can forget the epic reveal of Ruth as the Fugitive Doctor? However, the Timeless Child revelation, while bold, felt convoluted and wholly unnecessary, leading to a disappointing finale. Yaz rises to the occasion (and Thasmin really begins to thrive) but Ryan and Graham are sidelined at times. A mixed bag, indeed. And that’s why it’s ranked firmly in the middle of the modern Doctor Who seasons.

6. Doctor Who Season 2 (2006)

Season two sticks in people’s minds as the show’s most popular pairing—Ten and Rose—begin their journey here. While they can be wholly annoying as a unit, the chemistry between Piper and Tennant is undeniable. When Rose and Ten aren’t touting themselves as superior/unstoppable and instead getting down to saving-the-planet business, they are really great together. There are great episodes in this season, like “The Girl in the Fireplace” and the tear-jerker “Doomsday.” But there are also some stinkers like “Fear Her.” A shining moment is Sarah Jane Smith’s return in “School Reunion,” even though the Sarah Jane vs. Rose moments induced many an eye roll. Overall, Doctor Who season two is a satisfying watch and will likely always be ranked high on any given list. 

5. Doctor Who Season 3 (2007)

The Doctor’s frustrating underappreciation for Martha Jones’ brilliance and her unrequited love for him is a sore spot for many fans. But season three is pretty consistent with good storytelling. There’s the delightful opener “Smith and Jones” and the Doctor/companion-lite stunner “Blink,” which is easily one of the show’s best offerings of all-time. As the show’s first full-time Black companion, there is a fair share of fumbling how Martha is handled, from her family’s enslavement to historical stories where she’s treated poorly. However, Martha is a solid companion who travels with the Doctor yet never loses herself in the process. Martha Jones’ recognition and utilization of her strengths/value (as a companion and in general), her singlehandedly saving the whole world sans the Doctor, and her pitch-perfect exit are what put this season higher on the list. 

4. Doctor Who Season 10 (2017)

Peter Capaldi’s final season as the Doctor is undoubtedly his best. Season ten has a variety of mostly solid stories (save for the Monks trilogy) with great pacing. Bill Potts is a delightful breath of fresh air and charm. The show returns the Doctor/companion relationship to a teacher/student dynamic that fits their personalities perfectly. We also get more Missy along with some multi-master action as Capaldi’s time draws to an end. However, this season of Doctor Who is not without its major drawbacks, leaving it out of the top three slots of our ranking. Specifically, we’re thinking about the choices made with Bill Potts at the end. Turning her into a Cyberperson was bad enough. But the following attempt to skirt the “kill the gays” trope by making her a watery entity who lives on with Heather, a person she barely knows, was straight-up terrible.

3. Doctor Who Season 5 (2010)

Showrunner Steven Moffat had the inevitable task of carrying the torch following Davies’ exit. Would he be able to keep the Doctor Who machine running after the ever-popular Tenth Doctor’s era? The answer to that is a resounding yes, thanks to the secret weapon known as Matt Smith. He instantly charms as the Eleventh Doctor, quickly forming a bond with Karen Gillian’s Amy Pond. She’s a fun companion with spunk and charm despite being underdeveloped. Doctor Who season five managed to successfully reboot the show once again, giving it a new air of creative spark. Heavy hitters like “Vincent and the Doctor” and two-parter “The Time of Angels” and “Flesh and Stone” stick in fans’ minds to this day. 

2. Doctor Who Season 1 (2005)

The season that began it all! Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper’s Ninth Doctor and Rose ushered in a new era of fans with the show’s 2005 revival. Sadly, their time together only spanned this season. However, the show did a great job of bridging the gap between this era and its Classic era roots, bringing back well-known villains and lore and, at times, a very campy vibe. Longer serials were traded for standalone episodes and two-parters, giving fans an antagonist of the week.

Doctor Who’s triumphant return also gave us a new take on the Doctor. The show left behind the flashier looks of the past for Nine’s dark clothing and leather jackets. Eccleston’s Doctor is a man broken by his mistakes and in desperate need of companionship and camaraderie. He finds both unexpectedly in Rose and their friendship is incredibly lovely. While many later fell for Rose and Ten, her dynamic with Nine captures the heartstrings in a satisfying way. Travels to the past and the future and the clever Bad Wolf arc build the strong foundation that the show continues to build on today.

1. Doctor Who Season 4 (2008)

And now, we’ve come to the end of our modern-era Doctor Who season rankings. And that leaves us with the best season of new Doctor Who, season four. Season four expertly weaves together all of the elements that make for supreme Doctor Who content. David Tennant and Catherine Tate are a sublime TARDIS team from the moment they meet. This platonic duo consistently challenge and elevate each other, becoming better because they met. The episodes are all total knockouts, ranging from sprightly historical adventures like “The Unicorn and the Wasp” to the Avengers: Endgame-style finale that assembles all the greats of Russell T Davies era.

The season ebbs and flows from gut-busting humor to heart-wrenching sadness, the latter showing up heavily in the introduction of River Song, the Tenth Doctor’s farewell, and Donna Noble’s controversial exit. This season still holds up brilliantly more than 15 years after its original run, and that’s why it takes the top spot. 

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With the 60th anniversary of Doctor Who less than six months away, the production seems ready to pull out all the stops. Not only will David Tennant and Catherine Tate come back for a trio of specials—not to mention a host of cool guest stars—but another legacy companion will return to the series. The BBC today announced Bonnie Langford, who portrayed the Sixth and Seventh Doctor’s companion Melanie Bush in the 1980s, will come back to act alongside Ncuti Gatwa in the next full series.

Langford was a big stage actor prior to her casting in Doctor Who and continued to be so afterward. Mel was an interesting companion. Her first onscreen episode, as part of the season-long “Trial of a Time Lord” arc was not actually her first canonical story. That one never ended up on screen. After six episodes with the Sixth Doctor, she continued on as the Seventh Doctor’s first companion but left at the end of season 24. Her departure gave way to Ace, one of the most beloved companions of all time.

Langford reprised her role of Mel over the years in various Big Finish Doctor Who audio plays. She also appeared briefly on screen in “The Power of the Doctor,” the Thirteenth Doctor’s final story. That special also saw Ace, Tegan, Ian Chesterton, Jo Grant, and more companions return.

The actress said of her Doctor Who return as Mel:

I am absolutely thrilled to be bringing Melanie Bush back. To be part of the exceptional cast, crew and production team led by the force of nature that is Russell T Davies is a career highlight. I’m so privileged and proud to have been a member of the Doctor Who family since the classic era and to be included in the new generation is phenomenal.

Showrunner Russell T Davies added the following:

Open those TARDIS doors wide, because Bonnie’s back! What an honour, delight and hoot to welcome back the character of Melanie, after too long away. And this isn’t just a cameo, Bonnie is right in the thick of the action, battling monsters and chaos and cliffhangers, right at the Doctor’s side, just like the old days.

The Doctor Who 60th-anniversary celebration will begin in November. It airs exclusively on Disney+ outside of the UK and Ireland and on the BBC in those territories.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.

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Pride Month is the perfect time to talk about Doctor Who‘s titular character, The Doctor, and their sexual identity. A growing number of fans read The Doctor as asexual, also known as “ace.” (An asexual person typically experiences little to no sexual desire/attraction towards anyone.) And because there are so many iterations of the same character, they represent different flavors of the ace spectrum. 

Each regeneration comes with a new take on the same being. The way they express themselves varies according to that Doctor’s specific personality. It’s wonderful, though fictional, proof that there is more than one way to be sexy, to be ace, and to be queer. The Doctor, more than anything, is an explorer: a fundamentally important aspect of queerness.

Regeneration, Expressions of Aceness, and The Master Relationship

Sexuality shifts throughout a person’s lifetime. For Time Lords, even more so due to regeneration. The way they express their sexuality constantly changes, isn’t explicit, and can’t be fully understood in mere human concepts.

Although the evolution isn’t linear, each Doctor’s personality is essentially a response to their previous selves; they each show different and unique expressions of core values and traits. Similarly, almost all the Doctors read as ace; however, no two Doctors are the same, nor are their orientations. Their expression of aceness even fluctuates between different species. Their fraught relationship with other Time Lords, particularly The Master, is barely comparable to their asexuality toward humans.

The Doctor is often put at odds with The Master in a power struggle. Their initial interactions take on a subversive sadomasochistic subtext that the modern era made entirely textual. The first female Doctor having to kneel in front of a male Master is an entire bag of cats to unpack. But this scene made it clear that the Doctor/Master relationship has always had a sexual undercurrent. It is unlike anything that The Doctor experiences with anyone else.

Asexuality in Classic Doctor Who

While New Who Doctors can show repulsion, curiosity, or positivity about sex, Classic Who Doctors as a whole didn’t have an interest in it. The original run purposely avoids the idea of The Doctor’s sexuality, which makes sense considering its origins as a children’s sci-fi TV show meant for Saturday afternoon tea time. This overall ambiguity extends to The Doctor’s origins as well.

The revelation of the character as an alien didn’t surface until the end of the Second Doctor’s run; however, he was always otherworldly with intelligence far beyond the midcentury human. There are so many other things to do, planets to save, that sex isn’t interesting enough to warrant any attention.

The Doctor is more curious about causing or preventing catastrophe than hooking up with historical figures or aliens. However, the idea of romance is aboard the TARDIS from the start. It shows up through pairings like Ian and Barbara during the First Doctor’s run. We later see a similar attraction between Ben and Polly.  

The Third and Fourth Doctors set the standard for the one-on-one Doctor and young female companion paring which became even more popular in the new era. But the Third Doctor is a patrician figure while the Fourth Doctor seems entirely oblivious to the opposite sex. For example, when speaking to the Countess in “City of Death,” he famously says, “You’re a beautiful woman, probably.”

The young and blond Fifth Doctor posed a question of how sexuality would play into the series going forward. And, the answer was a fairly blatant “not applicable.” Fans of the ’80s might be familiar with producer Jonathan Nathan-Turner’s infamous phrase, “There’s no hanky panky in the TARDIS.”

There are particularly special relationships with a number of companions in the Classic era like Jamie, Jo, Nyssa, Peri, and Ace. But the question of sexuality never came up within the show itself.

The Wilderness Years of Attraction

During the “Wilderness Years,” authorized Doctor Who novels detail Time Lord reproduction. This description includes the not-sexy-at-all combination of The Matrix and looms (breeding chambers where Time Lords are grown), thereby reinforcing the Doctor’s ambivalence toward sex. However, the explosion of deep lore Doctor Who content during this time also features audios of the Eighth Doctor in a famously complex romance with Charley. The character is essentially a precursor and blueprint for Rose.

The Big Finish audio Scherzo almost solely deals with the aftermath of Charley confessing her love for Eight. It highlights Eight’s reticence and inability to define his feelings. The Eighth Doctor is known as the “Romantic Doctor” and Byronic hero. But his unwillingness to actually engage in romance complicates this image and still skirts the issue of sex. This exploratory era set the stage for the show’s reboot while still leaving many questions open.

Modern Doctors, Sex Jokes, and Demisexuality

The new era of Doctor Who takes on modern soap opera elements, including more overt romantic storylines. Sex, including jokes and risque situations, is now a part of the show, a departure from the previous era where it was barely mentioned at all. Many of The Doctor’s romantic relationships with companions are tantalizing but not quite canon.

And the show never crosses the line into exploring explicit sexual relationships. Given The Doctor’s penchant for sticking their nose into anything even remotely exciting, sex still isn’t on the list. By including more explicit content, the series, either incidentally or on purpose, highlights reading the Doctor as ace. 

The Ninth Doctor loves Rose but, with the aftermath of the Time War, could not explore a relationship with her. Considering this, it makes sense that he regenerates into the more humanistic, emotional, and sexualized Tenth Doctor. Ten is easily the incarnation who is most likely to be seen as allosexual (read: experiencing sexual attraction).

However, his dismissal of sex and romance actually reaffirms his aceness. It’s a pretty big contrast from, say, his human counterpart John Smith in “Human Nature” and “Family of Blood.” It’s possible that Ten is a variation on demisexual with interest in Rose only because of their tight emotional bond, and afterward not feeling that connection with anyone else. 

Eleven especially plays into ideas of The Doctor as a potential boyfriend. He becomes a mythic romantic figure in Amy Pond’s life. In one of her early episodes, she attempts and fails to seduce him. An arc with his wife, River Song, goes into full swing during this era and a series finale is dedicated to their wedding. Throughout all this, though, Eleven seems fairly oblivious to sex and not particularly interested in exploring it.

While receptive to displays of passion, particularly from River, he never seeks them out. He does, however, like a good flirt, and his convoluted relationship with Clara is on the confusing border of not-quite-boyfriend and girlfriend. At one point, he poses very convincingly as her boyfriend for her family at Christmas.

Twelve immediately rectifies this situation. Capaldi’s Doctor is initially abrasive and uncaring with little time for human emotions at all, let alone romance. He quickly establishes boundaries with Clara and sets a scholarly tone with Bill.

The conclusion of his relationship with River, specifically because she is framed as a romantic partner, reflects deep feeling and loss, and is perhaps another instance of demisexuality. Conversely, Thirteen wants to cultivate a family atmosphere. She spends time readjusting to her gender and seems unaware of Yaz’s growing feelings for her. 

The Doctor appeals to many aces as proof that life can be active, exciting, and fulfilling without sex. They’re still attractive, loved, clever, and commanding… along with all the negative traits that make them a three-dimensional character. Fluid identity and queerness are an integral part of Doctor Who as a show and within its central character.

Originally published on June 10, 2021.

The post DOCTOR WHO Explores the Rich Complexity of Asexuality appeared first on Nerdist.

This year is a massive one for Doctor Who. The show will celebrate 60 years of wonderful, weird, and sometimes heartbreaking adventures. We are all looking forward to David Tennant returning as the Fourteenth Doctor (wild, right?!), more Donna Noble goodness, another Rose Tyler, and, of course, Ncuti Gatwa’s debut as the Fifteenth Doctor. But it seems the Doctor Who anniversary celebration will span far beyond any special. Thanks to a curious Doctor Who trailer, BBC is giving us Doom’s Day, an adventure being told over several platforms, including books, comics, audio, and even a game. 

In the clip, we meet Doctor Who‘s Doom (Sooz Kempner), the universe’s greatest assassin. Or, so she says. Doom tells us that she will die in 24 hours (like literal Death is chasing her) unless she can locate The Doctor. She says her vortex manipulator sends her a new target each hour, and she’s trying to pick the right targets to get to The Doctor. Doom wants our help, but girl we don’t know anything! Our Gallifreyan hero could be anywhere in space and time. Maybe even eating chips in London. Who knows! But if she doesn’t find The Doctor, then Death will find surely find her. Better get going quickly, Doom.

The Doctor Who Doom’s Day multiplatform story will launch sometime later this year as a standalone series told through Doctor Who Magazine, Titan Comics, Penguin Random House, East Side Games, Big Finish, and BBC Audio. Each medium will create a Doctor Who Doom’s Day adventure focusing on an hour of Doom’s (possibly) final day. And, after the narratives play out, the Doom’s Day finale will be on Doctor Who’s digital channels. It sounds like an interesting time… if you can keep up with it all. More details about this series will come later on.

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Once Russell T Davies was announced as taking over Doctor Who again, wheels turned about what else might be in the pipeline. During RTD’s first regime (2005-2010), fans saw two successful Doctor Who spinoffs: the adult-oriented Torchwood and the kid-focused The Sarah Jane Adventures. And with a new Doctor, and a new distribution deal with Disney+, we wondered what other shows we’d see in the Whoniverse. Now, according to a report from Deadline, we have an idea. The lastest Doctor Who spinoff will be a show focused on UNIT and star Jemma Redgrave as Kate Stewart.

Kate first debuted on screen in 2012’s “The Power of Three,” the daughter of fan-fave classic ally Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. She has acted as head of Doctor Who‘s UNIT, the Unified Intelligence Taskforce, in all of her appearances. Most recently, Kate appeared in “The Power of the Doctor,” Jodie Whittaker’s final story.

Recently, Davies spoke in a BBC Radio 2 interview that one of the episodes of Series 14, of which they’re midway through filming, is “one of the greatest things I’ve ever made in my life.” That is high praise for someone with as illustrious a career as Davies to say. Kate Stewart will likely show up in this year’s Doctor Who Christmas special, with Ncuti Gatwa. This will be after the 60th-anniversary specials starring David Tennant and Catherine Tate.

A UNIT/Kate spinoff is perhaps the biggest no-brainer for a new Doctor Who show. It has the potential to do what Torchwood tried to do; that show couldn’t decide how adult it wanted to be. “The Power of the Doctor” introduced the idea that Kate had been recruiting past companions. What a great way to have legacy characters pop in and out for various missions? Plus, we just love Redgrave! Yes, give her a show.

More information as it develops.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.

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One of the hardest things fans have to do is say goodbye to their favorite characters and dynamics. But on Doctor Who, this is a regular occurrence as Time Lords regenerate and companions move on to make room for new friends. Doctor Who also always offers the hope that fan-favorite characters and Doctors will return, though. What is timey wimey stuff good for anyway, if not to bring back some familiar faces? But the Doctor Who 60th anniversary special has gone above and beyond. It will not only bring back David Tennant as the Tenth, now Fourteenth, Doctor, but it will also likely reunite him with universally loved Doctor Who companion Donna Noble. Catherine Tate will return as everyone’s favorite redhead.

The trailer for the Doctor Who anniversary special will likely bring you to tears, even if you only label yourself a casual fan of the show. Who doesn’t love reunions? (Or, almost reunions, as the case may be.)

“Allons-y!” David Tennant’s Doctor says, and the crowd goes wild. Of course, the 60th anniversary special can’t be all fun and games. Because as the Doctor Who trailer reminds us if Donna Noble ever remembers her time with the Doctor, then she will die. That’s high stakes, but we’re sure Donna will remember Ten somehow.

The trailer also introduces us to Doctor Who‘s latest villain in the form of Neil Patrick Harris. He looks to be something of a circus master and definitely sinister. But on the other hand, we get to meet the live-action version of Beep the Meep, who has to date only appeared in Doctor Who comics. What an adorable fluff ball! Of course, Ncuti Gatwa’s delightful Doctor makes an appearance right at the end. We can’t wait to see how he works into the adventure.

That’s a lot for one small teaser. Though the 60th-anniversary special trailer has us excited for more Doctor Who right now, we’ll have to wait a while longer to see Ten, Donna, and the rest. The special will begin to air in November 2023. Ncuti Gatwa and his Fifteenth Doctor will then arrive on our screens in 2024. Allons-y!

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Doctor Who’s next era—which we are totally calling the Bad Wolf era—is already setting the stage for something epic. First, there’s the bizarre turn of events that David Tennant will be the Fourteenth Doctor alongside Donna Noble for a bit. But, what’s even more exciting is to see the incredibly delightful Ncuti Gatwa step into the role as the Fifteenth Doctor. He will be joined by Millie Gibson, who will portray his companion Ruby Sunday. (What a fun companion name!) Fans have been very curious about what Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor costume would look like since his announcement. It makes sense, considering he’s a very fashionable guy with eclectic taste. And now we finally know what the Fifteen Doctor will look like with some first-look photos and videos of his costume! 

Surprisingly, Doctor Who‘s Fifteenth Doctor doesn’t have an outfit full of brightness and colors. But, when you think about it, that makes sense considering Thirteen was all about rainbows. Instead, Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor costume is giving stylish and sexy professor with his costume. Love to see it. The brown and black plaid trousers, along with a long coat that will surely flow in the wind while he’s running, are perfect on him. It is virtually law for the Doctor to have an iconic jacket.

If you’re looking to nab the screen-accurate version of this Doctor Who costume, then you may not have luck. It is Nanushka (according to eagle-eyed cosplayers) and sold out on the US website. But, this is a look that can possibly be replicated easily with another brand or, for the intrepid and talented cosplayers among us, made by hand. And Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor costume also includes a very cozy-looking cropped orange sweater, which some fans have IDed as an H&M item. The Fifteen Doctor outfit caps off with Grenson boots that will set you back around $520… if you can find them on the website. Good luck!

Now, for the details that we really love. First, there’s the set of five rings that the Fifteenth Doctor is wearing to complete his outfit. There doesn’t seem to be a significance to wearing five specifically, but they look incredibly cool. It is not the first time we’ve seen the Doctor wear rings as part of their costume. Both Three and Twelve wore them too! What does have more significance is the Gallifreyan artwork on the Fifteenth Doctor’s fingernails. Right now, there is no definitive word on what these symbols mean. A couple of fans speculate that show hints, including something about 13 episodes in Gatwa’s first season, lie hidden in there. But we will have to wait and see if we get further confirmation. 

And, for the greatest part of all. Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor has a mustache. I repeat, there is a Doctor with a mustache. We’ve seen Doctors who don’t fall into the numerical lineup (like the War Doctor) have facial hair; however, this is the first numbered Doctor to have a mustache on Doctor Who. We saw him wearing it in a previous teaser, and, thank the Gallifreyan gods, he kept it. 

Of course, we also love Ruby Sunday’s very cosplayable outfit. From the standout jacket with a fur collar to that sold-out Topshop sweater and those really cute shorts, we can imagine that there will be a lot of Ruby Sundays showing up at conventions in 2023. Costuming is one of the most fun elements of Doctor Who and we can’t wait to see our new Doctor Who and his companion rocking their costumes and running off for wild adventures.

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The second reign of Russell T Davies as Doctor Who showrunner has wasted little time. Fittingly. From announcing new Doctor Ncuti Gatwa to the intriguing teaser for the 60th anniversary, Davies has done more promo for the show before his even airs than the previous regime did in toto. Hell, under Davies we know the show will air globally on Disney+! Now, as part of the UK’s annual Children in Need telethon, we know who Gatwa’s first companion will be. Say hello to actor Millie Gibson, who will join the series as companion Ruby Sunday.

Ruby Sunday is perhaps the most RTD name in history. Has a very “Rose Tyler” ring to it. Gibson is only 18, which makes me feel about a million years old. However, this roughly puts her the age of Rose when she joined the TARDIS in 2005. But now I’m just 17 years older, is the problem. Anyway.

According to the official announcement, Gibson will join some time next year once Gatwa officially takes over. Speaking of her new role, Gibson said:

“Whilst still being in total disbelief, I am beyond honoured to be cast as the Doctor’s companion. It is a gift of a role, and a dream come true, and I will do everything to try and fill the boots the fellow companions have travelled in before me. And what better way to do that than being by the fabulous Ncuti Gatwa’s side, I just can’t wait to get started.”

Gatwa had this to say of his new co-star:

“Millie just is the companion. She is full of talent, strength, she has a cheeky sparkle in her eye and is sharp as a razor. From the moment she walked into the room she captured all of our attention with her effervescence and then solidified that attention with the sheer torque of her talent. This adventure is going to be so wild and so fun, I cannot WAIT to sail the universe with Millie!”

And Davies, his typical tease-happy self, had this to say:

“It’s the great honour of my job to find the next generation of talent, and Millie shines like a star already. She’s brilliant, dynamic, clever and a wonderful actor. As a Coronation Street fan, I’ve seen Millie survive chases, guns and sieges, but that’s nothing compared to what lies ahead for Ruby Sunday.”

The report also confirmed that David Tennant’s new Fourteenth Doctor would star in three specials to coincide with Doctor Who‘s 60th anniversary after which time Gatwa’s Fifteenth would take over. 2023 is close, but we don’t know exactly when the specials will air. I guess time—get it?—will tell.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.

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Doctor Who fans are buzzing about the show’s next moves as the 60th anniversary looms ahead in November 2023. A three-episode special is bringing back David Tennant and Donna Noble with a twist because, well, the Tenth Doctor is somehow the Fourteenth now. (Still can’t believe that is real.) And, Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor will take over after that as the Fifteenth Doctor, with Russell T Davies as the showrunner. And now, Doctor Who is also getting a new home with the BBC partnering with Disney Branded Television to bring the long-running sci-fi show to Disney+. That’s right, this new era of Doctor Who will be available to stream there for audiences outside of the UK. 

This is a pretty big deal because it gives Doctor Who fans—both old and new—easier access to the show. Right now, Doctor Who’s Modern era is on HBO Max, while the available Classic era episodes are on Britbox. However, when episodes drop, it can be hard for those who don’t have BBC America or a BBC streaming service to get them quickly. So the move to Disney+ will bring this beloved British TV show to a global audience. And it is through a service that many already have. Hopefully, this will make Doctor Who much more accessible to audiences in the US and other countries.

A recent press release about the move to Disney+ doesn’t clarify if past Doctor Who episodes will still remain on other streaming services; however, it would make sense to move everything over to one streaming place. But alas, licensing things are in effect. The modern episodes will remain on HBO Max until their contract is up, and then a move to Disney+ could be possible.

In addition to the new episodes of Doctor Who coming to Disney+, there’s also a new logo to go with this era. And, it is one that will give Classic Who fans a smile. It looks a lot like the logo from the Fourth Doctor’s era with a bit of a Disney flare to it. Love the pops of color.

Of course, those new episodes of Doctor Who are coming in November 2023. And we will see Gatwa presumably taking over after Tennant’s Doctor regenerates (again). We will be patiently waiting (as Whovians do well) for more information about Gatwa’s Doctor. But for now, this video of him explaining Doctor Who to newbies and revealing the logo is a pure delight.

We welcome you, Fifteenth Doctor, to Disney+.

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Almost as soon as a new actor takes over in the titular role on Doctor Who, the public starts to wonder how their time will end. The concept of “Regeneration” as a pure storytelling tool was a stroke of genius. The Third Doctor’s final story solidified it as not merely a thing that can happen to Time Lords but a fact of their existence. Still, it’s oddly perverse to always look forward to the ostensible death of the main character. Jodie Whittaker’s final story, “The Power of the Doctor,” did some unexpected things with regeneration as a concept while not doing much beyond that for this particular Doctor’s final story.

Since, perhaps, “The Parting of the Ways” and the Ninth Doctor’s regeneration into the Tenth, the public knew a Doctor was leaving. The pall of death hangs over every one, as the actor’s contract expires and their time on the show ends. How each Doctor meets their end says a lot about who they were. Ten went out kicking and screaming; Eleven literally ran out of time; Twelve softly, defiantly chose kindness. What about the Thirteenth? It says a lot about the muddled ideas of this era that the first woman to play the Doctor has her time marked by loss of agency.

Sacha Dhawan’s Master is a glassy-eyed maniac who always seems to be one-to-nine episodes ahead of our Doctor. If there’s one thing he loved (or loves?) it was telling the Doctor something knowing she could not enact any change to. “The Timeless Children” is literally the Master narrating the Doctor’s life to the Doctor. He tells her the Time Lords used her as a weapon for multiple incarnations prior to her memory of events. It’s a massive revelation. Too bad it means nothing, because he’s already destroyed them. Because, to the Master, the Doctor couldn’t have one over on him.

“The Power of the Doctor” pulls the same trick, it seemed. The whole complicated (read: incomprehensible) plot is to once again fully trap the Doctor and force a regeneration. Not merely that, but force her to regenerate into him. Yaz (poor Yaz) then strands the Master/Doctor on the moon while she goes off with Hologram Doctor and the companions to save the day. Yes, Jodie the actor is around the whole episode. Technically it is the Doctor who helps save the day, but it feels extra weird that it’s an AI of the Doctor’s brainwaves rather than the actual Doctor in her final episode. And that she has to split time with other incarnations.

But everything comes together, Yaz et al manage to revert the Master/Doctor back into two halves. The Doctor herself leads the charge to destroy the Cybermen and the Daleks. She won; surely nothing bad will happen. However, as we all now know, the Master couldn’t have that. In his dying breaths, he changes the trajectory of the Child Squid Energy Beam to blast the Doctor. She’s unconscious for a very long time and wakes up to learn she will soon regenerate.

Not even in the Thirteenth Doctor’s final story could she be the architect of her own fate. The Doctor, during this era, is rarely more than a facilitator of plot, an explainer of events. In all the ways that matter, the Master removes the Doctor’s ability to think and act for herself. The Master’s final words are supremely fitting: “If I can’t be the Doctor, neither can you.” All of his appearances with the Thirteenth Doctor are about stripping the heroic Time Lord of the very thing that makes them such a compelling character: action.

The Doctor should—must—drive the resolution if not the entire narrative. All too frequently during her era, the Thirteenth Doctor is the recipient of action rather than the instigator of it. The Master works so hard to turn into the Doctor only to sit on a planet and do nothing once he has. The depiction is consistent if nothing else.

Regeneration is the hearts and soul of Doctor Who. The show will always—as long as the people in charge see the profit—change and reinvent itself in myriad ways. We also know, new-returning showrunner Russell T. Davies will begin his regenerated tenure with David Tennant as interim Fourteenth Doctor prior to Ncuti Gatwa’s arrival as number Fifteen. The cliffhanger, though brief, coupled with the even briefer teaser for the 60th anniversary specials promised a mixture of new and old to celebrate Doctor Who‘s history and future.

I just wish the Thirteenth Doctor’s final story, in celebrating Doctor Who‘s past and looking ahead to its future, took more than a moment to give the present Doctor her due.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.

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Doctor Who’s “The Power of the Doctor” gave Jodie Whittaker’s Thirteenth Doctor quite the sendoff. We weren’t surprised to see a few familiar faces (and foes like the Master and Daleks) pop back up once again. The short Doctor Who trailer let us know that Fourth Doctor companion Ace, Fifth Doctor companion Tegan, UNIT leader Kate Stewart, and recurring character Vinder would come back alongside expected companions Yaz and Dan. But the show took cameos to a whole new level this time around. We got a smorgasbord of great appearances in this episode, from former Doctors to companions that bring a smile to Classic Who fans’ eyes. Here’s all the Doctor Who cameos in the final episode for the Thirteenth Doctor. 

All of the Former Doctor Cameos in the Thirteenth Doctor’s Final Episode  

We knew we would see Jodie’s Doctor regenerate into the next one. But the show threw a total curveball at us (well, sort of) and made the Fourteenth Doctor… the Tenth Doctor. We do not know what the hell is going on, but what a delight to see Ten looking very perplexed. However, none of us were ready for several Classic Who Doctors making brief cameos to give Thirteen a boost of confidence and a farewell too. While stuck in sort of a Time Lord afterlife plane, she sees visions of several Doctors including the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Doctors. 

While we know the first Doctor is played by a new actor considering William Hartnell’s death, the original actors for the other Doctors do make an appearance. But wait… there’s more? While in hologram form, we get to see the Fifth and Seventh Doctors reconcile with their respective companions, Tegan and Ace. The feels came flooding with Five saying “Brave heart, Tegan” and Ace calling the Doctor “Professor.” And, we also get another appearance from Jo Martin’s fantastic Fugitive Doctor. What a joy. 

Graham Comes Back to Say Goodbye to Thirteen and Yaz

Hello again Graham! His delightful encounter with Ace in the face of Daleks wasn’t one we saw coming. After leaving the TARDIS with Ryan, he’s out in the world investigating and poorly using that psychic paper. Interestingly, Ryan wasn’t with him because he was in Patagonia. It felt very strange to have a final episode for Thirteen without all of the fam there but, in real life, actor Tosin Cole is busy doing TV shows and films. Maybe Ryan will show up in a Big Finish audio soon. 

The “Companions Anonymous” Crew 

Fans often wonder what companions do with their lives after traveling with the Doctor. We know quite a few of them continue to investigate strange happenings, like Ace and Graham. But it must be strange to know about the vastness of time and space unlike the average bloke. So it makes sense to have former companions support group because, well, these folks all have some serious trauma. Yaz bids the Doctor a tearful farewell and joins this group along with Dan, Graham, Ace, and Tegan.

But, to our surprise, Doctor Who brought back Ian Chesterton, a First Doctor companion, along with Jo Grant (later Jones, Third Doctor) and Melanie Bush (Sixth and Seventh Doctors). Sadly, there’s an empty chair in the room that could symbolize so many folks, including Ryan, Martha Jones, or even our dearly departed Sarah Jane Smith.  Can we please get some sort of special episode where they all talk about their wild experiences? 

Of course, we saw the Cybermen and got a short but sweet final speech from Thirteen. The Power of the Doctor truly felt like the end of an ongoing chapter as the show moves in an unprecedented direction. Sadly, we will have to wait until November 2023 for new Doctor Who but in the meantime we can bask in the feels of seeing so many great cameos. 

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Doctor Who gave Jodie Whittaker, a.k.a. the Thirteenth Doctor, a sendoff full of action and heartwarming cameos from days gone by. While many fans assumed that we would get our first glimpse of Ncuti Gatwa, whom we’ve been mostly calling Fourteen until now, that was not the case. In a surprising yet unsurprising (after seeing the episode) move, Thirteen regenerates into a former version of The Doctor. Now, we have a very confused Tenth Doctor (hello David Tennant) wondering what is going on. It left fans wondering where Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor falls in the lineup.

No worries, Whovians, he is not a rogue version of The Doctor. Ncuti Gatwa will portray the Fifteenth Doctor, with David Tennant officially being the Fourteenth Doctor. It is very wild. 

We got this confirmation from none other than returning showrunner Russell T Davies himself. Here’s what he had to say about Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor, David Tennant’s return, and more: 

If you thought the appearance of David Tennant was a shock, we’ve got plenty more surprises on the way! The path to Ncuti’s Fifteenth Doctor is laden with mystery, horror, robots, puppets, danger and fun! And how is it connected to the return of the wonderful Donna Noble? How, what, why? We’re giving you a year to speculate, and then all hell lets loose!

And boy, do Whovians love to speculate. It will be interesting to see what theories people come up with and why. This return to Tennant’s Doctor as Fourteen does make sense in a couple of ways. First, we saw the Master mess with Thirteen’s regeneration cycle, so we knew it would probably affect her in some profound way.

And, with next year being the 60th anniversary of Doctor Who, we can expect lots of wonderful fanservice in those specials. That is a lot to put on a new Doctor while trying to fully establish who they are. It is a nice bridge of sorts that will lead us into what we are calling the Bad Wolf era, giving Ncuti Gatwa a fresh new slate to start on as the Fifteenth Doctor. And we love him already from this very short clip where he, like us, wants to know what the hell is going on.

We cannot wait to see him take over the TARDIS as Doctor Who continues to make history.

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It is the end of an era in more ways than one. Doctor Who is preparing to go into yet another phase (one that we truly believe is the Bad Wolf era) with another “clean slate.” Fans are bidding a sad farewell to the Thirteenth Doctor, Yaz, Dan, and showrunner Chris Chibnall in “The Power of the Doctor,” which will air on October 23. This story has been pretty hush-hush since its announcement until “The Power of the Doctor” trailer hit us all with those complex regeneration feels as Thirteen gets ready for her last episode. 

Of course, it is exciting to see the return of Sacha Dhawan’s very hot Master, along with Vinder and Kate. And we get an extra treat for Thirteen’s sendoff with Classic era companions Ace and Tegan! In The Power of the Doctor clip, we hear the Master (who looks a bit scraggly) tell the Doctor that her life is coming to an end. She teams up with Kate to go searching for missing seismologists, which brings her back across the path of Ace once again.

One thing is for sure…this Doctor is very different from the one that Ace was with decades ago. Oh yes, and there is a Dalek incursion happening because there’s always some mess with the Daleks. Those guys will outlive us all. The Doctor Who trailer ends with that dreaded moment of regeneration energy surging from a very scared Doctor’s face. It is always hard to say goodbye, but we are all very curious to (presumably) get our first glimpse of Ncuti Gatwa as the Fourteenth Doctor. Seeing him in Thirteen’s delightfully colorful outfit will surely spark a lot of joy.

“The Power of the Doctor” certainly gave us a hype Doctor Who trailer full of questions, fire, and what could turn out to be yet another heartbreaking swan song for our beloved time traveler. Let’s see how it all goes down and prepare ourselves for the big feels as Thirteen’s last episode hits our screens.

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Doctor Who’s 2023 Centenary Special is continuing to up the ante. First, we got news of a new Doctor coming to town with the delightful Ncuti Gatwa taking on the role. But, is it really a Doctor Who event without bringing in multiple Doctors and some seemingly inexplicable timey wimey goodness? Of course not. According to the BBC, David Tennant and Catherine Tate will reprise their roles as the Tenth Doctor and Donna Noble. Plus, Neil Patrick Harris is joining the mix.

The TARDIS team traveled together way back in season four, capturing the hearts of many fans with their fun friendship. However, none of us can forget Donna’s incredibly sad ending. She went from disliking her life as a temp and feeling unimportant to becoming not only a heroine but the most important person in the universe alongside The Doctor. And she saves the world as the DoctorDonna (half Time Lord and half-human). But that leads the Tenth Doctor to make a controversial decision to wipe her memories of him and their travels. Yes, it is explained as the only option to keep her mind from burning up with the depth of his knowledge. But it still hurt fans to the core even though she did find love and money eventually. (It’s me. I’m fans.)

Now, this is a chance to bring Donna Noble back and perhaps change her sad ending somehow. How? Who knows what the show will invent. We do know that nothing is forever. In the 50th anniversary special, the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors did change the outcome of the Time War that haunted the Ninth Doctor. So anything is possible with the Doctor Who Centenary Special. Here’s what showrunner Russell T Davies has to say about bringing back two characters from his previous era: 

They’re back! And it looks impossible – first, we announce a new Doctor, and then an old Doctor, along with the wonderful Donna, what on earth is happening?  Maybe this is a missing story. Or a parallel world. Or a dream, or a trick, or a flashback. The only thing I can confirm is that it’s going to be spectacular, as two of our greatest stars reunite for the battle of a lifetime.

One thing is for sure: the Tenth Doctor and Donna Noble will always bring banter and brilliant moments.

Meanwhile, Harris is re-teaming with Davies for the Doctor Who special after recently appearing in the writer’s acclaimed miniseries, It’s a Sin. While Davies didn’t say who the How I Met Your Mother star will play he did tease some big things are afoot. He said in a statement, “It’s my huge honour to open our studio doors for the mighty Neil Patrick Harris… but who, why, what is he playing? You’ll just have to wait. But I promise you, the stuff we’re shooting now is off the scale. Doctor beware!”

The Doctor Who centenary special airs in 2023.

Originally published on May 16, 2022.

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As the Jodie Whittaker/Chris Chibnall era of Doctor Who awaits its final episode this fall during the BBC’s Centenary celebration, we’ve begun to get information about the show’s future. We know that Russell T Davies will be returning as showrunner. We know a lot about big casting details like the return of David Tennant and Catherine Tate. Plus there are new faces like Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor and Yasmin Finney as a mysterious new Rose. With both actors, the long-running series continues its slow but ever-improving work towards being a much more inclusive and representative work. But will this new RTD era, this post-60th anniversary be more than just another of the show’s traditional handoffs of writers and cast? Could we be about to enter a brand new epoch of Doctor Who as we know it?

Doctor Who‘s Holy Trinity of Eras (So Far)

Before we dive too far into what’s coming, let’s take a look at what has been. When talking about Doctor Who, fans usually divide it into two main categories. There’s Classic Who and Modern Who, or “NuWho.” Classic Who starts at the beginning in 1963 when the show was first created by Sydney Newman and shaped by Verity Lambert and Waris Hussein with star William Hartnell (a process lovingly dramatized in the film An Adventure in Space and Time). The Classic Era goes up until the initial cancellation of the series in 1989, seven Doctors later. NuWho, an increasingly inaccurate nickname, began in 2005. Russell T Davies brought the show back to television with Christopher Eccleston in the semi-titular role and it continues until the present. 

There is also a less remarked upon era of Who, yet no less important. Normally reserved to conversations of the sort of obsessive Whovians who might attend conventions, produce Who podcasts, or write articles with titles like “Are We at the Edge of a New Doctor Who Era?” is the Wilderness Years. It is the vague, semi-mournful, semi-nostalgic term for the disconnected space of time in between 1989 and 2005. Way back when the fans were lost in the wilderness, so to speak. 

A consistent TV series did not exist in that gap of time; however, Doctor Who was by no means dormant. The content produced during the Wilderness Era would leave a sizable impact on the show to come. The New Adventures novels, which began publishing in 1991, featured new Who stories by writers from the classic era, like Terrance Dicks and Andrew Cartmel. And, the novels included some of the voices that would later shape the NuWho era, like Paul Cornell, Mark Gatiss, and Russell T Davies. In 1995, an attempt to reboot the show as an American series ultimately became the Fox television movie starring Paul McGann as the Doctor. Then in 1999, Big Finish Productions began creating audio plays of Who stories. This took place the same year of the BBC’s official parody of the show for the Red Nose Day charity, The Curse of Fatal Death. 

A New Doctor Who Era on the Horizon: Welcome to Bad Wolf

As mentioned before, Doctor Who came back to TV in 2005. NuWho introduced us to five main Doctors, two significant secret Doctors from other points in time, and a whole host of companions, monsters, and feels. The BBC, either by BBC Wales or BBC Studios, is the producer behind the show. That is about to change. While not as attention-grabbing as the return of RTD or his big casting decisions, one major new development in Doctor Who involves this switch up. After Jodie Whittaker hangs up her iconic coat, the production of the series will go to a third-party production company, Bad Wolf. 

Bad Wolf comes with a Who pedigree of its own. The company’s founders Julie Gardner and Jane Tranter were both highly involved with the show’s return in 2005. In fact, their company name comes from the first revival season’s mysterious “Bad Wolf” arc. BBC Studios will continue to distribute the show; however, we don’t know how the co-production with Bad Wolf will work financially. We do know that about a month after the announcement, Sony Pictures Television purchased Bad Wolf. This acquisition is likely sweetened by the presence of a certain blue box that’s bigger on the inside. 

We can also assume that Bad Wolf’s new involvement plays a role in why RTD is back at the controls. His return announcement came at the same time as the Bad Wolf co-production deal announcement in the fall of 2021. What makes this so interesting is earlier that same year—before Chibnall and Whittaker’s departure had been made public—RTD gave Radio Times an interesting quote. He said Doctor Who should create expanded content at the level of Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek. Among his ideas were the return of Tate’s Donna Noble and further adventures of Tennant’s Tenth Doctor. Both of which are appearing in the 60th-anniversary special.

In November 2021, a month after Sony’s purchase, Bad Wolf filed for a new subsidiary company. Whoniverse 1 Ltd. is an almost blatant nod to RTD’s above statement. Looking at the facts together seems to signal what is in the works. A former showrunner make ambitious statements about the potential future of the show. Then, he gets hired for his old gig but does it alongside a new deal. One that could potentially establish exactly the sort of big picture future he laid out. 

We can’t say for certain what Doctor Who will look like in 2023 and beyond. But it feels very likely that it will be as new and different from the Who we’ve seen so far. And there’s a good chance that the Bad Wolf era could be a distinctly fourth epoch in Doctor Who‘s history. Another regeneration, if you will.

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What…what….WHAT?! The BBC announced David Tennant and Catherine Tate will return to Doctor Who as part of the show’s 60th anniversary celebration in 2023. But will that be as part of a special? A miniseries? A web exclusive? We just don’t know know, but we’re exploring what it means that the Tenth Doctor and Donna Noble are back and how that might impact newly announced Doctor Ncuti Gatwa’s debut on today’s Nerdist News.

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You could say our hearts jumped in delight when we heard the latest Doctor Who casting news. Heartstopper‘s Yasmin Finney has joined the cast of Doctor Who. And we could not feel more excited to see more of this great actress in action. We loved Finney’s incredible performance in Heartstopper and she’ll be absolutely amazing as she takes on the world of Doctor Who.

Here’s what we know so far about Finney’s role, courtesy of showrunner Russell T Davies.

Life on Doctor Who gets brighter and wilder, how can there be another Rose?  You’ll find out in 2023, but it’s an absolute joy to welcome Yasmin to the Doctor Who set. We all fell in love with her in Heartstopper, one of those shows which changes the world – and now Yasmin can change the Whoniverse!

Another Rose! Rose is a common name. But Davies makes it sound like Yasmin Finney’s character doesn’t share the name coincidentally. Could we be looking at an alternate universe Rose? Or perhaps Finney holds the name Rose in tribute to Rose Tyler? And does Rose have anything to do with the reappearance of Donna Noble and the Tenth Doctor? Only time will tell. But we can’t wait to find out.

In the meanwhile, we will continue to enthuse over how much we love this casting—especially since Finney herself is so excited to join Doctor Who‘s universe.

She shares:

If anyone would have told 8 year old Yasmin that one day she’d be part of this iconic show, I would have never in a million years believed them. This show has a place in so many people’s hearts, so to be seen as a trans actress by the legend himself Russell, has not only made my year, it’s made my life. I cannot wait to begin this journey and for you all to see how Rose blossoms. Get Ready.

Doctor Who has previously cast trans actors, but not necessarily in prominent roles. We hope that Finney’s Rose changes that. As Finney notes, Doctor Who is a franchise that is so beloved by so many people. And everyone who loves the show deserve to feel seen.

Yasmin Finney is currently “filming scenes that are due to air in 2023 to coincide with the show’s 60th anniversary.” We’ve already marked our calendars.

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Doctor Who and change go together like peanut butter and jelly. The show’s ability to survive and thrive over nearly six decades is because of its rotating cast for both the Doctor and their traveling companions. The latest incarnation of the Doctor broke ground with Jodie Whittaker as the first woman to step into the iconic role. And, with her impending departure, fans knew it would be only a matter of time before we got big news. Who will be the Fourteenth Doctor on Doctor Who? Now we know… and it is glorious news indeed. Rwandan-Scottish actor Ncuti Gatwa of Sex Education fame will step into Doctor Who’s beloved TARDIS as the next Doctor. 

Gatwa is the first Black man (and the youngest actor) to take on the show’s lead role in a full-time capacity. Recently, Doctor Who did introduce an incarnation of the Doctor (known as Fugitive Doctor), played by the lovely Jo Martin. (Her reveal certainly meant a lot to me.) And many fans wondered if the show would go back to its default of having a white male actor lead the way. But this announcement shows that Doctor Who is continuing to evolve in a bold and brilliant way. The Doctor is, in fact, an alien who presents as human. So they can be whatever they choose. And, it’s thrilling to see that face starting to reflect the show’s diverse global fanbase. 

The news came on Mother’s Day in the USA as Ncuti Gatwa and returning showrunner Russell T Davies hit the BAFTA TV Awards red carpet. He spoke briefly about becoming the next Doctor, saying he’d known since February. Ncuti Gatwa jokes around and reveals that the Fourteenth Doctor news was hard to hold in. Why? Because, in his words, he’s terrible at keeping a secret.

As a fan of Doctor Who and Sex Education, Gatwa is such a great choice for the role. He can deliver the high-octane energy, tinge of sadness, chaotic weirdness, gripping gravitas, and wild whimsicalness that our beloved Time Lord possesses. And Gatwa seems like just a general delight in general. His excitement about giving all of his single heart to this role. He’s stylish with a flair and we hope this shows up in his Doctor.

We will get our first glimpse of Ncuti Gatwa as the Fourteenth Doctor sometime in October when Thirteen’s swan song airs. There’s a lot to look forward to: new Doctor, iconic costume, companion(s), and adventures. And I cannot wait to see Ncuti Gatwa at the helm of it all. 

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The Doctor Who meditation book reveals in its description that it will be exactly what fans expect:

The Daily Doctor, written by Steve Tribe, is a page-a-day guide to living your best life, full of Time Lord wit and wisdom. As days turn to weeks turn to months, stay serene with your daily dose of the inspirational plans, pronouncements and principles that bring order to this crazy and chaotic universe. 

With quotes from Gallifrey’s leading philosopher covering the entire history of the show, along with colourful stories and commentary, this is your Tao of Doctor Who – 365 ¼ tips on life and how to live it! 

Well, that sounds lovely. And I am very curious to know what a ¼ tip entails. If that doesn’t make sense to you, remember that each year is actually 365 ¼ days long. This explains why every four years we get that bonus day in February. Very timey wimey stuff, indeed. 

The Daily Doctor is currently available for preorder. So if there is a Who fan in your life (including yourself), then grab a copy. After living for many years with many faces, we think the Doctor just might know a thing or two about life.

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In the clip, we hear the Doctor’s voiceover saying that nothing is forever. No regeneration. No life. And she gives a dire warning to “beware of the forces that mass against you…and their master.” Why does she say this? Because all the usual suspects are back. The Daleks and the Cybermen will appear once again along with Sacha Dhawan’s Master, who says today is when she will die. I will never not love how the Master keeps coming back from seemingly impossible odds.

But this Doctor Who trailer gives us the real surprise when Tegan appears and says she hasn’t heard from the Doctor in nearly four decades, while Ace says its only been three for her. And those two Classic Who and very badass companions are truly about that life with guns in tow. We also see a glimpse of several other people we know well like Vinder and Kate Lethbridge-Stewart. Of course, Yaz and Dan make their appearances as the clip ends with Thirteen beginning to regenerate. It seems like only yesterday that the Thirteenth Doctor landed on that train and now her final episode teaser trailer is here. 

It is truly exciting to see Ace and Tegan appear on the show again. They certainly won’t recognize the Doctor after many, many regenerations! And, for now, we don’t know who will be the Fourteenth Doctor. I hope that we don’t find out. Imagine how epic it would be to discover that news in real-time, especially in a world with so many spoilers and leaks. The end of the Thirteenth Doctor’s era also features a clean slate in total. Yaz and Dan will exit along with the showrunner Chris Chibnall. Russell T Davies will take the helm next season along with a few new faces. But until then, let’s prepare to bid a sad farewell to a history-making Doctor.

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Like all of you, I’ve been stuck in my own home a lot for the last two years. Unlike many of you, though, at no point during that time did I make my own bread. Nor did I learn any Tik Tok dances or watch a single episode of Tiger King. Nearly every quarantine fad that came and went failed to grab my attention. But one did more than that. I was all in on sea shanties. All. In. I watched every single video that came out during the glorious two-week span when they flourished. And I continued watching them long after everyone else moved on to whatever other distraction followed. Now, finally(!) they’re back. The musician who started it all, Nathan Evans, has done a Doctor Who-inspired sea shanty remake to celebrate the return of the Sea Devils.

TikTok star and sea shanty enthusiast Nathan Evans kicked off my favorite quarantine craze. Now he’s back with a special Doctor Who sea shanty rendition of “Wellerman,” the song he turned into an online sensation. The updated lyrics (which you can find below, courtesy of Blogtor Who) celebrate the upcoming release of the Legend of the Sea Devils. The special set will debut on BBC and BBC America on April 17.

No one has seen those aquatic creatures, which debuted in 1972, since 1984. What brought them back? Isn’t it obvious? They heard sea shanties were having a moment and wanted to see what that was all about. Personally, we can’t begrudge them. We hope the Doctor Who sea shanty will kickoff a fandom sea shanty trend.

Are they a smidge late? Yes and no. (That’s always the case when you’re bouncing around time in a TARDIS.) However, as far as I’m concerned they’ll be right on time if they bring sea shanties back. Because I promise I’m never making my own bread.

“Wellerman (Doctor Who Version)” Sea Shanty Lyrics

There once was a ship, I’ll tell you this
The name of the ship was the TARDIS
When trouble blew up, they didn’t get down
Oh blow you bully boys blow

Soon may the Doctor come
To bring us danger, adventure then someOne day when the saving is done
She’ll take her leave and go
So, there is a secret we can’t keep
They’re coming back: the devils of the deep
Where have they been? Maybe asleep
Very soon you will know

Soon may the Doctor come
To bring us danger, adventure then some
One day when the saving is done
She’ll take her leave and go
Join the Sea Devils and a pirate crew
They’re causing trouble like in ‘72
What on earth will the Doctor do?
Very soon you will know
Soon may the Doctor come
To bring us danger, adventure then some
One day when the saving is done
She’ll take her leave and go

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One of the strangest things to think about for a Doctor Who fan is that the show has been back on our screens for longer than it was off. 17 years since Rose and the Ninth Doctor started running. In all of that time, the show and its many writers have managed to bring back most of the classic villains or alien creatures, to varying degrees of success. From constant antagonists like the Daleks and Cybermen, to ones with a scant few classic appearances like the Zygons. For the upcoming special, “Legend of the Sea Devils,” the Thirteenth Doctor will get a rematch with a species we haven’t seen onscreen since 1984.

Sea Devils? Silurians First

Doctor Who made quite a few changes in 1970. It went from black-and-white to color; the episode number went from 45 to 25. As a cost-cutting measure, the BBC mandated every story take place on Earth. Infamously this meant the kinds of villains the Doctor could face were either alien invaders or mad scientists. But writer Malcolm Hulke, the frequent collaborator and mentor of Who‘s young script editor Terrance Dicks, gave the show a fascinating wrinkle early on.

In only the nascent Third Doctor’s second story, Hulke gave the audience “Doctor Who and the Silurians,” a seven-part epic which introduced the highly intelligent, bipedal reptile race, the Silurians (a bit of a misnomer, actually). The concept was a genius one; from deep beneath the Earth, the lizard people arise, having frozen themselves in cryogenic slumber on the eve of the dinosaur-killing meteorite. Prior to that moment, it was they, the Silurians, who had been the dominant species on the planet. Now that they’ve awakened, they want their planet back. Forget the piddly little primate species who claim it. The Doctor believes he can broker a piece between humans and Silurians…but can he?

“Doctor Who and the Silurians” is one of the very best stories of the 1970s, and immediately set the Third Doctor’s Earthbound era apart from the previous six seasons. The Doctor’s adventures would, at least for awhile, be a bit more grown up, the stakes much higher than merely “good versus evil.” The Silurians weren’t bad as a species; they were people, some of whom were not nice, and some of whom were. It was more of a political struggle, a cold war, for lack of a better term. It’s ends with one of the show’s great gut-punch endings. (More on that later.)

Now We Head to Sea

A couple of years later, the Third Doctor met the oceanic cousins of the Silurians. By this point in his journey, the Third Doctor had met his nemesis the Master a half-dozen times, the last of which ended with the Master under arrest. In “The Sea Devils,” the Doctor and his companion Jo Grant go visit the Master on an island penitentiary. Nearby, several ships have met with horrible attacks. One terrified crewman goes on and on about Sea Devils. Could it just be a bad coincidence, or is the Master somehow involved?

Well, I’ll spoil it: of course it’s the Master. And actually he sort of dominates the story, leaving the Sea Devils as little more than marching threats. Despite the cool design of the creatures—based on the facial features of turtles—the titular monsters lack the nuance and personality of the Silurians. In fairness, it’s a different kind of story from the jump; the production team received a huge amount of access to the Royal Navy which they used to basically do a raucous sea adventure. The Sea Devils were just the pawns of the Master, and their motivation is basically just the same as the Silurians’ from years earlier.

A Reptilian Team-Up?

Writer Malcolm Hulke stopped writing for Doctor Who once the Third Doctor years came to an end in 1974. He would pass away in 1979. So when it came time, coming off of the show’s 20th anniversary, for Hulke’s two creations to team up, it would be writer Johnny Byrne, who’d written two previous stories in the ’80s, who got the assignment. His job was to find a way to bring both the Silurians and the Sea Devils together for an epic story. The result was “Warriors of the Deep,” a script that’s much, much better than it ended up on screen.

Perfect for 1984, and an era in which the Fifth Doctor was always on his heels, “Warriors of the Deep” presented another kind of Cold War paranoia. In the near-future, two superpower blocs represent the whole of Earth’s forces. One side has an advanced sea base that houses nuclear weapons trained directly on the other bloc. The lone surviving Silurian from the original story’s triad awakens others of his brethren and have revived an elite pod of Sea Devil (yes, for some reason that’s their actual name) warriors to aid them in retaking the Earth.

This is one of the ’80s’ bleakest and most grown up stories, all about how power corrupts and mutually assured destruction means nobody wins. However, all most people remember is a very poor looking pantomime horse of a sea monster called the Myrkah and its laughable attack on the base. It’s truly one of the great dropped balls in Doctor Who directing. As the Doctor says when he and his companions are the lone survivors of the entire story, “there should have been a better way.”

A New Look for the Silurians, But Not the Sea Devils

We then cut to 2010. None other than writer Chris Chibnall penned a story for the Eleventh Doctor’s first series in which a new tribe of Silurians awaken and try to retake the Earth. “The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood” revamped the look of the Silurians into a sleeker, warrior-like species. Rather than the classic series’ bulky rubber suits and masks, these new versions were massive practical makeup effects that would allow the actor’s performances to shine through.

It was a pretty good story, but the Silurians were standouts enough that they’d show up throughout the rest of the Eleventh and Twelfth Doctor run. One of them, the Victorian adventurer Madame Vastra, was even a major ally character.

And now, for the penultimate episode of his run as lead writer, Chibnall brings back the other Reptillo Sapien race in “Legend of the Sea Devils.” However, these would look almost exactly like they looked in the ’70s and ’80s. No argument that mask design is iconic, but we definitely hope the advancement in puppeteering technology means they can express a little bit more than they ever got to previously.

Certainly one of the stranger and least likely classic monsters to make a return in the new series, but with a pirate ship and swashbuckling involved, the Sea Devils will hopefully make a…splash. Ha ha ha hah ha, okay I’m done.

Doctor Who “Legend of the Sea Devils” will air April 17 on BBC America. You can stream classic episodes of Doctor Who via BritBox.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!

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Somehow, our TARDIS trio is on a pirate’s ship. Dan looks both cool and also slightly ridiculous in his swashbuckling getup and I am personally not mad about it. They see a large sea monster coming their way, to which the Doctor says their infamous classic line: “That’s impossible.” I mean, don’t we know that any and everything is possible at this point?

We meet Madame Ching, a Chinese woman pirate who is actually based on a real person. She sailed the South China Sea in the early 1800s, leading a group and wreaking havoc. And she supposedly became one of the most successful pirates in history and lived a quiet life after retirement. Definitely the kind of person that the Doctor would hang out with. 

They all team up against the Sea Devils, who look awesome after decades away from the show. Timey wimey things ensue, jokes are made, and we even get a little Thasmin banter in the mix. All in all, Doctor Who hints at a good time in its Legend of the Sea Devils trailer with aliens, pirates, and making a last-minute plan to save a ship. These little bites are the perfect way to keep fans in this universe as the show readies another season after a farewell to this Doctor. The special airs on BBC and BBC America on April 17, so swashbuckle your seatbelts and get ready for another fun ride.

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A major part of Martha Jones’ companion arc is something we never saw on Doctor Who. She spent an entire year on her own during a time of death, destruction, and strife. In season three, the Master took over Earth with his army of Toclafane and incapacitated our Gallifreyan hero. The Doctor then leaves a massive task in Martha’s hands. We know that she succeeds because she’s the best but we never got to see how. It’s one of the many time gaps in the series ripe for storytelling. Big Finish took full advantage of this opportunity, bringing a snippet of the woman who walked the Earth’s journey to our ears. The Year of Martha Jones debuted on December 16, delivering a peek into the epic quest. It’s a fresh perspective and examination of this lonely and dangerous mission to deliver hope and save the Doctor.

The Year of Martha Jones delivers a mixture of rich storytelling, action, and new realizations. Like the Doctor, Martha has become somewhat of a mythical and divisive legend. People whisper her name across the world, a woman who traverses through danger, bringing fantastical stories of hope and adventure to those willing to listen. To some, she’s a beacon of light in this dangerous and dark time. To others, she’s overrated, her stories nothing more than distracting fairytales in the midst of ever-present strife. Martha perplexes them as they wonder about her true motivations and if she indeed has a plan to destroy the Master. Is she a liar? An evil agent? A savior? Who knows.

In the midst of this stands Martha, a human being trying to remain emotionally and mentally sound in a seemingly insurmountable situation. She’s seen unspeakable horrors and constantly parses through loneliness and paranoia, wondering whom she can trust in the world. Her hope still firmly rests in the Doctor, always accentuating his admirable qualities in her tales, but the reality rests heavily on her heart. She faces this unprecedented and difficult situation alone.

She can never feel quite sure that her stories will resonate strongly enough on a global scale to achieve her mission. Like an evangelist relaying stories with moral messages, she can only hope that there are enough nuggets to cultivate a profound belief and collective action. And as much as these stories encourage others, they are cathartic for her as well.

The set quickly finds its footing, specifically through a reunion with her mom. Any Doctor Who fan’s antennas will raise at this for obvious reasons but it comes as a narrative godsend. Freema Agyeman and Adjoa Andoh, who voices Francine Jones, juxtapose each other well. The latter’s commentary and staunch opposition to virtually everything her daughter says, does, and believes brings a new level of depth to their relationship. It’s sweet, tense, and a vital part of Martha’s evolution. Their interactions point to her ultimate decision to leave the Doctor following these events. We also meet a host of characters, including Holly (Serin Ibrahim), who has a tenuous friendship with Martha.

Francine’s viewpoint cements something that many of us fans forget: not all love the Doctor. In fact, some despise him and his philosophies/choices for valid reasons. Martha experiences a portion of this in these stories but with a greater degree of harshness. This set does not overtly discuss this but Martha is a Black woman. Her mission to get some people to listen, respect, and believe her is not lost on me.

These stories lean into the underestimation of Martha’s power as an engaging, influential human being. She’s not seen as a threat nor someone taking actionable steps to change the world. But, underneath her vivid stories is the seeding of an idea, an actionable request that requires humanity to connect. The enemies count her out, some people view her as nothing special, and her own mother questions her seemingly ineffective actions. But, by the final moments, we see validation that she is indeed good and enough. Martha pushes through strife, moving on to the next place to continue to spread hope to the masses.

The Year of Martha Jones doesn’t have any bombastic Doctor moments, instead infusing some quiet reflections and direct confrontation. But there’s certainly action as enemies track Martha down and close her in. They set her up cleverly but what they send to harm her works out for her greater good. She wields the power of her knowledge like a sonic screwdriver, coming out on top. She presses on with her head held high with an ending that’s ripe for another set of stories. Overall, The Year of Martha Jones gives its titular hero a chance to shine in her own right. And, hopefully we can one day get more adventures of Martha freelance alien hunting, working for UNIT, and doing general badass things.

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To help out, here are some of the big mysteries your TARDIS Team here at Nerdist picked up on during “The Halloween Apocalypse.” We could spend all day asking questions about how “species recall” works, so we’ll try to limit it to the important plot questions as best we can. In case you too wondered what the Flux was happening.

What exactly is the Division? 

The big revelation in series 12 was that the Doctor is much, much older than we, or even she, knew. In a controversial reveal, we learned she has a deep connection to Time Lord history and the discovery of regeneration. Why doesn’t the Doctor remember any of this? Because of the work she did for a mysterious, seemingly clandestine organization called the Division, which erased all of her pre-William Hartnell era memories. Memories that we learned this week also include a pretty intense nemesis, Swarm. Swarm has been held captive “since the dawn of time” in one of those solo sci-fi prisons for really bad types. The kind of shackled incarceration where the only daily activity seems to be nursing a grudge against the Doctor. And helping optimize social distancing for the cast. 

At first, the Division seemed like a sort of Time Lord spy agency, but with the Halloween Apocalypse, we learn that members of other species can also be agents of the Division, such as Karvanista, of the dog-like Lupari. The Doctor has hunted Karvanista to find out any information on the shadowy organization. While the Division is part of the Doctor’s distant past, we’ve seen much evidence of Division operatives working in an era contemporary to modern Earth, both last season and with Karvanista now. It seems this organization exists beyond the capabilities of the Time Lords and Gallifrey, a planet existing in a sort of Schrödinger’s Cat of destroyed or not destroyed depending on who is showrunning Doctor Who at any given time. 

If the Division has operated all this time, who is actually in charge of it? What is its goal? And why have they worked so hard to keep the Doctor blissfully unaware of their presence? 

What is up with Dan?

Look, we’re not buying Dan’s “aww shucks” demeanor. There are a lot of questions swirling around the new companion, played by John Bishop. First off, we learn in the episode that the Lupari are sending 7 billion ships to Earth to save all of humanity from the Flux. Yet Karvinista, who we know is a Division operative, arrived much earlier in the evening to snag Dan. He handwaves away the Doctor’s question about this with a quick response about a time distortion. However, it’s still very sus. Especially considering he puts Dan in a cage and is pretty annoyed when Yaz lets him out.

Furthermore, Karvanista’s attempts to hypnotize Dan with some sort of Jedi mind trick fails, catching even him by surprise. Finally, when remarking on the “bigger on the inside” nature of the TARDIS, Dan mentions he has a friend who had one but it was bigger. This comment is brushed aside by Yaz and the Doctor, but is it a simple joke or a hint at something more going on with Dan? 

We know from this episode and series 12’s “Fugitive of the Judoon“ that 21st century Earth is a popular spot for hidden individuals associated with the Division, could that include Dan? 

And if Dan is so good at giving tours at the Liverpool museum and seems to like it so much, why don’t they just hire him? Or, heck, let the nice harmless guy lead a few free tours? 

What’s the deal with all the aliens? 

What connection, if any, do all of these alien races have to each other, and this specific Halloween night in Liverpool? We’ve seen a Weeping Angel, the Lupari, the season’s apparent big villains Swarm and Azure, and even some Sontarans on the way. Are any of these groups working with or against each other? Are they all up to their own unconnected different plots and are maybe feeling a tad bit awkward that they all ran into each other here?

And that doesn’t even take into account the two Statler and Waldorf looking guys in 1820s Liverpool that we met right after the credits and then, let’s be honest, completely forgot about till they showed up in the “let’s all look at the camera” montage at the end. And what do all of these species have to do with the Flux, the raging time and space hurricane tearing its way through this arc? 

What’s the purpose of Vinder’s outpost? 

We meet Jacob Anderson’s Vinder while he’s filing his report on his 21,754th rotation in a distant outpost. We’re not sure exactly how much time passes in any given rotation; a day, a year, twenty minutes? The weariness and hostility in his voice, however, implies he’s been stuck in this isolated observation role for a while. Given how unhappy with the assignment he is, we are deeply curious who it was that put him there in the first place. Does the outpost also have Division ties? Why has Vinder felt obligated to stay, until permitted to leave by an abandoned ship order? Is the name of the outpost, Rose, simply a coincidental reference inspired by the same of the station? Or is Chibnall tossing some teases at fans of the modern era’s first companion, once a love interest of the Doctor?

Why was there only one bed!?

Speaking of teases! In the opening sequence of the episode, the Doctor and Yaz escape from Karvanista’s Bond-villain worthy death trap, involving two pairs of handcuffs that happen to be in the Doctor’s pocket. This pandemic-era green screen sequence builds to the pair diving into the TARDIS and landing softly in an unmade bed that just happens to be right in the main control room of the ship. There is only one bed. Was this truly just a prop placed in the scene just to facilitate the landing? Or did Chibnall, Whittaker, and Mandip Gill know they were about to send Thasmin shippers to their keyboards demanding answers? Is Thirteen truly the Doctor Who Flux?

Like we said, the important plot questions only. 

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Dan

James Pardon/BBC Studios/BBC America

We officially met Dan this episode. He’s a proud Liverpool native who appears to be chipper on the outside but doesn’t seem to have much going on in his personal life. Dan doesn’t have a job nor much general direction, which makes him a likely candidate to be a companion. We don’t learn a lot about his life except he does have a love interest, Diane, who works at the local museum where he pretends to be a guide. (We would give her a section but honestly we just don’t have enough info for one. But she’s gonna be a part of this too.) And he appears to live alone.

We obviously know that he will stick with Thirteen and Yaz for a while but is there something deeper to Dan besides sarcastic reactions? We will see. Karvanista wasn’t able to brainwash Dan nor control his mind, which means Dan might be special in some way or just very, very stubborn. And it seems odd that Dan would be one of the first people saved by a Lupari who happens to have a connection to the Division. Dan also wasn’t too impressed nor freaked out by the TARDIS being bigger on the inside. Hmmm.

Karvanista

James Pardon/BBC Studios/BBC America

Karvanista is the reason why Dan meets the Doctor and Yaz. He looks delightfully like an anthropomorphic dog but he’s just another alien, specifically a member of the Lupari, whose billions of ships are heading towards Earth. While it looks like an invasion, we discover they are assigned a human to save from the Flux. Who made that arrangement? We can only guess. Karvanista’s human charge is Dan and he goes to grab him ahead of schedule for some reason. Hmmm.

The Doctor is determined to track Karvanista down for answers to questions that she won’t quite reveal to Yaz (and by extension, us) just yet. Karvanista is apparently an operative from the Division. In case you forgot, this is the Time Lord collective responsible for forcing other iterations of the Doctor to work as an agent and erasing the Doctor’s memory. So he’s certainly gonna be a character who sticks around for a lot of the Flux storyline because he’s got valuable information for the Doctor.

And he’s certainly ready for a fight as a part of a large species with weapons like stun cubes, a deadly and illuminated ax, and a tool that can shrink a house down. He’s quite annoyed by the Doctor but the Flux’s impending arrival has a way of shifting focus.

Claire

Well hello, Claire. It’s interesting that your name is similar to Clara, a character who had an interesting and almost impossible place in the Doctor’s life. Claire may not be the new companion but she’s quite the intriguing character addition in this Flux conundrum for a few reasons. First, she knows a few things that the Doctor doesn’t know. She runs up to her and Yaz only to discover that they haven’t met yet…in the past. She even mentions taking the long way home, which is a very Doctorish thing to say.

A Weeping Angel takes her out and presumably back to the past (seen in the above clip), which we see a flash of in the episode. It is 1820 and a tunnel is being built in Liverpool because some “cataclysmic” event soon comes. This is an obvious connection to the overall story, even though we don’t know much about Claire nor Joseph Williamson, the man digging the tunnels. (He’s based on a real person who made tunnels for reasons that still aren’t clear.) Claire is a major character mystery in this Flux story who will likely set something in motion to beckon the Doctor to the past soon.

Vinder

Ben Blackall/BBC Studios/BBC America

Many Game of Thrones fans are hype that Jacob Anderson is in the Whoniverse now. We met Vinder, who is stranded in the universe and documenting a bunch of nothingness. That is, until all the things start to happen to him. We don’t know how he ended up at Observation Outpost Rose to do 21,000+ entries (How long has he been there? Who does he work for? The Division?) nor what he’s supposed to be on the lookout for. Things don’t look great for him as the Flux comes upon his vessel but he will obviously survive and cross the path of our TARDIS folks at some point. Honestly, we don’t even know what timeline he’s in. Perhaps he’s from the future.

Swarm and Azure

James Pardon/BBC Studios/BBC America

It seems that Swarm and the Doctor (and the Division) have many years of bad blood. The problem is, he remembers everything and she doesn’t remember a thing. He’s obviously able to cause Thirteen to have visions of some sort that take her out of her current headspace. We discover from him that there are a few more Division operatives in the universe too. Swarm has a sister, Azure, who is able to take on a humanlike form while he can also change his outward appearance as well. Is he a Time Lord of some sort or perhaps a part of another species that skews close to them? We shall see.

As we saw, Azure was living in a human woman’s form before Swarm’s arrival led to her changing form. We know even less about her but she does have an interest in Dan’s friend Diane. She virtually drags her into a house for reasons we don’t know. It seems like an unhappy coincidence that Azure gets Diane in her grasp but nothing happens by mistake in this world. She’s certainly a big motivation for Dan to help the Doctor and Yaz fight against their swiftly incoming enemies.

Sontaran Commander Ritskaw

As if there isn’t enough going on here, there’s a Sontaran war coming thirty trillion light years away. He, and the hologram he’s talking to (Kragar, played by Strax himself, Dan Starkey), both look hella ugly (just like their Classic Who counterparts) and they are hype about the Flux. Why? Who knows? But this Sontaran war will have a big place in Episode 2 (which is called “The Sontaran War”) so we will discover more about how they fit in as a whole.

There are a whole lot of questions that need answers and threads that will come together. For now, let’s keep our eyes on these new Doctor Who characters as we dive into world ending chaos with the arrival of the Flux.

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“There’s no use being squeamish, we’ve got the future to save.” That’s an alarming sentence, regardless of context.

Well, that was quite the ride. Flux will have the Sontarans, Weeping Angels, and creatures known as the Raveagers. Definitely enough to keep the Doctor and co. busy. Plus we see the Ood and the Cybermen. How will all of this fit into such a short number of episodes?

BBC

As you know, Jodie Whittaker’s time on the show is swiftly coming to an end. So this story is a critical part of her swan song as she bids Doctor Who farewell in 2022. It will be interesting to see how Dan and Yaz’s story ends as well. Graham and Ryan walked away on their own volition like Martha Jones, but other modern companions haven’t been so lucky. No one ever really dies, per se, but they do get left on planets and turned into Cyberpeople. We hope that isn’t the case. For now, this Doctor Who season 13 trailer has us in a good mood.

BBC

It’s time to hop back into the vortex and face another round of running in this new season. Doctor Who season 13 premieres on October 31.

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The Thirteenth Doctor will be back in the TARDIS (and on our TVs) really soon! Like, on Halloween. Yes, that’s right, Doctor Who is returning at an unorthodox time for its thirteenth season. It’s the perfect date for those who don’t do gory/horror scary and want to be thrilled with traveling adventures. And this season is extra special because it will function as one story. The BBC announced that the Doctor Who “Flux” series will run for eight episodes to give us one big adventure with Thirteen, Yaz, and Dan, the new companion who I am side eyeing because I don’t trust him.

Marketing for this season has been weird, to say the least. From lots of quietness to suddenly deleting social media accounts, we didn’t know what the hell was going on. Come on, y’all. Drop the date! Drop a teaser! Give us something! Well, now we have both. A new “Flux” teaser tells us just enough to pique our interest. Thirteen comes through a garbled video message asking for help. Who is she talking to? It seems like us, of course, but we aren’t in the show so perhaps she’s sending a signal to Earth for assistance. UNIT maybe?

BBC America

She’s in the TARDIS with Yaz and Dan, who are holding down the console while she speaks. Thirteen says The Flux is coming and it’s bringing Sontarans, Weeping Angels, the Ravages, and enemies from across the universe. I don’t know why but I get the feeling that a Cyberman or Dalek will show up…again. She ends the video by saying that this is the “fight of our lives.” Very ominous indeed.

We know that this Doctor Who “Flux” story is the beginning of Thirteen’s last hurrah in the TARDIS but it remains to be seen what will happen with Yaz and Dan. It’s assumed they will leave too, which is the case when a new showrunner comes in. (Or, in this case, a returning Doctor Who showrunner!) But, that’s still The Flux adventures and a couple of specials away. Welcome back, Doctor. Let’s hope this story takes us to another stratosphere.

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The Doctor Who universe has so many stories that remain untold despite decades of episodes. There are companions milling about Earth (and other planets) and mysterious time gaps. A great example of the latter is Martha Jones’ yearlong trek around the Earth between The Sound of the Drums and The Last of the Time Lords. She went on a solo mission, telling stories of The Doctor and staging a meeting of the minds to save humanity. Fans still wonder about Martha’s experiences and, as usual, Big Finish is answering this question. Freema Agyeman is reprising her role in The Year of Martha Jones, an upcoming three-story audio adventure set.

This is very exciting news for Martha fans. (I am one of them.) We got a taste of her life at UNIT in Torchwood: Dissected back in February 2020. But these stories will really allow us to celebrate Martha’s bravery and sacrifice. This part of her life has been explored before, specifically in The Story of Martha, a 2008 BBC book by Dan Abnett, Robert Shearman, and Simon Jowett. It’s a great read but there’s still so much that Big Finish can do with this lengthy time period. Martha didn’t have a TARDIS so she literally spent 365 days on her own. And who doesn’t want to hear Freema slip back into this role once again?! The adventures will also bring Martha’s mom, Francine Jones, back into the fold. Actress Adjoa Andoh will be taking on that role once again

BBC

The Year of Martha Jones is made up of three stories: The Last Diner by James Goss, Silver Medal by Tim Foley, and Deceived by Matt Fitton. The general plot details for each one are as follows:

The Last Diner

Martha arrives on the west coast of the US and finds an old friend waiting to make contact. A desperate group gathers for her stories. But when Francine arrives, escaped from the Valiant, she isn’t so keen to hear about the Doctor…

Silver Medal

Martha journeys to a forest camp, hidden from Toclafanepatrols. It’s somewhere she’s been before with the Doctor, more than a century ago –where the silver mines held a deadly secret. The resistance are ready to risk everything, but there’ll be no prize for second place.

Deceived

The Master’s minions are competing to please him. And agents Beecham and Strand believe nothing would please him more than finding the Doctor’s stray companion. As Martha and friends hide out in Vegas, the Toclafane arrive. How many levels of deception must be uncovered for Martha to reach the truth?

Friends, you say? You probably think it is someone we know but that’s not the case. Serin Ibrahim will voice Martha’s friend Holly and Ewart James Walters as Tucker. It is pretty cool to know that she will have her own companions in her Earth journey. I love a diverse gang!

Tony Whitmore/Big Finish

In a press release, Agyeman expressed her own curiosity and excitement over exploring this part of Martha’s epic life. “We really didn’t know what Martha was going through during that year on Earth – we see her embark on it, and we see the conclusion of it, but it’s so interesting to really see her as an ordinary person, trying to do extraordinary things,” said Agyeman. “She has incredible independence and strength so I think she can rely on that, but it’s been great to see how she does ebb and flow throughout that journey.”

The Year of Martha Jones will release sometime in December 2021. Fans can pre-order this set as a collector’s edition or digital download from Big Finish’s website. Doctor Martha Jones, you deserve this time to shine.

Originally published on July 21, 2021. 

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There’s really no two ways about it; I am shook. Few things in this life are certain: death, taxes, and Doctor Who showrunners never return to the show. Only two of these things are true now. After news that current head writer and executive producer Chris Chibnall would leave Doctor Who in 2022, along with star Jodie Whittaker, speculation ran rampant as to who would be the next to helm the BBC’s flagship sci-fi series. Nobody could have possibly guessed Russell T Davies would get the job. Mostly because he already ran the damn show. He brought it back from the dead!

BBC

According to the BBC’s official Doctor Who site, Davies will return to the series as showrunner in 2023 in time for the show’s 60th anniversary. But lest you think he’s only back for a special, the release also cites “and series beyond,” so it seems like he’s back-back. Bad Wolf, the TV production company founded by 2005 Who producer Julie Gardner and former BBC executive Jane Tranter, who greenlit that selfsame reboot, will produce along with BBC Studios.

Of his new/old job, Davies said “I’m beyond excited to be back on my favourite show. But we’re time-travelling too fast, there’s a whole series of Jodie Whittaker’s brilliant Doctor for me to enjoy, with my friend and hero Chris Chibnall at the helm – I’m still a viewer for now.”

Chibnall, for his part, had this to say:

“It’s monumentally exciting and fitting that Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary will see one of Britain’s screenwriting diamonds return home. Russell built the baton that is about to be handed back to him  – Doctor Who, the BBC, the screen industry in Wales, and let’s be honest everyone in the whole world, have so many reasons to be Very Excited Indeed about what lies ahead.”

Certainly no word yet on who will replace Jodie Whittaker. A series of six episodes will in 2021, and three feature-length specials will air in 2022.

BBC

If I had to venture a guess, I would bet the BBC is concerned about the series going forward and know that under Davies’ watch, the series became a powerhouse. His first series with Christopher Eccleston reestablished the brand after a long dormancy; his further three series with David Tennant made it appointment viewing. “Daunting” doesn’t begin to describe the making of Doctor Who so I’m sure any future potential showrunners have that in their mind. Still, many fans were hoping the next showrunner might not be one of the old guard of Who fans, many of whom became writers early on in Davies’ run.

But there’s no question Davies is a titan of television writing. His era (or I guess we now have to say “first era”) had some outstanding stories, many of which Davies himself wrote. In addition, since he initially stepped down in 2009, he’s had a string of hits including Years and Years, A Very English Scandal and It’s a Sin. The man just knows how to write good TV.

So while this is a major shock, the truth of the matter is, Russell T Davis is going to do a good job because he’s a literal genius of televised storytelling.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!

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Therefore, the announcement that Jodie Whittaker will be leaving Doctor Who following her third season (plus a few specials) in the TARDIS isn’t exactly shocking. While saying farewell to any actor who has played the iconic character is always bittersweet, that change is how the show stays fresh. But Whittaker’s departure somehow feels more disheartening than usual. Part of that is because Thirteen is the franchise’s first female Doctor, a long-hoped-for shift that’s surprisingly difficult to let go of. (We’re all assuming the next Doctor is going to be a man, yes?) But it’s also because it still feels like we barely know her at all.

BBC America

With two seasons behind her (and one to come), Thirteen still lacks anything that might be called a clear narrative arc. Her inner life remains largely closed off from both her companions and the viewers watching at home. For every “It Takes You Away,” whose​​ weirdo omni-dimensional god frog reflected the Doctor’s experience back to us in new and meaningful ways – so lonely, but still striving always to be kind –  there are a half dozen others where Thirteen’s feelings remain a mystery to almost everyone involved. (See also: “Spyfall,” “Ascension of the Cybermen” and “The Timeless Children”). 

Doctor Who should absolutely be applauded for finally putting a female Time Lord at the helm of the TARDIS. But as we start to consider the legacy of the Thirteenth Doctor and what Whittaker’s run means in the larger scope of the show’s history, it’s difficult not to conclude that the folks in charge (be it showrunner Chris Chibnall, larger BBC overlords, or some mix of both) never quite knew what to do with her. And that’s a real shame.

BBC America

To be clear: This is no slam on Whittaker, who has worked wonders with what she has been given, crafting a warm and earnest take on the Doctor that felt like a breath of fresh air after Peter Capaldi’s gruffer and more standoffish incarnation. Where Twelve seemed world weary, Thirteen felt like new beginnings, embracing the wonder of the universe and everyone in it. And yet, it’s still difficult to pinpoint exactly how the character has grown or changed since she first fell out of the sky in the Season 11 premiere.

In many ways, Thirteen’s characterization feels like Doctor Who hedging its bets. A female Doctor was a revolutionary step for the franchise and should have felt like a revelation onscreen. Her journey should have been markedly different from every other Doctor who came before her, simply because she is different from every other Doctor who has come before her.  

BBC America

The way the world responds to Thirteen should necessarily be different than the experiences of earlier Doctors – I mean, any woman who has ever been in a corporate meeting could tell you that indiscriminately voicing their ideas and opinions as this Doctor does is hardly ever met with immediate acceptance or acclaim. The idea that groups of men – whether they’re world leaders or random bar patrons  – would ever respond to a woman running up to them and giving them orders by quickly doing what she said with no question, pushback, or outright belittlement feels almost laughably naïve.

The Doctor may hail from a race of beings that don’t really acknowledge gender as a construct – but the planet she loves best very much does, and Doctor Who’s overt refusal to even vaguely acknowledge the differences in the ways human beings are more likely to respond to her now as Thirteen than they did when she was Twelve is deeply frustrating. And by not embracing the ways that Thirteen’s gender would naturally have altered her journey, it feels as though the show – or at least the folks in charge of it – didn’t entirely trust that a female Doctor could be as compelling as her male predecessors. 

BBC America

It no longer feels like an accident that Whittaker’s seasons are the shortest length of any modern Doctor’s or that she’s the first Time Lord since Fifth Doctor Peter Davison partnered with three companions from her first moments on screen. And as much as Ryan, Graham, and Yaz represent important steps forward in terms of inclusion within the franchise, Chibnall’s Doctor Who never managed to figure out how to successfully write for four leads, meaning that no one – including the Doctor herself – ever got much in the way of real interiority, and everyone’s relationships lacked significant depth. 

It is also Whittaker whose Doctor has yet to have a true showcase episode, like Capaldi’s “Heaven Sent,” David Tennant’s “Midnight” or even Matt Smith’s “The Doctor’s Wife,” the sort of era-defining installment that allows viewers to understand the iconic character in a new way. And the decision to add John Bishop’s Dan Lewis for Thirteen’s final season, rather than allow Yaz to serve as a sole companion, means we’ll never even get to see this Doctor establish a close one-on-one relationship with anyone else, as we have with every other modern incarnation. 

BBC America

Historically, companions are used as an audience surrogate to both explore and react to the many worlds the Doctor is capable of showing us. But it’s also through her connections with these characters that we’re able to see the Doctor herself change and grow as a character, whether that’s Nine finding his joy again through Rose or Twelve’s slow path to opening his heart with Clara. But with three companions in the TARDIS and only 50 minutes of story to go around each week, there’s little chance for similar relationships to truly develop. By the time Thirteen actually has a big emotional conversation with Ryan in “Revolution of the Daleks,” he’s already got one foot half out the door.

And as a result, it seems as though this Doctor will forever exist a few steps apart from those who are ostensibly closest to her – and from the audience that’s watching her adventures. Uniquely resistant to sharing any significant parts of herself with those she travels with, she tends to deflect any remotely emotionally loaded question and avoids discussing even the basics of Time Lord culture or biology. (Has she ever even mentioned the concept of regeneration to her friends?) 

BBC America

The Timeless Child storyline essentially rewrites the Doctor’s history, yet seems to have virtually no emotional impact on Thirteen herself. (Though hope springs eternal that the show will somehow address how she truly feels about this in Whittaker’s final season.) Instead, it highlights how little her supposed “fam” knew about the being they’d been traveling with for so long. Thirteen’s revitalized rivalry with the Master – one of the few Season 12 plots explicitly centered on her character – goes largely unexplained and her most problematic choices, like deciding to wipe Ada Lovelace’s mind, are unexplored.

 Chibnall’s Doctor Who has given us some of the best historical episodes of the modern era in “Rosa,” “Demons of the Punjab,” and “The Haunting of Villa Diodati”. And Season 11’s “The Witchfinders” is one of the few hours of Thirteen’s run that explicitly wrestles with the way her experience of the world changes as a woman versus when she was a man. But his focus on stand-alone stories and surface-level adventures with some occasional deep-cut lore thrown on top ends up almost completely undermining the show’s central character. And since the Doctor is the one piece of Doctor Who that always goes on – this is a problem.

BBC America

Perhaps the announcement that Thirteen’s final season will be one long serial story means that we’ll finally have the chance to really delve into her character in a way that the previous two seasons haven’t allowed us to do. Whittaker deserves the chance to truly shine – and fans deserve to properly get to know this Doctor before we have to say goodbye.

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The recent news about Jodie Whittaker leaving her role as the Doctor is bringing up all the usual discourse. Who will be the next Doctor? Why can’t it be *insert person here*? Please don’t let it be *insert terrible person here*! There are certainly a few British actors who would love to step into Doctor Who’s titular role. But there’s always the slim possibility that an American could take over the role. If so, there’s one accomplished person who is up for the task: Whoopi Goldberg.

During the Edinburgh TV Festival, Goldberg, who has the coveted EGOT status, said she would love to portray the Gallifreyan protagonist. (We learned about this via Deadline.) “I wanted to be Doctor Who and I still do,” she said. “I think it would mean an evolution into being American and I don’t know that that’s correct for Doctor Who. I don’t know I can usurp that. As much as I love it, I love watching it still in all the iterations.”

FoundationINTERVIEWS/YouTube

Goldberg has admitted that she’s been turned down by producers in the past. But perhaps this will change in the future. Honestly, she would kill it in this role. She definitely gives off big Doctor energy. Sure it would make a ton of fans mad.

People get very protective over keeping British things very British even though many British actors appear in American productions. And honestly, the Doctor isn’t British, American, or anything else. They are from a whole other planet for crying out loud. The Doctor does have an affinity for America so it could be fun to play with.

However, if a Black woman Doctor is going to occupy the TARDIS on a full-time basis, then it should be Jo Martin. It would be amazing to see more of her Doctor onscreen and going on adventures. But if the BBC powers that be ever decide to make the Doctor an American, then why not go with someone as awesome (and nerdy) as Whoopi Goldberg?

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