| Season Thirty-Seven (2018): The Ties That
Bind |
| Companions and Recurring Characters |
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A retired bus driver, Graham O'Brien was
inspired by the spirit of adventure and zest for life of his late wife,
Grace, as he joined the Doctor aboard the TARDIS.
Bradley Walsh (bio) made his first appearance as
Graham in The Woman Who Fell To
Earth (October 2018) and his last in The Power Of The Doctor (October
2022).
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Ryan Sinclair was young man who was contending
with several challenges -- dyspraxia, an absentee father, and an uneasy
relationship with his grandmother's new husband, Graham -- when a chance
encounter with an alien artefact brought him into the Doctor's
orbit.
Tosin Cole (bio) made his first appearance as Ryan
in The Woman Who Fell To Earth
(October 2018) and his last in Revolution Of The Daleks (January
2021).
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A seemingly routine call for trainee police constable Yasmin Khan not only reunited her with her old
school chum, Ryan, but also led to the first of many adventures with the
Doctor.
Mandip Gill (bio) made her first appearance as Yaz
in The Woman Who Fell To Earth
(October 2018) and her last in The Power
Of The Doctor (October 2022).
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Grace O'Brien's love for life served as an
example for her husband, Graham, and her grandson, Ryan, even though her
determination to help contributed to her death at the hands of the
Stenza, Tzim-Sha.
Sharon D Clarke (bio) made her first appearance as
Grace in The Woman Who Fell To
Earth (October 2018) and her last in Revolution Of The Daleks (January
2021).
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Yaz's mother, Najia Khan, glimpsed her
daughter's secret life when the luxury hotel where she had been employed
as a general manager became overrun with enormous spiders.
Shobna Gulati (bio) made her first appearance as
Najia in Arachnids In The UK
(October 2018) and her last in Spyfall (January 2020).
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Hakim Khan was Yaz's well-meaning but
sometimes exasperating father.
Ravin J Ganatra (bio) made his first appearance as
Hakim in Arachnids In The UK
(October 2018) and his last in Spyfall (January 2020).
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Sonya Khan had a combative relationship with
her sister, Yaz, but also helped save her life when she contemplated
suicide three years before meeting the Doctor.
Bhavnisha Parmar (bio) made her first appearance as
Sonya in Arachnids In The UK
(October 2018) and her last in Flux (November 2021).
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With Steven Moffat leaving Doctor Who after almost a decade at
the show's helm, his successor as executive producer and showrunner was
Chris Chibnall (bio), who had written a number of
scripts for the series since 2007's 42, and had been the lead writer
on the first two seasons of the spin-off series Torchwood.
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The Woman Who Fell To Earth by
Chris Chibnall, directed by Jamie Childs
When Ryan Sinclair finds an alien pod in the woods near Sheffield, he
summons trainee police officer Yasmin Khan to investigate. At almost the
exact same time, his grandmother Grace and her husband Graham are on a
train which experiences not one but two alien visitations: first a
bio-mechanical cloud of tentacles, and then the semi-amnesiac Doctor,
falling from the sky after being ejected from her exploding TARDIS. Even
as she deals with the aftermath of her regeneration and the loss of her
time machine, the Doctor sets out to stop an innocent human from
becoming the victim of a merciless alien hunt.
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After they help her defeat Tzim-Sha, the Doctor inadvertently teleports
Ryan, Yasmin and Graham with her as she searches for the TARDIS.
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The Ghost Monument by Chris
Chibnall, directed by Mark Tonderai
The Doctor and her friends are rescued from an icy death in space by two
pilots named Angstrom and Epzo, the final two competitors in a race
across the galaxy. The final stage of their challenge takes them to a
mysterious planet known only as Desolation, where even the water is
lethal. Their destination is the Ghost Monument... which the Doctor soon
realises must be her missing TARDIS. Reluctantly, the six join forces to
cross Desolation and reach the Ghost Monument -- a journey which will
force them to uncover the terrible fate of the people who once settled
the planet.
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Rosa by Malorie Blackman and Chris
Chibnall, directed by Mark Tonderai
The TARDIS arrives in Montgomery, Alabama on November 30th, 1955. The
Doctor detects artron energy emissions, and becomes concerned that
someone is trying to interfere with established history. December 1st,
1955 is the date of a landmark event in the history of American civil
rights: seamstress Rosa Parks' refusal to give up her seat on a
segregated bus to a white person. But even as the four friends begin to
unravel the machinations of the time-travelling ciminal Krasko, they
must also contend with the era's deeply-embedded racism -- a problem
that even the Doctor can do little to confront.
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Arachnids In The UK by Chris
Chibnall, directed by Sallie Aprahamian
The Doctor brings her companions home to modern-day Sheffield. But while
Graham confronts the loneliness of the home he once shared with Grace,
the Doctor and Ryan stumble upon the corpse of Yaz's neighbour, covered
in spiderwebs. They soon learn that arachnids across the region have
been acting strangely in recent months, and the trail of clues leads to
a new luxury hotel developed by businessman Jack Robertson, who has
abruptly fired Yaz's mum from her position as its manager. Soon the time
travellers find themselves trapped inside the building, surrounded by an
army of giant spiders.
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The Tsuranga Conundrum by Chris
Chibnall, directed by Jennifer Perrott
Injured on a junkyard planet in the 67th century, the TARDIS team wakes
up on an emergency medical freighter in deep space. Also on board are a
pregnant man named Yoss, who is grappling with giving his baby up for
adoption, and decorated pilot Eve Cicero, whose android companion Ronan
has been helping her hide the truth about her health from her brother
Durkas. The ship's shields are soon penetrated by a Pting, a
nigh-invulnerable creature capable of devouring any form of inorganic
matter. As the Pting rampages through the freighter, only the Doctor and
her friends can save the passengers from destruction.
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Demons Of The Punjab by Vinay
Patel, directed by Jamie Childs
When her grandmother gifts her an old, broken wristwatch, Yaz becomes
determined to learn more about her family's history. She convinces the
Doctor to steer the TARDIS along the wristwatch's timeline, bringing the
four friends to the Punjab in August 1947 during the violent partition
of Pakistan from India. There Yaz discovers her grandmother about to
marry a man who is not her grandfather, and the Doctor discovers that
the region is being stalked by the Thijarians: legendary alien
assassins. This time, however, the demons which need to be confronted
may not be from outer space...
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Kerblam! by Pete McTighe, directed
by Jennifer Perrott
For centuries, Kerblam! has been an interplanetary retail behemoth,
teleporting goods of all sorts to shoppers across the galaxy. But when
the Doctor receives a Kerblam! shipment, inside she finds a message
pleading for help. To investigate, she, Graham, Ryan and Yaz pose as new
employees at Kerblam! headquarters on the moon of Kandoka. No sooner
have they arrived than they discover that members of the small human
workforce have been going missing, while the moon itself has been
experiencing strange power disruptions. Has the company been infiltrated
by a saboteur, or is Kerblam! itself out to get them?
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The Witchfinders by Joy Wilkinson,
directed by Sallie Aprahamian
In the early 17th century, the Doctor and her friends arrive in the
village of Bilehurst Cragg, in the shadow of the infamous Pendle Hill.
The local landowner, Becka Savage, is convinced that Satanic forces have
brought a plague of misfortune to the town, and is determined to
eradicate the witches she believes are responsible. The Doctor
intercedes only for Becka's crusade to gain support in the form of King
James I, who is on a witch-hunting mission of his own. In the face of
royal opposition, the TARDIS crew must uncover the truth about the
strange events in Bilehurst Cragg, before more innocents are killed.
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It Takes You Away by Ed Hime,
directed by Jamie Childs
In a remote part of Norway, the Doctor and her friends discover a
boarded-up cabin concealing a frightened blind girl named Hanne. Hanne's
father, Erik, has gone missing, and monstrous noises echo from the
surrounding woods. More strangely still, a mirror in Erik's bedroom
acts as a portal into a weird realm of rocky passageways and lethal
creatures. The Doctor, Graham and Yaz venture through the mirror in
search of Erik, while Ryan finds himself uneasily thrust into the role
of Hanne's protector. But in order to unravel the mystery, it is Graham
who will be confronted with the most difficult choice of his life.
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The Battle Of Ranskoor Av Kolos by
Chis Chibnall, directed by Jamie Childs
The TARDIS responds to distress signals from no fewer than nine
different alien races, all being transmitted from the same part of the
planet Ranskoor Av Kolos. There the time travellers meet Paltraki, the
lone survivor of a terrible battle. But Paltraki's memory has been
shredded by the violent psychotropic waves blanketing the planet. Only
the Doctor and her friends can piece together the trail of clues and
discover what is happening on Ranskoor Av Kolos. In order to do so, they
must confront the mad god who rules that world: none other than
Tzim-Sha, the Stenza warrior who killed Grace.
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Much like 2010, Doctor Who changed almost completely for its
return in 2018, from the cast and creative team to virtually every
conceivable design element. The programme even moved away from its
Saturday broadcast home, landing on Sunday evenings on an ongoing basis
for the first time in its history. No change was more significant and
controversial than the decision to cast Jodie Whittaker as the first
female Doctor. But, in the end, the gamble proved to be tremendously
successful: in spite of the continuing diversification of the television
landscape, the season premiere, The
Woman Who Fell To Earth, earned the highest ratings of any
twenty-first-century Doctor's debut.
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| Special (2019): Under A Blood Red
Sky |
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Resolution by Chris Chibnall,
directed by Wayne Yip
An archaeological dig in Sheffield uncovers the remains of a Dalek,
buried since the 9th century when the combined armies of the Earth
barely succeeded in defeating it. Accidentally revived, the Dalek takes
control of Lin, one of the members of the dig team, and uses her to
construct a new body for itself. The Doctor finds herself in a race
against time to save Lin and prevent the Dalek from summoning an
invasion fleet. But the Dalek is not the only old ghost who has
appeared: Ryan and Graham must contend with their own past when Grace's
son Aaron returns to celebrate the New Year with the family he has long
neglected.
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After thirteen consecutive Christmases, it was decided that Doctor
Who's holiday special would move from Christmas 2018 to New Year's
Day 2019. In recent years, January 1st had established itself as another
popular day for television. With so many variations on a Yuletide theme
having already been explored, it was hoped that the alternative
broadcast date might provide Doctor Who with new storytelling
opportunities while still capturing a substantial audience.
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| Season Thirty-Eight (2020): Travellers
From An Antique Land |
| Companions and Recurring Characters |
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A more youthful incarnation of the Master also
proved to be more bloodthirsty than his predecessors, his charisma and
intellect balanced against a ruthless zeal for murder and chaos -- and
an unprecedented determination to destroy the Doctor.
Sacha Dhawan (bio) made his first appearance as the
Master in Spyfall (January
2020) and his last in The Power Of The
Doctor (October 2022).
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The so-called Fugitive Doctor was an
incarnation of the Time Lord preceding the First Doctor, who worked for
a covert organisation known as Division.
Jo Martin (bio) made her first appearance as the
Fugitive Doctor in Fugitive Of The
Judoon (January 2020) and her last in The Power Of The Doctor (October
2022).
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Spyfall by Chris Chibnall,
directed by Jamie Magnus Stone and Lee Haven Jones
Espionage agents of all nationalities are being attacked by mysterious
alien entities, left comatose and corrupted at a genetic level. When MI6
summons the Doctor and her friends for assistance, they become targets
as well. Ryan and Yaz go undercover to gather intelligence on wealthy
businessman Daniel Barton, who was once an MI6 informant and was being
investigated by all of the targeted agents. The Doctor and Graham seek
the assistance of a former MI6 agent codenamed “O” who
specialised in the unusual. But in a world of secrets and lies, can the
Doctor trust anyone to be what they seem?
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Orphan 55 by Ed Hime, directed by
Lee Haven Jones
Graham wins a trip to Tranquility, an all-inclusive resort in the far
future. No sooner has the TARDIS crew begun to settle in and enjoy the
amenities, however, than it becomes clear that the spa is in crisis. The
Doctor discovers that Tranquility is actually housed on an
“orphan” planet, abandoned by its original inhabitants after
a nuclear holocaust. The surviving lifeforms on Orphan 55 are the
monstrous Dregs, apex predators now determined to kill every vacationer
on the resort. But the Dregs' incursion is just part of a larger scheme
by a mysterious saboteur to ensure Tranquility's utter destruction...
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Nikola Tesla's Night Of Terror by
Nina Métivier, directed by Nida Manzoor
At the dawn of the twentieth century, visionary inventor Nikola Tesla
struggles to gain the American public's confidence in the face of a
withering public relations assault waged by his rival, Thomas Edison. To
make matters worse, Tesla's Niagara Falls hydroelectric facility falls
victim to an act of sabotage, which leads to a man's death. The only
clue is a strange, floating green sphere, the presence of which draws
the Doctor's attention -- just in time to save Tesla from an
otherworldly attack. Is Edison behind the mysterious goings-on? And how
are these events connected to the signals Tesla has detected from outer
space?
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Fugitive Of The Judoon by Vinay
Patel and Chris Chibnall, directed by Nida Manzoor
When a Judoon platoon invades Gloucester, the Doctor races to identify
the fugitive for whom they're hunting. Her investigation leads her to a
tour guide named Ruth Clayton, who is unaware that her husband, Lee, is
hiding a murky past. But when Ruth begans experiencing strange
flashbacks to her childhood, the Doctor begins to suspect that there may
be more to the Judoon mission than meets the eye. Meanwhile, Graham,
Ryan and Yaz find themselves inadvertently teleported away from Earth by
an old ally of the Doctor's, who bears a warning from the future.
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Praxeus by Pete McTighe and Chris
Chibnall, directed by Jamie Magnus Stone
In Peru, Ryan helps a travel vlogger search for her friend, who has
vanished while camping in a devastated river valley. In Hong Kong, Yaz
and Graham team up with a troubled police officer who is tracing the
whereabouts of an astronaut who disappeared following the crash of his
space shuttle. In Madagascar, a research scientist witnesses the Doctor
save an American naval officer who has escaped from a doomed submarine
-- only to watch as the man succumbs to a terrible infection. The TARDIS
crew must uncover the connection between these events, before the entire
human race succumbs to an alien virus called Praxeus.
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Can You Hear Me? by Charlene James
and Chris Chibnall, directed by Emma Sullivan
No sooner has the Doctor dropped her companions off in modern-day
Sheffield to reconnect with their personal lives than the TARDIS is
invaded by a sinister entity called Zellin. The Doctor heads to Syria in
1380 to investigate, and there finds a hospital which has been attacked
by creatures out of nightmare. Meanwhile, Zellin makes his presence
known to Yaz and Ryan, while Graham begins to experience visions of a
mysterious woman, calling out for aid. The trail of clues leads the time
travellers to a platform orbiting a devastated solar system and into the
heart of an ancient trap.
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The Haunting Of Villa Diodati by
Maxine Alderton, directed by Emma Sullivan
On the shores of Lake Geneva in the summer of 1816, Villa Diodati is
playing host to some of the greatest literary minds of the nineteenth
century. The Doctor and her friends arrive on a dark and stormy night,
hoping to witness the birth of Mary Godwin's seminal novel
Frankenstein, but instead they find dark deeds afoot. A vase
smashes itself against a wall. A skeletal hand prowls the corridors.
Spectres appear, then vanish. Soon, the very walls of Villa Diodati turn
against its inhabitants. The key to the mystery seems to be a vision
experienced by Mary's husband-to-be, the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley; but
he has disappeared...
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Ascension Of The Cybermen / The
Timeless Children by Chris Chibnall, directed by Jamie Magnus
Stone
The Doctor pursues Ashad, the Lone Cyberman, to the aftermath of the
Great Cyberwar in the far future. There the TARDIS crew comes to the
defense of a small group of human survivors, whose salvation appears to
lie at the Boundary, a mysterious pathway across the universe. But the
Master has subverted the Boundary, and uses it to lure the Doctor back
to the ruins of Gallifrey. There he reveals that he has uncovered the
secret history of the Time Lords: a hidden chronicle events that will
make the Doctor question everything she's ever known about her people,
and herself.
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Doctor Who continued to shatter conventions during Season
Thirty-Eight. The year began with two new episodes broadcast within the
same week, for the first time since the period during the early Eighties
when this was the standard transmission pattern. Sacha Dhawan was
revealed as the newest Master, and the first person of colour to play
the role. But perhaps an even more significant example of casting
diversity arose in Prisoner Of The
Judoon, in which Jo Martin was revealed to be playing a
previously-unseen incarnation of the Doctor herself. From there, the
season built to revelations about the nature of the Doctor and the Time
Lords which significantly reshaped the programme's fictional
continuity.
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| Special (2021): Should Auld Acquaintance Be
Forgot |
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Revolution Of The Daleks by Chris
Chibnall, directed by Lee Haven Jones
With the Doctor missing for months, it's up to Graham, Ryan and Yaz to
investigate footage of a prototype security drone that looks
suspiciously like a Dalek. The robots are the work of their old foe,
businessman Jack Robertson, who has allied himself with Jo Patterson, an
unscrupulous politician with her eyes on Downing Street. But even
Robertson is unaware of the scale of the Dalek scheme unfolding within
his own facilities. And, when the Doctor is rescued from prison by
Captain Jack Harkness, she may be forced to resort to a solution that's
worse than the problem itself.
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Ryan remains in Sheffield to continue building the life he made during
the Doctor's imprisonment, and Graham decides to stay with his grandson.
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The early months of 2020 saw the rapid and sudden escalation of the
COVID-19 pandemic. Amidst the international upheaval, television
production was severely curtailed. While the impact on Season
Thirty-Nine would be significant, the preceding Doctor Who
holiday special was recorded before the real-life global crisis struck.
As such, the exits of Bradley Walsh and Tosin Cole from the regular cast
took place according to schedule, on New Year's Day 2021.
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| Season Thirty-Nine (2021): Survivors Of
The Flux |
| Companions and Recurring Characters |
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Fiercely proud of his Liverpool origins and determined to put the
welfare of others ahead of his own, Dan Lewis'
adventures in the TARDIS provided him with a new outlet to help those in
need.
John Bishop (bio) made his first appearance as Dan
in Flux (October 2021) and his
last in The Power Of The Doctor
(October 2022).
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Flux by Chris Chibnall and Maxine
Alderton, directed by Jamie Magnus Stone and Azhur Saleem
The Doctor's quest for information about Division is interrupted when a
mysterious force called the Flux threatens to overwhelm the universe.
Protected by the alien Lupari, Earth is one of the few worlds spared
from the devastation. Taking advantage of the Flux are the Sontarans,
who see an opportunity to conquer all that remains. Meanwhile the
godlike Ravagers, Swarm and Azure, have escaped their aeons-long
imprisonment. The Doctor confronts them in a place that should not
exist: a planet called Time where she realises that, like Division, the
Ravagers and the Flux are both linked to her own missing memories.
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When television production resumed in the months following the onset of
the COVID-19 pandemic, it did so under strict limitations. As a result,
Chris Chibnall heavily revised his designs for Season Thirty-Nine and,
in the process, a number of planned stories were dropped. Instead, the
season would consist of just six episodes -- the shortest in Doctor
Who's history. Furthermore, they would comprise a single story,
something previously attempted only with 1986's The Trial Of A Time Lord.
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| Specials (2022): Viva La Vida |
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Eve Of The Daleks by Chris
Chibnall, directed by Annetta Laufer
The Doctor, Yaz and Dan arrive in the basement of a Manchester storage
facility on New Year's Eve. The TARDIS is still corrupted by the effects
of the Flux, but the Doctor's attempt to restore it inadvertently
attracts the attention of a Dalek execution squad. Together with the
facility's owner, Sarah, and her customer, Nick, the time travellers are
quickly exterminated. But they suddenly discover that they are trapped
in a time loop, which brings them back to life and offers them the
chance of escaping their fate. However the time loop is steadily
decaying and, if the Daleks aren't stopped, each death could be their
last.
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Legend Of The Sea Devils by Ella
Road and Chris Chibnall, directed by Haolu Wang
In 1807 China, pirate queen Madam Ching searches for the treasure of the
Flor De La Mar, lost two and a half centuries earlier. Her quest
leads her to a strange statue in a small village, where she
inadvertently unleashes a long-dormant Sea Devil. The arrival of the
Doctor, Yaz and Dan is greeted by horror at the Sea Devil's trail of
slaughter -- and astonishment that it captains a pirate ship of its own!
Forging an uneasy alliance with Madam Ching and the young Ying Ki, the
statue's guardian, the time travellers must uncover the connection
between the Sea Devil and the treasure's last owner: the legendary
pirate Ji-Hun.
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The Power Of The Doctor by Chris
Chibnall, directed by Jamie Magnus Stone
The Doctor, Yaz and Dan come to the aid of a space train besieged by
Cybermen. But they are too late to prevent the capture of its cargo: a
mythical Qurunx capable of generating colossal amounts of energy. The
Cybermen are working for the Master, who has placed an artificial moon
in orbit around Earth in 1916, where he is masquerading as Rasputin.
Meanwhile, he has allied himself with the Daleks, who are working to
force the eruption of every volcano on Earth. It will take the combined
efforts of the TARDIS travellers of many eras to save the world -- and
stop the Master's scheme to destroy not only the Doctor, but her legacy.
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Dan decides it's time to leave the TARDIS; the Doctor returns Yaz to
Earth, before regenerating after the Master mortally wounds her with the
Qurunx.
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Jodie Whittaker and Chris Chibnall had decided from the outset that they
would make three seasons together and then leave Doctor Who. The
disruptions and delays which the COVID-19 pandemic had imposed on Season
Thirty-Nine prompted them to extend their tenures with a series of
specials spread across 2022. The first was broadcast on New Year's Day
and the second at Easter, before an October edition was timed to
coincide with the BBC's centenary celebrations. Designed to showcase the
breadth of Doctor Who history on BBC television, The Power Of The Doctor not only
witnessed the Thirteenth Doctor's regeneration, but also included a
plethora of references to the past, and especially to twentieth-century
Doctor Who -- not least appearances by the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh
and Eighth Doctors.
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