GALLERY
CAST
Regular Cast
Ncuti Gatwa (The Doctor), Millie Gibson (Ruby Sunday)
Guest Cast
Jemma Redgrave (Kate Lethbridge-Stewart), Bonnie Langford (Melanie Bush), Yasmin Finney (Rose Noble), Alexander Devrient (Colonel Ibrahim), Lenny Rush (Morris Gibbons), Genesis Lynea (Harriet), Susan Twist (Susan Triad), Fela Lufadeju (Bailey Sinclair), Michelle Greenidge (Carla Sunday), Angela Wynter (Cherry Sunday), Anita Dobson (Mrs Flood), Tachia Newall (Colonel Chidozie), Jasmine Bayes (Corporal Sullivan), Aidan Cook (The Vlinx), Nicholas Briggs (Voice of the Vlinx), Gabriel Woolf (voice of Sutekh)
CREW
| Written by | Russell T Davies |
| Directed by | Jamie Donoughue |
| Produced by | Vicki Delow |
SYPNOSIS
The Doctor and UNIT investigate Ruby’s past. But as the Time Window reveals horrifying secrets from Christmas Eve, the mysterious Triad Technology unleash the greatest evil of all.
PLOT
At UNIT headquarters in London, Kate Lethbridge-Stewart and her team are preparing for the arrival of the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby Sunday in the TARDIS. On schedule, the TARDIS arrives, flying in through the room and parking in front of the screens in the bridge. The Doctor and Ruby emerge, the former greeting Kate, Rose Noble, Ibrahim, the Vlinx and new members Harriet and scientific advisor Morris Gibbons. The formalities finished, The Doctor draws his sonic screwdriver and transmits images of a woman he and Ruby keep encountering on their adventures: an ambulance on Kastarion 3 in the 51st century, a communications officer at Pacifico Del Rio, Lindy Pepper-Bean’s mother in Finetime, or a portrait in 1813; the list goes on.
Unimpressed, Kate reveals they have already been tracking the woman: Susan Triad, owner of Triad Technology since 2021, who is preparing for her formal announcement to the United Nations to unveil the new technology she intends to give away. The Doctor quickly points out that “S Triad” is an anagram for TARDIS, but the group reveal they already figured that out. However, Ruby notes something else: the name Susan. Puzzled, Kates asks what she means. The Doctor explains that “Susan” is the name of his granddaughter. However, he quickly dismisses the possibility because (as a Time Lord) he would sense her presence even if she had regenerated. Morris quips that the situation seems to have a 95% probability to be a trap for the Doctor. Either way, when Susan changed the company’s name to S Triad Technology two months ago, Kate assigned Melanie Bush to monitor Susan as an undercover agent on the press team, but she has still not found anything extra-terrestial about her.
The Doctor presses on though, revealing another mystery concerning the unknown identity of Ruby’s birth mother; the only point in time he encountered her was Christmas Eve, 2004 when saving Ruby from the Goblin King. Kate reveals they also know about that, with Ruby making headline news for two days. Ruby remarks how she also tried to find her mother with help from Davina McCall but it didn’t work. Rose then suggests The Doctor just go back in time and see her again, but he explains that because he went in the TARDIS once before, he has time locked himself from the event, so they need a different method because he can’t cross his own timeline again. He also explains that Ruby’s recollection of the event causes snow to fall whenever she does, proving the moment in history is a vulnerable one. Harriet then suggests they use CCTV footage that was captured 66 metres from the church. Ruby reveals she has one of the original VHS tapes, as she and Carla Sunday got it years ago to watch it, but were unable to work out her mother’s face. Morris suggests they use UNIT’s technology to enhance the video so they can identify her. Excited, Ruby heads with Rose to Carla’s flat to collect it.
Meanwhile, at Triad Techonology’s building, Susan continues practicing her speech, rewriting parts of its middle section with her PA. Mel comes over, praising her efforts and believes she will do well. Wishing her luck, she shakes her hand. However, this was so Mel could use UNIT technology to take a DNA sample for her to check if she is really human. Now having it, she departs the scene on her moped back to UNIT.
Ruby and Rose arrive at her flat to collect the VHS tape, Carla impressed that Ruby may have a way to find out her birth mother’s identity. However, upon hearing that Rose’s mother works for UNIT, she remarks she will join too. She calls Mrs. Flood to come round and mind her mother Cherry Sunday for her and joins the two girls to head to UNIT. The others gone, Cherry asks Mrs. Flood to make her a cup of tea, but she turns cold and begins warning her that something is coming and “he waits no more”. A storm begins to appear in the distance.
Back at UNIT HQ, The Doctor is reading through information about Susan Triad when Kate walks up to him. She begins talking about her father, Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, and how he and the Doctor used to have so many adventures together. Although, she remarks he never mentioned the Doctor having a grandaughter with him. Smiling, The Doctor remarks that was when he was a different Doctor, before his time with UNIT. Astonished, Kate remarks that means The Doctor has children as well. However, The Doctor remarks it isn’t that simple, given his life as a time traveler (and a Time Lord) makes things like family tough to track and have. Kate wonders then if he would really recognise Susan if he saw her again, which The Doctor firmly states he would. Emotional, he admits he can’t risk it though, because the connections are clearly a trap and he believes he could actually harm her instead, given all the destruction he has brought on across his numerous lives. Kates consoles him, pulling him into a hug.
Just after, Mel arrives, The Doctor enthusiastically welcoming and hugging her as well. At the computer, Mel reveals she DNA sample she got from Susan still comes up as human. On cue, Ruby and Rose coming running in with the VHS tape but Carla was not given clearance. Despite Kate’s concern, The Doctor insists she can come up, using his sonic screwdriver to give her identity card Level 1 clearance. The Doctor then turns to Kate and, given it will be better, asks to use UNIT’s time window to project the tape’s memory of the past so they can see the image of the night as if they are actually there. Kate tries to claim that (per The Doctor’s warnings in the 1970s) they never tampered with his time travel technology, but The Doctor’s insistence forces her to reveal they do have one ten floors down.
The group proceed to floor 45, a large open space with chronon windows and high-tech desks and reflectors. The Doctor observes the area before bursting out in laughter, joking at the primitiveness of their time travel efforts compared to his own. Still, he takes command, leading Ruby to the head of security for the window Colonel Winston Chidozie. Carla also arrives, standing in shock at the technology. Morris setups up the VHS tape and the Doctor orders everyone except himself, Ruby and Winston as security to leave the time window area. Kate, Rose, Mel and Carla obey, watching as Ruby joins The Doctor in the middle of the room. The Doctor asks Ruby to tell him again about the story of her abandonment. As Ruby tells him, snow falls within the window; Kate and Morris are astounded because they haven’t even activated it yet. Eventually, The Doctor permits them to do so, the machine blazing into action.
Soon, a lifelike projection of Christmas Eve, 2004 appears with Ruby and the Doctor in the middle of it. The projection even produces the sound of the Carol of the Bells coming from the church; the best UNIT ever got the window to show was the faint outline of the signing of the Declaration of Independance. The Doctor explains that Ruby’s story and the VHS tape power the machine with memory: time is embodying the memory to bring it to life in the window.
The Doctor narrates the events, Ruby’s abandonment and her mother leaving the church yard. On cue, the hooded figure appears, walking right at them. However, just as she is about to reach them, she glitches (or, in the Doctor’s words, shadows) past them. Ruby tries to touch her, but The Doctor holds her back; they can’t risk changing the timeline. The woman stops, Carla explaining she appears to be crying. Suddenly, the TARDIS’ hum springs to life: The Doctor from the past has arrived and proceeds to his conflict against the Goblins. The Doctor looks at the TARDIS; unlike everything else, it appears solid, as though it is really there. Concerned, he ponders what reviving the memory of a time machine would do in a time window.
The Doctor turns back to the woman, but once more feels his memory of the event changing. As his new memory reveals, the woman does point to him as his past self returns from defeating the Goblins. However, he feels it lasting longer than before, as though the timeline is changing again. He deduces that maybe the woman isn’t pointing at his past self but at something else. Against Kate’s wishes, he instructs Winston to wander around the time window to see past the TARDIS. Winston struggles to see much, eventually going behind the past TARDIS. Just after, the hooded woman turns away and vanishes, devastating Ruby; they still do not know her identity.
On schedule, the past Doctor and TARDIS dematerialise too. However, Winston is not behind it, with a twister of black sand and orange particles appearing instead. The team panics, each calling out to Winston if he is okay. Carla cries out that she recognises the twister as the essence of the Beast. Winston’s voice calls out from within it, but it is distorted, the man saying that he is in Hell and his soul has been seen. Chronon energy suddenly spikes to unsustainable levels; despite Morris’ efforts, the time window overloads, the memory exploding into nothingness. The snow now gone, the group look on to see Winston’s body has appeared but is now over 100 years old and covered in sand. He is dead. Kate glares at the Doctor before calling her fellow teams on her comms, Option 10 and Option 11, to bring a Psych Ops and forensics to the room. The Doctor turns to Mel and orders her to take him to Susan Triad.
The Doctor and Mel arrive at the Triad Technology tower, using his psychic paper to get inside. However, The Doctor stops once they are out of sight of the staff and begins punching the wall and collapses to the floor. He feels immense guilt for Winston’s death. Mel assures him he will fix it and they must carry on with the job. They proceed upstairs, Mel introducing the Doctor to Susan. The Doctor shakes her hand but…nothing. He doesn’t feel any Time Lord essence from her at all. He asks her if they have met before, but her PA team intervene and insist she has her announcement to make. Susan remarks she is so busy and struggles to sleep. The Doctor asks her about the people she dreams about, his suggestions of Lindy Pepper-Bean and the Villengard ambulances appearing to awaken memories within her. She leaves but, while not certain she is his grandaughter, The Doctor decides to stay around to monitor Susan.
Elsewhere, Kate, Harriet, Rose and Morris analyse the VHS tape again. This time, new footage of the twister entity has appeared within it, 20 metres ahead of where The Doctor’s TARDIS landed the first time. Time has changed once again. At Harriet’s suggestion, they run the tape in reverse and see that a version of the Doctor’s TARDIS is enveloped in the entity. Kate wonders if that means the entity is around the present TARDIS still parked in their command room. Kate orders all of her non-essential staff be evacuated, including Carla. The Vlinx conducts a full chronon scan and concludes the entity is indeed around The Doctor’s TARDIS. Kate contacts The Doctor, informing him about the entity potentially controlling the TARDIS. Simulteneously, a groan emits from the TARDIS. The Vlinx notes the entity is beginning to manifest into the room. The Doctor orders Kate to send Ruby back to the time window; she does so, while she and the others confront the entity now appearing in the command room. At the time window, Ruby enters it, the machine activating autonomously, sending her back to Christmas Eve, 2004, once again. The hooded figure appears, but this time walks towards Ruby from the opposite side.
At the tower, Triad begins her announcement in the studio but is suddenly overcome by a voice in her head. Confused, she rambles about how she has visions and bad dreams, collapsing in pain to the floor. Her PA, The Doctor and Mel race to her. At UNIT HQ, Kate ponders how they can combat the TARDIS if it has turned hostile – the TARDIS is practically invincible, before demanding to whatever is surrounding the TARDIS to reveal themselves.
Harriet interupts her, beginning to rant that the God of Death has “seduced and delighted the vessel”. Hearing this over the phone line, The Doctor asks Kate to tell him Harriet’s full name: Harriet Arbinger – she is the harbinger for the God of Death. Harriet rambles off a succession of various other gods, the Toymaker, the Trickster, the Mara and Maestro among them before finishing with the “mother and father and other of them all”: Sutekh, as the anagram of Susan Triad technology is rearranged to form Sutekh’s name (Sue-tech)
The Doctor then realises that they were looking at the wrong anagram, as the entity then manifests as a large beast towering on top of the TARDIS at UNIT HQ. At the same time, Susan transforms into a terrifying undead-like monster that brings “the gift of death”, disintegrating her PA into sand. Harriet also transforms. Triad taunts The Doctor, asking if really he thought she was family.
In shock, The Doctor can only stand as Sutekh’s trap had worked. He announces, now he is free, he intends to bring death to the Doctor, and all life in the universe.
NOTES
The Doctor reveals to Ruby for the first time that Time Lords can regenerate.
The Doctor describes Mel as “bonkers” to Ruby and that they are mates.
The Doctor explains to Kate that he was a “different” Doctor when her father was alive. He says he used to be a great enigma, something he still can’t shake off but is trying to.
The Doctoris afraid if he goes back to see Susan, he might ruin her.
The Doctor doesn’t plan to regenerate again for a very long time.
The Toymaker, Maestro and the Mara are members of the Pantheon of Discord.
Sutekh is the “father and mother and other” of the Pantheon.
Sutekh confirms he has used many names in the past, such as Set, Seth and Stekh.
Sutekh reveals new members of the Pantheon: the threefold deity of Malice, Mischief and Misery. But also Incensor (the God of Disaster) and her children Doubt and Dread who have yet to be seen. The same goes for Reprobate, the God of Spite.
Gods of “skin and shame and secrets” are also talked about.
Though The Fifteenth Doctor claims to have never seen Susan since he left her behind, the story “Fellow Traveller” by Mark Gatiss depicts the Thirteenth Doctor meeting Susan.
The Saxon Master’s leitmotif is played when Susan Triad is reading her monitor cue lines.
when Susan Triad does her dancing entrance, this is a reference to the real-life entrance of UK Prime Minister Theresa May. Theresa May did a similar dance entrance at the Tory Conference event on 3 October 2018.
The Doctor offhandedly tells Kate he would be able to recognise a regenerated Time Lord by looking them in the eyes. However, it seems that he has forgotten that he has repeatedly failed to do so; Missy and O surprised him by revealing that they were incarnations of the Master. Though the Yana incarnation did have the excuse of being rendered an amnesiac human by the Chameleon Arch; The Doctor did realise who the Saxon Master was without a hitch.
The UNIT staff refer to one “obvious” example of an “evil genius with secret alien software” whom they have been unable to stop, with Morris Gibbons remarking “We’ll get him.”
Sutekh will return and will be revealed as The One Who Waits. This was proven true.
Omega will return and will be revealed as The One Who Waits. This was proven false.
Fenric will return and will be revealed as The One Who Waits. This was proven false.
The Beast will return and will be revealed as The One Who Waits. This was proven false, though his voice actor Gabriel Woolf returned, and implications suggest that the Beast and Sutekh may or may not be connected.
The Great Intelligence will return and will be revealed as The One Who Waits. This was proven false.
The Valeyard will return and will be revealed as The One Who Waits. This was proven false.
The Sandmen and Gagan Rassmussen will return and Gagan will be revealed as The One Who Waits. Triad Technology would have connections with Morpheus pods. This was proven false, though Sutekh did turn Colonel Chidozie into sand.
The Trickster will appear. This was proven false, though the Trickster was mentioned.
Susan Foreman will return. This was proven false, though The Doctor was led to believe Susan Triad was Susan.
Sean Pertwee will appear as the Third Doctor. This was proven false. The Third Doctor is indirectly mentioned when Kate mentions The Doctor forbidding UNIT to temper with Time Lord technology in the 1970s.
The Daleks will return. This was proven false.
Davros will return. This was proven false.
When Sutekh was covering TARDIS with his hands, the TARDIS’s pto was gone.
Ibrahim salutes the TARDIS with when it lands which The Doctor does not object to. The Doctor previously disliked being saluted, as seen in The Sontaran Stratagem, Journey’s End, and The Caretaker.
The various recurring life forms The Doctor and Ruby encountered, specifically in Space Babies, Boom, Dot and Bubble and Rogue, are all revealed to be versions of Susan Triad.
The Triad Technology was previously established in The Giggle and The Church on Ruby Road.
Ruby remembers The Doctor telling her he had a granddaughter, Susan Foreman, in The Devil’s Chord.
While the timeline was erased from existence, Ruby’s alternate self had previously met Kate during the events of 73 Yards.
Sutekh returns and he refers to himself as Beast, Set, and Sadok, having last appeared in Pyramids of Mars.
The TARDIS makes the same noise it made in Wild Blue Yonder, The Devil’s Chord and Rogue, which is revealed as Sutekh controlling it.
Ruby’s recounts her being left abandoned at the church on Ruby Road, how Carla found her and how she contacted Davina McCall to try to find her real mother in The Church on Ruby Road.
UNIT calculate the distance of the CCTV footage that Ruby has of her mother at the church during the night she was abandoned in 2004 was filmed 66.7 meters away from the church. When converted, this is 73 yards, the same distance that the woman from 73 Yards was from Ruby after the fairy circle was broken.
The Doctor stops Ruby trying to interact with her mother for fear of changing the timeline; the Ninth Doctor previously failed to stop Rose Tyler doing this with her father Pete Tyler during the events of Father’s Day.
The Doctor remarks he can’t go back to the night Ruby was born using the TARDIS again because he would be crossing his own timeline, thereby time locking the event. This is established numerous times as a key problem with time travel because they became part of events, as noted in The Parting of the Ways, The Unicorn and the Wasp, The Stolen Earth and The Angels Take Manhattan.
The Doctor states he can’t allow Ruby to change the events of the night she was born because it is a fixed point in time, meaning breaking it would severely damage the universe, as displayed in The Fires of Pompeii, Forest of the Dead, The Impossible Astronaut, The Girl Who Waited and The Wedding of River Song.
The Doctor mentions fighting the goblins to save Ruby, as seen in The Church on Ruby Road. However, he also notes that his memory of the event keeps changing, as established in Space Babies. Indeed, this time, Ruby’s mother does point at The Doctor despite not doing so when he first visited the events.
When Kate asks him if he would recognise Susan if he met her again, he asserts he would given the connection Time Lords have. The Tenth Doctor noted this ability Time Lords had when recognising the Saxon Master during the events of The Sound of Drums and The End of Time and the Eleventh Doctor remarked similar statements when hoping to find the Corsair in The Doctor’s Wife.
Cherry Sunday asks Mrs. Flood for a cup of tea, having kept asking for one in The Church on Ruby Road.
Mel still works for UNIT, as seen in The Giggle.
Mel says she lost her own family to the most terrible things. The Toymaker previously mocked Mel for being an orphan. (The Giggle)
Rose Noble now works for UNIT, mentioning her mother Donna working for them too, as arranged in The Giggle.
UNIT has a new scientific advisor, Morris Gibbons, with Shirley Bingham currently away from the tower in Geneva, having previously appeared as an advisor in The Star Beast and The Giggle.
UNIT tower is still the main base of operations, as established in The Giggle.
Harriet is a harbinger like Henry was for Maestro in The Devil’s Chord.
Harriet mentions the appearances of the Toymaker, as seen in The Giggle, and Maestro, as shown in The Devil’s Chord. She also mentions the Trickster as the God of Traps, although the entity personally identified as the God of Chaos in Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? Like The Toymaker and Maestro in the aforementioned adventures, The Doctor met the Trickster before in his tenth incarnation during the events of The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith.
The Toymaker previously expressed in The Giggle, that he avoided facing “the one who waits” (revealed as Sutekh) in a game as they made them run away.
The Doctor misinterprets the anagram of S.TRIAD for Susan TARDIS, rather than Sutekh. He previously misunderstood the Face of Boe’s “you are not alone” anagram of YANA as a warning of the Saxon Master returning in Utopia.
Susan Triad declares she brings Sutekh’s “gift of death” after killing her assistant. The Servant of Sutekh previously said similar before killing Namin in Pyramids of Mars.
Kate recalls how her father, Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, and the Doctor used to work together since at least the 1970s, in notable adventures like The Three Doctors and Planet of the Spiders.
The Doctor believes he is a bringer of destruction and death, a belief expressed numerous times, like in Rose, The Lazarus Experiment, The Family of Blood, Journey’s End, The God Complex and The Name of the Doctor.
The Doctor mentions his previous incarnation, asking Rose “How’s your uncle?”, referencing how the Fourteenth Doctor called Rose his niece in The Giggle.
Kate is surprised that her father never mentioned Susan Foreman to her. The Brigadier and Susan briefly met in The Five Doctors.
Susan Triad mentions she dreams of a “world with orange skies”. Gallifrey was previously established to have orange skies in Gridlock, The Sound of Drums, and Hell Bent.
Kate believes that The Doctor never saw Susan again after they parted company. The Doctor doesn’t tell her that his eighth incarnation caught up with her in An Earthly Child, Relative Dimensions, Lucie Miller, To the Death, All Hands on Deck and The Shoreditch Intervention.