Doctor: David Tennant
Doctor: Ncuti Gatwa
Companion
Catherine Tate – Donna Noble
Others
Charlie De Melo – Charles Banerjee
Neil Patrick Harris – The Toymaker
John Mackay – John Logie Baird
Ross Gurney-Randall – Middle Aged Man
Alexander Devrient – Colonel Ibrahim
Ruth Madeley – Shirley Bingham
Jemma Redgrave – Kate Lethbridge-Stewart
Bonnie Langford – Melanie Bush
Glen Fox – Pilot
Tim Hudson – Edward Lawn Bridges
Aidan Cook – The Vlinx
Nicholas Briggs – Voice of the Vlinx
Lachele Carl – Trinity Wells
Leigh Lothian – Voice of Stooky Sue
Luke Featherston – The Toymaker Dance Double
Karl Collins – Shaun Temple
Jacqueline King – Sylvia Noble
Yasmin Finney – Rose Noble
Production
Directed by Chanya Button
Written by Russell T Davies
Script editor Scott Handcock
Produced by Vicki Delow
Executive producer(s) Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner, Jane Tranter, Joel Collins, Phil Collinson
Music by Murray Gold
Series 2023 specials
Running time 62 minutes
First broadcast 9 December 2023
In 1925 Soho, an assistant to John Logie Baird purchases a Stooky Bill doll from an eccentric German toymaker to test out a new invention called the "television".
In the present day, the Doctor and Donna are taken by UNIT to its headquarters. The Doctor is reunited with Shirley Bingham, Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, and Melanie Bush. With the help of an alien named the Vlinx, members of UNIT are immune to the signals being transmitted and making people go insane, while Donna, Melanie and Wilf are immune due to their extensive travels with the Doctor. The Doctor determines the signals have been playing for years and discovers the Stooky Bill video from 1925. He and Donna travel via TARDIS to 1925 to locate the video's source.
The Doctor and Donna find the toy store and the Doctor deduces the German man is the Toymaker, who he defeated in a game many years ago.[a] The Toymaker traps the two in his labyrinth and conjures horrifying illusions for them, while also revealing he has faced numerous pains of his own and has trapped his arch nemesis, the Master, within his gold tooth. The Doctor and the Toymaker play a game of cards with the latter winning. However, the Doctor states that since he won the last game, they are tied. The Toymaker resolves to have one final game with him and transports himself to the present day, with the Doctor and Donna in pursuit.
The Toymaker attacks UNIT before taking control of its galvanic beam. He reasons that since he had faced two incarnations of the Doctor, he must face another and mortally injures the Doctor with the beam, triggering his regeneration. However, to everyone's surprise, the Doctor instead splits into two incarnations via "bigeneration". Both the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Doctor challenge the Toymaker to a basic game of catch. The Doctors emerge victorious and the Toymaker is sealed away in a box, though he warns the two of his legions' arrival. As everyone leaves, the Toymaker's gold tooth is left behind and is collected by an unidentified woman.
Donna suggests to the Fourteenth Doctor his old face returned because he is emotionally exhausted from past trauma, and he should retire from travelling and stay with her and her family, but he signals his intention to not leave the TARDIS behind. The Fifteenth Doctor realises the Toymaker's rules of play still apply and discovers a mallet within the TARDIS. He uses this to create a second identical TARDIS, which he departs in. The Fourteenth Doctor settles down with Donna, her family, and Melanie, while the Fifteenth Doctor travels the universe, seeking new adventures.
The Giggle