The Tsuranga Conundrum (TV story)

The Tsuranga Conundrum was the fifth episode of Series 11 of Doctor Who.

Synopsis
As the Thirteenth Doctor and her friends end up stranded without the TARDIS on a hospital ship in space, with a strange and potentially deadly intruder on board, it is up to them, the crew, and the patients to figure out what it is, what it wants, and how to stop it before the creature tears the ship apart.

Plot
On Seffilun 27 in a Junk galaxy, the Doctor, Ryan, Yasmin, and Graham are hunting for something the Doctor desires to find with special detectors retrieved from the TARDIS parked nearby. While looking, they find something, the Doctor realising that it is a sonic mine, and accidentally triggers it and explodes just as Yaz asks how long they have.

The Doctor awakes on a hospital ship Tsuranga, finding the others alright despite her own apparent pain in her side.

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Cast

 * The Doctor - Jodie Whittaker
 * Graham O'Brien - Bradley Walsh
 * Ryan Sinclair - Tosin Cole
 * Yasmin Khan - Mandip Gill
 * Astos - Brett Goldstein
 * Mabli - Lois Chimimba
 * Eve Cicero - Suzanne Packer
 * Durkas Cicero - Ben Bailey-Smith
 * Ronan - David Shields
 * Yoss - Jack Shalloo

Crew
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The Doctor

 * The Doctor claims she is a doctor of medicine, science, engineering, candy floss, LEGO, philosophy, music, problems, people and hope, but mostly hope.

Culture

 * Graham mentions how he has watched every episode of Call the Midwife, although he looks away at the squeamish parts.

Species

 * Gifftan males and females can become pregnant, with males only birthing male children and vice-versa. Gifftan young are gestated for a week in a pregnancy sac before the sac is painlessly cut open during birth.
 * Gifftan babies are born with two umbilical cords.
 * Images of a Cyberman, an Ood, a Weeping Angel, a Raxacoricofallapatorian, a Sontaran, a Silent, a Silurian, and a Zygon appear on a console screen in rapid succession before Mabli selects a briefing on the Pting.
 * Time Lords possess an organ called an exo-spleen. When damaged they could cause pain.

Technology

 * Anti-matter drives were used in the 67th century to power their ships.

Sport

 * Yaz mentions footballer Siobhan Chamberlain when kicking the Pting down a corridor on the Tsuranga.

Story notes

 * Pretty much every scientific fact about anti-matter given by the Doctor in this episode is true to real science. However, in reality, because antimatter is produced via pair production, energy gained by antimatter-matter reactions would not exceed the energy required to create it; therefore energy generation would have to be performed by captured antimatter that has not been manufactured.
 * Tim Price receives a creator credit for the Pting, the first time such a credit is given on a creature or character's first appearance.

Ratings

 * 6.12 million (UK overnight)

Filming locations
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Production errors
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Continuity

 * The Doctor notes that she has "only just" recovered her TARDIS. (TV: The Ghost Monument)
 * The Doctor says "snap" when her and the general say the same thing. She has said this in her second, sixth, (TV: The Two Doctors) tenth (TV: Time Crash) and twelfth (TV: Twice Upon a Time) incarnations.
 * The Doctor and her friends have been rescued from a perilous situation before by a passing ship. (TV: The Ghost Monument)
 * Ryan mentions how his dad did not come to Grace O'Brien's funeral. (TV: The Woman Who Fell to Earth)
 * Graham still calls the Doctor "Doc". (TV: Rosa, Arachnids in the UK)
 * Graham once more tries to fist bump Ryan only for the man to refuse as it's "uncool" of him. (TV: Rosa)
 * Ryan elaborates on his mother's death. (TV: The Woman Who Fell to Earth)
 * Graham mentions the fact that Ryan spends time on YouTube. (TV: The Woman Who Fell to Earth)
 * The Doctor's sonic screwdriver is once again eaten. (TV: The Eleventh Hour, A Christmas Carol)
 * Once again, the Thirteenth Doctor loses possession of her TARDIS. (TV: Twice Upon a Time) She also lost it during her first, (TV: Marco Polo) second, (TV: The Faceless Ones, The Evil of the Daleks, COMIC: Egyptian Escapade) third, (COMIC: Backtime) fourth, (TV: The Ark in Space, AUDIO: The Beast of Kravenos) eighth, (AUDIO: A Life in the Day, The Sontaran Ordeal) tenth, (TV: The Impossible Planet, Blink, Utopia, Voyage of the Damned, The Poison Sky) eleventh (TV: Amy's Choice, The Lodger, The Doctor's Wife) and twelfth incarnations. (TV: Face the Raven)
 * The Doctor loves the musical Hamilton, and has seen it many times throughout her lives. (COMIC: The Long Con)
 * Graham mentions that Ryan is descended from an Earth nurse. (TV: The Woman Who Fell to Earth)

DVD releases
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Blu-ray releases
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Digital releases
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