It is Doctor Who Tradition that one Doctor’s last episode is the next Doctor’s first. This handoff is one of the coolest things about the show. You never really know what you’re going to get and everything feels new again. Last weekend saw another changing of the guard, another first for the series after Jodie Whittaker became the first woman in the role. Unfortunately, this momentous occasion was marred by what appeared to be an incredibly stupid decision regarding the manner of the transition.
However, the Fifteenth Doctor will always have an asterisk next to his name. A small footnote noting that his introduction as actor Ncuti Gatwa takes his historic place as the first black person to take on the role Doctor WhoThe company’s 60-year history is different from the rest, making the whole affair feel like an alarming step backwards before many are still hoping for a big leap forward for the long-running series.
[Ed. note: Spoilers for the ending of “The Giggle” follow.]
As a result, “The Giggle,” the last of Doctor WhoThe three 60th anniversary specials are one hell of a ride, if a bit dense. The premise involves a subliminal message hidden in every screen and everywhere that is driving the world insane, a heavy-handed metaphor that would drag out the entire episode if the story dwelled on it too much. Luckily, that’s not the case – writer Russell T. Davies uses this plot largely for the sake of spectacle, giving the episode an apocalyptic scope. He puts a lot more energy into the episode’s villain, the Toymaker.
A deep pull Doctor Who In the story, the Toymaker first appeared on the run during the tenure of William Hartnell (the very first Doctor!). He has not appeared on screen since then, but has occasionally reappeared WHO Novel or radio play over the years. By casting Neil Patrick Harris to reprise the role, Davies finally gives the three specials a sense of history that has been missing from this trilogy of specials, stretching back to pre-modern times Doctor Who Davies started in 2005.
The Toymaker also transports us to the new era of Doctor Who. A creature from beyond the universe who views all of existence through an amoral lens of games and shenanigans, the Doctor’s plan to defeat him is to challenge him to a game – albeit with some sort of logical loophole Doctor Who is so active that the toymaker demands to play it next Doctor – and shoots a beam straight through the Doctor’s chest.
This is where “The Giggle” fails. Instead of regenerating into Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor, something strange called “bigeneration” happens and the Doctor splits into two: David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor And Gatwa’s Fifteenth. It’s not a temporary thing, either – as the special’s ending progresses, it becomes very clear that Ten will remain alive and well, even as he settles into the role of funny alien uncle to Donna Noble’s family off-screen while Fifteen settles down makes the way Doctor Who
The whole thing smacks of cowardice. Gatwa’s Fifteen has made the extremely contradictory decision to make the first black Doctor a strange anomaly keeping the previous white one in the game, and is now categorically against it The Doctor, undermined by the fact that the other guy is still out there, even if he never actually shows up.
There are non-profit ways to read about why this happened. Davies’ Doctor Who His work is best characterized as extremely sentimental, and his actions often lose logical sense when the emotion of a scene makes sense to him. As a sentimental writer, it is very possible that Davies couldn’t bear to kill his beloved Doctor a second time, or that the symbolism of Tennant’s Doctor wishing Gatwa good luck and sending him away seemed more emotionally appropriate to him than one such a historic handover. Looking at it that way, however, strains credibility and there is little reason why anyone should be so generous.
Doctor Who, following the tone set by Davies himself in 2005, established itself as a kind of no-nonsense progressivism that channeled the optimism of science fiction to show how humanity might actually improve over time. To that end, the series has often worked – albeit clumsily – to be inclusive and compassionate at times, to introduce queer characters matter-of-factly (including Donna’s trans daughter Rose in the 60th anniversary specials), and to make an effort to explore the Doctor’s world to make it a little less lily white. We could be better and the doctor was there to cheer us on.
That makes this type of faux pas all the more frustrating and almost regressive. It’s the kind of mistake you’d assume prominent artists have made. Admittedly, the end of this story has not yet been written. We’re still between seasons and have one more Christmas special episode left to give Gatwa’s Doctor his first real adventure before he starts his career in earnest in 2024. It’s possible that Davies plans to address the way The Giggle reads as a maker The first Black Doctor seems to be a spin-off, allowing regressive objectors to get in on “their” (white) Doctor remain. Television is a serial medium, and the back and forth between audience and artists is part of the game.
For his part, Gatwa is incredible. Even without trousers – which he never gets to put on before the credits roll – the Fifteenth Doctor shines in the final moments of The Giggle with a grin that can light up the sky and an eagerness to see anything and go anywhere. It’s a testament to his talent and charm that he makes it feel like it’s worth waiting to see how this all plays out.