After the longest hiatus between seasons since Season 50 into Season 51, Doctor Who returned for its 55th Season, and 3rd Series of Chapter Four, on 3 October 2021. After the previous two seasons had employed an experimental new format, whereby the season was spread out entirely throughout the year, it was decided by the BBC and ViacomCBS that for Season 55 the show would return to a more traditional run of episodes, all a week after each other. Originally intended to run for 13 episodes, the season was cut down to just 8 due to COVID-19 and the restrictions in place while shooting.
Ace Bhatti, the Sixteenth Doctor, would be starting his second season as the Doctor, alongside Alex Jennings as Bertie Reynolds, returning full-time as a companion, and Jayd Johnson as Chrissie Finch.
This would be the first season with direct influence, from the beginning, from new Franchise Executive, Mal Young. Young was keen to change the tone and direction of the show, as in the past five years, he felt the show had become ever much darker in tone and wanted to shy away from this, seeing it as the cause behind Doctor Who’s dwindling viewership and reputation. Adrian Hodges returned yet again as the Executive Producer and showrunner of the series, but all was not well behind the scenes, as Young was keen to give Hodges the push if possible. It was announced on the morning of Episode 1’s broadcast, that Adrian Hodges would not be returning for Season 56, and a new showrunner will take his place. Season 55 was not written with the knowledge, by Hodges, that it would be his last.
This season was an attempt by Young to dramatically “sell” Doctor Who to the audience. He made the decision back in 2020, when he took over, to shift the entirety of Jane Espenson and Adrian Hodges’ story arc about The Second Generation and Faith over to Doctor Who: The New Renegade so Doctor Who could do its own thing this season. Young encouraged Hodges to write a story arc within the series, as this was a big draw for modern viewing audiences, to instructed him for the story arc to be self-contained to just these 8 episodes, and be easy enough to follow for the casual viewer.
In addition, while the logo had been standardised across the franchise, to a redesigned version of the 1970 logo, part way through the run of Season 54, Mal Young used this opportunity to really push the fact Doctor Who now had a new lick of paint to the audience. As part of this, beginning with Doctor Who: Adventures’ second season, Young introduced the unified episode title card, whereby every Doctor Who show had the same style title card, which displayed the episode title and writer credit.
To go alongside this, Young commissioned a brand new title sequence and theme tune arrangement for the programme. The sequence was designed and realised by Prologue, who were also behind The New Renegade’s title sequence. It lasted a shorter 45 seconds, and showed cast and crew credits appear over shots of an alien planet, with key Doctor Who iconography: Daleks, Cybermen and the TARDIS, silhouetted in the sunset, before we cut to the Doctor Who logo and then land on the title card. The theme tune was once again composed by Jeff Russo, although Ruth Barrett stayed on as composer in general.
With a fresh lick of paint firmly applied, all that was left was to get the show marketed. Young was clearly aware of the issues with Doctor Who’s marketing over the past few years, however, he did appreciate that due to recent split seasons or the previous serial format, Doctor Who had been marketing a lot, at several different points, throughout it’s run, in order to get viewers on board. Young collaborated with Nicki Sheard in order to produce a strong campaign for the show. They decided that while they can market a lot and get a very successful launch for Episode 1, they should learn from the last few years, and carry out two more big marketing pushes throughout it’s run, firstly after Episode 4, and secondly just before Episode 7, as the finale begins. Both of these pushes would include entirely new posters, and trailers, following in the style of the originals, but showing more based upon the upcoming episodes. These posters, billboard ads, social media ads, trailers etc all were tagged with “Continues this Sunday”. In addition, Sheard came up with a master tagline for the season “The Hero We All Need” to develop the brand of the Doctor as a “hero”, and to entice the audience in.
The writers for this season, saw a few more slots open up, due to the higher serial number. Both Chris Chibnall and Simon Allen were promised episode slots due to their previous stories only being either partially made or entirely unmade. Chris Chibnall’s episode originally was to be entirely written by him, but Hodges was forced to make extensive rewrites. In addition, Hodges decided to bring back Sarah Dollard, to write Episode 3, after being impressed by her work on Doctor Who: Adventures, and she also came onboard as a Co-Executive Producer. The other 5 slots were filled up by him and Jane Espenson. Hodges would write a mid-season tent-pole Dalek story, and the finale, while Espenson would write the two-part opening story. The reason for Espenson writing this instead of Hodges was that Mal Young thought that Hodges’ opening stories weren’t very good to act as an Episode 1, and asked Espenson to write Season 55’s instead. This opener, would contain the only reference to Season 54’s story arc, in the season.
The director’s remained in the same pool as the previous season, expect that Mal Young hired frequent collaborator and former Doctor Who director, James Strong, to direct the action packed opening adventure. The season was shot in three blocks, with three directors and producers.
REBIRTH, PART ONE
Season 55, Episode 1
Written by JANE ESPENSON
Directed by JAMES STRONG
TX Date – 3 October 2021
The episode opens with a huge tracking shot of a battlefield, with two groups of human-looking soldiers fighting each other. It’s savage and horrible, laser beams flying about everywhere. However, the mists of the battlefield begin to swallow up the soldiers, until… a few seconds later, they have all disappeared. A caption then appears over the empty battlefield “Erstden, 2911”. The TARDIS then appears and out step the Doctor, Bertie and Chrissie, unaware of where they are. After we get a few scenes of them checking out the area, after the TARDIS found temporal residue in the vicinity, the Doctor concludes that a huge mass has been moved away from where they are very recently. The mystery unfolds over the course of the first 15 minutes, with the team finding a building close by, equipped with advanced machinery, still operating despite being abandoned. Throughout these scenes we get a flashback, after initially the building triggers a memory in Bertie’s head: we see a memory in 3264, about 25 years before The Doomsday Cannon, we then see a younger Bertie in his home on Erstden with young girl, his daughter. Bertie tells her to stop messing about and get a grip on herself. Samantha, as Bertie calls her here, stops it and looks unhappy as he grumpily sits down on the sofa. Just then, a large noise sounds as a spaceship lands on the planet and a group of soldiers load out of the spaceship. A stern woman, Admiral Moraes, in what we see to be an older style Gaian uniform, approaches Bertie’s house and knocks on the door. Bertie answers it and the Admiral begins to speak – just as we cut back to Bertie, Chrissie and the Doctor. By this point, Bertie knows they are on Erstden, several centuries before his time, but he keeps quiet about it, not telling the Doctor and Chrissie this vital piece of information. Throughout this first 20 minutes we get quite a lot of things giving us the sense that Bertie doesn’t feel that he quite fits in on the TARDIS anymore, and that he doesn’t quite trust this new Doctor.
The episode, which up until this point had the real danger of becoming dangerously boring, steps up a gear at the 20-minute mark, with the three suddenly being transported away, after the Doctor presses a button on the controls, by mistake. They find themselves in the middle of a raging battle going on between several different species, but despite the fact they are all most certainly killed several times during their first 30 seconds there, they are all unharmed. They soon fight their way out, making it some distance away, but manage to run straight into another battle between another set of aliens. Finally they make their way to yet a third battle, and it seems to be full of German Nazi soldiers fighting Indian soldiers… The Doctor curiously thinks to himself, knowing he’s seen this before, but Bertie is who we focus on also recognising things, and for a different reason.
We get another flashback to 3264 where Admiral Moraes enters Bertie’s study as he’s working on a piece of machinery, a piece of machinery matching the sort we saw in the Erstden compound. We see Moraes threaten the younger Bertie, putting pressure on him.
The Doctor strikes conversation with one of the Indian soldiers, Diller, asking what he’s doing there, but Diller just says he’s fighting the war, and is confused why the three of them are so out of place, asking if they are from the Crown. The Doctor uses that as his excuse to be there, before turning back to Chrissie and Bertie as he begins a working theory. However, everything is thrown into disarray as a growl is heard. And then several growls. And more. And more. And then a whole pact of ravenous monsters enter the battlefield, consuming the soldiers feeding off them, as energy also passes from their corpses, a strange blue energy. The Doctor, Chrissie and Bertie run to the other battlefields, and see the same thing.
As the trio try to return to the point they were teleported in from, they arrive to find Admiral Moraes there, standing in full Gaian uniform, still the same age as the flashbacks, smirking. The Doctor and Chrissie notice instantly that Bertie recognises this woman. Moraes says that this is Bertie’s work in practice, the Great Harvester, all of that testosterone! The Doctor looks more worriedly at Bertie, wanting to know what happened. Moraes then adds that little Samantha’s quite big now, and she really could do with her ‘daddy’. Bertie, without saying anything, walks over to Moraes and stands by her side. He tells the Doctor that he’s sorry but there’s something he did a long time ago, which he needs to finish off. Moraes chuckles remarking that was a lot easier than she expected, before transporting herself and Bertie away, leaving the Doctor and Chrissie there. A few seconds later, a whole different set of armies arrive on the battlefield and begin fighting once more.
Bertie and Moraes arrive in a bustling lab full of scientists, he’s introduced to someone called Latentov, who Moraes says was Bertie’s replacement. Bertie shakes his hand before asking what the issue with his design was, and Latentov goes onto explain, as we cut away to Moraes speaking to a stern man, only called the Intendant, as she says that everything is beginning to go to plan – the Doctor will be forever trapped.
We get a big montage of the Doctor and Chrissie exploring the battlefields again and again, coming across a range of battles from across the entire universe, meeting different soldiers again and again, and then the monsters coming and feeding off everyone, again and again. It all crescendos up, with the pace increasing, before we crash zoom on the Doctor’s tried and battered face as we cut to the end credits.
REBIRTH, PART TWO
Season 55, Episode 2
Written by JANE ESPENSON
Directed by JAMES STRONG
TX Date – 10 October 2021
After a previously recap, we cut back to a flashback where a younger Bertie is demonstrating to Moraes, what he calls “The Great Harvester”. He selects a battle, from anywhere in the universe, he transports them to the battlefield, he allows there’s violent energy to build up and build up to breaking point, and then he activates the machine, harnessing it, and then releases “the Aciels”, which are the creatures we saw in the last episode. The Aciels devour the soldiers, feeding off the energy and then the battlefield stands empty. Moraes says “good work” and the process of the harvest can begin.
After the opening titles, we cut to the present, where Bertie is working in his laboratory. Latentov comes up to Bertie and says they need to move to Stage E, but Bertie is hesitant as he says that’ll take away the Doctor and Chrissie’s immunity, and that he thought Moraes only left them there for torture, but Latentov says it’s time to finish them off.
We cut back to the Doctor and Chrissie going through the loop again and again, before we see Bertie and Latentov looking at them on the monitor. Bertie engages the console, as the lights and graphics read Stage E, an alarm begins to ring, as a voice says “Stay indoors” over and over again. Crowds begin to gather in the lab, first Moraes and then the Intendant, watching on. Bertie and Latentov put it all into action, as the Aciels are about to be released. It builds up and builds up, until… a teleport beam appears over the Doctor and Chrissie as Bertie saves the two of them, as on the monitor the cycle of the new Stage E begins. Moraes is furious and holds a gun up directly to Bertie’s head, while the Doctor and Chrissie are arrested and taken away. Moraes tells Bertie that if he tries anything like that again, he’ll find himself at the mercy of the Aciels… and so will his precious daughter.
As the Doctor and Chrissie are being taken to the cells, on the base, the Doctor manages to masterfully talk their way out of capture and trick the guards into letting them go, before they rush up to Moraes office and corner her. The Doctor tries to work out what it is Moraes is doing exactly, as he says he’s seen this kind of thing being done before, and he doubts that it’s simply just a petting zoo for the Aciels. Moraes chuckles and says that the Aciels are just biding their time for now, and building their strength… until the right moment. The Doctor, confused, tells Moraes that he doesn’t understand why Bertie is important, not that he’d cooperate anyway, but Moraes says that she knows Bertie far better than the Doctor does. She then moves over to sit on her desk, looking eye to eye with the Doctor and says that he and his interfering is just a nuisance, and there’s no threat to the plan, at all. Chrissie jumps in and says that if the two of them aren’t important, and just nuisances, why do they need to be locked up – can’t they just observe the ongoing events. Moraes thinks for a moment and says she doesn’t see why not, telling the Doctor and Chrissie to do whatever they like.
The Harvester is fired up again, and another cycle occurs. We see Bertie working and we see Moraes speak about getting ready for the next stage. The Intendant watches on eagerly. Bertie smiles as everything begins to come together, and he tells Moraes, they can begin Stage F. The Doctor goes up to Bertie and tells him that they need to work together to stop this scheme, and Bertie winks to the Doctor, saying it’s taken care of. The Doctor asks to be teleported back to the surface, he wants to try and communicate with the Aciels, and open a dialogue. Bertie tells the Doctor to get down to the lower levels, out of sight, and he’ll activate a teleport beam. Chrissie remains with Bertie, whereby she has a conversation with him about Sam, whereby Bertie reveals that Moraes is blackmailing him with her safety.
The Doctor sneaks down to the lower levels, passing a series of guards, but just as he’s made it, a guard spots him and a chase ensues with the Doctor. The Doctor runs down the corridor, and closes a blast door, to block the guards off, but they shoot at the door opening it, and causing and explosion. The Doctor keeps running, but the laser blasts cause more explosions, reacting with materials in the corridor, turning into a fireball, and burning the guards themselves alive, but now it’s after the Doctor, as he runs down the corridor, away from this huge fireball, just as Bertie teleports the Doctor out of there, and the fireball wrecks the entire corridor… The Doctor arrives in the Aciels’ habitat, some distance from the battlefields. The Aciels are extremely animalistic, seemingly lacking any sort of language, but the Doctor attempts to communicate with them, mimicking the noises they make, trying to open a dialogue. Instead, they attack the Doctor, shredding into him with their claws, then feeding off an energy from the Doctor, leaving him almost as a corpse, with barely any life inside of him.
We cut to a medical doctor, hours later, examining the Doctor, after he’s been brought back into the base. Chrissie watches on, worried for the Doctor, but the Doctor seems to regain consciousness. The medical doctor is amazed, saying no one has ever survived the Aciels before, but the Doctor smiles and says “I’m not just anyone” and says he knows what Moraes and the Intendant are up to, and requests to see them immediately.
The Doctor sits in the Intendant’s office, in crutches, and several bandages, as the Doctor tells him that their plan is stupid and foolish and has cost far to many lives, than just a simple coup. The Intendant says that this is far more than just a simple coup and they don’t need the Doctor’s interference. Moraes thinks for a moment, before saying that Stage F is beginning and she welcomes the Doctor to enjoy the show.
In the control room, Bertie activates the machine, and on the battlefield, hundreds of soldiers appear… but they are Gaian soldiers, with advanced weaponry, and far better equipped than anyone who had been there before, and again the Aciels are let out and a proper fight begins, the Gaians are nearly a match for the Aciels, but as Moraes explains throughout, because of all the strength they’ve built up now… the Aciels are invincible. After the end, the whole control room applauds, as the Doctor looks very worried, and Moraes orders Stage G to begin.
The Doctor makes his way over to Chrissie and tells her they’re going to have to engage in “sabotage” in order to stop Stage G. Chrissie asks what it even is, and the Doctor says “it’s the biggest threat this universe has faced to it’s timeline”, Chrissie smiles and says “Business as usual then”, before asking the Doctor what sort of sabotage he wants, with a devilish chuckle.
Bertie continues working on the controls, and Moraes come up to him. She whispers in his ears that he better stick to the plan, or Samantha will be very dead very soon. Bertie gulps as he continues his work. The Doctor across the control room winks at him.
In the lower levels, Chrissie finds a computer console and begins tapping into it, causing several sparks… she frowns. She then manages to get to a screen on the computer which says “intruder alarm” and smiles as she presses it. In the control room, the red alert alarm goes off as it says “Intruder, Intruder”, everyone runs out of the room, apart from the Intendant, Bertie and the Doctor, after it. Chrissie looks around the room and finds several rifles. She takes two, holding one in each hand, and aims them forward. Most of the staff, led by Moraes find Chrissie armed with the two rifles. They are cautious, but Chrissie shoots past them, causing a the ceiling to come down, she then shoots upwards causing the ceiling between her and them to come down, trapping them in the corridor, under lots of rubble. Chrissie then sits down and picks up a newspaper lying about, that she reads, waiting.
The Doctor goes over to Bertie, saying they need to make their exit, but the Intendant says that Bertie won’t be doing that. Bertie turns around to the Doctor and says that Stage G needs to be initiated. The Doctor looks confused and tells Bertie, it’s fine, they can go and blow up the base, but Bertie again says that Stage G needs to be initiated. The Doctor tells Bertie that they’ll find Sam, save her, everything will be fine, but Bertie says the Doctor doesn’t understand. It all gets very heated until Bertie shouts back to the Doctor “You left me! I thought you were DEAD!”. The Doctor looks gobsmacked, not evening having considered this. Bertie continues: “You sacrificed your life on that ship. My Doctor died. The woman… the woman I loved. She would’ve cared, she would’ve come back to me, straight away. Instead I waited over a year for you to arrive, not even my Doctor, someone who didn’t care, who didn’t want me back.” Bertie now begins crying, emotionally unstable, very upset as he says “You are not my Doctor… not anymore”. He then presses a button on the console, and activates the machine, Stage G has begun. The Intendant chuckles.
We then get a scene whereby Moraes and some guards manage to break out into the room where Chrissie is, as they hold Chrissie to gunpoint, and blast their way out, with the rifles. However, just as this happens, everyone is teleported, into the street on Earth, outside Gaian High Command. Behind them, the Aciels, and Moraes smiles and says “Stage G is a go”. The guards follow here lead as they storm Gaian High Command and a battle breaks out, with the Aciels doing all the fighting, shredding through the Gaian soldiers as Moraes manages to great to the throne room, and seat herself on the throne of the Empire… she declares herself as Empress Moraes, with a sneaky smile.
The Doctor, Bertie and the Intendant watch on back at the base. The Doctor says that all of this was such a waste, just for a stupid coup, but Bertie says that this coup will save his planet, stop Erstden from being destroyed… The Doctor says that if that happens the timeline will fracture, everything the two of them did to stop all those evils, will cease to have happened and everything will implode on itself – they’re won’t be an Erstden to save. Bertie looks at the Doctor and simply says “I don’t trust you”. The Intendant watches on smiling, not saying anything.
Chrissie watches on as Moraes takes control of the Empire, and the Aciels stand down. The Doctor sees this on the monitor, and curiously gasps. The Doctor asks Bertie to teleport him into the TARDIS. Bertie is unsure but the Intendant gives the nod. The Doctor arrives inside and takes off one of his bandages as a flood of that same blue energy pours out, into the console. The Doctor quickly puts the bandage back on and speaks into the TARDIS microphone, saying: “Take out Moraes. She is a traitor. She will destroy you.” The Aciels react to this, having a direct link to the Doctor’s life-force still open. The attack Moraes, gruesomely killing her. The Doctor then manages to teleport the Aciels back to the battlefield, whereby they attack the base, ripping it up destroying it. The TARDIS lands back in the base and the Doctor holds his hand out to Bertie, telling him to come onboard. Bertie takes the Doctor’s hand. The Doctor then goes and gets Chrissie as the TARDIS takes off.
The base is destroyed, Moraes is dead, the Gaian High Command has been restored to its historical path, and the Doctor is very upset at Bertie. He tells Bertie that he’ll be going home. Bertie says “I don’t have a home” and definitely walks into the TARDIS corridors. The Doctor looks straight into the camera as we see a tear fall down his face.
We finish the episode as the Intendant meets with someone. He’s still alive. And the woman he’s meeting with, we see… it’s Sam. Samantha Reynolds. She smiles and says “At least that’s Moraes dealt with, devious little cow”, and we cut to the end credits.
THE HIGHLAND BEAST
Season 55, Episode 3
Written by SARAH DOLLARD
Directed by Metin Hüseyin
TX Date – 17 October 2021
After a successful return to the world of Doctor Who, writing for Series 2 of Doctor Who: Adventures, Sarah Dollard was brought aboard the new season, specifically to write an episode which had the same feel as Doctor Who: Adventures. As part of this, Dollard brought back Doctor Who: Adventures original monster, the Dreuonians, and we see it in live-action for the first time.
So, the story begins with a pre-titles sequence of several large Scottish men drinking in a pub in 11th Century Scotland. They continue being rowdy and noisy before suddenly the windows are smashed in by a huge doglike beast, a Dreuonian, rampaging into the pub very violently, and well… the rest is left to our imaginations as we cut to the opening titles.
After the titles, we see the TARDIS land in the middle of the deserted Scottish Highlands, and the Doctor steps out of the TARDIS soon after, with his hands wailing in the air, shouting “Las Vegas, 1947”. Chrissie steps out a moment after saying “This is Scotland, trust me”. The Doctor looks disappointed before stepping back inside where the two of them see Bertie sitting inside the console room. The Doctor gives Bertie a nasty look, and Bertie just says “I didn’t want to live permanently in Las Vegas, anyway”. Chrissie asks what year they’re in and the Doctor calculates it’s roughly the early 1070s, to which Chrissie says that’s about 20 years after her time, and that she’d quite enjoy checking out what happened to her and Angus’ Inn. The Doctor instructs Bertie to stay put inside the TARDIS.
We get a montage of Chrissie and the Doctor voyaging through the Highlands before reaching a village. The two walk into the village, like two strangers walking into a Western, everyone is suspicious of them and shocked, especially to see the Doctor. They approach the Inn, and inside they find the bottom floor, a pub – the pub from the beginning, filled with several dead, half chewed, bodies, with all the windows smashed in. Chrissie looks horrified, recognising one or two of the dead men.
Meanwhile, we see Bertie in the TARDIS experimenting with the console, attempting to get the TARDIS moving, not happy with how he’s been treated by the Doctor. Cut-in with this scene with get a montage of the Doctor and Chrissie asking around the village about what happened in the Inn, but they get a cold response from everyone.
They then enter the Inn again where Chrissie comes face to face with Angus, her husband, 20 years older and horrified to see her. They speak for a bit, where Angus makes her feel very guilty for leaving him, before Chrissie is horrified to find out that Angus had her declared dead and remarried, as we meet Mrs Alana Finch and their daughter Rhona. Chrissie becomes very upset, to which Angus chuckles at, tormenting her, however, the Doctor mentions that Angus is technically a bigamist now, which wipes the smile off Angus’ face.
After this, the group manage to get to business as the Doctor asks about the events of the previous night. Angus describes the Dreuonian in detail and what it did to his punters. The Doctor recognises the description and recognises that it’s a Dreuonian they are looking for. The Doctor also explains that the Dreuonians are usually a peaceful race, often hunted, nearly to extinction. He tells Chrissie they need to get it contained, onto the TARDIS and returned to its natural habitat. The Doctor asks Angus if he could give them any idea where the Dreuonian went, to which Angus points to the woods and says it scarped off in that direction.
We then see the Doctor and Chrissie walking through the woods in search of the Dreuonian. We get a nice character moment as the two discuss Chrissie choosing to leave her life and go aboard the TARDIS – Chrissie says that she never really loved Angus, and she’s happy he’s found someone else. The two then come across a cave, which has what looks like Dreuonian footprints heading its way. They head inside and find what looks like a Dreuonian nest, empty. The Doctor says he’s still confused how the Dreuonian got there, but they don’t have much time to talk as a growl is heard behind them as they see the Dreuonian at the entrance to the cave. It bolts towards them angrily – the Doctor and Chrissie manage to avoid it, but it goes again, and they can’t escape… until, the TARDIS materialises, out of the blue and scares away the Dreuonian. Bertie steps out and tells the Doctor and Chrissie to get aboard.
Later on, Bertie sits on top of the Inn as he looks out on the night view and contemplates. The Doctor comes up and joins him. Bertie looks uneasy but the Doctor tells him to calm down. With both of them sat next to each other, the Doctor says thank you to Bertie and that it’s a two-way thing earning trust, and they’ve both got to work hard at it, if they’re going to get on during their travels. A smile appears on Bertie’s face as he asks if that means he can stay. The Doctor nods and says that he’s not replacing his Doctor, he is not the same as his Doctor, but he can be new and different and they can have a different relationship, but he realises now that relationship needs to be built up from scratch, or else that would be unfair on her. Bertie agrees and gives the Doctor a hug.
The Doctor and Bertie come down into the bottom of the Inn where they find Chrissie drinking full pints of beer, alongside a lot of drunk and loud Scottish men, as she gets up onto the table and begins singing… Umbrella by Rihanna in the style of a pub drinking song, soon after the men grasp the lyrics, they join in – the Doctor looks awkwardly at the events unfolding before bursting into laughter.
The next morning, the three group together as they grab a load of equipment from the TARDIS ready to go out and catch the Dreuonian, however they are stopped by Angus and the drunk Scots from last night, who say they’re coming with them to help. So the group go to to cave in the forest where they find the Dreuonian and over the course of about ten minutes, they manage to sedate and catch the Dreuonian, and then load it onto the TARDIS.
After this we get a scene where Chrissie says goodbye to Angus and thanks him for helping out. Angus says he just wants one thing in return: Chrissie to never come back again. Chrissie looks shocked, but Angus says that he will be charged for committing bigamy, so as far as the authorities are concerned, Christane Finch is dead, and it needs to stay that way. Chrissie agrees and says goodbye.
We then see the TARDIS drop the Dreuonian back on its home world as it goes off to join its people. Inside the TARDIS, Bertie says he still doesn’t understand how the Dreuonian got to 11th Century Earth, and the Doctor looks worried saying “believe me, I don’t understand either”. They ponder for a moment, before the Doctor says that at least they got it back home. Bertie says “on with the adventures”, the Doctor winks and says “of course” as he pulls down the dematerialisation lever.
THE DIARIES OF TIME
Season 55, Episode 4
Written by CHRIS CHIBNALL & ADRIAN HODGES
Directed by JAMES STRONG
TX Date – 24 October 2021
BIG CAPTION: “Indian Ocean, 1841”. A prison bulk ship, the HMS Hemming, sails through the stormy rain. Inside we see a shady looking man, John Richardson, with a piece of paper walking across the ship. He comes to a room, almost falling apart, whereby he leaves the piece of paper inside – and then a second later… it’s gone.
BIG CAPTION: “London, 2004”. We see a large investment firm called ‘Hemming Capital & Partners’, where we see a man in a business suit, Alec Wells, collect a piece of paper from an empty office and take it into his office. We then see him some hours later leave the same piece of paper back in that office.
BIG CAPTION: “Space, 6692”. We see a hospital, the Hemming Medical Institute, suspended in space… a space station. Inside a man, Astos Carna, does the same as the two men before him, picking up the paper, holding onto it for a few hours and then depositing it back in the room.
The TARDIS flies through the vortex and we get a scene whereby the three time travellers hang out and chat in the TARDIS, but an alarm goes off and the TARDIS comes to a huge dead stop. Then three entry ways open up in front of them, three portals… oddly appearing. The Doctor observes this and says: “A convict ship in the 1840s bound for Tasmania, an investment firm in 2004 and a space hospital in the 67th Century”. His two companions shrug, before the Doctor winks at them and we cut to the opening titles.
After the titles, we catch up with each of the three characters dispatched to each era: The Doctor goes to 1841, Chrissie goes to 2004 and Bertie goes to 6692. I’ll go through each plotline one by one.
With the Doctor, we fall into pure historical territory to begin with him simply being arrested as a stowaway and having to deal with being trapped with hundreds of convicts. Through this, the Doctor manages to meet John Richardson, and realises that he’s under some sort of trance, and that Richardson can’t tell him anything about his life apart from “I’m a criminal, I am from England, I am going to Tasmania”. The Doctor continues to follow him, whereby he stumbles upon him, again, placing a piece of paper in a room. The Doctor goes inside to read what’s on the paper, but it just looks like gibberish – no identifiable language. However, as the Doctor holds onto it, he vanishes, alongside it.
With Chrissie, we find her in 2004, as she poses as a temp at Hemming Capital and Partners. She comes across similar events to the Doctor, meeting Alec Wells, her rather foul mouth boss, who remembers precisely nothing of his life before he took up the job 18 months ago. Chrissie finds the piece of paper and disappears alongside it.
With Bertie, we get exactly the same, as he arrives in 6692, and poses as a medical scientist working in the hospital. He meets Astos Carna and vanishes with the paper.
We resume with all three appearing together in a black void, all holding their papers, and surprised to see each other. Bertie and Chrissie briefly discuss with the Doctor what it is they have learnt, to which the Doctor concurs. However, they are interrupted when a film plays out in front of them… some sort of trailer for a documentary, talking about those three time periods. After which, a message appears saying: “Thank you for contributing. You will now be terminated”. The three are shocked as lasers begin to fire at them and they try to dodge the lasers. Managing to avoid them, the Doctor finds a way out of the room, taking them into a big library like complex, full of people, as they easily blend into the crowd. Some guards watch over and point at them. They are eventually, after a chase, captured by the guards and taken to see the curator: C. J. Hemming.
Hemming explains that with the help of a friend, he sent all three places back in time, establishing them to record three key moments in history: The Establishment of Australia, the lead-up to the 2008 Global Financial Crash and the Great Expulsion. He tells the Doctor he’s meddling in his documentary and tells the three to get lost. The Doctor says what he’s doing isn’t legal, especially if he’s ‘terminating’ the lives of those who gather his information, but Hemming just laughs and says they were never alive in the first place, and just simple golems to collect information. Bertie makes the point that it’s not actually an evil plan and maybe they should leave well alone, but the Doctor insists that this needs to be stopped. Chrissie tells the Doctor that maybe they should back off, but the Doctor says that one can simply observe time but there is something more going on here. Hemming gives the Doctor one final chance to leave, as he holds up a gun, saying that they will be stopped one way or another. The Doctor listens to his companions and they depart, finding their way back to the TARDIS, which has been landed in one of the observation room.
Later that night, while Chrissie and Bertie are in bed, the Doctor continues investigating, returning to the library and finding Hemming speaking to… Sam, Sam Reynolds, Bertie’s daughter. The Doctor is spotted by Sam, who goes up to him and tells him that he’s picked the wrong day to mess with her again. Sam clicks her fingers and a group of guards go and take the Doctor away.
We then cut to the Doctor in the TARDIS, blanking typing coordinates into the TARDIS console. Bertie comes into the control room, in a dressing gown. He says “morning” to the Doctor. The Doctor looks over to him and smiles saying “Morning, Bertie”. We then see the TARDIS flying off through the vortex before we cut to the end credits.
TERROR OF THE DALEKS
Season 55, Episode 5
Written by ADRIAN HODGES
Directed by LEE HAVEN JONES
TX Date – 31 October 2021
England, 1556. We see the lives of a small village full of peasants, as it grows darker and nightfall comes. We focus on a girl, Mary, who’s about 16 years old, full of hope and ambition, but we see her disregarded by the other villagers as a bit of a fool. However, as everyone begins to settle down for the night, out of nowhere a meteor falls from the sky, crashing in the fields nearby. The villagers crowd around it, as it’s not a meteor but instead a small spaceship, which doors open up and a burnt orange, damaged Dalek rises out of it, as we cut to the opening titles.
We then cut to the Doctor in the TARDIS monologuing to Bertie and Chrissie about where they should go, going on about among other things The Eye of Orion but eventually settling on them going on a spooky Halloween adventure, perhaps in the Victorian times. Chrissie is confused as she doesn’t know what Halloween is, while Bertie is aware of the holiday and it was even celebrated on Erstden. This gives the Doctor the idea for them to travel to the 16th Century and see the first ever Halloween and find out just what exactly brought it into being. He says almost directly into the camera: “All Hallows’ Eve or Halloween as it becomes to be known. I thought we could go to the beginning, the first recorded Halloween!” We then see the Doctor walk up to the console as a smile comes onto his face.
The TARDIS lands in the village, not long after the events of the first scene. The trio instantly spot the crowds gathered in the distance and run along to investigate. Both Bertie and Chrissie are dressed in period clothes, while the Doctor just stays as he is, apart from the fact he’s swapped his red velvet jacket with an orange one – for the occasion. Anyway they get involved in the plot, as we get a bit of a retread of The Power of the Daleks concept, as the Dalek, needing the humans to help it, pretends to be non-hostile and helps the humans in return, to gain their trust. When the Doctor tries to confront the Dalek, the Dalek doesn’t recognise him – a usual tactic, we think as the audience – but when the Doctor confronts the Dalek again, on it’s own, and tells it “I am the Doctor, your sworn enemy”, the Dalek simply replies “You are not the Doctor”, before gliding away.
The story then goes in the expected direction with the villagers managing to give the Dalek the help it needs to get its ship power, which in turn rejuvenates the Dalek, and it goes on a killing spree. However, during the build up to this we see Bertie & Chrissie interact with Mary, who is distrustful of the Dalek, and she essentially persuades Bertie & Chrissie that it is actually up to no good as the two of them kind of get taken in by the Daleks’ charm. When the Dalek begins its massacre, Mary, Bertie and Chrissie band together to try and protect as many people as possible as the Doctor fights off the Dalek. The Doctor tries to reason with the Dalek, telling it to leave, go back in its ship and leave everyone be. The Dalek says that only power was restored to the ship, it cannot fly, that technology does not exist yet. The Doctor quickly interjects saying that he has a ship and he can help. The Dalek raises its eyestalk as it contemplates, telling the Doctor he will be exterminated if he does not help.
The Doctor takes the Dalek back to the TARDIS, but once inside the Doctor activates a field which disables the Daleks’ weapon and attempts to trap it, however the Dalek is strong enough to break out, and mad with anger resumes it’s attack, and tries to kill the Doctor. The Doctor retreats to the building where everyone else is and has a word with Chrissie and Bertie, telling them what has happened, saying the Dalek doesn’t trust him. Bertie says he’ll deal with it, he understands spaceships better than anyone there, if he can get inside the Dalek spaceship and destroy it, especially if the Dalek is inside, then everything will be alright. The Doctor puts his foot down, beginning to get emotional, telling Bertie “Every single time… they take everything away from me. The ones I love, the ones I care for. I can’t let that happen to you, Bertie…”. Bertie looks at the Doctor, understanding his pain, but looks stern and simply says “I can look after myself” before walking off towards the Dalek, putting his hands up in surrender.
Bertie says to the Dalek “My name is Bertie Reynolds, I am a scientist from the 33rd Century. Scan me and you’ll see. I can help.” The Dalek scans Bertie and the moves out of his way saying “proceed” as Bertie enters the ship. Bertie begins work on ‘mending’ the ship as the Dalek watches on closely.
Meanwhile, we focus on the Doctor, Chrissie and Mary and the after effects of many of the villagers, some being Mary’s family, dying in the massacre. One of the people who was very rude to Mary at the beginning of the episode, apologises to her and said he should’ve listened to her about the Dalek, because if he had, his wife would still be alive now.
Bertie continues working before coming to a finish, very nervous, as the Dalek watches on keenly. Bertie explains that all he needs to do is pull this lever and the ship will work, good as new. The Dalek scans this and raises its weapon at Bertie screaming “This is a deception. You are an enemy of the Daleks. You will be exterminated!” However, just as Bertie is about to be shot at, out of nowhere the Doctor appears… dressed in his usual red velvet coat – this is a different Doctor. The Dalek recognises the Doctor immediately saying “You are the Doctor. You are an enemy of the Daleks. Doctor…. You are a prisoner of the Daleks” etc etc. The Dalek shoots it gun again and again, missing the Doctor and Bertie but firing out of the open door behind them hitting… the Doctor. No, not the Doctor who rescued Bertie, but the one from the rest of the episode, next to Chrissie and Mary, wearing the orange jacket. The Doctor looks back in confusion at what’s happened, and Bertie is even more confused. Tired with the whole thing, as the Dalek says another “You will be exterminated”, the Doctor says “Rather not” and pulls the lever, causing an explosion at the centre of the ship, and then drop-kicks the Dalek into the explosion, before he and Bertie run away from the ship, as the full thing explodes in the field.
Afterwards, the Doctor, Bertie and Chrissie crowd around the corpse of the other Doctor, as its skin begins to made away into some sort of exoskeleton. The Doctor says that it was an imposter, a golem… it replaced him some time ago, when he was kidnapped. The Doctor then says to Bertie “We really need to have a word about your daughter”. The trio enter the TARDIS again as the Doctor says that he’s got a story to tell, because what he’s been through these past few months… changes everything. Chrissie then interrupts the Doctor and says she just needs to do one thing, as she leaves the TARDIS. Chrissie rushes over to Mary and gives her a necklace, which she takes off, and says that she’s proud of her, and that the people around ‘here’ know nothing and that she can achieve anything in life. Mary smiles and thanks Chrissie, before the two hug. Chrissie then rushes back into the TARDIS as the Doctor says “Can I continue”, Chrissie nods and the Doctor begins talking, as the camera tracks back and we fade to black, and the credits begin.
TO WIN THEM ALL
Season 55, Episode 6
Written by SIMON ALLEN
Directed by Metin Hüseyin
TX Date – 7 November 2021
This episode takes us right back to the end of The Diaries of Time, as we see what happened to the real Doctor afterwards, as we chart his journey to 1556. After a pre-title sequence, showing the Doctor being captured and put into a holding cell, we then cut to the Doctor in the TARDIS in the present day, telling the story to Bertie and Chrissie. Every ten minutes or so, for the rest of the episode, we cut back to them in the TARDIS as we see the Doctor continue to explain the story, as well as this, the entire episode is narrated by the Doctor, in the present day, and in most of the scene transitions we get the Doctor’s VoiceOver. Due to this, all the events of the episode are told directly from the Doctor’s perspective and we don’t get any scenes cutting to subplots without him in.
The first few minutes sees the Doctor’s action packed escaped from the holding cell, after literally just after Sam puts him there, the Doctor breaks out, because… well he’s the Doctor. He watches Sam and Hemming speech to one another again, before they exit the office, as the Doctor hides. The Doctor then sneaks in and finds several pieces of paper on the desk, which the Doctor looks at curiously. The Doctor pockets these papers, but he then hears voices, and quickly hides. Sam enters the room again, this time with the Intendant, and we see the Doctor hiding in an air duct. The Doctor stays there, listening to what they’re speaking about, with the Intendant saying “The TARDIS has arrived in 1556 – we can see and hear everything that’s going on”. The two then leave the room again as the Doctor makes his way through the air ducts, trying to find a way out of the complex. The Narrator Doctor says that being in 6692 meant that he knew that he could find time travel around somewhere, but it would come at a prize.
We then cut to the Doctor walking into a bar, in a space port, and in a scene very deliberately similar to Star Wars, the Doctor, posing as a time merchant, meets with the captain of a time vessel, an old gentleman called Mr. Hedge, and bargains passage onto the vessel, using a rare Gallifreyan scroll he had in his pocket. The Doctor notices something odd about Hedge, but doesn’t say anything, as he knows he can’t afford to be fussy.
During the voyage, Hedge takes a detour, telling the Doctor he will only be a few minutes. The Doctor stays onboard the ship, while Hedge goes outside, and takes a look at the nav console, observing that they’re in 6643, on a planet called, Eyena – a prominent human colony. The Doctor finds this curious but is soon distracted when he hears a loud explosion. The Doctor runs outside and he sees another building in flames and then another building explodes. The Doctor sees Hedge approach and quickly gets back into the ship, pretending he’d been there the whole time. Hedge puts the ship back into flight as the journey resumes. The narration says that the Doctor was horrified and knew that Hedge had to be stopped – and that it seemed like he was some sort of time travelling terrorist.
Some time later, the Doctor sits down in the cockpit with Hedge and gently confronts him about this. Hedge, somewhat reluctantly admits that forty-nine years ago, his daughter and grandchildren tragically died in an explosion on Eyena. He says that he went back in time, just now, to try and stop that explosion from happening but he failed. The Doctor, listens, realising how wrong he was about Hedge’s actions, but maintains to Hedge that he can’t go and change history, it would create a paradox. Hedge says that he doesn’t care, and that he’s spent the last forty-nine years of his life wasting away, and all he wants is his family back. Eventually, over the scene the Doctor is persuaded to help Hedge, as they set course back to Eyena, to about an hour before the explosion.
We then get a sequence of the Doctor and Hedge going through that hour, trying to prevent a group of terrorists from blowing up those two buildings, but eventually we begin to work out that the actions of the Doctor and Hedge are what cause the terrorists to blow up the buildings, causing a bootstrap paradox.
After this Hedge breaks down in the ship, while the Doctor tries to tell him that tampering with history never goes well. Hedge monologues about the torture of what he’s been through, and the Doctor hugs him and he cries.
That night, while Hedge thinks the Doctor is asleep, but we see the Doctor is awake but just faking it, Hedge goes into the Doctor’s cabin and searches through his things, looking for more rare artefacts to sell, but stumbling across the papers that the Doctor stole from Hemming’s office. Hedge looks at this, before walking back out to the cockpit. The narration begins explaining the Doctors thoughts as he lies there. Soon after, the ship changes direction in flight, and soon after that it lands. The Doctor walks into the cockpit, finding Hedge gone, and then he realises that Hedge has left the ship. The Doctor tries to work out where they are on the nav console but can only work out that they’re in 6692 again, but can’t get an exact location, apart from some coordinates he can’t seem to make heads nor tails of.
The Doctor leaves the ship, seeing a tall mountain above him and seeing Hedge having reached the top of the mountain. Without being seen, the Doctor follows Hedge up. When the Doctor reaches the top, which looms over a large wasteland, that looks almost artificial, and he sees Hedge speaking with two people: Sam and the Intendant. The Doctor can’t hear what they’re saying, but can have a pretty good guess. Sam then activates a device on her belt before all three of them teleport away. The Doctor hurriedly runs back to the ship, and tries to lock onto the teleport system, following it in the ship.
The ship lands back in the complex from the beginning of the episode, which the Doctor rolls his eyes at. He then walks down the corridor to Hemming’s office where he finds Sam, and asks her what they’ve ‘teamed up’ with Hedge for, and why, for that matter, Sam’s gone mental “again”. Sam just says they’re giving Hedge what he wants… and it helps with their plans, which she supposes the Doctor is well aware of now. The Doctor says that he got an idea of them, from those papers, but he says that leaving them around was so obviously careless, that he knows it’s all nonsense. Sam looks at him furiously, annoyed the Doctor has worked it out. Sam then tells the Doctor that he can either leave now, or he can become part of the experiment. The Doctor says that he’d like to know what this experiment is first.
Sam takes the Doctor into a room full of hundreds of people in different pods, each with lightning forming out of their heads going into a machine. The Doctor spots not only several characters of The Diaries of Time here but also Hedge. Sam says “Welcome to the Paradox Project”, with a smile. The Doctor is horrified and says that he’ll leave, but warns her that she will be stopped. Sam says that she doesn’t think that’ll happen, because the universe has another Doctor now, one which is at their command. The Doctor leaves the room, as he says “I’ll give your love to your dad”, and walks back to the ship, however, on the way, someone fires a laser blast at him. The Doctor looks and sees it’s the Intendant who says to someone else, who we see is Sam, “if you want a job done properly…”. The Doctor quickly runs, as he is then cornered by a group of guards shooting at him too. A chase sequence ensues before the Doctor manages to get into the ship, set the controls for 1556, in England (as he selects the ship to lock onto Erstden life signatures) and then lands in the village from the last episode as we see the first 10 seconds or so of the Doctor’s return from the previous episode.
We then cut to the Doctor in the present day speaking to his companions as he says “The Paradox Project must be stopped. It would cause devastation for the universe and unravel the web of time. All of the people fooled into this just want one thing, and that’s their selfish wish to just save someone, or something.” At this Bertie looks rather sheepish, as this reminds us, and him, of his actions in Rebirth. “Everything changes… now. We are going to put things right.” And then, we cut to the end credits.
JOURNEY INTO THE UNKNOWN, PART ONE
Season 55, Episode 7
Written by ADRIAN HODGES
Directed by LEE HAVEN JONES
TX Date – 14 November 2021
After a previously recap, we begin with the sound of the cloister bell, as we see the Doctor underwater, unable to breathe, gasping for air. The cloister bell grows louder and louder. We see the TARDIS door-handle sign floating past the Doctor, as he tries to reach for it. And then – opening titles.
After the titles, the TARDIS lands outer space. The Doctor pulls open the TARDIS doors, looking confused when there’s nothing outside, saying that they’re at the coordinates of that planet and nothings here, as the Doctor remarks that he thought they did make much sense. Bertie asks the Doctor if they’re in the wrong timezone, but the Doctor says that timezones are embedded into the coordinates.
We then cut to Sam inside the main Paradox project factory floor where she’s checking on the progress of the people in the pods, or as she calls them ‘the experiments’. The Intendant stands on a balcony, watching over at her cautiously. The Intendant then calls out to her, telling her that the experiment is done and it’s time for it to begin. A sly smile appears on Sam’s face before she pulls down a huge lever, as blue lighting energy forms out of all the people’s heads and moves into a big lightning ball in the centre.
Back on the TARDIS, and they’re travelling through the vortex, when suddenly the TARDIS starts to fall, literally free falling and the Doctor, Bertie and Chrissie can feel it. They can feel it all happening, the TARDIS just falling. The Doctor is terrified. He knows this is impossible. Chrissie screams out, telling the Doctor to do something, but the Doctor is stood dead still, he can’t move, he doesn’t know what to do. Bertie moves over to the console, and flicks some of the switches, trying to stabilise the TARDIS. The Doctor isn’t paying attention to this. The Doctor seems like he’s almost been completely taken out of the situation… and as we dwell on this fact, we see that he has, as we go into the Doctor’s head, as he hear the word “contact” and he arrives in some sort of vision, greeted by the Rogue.
The Doctor immediately tells the Rogue to stop whatever he’s doing, but the Rogue tells the Doctor to shut up and listen to him. The Rogue says that the entirety of existence is falling apart. Like him, he was just in his TARDIS and he began falling to, falling to nowhere. The Rogue says he managed to stabilise his TARDIS and make contact with the Doctor, telepathically. He then explains that someone is messing with the fabric of everything and it’s just… gone. The Doctor tries to understand, before apologising to the Rogue about misjudging him, and then says that if he can stabilise the TARDIS, they should try and rendezvous. The Rogue agrees, but tells the Doctor that they don’t have much time.
Back in the TARDIS, the Doctor comes alive, ready to try and get the TARDIS stabilised, but after a few seconds, before the Doctor even reaches the controls, the TARDIS comes to a halt. The Doctor is confused as to how this happened, but Bertie says that he just spent the last 5 minutes saving their lives, and he’s stabilised the TARDIS. The Doctor smiles, very impressed. Bertie walks over to the TARDIS door and opens it, finding outside, absolutely nothing. He sticks his hand out, finding that something must be there, if he can do that, before he takes a step out, figuring that maybe he can exit, and maybe they’re on some sort of ground. However, when Bertie steps out, he falls – instantly and fast. The Doctor and Chrissie run to the door, but by the time they get there, Bertie is only a little dot, far in the distance.
The Rogue’s TARDIS comes into view in the distance, as the Doctor tries to move the TARDIS forward, with the controls. Slowly but surely the two TARDIS get close enough to each other, for the two Time Lords to get the doorways to dock together, and become a single ship. Chrissie says, as the Doctor and the Rogue are chatting away aimlessly, that they need to find Bertie.
Bertie wakes up on the surface of a planet. It’s clear to us that this is the same planet of To Win Them All, as Bertie’s lying face down on the wasteland. He looks around and finds it empty, with absolutely no one about. Confused, Bertie begins walking, in the hopes of finding someone.
The Rogue lists off that he doesn’t think it’s “The Master, the Monk, the Rani or any of the usual suspects”, saying that he can sense they’re all here, floating around somewhere, in the same boat as them. The Rogue says that someone new is up to no good, and the Doctor says, cheekily, “I know who it is – it’s the Intendant”. The Rogue raises an eyebrow, not aware of who they are.
Bertie continues walking before he hears a voice, he turns around and sees Sam, in front of him, as she says “Hello Dad”. Bertie asks her why she’s doing this and that he thought they’d worked through their issues. Sam says that she found out what he did, the Intendant told her. She found out that he just let Erstden be destroyed… their home. Sam says at now she’s been given the chance to put everything right. Bertie tries to tell her it’s all a trick, it’s all a lie, but Sam says the last person she’s going to trust is him.
The Doctor and the Rogue try to get their TARDISes to enter dematerialisation, but to no avail. The Rogue says he thinks the life-force of all existence has been drained. The Rogue keeps trying to get a lock on where they are but nothing’s working. The Doctor says that as far as he can see it, they have precisely one option. The Rogue says they can’t, it would be incredibly stupid. The Doctor winks and says “You know me, when have I ever been sensible?”. Chrissie looks confused as the Doctor explains to her that they’re going to jump, to wherever Bertie is, and that he can’t guarantee they’ll survive that. Chrissie looks worried as she begins to get emotional, as she hugs the Doctor. She then says that she’s coming with them, but the Doctor tries to talk them out of it, saying someone needs to stay behind. Chrissie says that she wants to help find Bertie, as she begins to cry, trying to put on a brave face. She hugs the Doctor again, tries to make herself look presentable and then holds onto the Doctor’s hand. The Rogue detaches the two TARDISes, as the Doctor and Chrissie get ready to jump. They speak a few emotional words and the Doctor warns Chrissie that “we’re going somewhere impossible”, before the Rogue cuts them off by pushing the two straight in, as he couldn’t let the two TARDISes get too far apart, before he reattaches them again. We then see the Doctor and Chrissie falling and falling, holding each others hands.
Bertie and Sam continuing walking through the wasteland as Bertie asks where they are exactly. Sam explains that they are everywhere and nowhere, and that they are at the beginning. Bertie says he doesn’t understand, but Sam says she’s glad he doesn’t, as he’s always been a bit of a no-it-all. Bertie, upset at her, says that’s not fair and that he’s over ever been looking out for her. Sam says that it’s all an act with him and he is rotten to his core. Bertie, in a rage of anger, slaps Sam. Sam just laughs, saying that proves her right.
The Doctor and Chrissie land perfectly in two chairs in an office. The two are really confused, as they look around the office, which is full of photographs of the Doctor, from all their lives, pinned up and scattered about. Chrissie tries to break the tension by joking about some of the Doctor’s faces, but the Doctor isn’t amused. The door to the office opens and the Intendant sits down, asking the Doctor if he likes his collection. The Doctor says “I thought you were just an amateur working with the Gaians for some evil scheme or plot, I thought you had just brainwashed Samantha… but no. You’re something more than that. Who are you?” The Intendant chuckles and says “You’re slower than I expected you to be. Standards must be slipping.”
The Rogue is in his side of the TARDISes and notices his TARDIS controls starting to go mental. He looks confused, as everything goes haywire. Then his TARDIS detaches from the Doctor’s, moving away. The Rogue runs to the doorway, as the Doctor’s TARDIS slips further into the void – and then… all of a sudden – his TARDIS explodes, with the Rogue inside. The blast knocks the Doctor’s TARDIS backwards, back and back through the void of nothingness at a huge velocity.
Bertie tells Sam to stop all this. He tells her she needs to grow up and put others first. Sam tells him to “shut up” and that he’s lost all ready. Bertie shouts for her to “do as she is told”, but Sam says that it’s all ending now anyway.
The Intendant tells the Doctor that they don’t have much time left, but it was nice to meet him properly. The Doctor is confused, but the Intendant clicks his fingers and the Doctor and Chrissie vanish. At the same time, Bertie vanishes too. They all arrive back in the TARDIS and the controls are going crazy. The Doctor is confused as to what’s happened to the Rogue and his TARDIS. Bertie tries to tell the other two about Sam, but before anything can happen the Doctor mentally links with the Intendant. The Intendant tells the Doctor that his time is over now, and the Doctor doesn’t understand. The Intendant says that there is nothing he can do. The Doctor pleads with him to spare Chrissie and Bertie, but the Intendant says that every other person in existence is dead, and that he couldn’t spare them if he wanted to. The Doctor just punches the Intendant in the face, shouting “Tell me who you are”. The Intendant chuckles, wiping the blood away from his face, before saying “I am you”. The Doctor is shocked, but pulled out of his vision, back into the TARDIS, which without a moments notice…. Explodes.
The camera lingers on the wreckage of the TARDIS explosion, in the void of nothingness, before we cut to the end credits. There is no next time trailer, only a ‘TO BE CONTINUED’.
JOURNEY INTO THE UNKNOWN, PART TWO
Season 55, Episode 8
Written by ADRIAN HODGES
Directed by LEE HAVEN JONES
TX Date – 21 November 2021
After the usual previously recap, we focus in on a huge medieval style door. We whip around to see the Intendant walking towards it. Inside, the Intendant walks through an empty great medieval hall, every step getting louder and louder as he works. When he reaches the end of the hall, he walks up a short row of steps and looks out of one of the large stained glass windows. Outside, just looks like underwater, but an artificial underwater – as if it’s just filling in a blank. The Intendant smiles to himself, before he hears a loud bang of a door. He looks back around, and sees another figure walking towards him. It takes a moment, but we see the face of a withered old man, with a walking stick, emanating the general feel of the First Doctor – although clearly a different character. We don’t know his name, but he simply says, as he walks through the hall “So, you have ended the entirety of existence then, hmm?”. The Intendant cracks his knuckles and says “You founded the great society, and I ended it… What is it they call you in mythology?” And after a pause, as the old man raises an eyebrow, the Intendant says “Oh, yes… the Other.” After a moment, the Other, walks up to the Intendant looks into his eyes and then says “And you’re the last one, aren’t you? The very last one…” The camera pulls out through the stained glass window, into the water and then we see the Sixteenth Doctor, floating through it – as we repeat the pre titles of the last episode – we then see a bit more, as the Doctor begins to run out of breath, and is about to drown to death, and then we cut to the opening credits.
And after the titles, we’re straight back with the Doctor, as he’s literally beginning to drown and then – he doesn’t. The Doctor is confused but then begins breathing in and out, normally. He looks around, he thinks he’s in water, but when he closes his eyes, apart from the fact he’s floating, it does not feel like it. He begins to walk, he does not need to swim, and sees a large medieval like house below, which he instantly recognises “Lungbarrow”, the Doctor says out loud, piecing things together. As the Doctor moves through the water towards Lungbarrow, we hear archival VoiceOver clips, reverberating around, of the Eighth Doctor and the Tenth Doctor talking about Lungbarrow and the Other.
We then cut to a small chamber. It’s damp and all made of stone. Lying on the floor, unconscious is Bertie. He then wakes up, a small piece of the TARDIS exterior lies beside him. Still lying there he looks up at the ceiling, as he speaks that it looks like they’ve managed to fall back in time to perhaps the 12th Century. He then hears a voice, a whisper. The voice of the Fifteenth Doctor – his Doctor – “Bertie” she says, over and over again. Bertie gets up and follows the voice, through the chambers and catacombs, following the voice of his Doctor. Eventually, Bertie comes to, what looks like the Fifteenth Doctor, with her back to him, standing in the shadows. Bertie walks up to her, saying “Doctor”, but when he walks over to the other side to see her, she vanishes into thin air. Bertie looks around confused as he begins crying, deeply emotional.
Chrissie wakes up in the middle of the large hall, strapped to what looks like an Iron Chair, complete with a pair of thumbscrews. The Intendant walks up to her and says “Christane Finch, you were at the eye of the storm, the centre of the TARDIS, which was the centre of the paradox… you shouldn’t exist”. Chrissie struggles trying to get out, but the Intendant tells her not to, otherwise, he’ll begin to get creative. The Intendant says that when creation was destroyed, by his handiwork, through the use of mass paradoxes, the TARDIS created one final paradox, which has somehow sustained just one place – Lungbarrow and brought the five of them here. Chrissie looks around and says “Five?”.
Bertie continues walking through the seemingly endless stone corridors, lit simply by flame torches, as he walks up to the Other, who just stands there, and who Bertie thinks is simply an illusion too, to begin with. The Other puts on his monocle and inspects Bertie saying “How curious…”. Bertie asks him who he is, and what he’s curious about, but the Other just starts laughing to himself and says “Mrs Finch is in the main hall and the Doctor is around here somewhere”, before walking on. Bertie mutters “thanks, I suppose” before continuing to look around for the main hall.
The Intendant continues speaking to Chrissie, as he begins to prepare the thumbscrews, before the door swings open and the Doctor steps forward, as Chrissie screams out for him. The Doctor motions for her to shush, as he begins monologuing to the Intendant, saying he’s worked out who he is, why they’re in Lungbarrow, but he just doesn’t understand why he would want to destroy everything – before the Doctor calls him ‘The Other’. A laugh is heard from behind, as the actual Other works up to the Doctor and says “No, I’m the Other. He’s the last one…” and then we cut to a montage of the Other cutscenes (as performed by former Doctor actors) taken directly from Season 40’s The Other, almost as if it’s a psychic projection into 16’s head. The Other says that he founded the great societies, he gave the Time Lords life and that he lead his generation to their reverent power. The Doctor then says that he knows this; explaining that he was loomed, through hundreds of different generations, from the Other, and that a part of him carries the Other’s identity, but he is confused to where the Intendant comes into this. The Intendant laughs and paces around the hall, almost dancing around Chrissie’s iron chair, with his movements, before he says that he Other was the first one, and I am the last one. I was loomed from someone who was loomed from someone etc etc, who was loomed from the Doctor. The Doctor says that’s impossible and that he can’t be loomed, saying that Gallifrey is gone. The Intendant slyly smiles before muttering something about the “restoration” and that it’s yet to happen, and now it never will… the greatest paradox.
Bertie continues moving through the passageways before coming to the door of the hall, where he eavesdrops on the conversation while listening in on the door. A voice beckons out, it’s the Intendant, “Come in, Mr. Reynolds, come in, my dear”. Bertie enters, before the Doctor breaths a sigh of relief that he’s okay. The Intendant jumps up and down clapping in excitement as he says that they are all here. Bertie tries to release Chrissie from the Iron Chair, but the Intendant says not to bother. The Doctor asks why she’s in there, and the Intendant says “It makes a nice set-piece doesn’t it?”, to which the Doctor shakes his head, and helps Bertie to get her out, which they eventually do. Meanwhile the Intendant continues to speak, explaining that the entirety of existence has collapsed, but the eternal mechanics of the universe will not let the five of them die, and he fears they may be trapped there… forever. The Doctor looks directly at the Intendant and says “You of all people know that’s not true.” The Intendant raises an eyebrow, before the Doctor says that he will save everyone, one way or another. The Other chuckles saying that the end is nigh and in fact the end has past.
Some hours later, after a time-passing establishing shot, we see the Doctor inspect the water outside, noticing something, and piecing it together with information he knew already. He asks the Intendant what he actually wants, and the Intendant says “To prevent what I know is to happen. To prevent what life becomes. And to end it.” The Other chimes in saying that he did all that and questions if all he wants now is a final end for himself. The Intendant nods. The Doctor says they are in a world entirely controlled by them, so… The Doctor clicks his fingers and the water vanishes. He clicks his fingers again and the room they’re in vanishes with only space around them. The Doctor says that their will controls this world, and if they themselves all together will everything out of existence, they can… but all three of them need to do it, together. The Other bangs his walking stick on the floor and says that he isn’t prepared to do that – he creates, not destroys. The Intendant says that what he created would drive anyone to destroy eventually. The Doctor asks just what it is that happened? Why did it all get so bad? The Intendant simply shouts “The Restoration!”
We then cut to a flashback. It’s Gallifrey and the Sixteenth Doctor is standing in the empty Panopticon. Then it’s full of people, and the Doctor, now in full ceremonial dress is laughing and shaking hands with others.
The Doctor, back in the present, looks confused. He says that’s never happened. The Intendant says the Restoration is what destroyed the universe, and that he only pressed the button. The Doctor asks, angrily, “What is the Restoration?”. Chrissie chimes in, trying to say something, but the Intendant clicks his fingers and Chrissie is gone. Bertie begins to shout and screams, but the Intendant does the same to him. The Intendant then says that controlling reality by his own will is rather fun. The Doctor angrily tells him to bring them back.
We cut to another flashback. The Doctor, with blue glowing eyes, pinching his fingers in slowly, while there’s an echo of mass screaming.
The Doctor again looks confused. The Intendant says that everything is ruined and that everything becomes sanitised. Everyone was just waiting for it to end, and that he prevented it from happening – yet here they are, still here. The Doctor asks why he needed to end all of existence, and why couldn’t he just go back and prevent the restoration… The Intendant says that he tried that, but he just became part of history and it just happened, again and again – and just like old Hedge, he needed the Paradox project. The Other says that his conclusion is illogical, and that he cannot merely end countless trillions of lives because he doesn’t agree with how people live… The Intendant says that he is one to talk, lashing out. But the Other just smiles, and hugs the Intendant. The Doctor looks confused. The Other continues to hug the Intendant, as the Intendant continues to break down. The Other softly says that sometimes kindness is all that you need to show. The Intendant pulls away and says “Kindness. You want to fight me with kindness. Perhaps you should fight something tangible?” He then clicks his fingers and a whole army of Cybermen appear, and the next 5 minutes turns into a massive fight agains the Cybermen, before the Other and the Doctor manage to will them away and where the Cybermen stood, they find the Intendant lying on the floor, in a pool of tears. The Doctor and the Other both say to each other “Kindness”.
They both touch the Intendant and a flash of memory appears: A church, a marriage, a funeral, hundreds of people celebrating. The Doctor and the Other continue to touch the Intendant, as they use their will to change everything. The memories keep repeating the same four things. It all builds up and crescendos before… the Doctor finds himself alone inside the TARDIS.
He looks at the controls and thinks. He then materialises the TARDIS and steps out “Earth”, it’s all there. He does the same and lands on another alien planet and it’s all there. He then says “Gallifrey” and lands there, stepping out and seeing the same old blue, ascended Gallifrey. He frowns, sad, but also says out loud “then it hasn’t been ‘restored’… has the future been prevented?”
We then cut to Chrissie, sat on a piece of hay. She’s in the village from Terror of the Daleks. Mary comes to sit next to her. Mary asks if Chrissie is okay, but Chrissie just says that she’s fine, and she just wants to rest, and she’s had enough adventure for one lifetime.
Bertie finds himself on Erstden. Sam is next to him. They are eating dinner. He looks and sees a calendar on the wall – it is after Erstden’s destruction, yet there they are. They are together. A family. On their home.
The Doctor sits in the TARDIS thinking. He thinks of those four memories. He then thinks of the Other and the Intendant. He then says out loud to himself “I will not let that happen”.
Then the TARDIS lands, all of a sudden. The Doctor has not set the coordinates. He steps out of the TARDIS and finds himself in an alien jungle. The TARDIS then vanishes. The Doctor is trapped. He raises an eyebrow, as the camera zooms in on his face and we cut to a caption saying: “The Doctor will return”. Before we cut to the end credits.
The final scene was shot as part of Season 56, and inserted onto the end of the episode. Originally the episode was just going to end with the Doctor pondering in the TARDIS. This episode was not intended to be Adrian Hodges’ final episode, and was the initial set up for a future plotline. Jane Espenson confirmed, after broadcast, that this will be resolved in some shape or form in the future. It was believed that this finale contributed to Mal Young’s decision not to renew Hodges’ contract, especially as it specifically contradicted directives Young had given at the beginning of the season.
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