DOCTOR WHO, 15.8 – ‘The Reality War’

After a typically hectic setup in “Wish World”, where copious ideas were thrown together with little to no cohesion and logic, the Series 15 finale has arrived. “The Reality War” was a better half of this two-part story, if only because it didn’t have such ridiculous heavy-lifting to do, so writer Russell T. Davies could instead focus on the action and in trying to resolve matters. And while many of the resolutions didn’t entirely work for me, enough did that it was at least mostly inoffensively slapdash.

The huge problem with “The Reality War” is how everything notable about it was thrown into a denouement that took up half the runtime. The machinations of the Rani (Archie Panjabi) ultimately amounted to depressingly little of real value, as she was mostly a bystander to an ‘armed skyscraper vs skeleton monsters’ battle between The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa), UNIT, and Reality as it managed to reassert itself once Ruby (Millie Gibson) kidnapped the infant ‘God of Wishes’ being held by her toxic ex-boyfriend Conrad (Jonah Hauer-King). The latter was also an afterthought, getting almost nothing to do, although I appreciated the story giving Ruby the agency in his defeat.

We know RTD loves a rushed and easy-fix ending (of the kind a six-year-old might come up with for their action figures), so reversing everything by having a companion ‘wish it so’ was the worst example we’ve seen of this, but at least the story had revolved around magic. The threat of Omega, the first Time Lord trapped in the Underverse, ultimately amounted to very little too—as he was revealed to be a skeletal skin for the show’s ‘Sutekh’ CGI asset, ready for The Doctor to blast into Hell with an improvised ray gun minutes after Omega unceremoniously gobbled up the Rani. The original Rani, Mrs Flood (Anita Dobson), managed to evade capture thanks to a Time Bracelet, so will presumably reappear at some point, but it was a monumental let-down for poor Panjabi in this role. It was also a shame Omega didn’t mention the fact The Doctor is the ‘Timeless Child’ (he would know) and arguably of more standing in Time Lord society than he is, or is this also being quietly swept under the carpet now? It’s hard to keep up, or know what’s definitely foundational lore or a bit of whimsy we’ve collectively agreed to ignore.

The crazy thing about “The Reality War” is that once everything was over and events started moving to a quiet conclusion, what felt like the denouement suddenly stretched to an extra half-hour. The loose end that provided this extra material was Poppy, the baby girl The Doctor fathered with Belinda (Varada Sethu) while they were inside the ‘wish world’ as a married couple. Hoping to avoid Poppy vanishing when things reverted to normal, The Doctor stowed her in a ‘Zero Box’ that UNIT had lying around, with Belinda agreeing to be her guardian for all eternity if it came to that. (They didn’t even give her some books or a Sudoku to do?) Unfortunately, this meant Bel practically sat out the finale, and it felt ridiculous for a new companion to have such little impact on a series climax.

Nevertheless, after the dust settled, it seemed like Poppy had managed to survive the wish reversal process, until reality slowly reasserted itself and only Ruby noticed everyone gradually forgetting about The Doctor’s young daughter. The episode acknowledged it had no explanation for why Ruby is able to know if things aren’t as they seem, which is either a good thing because it’s refreshingly honest, or a bad thing because it’s acknowledging one key aspect of the story had no real answer. Regardless, Ruby eventually convinces The Doctor that his daughter did once exist, which triggered what felt like a mini-episode. And it felt so unnecessary because they could have just had Poppy’s lineage tweaked once reality returned, rather than have The Doctor accept a surprise mission to force this to happen himself—by blasting some of his regeneration energy into the Time Vortex of the TARDIS, which did the trick for… reasons. If in doubt, make an explosion. And can Time Lords just choose to regenerate now if they need to alter reality?

One of the massive talking points was the unexpected return of the Thirteenth Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) to give Fifteen a pep talk in the TARDIS, for hazy reasons. But it was surprisingly fun to see Jodie back in the role, despite her own run being a huge flop in my eyes, maybe because she’s at least a bit quirky and I miss that core element of The Doctor from Ncuti Gatwa—who was always too well-balanced, confident, and cool for my taste. Maybe that was the point, as the baggage of past Doctors was removed from him, but it shouldn’t alter the fundamental personality of The Doctor being peculiar and quirky. Confidence and coolness is fine, but there was never a feeling Fifteen was an alien.

Ultimately, there wasn’t enough emotional impact in what they were trying to achieve at the end, with The Doctor using his regeneration energy to somehow nudge the TARDIS into a parallel universe where Poppy still exists, but was fathered by another man. I see what the intention was, but it failed for me. We didn’t have enough time with The Doctor as a father for his loss to truly register, and it always felt ‘icky’ to me that he slept with a companion who was effectively “brainwashed” to think they were a happily married couple by a wish-giving deity.

Then, as hotly rumoured, Ncuti Gatwa regenerated. Thankfully, the bi-generation concept appears to have been quietly set aside. Such moments are pivotal in the history of Doctor Who, but I have to say it was horrendously handled here. Most Doctors make a noble sacrifice or have a thrilling moment before they are fatally injured and forced to regenerate, so the quieter and more peculiar reason with Poppy just did not land.

I have read rumours that Ncuti Gatwa was not happy and wanted to leave sooner than expected, or that BBC bosses have been unhappy with the show’s ratings and encouraged RTD to find a different actor (not helped by Gatwa refusing to appear on Eurovision for political reasons), but who knows what the truth is. Maybe it will come out one day, like when Christopher Eccleston started to admit RTD and the producers were terrible people to work for. But it is definitely strange to only hire a new actor for two years, when three is the new norm, and often with longer gaps of time between each run so it feels like the actor had a longer run with the part. For example: Whittaker was announced in 2017 and left in 2023. Six years as The Doctor, but she only appeared in three series and three specials.

Of course, the biggest talking point of the episode is who the Fifteenth Doctor turned into in those final moments. I had read a rumour this was going to happen earlier in the morning, and I did not give it any credence because it sounded like such a ludicrous idea dreamed up by fans… but, good heavens, it was true. Ncuti Gatwa regenerated into Billie Piper, who played the Ninth and Tenth Doctor’s companion Rose back when RTD revived the series in 2005.

Of course, there is a precedent for The Doctor to reuse an “old face”, which is how we had David Tennant return as the Fourteenth incarnation for the 60th anniversary specials, and Peter Capaldi’s Tenth Doctor “borrowed” his appearance from a Roman character Capaldi had previously played on the show before… so the lore is established to support the idea The Doctor can look like someone we are familiar with… but… Billie Piper?

Are we serious? I like Billie Piper. She was well-cast as a companion 20 years ago, but she doesn’t strike me as an actress who fits the part of The Doctor—not at all. And, on a deeper level, it seems like a severe lack of imagination from RTD to cast one of his old pals again, after doing the same thing just a few years ago with Tennant. Aren’t there any young actors who could play The Doctor and get a big break doing it? Where’s the next Matt Smith? And does it bode well for the future of Doctor Who that two incarnations out of the past three have been actors who already appeared on the show in main roles? Do we need to bait fan nostalgia like this, twice? Is stunt-casting now the only way to make audiences stick around, out of sheer curiosity?

Doctor Who should be a forward-facing and progressive show, with refreshment and rejuvenation literally baked into its DNA. We should have fresh voices and faces every three years to keep things lively and different. It was already a disappointment to get RTD back again as showrunner, but I can understand the thinking after Chris Chibnall’s era failed to spark and the BBC needed a safe pair of hands, and the surprise return of David Tennant could be put down to anniversary hijinks… but to once again return to the past like this feels silly and desperate. Maybe Karen Gillan could be next, or bring back Jodie Whittaker for another go? What’s Peter Capaldi up to now? Is Jenna Coleman’s career on the rocks enough to tempt her back? Can Tennant make it a hat-trick? Just keep recycling the past few decades rather than carve a path into the future.

I’m sure some will love the idea. It’s a silly show which has only become sillier in recent times with the dominance of magic over any semblance of proper sci-fi. In some ways the ground’s been laid for left-field, backwards-facing ideas like this, but do people really want Billie Piper to play The Doctor?

Well, let’s see what happens. There are doubts Disney want to continue co-producing the show because it hasn’t been the hit they expected, which is astonishing to me, as it’s still one of the most talked-about sci-fi shows around and surely appeals to the family-friendly Disney+ demographic. If the entire world getting big-budget Doctor Who episodes hours before the UK doesn’t move the dial in terms of ratings, maybe the brand’s in a worse state than we thought right now.

And spare a thought for the late Fifteenth Doctor, who never even glimpsed a Dalek or Cyberman…

UK | 2025 | 65 MINUTES | 16:9 HD | COLOUR | ENGLISH

Cast & Crew

writer: Russell T. Davies.
director: Alex Sanjiv Pillai.
starring: Ncuti Gatwa, Varada Sethu, Archie Panjabi, Anita Dobson, Millie Gibson, Jemma Redgrave, Jonah Hauer-King, Atilla Akinci, Leni Adams, Sienna-Robyn Mavanga-Phipps, Bonnie Langford, Ruth Madeley, Susan Twist, Alexander Devrient, Nila Aalia, Josephine Lloyd-Welcome, Hermon Berhane, Sam Lawton, Joshua J. Parker, Michelle Greenidge, Angela Wynter, Jodie Whittaker & Billie Piper.