Season 53 would have been the first series of Chapter Five of Doctor Who, and also the first for new showrunner, Adrian Hodges, to which whom the BBC had entrusted this season of Doctor Who to. Together with the BBC, Hodges came up with an action plan to get the viewing figures for Doctor Who back up, and they decided to try and make Doctor Who proper event television. This meant Season 53 had some of the most experimental scheduling ever seen on Doctor Who.
The idea was for each serial to air throughout the entire calendar year. With most serials being two-parters, this meant that Doctor Who was on for just two weeks every couple of months, which each serial being promoted with its own poster, trailer etc, as kind of its own mini-series, in order to make each serial seem like its own event, and so more people tune in, instead of just 12 continuous weeks of Doctor Who. The BBC commissioned 13 episodes of Doctor Who to be produced, with the first 10 being split into 5 different two-part serials, and the final three making up the final three-part serial, which was to air over the Christmas period and be Adjoa Andoh’s regeneration story. In order to build up hype, and to accommodate the new schedule, whereby Season 54 would begin airing 1 week after the end of Season 53, for the first time since 2000, the BBC announced who the new Doctor would be beforehand, in a live show following the conclusion of the fourth serial, on 1 September.
Obviously, a new companion was created for this season, as all three of the Fifteenth Doctor’s previous companions departed in the Season 52 finale. Hodges cast Shakesperian actor, Alex Jennings, to play Bertie Reynolds. In addition, Sophie Rundle was cast in a recurring capacity as Bertie’s daughter, Sam.
The biggest change for the season was that it wasn’t Series 5 but rather Series 1, this time of Chapter Five, as Espenson & Hodges made the decision to begin Chapter Five, in an attempt to, not just, shake off the sour image of Chapter Four’s last two series, but also to refresh the series and rebrand. However, this decision was quite rushed, only being made about a month before the broadcast of the Doomsday Cannon, and only announcement a fortnight before.
Therefore, things like the title sequence stayed the same, with only minor changes. One of those such changes was the new Chapter Five logo, which was only revealed during the broadcast of the episode – and all the promotion, trailers and posters used the Chapter Four logo. In addition, the footage in the title sequence, which had previously been from old Doctor Who episodes, was swapped out for new footage featured in the first three stories from Season 53. Bear McCreary left the show and was replaced by Jeff Russo, who arranged a new version of the Doctor Who theme.
Other changes included, for a start, the way Doctor Who was referred to. The Doctor Who marketing team decided calling it, publicly, ‘Chapter Five’ would be confusing to the public, so they decided to just have the season referred to as ‘Doctor Who: Series 1’ (with it’s full title being ‘Chapter Five: Series 1’. Therefore, the show was listed on BBC iPlayer for example as five separate shows and the seasons would have been in the style of ‘Doctor Who – Chapter One: Series 1’ etc, through to ‘Doctor Who – Chapter Four: Series 4’, essentially abolishing the long held larger numbers of Doctor Who seasons. However, Doctor Who – Chapter Five was just listed on iPlayer as simply ‘Doctor Who’, with Season 53 as it’s first season.
The final large change to the show was the addition of a new TARDIS interior and exterior design, replacing the exterior which had been in use in 2010 and the interior since 2013. The new interior was far larger and more cathedral-like, while also using a state-of-the-art way of building sets out of 3D printed sculpted metal.
The exterior of the set, upon Hodges request, returned far more to the look of the original Met Box, including the fact that it was thinned down to its original size, from the last few designs more ‘fat’ versions.
Anyway, with 13 episodes ahead of us, airing from the 1 January right through to the 25 December, and with it being the first of essentially a brand new show and being the last for Adjoa Andoh, let’s dive into Season 53 Series 1 of Doctor Who.
THE DOOMSDAY CANNON, PART ONE
Season 53, Episode 1
Written by ADRIAN HODGES
Directed by ANDY HAY
TX Date – 1 January 2019
This episode heavily uses the A and B-plot story structure, to get all of the pieces set up for Part Two. In the case of this episode, we have the new companion, Bertie’s, story as the A-plot and what the Doctor is getting up to as the far less prominent B-plot. In fact, we don’t even see the Doctor until after the title sequence, over six minutes into the story.
So, the story focuses around an industrial ice colony, Erstden, controlled by the Gaians, in around 3289. It’s the usual deal, the Gaians are enslaving the indigenous race of the planet, the Erstdens, so they can strip it of all its resources and continue to build the empire. However, Albert Reynolds, one of the Erstdens, is also their most intelligent person, who used to be a renowned scientist before the Gaians arrived. We find out he was kidnapped by the Gaians and forcibly employed as their Chief Scientific Officer on the colony. The story begins as Bertie and a taskforce have to deal with a strange infestation in the ice, on Erstden, and they investigate this, eventually working out that the ice is parasitic and consumes any naked flesh which touches it.
Meanwhile, we focus on the Doctor, who is posing as a lieutenant on a Gaian starship, led by one of the evillest Gaian officers, Meena Patel, who is described as one of the Governor’s personal prodigies. Patel has been given the mission to quash the main sector of the Gaian resistance, which she traces to Erstden. Patel also mentions that Erstden is such a vital target, as the Gaians are using their resources to build a superweapon there. The Doctor, meanwhile, is secretly communicating with the resistance, which is led by a woman in her late-20s called Sam and warning them about Patel.
All the while, Bertie is continuing to conduct experiments on the ice, and decides to heat it up, turning it into water, and noticing that it seems to nullify its parasitic effects. Bertie then receives a message from his commander that a Gaian ship is landing at the colony, and he is told to great them. So, Bertie welcomes Patel as she comes onboard, with the Doctor as one of her offices behind her, and he shows her around. Then, all of a sudden, there’s a resistance attack on the industrial centre (which the Doctor encouraged), and everything goes haywire, as there’s a real hands-on action-film type shootout between both sides, as Patel one-by-one takes out many of the resistance members, single-handedly with just a single-hand gun. However, during this, one of the resistance members touches the water, from the parasitic ice (to which Bertie shouts out ‘No, don’t’) and they are suddenly taken over, as an icy sheen appears through there skin, and then water begins slowly dripping out through their newly crack skin, and it begins to shoot water at everyone. The Doctor looks on in fear as she recognises just exactly what’s there on the colony, as we cut to end credits.
THE DOOMSDAY CANNON, PART TWO
Season 53, Episode 2
Written by ADRIAN HODGES
Directed by ANDY HAY
TX Date – 6 January 2019
The second part of the story sees the Doctor take charge, as she decides saving the most lives as possible is more important than helping out the Resistance. She still pretends to be a Gaian officer, explaining to Patel that she just encountered the parasitic water on a previous assignment on Mars. Patel gets the Doctor to work with Bertie, and the two spend most of the episode together as he tries to find a cure – but the Doctor keeps trying to insist that there isn’t one and what’s more important is getting everyone off the colony. Patel agrees with the Doctor and wants to evacuate all Gaian forces off the planet, and then use the weapon that’s being built there ‘The Doomsday Cannon’ to destroy the planet, and all of the Resistance as well, as a bonus. The episode partly consists of a classic base under siege format, but with added exterior settings, with the Flood taking over more and more people, and Patel and her taskforce just outright shooting and killing anyone who is infected. Eventually, about 15 minutes to the end, this happens to Patel and she becomes infected, and as she screams out, Sam blows her head off, killing her.
Meanwhile, Bertie fails to make an antidote, and the Doctor tells him that they have to get off the planet. So, the Doctor and Bertie lead an evacuation force, getting everyone on the Gaian ship, but after they find that Meena Patel is dead, Bertie tells the Doctor that they must also save the Resistance members, to which the Doctor is shocked as she thought Bertie was working for the Gaians – but Bertie solemnly tells the Doctor that his daughter is the leader of the resistance, and he can’t let her die. The Doctor smiles and says that she’s been working with Sam, trying to dismantle the Gaians’ stranglehold on planets with indigenous subjected specious. Bertie asks how she is, as he hasn’t seen her in 12 years, and the Doctor says that if they hurry up, both of them may just survive. Anyway, the two of them manage to evacuate all the Gaians onto the Gaian ship, and all the resistance members and indigenous Erstdens into the TARDIS. Then, Bertie moves to activate the Doomsday Cannon, so the Flood can’t escape… and then, he sees Sam outside in the snow, about half a mile away – not evacuated – he has only minutes to activate the cannon, before the flood make it onto the Gaian ship, and infect everyone. Choosing to go with his conscience, despite knowing it could endanger everyone, Bertie runs outside, into the snow and get Sam. He runs and runs and runs, as the Flood get closer into the ship. And then – he grabs onto Sam – the flood are there, at the foot of the ship – and then, vworp – the TARDIS materialises around Bertie and Sam as the Doctor saves them – but there’s no time to explain and the TARDIS arrives back in the Cannon control room as the Doctor hits the button, activates the device and takes off. Then, from orbit, as the Gaian ship departs, they watch the planet implode and then just disappear out of the sky.
The Doctor lands the TARDIS on an empty planet, two hundred light years away and drops off the Erstden survivors, telling them that they can start a new here, without the Gaians. Then, just as the episode ends the Doctor asks Bertie if he’d like to come with her, see the universe a bit – Bertie initially refuses wanting to see his daughter, after having reunited with her, but the Doctor then tells him that it’s a time machine, which he doesn’t quite believe because as a scientist he knows time travel isn’t real – but the Doctor simply says ‘Wanna Bet?’, as the end credits roll and a caption reads: “The Doctor and Bertie will return in ‘Homeland’, 21 April 2019” and the episode ends.
HOMELAND, PART ONE
Season 53, Episode 3
Written by DAVID HARE
Directed by MICK JACKSON
TX Date – 21 April 2019
The story opens with a pre-title sequence, which sees the Doctor, once again absent. It focuses on a group of undercover police officers who conduct a transaction which a shady man (implied to be a drug dealer), to which they soon captured enough evidence on hidden cameras and then arrest him. We then see the officers search the warehouse, where they are, turning it over, looking for any more supplies, when they find, a secret door in the side of the warehouse. They manage to force it open, taking them down an ever-winding spiral staircase, down deep into the ground, and then into one brightly lit pulsating room, and sitting in the centre of it – an alien skeleton – as we cut to the opening titles.
The rest of the first part, sees, firstly, the Doctor and Bertie showing up in the Yorkshire moors, after the Doctor decides to take him to 2019 to prove the TARDIS can time travel. They soon here rumours and gossip about the incident in the pre-titles from the locals and set about investigating. However, while they look over the abandoned warehouse, where the skeleton was found, they run into the local police, who arrest them for trespassing and disrupting an ongoing investigation. The Doctor tries to call in UNIT, but the police say she’s talking nonsense and they think her, and Bertie are just journalists.
Now at this point in the story, originally, UNIT alongside Caitrin Ryan were supposed to show up. However, the rights to the character of Caitrin Ryan were held by her creator Ronald D. Moore and Paramount Picture (as she was created for Genesis). Upon a sneaky word in the ear from Paramount, Ronald D. Moore decided to withdraw the rights for Doctor Who to continue using the character of Caitrin Ryan, and therefore, they couldn’t use her in this story.
Anyway, the two of them end up proving their scientific knowledge to the Yorkshire Police and assist them in their investigations. They work out that the brightly lit room, underneath the warehouse was in fact an alien spaceship, but one the Doctor doesn’t recognise. Things continue to build up, as the Doctor tries to get into the spaceships computer systems to find out it’s origin and Bertie, meanwhile, performs tests on the skeleton. The cliffhanger occurs as Bertie exposes the skeleton to a (ahem… made up) type of radiation and the skeleton starts to regraft itself and reform, rejuvenating itself from the energy of the building, and soon the entirety of York. Meanwhile, the Doctor finds out the origins of the spaceship, in its computer system – Earth. The skeleton, now alive and fully reformed, speaks very slowly as it says, ‘Am I home, am I on, Earth?’ – as we clearly see that it is a (new design of) Silurian, and we cut to end credits.
HOMELAND, PART TWO
Season 53, Episode 4
Written by DAVID HARE
Directed by MICK JACKSON
TX Date – 28 April 2019
This episode takes a turn from a standard BBC countryside police procedural, into a political thriller as the first thing the Silurian does is try to get in contact with its people, alerting UNIT to its presence (although UNIT only appear in a small role, with Wilson leading them). It’s revealed over the course of the episode that a colony of Silurians left Earth millions of years ago and settled on a planet light years away. He says that there’s a whole other planet, ready to be friends and neighbours with Earth.
While UNIT are hostile, knowing humanity’s history with Silurians, the Doctor and Bertie rally for it and encourage what it’s saying. The Doctor does ask the Silurian, who we find out is called Tunstuoma, if he’d like all the Silurians on Earth to be awoken, but he says that they are essentially a different species, millennia separate them as much as it does the humans.
The episode then spends a lot of it’s runtime, treating this as a political matter as the government get involved, initially very sceptical but after Wilson briefs the Prime Minister, Michael Apperley (whom we meet about halfway through the episode), he decides to treat it as a first contact situation and make sure humanity’s message to the Silurians is ‘We Come in Peace’. The episode deals with the fallout of the announcement to the public of what has happened and the implications of a first contact, not with aliens but with the previous inhabitants of the Earth, and their willingness to share technology to share both planets, too. Reception is mixed, and the episode focuses on many incidental characters who feel and react differently. We also see Apperley on the Andrew Marr show being interviewed about it. All of this culminates in, towards the end of the episode, a massive riot occurring, between those who want to welcome the Silurians and those who wish to go to war with them, to take the other planet for themselves.
Meanwhile, the Doctor and Tunstuoma travel to the Silurian colony planet in the TARDIS (while Bertie stays on Earth dealing with all the stuff I just mentioned). When they get there, they find it barren and empty. Tunstuoma is heartbroken, he doesn’t understand. The two continue exploring and find that all the Silurians retreating into hibernation under ground decades ago. Tunstuoma then makes the decision to stay on the planet and also enter hibernation to be with his people. Back on Earth, the Doctor delivers the news, and the Prime Minister erupts saying that it’s going to be made to look like it was a hoax, and his government will be made a joke of. The Doctor scowls and tells him that if that’s all he can think of, then he’s learnt nothing. Finally, we get a scene of Have I Got New For You where they essentially take the piss out of the whole thing claiming that ‘inventing a first contact is a new low for trying to win votes’ – as the episode ends.
THE LONG STRUGGLE, PART ONE
Season 53, Episode 5
Written by SIMON TYRRELL
Directed by AISLING WALSH
TX Date – 26 May 2019
This episode begins with a pre-title sequence showing a suffragette march in 1913. We see many members of the public watching on in displeasure, as hundreds of women parade on the streets – and then, we focus in on one of them, as a blue flicker appears around her eyes as we cut to the opening credits.
We then see the Doctor and Bertie arrive, in the midst of the march, as the Doctor tells Bertie that she’s going to take him to see one of her heroes, as they explore and the Doctor explains what the march is for to Bertie, which he finds absolutely ridiculous as even in an oppressive regime such as the Gaian Empire, women are entitled to all the same basic rights as men, and he finds the whole entire concept of sexism completely alien. Anyway, the two of them have a look around, and the Doctor realises that something’s wrong, as a speech she knows of, didn’t occur. The two of them investigate a bit and the Doctor finds traces of alien DNA in the vicinity, confirming her suspicions. The Doctor and Bertie confront one of them aliens, which the Doctor realises in inhabiting the body of exactly who they came there to see, Emily Davison – and, worse of all, the Doctor realises just which aliens are meddling – the Memporhians.
The rest of the episode, which is about 20 minutes, focuses on the Doctor and Bertie trying to fight off the Memporhians and get Davison back in the right place and the right time, which they manage to do, however, the moral quandy comes in when the Doctor realises that while she’d be preserving history, she’d be condemning Davison to death, but for ‘a good cause’. The Doctor eventually decides to preserve history. However, the Memporhians aren’t stopped, as while they have left Davison alone, they haven’t left, and as they capture her and Bertie, they are taken to the Memporhians’ leader who they find looks just like and is in fact… shockingly… Sam Reynolds – Bertie’s daughter, as we cut to the end credits.
THE LONG STRUGGLE, PART TWO
Season 53, Episode 6
Written by SIMON TYRRELL
Directed by AISLING WALSH
TX Date – 2 June 2019
This episode continues the story of the last, while being set to the backdrop of the 1913 Derby and the death of Emily Davison. The first third of the episode, sees the Doctor and Bertie trying to reason with Sam, as she basically just tells them her plan and that she met the Memporhians in the future, and they agreed to let her save the past and form a bolder future, free of Gaian terror. The Doctor, obviously isn’t impressed, and Bertie tries to talk her out of it, not understanding quite why she’s doing all of this – eventually it becomes clear, it was because the Doctor and Bertie left her in the future, they just disappeared into thin air and left Sam, and she’s not out to actually change history or stop women’s rights or anything, she’s just out for revenge against the Doctor and her father (under the extreme influence of the Memporhians, who also want revenge), and Sam is willing to sacrifice the whole of history just to hurt the Doctor and Bertie.
The second act of the episode sees the Doctor and Bertie split up, as the Doctor tries to deal with the Memporhians and Bertie tries to talk Sam around, eventually Bertie succeeds and tells Sam that he didn’t mean to leave her, as the TARDIS is a time machine and he always intended to arrive just a few seconds after he left. Sam comes to understand this, but the physic presence the Memporhians have on her brain still persists and she switches between personalities quickly and almost schizophrenic like. Meanwhile, the Doctor has less luck with the Memporhians, who say they are just out for chaos and they will absorb and control the bodies of anyone necessary to cause utter carnage, as both parties, the Doctor and the Memporhians, as well as Bertie and Sam arrive at the 1913 Derby – where history could be made or broken.
Just as everyone arrives, as the episode reaches its third act, the Memporhians disappear and vanish into the crowd, adopting new hosts. The Doctor reunites with Bertie and Sam and she explains what events are supposed to take place, and that Davison’s death will make her a martyr for women’s suffrage. Bertie suggests that the Memporhians will try and take over Davison again, but the Doctor doesn’t think it likely, as she has another theory – a far graver one. We don’t find out what this is until later on, but instead we see the Doctor and Bertie consult as they come up with a plan, we hear Bertie say that it will be possible with the right equipment, to which the three of them take a little trip in the TARDIS back to his time, and they also drop Sam off there, saying they will be back for her at some point, but for her own safety she must stay there. Returning to the Derby, Bertie activates the machinery, which highlights for them all lifeforms the Memporhians have taken over, and then the Doctor finds out that she was right – the King’s Horse. The Memporhians have taken over the King’s Horse, so it doesn’t kill Davison and it just becomes a failed protest. Back in the future, we see Sam, still affected by the Memporhians get into a severe mental battle with them, and this affects them in the past, weakening their field and allowing Bertie to extract their essence from the horse, allowing history to play out.
Finally, the Doctor and Bertie return to Sam in the TARDIS, to which Sam is surprised and overwhelmed as she thought they had left her. Bertie hugs his daughter, saying that they never would, as she enters the TARDIS and the three of them go off for another adventure as the credits roll.
PRAXEUS, PART ONE
Season 53, Episode 7
Written by PETE McTIGHE
Directed by Jamie Magnus Stone
TX Date – 25 August 2019
This story sees the Doctor, Bertie and Sam arrive on Earth in 2019, to which they begin investigating a number of strange goings on. The first part sees the Doctor, Bertie and Sam soon get split up, with the Doctor dropping Sam off in Peru, Bertie in Hong Kong, while she goes to Madagascar whereby, she meets Suki Cheng and they find a body in the water, which becomes infected by some sort of virus and kills him. Simillar but seemingly unrelated events happen in the other two locations before as the episode comes to its end, a squad of helicopters storm the skies of the beach and tell the Doctor to stop in her tracks.
PRAXEUS, PART TWO
Season 53, Episode 8
Written by PETE McTIGHE & ADRIAN HODGES
Directed by Jamie Magnus Stone
TX Date – 1 September 2019
This episode picks off where the last left off, with the Doctor being taken back to the UK as she is taken to meet with the Prime Minister, Michael Apperley. Apperley tells the Doctor that he needs her help, before the Doctor has a go at him as she was already investigating, however, Apperley proceeds to give her the combined resources of the Secret Service and UNIT. With the Doctor bringing Bertie and Sam back together with her, as well as picking up a few others, Gabriela, Jake, Adam, Aramu and Suki.
After Bertie dissects a bird, from a swarm which attacks the operation, he finds out that the virus is using microplastics to infect and control living creatures, including the birds. Arriving at the base, the three realise that they are deep under the Indian Ocean, and the Doctor realises that everything is frighteningly familiar as she comes face to face with the Nestene Consciousness, seemingly inhabiting Suki’s body. But at the last moment, it’s revealed that Suki was in fact fighting the Nestene and Praxeus, as the Nestene invaded her planet and she was trying to find an antidote but decided to use Earth as her testing ground. After finding and distributing an antidote, the Doctor manages to save the day, and also saves the lives of the supporting cast at the last moment.
The episode ends with Apperley thanking the Doctor. However, he asks Sam if she’d be interested in fulfilling a post at UNIT as he says she’s exactly the right sort of person they’re looking for. After Bertie gives his blessing, Sam accepts.
THE MARCH OF EVIL, PART ONE
Season 53, Episode 9
Written by SIMON ALLEN
Directed by ANTHONY BRYNE
TX Date – 3 November 2019
The story begins with a caption: “October 1936” and then “East London”. We focus in on a factory whereby we meet a woman, Martha, who is working there. We get a montage of her working, before getting changed in the backroom and heading out to a hall nearby. She falls into a crowd as she enters, as there’s a lot of excitement and suddenly a voice proclaims to welcome “Sir Oswald Moseley” onto the stage. Martha’s eyes widen in excitement as a man walks onto the stage and begins making a speech… but it is not Oswald Moseley, it’s the Rogue, calling himself that name, as we cut to the opening credits.
The rest of this first episode spends its time really setting the scene for the historical event this episode is based upon ‘The Battle of Cable Street’. This first episode is very much the world-building one as the TARDIS team arrive, become accustomed to the time period, learn about Oswald Moseley and the British Union of Fascists, with key facts some audience’s members might not know about the event (especially for Americans) being explained to Bertie.
Meanwhile, intercut with this we do get scenes of the Rogue, who is using a perception device to make people think he is Moseley, to take his place (and we find out that the Rogue has sedated the real Moseley and locked him up in a cellar). The episode concludes with the Doctor and Bertie attending one of Moseley’s rallies, the day before the famous battle and sees that it’s the Rogue, as we cut to end credits.
THE MARCH OF EVIL, PART TWO
Season 53, Episode 10
Written by SIMON ALLEN
Directed by ANTHONY BRYNE
TX Date – 10 November 2019
After the cliffhanger of the previous episode, we jump in time a little to the next morning, whereby the Doctor and Bertie collect all the information that they know about the battle and try to make sure it goes as history says, as the battle was the key reason that fascism fell in the UK.
A big part of it is the battle, but the episode shows a personal story of a Jewish barmaid, Deborah, (who the Doctor and Bertie meet in Episode 1) and her story and her part in the battle, as well as her interaction with a young simillar fascist factory worker, Martha. Obviously, throughout this, the Doctor Who-y twist with the Rogue comes into the forefront, as a number of set pieces and confrontations between him and the Doctor occur. The Rogue’s plan is pretty generic, but makes sense from the Rogue’s character, is to make sure fascism takes over the UK in the 1930s so by the time the second world war starts, it well- doesn’t start and Hitler, Mussolini and Moseley invade the entire world together, and then the Rogue would travel to the 1960s when all of them are getting older and take over as one single dictator. As soon as the battle ended, with a BUF victory, the Rogue would restore the real Moseley. Obviously, the Doctor manages to foil this, all hinging on Deborah and Bertie and the Doctor putting her in the right place and the right time to defeat the fascists.
The final act of the episode also rests on the fact that the Doctor is faced with the real Moseley sedated in the Rogue’s cellar and has to choose whether or not to let him go free and continue the rest of his life as history planned or to do something else… The Doctor wrestles with the idea, monologuing to Bertie, after being tempted by the Rogue, but she eventually decides that to do such a thing would be wrong – pretty much completely the Fifteenth Doctor’s character arc which began at the beginning of her tenure.
Finally, the Rogue manages to make his escape, much to the Doctor’s annoyance, and then the episode ends with the Doctor receiving a phone call in the TARDIS asking for her help. The Doctor says that she’ll be there right away – as we cut to end credits and a caption reads ‘Doctor Who returns this Christmas!’.
HER FINAL STAND, PART ONE
Season 53, Episode 11
Written by ADRIAN HODGES
Directed by LEE HAVEN JONES
TX Date – 15 December 2019
The finale of Adrian Hodges’ first season as showrunner, and Adjoa Andoh’s third and finale season as the Doctor, would have been the biggest story in a long, long time, and with the story taking up the entire Christmas season on BBC One, with the final part airing on Christmas Day, the BBC were keen to make the story seem as BIG as possible. As such, the BBC put a lot of effort into promoting the story, with billboards, lots of tv spots and radio adverts, a dedicated Doctor Who ‘One-ness’ ident, in-character promos, as well launching a special tie-in video game, the Edge of Time. The hype for Doctor Who had died down quite a lot and the BBC were keen to prove how the new broadcast format of the show could work to their advantage. More specific fans argued that if the BBC truly wanted it to work, they should’ve done the same to all 6 stories and not just the final one.
So the episode begins with a pre-titles scene showing a montage of tv reports and parts of tv programmes which begin by giving a hint that something strange is going on, and then telling us the information that the Prime Minister, Michael Apperley has disappeared, and then telling us, through multiple different shows and programmes such as BBC News, Have I Got News For You, the Andrew Marr show, Newsnight and Newsround that former Home Secretary, Oliver Griffiths has been elected party leader and Prime Minister. Then we cut to Sam Reynolds in a UNIT control room watching it on a screen and picking up a phone – as we cut to the opening titles.
The first part of this story sees the Rogue, about 3 months after he’s become Prime Minister, in December 2019, so everything is Christmas-y decorated, as the Doctor and Bertie arrive, a little late. They meet up with Sam and says that UNIT know exactly who he is, but they don’t have the authority to do anything about it. The Doctor says that she’s sure with the right encouragement, she could get the Rogue to ‘move on’. It’s revealed pretty early on, as the Doctor confronts the Rogue, that after the failure of his plan to dominate Earth in the 1930s with Moseley’s fascist movement, he is using the anger and toxic hotbed of the early 21st century to create his own fascist movement so he can have complete autonomy over the planet Earth. The Doctor tells the Rogue that he doesn’t need that and ruling a planet really isn’t necessary – but the Rogue pulls the Doctor in and says that their planet is gone thanks to him and there’s he wants a new home. The Doctor rolls her eyes and says that he’s talking out of his arse and that something deeper is going on.
After the Rogue, fed up with the Doctor, gets her, Bertie and Sam detained, as well as UNIT disbanded, the Doctor manages to piece everything, especially after rescuing Apperley, together as she discovers that the Rogue is communicating with a third party and someone with a vested interest in Earth has been setting all of this up. The Doctor manages to make it back to the TARDIS, but Bertie and Sam are taken away by the police, as the Doctor follows the Rogue’s signal to its source, but when she steps out of the TARDIS she finds – nothing. An empty void, and then some glitches all around her, and then in another glitch the TARDIS vanishes. And then a deep booming echoing voice says ‘Doctor. The Game has just begun’, as we cut to end credits.
HER FINAL STAND, PART TWO
Season 53, Episode 12
Written by ADRIAN HODGES
Directed by LEE HAVEN JONES
TX Date – 22 December 2019
We begin with a previously segment before cutting onto a human colony planet in the far future at Christmas time. It’s idyllic, very much of a Dickensian Christmas but still firmly futuristic. We then find ourselves inside a mansion on a hill, where inside the Doctor is, dressed up as a Victorian hierarchical head of family, complete in a suit and tie. She lords over the staircase, whereby butlers and other staff (who for some strange reason are a mix of human and Silurian) are wondering about frantically. The Doctor tells the staff that she’s going to give the successors of Earth the best Christmas present in history, as we cut to the opening titles.
The rest of this episode falls into two narratives: the A Plot features everything going on with the Doctor, and the B plot sees Bertie, Sam, and the Rogue back on Earth. I’ll go through the B plot first. So, the Rogue having arrested Bertie and Sam, as well as Michael Apperley, comes to see them, gives them a very threatening and intimidating chat and then – out of nowhere – says he needs their help. He explains that he suspects that they’ve entered some sort of pocket universe that is being manipulated. The Rogue thinks that the Doctor has some sort of control over it and devised a situation to get her out of the way – and so he could have a bit of fun. Bertie, Sam, and Michael are all very untrusting of the Rogue, but he proves the inaccuracies of the design – so complex and yet so slightly off, as he gets everyone to think of a random number again and again and everyone says the same number. The Rogue thinks the only way to break free is to die. To kill himself. The others think he is mad, but the Rogue dramatically and graphically shoots himself in the head live on TV. The others are mortified, and the nation is in shock (and yes this got loads of complaints from Ofcom, with Ofcom ruling against the BBC). That’s not the end of that plotline for the episode, but I’ll get back to it in a bit.
So, we find the Doctor as the master of a fake Victorian colony planet at Christmas, and she seems completely sedated, following the role she should follow, knowing that she’s the Doctor but unaware that what’s going on is strange. However, as the episode goes on and the Doctor begins to interact with people, she begins discovering that something very wrong is going on and every time she notices something wrong, she begins to regain more and more of her actual self, eventually doing the number thing (in sync with the events of Earth) and then finally using all of her mental willpower to throw down the walls of the reality she’s in and finds herself back in a void, as glitches seem to continue around her.
Back to Earth and we find ourselves one year later. Michael Apperley is Prime Minister again and it’s the first anniversary of the former prime minister, Oliver Griffiths’ live suicide. We find Bertie, alone in a UNIT safe house pondering his thoughts, not being able to shake what the Rogue was saying off. Seeing all the talk about Griffiths’ death takes Bertie to search out inaccuracies in the design, finding a backdoor exit, eventually which takes him into the same void as the Doctor. The two reunited hugging each other as Bertie tries to tell the Doctor everything but the Doctor says that she knows, she worked it all out. And then – a figure forms in front of the two of them. The Doctor’s face reacts as she sees… a strange old man, wearing a dark black coat, stands before her – the Doktor as played by Janusz Gajos. He speaks to her and says that “a final test will decide the fate of a million different version of herself and she has got to save their lives”. The Doctor is confused, she doesn’t understand what he means. She doesn’t even understand who it was. And then, another figure forms in front of them, full of colour as she sees… the Toymaker standing before them as he chuckles and says “One final test, Doctor… This will be fun! Merry Christmas!” as we cut to end credits.
HER FINAL STAND, PART THREE
Season 53, Episode 13
Written by ADRIAN HODGES
Directed by LEE HAVEN JONES
TX Date – 25 December 2019
The episode begins with a lone space freighter journey through space. Inside we see two people, an older man, Dave and a younger woman, Suzie. We see them have a small chat, it turns out they are father and stepdaughter, and they are both working for the IMC, transporting ore from one planet to another. We also see that it’s Christmas for them, as they have a tree in the back and a few decorations up. The two of them say Merry Christmas to each other too. And then – an alert, as Dave sees that an ion storm is approaching. He panics and says they need to protect the cargo and then get into the quarantine booths. However, the ship is suddenly hit, and it goes dead.
We then pick up with the Doctor and Bertie in their TARDIS, on a fixed course set by the Toymaker. This scene is really there for the Doctor to explain to Bertie who the Toymaker is and also to theorise on who that man they saw was, with the Doctor additionally explaining the concept of regeneration to him, saying that he could be a future version of herself, but then the Doctor remembers Dr. Who and says that the Toymaker could’ve made any number of fake versions of her… and then she says that to call them ‘fake’ would be cruel as she’s sure they were just as sentient as someone else she met who was created by the Toymaker.
The TARDIS soon arrives onboard the space freighter, a day after what we saw before, and it seems empty and cold. Bertie runs some checks, identifying it as a mining transport vehicle and seeing that an ion storm hit it about 24 hours ago. Bertie manages to find the black box and see a recording of what happened and sees that the two crew members are still alive and in a confinement quarantine booth. The Doctor and Bertie open them up finding the two of them. The story continues as Bertie and the Doctor discover some sort of mechanical virus has infected the very fabric of the ship from the storm and Bertie estimates the ship will have broken up within the hour. Dave says that the ore on board could ignite and cause an explosion 1000x that of a nuclear detonation endangering the nearest system. Bertie says they need to jettison it, but Dave says that it’s too profitable to jettison, and the Doctor rolls her eyes saying that either way it’s gone, it’s just whether they chose to die, and kill potentially billions of people, because of it. The Doctor makes a decision to take Dave and Suzie into the TARDIS and locking them in, against their will. Bertie asks the Doctor whether that could jeopardize the test, but the Doctor says that she has to save billions of lives.
The Doctor and Bertie remain onboard, and they talk through their options. They mainly settle on jettisoning the ore, but Bertie says that if it collides with the storm then it could wipe out far more than just the next star system. The Doctor ponders this trying to work out if it’s a risk worth taking. The Doctor says this is the test: a no-win scenario – if they jettison the ore: trillions could die if they don’t: billions could die (although the four of them could make their own escape in the TARDIS) … and then she says there’s one more final option. Bertie thinks for a moment before he clocks it and simply says ‘No’. The Doctor says, “This is the test – I will be alright, it’s the only option”, as Bertie tightly hugs her and says that he loves her before going into the TARDIS and closing the door. Inside, Bertie presses the fast return switch and the TARDIS fades away into the mists of time. The Doctor then seizes onto the controls and presses a button, as a field directs itself around the freighter and then it ignites, contained within the field, but everything inside is destroyed.
We then cut to Earth as the TARDIS arrives back, and the three of them step out. As soon as they step out, however, the TARDIS takes off, leaving them. We focus on Bertie, in tears – the Doctor is dead.
Then – the Doctor wakes up, back in the void, before the Toymaker. She asks if all of that was fake, another one of his manipulated universes… The Toymaker says no and that it was all real, he just found a situation where billions would die and wanted to see if she’d behave like the Doctor, as the Toymaker says that she’s become very lost recently. The Doctor sighs and says that she’s learnt a lot from her mistakes, but she was born out of pain and anguish – but then the Toymaker says she died out of love and kindness. The Doctor says that she’s not dead, but the Toymaker says that he’s just brought her here, in the moment beforehand, to speak to her but – she’s dead. The Doctor takes it in as the Toymaker continues to explain that he needed to test whether the Doctor, as an individual was worth keeping, in any reality, any universe – artificial or otherwise. The Doctor asks why, and the Toymaker says it’s because ‘he’ is leaving, ‘he’ has left ‘us’ all to it. The Doctor asks who ‘he’ is, but the Toymaker just chuckles and says that his own brigade was the second generation… implying a first. The Toymaker then says without the guidance of ‘him’, he serves no purpose, but the Doctor, as an entity, as an idea, does serve a purpose – to fight the injustices – to be there for the many… and the one – and then the Doctor interrupts and says, “To never be cruel or cowardly”. The Toymaker tells her that all her other selves, from all existences, are safe – but they and their surroundings will be folded into the main universal plains and out of his pocket universes. He then tells the Doctor that she is what creation needs, what ‘he’ can’t provide and then he transports her back to her TARDIS.
The Doctor arrives inside, standing next to the console. She breathes out in pain as a flow of regeneration energy falls out of her mouth. She smiles and says “Never Cruel or Cowardly… that’s our promise, all of us” as she lets go and bursts into a radiant fireball of regeneration energy as a new Doctor comes into view… the Sixteenth Doctor. He stands there, in the TARDIS, a wild smile on his face and says, “The Doctor, always”, as we cut to an exterior shot of the TARDIS, whizzing off into the vortex and we cut to a caption which says: “The Doctor returns: New Year’s Day” and then a short 30-second trailer for the episode plays as we cut to end credits.
As you can imagine, this episode caused huge amounts of division amongst the fanbase. Some were very impressed by it and some less so. The Toymaker’s illusions to some higher figure intrigued fans, but worried others, really hoping that Season 54 didn’t continue to go down this route. Many were hopeful for the Sixteenth Doctor’s era, however, and were excited they only had to wait just a week.
Although it wasn’t announced until boxing day, the BBC released a statement saying that Bertie will not be returning to Doctor Who until the season finale of Season 54, and instead only the Doctor and new companion, Chrissie, will be travelling in the TARDIS for the majority of the season. This annoyed fans, especially as it wasn’t announced before the episode, although many had begun to become suspicious when Alex Jennings was not being spotted on filming photos and he wasn’t in the initial launch trailer in November, and even more suspicious when he wasn’t in the trailer which closed the finale, the day before.
The season as a whole continued to have a mixed reaction by its ending, but it was generally considered to be a stark improvement on the previous two seasons. Most considered the risks it took in the finale commendable but thought the rest of the season played it too safe, with a returning monster or villain in every story. The March of Evil was the most generally well-received story of the season, but some of the more right-wing elements of the fanbase had a problem with it.
The ratings while being generally worse than the previous two seasons, actually had a larger audience share than them, due to the dramatic fall in live TV audiences over the past few years, so the BBC were happy with-it ratings-wise, but were hoping for something a bit better. Just before the broadcast of Her Final Stand, CBS and Viacom (Paramount’s parent company) remerged into ViacomCBS, ending the past few years of hostilities between the two companies. As one can imagine, Jane Espenson breathed a huge sigh of relief…
WIDWWA 