The Power of the Doctor (TV story)

The Power of the Doctor was the 2022 Doctor Who Centenary Special, broadcast as part of the BBC 100 event in celebration of the BBC's 100th anniversary. It would be the last story to be written by Chris Chibnall as showrunner.

It saw the return of and Ashad, following their apparent demise at the end of The Timeless Children, and marked the first time the Master, the Cybermen and the Daleks worked together onscreen. The special also sees the apparent end of the Spy Master following his plans being ruined and his body fatally weakened.

The special also saw the return of previous Doctor Who actors; with Janet Fielding and Sophie Aldred reprising their roles of Tegan Jovanka and Ace on screen for the first time in almost 40 years and 30 years respectively, with the special addressing the issue of how the Doctor gains friends only to seemingly abandon them for years; something that affects Tegan especially.

The story marked the first appearance of a mental landscape for Time Lords that represents the regeneration process known as the Edge, through this the special saw the return of previous Doctors, with David Bradley, Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann and Peter Davison reprising their roles as their Doctors. Notably joining them is Colin Baker reprising the role of the Sixth Doctor, marking Baker's first onscreen appearance in a mainline televised story since The Ultimate Foe, and through the use of an AI version of the Doctor, Davison and McCoy had the opportunity to reunite with their companions for the first time since each Doctor's last appearance, with the AI Doctor also being used to bring back Jo Martin as the Fugitive Doctor.

The story notably marked the first onscreen retro-regeneration, called a degeneration in this story, following the Master taking over the Doctor's body briefly, something he failed to do before to the Eighth Doctor, with this brief possession brought on by the first forced regeneration seen since The War Games and causing the possessed Doctor to take on the Master's appearance, and with the Master using the name of the Doctor, this technically makes Sacha Dhawan the first actor to have portrayed both the Master and the Doctor onscreen in the same story.

The special marked Jodie Whittaker's last regular appearance as the Thirteenth Doctor. However, in a surprising twist, it introduced David Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor in its closing moments, marking the first time on screen the Doctor had regenerated into a different incarnation with the same appearance as a previous incarnation, and making Tennant the sixth actor to have portrayed multiple different incarnations of the Doctor – following Sylvester McCoy filling in for the Sixth Doctor during his regeneration scene in Time and the Rani in addition to his main role as the Seventh Doctor, Paul McGann briefly acting as a body double for John Hurt's War Doctor in the closing moments of The Night of the Doctor after the regeneration of his Doctor, Tom Baker and Colin Baker portraying the Curator alongside their original incarnations, and Richard E Grant playing both the Tenth Doctor in The Curse of Fatal Death and the Ninth Doctor in Scream of the Shalka.

Tennant's involvement with the 60th anniversary specials was already known before The Power of the Doctor had aired, however his appearance at the end of the story confirmed rumours that had been circulating on the internet since pictures from the anniversary specials were shown: that he would be playing a different incarnation of the Doctor rather than the Tenth Doctor, with an article on the official Doctor Who website the day after The Power of the Doctor had aired confirming that Tennant was in fact portraying a brand new incarnation separate from the Tenth, with Russell T Davies also confirming in the same article that Nucti Gatwa, who had been announced as Jodie Whittaker's replacement long before this story was aired, and who is seen briefly in a preview for the anniversary specials, would in fact be portraying the Fifteenth Doctor rather than the Fourteenth as was previously believed.

While being the sixth actor to portray a different incarnation from his own, David Tennant holds the distinction of being the first actor to have portrayed two different numbered incarnations of the Doctor in a mainline story of Doctor Who without needing to fill in for an actor playing the new incarnation.

Synopsis
''Who is attacking a speeding bullet train on the edges of a distant galaxy? Why are seismologists going missing from 21st century Earth? Who is defacing some of history’s most iconic paintings? Why is a Dalek trying to make contact with the Doctor? And just what hold does the mesmeric Rasputin have over Tsar Nicholas in 1916 Russia?''

The Doctor faces multiple threats…and a battle to the death

Plot
The Doctor and her companions rescue a space-going bullet train from a Cyberman attack, but Dan is nearly killed during the escapade. Having developed a sense of his own mortality, Dan parts ways with the Doctor in order to get back to living his life. A renegade Dalek contacts the Doctor, claiming to have decided the Daleks need to be destroyed due to them being a perversion of the Kaled race. It offers information about a plot to destroy humanity, promising to communicate a time and location. Kate Stewart also contacts the Doctor and informs her that various pieces of famous artwork have been defaced with the Master's visage and several seismologists abducted.

After briefly reuniting with former companions Tegan Jovanka and Ace McShane, the Doctor confronts the Master and learns he and his CyberMasters have teamed up with the Daleks and enslaved an energy being called the Qurunx, to end humanity by setting off eruptions from all volcanoes on Earth simultaneously. The Doctor meets the renegade Dalek, but discovers it had been allowed to contact her in order to lure her out, leaving the Daleks including their commander to kill the traitor and capture her.

The Master is arrested by UNIT, but reveals he sent a miniaturised Ashad to Tegan, pretending to be the Doctor. The miniaturised Ashad enlarges and acts as a portal to bring a fleet of Cybermen into UNIT HQ, freeing the Master. The Daleks take the Doctor to 1916 and hand her to the Master, who uses Gallifreyan technology to force her to regenerate into him. An AI program the Doctor created, taking the images of the Fifth, Seventh, Fugitive, and Thirteenth Doctors, leads Ace to meet with fellow former companion Graham O'Brien and destroy the Dalek volcano machine, Tegan to destroy the Cyberman converter created in UNIT HQ and destroy the CyberMasters before they convert Kate, and Yaz and previous ally Vinder to capture the Master and force him to undo the Doctor's transformation. Defeated, the Master mortally wounds the Doctor with the Qurunx' energy beam, causing her to begin her regeneration.

The Doctor takes Yaz home. Yaz meets with a group of former companions including Graham, Dan, Ace, Tegan, Ian Chesterton, Jo Jones, and Melanie Bush. The Doctor finds a beautiful sunrise to watch before her regenerates. She says a fond farewell to her current self before saying to her next self “tag, you’re it” and regenerates into her next incarnation. After the explosive regeneration finishes, resulting in a male incarnation and also a change in his clothes, the Fourteenth Doctor immediately realises something isn't right. By checking his teeth, he realises out loud in a very familiar voice and accent he knows his new teeth, he begins to examine his new body, recognising his new hands before noticing his predecessor's clothing has completely been altered by the regeneration, and upon feeling the shape of his new face he discovers to his shock that, rather than gaining a new appearance he has instead regenerated into a body virtually identical to his tenth incarnation. The new Doctor can only exclaim in amazement and utter confusion "What? What? What!?"

Cast

 * The Doctor - Jodie Whittaker, David Bradley, Colin Baker, Peter Davison, Paul McGann, Sylvester McCoy, Jo Martin
 * And Introducing David Tennant as The Doctor


 * Yaz - Mandip Gill
 * The Master - Sacha Dhawan
 * Dan - John Bishop
 * Ace - Sophie Aldred
 * Tegan - Janet Fielding
 * Kate Stewart - Jemma Redgrave
 * Vinder - Jacob Anderson
 * Graham - Bradley Walsh
 * Ashad - Patrick O'Kane
 * Deputy Marshal Arnhost - Joe Sims
 * Train Marshal Halaz - Sanchia McCormack
 * Curator - Danielle Bjelic
 * Alexandra - Anna Andresen
 * Nicholas - Richard Dempsey
 * Messenger - Jos Slovick
 * Voice of the Daleks & Cybermen - Nicholas Briggs
 * Dalek Operators - Barnaby Edwards, Nicholas Pegg
 * Cybermen - Simon Carew, Jon Davey, Chester Durrant, Mickey Lewis, Felix Young, Richard Price, Andrew Cross, Matt Doman
 * Melanie Bush - Bonnie Langford
 * Jo Jones - Katy Manning
 * Ian Chesterton - William Russell

Uncredited cast
to be added

The Doctor's clothing

 * After stealing the Doctor's body, the Master dons the Fourth Doctor's multi-coloured scarf, the Seventh Doctor's jumper, and attaches a stick of celery on his lapel as worn by the Fifth Doctor. He also wears a tie very similar if not the same one worn by the Tenth Doctor. He also has the Second Doctor's recorder tucked away in his coat.
 * The Fourteenth Doctor's attire includes a white button-up shirt, with a lilac paisley tie and a loose fitting waistcoat and trousers of black and turquoise tartan. He also wears a navy blue trenchcoat and Converse shoes.

TARDISes

 * The Spy Master's TARDIS is a Type 75.

Culture

 * Among the fifteen paintings defaced are the Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, The Hay Wain, The Scream, the Girl with a Pearl Earring, and American Gothic.
 * Ace claims that Beyoncé stole all of her moves.

Story notes

 * This story was created in celebration of the BBC's 100th Anniversary, as part of BBC 100.
 * Despite all being featured in 1983 story The Five Doctors, this is the first story to depict both the Daleks, the Cybermen and the Master all working together.
 * This story touches on the circumstances of Ace leaving the Seventh Doctor's company, an event which was not seen on-screen but was most recently depicted in the novel At Childhood's End, written by Sophie Aldred. The Power of the Doctor contradicts At Childhood's End by having Ace meet the Thirteenth Doctor, Yasmin Khan and Graham O'Brien for the first time, though At Childhood's End does establish that Ace's timeline has multiple possible futures.
 * Tegan's claim that she hasn't seen the Doctor since 1984 contradicts the Big Finish audio The Gathering, where the Fifth Doctor catches up with her in 2006 just as she's about to celebrate her 46th birthday. It also contradicts the date given by PROSE: Fixing a Hole for the events of A Fix with Sontarans, which was set on 23 February 1985.
 * Mel is listed in the ending credits as "Melanie Bush", marking the first time on television that her surname, which was previously only established in audio and prose, has been used.
 * Jo is listed in the ending credits as "Jo Jones", which is the first time she was referred to as such on the credits of televised Doctor Who, with her first time being referred to and credited as such in any television media being The Sarah Jane Adventures story Death of the Doctor.
 * If one discount HOMEVID: Ian Chesterton: An Introduction, this story is the first on-screen appearance of William Russell as Ian Chesterton since 1965 story The Chase. With his appearance in this episode, Russell, aged 95 at the time his scenes were shot, becomes the oldest actor at the time of his appearance to work on revived Doctor Who. The previous holder of this record was Ysanne Churchman who was 92 at the time she reprised the role of Alpha Centauri.
 * His appearance as an old man in this story contradicts the rumour about him and Barbara Wright that they hadn’t aged since the 1960s, as mentioned in The Sarah Jane Adventures story Death of the Doctor.
 * The new BBC logo returned to the title sequence having been absent since Eve of the Daleks.
 * The end credits also changed to groups instead of scrolling. This was last seen in Revolution of the Daleks. The text for the character names and crew roles were also changed to bold last seen for the title card for The Woman Who Fell to Earth.
 * This episode is the first to have two actors' names appear at the same time in the title sequence, in this case Sophie Aldred and Janet Fielding.
 * This story is another instance of the golden glow of regeneration energy is different from before.
 * This is the first case of the Doctor regenerating into an incarnation that looks like a previous one; in this case, the Fourteenth Doctor looks like the Tenth Doctor, but it remains unknown if this means the Tenth’s personality traits re-emerge with his face.
 * The Curator (who looked like an aged Fourth Doctor) had told the Eleventh he would be revisiting some old faces, "but just the old favourites". The second part of the Curator's foreshadowing now serves as a fourth wall message to the audience, since David Tennant's previous tenure is considered by many to be among the best portrayals of the Doctor.
 * The Master refers to his plans as the Master's Dalek Plan. This is a reversal of the 1965 story's episode title The Daleks' Master Plan. This was previously done in the title of a Big Finish Productions audio story featuring, The Master's Dalek Plan.
 * Jodie Whittaker was pregnant while filming this story.
 * According to Chris Chibnall, this story was filmed in the belief that it was to be the last story of Doctor Who, as he didn’t know about who would take over from him.
 * The post-regeneration scene with David Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor was filmed separately at a later date.
 * Discounting regenerations shown outside of chronological order in The Night of the Doctor and The Day of the Doctor, this is the first Doctor-regeneration story since The Parting of the Ways to not take place on a Winter Special.
 * Similarly, discounting the same two stories mentioned above, this is the first chronological Doctor-regeneration story since Journey's End to not include the word Time in the title.
 * While the absence of late Second Doctor and Third Doctor actors Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee, respectively, was understandable, Fourth Doctor actor Tom Baker was invited to take part in the Special, he was unavailable, with Chibnall explaining "''We asked Tom, but sadly he could not do it. He was not available. Such a shame.".
 * This story marks the first regeneration for the Doctor to not take place within the TARDIS since the Eighth Doctor's regeneration in TV: The Night of the Doctor.
 * This story shares filming locations with the Fourth Doctor story The Pirate Planet and the Seventh Doctor story The Curse of Fenric. For the latter, the landowners of the Lulworth Estate threatened to ban the BBC from filming there ever again due to what they described as them being "duplicitous and dishonest" in not describing exactly what the scene would show, potentially encouraging members of the public to put themselves in a dangerous situation, despite how filming did not actually take place on top of the cliff itself.
 * This is not the first time that the Master has tried to become the Doctor. He last attempted to become the Doctor in Doctor Who.
 * The song Rasputin by Boney M is played during the scene where the Master, disguised as Rasputin, dances and powers on the conversion planet. This isn't the first time the Master has danced to a piece of music: he last danced to Voodoo Child by Rogue Traders in The Sound of Drums and I Can't Decide by The Scissor Sisters in the full version of Last of the Time Lords.
 * With this episode, all of the surviving actors who played the Doctor in the classic series have made an appearance in the revived series.
 * This story features the largest number of actors to play the Doctor in a single episode, namely eight. The number increases to nine if one counts Sacha Dhawan's portrayal of the Master in the Doctor's body.
 * This was the first episode to air during the reign of King Charles III, meaning that the Thirteenth Doctor's tenure was the first to cover two monarchs.
 * As of this episode, the Thirteenth Doctor's tenure was able to run for longer than three prime ministers governed the United Kingdom (Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss), thus making her the first ever doctor to outlast three prime ministers, beating Tom Baker's record of having outlasted two prime minsters (Harold Wilson and James Callaghan) and failing to outlast a third (Margaret Thatcher) during his tenure as the fourth doctor.
 * Due to a licensing deal between the BBC and Disney+, this was the final episode to air on BBC America.

Filming locations

 * Dan-yr-Ogof caves, Powys, Wales - Bolivian caves
 * Durdle Door, Lulworth, Dorset - Regeneration cliffside

Production errors
The Master's incarnation of the Doctor loses the Thirteenth Doctor's earring after changing his clothes. It momentarily returns during one scene, before disappearing once more until Jodie Whittaker's return to the role where it returns permanently without explanation.

Continuity

 * The Doctor recalls the Master creating the CyberMasters. (TV: The Timeless Children)
 * Tegan last saw the Doctor 38 years ago. (TV: Resurrection of the Daleks)
 * Ace mentions it being three decades since she last met the Doctor. (AUDIO: An Alien Werewolf in London)
 * Kate is rebuilding UNIT. (TV: Survivors of the Flux)
 * The Doctor asks the Master how he escaped Gallifrey, (TV: The Timeless Children) which he mentions having "ransacked". (TV: Spyfall)
 * The Dalek turncoat mentioned the casing being forged originally to ensure the Kaled race's survival before it was perverted. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks)
 * The Master taunts Tegan by mentioning her Aunt Vanessa who he killed when they first met. (TV: Logopolis)
 * Ace recalls that the Master was "half cat" the last time she saw . (TV: Survival)
 * The Master is aware of the Time Lords enforcing a regeneration onto the Second Doctor. (TV: The War Games; COMIC: The Night Walkers)
 * Both Ace and the Master acknowledge that she had a "fall[ing] out" with the Seventh Doctor. (PROSE: At Childhood's End)
 * The Master mentions he killed Ashad. (TV: The Timeless Children)
 * Ace refers to the Cybermen's weakness to gold, (TV: Silver Nemesis) and UNIT has guns with gold bullets. (TV: Battlefield; AUDIO: Code Silver) Ashad reveals that the Cybermen have overcome this weakness. (WC: Real Time; COMIC: The Flood; TV: Nightmare in Silver)
 * The Master has attempted to take the Doctor's body before. (TV: The Keeper of Traken, Doctor Who)
 * The Master says that he has "dressed for the occasion" before taking the Doctor's body. (TV: Doctor Who)
 * Yaz has post-it notes on how to fly the TARDIS. (TV: Revolution of the Daleks)
 * Vinder uses the communications device the Doctor gave him. (TV: Once, Upon Time)
 * Tegan confides to the Fifth Doctor's image that seeing the Cybermen makes her think of Adric. (TV: Earthshock)
 * The Doctor has previously met past incarnations after death in her mind. (AUDIO: Zagreus)
 * When in the Doctor's body, the Master plays the recorder (TV: The Power of the Daleks et al.), wears a scarf (TV: Robot et al.) and has a stalk of celery in his lapel. (TV: Castrovalva et al.)
 * Ace has forgotten that she was taught to pilot a TARDIS and piloted both her own (AUDIO: Intervention Earth, Enemy Lines) Irving Braxiatel's TARDIS (AUDIO: Soldier Obscura) and The Doctor's TARDIS. (AUDIO: The Vaults of Osiris) She is also surprised at someone else piloting it, despite knowing that Melanie Bush taught herself to do it. (AUDIO: The Quantum Possibility Engine)
 * Yaz recognises the Fugitive Doctor as a tour guide she met in Gloucester. (TV: Fugitive of the Judoon)
 * Graham owns psychic paper. (TV: Revolution of the Daleks)
 * Ace recalls fighting the Daleks in 1963. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks)
 * Cortalian also had a Type 75 timeship. (PROSE: Going Once, Going Twice)
 * Ace's regret on how wrong she was about the Seventh Doctor mirrors these events:
 * The Sixth Doctor regretting how wrong about Lytton he was after he was killed by a Cyber Controller after helping Cryons. (TV: Attack of the Cybermen)
 * The Ninth Doctor regretting how wrong he was to presume Rose Tyler used him to save her father. (TV: Father's Day)
 * The Eleventh Doctor regretting how wrong he was about Octavion. (TV: Flesh and Stone)
 * Amy Pond regretting how wrong she was to presume the Ganger Doctor was a monster. (TV: The Almost People)
 * The Tenth and Eleventh Doctors regretting how wrong they were about their war incarnation. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)
 * Clara Oswald realising and regretting how wrong she was to presume the Twelfth Doctor was cold. (TV: Mummy on the Orient Express)
 * The Doctor remarks on the "blossomiest blossom", akin to the Third Doctor's recollections of the "daisiest daisy". (TV: The Time Monster)
 * The regenerated Doctor remarks on his teeth, (TV: The Parting of the Ways) and repeats the word "what" in rapid succession. (TV: Doomsday, Last of the Time Lords, Time Crash)
 * The Doctor changes clothes when they regenerate. (TV: The Tenth Planet, The Power of the Daleks)
 * Graham, Yaz, and Dan, are invited to a support group meeting of some of the Doctor's past companions, alongside Kate, Tegan, Ace, Ian Chesterton, Jo Jones, and Melanie Bush. A similar meeting was previously organised by Alice Obiefune, of which Tegan and Ace were also in attendance. (COMIC: The Meeting)
 * The Doctor mentions their enemies hating each other: The Master has killed Cybermen (TV: The Five Doctors, The Doctor Falls) and joined forces against the Daleks before (TV: Frontier in Space, The Witch's Familiar). The Daleks once refused to team up with the Cybermen, which led to an all-out war between them (TV: Doomsday), though they do join forces in an Alliance in a Timeline that no longer exists (TV: The Pandorica Opens).
 * The Daleks use an orange beam weapon in this story, as opposed to the blue beam that is usually emitted from their weapons. The Imperial Daleks previously used gunsticks that fired orange beams. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks)
 * Ace blinding a Bronze Dalek before Graham uses one of her Nitro-9 mirrors a similar tactic done on a Grey Dalek by the Sixth Doctor and Peri Brown. (TV: Revelation of the Daleks)
 * The Doctor places Yaz, Ace, Tegan, Kate, Vinder and Graham to various positions within the TARDIS around its console to be given responsibility to handle a part of the controls to help her save the day which resembles when the Doctor showed Sarah Jane, Mickey, Rose, Martha and Jack a part of the TARDIS to help bring the Earth back to where it belongs. (TV: Journey's End)
 * Yaz mentions that she tried to take everyone home, but dropped them off in Croydon instead, calling it "close enough." While attempting to return Sarah Jane Smith home, the Fourth Doctor accidentally dropped her in Aberdeen instead of Croydon. When told of his mistake, the Tenth Doctor said something similar. (TV: The Hand of Fear, School Reunion)
 * The Cloister Bell rings as the Doctor approaches regeneration. (TV: Twice Upon a Time)