The Strange Case of the Skinny Man (short story)

The Strange Case of the Skinny Man was the third short story and seventh release exclusively published in Doctor Who The Official Annual 2024 on 7 September 2023 by Penguin Group and written by Paul Lang.

The feature primarily detailed the three incarnations of the Doctor portrayed by David Tennant, those being the Tenth Doctor, the Meta-Crisis Doctor, and the Fourteenth Doctor, and also touched on the DoctorDonna.

New Faces
Although usually, Time Lords only visit a face once, and once it's gone it becomes nothing more than a memory, the Doctor's repeatedly found themselves with the same physical appearance.

Handy Spare Hand
On the very first day of his life, the Tenth Doctor had a swordfight over London on a Sycorax spaceship, during which his hand was chopped off and fell to the ground. Fortunately, he had enough "transforming energy" to grow a new one. Eventually, he found the original and kept it in a jar aboard the TARDIS.

Exterminated
After being hit by a blast of Dalek gunfire, he wasn't killed, but a regeneration was triggered. Not ready to say goodbye, he "used just enough of the explosive oomph" to heal himself, and fired the rest into the spare hand.

Metacrisis!
While trapped in the TARDIS under heavy Dalek bombardment, Donna Noble heard a single heartbeat coming from the jar, and reached out instinctively to touch it, causing biological metacrisis, with a whole new Doctor growing out of the spare hand.

Another Doctor
The new Doctor looked identical to the Tenth Doctor, but was different inside, thanks to a dose of Donna's human DNA, which also gave him some of her impulsive personality. The combination made him too dangerous to be left "wandering around", thus the Doctor took him to a parallel universe to be with Rose Tyler.

The DoctorDonna
Donna didn't escape unharmed, with her head now filled with Time Lord knowledge which it wasn't built to handle. The Doctor had to wipe every memory she had of him, with him warning her family that she would die if she ever recalled him.

Born Again
From the Thirteenth Doctor's regeneration, a new Doctor emerged with much the same appearance as the Tenth Doctor.

Characters

 * Tenth Doctor
 * Meta-Crisis Doctor
 * Donna Noble
 * Fourteenth Doctor

Worldbuilding

 * To be added

Continuity

 * The Doctor's teeth are highlighted as a continuous factor in his "skinny man" incarnations. Indeed, the teeth were commented on after the regenerations seen in and.
 * The loss of the Tenth Doctor's hand to the Sycorax leader in, and the Doctor reclaiming it to keep in his TARDIS during , are mentioned.
 * It is recalled how the Doctor used his hand to prevent himself having to completely regenerate after being shot by a Dalek during, with the after-effects being seen in , including the birth of the Meta-Crisis Doctor and Donna Noble being transformed into the DoctorDonna until the Doctor erased her memory of him to stop her brain overloading. It is also mentioned that the Meta-Crisis Doctor was sent to Pete's World to live with Rose Tyler.
 * The Thirteenth Doctor's regeneration from is briefly recapped.

Gallery
to be added