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A sonic screwdriver was owned by the Fifteenth Doctor. (AUDIO: The World Tree [+]Nick Slawicz, Short Trips (Big Finish Productions, 2022)., TV: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2023 (BBC One and Disney+, 2023).)
Appearance and technology[]
As all of the Doctor's sonic screwdrivers had the same software despite their outwards appearance changing over time, (TV: The Day of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special (BBC One, 2013). Timestamp 41:58.) this screwdriver was functionally the same as the Eleventh Doctor's sonic screwdriver. The Eleventh Doctor told Nora Wicker that they were the "same sonic screwdriver". (AUDIO: The World Tree [+]Nick Slawicz, Short Trips (Big Finish Productions, 2022).)
This sonic screwdriver bore less of a physical resemblance to a screwdriver than previous models, as it looked more like a remote control. It had two large bulbous sections joined in the middle with a circular emblem inscribed with a poem in Gallifreyan. (TV: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2023 (BBC One and Disney+, 2023).) The middle section acted as a swivel, allowing the screwdriver to fold up and be used in a more compact mode. Like previous models, it had an emitter which could extend out of the top and allowed the sonic screwdriver to connect to other technology. (TV: Space Babies [+]Error: Code 2 - no data stored in variables, cache or SMW., The Devil's Chord [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 14 (BBC One and Disney+, 2024).) It also had a large analyser, which was able to swivel out from the right side of the device. (TV: The Legend of Ruby Sunday [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 14 (BBC One and Disney+, 2024).)
The colour scheme of the Fifteenth Doctor's sonic screwdriver bore a resemblance to the Twelfth Doctor's second sonic screwdriver, as it was once again TARDIS blue and featured intricate brass and silver patterns on the casing. (TV: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2023 (BBC One and Disney+, 2023).),
Similar to the Thirteenth Doctor's sonic screwdriver, the Fifteenth's Doctor's model was also powered by a crystal, which was purple in colour. The purple crystal emitted a small light, which would pulsate when the screwdriver was in use. (TV: Joy to the World)
Additionally, this model of the sonic screwdriver could once again function without the Doctor having to continuously press down on the switch. The sonic screwdriver was functioning independently as he took a DNA sample from Ruby Sunday (TV: Empire of Death [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 14 (BBC One and Disney+, 2024).) as well as in the Time Hotel when Trev Simpkin's consciousness appeared as a hologram. (TV: Joy to the World)
This sonic screwdriver's casing also appeared to come in a variety of colours, including the standard blue, pink, (TV: The Devil's Chord [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 14 (BBC One and Disney+, 2024).) red (TV: Rogue [+]Kate Herron and Briony Redman, Doctor Who series 14 (BBC One and Disney+, 2024).) yellow (TV: Empire of Death [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 14 (BBC One and Disney+, 2024)., TV: The Robot Revolution) and an iridescent magenta (TV: Joy to the World). This occasionally allowed The Fifteenth Doctor to match the colour of his screwdriver to his attire. This was most notable during his encounter with Rogue in 1813, where The Doctor wore a red velvet coat and used a red variant of the sonic screwdriver to match. (TV: Rogue [+]Kate Herron and Briony Redman, Doctor Who series 14 (BBC One and Disney+, 2024).)
Uses[]
The Fifteenth Doctor's sonic screwdriver displayed multiple uses and functions. Although having the "screwdriver" name, the Doctor denied its use for actually unscrewing and screwing things when Rogue said he wanted some new shelves inside of his ship, but rather said it "does do all sorts of things" (TV: Rogue). For instance, it could operate on the same frequency as a hard-light hologram of the Eleventh Doctor's sonic screwdriver to create a crack in a Time Bubble. (AUDIO: The World Tree [+]Nick Slawicz, Short Trips (Big Finish Productions, 2022).) It could change a traffic light from red to green, detecting a 2 carat diamond ring in the pocket of a policeman, open several doors in the Sundays' home (TV: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2023 (BBC One and Disney+, 2023).), remote control the TARDIS, modify Ruby Sunday's smart phone to allow her to call home in 2024 from 21506, perform DNA scans via the TARDIS (TV: Space Babies [+]Error: Code 2 - no data stored in variables, cache or SMW.) and modify Rogue's triform to send multiple targets to a random dimension rather than just one target. (TV: Rogue [+]Kate Herron and Briony Redman, Doctor Who series 14 (BBC One and Disney+, 2024).) It could even projects images of Susan Triad onto computer screens. (TV: The Legend of Ruby Sunday [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 14 (BBC One and Disney+, 2024).)
The sonic screwdriver could also silence the surrounding area (TV: The Devil's Chord [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 14 (BBC One and Disney+, 2024).) and function as a torch. (TV: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2023 (BBC One and Disney+, 2023).) The device could also change a persons access settings to places and online networks. For instance, it unblocked the Doctor from Lindy Pepper-Bean's bubble feed after she blocked him in Finetime, and unmuting both himself and Ruby Sunday after she muted them. (TV: Dot and Bubble [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 14 (BBC One and Disney+, 2024).) It could also grant people Level 1 Clearance at UNIT headquarters, such as Carla Sunday. (TV: The Legend of Ruby Sunday [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 14 (BBC One and Disney+, 2024).)
The device could also interact with alien technology with limited success. For instance, while failing to deactivate Rogue's triform device, it could still access the music playlist on his ship and play the top played song, "Can't Get You Out of My Head", and override Rogue's attempts to turn it off. (TV: Rogue [+]Kate Herron and Briony Redman, Doctor Who series 14 (BBC One and Disney+, 2024).)
The device had a bio mechanical analyser that could swivel out. The Doctor used it as a viewer to examine a panel on Rogue's ship (TV: Rogue). The Doctor was able to use it to take a blood sample from Ruby and run it against Prime Minister Roger ap Gwilliam's DNA database in 2046. (TV: Empire of Death [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 14 (BBC One and Disney+, 2024).)
History[]
On 16 December 2033, the Fifteenth Doctor brought his sonic screwdriver with him to help the hard-light hologram of the Eleventh Doctor free Nora Wicker from a Time Bubble placed over her home, intended just to contain the World Tree that had landed on Earth on 19 August 1987. After the Eleventh Doctor told Nora the plan and exited into her garden, both Doctors readying to use their screwdrivers in sync to create a frequency to create a crack in the bubble, Nora confided that she wanted to remain in the bubble to look after the World Tree; this momentary distraction caused the Eleventh Doctor to be fractionally too slow and prevented the crack from being opened. The Fifteenth Doctor lowered his screwdriver and returned to his TARDIS. (AUDIO: The World Tree [+]Nick Slawicz, Short Trips (Big Finish Productions, 2022).)
The Fifteenth Doctor still owned the sonic screwdriver when meeting Ruby Sunday in 2023. (TV: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2023 (BBC One and Disney+, 2023).) He then used it on many of his adventures with her, such as to 21506 on Baby Station Beta, (TV: Space Babies [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 14 (BBC One and Disney+, 2024).), 1963 to Abbey Road Studios, (TV: The Devil's Chord [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 14 (BBC One and Disney+, 2024).) to the Homeworld colony of Finetime in the future (TV: Dot and Bubble [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 14 (BBC One and Disney+, 2024).) and Bath, England in 1813. (TV: Rogue [+]Kate Herron and Briony Redman, Doctor Who series 14 (BBC One and Disney+, 2024).) While at UNIT headquarters, the Doctor used it to give Carla Sunday clearance to enter the building, something that not even the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom had. (TV: The Legend of Ruby Sunday [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 14 (BBC One and Disney+, 2024).) While using Roger ap Gwilliam's DNA database to find Ruby's mother, the Doctor ran the blood sample he took through the database by placing it in a small port in his screwdriver. (TV: Empire of Death [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 14 (BBC One and Disney+, 2024).)
While using the time portals of the Time Hotel to seek the holder of the star seed briefcase, the Fifteenth Doctor used his sonic screwdriver to override their protocols that prevented access to the time periods they were connected to if the contemporaneous guests had not vacated. Later, while paying his way for a year's stay in a room at the Sandringham Hotel from 2024-2025, he used his sonic screwdriver to automate a mop to clean the stairs of the hotel while he read a newspaper. (TV: Joy to the World [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2024 (BBC One and Disney+, 2024).)
On Midnight 500,000 years in the future, the Doctor was able to use it to restore the erased data in Colony Base 15's computers. However, the data remained in a damaged state that was difficult to view. (TV: The Well [+]Russell T Davies and Sharma Angel-Walfall, Doctor Who series 15 (BBC One and Disney+, 2025).)
Behind the scenes[]
- Props maker Michael van Kesteren revealed to Doctor Who Magazine that the Fifteenth Doctor's sonic screwdriver was a distinct model from the model owned by the Fourteenth Doctor; Russell T Davies had certain requirements for the Fifteenth Doctor's to fulfil — unlike the Fourteenth Doctor's — with the main brief being "something every kid would want for Christmas."[1]
- The Gallifreyan poem inscribed on the screwdriver translates into a Rwandan proverb, meaning "The sharpness of the tongue defeats the sharpness of the warrior".
