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Metro
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Doctor Who boss promises finale will address 'controversial' Time Lord change
Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies has promised that the upcoming finale will address the 'controversial' Time Lord change. Two years ago, fans of the sci-fi series were left perplexed after Ncuti Gatwa took over the iconic role from David Tennant in a way that broke away from a long-held Time Lord tradition. The Sex Education star bi-generated into the Fifteenth Doctor in the 60th anniversary special, titled 'The Giggle', drawing heavy criticism from large portions of the Doctor Who fanbase. Now, however, ahead of the season 15 finale 'The Reality War' on Saturday night, the show's writer Russell has reassured fans that the form of regeneration will be explained. After posting a selfie from inside the Bone Palace, @varax89 asked him: 'There will be an explanation for bigeneration?' Wake up to find news on your TV shows in your inbox every morning with Metro's TV Newsletter. Sign up to our newsletter and then select your show in the link we'll send you so we can get TV news tailored to you. Russell then replied: '@varax89 actually, yes! 👍' Responding to the exchange on Instagram, several Reddit users shared their concerns over the potential reveal. Discussing Russell's writing, JOhn101010101 said: 'Oh no. His explanations don't have a tendency to actually explain too much.' tickofaclock added: 'Whenever 15 leaves, I just really, really hope he regenerates in a normal way. I don't mind bigeneration as a couple of special one-offs, but I really don't want it to be the new normal.' Doctor Who is an ever-evolving show with constant change literally woven into its very fabric so Whovians often roll with the wild twists, turns and wacky experiments played out by the showrunners to push the 60-year-old show to its limits – and often past it. Nowhere is that clearer than with the bold concept of bi-generation which was introduced in the 60th anniversary special. As shown during 14th Doctor David Tennant's regeneration, instead of the usual complete transformation of one Doctor into the next, bi-generation spliced Ncuti Gatwa's 15th Doctor out of him so both could exist at one time. Look, there are no boundaries when it comes to sci-fi, especially when it comes to the physiology and life cycle of a fictional alien race with two hearts. But some things feel like they should remain sacred and the poetic nature of the Doctor's regeneration – saying a final good bye to one (unless you are David Tennant) and welcoming in another is at the beating heart of the series and the emotional punch is heavily dampened by knowing they end up just pointlessly kicking about while the next Doctor goes on his adventures. Now the concept has been doubled down on with The Rani's bi-generation, I can only hope the whole affair is put to a rest with the end of this season as a fun but short-lived experiment. Tevcon01 also wrote: 'Having bigeneration for the 14th doctor is one thing but saying that everyone did is just nonsense. Why would 10 and 12 struggle so much if they just exist after the regeneration.' Meanwhile, J-McFox proposed: 'It's just going to be the Rani saying she worked out the science behind the myth so it's possible now.' Following the release of season 15's penultimate episode last week, Doctor Who fans are convinced they know what Rani is up to. The seventh episode, Wish World, saw the bigenerated Rani (played by Anita Dobson and Archi Punjabi) reveal themselves to a disorientated Doctor. The dastardly Rani plans to dig beneath the surface of this reality to find Omega, an all-powerful entity from olde worldy Time Lord history. In trying to jog the Doctor's memory after his humdrum suburban fugue state, Reya explained: 'We are the last Time Lord and the last Time Lady from the planet Gallifrey.' More Trending She also added: 'The tragedy is we were never enemies. Every villain you ever fought wanted death. I only wanted life. Remember?' This wrinkle has left many fans wondering if the Rani might be out to resurrect Gallifrey and the Time Lords, instead of the classic laying waste MO we get from most villains. Ardent Whovians immediately sprung on Reddit to theorise what it might all mean. @Grafikpapst wrote: 'She wants to bring the Time Lords back. He is the scientist that created the Time Lords. He is also the greatest mind Gallifrey ever had, so The Rani is probably a very big fan, seeing as she too is a scientist at heart.' View More » Doctor Who is available to watch on BBC iPlayer. Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: Yet another celebrity discovers they're related to a king 9 years after Danny Dyer MORE: 'Humanising trans people is so important right now – our BBC series does that' MORE: Gary Lineker breaks 26-year streak with mistake on final Match of the Day
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Doctor Who Boss Cheers His Tearful Time Lord: ‘Fans Get Up in Arms,' But ‘It's a Princely Performance'
In the latest Doctor Who season opener (pictured below, on the left), Ncuti Gatwa's Fifteen spilt a tear whilst processing the sudden death, at the hands of their robot overlords, of Sasha, a Belindachandra-1 resident he had grown quite close to in his six months on the planet. It was far from the first time that this Doctor has been brought to a single, powerful tear (or more) — sometimes of the happy kind, but more often sad — in his 11 appearances thus far, dating back to December 2023's 'The Giggle' special (fronted by Gatwa's predecessor, David Tennant). And while some fans have speculated that the recurring waterworks are perhaps a clue that this especially emotional Time Lord is 'broken' in a way akin to Peter Capaldi's Twelve, current showrunner Russel T Davies is here to clear the air. More from TVLine Daredevil: Born Again: Who Returned for the Finale? Who Didn't Survive? And How Did It Set Up Season 2? Andor Star Cheers Season 2's 'All-Out Weird' Dedra/Syril Connection: 'Not Your Average Rom-Com!' Jean Marsh, Upstairs, Downstairs Star and Doctor Who Vet, Dead at 90 'I mean, I remember the first time [Ncuti] did it, which is in [the 2024 Christmas special] The Church on Ruby Road,' Davies shared with TVLine. 'He thought Ruby (played by Millie Gibson) had vanished, been erased from time and space, which was astonishing, and he turned around in the studio and gave us that performance, which was absolutely spellbinding.' Davies thus waves off the suggestion that the tears are scripted, as some clue to something amiss with this regeneration. 'You don't tell an actor whether to cry, not to cry, not an actor of that stature. Absolutely not,' he scoffs. 'It's like, you wouldn't tell anyone to laugh or not to laugh! It's beautiful thing he does, and it's a completely new thing for the Doctor, that opens doorways into whole new experiences.' Davies says that his more emotional available Time Lord is but one of a multitude of ways one Doctor can vary from another, and how the long-running sci-fi series itself can be freshened up. 'Diversity is many things, and sometimes it's putting emotions on screen you haven't seen before, or that the Doctor has withheld himself from,' the showrunner posits. 'But it does make me laugh…. I know sometimes fans get up in arms about and they complain about it,' he notes. 'They're the same fans who say, 'Why don't you do something new with the program?' and you're like, hello. 'It's literally a princely performance,' he avows of Gatwa's take on Fifteen. 'I'm just here to watch and thank the lucky stars that I get to share in a princely performance like that. What an actor. Amazing.'Best of TVLine Weirdest TV Crossovers: Always Sunny Meets Abbott, Family Guy vs. Simpsons, Nine-Nine Recruits New Girl and More ER Turns 30: See the Original County General Crew, Then and Now The Best Streaming Services in 2024: Disney+, Hulu, Max and More
