It's Not Just the Doctor Who's Regenerating — It's the Whole Show

Doctor Who was on an unfortunate but undeniable decline over the past few years. The Doctors and their companions changed, but beneath the surface, the long-running series felt as if it were running in place. 

Returning showrunner Russell T. Davies delivered three epic 60th anniversary episodes that were a much-appreciated return to form with a familiar Doctor and companion. However, there was a nagging concern that the upcoming series featuring the 15th Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) would feel too much like a nostalgia trip in the same-old TARDIS. 

Fortunately, the first five episodes, including the Christmas special, clearly demonstrate that Davies isn’t interested in reliving his past glories on the show he successfully revived in 2005. As he remarked at a recent virtual press conference, Doctor Who is always more concerned with “looking forward” than backward. It’s not just the Doctor who’s regenerated but the entire series itself. This isn’t Season 14 — it's Season 1 of a whole new revival that exists fully in 2024. “It’s all about now,” Davies stressed.

The major overhaul begins with the Doctor himself. Gatwa’s young and dynamic like the 10th and 11th Doctors (David Tennant and Matt Smith), but the similarities end there. The Doctor was a tragic figure in the first revival — what Davies himself characterized as a “lonely god.” He revealed in the 2005 episode, “The End of the World,” that he was the last of his kind. The Time Lords had died and we’d later learn he had pulled the trigger. Survivor’s guilt would dog the character, even when they put on an antic disposition for their companions’ benefit. Five different actors played the Doctor full-time between 2005 to 2022, and they were all complicated, flawed heroes, sometimes even outright jerks. (The Doctor could often come across as a bully, especially to the male rivals for his female companions’ affections.)

Gatwa’s Doctor has moved past all that, and not from fear or avoidance. He’s fully healed and emotionally stable. He doesn’t need to distance himself from others or mention how brilliant he is every five minutes. Peter Capaldi’s Doctor needed flash cards when interacting with normal people, and Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor insisted she was too “socially awkward” to console an upset friend. Gatwa’s Doctor speaks gently to a distraught child in “Space Babies” and explains that nothing’s wrong with them: They are exactly who they were meant to be. This Doctor doesn’t need bombast and powerful speeches. He stands out as extraordinary during these ordinary moments of connection.  

Christopher Eccleston’s Doctor told his companion Rose Tyler (Billie Piper), “I’m left traveling alone because there’s no one else.” That was romantic in an emo way, and male viewers probably appreciated the fantasy of a beautiful young woman “fixing” them. Gatwa’s Doctor boasts an optimism that comes from maturity. “I don’t have a people. I don’t have a home,” he admits to his new companion Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson), but he goes on “for days like this.”

“I don't have a job, either. I don't have a boss, or taxes, or rent, or bills to pay,” he declares. “I don't have a purpose, or a cause, or a mission, but I have… freedom. That's why I keep moving on, to see the next thing, and the next, and the next.”

This is a far more accessible Doctor who maintains the best elements from his predecessors — specifically the 12th Doctor’s dying request to just “be kind” — while leaving behind the baggage that had become a cumbersome anchor. Davies doesn’t ignore the controversial “Timeless Child” plot line but focuses instead on what it actually means to the Doctor as a character rather than its impact on the series lore. 

If the Doctor is no longer overtly damaged, neither is his companion. Ruby isn’t escaping a humdrum existence like Rose or Donna Noble (Catherine Tate). She’s not hooked on danger like Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman). She has a loving, supportive family and she’s happy with her life. She just wants more. She’s running toward something and not away, unlike Amy Pond (Karen Gillan). 

Davies has kept the revival’s season-long “mystery” plot line that more often than not fizzled and failed to deliver on any suspense that was built. During his run, the mystery plot’s resolution felt like a slapdash deus ex machina (literally so in Season 3’s “Last of the Time Lords”), and his successor Steven Moffat treated the female companion as a “mystery” that the Doctor must “sort out.” Davies seems to have combined these two approaches with the mystery surrounding Ruby’s birth mother. However, Ruby is less objectified and has more agency. She’s actively seeking answers and is more than just a riddle for the Doctor to solve. 

The Doctor’s curiosity about her is also evenly matched with Ruby’s interest in the Time Lord’s origins. This is a great twist on the Doctor/companion relationship, and it’s shocking that it hasn’t really been explored previously. Obviously, Ruby would have a flurry of questions about this time-traveling explorer, and best of all, the Doctor never dodges them. Within the first few minutes of “Space Babies,” the Doctor has told Ruby that he’s a Time Lord from Gallifrey who’s more than 1,000 years old. 

The Doctor’s newfound openness is deliberate. Davies said at the press conference, “What do we do now with people? The number one thing that we try to get across in society is that if you’re feeling sad say so. If you’re feeling joyous, say so. We’re in a more emotionally intelligent and expressive age.”

This elevates the otherwise rote companion relationship of dashing Doctor and attractive young woman. Five episodes in, and the Doctor and Ruby genuinely feel like good friends rather than the leads in a Woody Allen movie (slightly neurotic, off-putting man and his nonetheless adoring, eternally patient partner). 

The previous revival was far less bold than the original, which had multiple major format changes within a similar period on the air. There were distinctly different feels to each classic Doctor’s era that weren’t present in the new series. Davies has shattered that predictable formula. “It’s 2024,” he said. “It’s time to rip up the rules a bit. It’s time to throw things out the window.” 

This is especially evident in the threats the Doctor faces this season. The godlike Toymaker (Neil Patrick Harris) set the stage for the baby-eating Goblins from the Christmas special and the delightfully sinister Maestro (a brilliant Jinx Monsoon) in “The Devil’s Chord.” 

You won’t miss the Cyberman or the Daleks whenever the Maestro appears, and they have a charisma these classic villains lacked. They’re truly terrifying, and the Doctor’s vulnerability is laid bare now that he longer hides behind bluster. In past incarnations, the Doctor defeated major foes simply by invoking his name and reputation. It’s wonderful to see the Doctor confess to Ruby that he doesn’t think he can beat the Maestro and that his past victory over the Toymaker wasn’t a result of his brilliance but dumb luck. 

The first revival began with 14 episodes a year, which steadily decreased as the seasons passed. The new season has only nine. Davies said it’s a more complicated show to make now, so nine episodes take as long to produce as the original 14. The longer seasons gave room for non-traditional episodes like “Blink,” “Midnight,” “The Doctor’s Wife,” and “Heaven Sent,” which were all series standouts. 

Fewer episodes per season makes it harder to forgive episodes like “Space Babies.” It’s alright.  It’s just not outstanding, and with a few lines moved around, “The Devil’s Chord” could’ve easily worked as a proper season opener. Yes, it’s experimental and bonkers in places but that’s a more fitting statement of purpose than the banal “Space Babies.”

Fortunately, it seems as if “Space Babies” was an outlier. Davies serves up one of his creepiest thrillers yet in the downright scary “73 Yards,” a showcase for Gibson, who’s absolutely mesmerizing. Moffatt’s contribution to the season, “Boom,” is suitably unconventional — the Doctor is trapped on a landmine and the events play out in real time. Gatwa’s performance recalls more fallible and relatable Doctors like Patrick Troughton (a personal favorite) and Peter Davison. Gatwa might consider Jon Pertwee’s Doctor a style icon but he also shares traits with William Hartnell’s Doctor, who receives a shout-out in “The Devil’s Chord.”

Davison, Hartnell, and Troughton weren’t known for their “swagger,” and fans of the previous revival might consider “swagger” mandatory for the Doctor. A line from “Boom” appeared in promos for the season: “I will shatter this silly little battlefield into dust. In a heartbeat. Into dust.” It sounds like a classic Moffat speech that the Doctor delivered in “Forest of the Dead” or “The Big Bang,” but within the context of the episode, a terrified Doctor is pleading with a stranger for mercy. Nonetheless, Gatwa’s performance is riveting. He somehow remains fluid and constantly in motion even when literally standing in one spot.

Davies and Gatwa seem committed to the challenge of depicting this Doctor’s heroism and gravitas without relying on swagger, but the question remains whether they can pull this off to viewers’ satisfaction. (Gatwa is mostly absent in “73 Yards.”) Davies rightly raves about his leading man’s ability to convey “epic and intimate” emotions. Gatwa’s already nailed the latter, so let’s hope the rest of the season offers an opportunity for him to shine as a truly epic Doctor. 

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Stephen Robinson is a political columnist, arts writer, and theatre maker.