The Doctor: Ncuti Gatwa
Companions: Varada Sethu – Belinda Chandra
Others
Julie Dray – Sabine
Rylan Clark – Himself
Imogen Kingsley Smith – Runner
Kiruna Stamell – Nina Maxwell
Iona Anderson – Wynn Aura-Kin
Anita Dobson – Mrs Flood
Charlie Condou – Gary Gabbastone
Kadiff Kirwan – Mike Gabbastone
Freddie Fox – Kid
Miriam-Teak Lee – Cora Saint Bavier
Akemnji Ndifornyen – Len Kazah
Christina Rotondo – Liz Lizardine
Graham Norton – Himself
Abdul Seesay – Jeddy Kine
Carole Ann Ford – Susan Foreman
Archie Panjabi – The Rani
Production
Directed by Ben A. Williams
Written by Juno Dawson
Produced by Vicki Delow
Executive producer(s): Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner, Jane Tranter, Joel Collins, Phil Collinson
Music by Murray Gold
Series 15
Running time 47 minutes
First broadcast 17 May 2025
The TARDIS brings the Doctor and Belinda to 2925 aboard the Harmony Arena, an orbital concert venue that hosts the annual Interstellar Song Contest, hosted by a cryogenically preserved Rylan Clark. The pair decide to watch the contest from a VIP booth, unaware that Mrs Flood is in the audience observing them. As the live transmission begins, the arena is hijacked by two Hellions, Kid and Wynn Aura-Kin, who switch the transmission to a pre-recorded dress rehearsal and deactivate the contest stage's oxygen dome. While Belinda and several contestants in the VIP booths are trapped in the Harmony, the Doctor, his TARDIS, and everyone else are sucked into space.
As the other victims begin to freeze in space, the Doctor has visions of his granddaughter Susan Foreman, encouraging him to use a confetti cannon to propel himself back to Harmony, where he is revived by nurse Mike Gabbastone and his husband Gary, a technician. The Doctor asks the Gabbastones to help him hack into Harmony's systems via the arena's contest museum. Meanwhile, Belinda has joined up with contestant Cora Saint Bavier, and they also hack in to arena's systems.
The Doctor opens a communications line to Kid, who tells him that he is seeking revenge against the Corporation, the contest's organiser, for exploiting his planet of Hellia, by killing all of the contest's viewers with a Delta Wave. The Doctor has Gary use a hologram to trick Kid, allowing him to reach the arena's broadcast room and destroy the Delta Wave. The Doctor proceeds to torture him, until Belinda's arrival brings him to his senses. As Kid and Wynn are detained, the pair chastise Cora, also revealed to be a Hellion, for shunning her heritage. With Mike and Gary's help, the Doctor recovers the people orbiting the station and revives them.
After the TARDIS is recovered from space, the Doctor and Belinda are shocked to learn that the Earth was destroyed on 24 May 2025, the day they are attempting to return to. Able to travel to that date at last using the Doctor's Vindicator, they are greeted by ominous sounds, before an explosion blows in the doors of the TARDIS.
In a mid-credits scene, Mike and Gary revive Mrs Flood, only to witness her undergo a bi-generation, becoming two women who reveal themselves to be the Rani.
The Interstellar Song Contest