Latest news with #TheStoryandtheEngine
Metro
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Doctor Who fans convinced unexpected character will change show forever
Doctor Who fans believe season one's episode Space Babies character Captain Poppy could change Doctor Who lore forever. Ncuti Gatwa's second season as the 15th Doctor is coming to a close with an epic two-part finale as he attempts to not only get Belinda (Varada Sethu) home, but save the Earth from total destruction – so business as usual. The latest couple of episodes have dropped some major twists and turns including the return of the Doctor's granddaughter Susan Foreman (Carole Ann Ford) for the first time in 60 years Mrs Flood (Anita Dobson) revealing she is actually classic Who villain, The Rani – and promptly bi-generating into Archie Panjabi. Not to mentionthe threat of yet another Classic Who villain, Omega, being as the third 'Unholy Trinity' member. Needless to say, it has been a rollercoaster. 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. But there is one character whose return has completely baffled fans as to how she will be involved – Space Babies character Captain Poppy. Keen-eyed fans spotted a mysterious cameo from Captain Poppy (portrayed by Sienna-Robyn Mavanga-Phipps) at the end of The Story and the Engine when she is seen by Belinda. Then, in The Interstellar Song Contest, some fans believe the name of the corrupt company sponsoring the show, Poppy Honey, is no coincidence and refers back to her. And in the latest episode, Wish World, she is the Doctor and Belinda's child after they are transformed into a married couple in Conrad's dystopian alternate reality. By the end of the episode, as the fictional reality crumbles, the Doctor even proclaims that Poppy, his daughter, is real. What's more, in November Anita confirmed that season two would recontextualise Space Babies at Comic Con Cardiff – whatever that means. For those who need a refresher, the season one premiere is set in 21506 where the Doctor and Ruby arrive on a seemingly abandoned space ship until they stumble upon a legion of intelligent babies in space led by Poppy who initially thinks the Doctor is her dad. The episode, which received mixed reviews from fans, seems to have been more relevant than any of us realised at the time – and there are plenty of ideas of exactly how she fits in. Reddit user ThelastoftheTzars theorised that Captain Poppy could be Susan's mother. 'Maybe when she made it off the ship she didn't have anyone so she decided to keep calling the Doctor her father. 'When she got older she heard of another Space baby that was abandoned and decided to adopt her so she wouldn't be alone. Poppy told her about her 'Father'.' The theory continues that perhaps, when she grew up, Susan attempted to find the Doctor and stumbled across the First Doctor (William Hartnell) rather than Ncuti's iteration and explains her connection to him. 'Given that we saw Poppy last week and Susan last night I am hoping that this theory proves correct,' the theory ended. And it is further bolstered by the idea that the name of the first ever Doctor Who episode which introduces Susan, An Unearthly Child, is a synonym for Space Baby. Another theory posed by Cool-Cover 23-27 outlines that Captain Poppy could be one of The Rani's experiments, considering her track record as a science genius. 'What if the Space Babies aren't just babies, but an experiment by the Rani/Mrs Flood to bring the Time Lords back from the dead?,' the user wonders, adding that she could even be a half-Time Lord, half Human using Belinda's DNA. They conclude: 'Captain Poppy is a Time Lord/human hybrid created from the DNA of the Doctor and Belinda—and she's actually a younger version of the Timeless Child discovered by Tecteun.' And finally another user Okay_Activity_6449 wondered whether the Space Babies power to make stories come true (such as creating the Bogeyman) will mean they were 'making stories about the Doctor being a hero who saves people.' The theory continues: 'Maybe these babies are telling stories about the doctor, stories coming to life… 'Can Belinda be a character from a fairytale who came to life because of a story told by Captain Poppy?' This would also tie into the idea that this entire season is fictional, considering Mrs Flood's fourth wall breaks and even the Doctor and Belinda meeting some Whovians in episode two, Lux. 'Poppy being the only thing he doesn't doubt, yeah she's definitely gonna be Susan's mother isn't she,' X user Becky speculated. And others agreed that perhaps Poppy could even be the Doctor if she becomes the child left for Tecteun to find – thus wrapping up the Timeless Chid mystery in a neat bow. More Trending Regardless of how exactly it plays out, fans are united behind one thing – that Captain Poppy is related to the Doctor and his Time Lord heritage in some shape or form. The synopsis for The Reality Way reads: 'Battle rages across the skies as the Unholy Trinity unleash their deadly ambition. The Doctor, Belinda and Ruby have to risk everything in the quest to save one innocent life.' Doctor Who returns to BBC One and BBC iPlayer on Saturday. This article was first published on May 19. 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. View More » MORE: Doctor Who star 'had his eye on' Fantastic Four role that went to Pedro Pascal MORE: Doctor Who fans convinced they've worked out what shock villain is plotting MORE: Doctor Who has fixed a big mistake – but it might be too late
Metro
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
'My BBC drama did something rarely seen before on TV'
Doctor Who star and Bafta winner Ariyon Bakare reflects on the power of telling diverse stories and paving the way for future generations. The 53-year-old actor has not had a moment to slow down since his starring role in Doctor Who episode, The Story and the Engine, where he played the episode's reformed villain, the Barber. The episode, which aired last week to widespread praise, was set in Lagos, Nigeria, aka the first full story to be set in Africa and featured the return of Fugitive Doctor (Jo Martin) among other epic moments. Needless to say, his stellar performance left Whovians abuzz. Just days after appearing on the sci-fi series, he was stood on the Bafta stage 'in shock' collecting his award for best supporting actor in Mr Loverman, based on the bestselling novel by Bernadine Evarsito. So when Ariyon sat down to talk with Metro, he was still reeling from a monumental week. 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. And his commitment to telling nuanced, rich stories was immediately clear with Mr Loverman. The show follows the love story between two gay Black older gentlemen (portrayed by Ariyon and fellow Bafta winner Lennie James). He explained: 'Mr Loverman is one of those rare shows. It does everything that it's not supposed to do. It's a queer story, elderly gentleman, a full ethnic cast, showing a story that we hardly ever see on screen. I don't think we've ever seen it on screen! 'And so for it to be recognised by its peers and be taken into the hearts of this audience the way it did, it was like a snowball effect. '[After my Bafta win] I felt hope that good stories can come out of anywhere, doesn't matter sex, creed or colour. 'I know that we live in a world now where we've progressed so much [that] some people want us to look backwards and stay there. I'm not about that. And that win for me was all about that.' Meanwhile, The Story and the Engine isn't the first time Ariyon has appeared on Doctor Who. In 2015, he starred in the Peter Capaldi and Maisie Williams episode, The Girl Who Lived, as the extraterrestrial lion Leandro, and was unrecognisable under 'six hours' of prosthetics. And having ticked two Doctors off his list, he reflected on just how different they are. 'Peter's really a consummate professional. He's technically amazing, but adds heart to it. I loved working with him, because he's so fast you can't keep up. 'Ncuti brings this modern quality, and he's got this cheekiness. When him and Varada [Sethu] are together, they have this connection which is just like two cheeky young teenagers in your room, and you want to go: 'Oh my God, I want to strangle you, but you're so brilliant.'' Luckily, thanks to his incognito costume, the door was open for him to return, and he jumped at the chance, praising Inua Ellam's 'beautiful, culturally dynamic' script. As such, the sense of community on set shone bright. 'We all had some connection to Africa, whether [through] our parents or [being] directly from [there], so we had a shorthand. The Doctor Who team and Bad Wolf did everything to recreate it in as authentic a way as possible, which was really beautiful. 'We'd all heard about Anansi [a mythological figure in African folklore] growing up, these are our bedtime stories. So we were really determined to bring the stories to life and make it as accessible to everybody else as well.' And, he reiterated the importance of telling diverse stories on Doctor Who, no matter what the trolls say. He explained: 'The best stories should be shown on screen, and Inua wrote an amazing, poetic, culturally driven story which was universal in every single way. 'The characters are no different than the characters we hear in Cinderella or any other fable, what makes it different that it's coming from Africa? 'What do we do with these stories. Do we just leave them to be imprisoned in some vault somewhere, or do we share them with the world? 'So no, I wasn't worried at any point, because all I wanted to do was just make sure I played this character as well as I could, and bring his words alive.' In fact, he's ready to reprise his role already. 'That was one thing that came out of the whole internet: 'When is there going to be a Barber spin-off?' Everybody keeps on asking me this. 'You have to speak to Russell T Davies about that. But yeah, I would love to play that role and Jo Martin can chase me around wherever she wants,' he joked. And he has the proof of just how impactful these stories, whether in family shows like Doctor Who or dramas like Mr Loverman, can be. 'I get messages nearly daily for Mr Loverman, from our elderly gay men who said that's their story. From straight men who said, 'I would never have watched this show, but you've educated me'. From Caribbean women grabbing me on the street and saying, 'Thank you. Thank you.' 'I had this young Muslim boy who said to me: 'I'm really struggling. I want to come out to my family. I don't know how to'. And he watched the show, and he said it gave him courage [because his] story has been going on for years and years. 'I said to him: 'You come out when you feel you need to. It's your story. You do it in your time.' It actually makes me want to cry, because it really was a moving moment when that happened. I was so touched by this young man. Then, he added: 'The younger years are creating a future that is so inclusive, all you want to do is applaud it, not stop it.' He channels his love for the next generation through his work as an ambassador for WaterAid, a non-profit organisation 'working to get clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene to everyone, everywhere.' Ariyon reflected: 'We did a trip to Lagos, Nigeria, which I haven't been to for many, many years, and I was just taken aback. 'This is my father's hometown and I witnessed firsthand the struggles that [these] communities are facing, living without clean water and decent toilets.' And he recounted tales of children who had to 'urinate or defecate' outside their school to go to the toilet or nurses in maternity wards forced to 'stop their work' because they had run out of water and were forced to walk miles. More Trending The British screenstar concluded: 'Clean water changes everything – health, education, dignity. 'I don't believe that it should be a struggle, not in 2025. Sometimes we forget that one in 10 people still don't have water or access to clean water, and that just blows my mind. How does that happen? 'I just want to inspire action to create a brighter, more resilient future for both this generation and the next. I think that's my whole thing. I don't have children myself, but I know if I did, I'd want to listen.' View More » Doctor Who and Mr Loverman are available to stream 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: Huge update as EastEnders character charged with murder in early iPlayer release MORE: TV fans binge 'outstanding' true story drama quietly added to Netflix MORE: Helen Skelton and Gethin Jones' close friendship 'blossoms into deeper connection'
Metro
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Doctor Who fans think they have cracked a major clue about the finale
Doctor Who fans think they have figured out how season one episode Space Babies will tie into the finale. Ncuti Gatwa's second season as the 15th Doctor is coming to a close with an epic two-part finale as he attempts to not only get Belinda (Varada Sethu) home, but save the Earth from total destruction – so business as usual. The latest couple of episodes have dropped some major twists and turns including the return of the Doctor's granddaughter Susan Foreman (Carole Ann Ford) for the first time in 60 years and Mrs Flood (Anita Dobson) revealing she is actually classic Who villain, The Rani – and promptlybi-generating into Archie Panjabi. Not to mention Fugitive Doctor Jo Martin's surprise cameo and the promise of a third 'Unholy Trinity' member. Needless to say, its been a rollercoaster. 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. But there is one character set to make a return that has left fans completely baffled as to how she will be involved – Space Babies character Captain Poppy. Keen-eyed fans will have spotted a mysterious cameo from Captain Poppy (portrayed by Sienna-Robyn Mavanga-Phipps) at the end of The Story and the Engine when she is spotted by Belinda. Then, in The Interstellar Song Contest, some fans believe the name of the corrupt company sponsoring the show, Poppy Honey, is no coincidence and refers back to her. And finally, Poppy appears in the official cast list released for the next episode, Wish World. So there's no doubt the season one premiere character will be playing a pivotal part in the events to unfold. In fact, in November, Anita confirmed that season two would recontextualise Space Babies at Comic Con Cardiff – whatever that means. For those who need a refresher, the season one premiere is set in 21506 where the Doctor and Ruby arrive on a seemingly abandoned space ship until they stumble upon a legion of intelligent babies in space led by Poppy who initially thinks the Doctor is her dad. The episode, which received mixed reviews from fans, seems to have been more relevant than any of us realised at the time – and there are plenty of ideas of exactly how she fits in. Reddit user ThelastoftheTzars theorised that Captain Poppy could be Susan's mother. 'Maybe when she made it off the ship she didn't have anyone so she decided to keep calling the Doctor her father. 'When she got older she heard of another Space baby that was abandoned and decided to adopt her so she wouldn't be alone. Poppy told her about her 'Father'.' The theory continues that perhaps, when she grew up, Susan attempted to find the Doctor and stumbled across the First Doctor (William Hartnell) rather than Ncuti's iteration and explains her connection to him. 'Given that we saw Poppy last week and Susan last night I am hoping that this theory proves correct,' the theory ended. And it is further bolstered by the idea that the name of the first ever Doctor Who episode which introduces Susan, An Unearthly Child, is a synonym for Space Baby. Another theory posed by Cool-Cover 23-27 outlines that Captain Poppy could be one of The Rani's experiment considering her track record as a science genius. 'What if the Space Babies aren't just babies, but an experiment by the Rani/Mrs Flood to bring the Time Lords back from the dead?,' the user wonders, adding that she could even be a half-Time Lord, half Human using Belinda's DNA. They conclude: 'Captain Poppy is a Time Lord/human hybrid created from the DNA of the Doctor and Belinda—and she's actually a younger version of the Timeless Child discovered by Tecteun.' And finally another user Okay_Activity_6449 wondered whether the Space Babies power to make stories come true (such as creating the Bogeyman) will mean they were 'making stories about the Doctor being a hero who saves people.' The theory continues: 'Maybe these babies are telling stories about the doctor, stories coming to life… 'Can Belinda be a character from a fairytale who came to life because of a story told by Captain Poppy?' More Trending This would also tie into the idea that this entire season is fictional, considering Mrs Flood's fourth wall breaks and even the Doctor and Belinda meeting some Whovians in episode two, Lux. Regardless of how exactly it plays out, fans are united behind one thing – that Captain Poppy is related to the Doctor and his Time Lord heritage in some shape and form. The synopsis for Wish World reads: 'Traps are sprung and old enemies unite as the Doctor and Belinda finally arrive home to find a very different world. Can the Doctor see the truth before midnight arrives?' View More » Doctor Who returns to BBC One and BBC iPlayer on Saturday. 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: Doctor Who will continue even if Disney drops out – but there's a devastating catch MORE: Doctor Who fans are worried about Eurovision episode – but not for reasons you'd expect MORE: Ncuti Gatwa replaced by pop icon after pulling out as Eurovision Spokesperson
Business Mayor
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Business Mayor
Doctor Who: The Story and the Engine – season two episode five recap
Set in Lagos, The Story and the Engine attempted to weave elements of western African folklore with wider myths and legends, alongside the mythology of Doctor Who itself. Like a lot of recent episodes, it was eager to play with the idea that the viewer is aware they are watching a story. At the Q&A after the London premiere of The Robot Revolution, Ncuti Gatwa said that this was the episode he was most looking forward to people watching this year, and he seemed to have had an absolute hoot on set. He clearly relished showing his Doctor feeling alive and accepted within a Black African community on Earth, but as events unfolded, he also got to flex flashes of anger alongside all the joy. The wild oscillation between camaraderie and fear in the barber shop allowed Ariyon Bakare (the Barber) and Sule Rimi (Omo Esosa) to shine in their roles, with each of them getting to enjoy significant character beats against Gatwa. Omo's apparent betrayal of his Time Lord friend and the sudden outpouring of laughter after the Barber's big 'reveal' of his identity were highlights. Michelle Asante as Abena was scene-stealingly good, as a mostly silent but clearly powerful presence, who appeared to know exactly what was going on, and to be enjoying the Doctor's discomfort. Scene-stealing … Michelle Asante as Abena in The Story and the Engine. Photograph: BBC Studios/Bad Wolf/Dan Fearon Writer Inua Ellams has tackled the Black male haircut experience before, in his 2017 play Barber Shop Chronicles, and has described his Doctor Who episode as a call to artists to 'always give credit where it's due'. But in an episode so dominated by the stories of men, it was actually Belinda (Varada Sethu) who deserved the credit for pushing the resolution on. Her simple phrase – 'hurt people hurt people' – was the spur for Abena to abandon her bitter desire for revenge, and set up the Doctor's escape, using a method once employed by enslaved African people. Sum it up in one sentence? What if Doctor Who did Desmond's, but on the back of a giant spider? Life aboard the Tardis Varada Sethu in Doctor Who: The Story and the Engine. Photograph: BBC Studios/Bad Wolf/James Pardon At first Belinda seemed content to let the Doctor roam free and enjoy feeling at home in Nigeria while she kept the Tardis ticking over. Those crashing red alarms soon drew her into action, though, with the Time Lord's big blue box proving to be rather more helpful to this companion than it was during those episodes such as The Rings of Akhaten and Hide where she had clearly taken a dislike to Clara. Fear factor Maybe fear isn't quite the right word, but at times the dialogue inside Omo's Palace crackled with menace. It was also another rare episode where everybody lived – as long as you don't count the giant spider. Mysteries and questions It was lovely to see Jo Martin's Fugitive Doctor make a brief appearance, making it the first multi-doctor story to feature the two Black people to have held the role in person, even if it did raise some baffling questions about how the 15th Doctor appeared to remember an off-screen adventure involving Abena that had happened to Martin's 'forgotten' incarnation. Deeper into the vortex Returning face … Ariyon Bakare (left) as the Barber in The Story and the Engine. Photograph: BBC Studios/Bad Wolf/James Pardon Doctor Who has seldom visited Africa on television, though the show filmed on the continent for Spyfall and Praxeus, partly set on Madagascar, during Jodie Whittaker's tenure. William Hartnell's Doctor spent one episode of 1965 story The Chase being pursued by Daleks, Dracula and Frankenstein's monster inside a haunted house that was later revealed to be at the Festival of Ghana in the year 1996. As well as a brief appearance during the market sequence by writer Ellams, the other notable cameo was the ghost girl who appeared to Belinda. That was Sienna-Robyn Mavanga-Phipps, once again playing Poppy, who we last saw when she was captaining the crew on Baby Station Beta during 2024's season opener Space Babies. Bakare's Barber was also a returning face, with the actor having played Leandro, Maisie Williams's ill-fated lionlike sidekick in 2015's The Woman Who Lived. The show's opening sequence appearing as a fourth wall break within the barber shop echoed when Maestro began playing the theme tune on their piano at the start of The Devil's Chord last year. Doctor Who has previously used animated storytelling clips. The origins of Zellin and Rakaya were explained via animation during Can You Hear Me? in 2020. The six-word story the Doctor was alluding to – 'For sale, baby shoes, never worn' – is often attributed to Ernest Hemingway, but it seems unlikely he was actually its author. The Doctor has watched the Marvel superhero movies, meaning they exist in the Whoniverse. We now have a canonical in-universe explanation of where Unit got the design for their Avengers-style tower in London. Ellams has written a prequel story, detailing how Omo first met the Doctor. Next time Rylan! Graham Norton! The Eurovision song contest … but in space! On the night of the Eurovision song contest! Provided the FA Cup final doesn't selfishly overrun and crash through the BBC One evening schedule like a wrecking ball! See you then!
Engadget
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Engadget
Doctor Who ‘The Story and the Engine' review: Just a trim, thanks
Spoilers for 'The Story and the Engine.' Doctor Who lives and dies by the quality of its writing and acting far more than almost anything else on TV. Audiences may demand big explosions and trippy visuals but its best work is often done in small rooms. The Disney era began with an episode that, for all its glossy excess, rested its big moment on Catherine Tate's acting. Now, as the Disney era potentially draws to its end, it's once again highlighting what a smart script and great actors can do. 'The Story and the Engine' is a stellar episode and a sign of what Doctor Who could look like a year or two from now. Lara Cornell/BBC Studios/Disney/Bad Wolf To get Belinda home, the Doctor takes the Vindicator to Lagos, Nigeria, to piggyback on the country's communications network. But there's another reason — he wants to visit his favorite barbership, Omo's. The TARDIS can cut the Doctor's hair, but it's not the same — especially now he's living for the first time (that we know of) as a Black man. A trip to Omo's is a chance to both get a trim and feel accepted, telling stories and laughing with his friends. Belinda stays in the TARDIS while the Doctor heads out, past missing people posters and signs warning people to stay away. As soon as the Doctor crosses the threshold into Omo's, the TARDIS begins blaring red alert, much to Belinda's confusion. The missing people are here, in the barbershop, but Omo is no longer in charge, having lost control to the mysterious (and unnamed) Barber. The Barber has kept the men hostage, cutting their hair on a regular basis, with each one telling him a story as he does. Each story is broadcast on the inside of the shop's window, and as soon as they're done, their hair grows back. The stories aren't for entertainment, but to fuel an enormous robot spider traversing a metaversal web. Only one person is allowed to leave the shop, Abena, who brings the men food each day to keep them alive. Naturally, an immortal time traveler is a fantastic resource for stories, but his first tale is that of Belinda staying behind after work to save a woman's life. Whereas the other men's stories are rendered in animation, we actually see Belinda's story as live action. And, once the Doctor's hair is shorn, it grows back, ready for his next turn to be an unwilling storyteller. Belinda, after asking the TARDIS to show her where to go, heads to Omo's, where the Doctor is surprisingly happy to see her as she, too, gets trapped in the barbershop. Abena is hiding a secret, and has been hostile to the Doctor ever since she met him. That's because she's really the daughter of Anansi, the spider-esque trickster god of Akan folklore. Her father defeated the Doctor many (many!) lifetimes ago, insisting they marry her, but the Doctor skipped town, leaving her on her own. [Casual viewers totally lost as to what was going on at that point and why the Doctor suddenly turned into someone else, head down to Mrs. Flood Corner for an explanation.] At some point in history, Abena teamed up with the Barber, who isn't a god himself, but a form of fiction-weaving figure. He told tales to entertain and sustain the gods, designing the dimensional web his giant spider robot is currently traversing. At some point, he'd outlived his usefulness and was cast out by his masters, and so he is using people's stories to power his story engine. When it reaches its destination, he'll wipe out all the gods of myth and legend and take their place. Abena, horrified that her own family will be wiped out in the Barber's revenge, opts to switch sides and tends to the Doctor's hair. She tells the story of how African people under slavery would braid messages and maps as cornrows to evade detection. The Doctor's hair is now a map of the story engine's mazelike corridors, leading him to its beating heart. When the Barber tries to stop him, he (wrongly) invokes Hemingway, talking about the power of his six word story. Oh, but we're five minutes from the end, so the Doctor saves the day by, uh, playing a highlights reel of all his prior incarnations. The Barber, however, is a changed man, and comes back with the Doctor as the story engine itself collapses under the sheer weight of the Doctor's life story. With everyone free, Omo declares he's retiring, and hands the role to the Barber, who will use his powers for good. Abena opts to part ways with her friend, and the Doctor and Belinda head back to the TARDIS. James Pardon/BBC Studios/Disney/Bad Wolf 'The Story and the Engine' is a phenomenal debut from British-Nigerian poet and playwright Inua Ellams. The rules of the barbershop and premise of the story is clear enough to grasp before the title sequence has rolled. And little time is wasted getting the Doctor through the door of Omo's shop, enabling him to engage with the problem at hand. If there's an issue, it's the same one that's dogged every episode this season: the overstuffed narrative that picks up and drops ideas in minutes that another series would have milked for weeks on end. The narrative and thematic density here includes nods toward folklore versus the mechanical reproduction of storytelling. An exploration of the nature of community, family, safety, betrayal, love and the value of revenge. Hell, the antagonist is a writer who's pissed off their overlords cut 'em loose and took the credit that was theirs to claim. Not to mention, Doctor Who is having to make a case for its own continued existence given the behind the scenes rumors. That's so much to cram into 45 minutes that you just want everything to slow down and let things breathe. As much as Doctor Who might be seen by the majority of its audience on a streaming platform, it's still constrained by its broadcast runtime. Like the rest of this run, this episode is just begging for more time to allow its textures to be better explored. In fact, as I lay in bed after watching the episode, I was thinking about how many of these episodes would work well in the old-school half-hour format. Three half-hours would give us more time in the barbershop and a more earned ending. 'The Story and the Engine' is already a chamber piece — make the CGI spider a barely-seen matte painting and use stock footage of Lagos and this could have easily been done in the '80s. Again, given the rumors that, without Disney's cash, the BBC can't afford to produce Doctor Who , we're seeing how great it can be when it's just got five or six actors in a single room. That's not to say the extra money isn't welcome: I also want to, again, single out how much great work the rest of the production team is doing this year. The story engine's heart, a beautifully-made heart-tree-brain sculpture, was another great piece of design work. And any episode of anything that uses Blick Bassey's "Aké" as a needle drop deserves a round of applause. A Nigerian barbershop is not the usual place for an episode of Doctor Who to play out, but it's also absolutely perfect. After all, one of the richest seams of inspiration the show has is to find the magic in the edges of the mundane. What could be more magic than people sitting around, telling stories and forming communities through nothing more than the cutting of hair. Mrs. Flood gets a tiny cameo this episode, popping into the hospital during the Doctor's tale of Belinda's heroism. It's ambiguous if the Doctor knows Mrs. Flood was there, or if her presence was only for the audience's benefit. Given the more standalone nature of this episode, we shouldn't ask too much of Mrs. Flood this week. It's certainly interesting to see what Belinda does and doesn't know about how the world of the Doctor works. My assumption is still that the Doctor briefed Belinda on the basics and even the more advanced details off-screen. Belinda's smart and capable enough that she'd ask the right questions to learn that the TARDIS wardrobe is also able to style hair. I am curious, however, about why the Doctor was so happy to see Belinda as she walked into the trap. And why Belinda knew what to do when the Doctor made his break for the story engine in the conclusion. That the costumes have changed since 'The Well' implies that time has passed for these two, so maybe their rapport has grown in the interim. Dan Fearon/BBC Studios/Disney/Bad Wolf If you'll allow me to go out on a limb, what if the real identity of Mrs. Flood or this season's big bad is in fact Fenric? Hear me out: 'The Story and the Engine' shares a premise with 1988's 'The Greatest Show in the Galaxy.' In that episode, the Gods of Ragnarok have occupied a circus to fuel their hunger for entertainment, killing anyone who displeases them. The Barber in this story mentions he wrote stories for several Norse gods and tries to pass himself off as one of them before his real identity is revealed. Now, if you recall, another Norse god the Doctor tussled with in that era was Fenric, the villain from 1989's 'The Curse of Fenric.' Which was one of the classic-series stories highlighted for the 60th anniversary's Tales of the TARDIS run. Given Davies' shot an additional episode of that run to introduce new viewers to Sutekh before he appeared in last year's finale, maybe the groundwork was already laid to bring Fenric back. Yeah, you're right, it's not going to be Fenric. When was the Doctor a Black woman? To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so. The 2020 season of Doctor Who made a number of controversial changes to the foundation of the series. Showrunner Chris Chibnall opted to dump the series' original deliberately ambiguous backstory in favor of something a little more stock sci-fi. Before then, our lead character was an outsider who left their world and stumbled around learning to become something of a hero. The show's first four seasons build to the moment when the Doctor says 'There are some corners of the universe which have bred the most terrible things. Things which act against everything we believe in. They must be fought.' Like a lot of early Doctor Who , the character's development over time wasn't necessarily visible until you look back on the era as a whole. Chibnall threw all of that out, insisting that the Doctor wasn't just the most Special Time Lord Of All Time, but the figure who gave the Time Lords the power of regeneration in the first place. In one season, he'd turned the Doctor into the equivalent of Adam and Eve and Jesus all at once. He also eliminated the series' longstanding regeneration limit, saying the Doctor can change their body an infinite amount of times. Which rather undermines the action and saps the dramatic tension from episodes like 'The Caves of Androzani' and 'The Eleventh Hour.' These changes gave the Doctor an entire as-yet unseen first and second act, with the adult Doctor working for the Time Lord equivalent of the CIA before having their memory wiped before the start of the series proper. The episode 'Fugitive of the Judoon' revealed the identity of one of these doctors, The Fugitive Doctor, played by actress Jo Martin — the only time the Doctor had been played by a Black actor before Ncuti Gatwa and only the second time (canonically) they'd been played by a woman after Jodie Whittaker. The Fugitive Doctor's place in the series' history is left ambiguous, and she mostly spent that time on deep cover missions. When Davies' return was announced, I was privately hoping he would very loudly unwind much of Chibnall's Timeless Child story arc. Trapping the Doctor in the hacky sci-fi role of chosen one felt like an act of near-fatal violence against the series. There have been many other secret origin stories for the Doctor over its sixty-year tenure, but the others were mostly content to sit in implication rather than bellowed from the rooftops. It's here I must offer yet more praise for Russell T. Davies, who opted to Yes-And Chibnall's hackiest impulses. He has managed to integrate the Timeless Child story in a way that serves the character of the Doctor supremely effectively. Rather than focusing on the ancestral history he's focused on the Doctor as an orphan, taken advantage of by cruel aliens. It gives greater weight both to his relationships with his companions, and to the need for belonging that takes him to Omo's. And the events of the Flux miniseries have broken the universe so utterly that it's opened the door for the pantheon of gods to enter it. Not to mention, it offers a vehicle through which we can get more stories of the Fugitive Doctor that gets it out from under the more reactionary storytelling under which she was created.
