I have to admit it: this episode is of the best ones in the latests few years of the show. Chris Chibnall could have bring a better contribution in the period he was a writer and a showrunner, but the combination of his story and Jamie Magnus Stone’s directing was good. They could have done some things better but I don’t want to complain (too much): I enjoyed the episode.
The special episode aired for the BBC’s 100 years anniversary (that happened Thursday, 18 October) brought Daleks and Cybermen under the Sacha Dhawan’s (Master’s) leadership while Jacob Anderson returned to his role (Vinder from Doctor Who: Flux). The most recent Doctor’s companions, Yaz (Mandip Gill) and Dan (John Bishop), appeared once more before they left the show (at least for now, because they may return sometime in the future), but they are not the only companions I watched in action last night: Bradley Walsh (Graham O’Brien), Ace (Sophie Aldred), Tegan Jovanka (Janet Fielding) and some other companions from the classical show were in.
David Bradley, Colin Baker, Peter Davison, Paul McGann, Sylvester McCoy and Jo Martin (The fugitive Doctor) interacted enough with the rest of the cast to mark their presence.
Jemma Redgrave (Kate Stewart) stood against the Master and the Cybermen as usual, and Master’s plans failed once again. But I don’t want to tell what happened in this episode, especially because it has the length of a movie – almost one hour and half – and it’s action packed. You better watch it, you’ll live some better moments that reading some lousy article about it. I can only tell you the I enjoyed the final moments, I can almost say it was the end of an era.
Boney M.’s Rasputin was easy to be recognized by everyone, and the people watching the Outlander series could easily recognize, also, its tune.
About the final: the rumors were true. Ncuti Gatwa was loudly announced as the 14th Doctor but when the guys from BBC filmed Jodie Whittaker’s regeneration scene they called the ”wrong” Doctor and David Tennant stayed to fill the seat until the end. Deh, this things happens even in big companies but Ncuti Gatwa is still the Doctor, the 15th one. You should expect that Catherine Tate will also return, and she will remain a little longer, with the usual pushy style.
The next episode will be aired only next year and the 10/14th Doctor can be seen looking around London before being tormented by Neil Patrick Harris’ mysterious Victorian-mime-looking character.. We also also see, only for a moment, Donna Noble (played by Catherine Tate), but the real treat came at the end when we see Ncuti Gatwa ask: “Can someone tell me what the hell is going on here?”.
The BBC confirmed we will get three special episodes in November 2023 in celebration of Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary and Ncuti Gatwa’s first appearance as the Doctor will air over Christmas in 2023.As Russell T Davies, returning showrunner, said, the path to Ncuti’s Fifteenth Doctor is laden with mystery, horror, robots, puppets, danger and fun! And how is it connected to the return of the wonderful Donna Noble? How, what, why? We’re giving you a year to speculate, and then all hell lets loose!
