GALLERY
CAST
Regular Cast
Ncuti Gatwa (The Doctor), Varada Sethu (Belinda Chandra)
Guest Cast
Cassius Hackforth (Tommy Lee), Ryan Speakman (Husband), Linus Roache (Reginald Pye), Alan Cumming (Mr Ring-a-Ding), Millie O’Connell (Sunshine Sally), Lewis Cornay (Logan Cheever), Lucy Thackeray (Renée Lowenstein), Jane Hancock (Helen Pye), William Meredith (Policeman), Samir Arrian (Hassan Chowdry), Bronté Barbé (Lizzie Abel), Steph Lacey (Robyn Gossage), Anita Dobson (Mrs Flood), Ian Shaw (Newsreader)
CREW
| Written by | Russell T Davies |
| Directed by | Amanda Brotchie |
| Produced by | Vicki Delow |
SYPNOSIS
The Doctor’s quest to get Belinda home takes the TARDIS to Miami in 1952, where an abandoned cinema is hiding a terrifying secret. Can The Doctor uncover Lux’s power?.
PLOT
TBA
NOTES
The title of the episode was revealed on official social media on 22 March 2025
In his column for Doctor Who Magazine #609, Russell T Davies teased a guest star playing “poor old Reginald Pye” in the episode. (DWM 609)
The Atom Bomb newsreel put on in the Palazzo Cinema is cut up and re-arranged from real footage from a real newsreel issued on 5 January 1952, archived by Reuters via Gaumont-British News. Ian Shaw as the newsreader performed an impression of the original reel’s newsreader.
Worldbuilding
Individuals
A newsreader narrates the commercial and mentions Queen Elizabeth II is in mourning, presumably for her late father.
Belinda’s dad works in tax and her mum is a violinist at London Regency Orchestra.
An announcement on the door of Palazzo is issued by the office of D. Lawson
Logan Cheever works at the 10C Diner.
Rock Hudson is referenced.
Gene Austin’s song “Girl of My Dreams” is heard.
Helen Pye crossed the road on a spring day and was presumably hit by a vehicle.
Reginald Pye was married to Helen for twenty years.
Lizzie Abel, Hassan Chowdry, and Robyn Gossage are Doctor Who fans.
A policeman assumes Belinda Chandra is from the Caribbean.
Locations
The Doctor and Belinda have travelled to Miami, Florida in 1952.
The Palazzo Cinema was shut down by the Dade Police Department. It has been deemed potentially dangerous in accordance with Article VI, Section 10-101
Dade Police Department is located on 8th Avenue, Dade County.
Technology and medicine
Reginald Pye owns a Francis Ringer clock.
The film projectors used at the Palazzo are made by G.B. Kalee Ltd.
Belinda mention that holograms didn’t exist in 1952.
A Vortex Indicator (also referred to as a Vindicator) is invented by the Doctor.
Belinda Chandra has undergone HIV training.
Nicotine is referenced.
Culture and brands
Popcorn is served at the Palazzo Cinema.
The audience at the Palazzo is watching a commercial about the Atomic Bomb made by the Gaumont British News.
The film Mr Ring-a-Ding Goes to Town is shown. It was produced in 1935 by Dawn Animation House.
The projection room has posters for the films Suburbia Secrets, The Chase, Rocket to Venus, Rebel Hearts, 57th Avenue Blues, and Remember the Night.
Mr Ring-a-Ding quotes the line “let me in on the hair of my chinny chin chin,” a reference to The Three Little Pigs and a nod to the production company behind the era.
The Doctor Who episode Blink is referenced by fans.
The Doctor refers to his adventures including, “the one with the goblins”, meeting the Beatles and “the one where [he’s] standing on a landmine”.
Lizzie refers to her meeting with The Doctor and Belinda as “so Galaxy Quest”.
Belinda flippantly calls The Doctor “Scooby-Doo” for wanting to investigate the Palazzo. The Doctor corrects her, saying that “[he is] Velma”. Later, The Doctor calls Belinda “Fred”.