The Doctor Who Universe - 2023
2023 was a mammoth year for Doctor Who, celebrating it's 60th Anniversary. It saw Doctors 1, 5, 6, 7, 12 and 14 return, the introduction of the 16th Doctor, the story of the First Doctor and Susan's first adventures and the return of three "Titanic" villains from three different decades: 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.
Doctor Who: After Travels Series Three aired in 2023 and was the final season of the show, as usual the show aired on CBBC with 6 episodes.
A Trouble of Miniscopes
By Pete McTighe
This episode sees the 14th Doctor and Daniel become trapped in a miniscope where they are thrown into Ancient Greece and defeat the legendary monsters and myths.
Opposites Attract
By Phil Ford
This story sees the Fifth Doctor, Tegan and Nyssa encounter an evil version of their TARDIS team from an alternate universe. Eventually the Doctor manages to banish the evil version of the TARDIS team to another universe.
The Smog of London
By Sarah Dollard
This story sees the Sixth Doctor and Peri land during the great Smog of London and trying not to get involved in events, even though they both are tempted by saving more people then history says died.
The Conversion
By Charlie Brooker
This story sees the Seventh Doctor and Ace land in the far future where a business man is giving out headsets for a videogame which can turn people into Cybermen, the man would eventually be stopped with the help of a future version of UNIT.
Liberation of The Daleks, Part One
By Alan Barnes
This story sees the Seventh, Sixth and Fifth Doctors land at the 1966 World Cup final at Wembley where the Daleks invade it. We would see the TARDIS teams work together to try and stop the Daleks, the story ends with a boy begging the Daleks to exterminate them.
Liberation of The Daleks, Part Two
By Alan Barnes
This would be the final episode in the entire show.
The story would see the Doctors arguing quite a bit and the companions managing to stop the arguing. The story ends with the Doctors arranging the destruction of the quantum-powered reality gate, causing the psychoscape to collapse as they escaped in their TARDISes, which also destroyed the Daleks attacking the Earth.
Series Three was a mediocre end to the show and it was viewed as a great idea for a Doctor Who show, but needed more care and more chances.
Doctor Who: The Beginning would’ve been a spin-off created to celebrate 60 years of Doctor Who, the series was available on BBC Three and IPlayer and it was released from the 5th October - 23rd November 2023, the show would’ve been created by Russell T Davies and Pete McTighe.
The eight episodes consist of the Doctor’s early years, his escape, meeting Susan and his first adventures, David Bradley played the First Doctor, Claudia Grant played Susan and Harry Peacock played the Master, Susan however wouldn’t appear until episode three. The titles for the spin-off were simple and the music was composed by Sam Watts who’s rendition of the theme would be a slowed-down echo sounding version of the 1963 theme, Bradley and Peacock would be credited for episodes 1-2 and Grant would be credited for episodes 3-8, replacing Peacock’s credit.
Life On Gallifrey
By Russell T Davies and Pete McTighe
5th October
This episode mainly focuses on a couple of different things, we focus on the Doctor’s job as a lowly Scrutationary Archivist Of the Bureau of Possible Events and we see that he’s a lonely and depressed individual as he had been disowned and banished from his home by his family in the House of Lungbarrow. We also see the Doctor’s campaign to ban miniscopes after he learns of their existence and he’s outraged by their cruelty to the specimens within, however it’s pretty hard for the Doctor to get them banned as it goes against the non-interference policy of the Time Lords.
During the episode we see a young version of the Master being very successful in life as he has an illustrious political career as a Cardinal for the Arcalian chapter but throughout the episode the Scendeles chapter, who at the time are a far-right party, try to persuade the Master to join but the Master refuses as a the time he’s not really the evil person we know him to be but he does have a hunger for power.
Later in the episode we would see the Doctor working and the Master coming to see his friend but as of now their friendship is strained and they’re on the verge of falling out, the Master mocks the Doctor on where he is in life and the Doctor feels more resentment towards the Master and feels more down where he is in life.
We also see the Master working with a group of Time Lords who are trying to overthrow Lord President Slaan due to the number of problems on Gallifrey, the Master tries to get the Doctor involved but up to now the Doctor’s had enough and terminates his friendship with the Master and the Master swears revenge.
Throughout the episode we do see other things on Gallifrey including the CIA, Lord President Slaan and the high council and other things.
The end of this episode sees Slaan announce that the Time Lords have voted to ban miniscopes and the Doctor is very happy about that and he’s happy he’s made a difference and we also the Master and several others plan to overthrow Slaan and the Master plotting his revenge on the Doctor after they overthrow Slaan.
The Escape
By Russell T Davies and Pete McTighe
12th October
This story sees the Doctor’s departure from Gallifrey and the Master with the group he’s involved with trying to overthrow Slaan. The Master and the group convince several people who hold power in Gallifrey including some Chancellery Guard members, CIA agents and some Time Lords including the Castellan, the Councillor and the Cardinal. They then launch several attacks on some important places in Gallifrey and try to assassinate Slaan however the coup is stopped and several members are captured and executed but the Master escapes, this then causes a chain reaction of events as several Gallifreyan citizens start a riot and the Chancellery Guard get involved killing hundreds of people.
The Doctor’s plotline involves the Doctor’s family illegally using the Looms to create another cousin called Owis, Upon him learning of this crime, the Doctor reports his family to the Prydonian Chapter and then encounters his Cousin Glospin, Glospin reveals that there was genetic evidence to suggest that the Doctor didn't originally come from the Lungbarrow Loom, having originally been naturally born. Glospin claims that the Doctor had infiltrated the family, and intended to use his evidence to get the Doctor executed for Loom-jumping. Glospin attacks the Doctor, obtaining a sample of his DNA, allowing him to frame the Doctor for the murder of their House Kithriarch, Quences. During the fight between the two, the Hand of Omega arrives to attack Glospin, giving the Doctor the opportunity to escape. Knowing Glospin's claims could lead to his execution, the Doctor then meets a woman, played by Millie Gibson, she tells him that it’s better to take a Type 40 as it’ll be more fun and so the Doctor leaves Gallifrey, declining the chance to take a Type 53 TARDIS in the process. He instead chooses to leave in a Type 40 TARDIS with the Hand of Omega, taking the woman’s advice much to her delight.
The Night
By Pete McTighe
19th October
This episode sees the Hand of Omega pilot the TARDIS to the Dark Time on Gallifrey to collect the granddaughter of the Other, who recognises the Doctor as the reincarnation of the Other, this was explained in the 1991 story ‘Lungbarrow’ where Susan is a direct descendent of the Other and when the Other hurled himself into the Prime Distributor of the Looms, but before he did that he bid-goodbye to his Granddaughter and told her to go to a planet far away from Galllifrey and millions of years later the Other was loomed to the House of Lungbarrow as the Time Lord who became known as the Doctor.
This story would see Susan trying to get off Gallifrey the night the Other sacrificed himself and she tries to to get off Gallifrey via the Spaceports but Rassilon seals them and she spends over a year wandering the streets selling books and we see her over the course of a year be upset and alone.
We then see the Doctor arrive and after exploring for a bit he meets Susan and she is convinced he is her grandfather and after a few problems here and there they leave in the TARDIS and set off for their adventures.
The First Adventure
By Pete McTighe
26th October
This story sees the Doctor and Susan’s first adventure in the TARDIS, we would see the TARDIS land on an old abandoned space-station where they seem to be the only two on there. The Doctor and Susan go deeper into the space-station where they soon discover an alien race called ‘The Ugmuils’, a race of strange, fungus-like creatures that seem to be able to survive in the vacuum of space. The Doctor says that he studied these creatures on Gallifrey and he says their spores can often be seen accumulating on the outside of spaceships after long voyages.
In the end the Doctor uses the labs on the space-station to kill off the fungus to which he is successful.
The King and The Rogue
By Russell T Davies and Pete McTighe
2nd November
The story starts out with the Doctor taking Susan to see the Rings of Akhaten and then they arrive in July 1543, after wandering around for a bit they decide to go back to the TARDIS but they find that it’s not there and it’s been taken to the Tower of London. However in the story they have to deal with a Dhairlea, the Doctor mentions that ‘The Dhairlea’ are a sentient species of green humanoid aliens, known across the universe for their incredible skill at technological development. However this Dhairlea is a rogue scientist who plans to poison the atmosphere and wipe out humanity but it’s plan fails as the Doctor communicates with the Dhairlea race and the rogue Dhairlea is arrested and taken back to it’s home planet.
The final 15 minutes of the episode sees the Doctor and Susan meet Henry VIII, the Doctor argues with Henry VIII, so Henry throws a parson's nose at him. The Doctor throws it back and Henry orders the Doctor and Susan to be taken to the Tower of London. The argument is then revealed to Susan by the Doctor that it was actually intentional so they could be sent to the Tower so they can get the TARDIS back, we then see the Doctor steal the keys from the Guard when he comes to give them both some food and then find the TARDIS and leave.
73 Yards
By Russell T Davies
9th November
After landing in Wales, the Doctor accidentally breaks a fairy circle containing messages mentioning someone named "Mad Jack", before then suddenly disappearing. Susan begins being followed by a mysterious woman who, though appearing to stand still, maintains a constant distance of 73 yards away from her. Anyone who approaches the woman runs from both her and Susan in fear. Years pass, with Susan attempting to maintain a normal life while still being followed. In 2046, Susan overhears a campaign speech by Roger ap Gwilliam (whom the Doctor had previously mentioned as causing nuclear destruction after becoming prime minister), in which Roger calls himself "Mad Jack". Infiltrating Roger's election team, Susan is able to position the woman next to Roger, causing him to fearfully resign as prime minister. Over 40 years later, a now elderly Susan is approached by the woman, before then being sent back in time to her younger self's arrival in Wales with the Doctor. The older Susan is able to influence her younger self into warning the Doctor from breaking the fairy circle, preventing his disappearance.
The Devil’s Chord
By Russell T Davies
16th November
In 1925, a music teacher shows his student the tritone or the "devil's chord", which summons a being called Maestro, who kills the teacher by consuming the music from his heart. At Susan's request, the Doctor takes her to London in 1963 to see the Beatles record their first album at EMI Recording Studios, as Susan has just learned about the Beatles from the TARDIS. They discover from John Lennon and Paul McCartney that the world has lost its taste for music, which the Doctor fears will alter humanity's future. He has Susan play a song, gaining the attention of Maestro, who is consuming music from every human. After escaping from Maestro, the Doctor takes Susan to the future, discovering the world in a nuclear winter. Maestro appears, revealing themself as a child of the Toymaker with the power to manipulate the power of music. They take control of the TARDIS, forcing the Doctor to return to the studios in 1963. There, he and Susan try to find the chord to banish Maestro, but the two are powerless. John and Paul arrive to play the chord that traps Maestro.
Wanderers in the Fourth Dimension
By Russell T Davies and Pete McTighe
23rd November
This story starts off with the Doctor and Susan and we see that they’ve had many off-screen adventures together and they set off for another adventure, they land on Earth in the 41st Century where the city they are in is a dystopian nightmare. We learn after the Eurasian Civil War that both Europe and Asia fell into complete chaos and nuclear weapons were used, the Doctor and Susan are captured and taken to ‘The Leader’ and we see it’s Harry Peacock’s Master. We learn that the Master started the Eurasian Civil War solely for the purpose of chaos, we learn he is planning one final act of chaos by detonating a nuclear bomb to start more war. We would see the Doctor and Susan imprisoned in a castle-like prison which holds some of the most dangerous people who can do harm to the government. The Doctor and Susan would end up sparking an uprising and orchestrate a massive prison riot and lead a rebellion against the Master and it’s successful and his plans are all spoiled. We would see the Master get shot during this and him slowly escaping in his TARDIS and regenerating.
The end of the story sees the city celebrate and the Doctor and Susan would leave in the TARDIS as they fly past many planets where the TARDIS would land, the Doctor, not knowing where he is, checks the scanner and it reads "76 Totter's Lane, Shoreditch, London. "
A caption would then pop up reading “And then the story continued,” We would then get clips from Doctor Who’s 60 year history with the First Doctor in the background saying “Our lives are important, at least to us. As we see, so we learn. our destiny is in the stars, so let's go and search for it.” At the end of all clips over the course of 60 years three small scenes would appear from the 60th Anniversary.
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The 2023 specials of Doctor Who are three special episodes that aired between 25 November and 9 December 2023, to celebrate the programme's 60th anniversary. They were written by Russell T Davies; these were his return to the main show since the 2010 New Year’s Day special “One Last Life.” Russell’s return was announced on September 24th 2021, before Season 56 aired and this later came with the announcements of the returns of David Tennant, Phil Collinson and Murray Gold, only for these three specials also.
David Tennant returned as the Twelfth Doctor after the Doctor degenerated back into his Twelfth incarnation in 2022’s The Reckoning, this was also Tennant’s first appearance on Doctor Who since 2013. Millie Gibson was introduced as Ruby Sunday, a girl from 2023 and someone who would play an important part for these three specials.
Rupert Graves returned as General Wilson, Ruth Madeley was introduced as Shirley Anne Bingham and Annabel Scholey returned as Hannah Smith, last seen in 2013.
It was announced in March 2022 that Chris Clenshaw would take over for Season 57 in 2024, meaning that these specials would be Russell’s final chapter on Doctor Who.
The Giggle
By Russell T Davies
On Christmas Eve 2004, a baby girl was dropped off at a church on Ruby Road. Leaving as quickly as she arrived, the mother departed - nobody seeing who she was. This is witnessed by the Twelfth Doctor, with tears streaming down his face.
One night, Ruby plays a small gig with her band and a fight breaks out in the pub. The Doctor's TARDIS lands outside the pub, as the Doctor ventures out and strolls down the road. He wanders into a bustle of people before seeing two men continuing the fight outside, he watches from a distance and some of the people from inside the pub come outside to witness the fight as it’s soon broken up.
The next day, Ruby encounters him at a nightclub as she turns around and sees him catch a glass of gin and tonic that she knocks over. He asks Ruby if she’s noticed anything unusual, and she says that people have been getting angrier and it's been happening for a while now. He departs, but follows her as she gets into a taxi with her friends. A car comes round the corner and beeps the taxi. Using his sonic screwdriver, the Doctor changes the light at the intersection, prompting the taxi to drive on, just as the car drives into a wall, as the driver wanted to drive into the taxi. A policeman stops him as he leaves to take a statement, but the Doctor instead tells the man his girlfriend will accept his marriage proposal and leaves.
The next afternoon, Ruby walks into London as she enjoys a day out. However she is later confronted and chased by a few angry people, but she’s saved by the Doctor as they get away, they then get to know each other a little bit but are soon interrupted as small explosions and riots break out, and a plane crash lands not far away.
The Doctor and Ruby traverse the streets of London as it is plagued by chaotic anarchy. A man annoyed by cars driving in his way tells the Doctor that everybody on Earth believes themselves to be right all the time and that arguing drives them into a rage. As the shop owner from 1925, now dressed a gentleman speaking with a French accent, pulls the Doctor into a dance.
The Doctor and Ruby return to Ruby’s flat, the Doctor and Ruby seem to get on very well as they talk about what’s been happening and the Doctor meets Cherry. Carla returns, and, as the Doctor introduces himself, she acts concerned, not sure why they need a doctor. A man then breaks down the flat door and attacks the Doctor, Ruby helps by whacking the man over the head with a frying pan as the Doctor goes outside, UNIT arrives on the scene and takes the Doctor and Ruby to UNIT HQ, as they get Carla and Cherry to a safe place.
General Wilson UNIT’s new scientific advisor Shirley Anne Bingham and the Head of the archive, Harriet, greet the Doctor and Ruby at UNIT's new skyscraper headquarters, both inoculated to the chaos thanks to an armband called a Zeedex. The Doctor deduces that he and the Vlinx, a robot working for UNIT, are immune due to being extra-terrestrials, as are Ruby and Hannah Smith, who recently joined UNIT, benefitting from the effects of long-term TARDIS travel. Wilson orders his Zeedex be briefly deactivated to demonstrate the consequences to the Doctor, and he quickly turns paranoid and vengeful due to a distorted brainwave. Analysing the waveform and playing it as a sound, the group discovers it corresponds to the giggle accompanying the Stooky Bill recording. The recording has been hidden in every screen since 1925, only triggered when the launch of the KOSAT 5 satellite finally connected all of humanity to the internet.
The Doctor and Ruby trek back to 1925, searching for the cause of the giggle, and trace Stooky Bill to Mr Emporium. Entering, the Doctor and Ruby are greeted by the owner, whom the Doctor recognises as the Toymaker, who talks about the oldest game, catch, while juggling balls until he retreats further into his shop in a game of hide and seek. The Doctor chases the Toymaker, followed by Ruby despite telling her to return to the TARDIS. Ruby insists on staying with him, and the two become trapped in the Toymaker's funhouse labyrinth, which the Doctor realises is the Celestial Toyroom, stumbling around and eventually becoming separated. The Doctor encounters a man named Banerjee, turned into a marionette who dances on the Toymaker's command after losing a game to remove the giggle in his head. Ruby encounters Stooky Bill's doll family and breaks apart Stooky Sue as the Stooky children try to eat her.
The Doctor and Ruby reunite and find themselves the guests of honour at the Toymaker's puppet show: an attempt to recount to Ruby the Doctor's adventures. The Toymaker portrays the deaths of Henry, Lillian, Sam, Mike, Shelly and Daniel in puppet form. The Toymaker mentions how the actions of Deusmalus ravaged the universe under the Doctor's watch , this provokes the Doctor into challenging the Toymaker to a game. The Toymaker accepts, bragging as they prepare about his fun since arriving in the Doctor's universe. He has already turned God into a Jack-in-the-Box, created a jigsaw out of the Doctor’s history and recounts the events with Banerjee. However, there was one the Toymaker did not face, "the One Who Waits", but he considers that someone else's game when the Doctor asks who they are.
The Doctor and the Toymaker decide on a game: a simple cut of the deck where the highest card wins. After confirming the rules and assuring Ruby the Toymaker can't cheat even though he is using his own conjured cards, the pair play. The Doctor turns over an eight, but the Toymaker unveils a king and wins. As the Toymaker moves to claim his prize, the Doctor points out that, since he won the previous game, they are therefore tied one-all and a third game is required to declare an absolute winner in a best of three. The Toymaker agrees and disappears after declaring 2023 will be their battleground, causing the labyrinth to collapse around the Doctor and Ruby and the toy store to fold into a small toy box. The duo escape in time, realising the Toymaker intends to play the third game in their present day.
Back at UNIT HQ, Wilson manages to have the KOSAT 5 satellite shot down using the galvanic beam, breaking the satellite chain triggering the giggle. The Doctor arrives and hands Hannah the toy box, warning her to be careful with it, and explaining to Shirley that the Toymaker is an elemental force who can meddle with reality, stepping from 1925 to the present as if walking through a door. The Toymaker promptly walks through a door he creates in the middle of the room, performing a dance number to "Spice Up Your Life" by the Spice Girls as he pulls Wilson and Hannah into dances to knock them down, collapses two soldiers trying to detain him into coloured bouncy sentient balls, and turns the other UNIT troops' bullets into harmless red rose petals. As the song ends, the Toymaker disappears through the floor before materialising on the helipad manning the galvanic beam. The Doctor begs the Toymaker to stop, offering to leave with him to take their game to the stars. The Toymaker is tempted, but declines; he considers Earth the ultimate playground. The Doctor demands that the Toymaker finish their game, to which he agrees and the Toymaker snaps his fingers as a door appears and the Doctor walks through it.
The Doctor falls onto the ground, he’s in a dark and distorted reality. The Toymaker explains that he has to make it out of the realm alive, the Doctor then makes his way through the reality facing off against a 1960s Dalek, a Mondasian Cyberman, a Weeping Angel, a Wirrn, a Sontaran and an Auton.
He gets out of the reality and finds himself in a theatre with the Toymaker, the Toymaker explains he was the one who had given the Doctor’s old face back as to meddle with events and he knows that this incarnation is one with a fight in him. He then introduces the Doctor to his child called Maestro, the God of Music and Maestro reunites with the Doctor and they recount their first meeting with the Doctor back in the 1960s.
Maestro then says that they’ve wanted to play a game with the Doctor for a very long time and begins manipulating some music notes which cause the Doctor to collapse in immense pain, the Toymaker stops Maestro and reveals they’ve trapped Ruby.
Maestro commands Ruby to sing, and so Ruby begins to sing. But a hidden song within her filters through, overwhelming everything else, Carol of the Bells. Maestro insists that the song can't have this much power, power like the Oldest One, and says he can't have been present at Ruby's birth. But no, Maestro releases her, saying that she's very wrong.
Ruby then challenges Maestro to a game where the two face off in a music battle with a piano, it’s here Ruby plays something known as “The Devil’s Chord” and traps Maestro, the Doctor and Ruby are then transported back to UNIT HQ.
The Doctor and Ruby both challenge the Toymaker to a game of catch, which he accepts. The three players dash across the helipad, tossing the ball back and forth, barely catching it many times, before the Toymaker misses a throw from the Doctor that falls to the city below. The Doctor and Ruby are the winners, with the Doctor claiming his prize of forever banishing the Toymaker from existence. The Toymaker vengefully cries out that his legions will come for them before folding up like a paper doll and slotting inside his toy box, which UNIT takes to their deepest vault to bind in salt as the waveform dissipates.
The Doctor and Ruby return to Ruby’s flat to find her family safe, talking about what happened with recent events. The Doctor slips out unnoticed as he walks back to his TARDIS, he finds that it’s locked and he knocks on the door and it unlocks. He walks in and the console room has transformed back into the old Coral room, he delights in the “Retro Design” and tosses his coat aside.
Ruby and Carla talk about the Doctor, Carla just finding him crazy, and Ruby trying to contextualise the day she's just had. It dawns on her that the Doctor is a time traveller, and she kisses her adopted mother and dashes out of the door. Looking around on the street, she finds the TARDIS and enters it. The Doctor and Ruby depart, the Doctor offers her the chance to go with him to see the universe and she accepts and the Doctor gives her a TARDIS key.
However, the console bursts into flames and the TARDIS takes off. The Doctor tells Ruby they could end up anywhere in time and space.
Wild Blue Yonder
By Russell T Davies
The TARDIS lands in an unknown spaceship, heavily damaged; the Doctor and Ruby narrowly avoid a fire blast from the TARDIS incinerating them as they jump out. The Doctor places his sonic screwdriver into the latch in order to prime the TARDIS to regenerate and heal itself from the damage it has sustained. As the Doctor works, Ruby wonders why the TARDIS played "Wild Blue Yonder", recalling how she heard it once at a war museum. The Doctor eventually triggers the TARDIS's self-repair and they leave the room to take a look around the ship. However, they quickly race back after hearing the TARDIS dematerialising as a result of the Hostile Action Displacement System. The two of them at first despair, until the Doctor explains to Ruby that there's a good chance the TARDIS will return to them if they resolve whatever hostile action they have encountered. The two set off into the ship with renewed determination, marching down a long corridor. As they walk, they come across a small hovercraft and a man named Rico. He takes them to the cockpit and Fenton introduces the Doctor and Ruby to the captain Joceyln and Lucia, they explain to the Doctor that the ship is one that had fallen through a wormhole and ended up on the edge of the universe, where not even starlight has yet propagated long enough to reach.
The Doctor and Jocelyn go into a room with a spindle and adjust it, whilst Ruby, Lucia and Rico go into a room with drawers of baseplate repetition filaments. Lucia explains to move all the ones in a lower drawer to a higher one, as the ship is on idle and needs to be powered back up.
Ruby talks about her home and how she’s just met the Doctor and what she’d do if she could never return to her family. Lucia then asks how Rico is feeling as he’s recently become more irritable due to his bad dreams, Rico becomes angered as he says that he’s fine. Rico then becomes different and he lifts up his sleeve as a serpent-like tattoo is shown on his arm, his eyes and teeth are then shown to be serpent-like as he says “I serve the Mara!”
The Doctor and Jocelyn hear the commotion, they run out the room and bump into Ruby and Lucia. Rico walks towards them as the Mara talks through Rico saying that the Mara has become more powerful. He chases the Doctor, Ruby, Lucia and Jocelyn as they split up and go into different ventilation systems.
The Doctor and Ruby crawl through the narrow ventilation shafts of a damaged spaceship, evading Rico, who has been possessed by the Mara, a malevolent psychic parasite that thrives on fear and chaos. As they navigate the cramped, metallic ducts, Ruby asks the Doctor what the Mara is and why it’s targeting them. The Doctor explains that the Mara feeds on despair and must have been drawn to the ship after it crossed through a wormhole. He worries that if the Mara gains full control of Rico, it could use the isolated ship as a base to spread its influence.
Elsewhere, Jocelyn and Lucia crawl through another section of the ventilation system. Jocelyn, the ship’s captain, presses Lucia for details about Rico’s recent behaviour. Lucia admits that he has been restless and plagued by nightmares, often muttering about serpents and shadows. She realises the Mara has likely been manipulating him for weeks, exploiting his vulnerability. Before they can act, Rico’s voice echoes through the ship, promising that resistance is futile and that they too will succumb to the Mara’s power. Jocelyn steals herself and urges Lucia to keep moving.
The Doctor and Ruby finally emerge into a dimly lit maintenance bay filled with sparking wires and old technology. The Doctor begins working on a plan to sever Rico’s connection to the Mara using the ship’s systems. He explains they need to isolate Rico’s neural signature and disrupt the Mara’s psychic control. As he tinkers, Ruby explores the room, accidentally activating a powerful Axalan device. The Doctor scrambles to deactivate it, warning Ruby to be more cautious.
Their commotion attracts Rico, who arrives with his serpent-like features fully revealed. The Mara, speaking through Rico, declares its dominance and intent to make the ship its kingdom. Ruby is visibly shaken, but the Doctor steps forward with his characteristic confidence. He tosses the Axalan disruptor to Ruby and engages the Mara directly, taunting it and exploiting its dependency on fear. The Doctor reveals he has faced the Mara before and knows its weaknesses. As the Mara hesitates, the Doctor activates the disruptor, releasing a powerful energy pulse.
The Mara is driven out of Rico, and the serpent tattoo on his arm fades. Rico collapses, unconscious but freed. Rico wakes up when Jocelyn and Lucia soon arrive, the Doctor says that none of this has ended and everything is still very wrong. The five of them split up and go to different sectors of the ship, the Doctor and Ruby fall asleep.
The Doctor ends up in a dreamscape and comes face to face with Dukkha, he taunts the Doctor with the deaths of his companions, Deusmalus and his failures. Dukhha then taunts and torments him with mind games and thought paradoxes until he agrees to a pact with him. The deal permitted the Mara to take him as a host, allowing it a physical presence in the real world once again. However the Doctor manages to break out the dreamscape, he stands up as he explodes with rage, striking a wall over and over.
Ruby soon becomes sleepy and collapses, she also encounters Dukkha who shows her a false future of Cherry and Carla and foretells the arrival of ‘The One Who Waits’. The Doctor later finds Ruby and wakes her up as she is comforted.
The Doctor and Ruby then bump into Jocelyn and Lucia, the Doctor asks them where Rico is and he, Ruby and Jocelyn see his lifeless body on the other side of the room, Lucia then becomes a serpent like humanoid as she says that she serves the Mara.
The Doctor, Ruby and Jocelyn then confront the Mara, as it speaks through Lucia, the Mara explains that the crew used to be more but it drove them to malice, deceit, vengeance and death. The Mara then separates itself from Lucia and kills her as it begins to move closer to the Doctor, Ruby and Jocelyn, it tries to attack them but the Doctor, Ruby and Jocelyn get away as they make their way to the cockpit.
The Doctor tells Ruby and Jocelyn that he’s going to open the airlock as it’ll banish the Mara for good, Jocelyn says that she’ll allow the Mara to take her over and she’ll sacrifice herself to save the Doctor and Ruby. The two protest but Jocelyn manages to lure the Mara as it processes her, she then puts the ship on a self-destruct countdown and begins to chase the Doctor and Ruby,
The Doctor and Ruby outrun Jocelyn, the Doctor realises that, as the hostile action is resolved from his efforts to stop the Mara, the TARDIS should know the threat is basically over. As if on cue, the TARDIS begins to rematerialise, still playing "Wild Blue Yonder" from within, he and Ruby get inside but Jocelyn tries to force her way in but is stopped as the TARDIS dematerialises, flying away from the exploding ship.
As they travel back to London, reflecting on their adventure, Ruby says that Dukhha told her about the one who waits as the Doctor says that he’s very worried about the future ahead. The TARDIS then lands in UNIT HQ, the Doctor and Ruby are reunited with Wilson, Shirley and Ibrahim and they tell the Doctor that something has been happening where Wilson turns on the screen as the news reports that everyone around the world has received mysterious text messages and that this could be the end of days.
Empire of Death
By Russell T Davies
The Doctor and Ruby confront a global crisis: everyone on Earth has received a text message heralding the end of days. The Doctor theorises only a being of immense power could orchestrate this, and they must uncover the source.
Shirley explains that everyone got the message at exactly the same time worldwide, she also says that many of the text messages are quite cryptic. Hannah enters the room and turns on the screen, saying that mass panic has completely taken over. The Doctor wonders if it could be alien interference or just some tech hacker, but Wilson says that they’ve got no intel on that sort of stuff so far.
As UNIT are working on trying to track the origins of the texts, Ruby and Hannah get a chance to speak. Ruby says that travelling with the Doctor is great and Hannah agrees, she then recounts the events from when she first met the Doctor and defeating the Valeyard. But she also says that the man she loved died whilst travelling with him and tells Ruby to go and see her family while she’s got time and the Doctor won’t mind, Ruby then leaves UNIT HQ.
Hannah tells the Doctor Ruby’s gone to see her family for a bit as the Doctor says that it’s fine and it’ll be a nice little reunion, he and Hannah then talk about all the adventures they had and how much they missed each other. Hannah then jokes about the Doctor being older and the Doctor saying that she doesn’t look like she’s changed that much, to which they both laugh.
Ruby arrives home and reunites with her mother and grandmother, she tells them about all the “crazy stuff” that’s happened and Carla says that it looks like she’s enjoying herself, Ruby says that she is but reassures Carla of her safety and she says that she wishes that she could find out who her mum is, Carla says that she knows but says that she can always come back here as this will always be her home and they hug.
The Doctor and UNIT manage to track the source to an underground facility deep beneath London. A task force is sent with everyone at UNIT watching via a live feed, the Doctor says that whatever they find will want to face him at some point and Wilson says that they’ve got to see what they’re dealing with first.
Ruby then talks about the text messages and Carla says that she got one whilst in the shop and everyone got it at the same time, Cherry says that nothing is gonna scare her out of making a nice cup of tea. She gets a call from the Doctor and she answers it, the Doctor tells her that they found the place.
UNIT soldiers move cautiously through the facility as the live feed is watched from the tower, they eventually find a stone box with cracks in it as a fierce roar is heard. A roil of dust and debris swirling into a shapeless creature, the Doctor talks to it through the feed as the creature says it has been stuck in hell for so long, it has seen hell, it has been hell. But now it’s free, it has been freed and it shall destroy the abominations, it also says that he created an apparition of “the girl” and was there on Christmas night. The Doctor asks who the girl is but the Roil doesn’t say, instead it says “I am returning, I wait no more!” A green blast is seen and the live feed turns to static, the Doctor takes a random phone and texts back to the mysterious message, Ruby arrives and asks what happened and the Doctor fills her in and tells her what happened. The Doctor sends the message asking who the girl is and a reply is sent “The girl is…Ruby Sunday.” The Doctor looks over at Ruby and realises, the Doctor explains that Ruby always looked so familiar. Ruby asks if she’s normal and tells everyone that she doesn’t no anything, the Doctor reassures her telling her that she’s completely normal and he uses his Sonic Screwdriver to explain:
Ruby looked so familiar to him because this being created apparitions of her, meaning she looked the same every time. He uses his Sonic on the screen and we see Ruby as different people across history and in the Doctor’s timeline, many are people who the Doctor has met including: Mellium (The Ark), Gia Kelly (The Seeds of Death), Bettan (Genesis of The Daleks), Delta (Delta and The Bannerman), Sally Sparrow (Blink) and Sarah Clark (Father’s Day). The Doctor explains that somehow this being has manipulated events and tells Wilson that he’s going to the facility, he tells Ruby to stay here with Wilson, Ibrahim, Shirley, Harriet and he and Hannah will go to the facility with some soldiers.
The Doctor and Hannah arrive at the facility as they communicate to the others through an earpiece, they find lifeless, sand-covered bodies – those of the UNIT soldiers. They come across the stone vessel as the Doctor tells everyone to let him do the talking, Wilson then chimes in on the earpiece telling the Doctor they’re now getting new messages on the phone. It’s here Harriet begins chanting, ranting, offering a prayer. Her full name? Harriet Arbinger - A Harbinger for a god. Harriet lists off god after god in a pantheon, but she is the harbinger for none of them. She is the harbinger for the "mother and father and other of them all". Sutekh.
In the facility the vessel breaks apart as the Doctor watches on in terror, Sutekh, the ancient and malevolent god of death, has returned.
Back at UNIT HQ, Wilson puts UNIT on high alert as Harriet’s face becomes skull-like as everyone backs away.
Sutekh reveals that his physical body was destroyed but his consciousness survived, and he rebuilt himself a body using an Osirian loom, he then left the universe and waited in the void until the Doctor defeated the Toymaker and the Mara and he returned. During his time in the void, he met the Pantheon of Discord and eventually became a god and since then he has been manipulating events, including the text messages. Sutekh explains that he found a way to manipulate technology, using the cryptic texts to prepare Humanity for the worst and herald his arrival and he did a similar thing on Gallifrey and succeeded. He also explains that he created different versions of Ruby and scattered her across the Doctor’s timeline, the Doctor figures out that these apparitions were supposed to kill the Doctor in different times and places but something went wrong and the Doctor figures it out, telling Sutekh they experienced something that Sutekh hates: Life, along with it’s pleasures and joys.
Sutekh says that he will destroy all life, starting with the Doctor. The dead UNIT soldiers then come back to life as Sutekh’s servants, now with Skull-like faces, UNIT then mount an attack as the Doctor and Hannah get away. UNIT continues to fight, but their forces are powerless against Sutekh and his army and the UNIT soldiers are killed and turned into more of Sutekh’s servants.
The Doctor and Hannah use a UNIT jeep to drive back to UNIT HQ, the Doctor tells everyone to get inside the TARDIS but Ibrahim stays behind with some soldiers but they are later killed.
The Doctor then explains to Ruby, Hannah, Wilson and Shirley who Sutekh is and his first encounter with him in 1911. He says that several versions of Ruby were created and scattered throughout time to kill the Doctor, but were exposed to life and overcame Sutekh’s influence. Ruby's quite worried that she’s not normal, but the Doctor puts her hand on the console and does a DNA scan, proving she’s entirely human. Hannah then brings up Gallifrey and the Doctor sets co-ordinates.
The Doctor opens the doors of the TARDIS, returning home once again. The entire Capital is destroyed and the planet is covered in sand with some Time Lords dead as well, the Doctor steps back inside. He walks over to the console, Hannah asks him if he’s OK and Ruby says that she’s so sorry but the Doctor isn’t listening, Melancholy and silent, the Doctor watches the time rotor as he dematerialises. He leans on the TARDIS console and stares off into the distance; deep in thought, lonely and heartbroken. In a fit of rage he attacks the console before sinking to the floor, crying for his dead home planet.
The Army works with the remaining UNIT soldiers to try and defeat Sutekh and his army, but they are just continuously either being slaughtered or turned into a soldier of Sutekh.
The Doctor realises that they’re gonna need more than brute force and has a plan in mind for how to stop Sutekh, he’s going to cause a temporal disruption which will break Sutekh’s influence and destroy his army of death and then he’ll deal with Sutekh himself.
The TARDIS lands in the UNIT lab, it’s empty with nobody in-sight – meaning that they should be safe. The Doctor explains that they need to build a machine and they’ve got all the equipment they need, he then uses a pen and a whiteboard to explain his plan. The Doctor explains that Sutekh’s army is bound by necromantic energy, he concludes that a Temporal Feedback Erosion can exploit the reanimation and it can disrupt the necromantic energy, overloading it’s temporal link.
Sutekh, causing havoc in London, relishes in his victories but senses that something is wrong.
The Doctor and Ruby talk about their recent adventures and how they’ve had so much together, the Doctor then says that he could be different after this and goes on to explain regeneration. Later in the conversation, Ruby asks if the DNA machine can help find her Mum and the Doctor says yes, but it’ll take time, however he says he’ll help her.
Later the machine is built and the Doctor explains that he’ll go with Ruby in the TARDIS whilst Wilson, Shirley and Hannah stay as he’s got a plan and they’ll communicate through the lab’s Laptop and the TARDIS computer, the Doctor and Ruby then leave in the TARDIS.
The Doctor explains to Ruby that they’re going to materialise Sutekh in a bubble, meaning he’ll have limited influence on his army and the others can activate the machine to destroy the army.
Sutekh becomes enraged at the sound of the TARDIS and sees it fading in and out of existence, the Doctor successfully manages to get Sutekh in the bubble, however it turns out Sutekh was more powerful than the Doctor expected. Sutekh then sends some of his soldiers to stop the Doctor’s friends and some of Sutekh’s soldiers try to break down the lab door.
The TARDIS and Sutekh fly through time and space in a bubble, the Doctor tells Sutekh that he'll bring death to the dead army. He shouts now in the console room, Ruby looks at the laptop and tells Wilson, Shirley and Hannah to do it now. Just as the army breaks through the door, Hannah activates the machine and Sutekh’s army turns into sand.
As the day is saved, the Doctor knows that there is one more thing that they must do, the Doctor tells Ruby to press a certain button when he closes the door or if something happens.
The Doctor confronts Sutekh one last time and decides that he must once again bring death, he’s about to close the TARDIS doors when Sutekh manages to blast the Doctor with mental energy and he collapses, Ruby presses the button and Sutekh flies into the vortex.
Ruby helps the Doctor, he manages to recover slightly but realises that something is happening and announces “It’s starting”; His body is starting to regenerate.
The Doctor and Ruby have a nice little reunion with Wilson, Shirley and Hannah and the Doctor says that it’s been lovely seeing them all but “this time” he’s really got to go. Knowing that he’ll regenerate soon, Hannah rushes up to him and gives him a massive hug and the Doctor tells her “It’s far from being all over.” He and Ruby leave in the TARDIS, Hannah watches on with tears streaming down her face as Wilson looks sad and so does Shirley.
The Doctor says they’ve got one thing to do and he tells Ruby that he’s found Ruby’s mother thanks to the TARDIS, Ruby asks who it is and the Doctor reveals the name the TARDIS managed to find - Louise Miller.
The TARDIS materialises outside a cafe where Louise Miller sits, the Doctor suggesting to Ruby that he leave the issue alone, Louise is happy and has had plenty of time to come see Ruby and never has. But Ruby dashes inside and sits down next to her mother. Ruby tells her mother who she is, and thanks her for giving her a better life, a safe life. Later at the Sunday residence, Louise is meeting Carla and Cherry, getting to know Ruby's life, and see photos of Ruby growing up. The Doctor says that he must be going but before he does Louise shares something with him, she says that she pointed at the Doctor because she knew that he’d help Ruby just like what he’d done for her. Many years ago, when she was 13, Louise woke up in the middle of the night and a creature from another dimension embedded itself into her house and the Doctor fought it off saving her family. The Doctor says he always wondered what happened to her and it was nice meeting her again, he then walks back into the TARDIS where he notices his hand glowing.
Ruby still wants to travel with the Doctor, wants to leave on a trip. But she's getting news about her biological father, and the Doctor tells her to take time with her family, that her life is with them for the time being. He
promises that he'll return for her, but explains regeneration again and that if he does see her again he could be different - but the same man. The Doctor leaves as Ruby and her family look at pictures, Ruby is sad but she knows that something new has arrived and she’s found her mum.Melancholy and silent, the Doctor watches the time rotor as he sets a new course. His hand begins to glow and he accepts what is to come “It’s time to go.” He then regenerates into the new Doctor - Paapa Essiedu.
The New Doctor is full of life, he runs around the console adjusting the controls and dematerialises, the
TARDIS flies through the vortex as the Doctor is ready for the unknown, his next adventures soon to come.
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The specials were met with high praise and loved the returns of fan favourite characters and villains, IMDB ratings were an 8.1 for the Giggle, an 8.0 for Wild Blue Yonder and a 8.3 for Empire of Death. The Giggle managed to draw in 5.08 million viewers, the highest since 2019 and this was deemed a success for the BBC.
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Doctor Who: The Beginning would’ve been a spin-off created to celebrate 60 years of Doctor Who, the series was available on BBC Three and IPlayer and it was released from the 5th October - 23rd November 2023, the show would’ve been created by Russell T Davies and Pete McTighe.
The eight episodes consist of the Doctor’s early years, his escape, meeting Susan and his first adventures, David Bradley played the First Doctor, Claudia Grant played Susan and Harry Peacock played the Master, Susan however wouldn’t appear until episode three. The titles for the spin-off were simple and the music was composed by Sam Watts who’s rendition of the theme would be a slowed-down echo sounding version of the 1963 theme, Bradley and Peacock would be credited for episodes 1-2 and Grant would be credited for episodes 3-8, replacing Peacock’s credit.
Life On Gallifrey
By Russell T Davies and Pete McTighe
5th October
This episode mainly focuses on a couple of different things, we focus on the Doctor’s job as a lowly Scrutationary Archivist Of the Bureau of Possible Events and we see that he’s a lonely and depressed individual as he had been disowned and banished from his home by his family in the House of Lungbarrow. We also see the Doctor’s campaign to ban miniscopes after he learns of their existence and he’s outraged by their cruelty to the specimens within, however it’s pretty hard for the Doctor to get them banned as it goes against the non-interference policy of the Time Lords.
During the episode we see a young version of the Master being very successful in life as he has an illustrious political career as a Cardinal for the Arcalian chapter but throughout the episode the Scendeles chapter, who at the time are a far-right party, try to persuade the Master to join but the Master refuses as a the time he’s not really the evil person we know him to be but he does have a hunger for power.
Later in the episode we would see the Doctor working and the Master coming to see his friend but as of now their friendship is strained and they’re on the verge of falling out, the Master mocks the Doctor on where he is in life and the Doctor feels more resentment towards the Master and feels more down where he is in life.
We also see the Master working with a group of Time Lords who are trying to overthrow Lord President Slaan due to the number of problems on Gallifrey, the Master tries to get the Doctor involved but up to now the Doctor’s had enough and terminates his friendship with the Master and the Master swears revenge.
Throughout the episode we do see other things on Gallifrey including the CIA, Lord President Slaan and the high council and other things.
The end of this episode sees Slaan announce that the Time Lords have voted to ban miniscopes and the Doctor is very happy about that and he’s happy he’s made a difference and we also the Master and several others plan to overthrow Slaan and the Master plotting his revenge on the Doctor after they overthrow Slaan.
The Escape
By Russell T Davies and Pete McTighe
12th October
This story sees the Doctor’s departure from Gallifrey and the Master with the group he’s involved with trying to overthrow Slaan. The Master and the group convince several people who hold power in Gallifrey including some Chancellery Guard members, CIA agents and some Time Lords including the Castellan, the Councillor and the Cardinal. They then launch several attacks on some important places in Gallifrey and try to assassinate Slaan however the coup is stopped and several members are captured and executed but the Master escapes, this then causes a chain reaction of events as several Gallifreyan citizens start a riot and the Chancellery Guard get involved killing hundreds of people.
The Doctor’s plotline involves the Doctor’s family illegally using the Looms to create another cousin called Owis, Upon him learning of this crime, the Doctor reports his family to the Prydonian Chapter and then encounters his Cousin Glospin, Glospin reveals that there was genetic evidence to suggest that the Doctor didn't originally come from the Lungbarrow Loom, having originally been naturally born. Glospin claims that the Doctor had infiltrated the family, and intended to use his evidence to get the Doctor executed for Loom-jumping. Glospin attacks the Doctor, obtaining a sample of his DNA, allowing him to frame the Doctor for the murder of their House Kithriarch, Quences. During the fight between the two, the Hand of Omega arrives to attack Glospin, giving the Doctor the opportunity to escape. Knowing Glospin's claims could lead to his execution, the Doctor then meets a woman, played by Millie Gibson, she tells him that it’s better to take a Type 40 as it’ll be more fun and so the Doctor leaves Gallifrey, declining the chance to take a Type 53 TARDIS in the process. He instead chooses to leave in a Type 40 TARDIS with the Hand of Omega, taking the woman’s advice much to her delight.
The Night
By Pete McTighe
19th October
This episode sees the Hand of Omega pilot the TARDIS to the Dark Time on Gallifrey to collect the granddaughter of the Other, who recognises the Doctor as the reincarnation of the Other, this was explained in the 1991 story ‘Lungbarrow’ where Susan is a direct descendent of the Other and when the Other hurled himself into the Prime Distributor of the Looms, but before he did that he bid-goodbye to his Granddaughter and told her to go to a planet far away from Galllifrey and millions of years later the Other was loomed to the House of Lungbarrow as the Time Lord who became known as the Doctor.
This story would see Susan trying to get off Gallifrey the night the Other sacrificed himself and she tries to to get off Gallifrey via the Spaceports but Rassilon seals them and she spends over a year wandering the streets selling books and we see her over the course of a year be upset and alone.
We then see the Doctor arrive and after exploring for a bit he meets Susan and she is convinced he is her grandfather and after a few problems here and there they leave in the TARDIS and set off for their adventures.
The First Adventure
By Pete McTighe
26th October
This story sees the Doctor and Susan’s first adventure in the TARDIS, we would see the TARDIS land on an old abandoned space-station where they seem to be the only two on there. The Doctor and Susan go deeper into the space-station where they soon discover an alien race called ‘The Ugmuils’, a race of strange, fungus-like creatures that seem to be able to survive in the vacuum of space. The Doctor says that he studied these creatures on Gallifrey and he says their spores can often be seen accumulating on the outside of spaceships after long voyages.
In the end the Doctor uses the labs on the space-station to kill off the fungus to which he is successful.
The King and The Rogue
By Russell T Davies and Pete McTighe
2nd November
The story starts out with the Doctor taking Susan to see the Rings of Akhaten and then they arrive in July 1543, after wandering around for a bit they decide to go back to the TARDIS but they find that it’s not there and it’s been taken to the Tower of London. However in the story they have to deal with a Dhairlea, the Doctor mentions that ‘The Dhairlea’ are a sentient species of green humanoid aliens, known across the universe for their incredible skill at technological development. However this Dhairlea is a rogue scientist who plans to poison the atmosphere and wipe out humanity but it’s plan fails as the Doctor communicates with the Dhairlea race and the rogue Dhairlea is arrested and taken back to it’s home planet.
The final 15 minutes of the episode sees the Doctor and Susan meet Henry VIII, the Doctor argues with Henry VIII, so Henry throws a parson's nose at him. The Doctor throws it back and Henry orders the Doctor and Susan to be taken to the Tower of London. The argument is then revealed to Susan by the Doctor that it was actually intentional so they could be sent to the Tower so they can get the TARDIS back, we then see the Doctor steal the keys from the Guard when he comes to give them both some food and then find the TARDIS and leave.
73 Yards
By Russell T Davies
9th November
After landing in Wales, the Doctor accidentally breaks a fairy circle containing messages mentioning someone named "Mad Jack", before then suddenly disappearing. Susan begins being followed by a mysterious woman who, though appearing to stand still, maintains a constant distance of 73 yards away from her. Anyone who approaches the woman runs from both her and Susan in fear. Years pass, with Susan attempting to maintain a normal life while still being followed. In 2046, Susan overhears a campaign speech by Roger ap Gwilliam (whom the Doctor had previously mentioned as causing nuclear destruction after becoming prime minister), in which Roger calls himself "Mad Jack". Infiltrating Roger's election team, Susan is able to position the woman next to Roger, causing him to fearfully resign as prime minister. Over 40 years later, a now elderly Susan is approached by the woman, before then being sent back in time to her younger self's arrival in Wales with the Doctor. The older Susan is able to influence her younger self into warning the Doctor from breaking the fairy circle, preventing his disappearance.
The Devil’s Chord
By Russell T Davies
16th November
In 1925, a music teacher shows his student the tritone or the "devil's chord", which summons a being called Maestro, who kills the teacher by consuming the music from his heart. At Susan's request, the Doctor takes her to London in 1963 to see the Beatles record their first album at EMI Recording Studios, as Susan has just learned about the Beatles from the TARDIS. They discover from John Lennon and Paul McCartney that the world has lost its taste for music, which the Doctor fears will alter humanity's future. He has Susan play a song, gaining the attention of Maestro, who is consuming music from every human. After escaping from Maestro, the Doctor takes Susan to the future, discovering the world in a nuclear winter. Maestro appears, revealing themself as a child of the Toymaker with the power to manipulate the power of music. They take control of the TARDIS, forcing the Doctor to return to the studios in 1963. There, he and Susan try to find the chord to banish Maestro, but the two are powerless. John and Paul arrive to play the chord that traps Maestro.
Wanderers in the Fourth Dimension
By Russell T Davies and Pete McTighe
23rd November
This story starts off with the Doctor and Susan and we see that they’ve had many off-screen adventures together and they set off for another adventure, they land on Earth in the 41st Century where the city they are in is a dystopian nightmare. We learn after the Eurasian Civil War that both Europe and Asia fell into complete chaos and nuclear weapons were used, the Doctor and Susan are captured and taken to ‘The Leader’ and we see it’s Harry Peacock’s Master. We learn that the Master started the Eurasian Civil War solely for the purpose of chaos, we learn he is planning one final act of chaos by detonating a nuclear bomb to start more war. We would see the Doctor and Susan imprisoned in a castle-like prison which holds some of the most dangerous people who can do harm to the government. The Doctor and Susan would end up sparking an uprising and orchestrate a massive prison riot and lead a rebellion against the Master and it’s successful and his plans are all spoiled. We would see the Master get shot during this and him slowly escaping in his TARDIS and regenerating.
The end of the story sees the city celebrate and the Doctor and Susan would leave in the TARDIS as they fly past many planets where the TARDIS would land, the Doctor, not knowing where he is, checks the scanner and it reads "76 Totter's Lane, Shoreditch, London. "
A caption would then pop up reading “And then the story continued,” We would then get clips from Doctor Who’s 60 year history with the First Doctor in the background saying “Our lives are important, at least to us. As we see, so we learn. our destiny is in the stars, so let's go and search for it.” At the end of all clips over the course of 60 years three small scenes would appear from the 60th Anniversary.
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The 2023 specials of Doctor Who are three special episodes that aired between 25 November and 9 December 2023, to celebrate the programme's 60th anniversary. They were written by Russell T Davies; these were his return to the main show since the 2010 New Year’s Day special “One Last Life.” Russell’s return was announced on September 24th 2021, before Season 56 aired and this later came with the announcements of the returns of David Tennant, Phil Collinson and Murray Gold, only for these three specials also.
David Tennant returned as the Twelfth Doctor after the Doctor degenerated back into his Twelfth incarnation in 2022’s The Reckoning, this was also Tennant’s first appearance on Doctor Who since 2013. Millie Gibson was introduced as Ruby Sunday, a girl from 2023 and someone who would play an important part for these three specials.
Rupert Graves returned as General Wilson, Ruth Madeley was introduced as Shirley Anne Bingham and Annabel Scholey returned as Hannah Smith, last seen in 2013.
It was announced in March 2022 that Chris Clenshaw would take over for Season 57 in 2024, meaning that these specials would be Russell’s final chapter on Doctor Who.
The Giggle
By Russell T Davies
On Christmas Eve 2004, a baby girl was dropped off at a church on Ruby Road. Leaving as quickly as she arrived, the mother departed - nobody seeing who she was. This is witnessed by the Twelfth Doctor, with tears streaming down his face.
One night, Ruby plays a small gig with her band and a fight breaks out in the pub. The Doctor's TARDIS lands outside the pub, as the Doctor ventures out and strolls down the road. He wanders into a bustle of people before seeing two men continuing the fight outside, he watches from a distance and some of the people from inside the pub come outside to witness the fight as it’s soon broken up.
The next day, Ruby encounters him at a nightclub as she turns around and sees him catch a glass of gin and tonic that she knocks over. He asks Ruby if she’s noticed anything unusual, and she says that people have been getting angrier and it's been happening for a while now. He departs, but follows her as she gets into a taxi with her friends. A car comes round the corner and beeps the taxi. Using his sonic screwdriver, the Doctor changes the light at the intersection, prompting the taxi to drive on, just as the car drives into a wall, as the driver wanted to drive into the taxi. A policeman stops him as he leaves to take a statement, but the Doctor instead tells the man his girlfriend will accept his marriage proposal and leaves.
The next afternoon, Ruby walks into London as she enjoys a day out. However she is later confronted and chased by a few angry people, but she’s saved by the Doctor as they get away, they then get to know each other a little bit but are soon interrupted as small explosions and riots break out, and a plane crash lands not far away.
The Doctor and Ruby traverse the streets of London as it is plagued by chaotic anarchy. A man annoyed by cars driving in his way tells the Doctor that everybody on Earth believes themselves to be right all the time and that arguing drives them into a rage. As the shop owner from 1925, now dressed a gentleman speaking with a French accent, pulls the Doctor into a dance.
The Doctor and Ruby return to Ruby’s flat, the Doctor and Ruby seem to get on very well as they talk about what’s been happening and the Doctor meets Cherry. Carla returns, and, as the Doctor introduces himself, she acts concerned, not sure why they need a doctor. A man then breaks down the flat door and attacks the Doctor, Ruby helps by whacking the man over the head with a frying pan as the Doctor goes outside, UNIT arrives on the scene and takes the Doctor and Ruby to UNIT HQ, as they get Carla and Cherry to a safe place.
General Wilson UNIT’s new scientific advisor Shirley Anne Bingham and the Head of the archive, Harriet, greet the Doctor and Ruby at UNIT's new skyscraper headquarters, both inoculated to the chaos thanks to an armband called a Zeedex. The Doctor deduces that he and the Vlinx, a robot working for UNIT, are immune due to being extra-terrestrials, as are Ruby and Hannah Smith, who recently joined UNIT, benefitting from the effects of long-term TARDIS travel. Wilson orders his Zeedex be briefly deactivated to demonstrate the consequences to the Doctor, and he quickly turns paranoid and vengeful due to a distorted brainwave. Analysing the waveform and playing it as a sound, the group discovers it corresponds to the giggle accompanying the Stooky Bill recording. The recording has been hidden in every screen since 1925, only triggered when the launch of the KOSAT 5 satellite finally connected all of humanity to the internet.
The Doctor and Ruby trek back to 1925, searching for the cause of the giggle, and trace Stooky Bill to Mr Emporium. Entering, the Doctor and Ruby are greeted by the owner, whom the Doctor recognises as the Toymaker, who talks about the oldest game, catch, while juggling balls until he retreats further into his shop in a game of hide and seek. The Doctor chases the Toymaker, followed by Ruby despite telling her to return to the TARDIS. Ruby insists on staying with him, and the two become trapped in the Toymaker's funhouse labyrinth, which the Doctor realises is the Celestial Toyroom, stumbling around and eventually becoming separated. The Doctor encounters a man named Banerjee, turned into a marionette who dances on the Toymaker's command after losing a game to remove the giggle in his head. Ruby encounters Stooky Bill's doll family and breaks apart Stooky Sue as the Stooky children try to eat her.
The Doctor and Ruby reunite and find themselves the guests of honour at the Toymaker's puppet show: an attempt to recount to Ruby the Doctor's adventures. The Toymaker portrays the deaths of Henry, Lillian, Sam, Mike, Shelly and Daniel in puppet form. The Toymaker mentions how the actions of Deusmalus ravaged the universe under the Doctor's watch , this provokes the Doctor into challenging the Toymaker to a game. The Toymaker accepts, bragging as they prepare about his fun since arriving in the Doctor's universe. He has already turned God into a Jack-in-the-Box, created a jigsaw out of the Doctor’s history and recounts the events with Banerjee. However, there was one the Toymaker did not face, "the One Who Waits", but he considers that someone else's game when the Doctor asks who they are.
The Doctor and the Toymaker decide on a game: a simple cut of the deck where the highest card wins. After confirming the rules and assuring Ruby the Toymaker can't cheat even though he is using his own conjured cards, the pair play. The Doctor turns over an eight, but the Toymaker unveils a king and wins. As the Toymaker moves to claim his prize, the Doctor points out that, since he won the previous game, they are therefore tied one-all and a third game is required to declare an absolute winner in a best of three. The Toymaker agrees and disappears after declaring 2023 will be their battleground, causing the labyrinth to collapse around the Doctor and Ruby and the toy store to fold into a small toy box. The duo escape in time, realising the Toymaker intends to play the third game in their present day.
Back at UNIT HQ, Wilson manages to have the KOSAT 5 satellite shot down using the galvanic beam, breaking the satellite chain triggering the giggle. The Doctor arrives and hands Hannah the toy box, warning her to be careful with it, and explaining to Shirley that the Toymaker is an elemental force who can meddle with reality, stepping from 1925 to the present as if walking through a door. The Toymaker promptly walks through a door he creates in the middle of the room, performing a dance number to "Spice Up Your Life" by the Spice Girls as he pulls Wilson and Hannah into dances to knock them down, collapses two soldiers trying to detain him into coloured bouncy sentient balls, and turns the other UNIT troops' bullets into harmless red rose petals. As the song ends, the Toymaker disappears through the floor before materialising on the helipad manning the galvanic beam. The Doctor begs the Toymaker to stop, offering to leave with him to take their game to the stars. The Toymaker is tempted, but declines; he considers Earth the ultimate playground. The Doctor demands that the Toymaker finish their game, to which he agrees and the Toymaker snaps his fingers as a door appears and the Doctor walks through it.
The Doctor falls onto the ground, he’s in a dark and distorted reality. The Toymaker explains that he has to make it out of the realm alive, the Doctor then makes his way through the reality facing off against a 1960s Dalek, a Mondasian Cyberman, a Weeping Angel, a Wirrn, a Sontaran and an Auton.
He gets out of the reality and finds himself in a theatre with the Toymaker, the Toymaker explains he was the one who had given the Doctor’s old face back as to meddle with events and he knows that this incarnation is one with a fight in him. He then introduces the Doctor to his child called Maestro, the God of Music and Maestro reunites with the Doctor and they recount their first meeting with the Doctor back in the 1960s.
Maestro then says that they’ve wanted to play a game with the Doctor for a very long time and begins manipulating some music notes which cause the Doctor to collapse in immense pain, the Toymaker stops Maestro and reveals they’ve trapped Ruby.
Maestro commands Ruby to sing, and so Ruby begins to sing. But a hidden song within her filters through, overwhelming everything else, Carol of the Bells. Maestro insists that the song can't have this much power, power like the Oldest One, and says he can't have been present at Ruby's birth. But no, Maestro releases her, saying that she's very wrong.
Ruby then challenges Maestro to a game where the two face off in a music battle with a piano, it’s here Ruby plays something known as “The Devil’s Chord” and traps Maestro, the Doctor and Ruby are then transported back to UNIT HQ.
The Doctor and Ruby both challenge the Toymaker to a game of catch, which he accepts. The three players dash across the helipad, tossing the ball back and forth, barely catching it many times, before the Toymaker misses a throw from the Doctor that falls to the city below. The Doctor and Ruby are the winners, with the Doctor claiming his prize of forever banishing the Toymaker from existence. The Toymaker vengefully cries out that his legions will come for them before folding up like a paper doll and slotting inside his toy box, which UNIT takes to their deepest vault to bind in salt as the waveform dissipates.
The Doctor and Ruby return to Ruby’s flat to find her family safe, talking about what happened with recent events. The Doctor slips out unnoticed as he walks back to his TARDIS, he finds that it’s locked and he knocks on the door and it unlocks. He walks in and the console room has transformed back into the old Coral room, he delights in the “Retro Design” and tosses his coat aside.
Ruby and Carla talk about the Doctor, Carla just finding him crazy, and Ruby trying to contextualise the day she's just had. It dawns on her that the Doctor is a time traveller, and she kisses her adopted mother and dashes out of the door. Looking around on the street, she finds the TARDIS and enters it. The Doctor and Ruby depart, the Doctor offers her the chance to go with him to see the universe and she accepts and the Doctor gives her a TARDIS key.
However, the console bursts into flames and the TARDIS takes off. The Doctor tells Ruby they could end up anywhere in time and space.Wild Blue Yonder
By Russell T Davies
The TARDIS lands in an unknown spaceship, heavily damaged; the Doctor and Ruby narrowly avoid a fire blast from the TARDIS incinerating them as they jump out. The Doctor places his sonic screwdriver into the latch in order to prime the TARDIS to regenerate and heal itself from the damage it has sustained. As the Doctor works, Ruby wonders why the TARDIS played "Wild Blue Yonder", recalling how she heard it once at a war museum. The Doctor eventually triggers the TARDIS's self-repair and they leave the room to take a look around the ship. However, they quickly race back after hearing the TARDIS dematerialising as a result of the Hostile Action Displacement System. The two of them at first despair, until the Doctor explains to Ruby that there's a good chance the TARDIS will return to them if they resolve whatever hostile action they have encountered. The two set off into the ship with renewed determination, marching down a long corridor. As they walk, they come across a small hovercraft and a man named Rico. He takes them to the cockpit and Fenton introduces the Doctor and Ruby to the captain Joceyln and Lucia, they explain to the Doctor that the ship is one that had fallen through a wormhole and ended up on the edge of the universe, where not even starlight has yet propagated long enough to reach.
The Doctor and Jocelyn go into a room with a spindle and adjust it, whilst Ruby, Lucia and Rico go into a room with drawers of baseplate repetition filaments. Lucia explains to move all the ones in a lower drawer to a higher one, as the ship is on idle and needs to be powered back up.
Ruby talks about her home and how she’s just met the Doctor and what she’d do if she could never return to her family. Lucia then asks how Rico is feeling as he’s recently become more irritable due to his bad dreams, Rico becomes angered as he says that he’s fine. Rico then becomes different and he lifts up his sleeve as a serpent-like tattoo is shown on his arm, his eyes and teeth are then shown to be serpent-like as he says “I serve the Mara!”
The Doctor and Jocelyn hear the commotion, they run out the room and bump into Ruby and Lucia. Rico walks towards them as the Mara talks through Rico saying that the Mara has become more powerful. He chases the Doctor, Ruby, Lucia and Jocelyn as they split up and go into different ventilation systems.
The Doctor and Ruby crawl through the narrow ventilation shafts of a damaged spaceship, evading Rico, who has been possessed by the Mara, a malevolent psychic parasite that thrives on fear and chaos. As they navigate the cramped, metallic ducts, Ruby asks the Doctor what the Mara is and why it’s targeting them. The Doctor explains that the Mara feeds on despair and must have been drawn to the ship after it crossed through a wormhole. He worries that if the Mara gains full control of Rico, it could use the isolated ship as a base to spread its influence.
Elsewhere, Jocelyn and Lucia crawl through another section of the ventilation system. Jocelyn, the ship’s captain, presses Lucia for details about Rico’s recent behaviour. Lucia admits that he has been restless and plagued by nightmares, often muttering about serpents and shadows. She realises the Mara has likely been manipulating him for weeks, exploiting his vulnerability. Before they can act, Rico’s voice echoes through the ship, promising that resistance is futile and that they too will succumb to the Mara’s power. Jocelyn steals herself and urges Lucia to keep moving.
The Doctor and Ruby finally emerge into a dimly lit maintenance bay filled with sparking wires and old technology. The Doctor begins working on a plan to sever Rico’s connection to the Mara using the ship’s systems. He explains they need to isolate Rico’s neural signature and disrupt the Mara’s psychic control. As he tinkers, Ruby explores the room, accidentally activating a powerful Axalan device. The Doctor scrambles to deactivate it, warning Ruby to be more cautious.
Their commotion attracts Rico, who arrives with his serpent-like features fully revealed. The Mara, speaking through Rico, declares its dominance and intent to make the ship its kingdom. Ruby is visibly shaken, but the Doctor steps forward with his characteristic confidence. He tosses the Axalan disruptor to Ruby and engages the Mara directly, taunting it and exploiting its dependency on fear. The Doctor reveals he has faced the Mara before and knows its weaknesses. As the Mara hesitates, the Doctor activates the disruptor, releasing a powerful energy pulse.
The Mara is driven out of Rico, and the serpent tattoo on his arm fades. Rico collapses, unconscious but freed. Rico wakes up when Jocelyn and Lucia soon arrive, the Doctor says that none of this has ended and everything is still very wrong. The five of them split up and go to different sectors of the ship, the Doctor and Ruby fall asleep.
The Doctor ends up in a dreamscape and comes face to face with Dukkha, he taunts the Doctor with the deaths of his companions, Deusmalus and his failures. Dukhha then taunts and torments him with mind games and thought paradoxes until he agrees to a pact with him. The deal permitted the Mara to take him as a host, allowing it a physical presence in the real world once again. However the Doctor manages to break out the dreamscape, he stands up as he explodes with rage, striking a wall over and over.
Ruby soon becomes sleepy and collapses, she also encounters Dukkha who shows her a false future of Cherry and Carla and foretells the arrival of ‘The One Who Waits’. The Doctor later finds Ruby and wakes her up as she is comforted.
The Doctor and Ruby then bump into Jocelyn and Lucia, the Doctor asks them where Rico is and he, Ruby and Jocelyn see his lifeless body on the other side of the room, Lucia then becomes a serpent like humanoid as she says that she serves the Mara.
The Doctor, Ruby and Jocelyn then confront the Mara, as it speaks through Lucia, the Mara explains that the crew used to be more but it drove them to malice, deceit, vengeance and death. The Mara then separates itself from Lucia and kills her as it begins to move closer to the Doctor, Ruby and Jocelyn, it tries to attack them but the Doctor, Ruby and Jocelyn get away as they make their way to the cockpit.
The Doctor tells Ruby and Jocelyn that he’s going to open the airlock as it’ll banish the Mara for good, Jocelyn says that she’ll allow the Mara to take her over and she’ll sacrifice herself to save the Doctor and Ruby. The two protest but Jocelyn manages to lure the Mara as it processes her, she then puts the ship on a self-destruct countdown and begins to chase the Doctor and Ruby,
The Doctor and Ruby outrun Jocelyn, the Doctor realises that, as the hostile action is resolved from his efforts to stop the Mara, the TARDIS should know the threat is basically over. As if on cue, the TARDIS begins to rematerialise, still playing "Wild Blue Yonder" from within, he and Ruby get inside but Jocelyn tries to force her way in but is stopped as the TARDIS dematerialises, flying away from the exploding ship.
As they travel back to London, reflecting on their adventure, Ruby says that Dukhha told her about the one who waits as the Doctor says that he’s very worried about the future ahead. The TARDIS then lands in UNIT HQ, the Doctor and Ruby are reunited with Wilson, Shirley and Ibrahim and they tell the Doctor that something has been happening where Wilson turns on the screen as the news reports that everyone around the world has received mysterious text messages and that this could be the end of days.
Empire of Death
By Russell T Davies
The Doctor and Ruby confront a global crisis: everyone on Earth has received a text message heralding the end of days. The Doctor theorises only a being of immense power could orchestrate this, and they must uncover the source.
Shirley explains that everyone got the message at exactly the same time worldwide, she also says that many of the text messages are quite cryptic. Hannah enters the room and turns on the screen, saying that mass panic has completely taken over. The Doctor wonders if it could be alien interference or just some tech hacker, but Wilson says that they’ve got no intel on that sort of stuff so far.
As UNIT are working on trying to track the origins of the texts, Ruby and Hannah get a chance to speak. Ruby says that travelling with the Doctor is great and Hannah agrees, she then recounts the events from when she first met the Doctor and defeating the Valeyard. But she also says that the man she loved died whilst travelling with him and tells Ruby to go and see her family while she’s got time and the Doctor won’t mind, Ruby then leaves UNIT HQ.
Hannah tells the Doctor Ruby’s gone to see her family for a bit as the Doctor says that it’s fine and it’ll be a nice little reunion, he and Hannah then talk about all the adventures they had and how much they missed each other. Hannah then jokes about the Doctor being older and the Doctor saying that she doesn’t look like she’s changed that much, to which they both laugh.
Ruby arrives home and reunites with her mother and grandmother, she tells them about all the “crazy stuff” that’s happened and Carla says that it looks like she’s enjoying herself, Ruby says that she is but reassures Carla of her safety and she says that she wishes that she could find out who her mum is, Carla says that she knows but says that she can always come back here as this will always be her home and they hug.
The Doctor and UNIT manage to track the source to an underground facility deep beneath London. A task force is sent with everyone at UNIT watching via a live feed, the Doctor says that whatever they find will want to face him at some point and Wilson says that they’ve got to see what they’re dealing with first.
Ruby then talks about the text messages and Carla says that she got one whilst in the shop and everyone got it at the same time, Cherry says that nothing is gonna scare her out of making a nice cup of tea. She gets a call from the Doctor and she answers it, the Doctor tells her that they found the place.
UNIT soldiers move cautiously through the facility as the live feed is watched from the tower, they eventually find a stone box with cracks in it as a fierce roar is heard. A roil of dust and debris swirling into a shapeless creature, the Doctor talks to it through the feed as the creature says it has been stuck in hell for so long, it has seen hell, it has been hell. But now it’s free, it has been freed and it shall destroy the abominations, it also says that he created an apparition of “the girl” and was there on Christmas night. The Doctor asks who the girl is but the Roil doesn’t say, instead it says “I am returning, I wait no more!” A green blast is seen and the live feed turns to static, the Doctor takes a random phone and texts back to the mysterious message, Ruby arrives and asks what happened and the Doctor fills her in and tells her what happened. The Doctor sends the message asking who the girl is and a reply is sent “The girl is…Ruby Sunday.” The Doctor looks over at Ruby and realises, the Doctor explains that Ruby always looked so familiar. Ruby asks if she’s normal and tells everyone that she doesn’t no anything, the Doctor reassures her telling her that she’s completely normal and he uses his Sonic Screwdriver to explain:
Ruby looked so familiar to him because this being created apparitions of her, meaning she looked the same every time. He uses his Sonic on the screen and we see Ruby as different people across history and in the Doctor’s timeline, many are people who the Doctor has met including: Mellium (The Ark), Gia Kelly (The Seeds of Death), Bettan (Genesis of The Daleks), Delta (Delta and The Bannerman), Sally Sparrow (Blink) and Sarah Clark (Father’s Day). The Doctor explains that somehow this being has manipulated events and tells Wilson that he’s going to the facility, he tells Ruby to stay here with Wilson, Ibrahim, Shirley, Harriet and he and Hannah will go to the facility with some soldiers.
The Doctor and Hannah arrive at the facility as they communicate to the others through an earpiece, they find lifeless, sand-covered bodies – those of the UNIT soldiers. They come across the stone vessel as the Doctor tells everyone to let him do the talking, Wilson then chimes in on the earpiece telling the Doctor they’re now getting new messages on the phone. It’s here Harriet begins chanting, ranting, offering a prayer. Her full name? Harriet Arbinger - A Harbinger for a god. Harriet lists off god after god in a pantheon, but she is the harbinger for none of them. She is the harbinger for the "mother and father and other of them all". Sutekh.
In the facility the vessel breaks apart as the Doctor watches on in terror, Sutekh, the ancient and malevolent god of death, has returned.
Back at UNIT HQ, Wilson puts UNIT on high alert as Harriet’s face becomes skull-like as everyone backs away.
Sutekh reveals that his physical body was destroyed but his consciousness survived, and he rebuilt himself a body using an Osirian loom, he then left the universe and waited in the void until the Doctor defeated the Toymaker and the Mara and he returned. During his time in the void, he met the Pantheon of Discord and eventually became a god and since then he has been manipulating events, including the text messages. Sutekh explains that he found a way to manipulate technology, using the cryptic texts to prepare Humanity for the worst and herald his arrival and he did a similar thing on Gallifrey and succeeded. He also explains that he created different versions of Ruby and scattered her across the Doctor’s timeline, the Doctor figures out that these apparitions were supposed to kill the Doctor in different times and places but something went wrong and the Doctor figures it out, telling Sutekh they experienced something that Sutekh hates: Life, along with it’s pleasures and joys.
Sutekh says that he will destroy all life, starting with the Doctor. The dead UNIT soldiers then come back to life as Sutekh’s servants, now with Skull-like faces, UNIT then mount an attack as the Doctor and Hannah get away. UNIT continues to fight, but their forces are powerless against Sutekh and his army and the UNIT soldiers are killed and turned into more of Sutekh’s servants.
The Doctor and Hannah use a UNIT jeep to drive back to UNIT HQ, the Doctor tells everyone to get inside the TARDIS but Ibrahim stays behind with some soldiers but they are later killed.
The Doctor then explains to Ruby, Hannah, Wilson and Shirley who Sutekh is and his first encounter with him in 1911. He says that several versions of Ruby were created and scattered throughout time to kill the Doctor, but were exposed to life and overcame Sutekh’s influence. Ruby's quite worried that she’s not normal, but the Doctor puts her hand on the console and does a DNA scan, proving she’s entirely human. Hannah then brings up Gallifrey and the Doctor sets co-ordinates.
The Doctor opens the doors of the TARDIS, returning home once again. The entire Capital is destroyed and the planet is covered in sand with some Time Lords dead as well, the Doctor steps back inside. He walks over to the console, Hannah asks him if he’s OK and Ruby says that she’s so sorry but the Doctor isn’t listening, Melancholy and silent, the Doctor watches the time rotor as he dematerialises. He leans on the TARDIS console and stares off into the distance; deep in thought, lonely and heartbroken. In a fit of rage he attacks the console before sinking to the floor, crying for his dead home planet.
The Army works with the remaining UNIT soldiers to try and defeat Sutekh and his army, but they are just continuously either being slaughtered or turned into a soldier of Sutekh.
The Doctor realises that they’re gonna need more than brute force and has a plan in mind for how to stop Sutekh, he’s going to cause a temporal disruption which will break Sutekh’s influence and destroy his army of death and then he’ll deal with Sutekh himself.
The TARDIS lands in the UNIT lab, it’s empty with nobody in-sight – meaning that they should be safe. The Doctor explains that they need to build a machine and they’ve got all the equipment they need, he then uses a pen and a whiteboard to explain his plan. The Doctor explains that Sutekh’s army is bound by necromantic energy, he concludes that a Temporal Feedback Erosion can exploit the reanimation and it can disrupt the necromantic energy, overloading it’s temporal link.
Sutekh, causing havoc in London, relishes in his victories but senses that something is wrong.
The Doctor and Ruby talk about their recent adventures and how they’ve had so much together, the Doctor then says that he could be different after this and goes on to explain regeneration. Later in the conversation, Ruby asks if the DNA machine can help find her Mum and the Doctor says yes, but it’ll take time, however he says he’ll help her.
Later the machine is built and the Doctor explains that he’ll go with Ruby in the TARDIS whilst Wilson, Shirley and Hannah stay as he’s got a plan and they’ll communicate through the lab’s Laptop and the TARDIS computer, the Doctor and Ruby then leave in the TARDIS.
The Doctor explains to Ruby that they’re going to materialise Sutekh in a bubble, meaning he’ll have limited influence on his army and the others can activate the machine to destroy the army.
Sutekh becomes enraged at the sound of the TARDIS and sees it fading in and out of existence, the Doctor successfully manages to get Sutekh in the bubble, however it turns out Sutekh was more powerful than the Doctor expected. Sutekh then sends some of his soldiers to stop the Doctor’s friends and some of Sutekh’s soldiers try to break down the lab door.
The TARDIS and Sutekh fly through time and space in a bubble, the Doctor tells Sutekh that he'll bring death to the dead army. He shouts now in the console room, Ruby looks at the laptop and tells Wilson, Shirley and Hannah to do it now. Just as the army breaks through the door, Hannah activates the machine and Sutekh’s army turns into sand.
As the day is saved, the Doctor knows that there is one more thing that they must do, the Doctor tells Ruby to press a certain button when he closes the door or if something happens.
The Doctor confronts Sutekh one last time and decides that he must once again bring death, he’s about to close the TARDIS doors when Sutekh manages to blast the Doctor with mental energy and he collapses, Ruby presses the button and Sutekh flies into the vortex.
Ruby helps the Doctor, he manages to recover slightly but realises that something is happening and announces “It’s starting”; His body is starting to regenerate.
The Doctor and Ruby have a nice little reunion with Wilson, Shirley and Hannah and the Doctor says that it’s been lovely seeing them all but “this time” he’s really got to go. Knowing that he’ll regenerate soon, Hannah rushes up to him and gives him a massive hug and the Doctor tells her “It’s far from being all over.” He and Ruby leave in the TARDIS, Hannah watches on with tears streaming down her face as Wilson looks sad and so does Shirley.
The Doctor says they’ve got one thing to do and he tells Ruby that he’s found Ruby’s mother thanks to the TARDIS, Ruby asks who it is and the Doctor reveals the name the TARDIS managed to find - Louise Miller.
The TARDIS materialises outside a cafe where Louise Miller sits, the Doctor suggesting to Ruby that he leave the issue alone, Louise is happy and has had plenty of time to come see Ruby and never has. But Ruby dashes inside and sits down next to her mother. Ruby tells her mother who she is, and thanks her for giving her a better life, a safe life. Later at the Sunday residence, Louise is meeting Carla and Cherry, getting to know Ruby's life, and see photos of Ruby growing up. The Doctor says that he must be going but before he does Louise shares something with him, she says that she pointed at the Doctor because she knew that he’d help Ruby just like what he’d done for her. Many years ago, when she was 13, Louise woke up in the middle of the night and a creature from another dimension embedded itself into her house and the Doctor fought it off saving her family. The Doctor says he always wondered what happened to her and it was nice meeting her again, he then walks back into the TARDIS where he notices his hand glowing.
Ruby still wants to travel with the Doctor, wants to leave on a trip. But she's getting news about her biological father, and the Doctor tells her to take time with her family, that her life is with them for the time being. He
promises that he'll return for her, but explains regeneration again and that if he does see her again he could be different - but the same man. The Doctor leaves as Ruby and her family look at pictures, Ruby is sad but she knows that something new has arrived and she’s found her mum.
Melancholy and silent, the Doctor watches the time rotor as he sets a new course. His hand begins to glow and he accepts what is to come “It’s time to go.” He then regenerates into the new Doctor - Paapa Essiedu.
The New Doctor is full of life, he runs around the console adjusting the controls and dematerialises, the
TARDIS flies through the vortex as the Doctor is ready for the unknown, his next adventures soon to come.
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