The End of Time (TV story)

The End of Time was a two-part Doctor Who special that was broadcast during the 2009–2010 Christmas season, concluding the 2009 "interim season". It featured the final appearance of David Tennant as   the Tenth Doctor and briefly included the first appearance of Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor. The story also revealed many aspects of the Last Great Time War, and gave important development to the character of the Master.

From a production standpoint, it marked a significant sea change in the history of Doctor Who. Like only The War Games before it, The End of Time ushered in a complete change of regular cast. Unlike that 1960s story, however, it was also the final story for its principal producers, Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner, and was the last regular story for its head writer, Davies. It was also the first to include any part overseen by — if not credited to — incoming lead writer and executive producer, Steven Moffat. Though Tracie Simpson was the credited line producer, her elevation to regular line producer on the first Matt Smith series meant that Julie Gardner effectively became the line producer for the first and only time in her tenure on Doctor Who.

Part One
It is the Tenth Doctor's final journey - but his psychotic nemesis the Master has been resurrected, on Christmas Eve! With both determined to cheat death, the battle ranges from the abandoned wastelands of London to the mysterious Immortality Gate, whilst the alien Ood warn of an even greater danger approaching, as a terrible shadow falls across the entire Universe...

Part Two
The Doctor faces the end of his life as the Master's plans hurtle out of control. With the sound of the drums in the Master's head growing louder, and an ancient trap closing around the Earth, the Doctor and Wilf must fight alone. But sacrifices must be made, and the deadly prophecy warns: "He will knock four times."

Part One
An unseen voice (The Narrator) narrates the opening of the episode, stating "It is said that in the final days of planet Earth, everyone had bad dreams." On Earth, Wilfred Mott, experiencing a vision of the Master laughing maniacally, enters a church. Once inside, his attention is drawn to a stained-glass window bearing the image of the TARDIS. A mysterious woman appears, telling him that the church used to be a monastery in the 13th century, and was attacked by a demon from the stars which itself was repelled by a "sainted physician", whom Wilf recognizes as the Doctor. When the Woman suggests that the "physician" is returning, Wilf states that it would make his Christmas, but turns around to find that the woman has vanished. The Doctor arrives on the Ood Sphere (after some procrastination, having seen galactic wonders, saved another planet, named a galaxy Allison and got married to Queen Elizabeth I, out of fear of his approaching demise), and sees that the Ood have progressed further technologically than they should have. Ood Σ|Sigma takes the Doctor to the Ood Elders who show him visions of the Master returning. He considers it impossible, as he saw his wife Lucy shoot him and he personally burned the body. However, the Ood show him something he didn't see: an old woman taking the Master's ring, carrying the essence of the Master. The Ood then warn the Doctor of an even greater danger is returning from the darkness, and that its return precedes 'the End of Time itself'. The Doctor rushes to Earth in the TARDIS to try and find him. The scene shifts to Lucy Saxon, who has been incarcerated in Broadfell Prison ever since she murdered her husband. One of the warders of Broadfell is Miss Trefusis, the woman who retrieved the Master's ring. On the night of Christmas Eve, the prison governor brings Lucy to a chamber where it is revealed that most of the staff are fanatical disciples of the Master who have been working ever since his apparent death to bring about his resurrection. With the help of the ring, a biometric imprint taken from Lucy and the sacrifice of the cultists' life force, the Master is reborn in a swirl of energy, but Lucy and some other warders have prepared for this eventuality and Lucy hurls a harmful potion at the Master. The Doctor arrives to find the prison obliterated by the resulting explosion. The Master survives the blast, but his life force is left in a state of constant depletion, forcing him to drain the vitality of a number of homeless people on a desolate construction site. Wilf, still experiencing faded dreams of the Master, scours London with other pensioners, under the group name the "Silver Cloak", to track down the Doctor. Meanwhile, the Doctor tracks the Master to a junkyard. The Master taunts the Doctor by beating a trashcan sixteen (four sets of four) times with a pipe, then leads the Doctor on a chase through the junkyard. The Doctor is interrupted by Wilf and the rest of the Silver Cloak. After retreating to a cafe with Wilf, the Doctor reveals that a prophecy has been made predicting his death. The Narrator, his face revealed from out of darkness, talks over the passing of Christmas Eve into Christmas Day, saying that the players are moving into their final positions.

Later encountering the Master, the Doctor discovers that the drumming in his head is not a symptom of insanity, but perfectly real. A squad of troops suddenly appear, sedating and kidnapping the Master and taking him to the mansion of billionaire Joshua Naismith. Donna's new fiancée, Shaun Temple arrives and as Wilf tries to watch the Queen's annual speech, The Woman appears and interrupts the broadcast telling him to take arms; she also advises him not to tell the Doctor of what's happened, if it is to save his life. Wilf takes his old service revolver out from under his bed as the Doctor contacts him by throwing a stone at his window. Wilf shows the Doctor a book about Naismith, and the Doctor realises that the reason why Donna bought the book as a present was because a subconscious part of her half Time Lord persona is reaching out, and they immediately set a course for Naismith's estate, despite Sylvia's protests. While in transit in the TARDIS, Wilf asks the Doctor why he can't go back to yesterday and catch the Master; the Doctor explains that he can't go back in his own timeline.

Naismith and his daughter, Abigail, are in possession of the "Immortality Gate", which has restorative powers enabling the healing of injuries and, as Naismith hopes, the resurrection of the dead. He acquired the Gate after the fall of Torchwood. Wanting to secure immortality for Abigail,Naismith enlists the assistance of the Master to mend the malfunctioning Gate.

Meanwhile, the Doctor and Wilf arrive at the Naismith estate. The former hides the TARDIS one second out of sync, so the Master can't get to it, having sensed their arrival. They make their way into the basement, they then discover that two of Naismith's staff, Addams and Rossiter are undercover Vinvocci, members of the race which originally owned the Gate, disguised as humans with shimmers that the Doctor can see through and deactivate with his sonic screwdriver. She and her partner are pressured into explaining the Immortality Gate is a medical device that heals lifeforms across entire planets using a genetic template. The Doctor realises at this point that the Master is going to use the Gate to do something to the Earth's entire population, but is too late to stop the Master from escaping his captors and jumping into the gate. Almost instantaneously every single human on Earth sees the Master in their minds - the Master had modified the Gate to accomplish much more than simply controlling the humans. He transmits his own genetic template across the entire planet, transforming every single human on Earth into a clone of himself - Wilf is protected from the effect by a radiation shield the Doctor placed him in.Donna is immune due to her half-Time Lord physiology, but as Donna witnesses her mother and her fiancée turn into clones of the Master she starts to remember everything that was erased from her memory. As the Master steps out of the gateway he tells the Doctor that he has destroyed the Human race and replaced it with "The Master Race".

The Narrator claims the Master and his removal of Humanity is only a small part of an approaching conflict. The Narrator is revealed as the Time Lord President of Gallifrey, addressing the Gallifrey Panopticon, which is packed with fellow Time Lords and Time Ladies. The President announces that "This is the day the Time Lords returned. For Gallifrey! For victory! For the end of time itself!"

Part Two
The next episode begins on a devastated Gallifrey, on the last day of the Time War. The Time Lord Council has foreseen that the Doctor, in possession of something called "The Moment", will end the war by destroying both the Daleks and Gallifrey. One of his council says that at the heart of the Time War, billions are dying, being resurrected and dying repeatedly, commenting that the never-ending carnage is a travesty of life and asks that he ends the war once and for all. The Time Lord President kills her with his gauntlet and declared that he will not allow himself or his race to die. To try and prevent this, the Time Lord Council concocts a plan which involves retrospectively implanting a link to the Master during his early childhood (the four-beat drum rhythm that has tormented the Master all his life), followed by sending a Gallifreyan "Whitepoint Star" diamond to Earth as a further, more physical, link. This link to the Master's present location will then enable the Time Lords to escape from the Time War's Time Lock, and so escape their impending destruction at the hands of the Doctor.

On Earth, the Master has both the Doctor and Wilfred bound, gloating over his victory. As of now, the Master Race has control of all military armaments. Then suddenly, Wilfred's mobile phone starts ringing. Knowing that he would never call Wilfred, given that everyone on Earth are now copies of himself, the Master searches through Wilfred's coat, before finding the phone, which is receiving a call from Donna. The Master turns it on and hears Donna's voice, who is confused over her family and everyone else changing. Suspicious, the Master demands to know why Donna didn't change. Wilfred reluctantly admits about the metacrisis that made her part Time Lord. Spurred on this information, the Master taunts the Doctor on this, sneering "He does love playing with Earth girls!", then orders his copies to take her down. He gives Wilfred the phone to say his last good-byes, snidely saying "Say goodbye to the freak, granddad!". Instead, Wilfred urges Donna to run. Unfortunately, she is cornered by the Master Race. Even worse, she is starting to remember her adventures with the Doctor and the various creatures they encountered. Instead of burning up, she emits a heat pulse that knocks everyone unconscious, including herself. Upon hearing nothing and seeing the Doctor smile, the Master removes his mouth gag. The Doctor then admits that he left Donna with a defense mechanism in case this happens.

The Master then asks him about the whereabouts of the TARDIS. The Doctor dodges the questions, remarking that the Master could have so much more potential and urges him to see and hear the universe simply for the pleasure of appreciating it, not the rabid desire to destroy and conquer. However, the Master then realizes that the four-drum beat sound is from across time itself. He demands to know where the TARDIS is, threatening to kill Wilfred. However, the Doctor casually notes "that after all this time, you're still bone dead stupid." The Master doesn't take well to that comment and motions the guard next to him to take aim. The Doctor then points out that even with six billion pairs of eyes serving him, the Master has failed to notice that the guard is one inch too tall. When the Master swings his head, the guard hits him in the head with the rifle. The guard is actually Rossiter, who frets over actually hitting someone, which he had never done in his life. Addams then rushes in and urges her partner to the two men out of the mansion. However, Rossiter, unable to free the Doctor from the chair he is strapped to, is forced to wheel the chair along, down several flights of stairs, prompting the Doctor to say "worst... rescue... ever!"

Reaching the basement, the group teleport to the orbiting Vinvocci ship, narrowly escaping the Master and his guards. As Wilfred is amazed at the prospect of being in space, the Doctor is more concerned over what the Master will do. As soon as he gets out of his restraints, he destroys the teleporter, preventing the Master Race from following them. He then asks for directions to the bridge, pointing out that the Master has every missile on the planet ready to fire. However, when they arrive, the Vinvocci are only concerned with leaving, so the Doctor resorts to destroying the ship's systems to prevent their detection, leaving them dead in orbit. As he begins repairing the systems, Wilfred sees The Woman again, who instructs him to give his gun to the Doctor.

The Master broadcasts a message that he has found the Gallifreyan diamond, and that it can only mean the Time Lords are returning. Wilfred considers this good but the Doctor says that the Time War had changed the Time Lords, making them far more dangerous than any of his enemies. The Doctor, having repaired the ship, returns to Naismith's mansion, to find he is too late. The Master is there, and so are the Time Lord Council. The Master then attempts to transplant himself into every Time Lord. However, the President uses his gauntlet to reverse the transformation, restoring humanity to normal. Gallifrey begins to materialise near Earth, fulfilling the prophecy that "it" (a previously unspecified entity) is returning. At first, the Master believes it excellent that the Time Lords are restored to the universe, but the Doctor says with the Time Lock broken, all the other horrors created in the Time War and sealed in the Time Lock as well – the reason for the destruction – have been released as well; not only the Daleks, but the Skaro Degradations, the Horde of Travesties, the Nightmare Child, the Could've Been King with his Army of Meanwhiles and Neverweres; the war turned into hell, which is exactly what the Master has unleashed above Earth:in short, "Hell is descending". The Master delights at the thought of such chaos but the Doctor states that even the Time Lords can't survive such an onslaught.

The Time Lord President reveals they had planned this moment since the Time War, that all creation and all of time will be destroyed and the Time Lords will ascend to a higher form of existence and become pure consciousness. The paradox created would eventually rip the Time Vortex apart. The Master begins to realise that the Time Lords had planned to use his life as a means for them to escape their inevitable death, at the cost of creation itself. He asks to join them, but the President disgustedly retorts "You are diseased, albeit a disease of our own making. No more". The President is about to kill the Master when the Doctor pulls out Wilf's gun. The Doctor initially aims at the President, and the Master goads him on, telling the Doctor to kill the President and claim Gallifrey for himself. At this, the Doctor spins and aims at the Master. Initially astounded, the Master realises the reason; the link that brought the Time Lords to Earth is inside his head, and if he dies, the link is broken, returning them back to the Time Lock. However, the Master points out that killing the President would have the same effect. As the Doctor frets on what to do, the President sneers "The final act of your life is murder. But which one of us?" After agonizing over who to shoot – the Master, or the Lord President (revealed moments later as Rassilon, founder of Time Lord society), the Doctor makes eye contact with one of the "disgraced" Time Lords kneeling behind the Lord President. She is the woman that Wilfred had seen previously, and her eyes indicate the diamond which is anchoring the Time Lords outside the time lock, which the Doctor then targets with the gun and shoots, sending everything back and causing Gallifrey to collapse. The Lord President is furious, and refusing to die alone, attempts to kill the Doctor. But the Master saves the Doctor by ordering him to get out of the way and attacking Rassilon with his electric powers, four times to represent the drumming and the time lord's creation of his insanity. This blasts the Lord President back into the Time War. There is a bright flash of light, and the Time Lords, the Master, the Lord President, and (somewhat slower) Gallifrey, are gone. The Doctor struggles to his feet, not quite able to believe he has survived. Then in the moment where he smiles happliy that he finally feels safe, his face changes to shock, and he is horrified to hear four hesitant knocks, the sound that portends his death. Wilfred is trapped in a radiation containment device and wants to be let out and can only be released at the cost of the Doctor's own life: fulfilling the prophecy that "he" will knock four times and the Doctor will die. After emotionally bemoaning that he must sacrifice his own life for Wilf's, he concludes he may have lived too long, releases Wilfred, and enters the containment device, receiving a massive level of radiation poisoning. Although he survives initially, the effects on his body show that his regeneration has started. Unlike some previous occasions, he doesn't regenerate immediately. He takes Wilfred home and promises to see him one last time. When Wilfred asks where he's going, the dying Doctor says he's going to get his reward...

The Doctor travels to several times/places: saving Martha and Mickey (who are now married) from a Sontaran, saving Luke Smith from being hit by a car (and exchanging a meaningful look with Sarah Jane), and going to an alien bar to connect Captain Jack with Alonso Frame while the song "My Angel Put The Devil In Me" plays from the Daleks in Manhattan. Afterwards, he visits a book signing of A Journal of Impossible Things by Verity Newman, Joan Redfern's great-granddaughter. He then pays a secretive visit to Donna Noble's wedding, where he gives Wilf and Sylvia the gift of a (presumably winning) lottery ticket to pass on to Donna. He purchased this by travelling back in time and borrowing "a quid" off Donna's late father, Geoff Noble.

Finally, the Doctor goes back to the Powell Estate on New Year's Day 2005, the year that he first met Rose Tyler. Hidden partially from sight in the shadows, he informs the young Rose that she will have a great year. As she leaves smiling, the pain of regeneration sets in. He collapses in the street, and Ood Sigma appears to him to tell him that the entire Universe will sing for him. He tells him "This song is ending, but the story never ends." Pushed on by this, the Doctor reaches the TARDIS, which he sets in motion. Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor sadly states: "I don't want to go." Golden energy starts glowing around his hands and head as he begins his regeneration into the Eleventh Doctor.

The regeneration occurs in an unusually violent manner this time, shattering the TARDIS windows and setting the console room on fire. After the new Doctor remarks on his new body, he gleefully clings to the console of the TARDIS as it plummets towards the Earth, shouting "GERONIMO!!!!"

Cast

 * The Doctor - David Tennant
 * The Doctor - Matt Smith
 * Wilfred Mott - Bernard Cribbins
 * The Master / The Master Race - John Simm
 * Rassilon - Timothy Dalton
 * The Woman - Claire Bloom
 * Donna Noble - Catherine Tate
 * Sylvia Noble - Jacqueline King
 * Shaun Temple - Karl Collins
 * Addams- Sinead Keenan
 * Rossiter- Lawry Lewin
 * Joshua Naismith - David Harewood
 * Abigail Naismith - Tracy Ifeachor
 * Σ|Ood Sigma - Paul Kasey
 * Ood Elder - Ruari Mears
 * Lucy Saxon - Alexandra Moen
 * The Visionary - Brid Brennan
 * The Second - Joe Dixon
 * The Partisan - Julie Legrand
 * Minnie Hooper - June Whitfield
 * Martha Smith-Jones - Freema Agyeman
 * Mickey Smith - Noel Clarke
 * Sarah Jane Smith - Elisabeth Sladen
 * Luke Smith - Tommy Knight
 * Captain Jack Harkness - John Barrowman
 * Verity Newman - Jessica Hynes
 * Rose Tyler - Billie Piper
 * Jackie Tyler - Camille Coduri
 * Alonso Frame - Russell Tovey
 * Oliver Barnes - Barry Howard
 * Time Lord - Roger Bailey
 * Miss Trefusis - Sylvia Seymour
 * Governor - Teresa Banham
 * Mr Danes - Simon Thomas
 * Ood Voices - Silas Carson
 * Voice of Ood Elder - Brian Cox
 * Voice of Judoon - Nicholas Briggs
 * Trinity Wells - Lachele Carl
 * Nerys - Krystal Archer
 * Sarah - Lacey Bond
 * Tommo - Pete Lee-Wilson
 * Ginger - Dwayne Scantlebury
 * Graske - Jimmy Vee
 * Jask - Dan Starkey
 * Winston Katusi - Allister Bain
 * Teenager - Max Benjamin

Story notes

 * This was David Tennant's final appearance as the Doctor as well as Matt Smith's first appearance in the role.
 * The original title for Part 1 was The Final Days of Planet Earth, and was in fact the title when Davies teased readers of Doctor Who Magazine with the statement that the title was six words long. Later, however, he decided to give the title The End of Time to both specials.
 * The second part is 75 minutes, four minutes longer than DW: Voyage of the Damned. Thus, it is the new holder of the title of third longest single episode, behind the 90 minute long DW: The Five Doctors and the 85 minute long DW: Doctor Who.
 * The person who knocks four times was Wilf.
 * With this, his final Doctor Who story, Davies will have written or co-written no less than ten consecutive episodes (this number counts two-parters as separate and also includes a mini-episode, but does not include Torchwood), an unprecedented accomplishment in the history of the franchise.
 * This is the first story of more than one episode since DW: Survival to have one overarching title.
 * The Time Lords return after their apparent destruction in the Last Great Time War. This is their first appearance onscreen since DW: The Trial of a Time Lord in 1986, except for a flashback in DW: The Sound of Drums.
 * This is a second time that a Sontaran has appeared as a cameo in a regeneration story, the first time being the Fourth Doctor's final story Logopolis
 * This is, along with DW: The Deadly Assassin, Doctor Who, Army of Ghosts, The Family of Blood and Cold Blood, one of the only Doctor Who stories to feature narration. However, in this case it is revealed that the "narration" is in fact part of a speech given by the Lord President to the High Council.
 * There is no traditional celebrity cameo in the story. Instead, a stand-in plays US President Barack Obama and stock audio from a speech of his is dubbed in. This is the first time in the revived series that the real world US presidency has coincided with that featured in the Whoniverse.
 * The opening credits list David Tennant, John Simm and Bernard Cribbins. Simm is the second person to be credited in the opening credits for playing a villain. The first was Eric Roberts, who likewise played the Master, in DW: Doctor Who. This is only the third time that all of the credits were male (the first being DW: Time Crash and the second being DW: The Next Doctor), discounting Attack of the Graske and Music of the Spheres, in which David Tennant is credited alone.
 * Despite this being David Tennant's last regular Doctor Who story, he filmed scenes for SJA:The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith, after the production of this story.
 * In the Doctor Who Confidential for this episode, and the ones for the other 2009 specials, the TARDIS in the opening titles bears the St. John's Ambulance badge, a nod to the Eleventh Doctor.
 * The continuity announcement before part 2 was voiced by the Tenth Doctor, and was the last time that the Christmas ident featuring him was used.
 * Russell T Davies confirmed in the commentary for part 2 that the scene where Captain Jack is in an alien bar is in a city named Zaggit-Zagoo on the planet Zog. The scene, a tribute to the famous Cantina Bar scene in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, features cameo appearances by many alien species featured during the Davies era, plus the return of Alonso Frame (DW: Voyage of the Damned) and also features the song "My Angel Put the Devil in Me", last heard in DW: Daleks in Manhattan.
 * Russell T Davies has said in an interview that The Tenth Doctor's death had been planned out since David Tennant was signed on for the role. Davies also heavily implied had Tennant not been cast, the Tenth Doctor would have died a different way.
 * During the Doctor Who Confidential episode for part two, Davies stated that the name of the Vinvocci's ship was 'The Hesperus'.
 * The Master redeems himself by sacrificing himself and saving the Doctor. According to historical accounts of the production of the classic series, this idea dates back to the original concept for Jon Pertwee's final story as the Third Doctor, which would have seen Roger Delgado's Master redeem himself in a similar fashion; Delgado's death ended this idea.
 * Given that the canonicity of the interactive of DW: Attack of the Graske and the fourth wall-breaking skit DW: Music of the Spheres are up for debate, the appearance of a Graske in the cantina scene marks the species' first undeniably canonical on-screen appearance in Doctor Who proper following several appearances in the spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures.
 * Davies originally considered having the Time Lords in an alliance with the Daleks, but after consulting with Steven Moffat and correspondent Benjamin Cook, eliminated this plot thread. (REF: Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale - The Final Chapter).
 * A line where the Doctor said that he was "half human for a couple of days in 1999" was cut.
 * The End of Time was not the only finale considered. In another, the Tenth Doctor was going to bow out in a one-parter, saving a family of four aliens from a radiation leak.
 * According to production team comments, this episode takes place in late 2009, ending the practice established in 2005 of having "modern day" stories taking place a year in the future and bringing the show's narrative into line with that of the real world. The default timeline explanation is that modern day Earth stories aired in 2009 and 2008 both take place in the same year; due the DW: The Next Doctor not having a "modern day" placement, it allowed The End of Time to take place on the date it aired, and set this year's stories in the same year as last year's stories.
 * In an early draft of the script, Davies had the Doctor address the "half-human" statement the Eighth Doctor made in the 1996 TV movie, dismissing it as "a 48-hour bug". The line was cut by Davies for several stated reasons, including the fact it would have confused viewers who were only familiar with the events of DW: Human Nature. (REF: Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale - The Final Chapter)
 * During the chaotic sequence after the regeneration, the Eleventh Doctor is shown spitting, an act that raised some eyebrows. In addressing this during a publicity event for the launch of Series 5, Smith explained that it was his natural reaction to all the debris raining down on him during the filming, while Steven Moffat indicated that Davies chose to leave it in.
 * Russell T. Davies claimed that Omega was originally going to appear instead of Rassilon, but the idea was dropped.
 * Joshua Naismith mentions that the Gate was found buried at the foot of Mt. Snowdon by Torchwood. In DW: Doomsday, Yvonne Hartman states that the gravity clamps were found buried in the same place. Presumably, this means the gravity clamps are of Vinvocci origin.
 * This is currently the only appearance of the Eleventh Doctor without Amy Pond.

Ratings

 * Part 1 - 11.57 Million - According to BARB.
 * Part 2 - 12.27 million - According to BARB.
 * In America, three broadcasts of Part 2 garnered a combined total of 1.42 million viewers, a record for BBC America.

Filming locations
to be added

Rumours

 * It was rumoured that Martha Jones and Mickey Smith would not appear (in particular given Freema Agyeman's commitments to the non-BBC production Law & Order: UK), however this was proved false as the two appeared as did Billie Piper and John Barrowman, whose involvement had been reported in the press during production of the specials.
 * Prior to the BBC's official announcement in mid-November, it was unclear whether Part 1 and Part 2 would both carry the same title (as prior to this only the title of Part 2 had been confirmed by the network). Following the broadcast of DW: The Waters of Mars, Russell T Davies was quoted in the media as saying the title of Part 1 would have six words, leading to speculation over what it might be before it was announced that the two chapters would share the title The End of Time. The original name for the first part was "The Final Days of Planet Earth" but this was changed by Davies as he felt that it didn't fit the episode as a title.
 * It was hinted by Russell T Davies that Donna Noble and/or Wilfred Mott would die, mentioning "Donna's final words" and speaking grimly of Wilf's fate in The End of Time. In another interview, Bernard Cribbins also made a cryptic statement regarding Wilf possibly "regenerating." Ultimately, both characters survived.
 * It was rumoured that Harriet Jones would re-appear, but she did not.
 * It was widely reported in media and on fan discussion boards that the character played by Claire Bloom would be the Doctor's mother. Ultimately, the woman's identity was left a mystery. Some people suppose it to be the Doctor's mother, others believe it to be an alternative world's Donna the way the Doctor looked at her after Wilf asked who the woman was, or, by the same logic, Susan, who is the Doctor's own granddaughter. IMdb originally reported the character as being the Doctor's former companion, Romana. This was taken down shortly after it was posted. Julie Gardner in the episode commentary, stated that she would like to believe that this woman is the Doctor's mother, however Davies then stated to the podcast listeners "It is whomever you want it to be".
 * Similarly, the identity of the other dissenting Time Lord is also left a mystery. The character is mentioned as male by Russell T Davies, but the costuming and camera angles make it difficult to determine gender.
 * When it was reported that Billie Piper would appear, speculation mounted as to whether the events of Journey's End would be undone, or if somehow she and the Meta-Crisis Tenth Doctor would somehow be able to leave Pete's World. Ultimately, Piper appeared in a context that prevented conflict with Rose's character arc, as Tate's appearance did not undo Donna's arc.
 * Many fans speculate that Rassilon's glove is the Hand of Omega; it uses the same prop as the Resurrection Gauntlet from Torchwood, a glove used by an unknown humanoid alien race that had (possibly among other powers) the ability to bring back the dead.
 * The Tenth Doctor's last words would be "Don't forget me." This stemmed from "A Letter from the Doctor", a feature written by Russell T Davies for Doctor Who Storybook 2010 which consisted of fragments of dialogue and descriptions taken from TV various TV episodes, in reverse chronological order. The first words of the Letter are "Don't forget me", while the last were "Hello! Ooh, new teeth..." which were the first words uttered by the Tenth Doctor in DW: The Parting of the Ways. This led to newsgroup-based speculation that extrapolating from the format that the final words of the Tenth Doctor would be "Don't forget me." Ultimately, the final words of the Tenth Doctor were, instead, "I don't want to go." The Tenth Doctor does, however, say "Don't forget me," to Sarah Jane Smith when they part company in The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith which was the last episode filmed by David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor (and which echoed Sarah Jane's words to the Fourth Doctor when she initially left the TARDIS). In The Writer's Tale: The Final Chapter, Davies reaffirms a statement made soon after Tennant joined the series that his final words, "I don't want to go", were written long before Tennant's final regular episode was composed.

Production errors

 * According to the episode commentary, Russell T Davies rather expensively changed his mind about the way the Vinvocci were to look. He had originally envisaged they would only be partially green. Because principal photography had already wrapped, the only solution was to digitally composite a more complete green, and this necessitated frame-by-frame colouring of the Vinvocci scenes. At certain points in the narrative, the process fails to work convincingly, likely because of interaction with studio lighting. One obvious instance is when Rossiter is climbing into the mining laser pod while the Vinvocci ship is under fire from the missiles.
 * The security camera footage viewed by Joshua Naismith on his laptop is the same as the footage used in the episode DW: Rose on the news bulletin showing the destruction of the Henrik's Department Store.
 * When the Doctor hides the TARDIS it doesnt fade out completely at the top, you can see it still a little bit on the wooden background of the celing
 * When the Doctor goes to get A Journal of Impossible Things signed, the woman signing it is quite plainly hovering her pen just above the page and not writing in it.
 * When Rose goes into the block of flats after speaking to the Doctor, a "No Smoking" sign can be seen. This scene is set in 2005 and these signs weren't used until the smoking ban in England was introduced in 2007.
 * When the Doctor arrives at Donna's wedding, the gates he stands behind are closed, but when Wilf and Sylvia approach him, one is open. Also, when Sylvia looks at him, the TARDIS is closer to the Doctor than when they approach him.
 * The Nuclear Bolt control room switches sides of the Naismith's main hall at various points in part 2: It starts off on the right side in part 1, and stays that way until the Master reveals his true intentions to rescuing the Time Lords to Rassilon. The next shot (when all the Masters look smugly at Rassilon) shows the Bolt on the left hand side. It later swaps back to its original position. This seems to suggest the post-production crew 'flipped' the shot, which was unnecessary.
 * Similarly, the occupants changed sides within the Bolt room. Two Masters (Yellow shirt and purple shirt) did a change-around, with the purple-shirted Master taking the place of the yellow-shirted one. The first time this happens, the purple-shirted Master is on the left-hand side, and the yellow-shirted Master on the right. In the aforementioned shot (of the Masters looking smugly at Rassilon; when the Bolt swaps sides the first time), the purple-shirted Master is now on the right-hand side of the Bolt (which would be explained by a reflection of the shot). When the Bolt swaps back to it's original side, the purple-shirted occupant is once again on the right-hand side (which would not be explained by a reflection of the shot), rather than the left-hand side (Which Wilf then occupies).
 * When the Doctor is aiming Wilf's gun at the Master and Rassilon, the trigger of the gun has already been pulled in and it should've fired.
 * During the regeneration scene, the Tenth Doctor stands on the door side of the console, but when the Eleventh Doctor turns around, the handbrake lever can be seen, which is at the other side of the console.

Continuity

 * The fall of Torchwood is mentioned. (DW: Army of Ghosts/Doomsday and/or TW: Children of Earth)
 * The Master returns, and there are flashbacks to the events of DW: The Sound of Drums and Last of the Time Lords.
 * The Immortality Gate was previously referenced in SJA: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith, as "the Gate" which The Trickster indicated was waiting for the Doctor.
 * When Donna remembers the Doctor several things from her time with him appear, included are Empress of the Racnoss (DW: The Runaway Bride), the Adipose (DW: Partners in Crime), Ood (DW: Planet of the Ood), the Suit Creature (DW: Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead), the Vespiform (DW: The Unicorn and the Wasp), Sontarans (DW: The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky), a Pyrovile (DW: The Fires of Pompeii), Dalek Caan, Davros and the Supreme Dalek (DW: The Stolen Earth/Journey's End). The Judoon (DW: The Stolen Earth) can also be heard in her memories.
 * Alonso Frame (DW: Voyage of the Damned) is sitting next to Jack Harkness, who appears depressed, in an alien bar, and the Doctor hints they should start a relationship, following his loss of Ianto Jones. (TW: Children of Earth)
 * The Doctor mentions Joan Redfern to her great-granddaughter Verity, asking if she was happy after "John Smith" had gone, referencing the events of DW: Human Nature/The Family of Blood.
 * The song My Angel Put the Devil in Me is playing in the alien bar. It was first heard in DW: Daleks in Manhattan.
 * The circumstances of the Tenth Doctor's regeneration echo that of the Ninth Doctor: Absorbing a massive amount of energy into his body, in order to save the life of another. (DW: The Parting of the Ways)
 * The Doctor previously was forced to regenerate due to suffering near-lethal radiation poisoning DW: Planet of the Spiders.
 * Donna's neighbour who appeared throughout Series 4 is finally given a name in part one, Sally.
 * Nerys previously appeared in DW: The Runaway Bride.
 * The notion of Gallifrey being moved due to Time Lord action from the constellation of Kasterborous to Earth's solar system isn't the first time the Time Lords have shown the ability to relocate an entire planet. In DW: The Trial of a Time Lord, the planet Ravalox is revealed to be Earth, relocated to another part of the universe by the Time Lords. And DW: Journey's End revealed that (with a little assist), a single TARDIS is powerful enough to move the Earth.
 * The Doctor knocks out a Sontaran using the exact same method used by Donna in DW: The Poison Sky.
 * The Doctor states that he is 906 years old, implying that three years had past in his personal timeline since DW: Voyage of the Damned, this also states that he may have been 903/4 while with Donna and that Planet of the Dead, The Waters of Mars, Dreamland, The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith and The End of Time took two, or three, years for the Doctor
 * Early on in the bar scene, a creature somewhat resembling a Silurian is present, although it does not have a third eye. It is unlikely that this is actually intended to be a Silurian, due to the physical difference, and as there has been no indication previously of Silurians engaging in inter-stellar travel.
 * When the Doctor is pointing the gun at the Master, the Master states that the Doctor "never would." The Doctor used these words himself in DW: The Doctor's Daughter, when holding Cobb at gunpoint.
 * Also in the bar scene, another white furred alien appears, reminiscent of a character who appeared in the cantina scene in Star Wars: A New Hope, Muftak.
 * This is not the first time the Master has been trapped in a body that is slowly dying. When he stole the body of a human named Bruce, that too began to perish.
 * Numerous previous references have been made to the Doctor destroying his own kind (the Time Lords) as well as the Daleks during the Time War.
 * The Master reminisces about how "we" (presumed to be himself and the Doctor) used to run through fields of red grass on his father's estates, shouting up at the sky. This is the first reference to the Master's family, as well as presumably a reference to the fact the Doctor and the Master were once friends (previously confirmed in other stories). The fact the Master refers to "my father's estates", and not "our father's estates", can be seen as implying that the Doctor and the Master are not brothers.
 * In The Five Doctors, Rassilon has achieved immortality, though in a passive state. Somehow he has been revived and restored to mastery over Time Lord society.
 * The Doctor refers to Donna as his best friend, a title he had previously conferred on Sarah Jane Smith, (DW: The Seeds of Doom) K9 Mark II, (DW: The Pirate Planet) and (presumably in jest) Malcolm Taylor (DW: Planet of the Dead).
 * The Doctor tells Wilf that some people wait centuries to find him. One example of such is Captain Jack Harkness, who waited over 100 years to find him again after being stranded in the late 19th century. (DW: Utopia, TW: Fragments)
 * The Doctor tells Wilf that he has taken lives in the past, and that he "got clever, manipulated people into taking their own."
 * The Doctor looks at his right hand and regeneration energy can be seen. He does the exact same thing in DW: The Parting of the Ways and The Stolen Earth.
 * The revelation that the signal in the Master's head was patterned after the beating of a Time Lord's twin hearts was well hidden, as whenever the Doctor's heartbeat was checked in the new series, it was alway done one at a time, rather then both at once, which would have given it away (DW: The Christmas Invasion/Smith and Jones)
 * The Doctor was previously called a "physician" by the Empress of the Racnoss. (DW: The Runaway Bride)
 * This is the second Christmas Special of the revived series in a row to feature an antagonist which has previously appeared. But, this episode features the introduction of the Master, the Time Lords, Rassilon, and the Sontarans.

Timeline

 * This story takes place after DW: Dreamland
 * DWAM: Lucky Heather occurs during Part 2.
 * This story takes place before DW: The Eleventh Hour

'Ginger' controversy
During the final scene, the Eleventh Doctor takes a look at his hair and utters the phrase, "Still not ginger!" This statement was misinterpreted by a number of viewers as being a negative comment on redheaded people, resulting in more than 140 complaints being filed with the BBC. In response, the BBC issued an official statement clarifying that the Doctor was stating disappointment at not being ginger, a reference to the Tenth Doctor similarly expressing a wish to be ginger in DW: The Christmas Invasion. In response to claims of an "anti-ginger agenda" by the series, the BBC statement noted that the Doctor's two most recent ongoing companions, Donna Noble and Amy Pond, are both redheads.

Home video releases

 * The End of Time was released to DVD and Blu-Ray both individually and part of a Specials box set in the UK on 11th January 2010. A similar release in North America was released on 2nd February 2010.