Doctor who: The Power of the Doctor - got to love a surprise regeneration!

Old friends and foes collide together in this BBC centenary special of Doctor Who and after taking over the role in 2018, it’s no secret that Jodie Whittaker’s run as the Doctor has been marred by some interesting writing choices, but Chris Chibnall manages to satisfy with the conclusion to 13’s story. The Power of the Doctor doesn’t hold back, pulling out old Doctors and companions alike as Whittaker’s incarnation tries to stop Sacha Dhawan’s Master from completely wiping her out and destroying the Earth.

In short, the story goes big before it goes home. The episode does well to build anticipation, thrusting the audience straight into the action as the Doctor, Yaz and Dan try to stop the Cybermen on a train in space. But when they manage to get away with a cargo containing a child, who else would turn up but the Daleks and the Master! Sounds a bit convoluted, right? And to some extent it is. The episode would have benefitted from taking out either the Daleks or the Cybermen, leaving just one of the iconic monsters to team up with Dhawan’s Master. But the episode clearly plays with nostalgia and wants to please the fans by throwing everything at it.

The episode feels like a fitting swansong for Whittaker and her shock regeneration into none other than the tenth Doctor himself, David Tennant, was poignant and surprising. It was no secret that Tennant had been seen filming with Catherine Tate so to some extent, I think we could have seen this coming. But that’s by no means a criticism and the hype is certainly building for the 60th anniversary next year. Yet, I cannot help but feel that it somewhat takes away from Whittaker’s ending in some ways. The show has suffered from a lack of character development in the series, and 13 never felt like she got to experience an evolution - we saw the likes of Matt Smith’s 11 being stuck on Trenzalore and Peter Capaldi’s 12 being forced into exile in his confession dial. Whittaker’s 13 never really felt like she had a chance to go through a major trial of her character, something which is even echoed in the episode as she states she isn’t ready to go. It is also disappointing that they never explored the 13-Yaz romance more, especially since it was explicitly referred to in the 2022 Easter special. There were so many aspects to 13's era that could have been explored more and I think The Power of the Doctor alludes to what could have been. 

But now 13's era is finished, it’s time to look forward to a new showrunner and Doctor taking the mantle. Ncuti Gatwa is already providing intrigue into how he will make the character his own, and I for one am very excited to see him with Russell T. Davies back at the helm of the show. It’ll be a year until we next see the Doctor on our screen again and I am sure that the 60th special will shoot us headfirst into another adventure.