The Doctor: Ncuti Gatwa
Companion: Varada Sethu – Belinda Chandra
Others
Ian Shaw – Newsreader
Cassius Hackforth – Tommy Lee
Ryan Speakman – Husband
Linus Roache – Reginald Pye
Alan Cumming – Mr Ring-a-Ding
Millie O'Connell – Sunshine Sally
Lewis Cornay – Logan Cheever
Lucy Thackeray – Renée Lowenstein
Jane Hancock – Helen Pye
William Meredith – Policeman
Samir Arrian – Hassan Chowdry
Bronté Barbé – Lizzie Abel
Steph Lacey – Robyn Gossage
Anita Dobson – Mrs Flood
Directed by Amanda Brotchie
Written by Russell T Davies
Script editor: David Cheung
Produced by Chris May
Executive producer(s): Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner, Jane Tranter, Joel Collins, Phil Collinson
Music by Murray Gold
Series 15
Running time: 44 minutes
First broadcast 19 April 2025
Unable to return Belinda Chandra to Earth on 24 May 2025, the Doctor attempts to utilize an indirect route with a vortex indicator. The TARDIS lands in Miami in 1952, where the pair are intrigued by a movie theatre that has been chained shut. The Doctor encourages Belinda to stay and investigate. At a nearby diner, theet speak to the mother of one of fifteen people who disappeared in the theatre, which continues to play movies at night. Although racial segregation is enforced at the time, the waiter allows them to stay.
Inside the theatre, the Doctor and Belinda discover a living cartoon is responsible. Having taken the shape of a 1950s cartoon character called Mr Ring-a-Ding, the being introduces himself as Lux Imperator, the God of Light. The film operator, Reginald Pye, remains in the theatre, playing films for Lux who uses his power to allow Pye to reunite with his dead wife. The fifteen missing people are found trapped in a film reel. Lux also traps the Doctor and Belinda in a film reel, where they become 2D characters but regain their usual dimensions. They break the film frame of the world they are stuck in, but only escape to another false reality, where a racist New York Police Department officer attempts to arrest them. Realising they need to escape outwards, they climb through a television screen where three friends watch their adventures. The fans are delighted to meet the Doctor and Belinda, but ultimately reveal that it is their world that is not real, and encourage him to return to defeat Lux.
Upon their return to the movie theatre, the Doctor's injures his hand but heals himself using residual regeneration energy. Lux tries to steal the Doctor's regeneration energy to create a body that can weather the outside world. Belinda attempts to set alight the film reels to cause an explosion, but with encouragement from his wife, Pye sacrifices himself. The explosion exposes the theatre to sunlight causing Lux to expand infinitely until he becomes one with the universe. The missing people return.
After the Doctor and Belinda leave, Mrs Flood appears among the crowd and encourages them to watch the TARDIS disappear, claiming this "show" is a "limited run" that will end on 24 May. In a mid-credits scene, the Doctor's fans critique the episode and then realize to their delight that they still exist.
Lux