The Doctor: Ncuti Gatwa
Companions: Varada Sethu – Belinda Chandra, Millie Gibson – Ruby Sunday
Others
Archie Panjabi – The Rani
Atilla Akinci – Otto Zufall
Leni Adams – Violett Zufall
Sienna-Robyn Mavanga-Phipps – Poppy
Jonah Hauer-King – Conrad Clark
Bonnie Langford – Melanie Bush
Ruth Madeley – Shirley Bingham
Jemma Redgrave – Kate Lethbridge-Stewart
Susan Twist – Susan Triad
Alexander Devrient – Colonel Christofer Ibrahim
Nila Aalia – Lakshmi Chandra
Josephine Lloyd-Welcome – Devika Babu
Anita Dobson – Mrs Flood
Hermon Berhane – Val Balham
Sam Lawton – Winnie Petheridge
Joshua J Parker – Brian Dale
Michelle Greenidge – Carla Sunday
Angela Wynter – Cherry Sunday
Carole Ann Ford – Susan Foreman
Jonathan Groff – Rogue
Production
Directed by Alex Sanjiv Pillai
Written by Russell T Davies
Produced by Chris May
Executive producer(s): Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner, Jane Tranter, Joel Co llins, Phil Collinson
Music by Murray Gold
Series 15
Running time: 1st of 2-part story, 44 minutes
First broadcast 24 May 2025
In Bavaria, 1865, the Rani seizes a newborn incarnation of Desiderium, a member of the Pantheon of Discord with the power to transform wishes into reality. On 23 May 2025, the Doctor and Belinda awaken in the reality created by the Rani as a married couple with an infant daughter, Poppy. Society is overseen by Conrad Clark, who tells stories of the Doctor and the Time Lords to the world, projecting his vision of society onto the Earth through the power of the stolen infant. Ruby Sunday, aware that something is wrong with the world, is unable to convince the Doctor of her concerns.
The Doctor, living under the name John Smith, goes to work for UNIT, which in the altered reality is an insurance company, where he witnesses the Rani returning to her bone fortress over London. Meanwhile, Belinda begins to question her role as Poppy's mother when she cannot recall her birth. Ruby encounters UNIT's former scientific advisor Shirley Bingham, who lives amongst the disabled citizens displaced in the world who can also question the reality they are in.
Upon his return home from work, the Doctor watches Conrad's transmission, which is disrupted by images of both his granddaughter Susan Foreman and Rogue, the latter warning him that the reality he is in is wrong. The Doctor observes proof that his reality is not real and shares his discovery with Belinda, but she calls the police on him for having doubts. Mrs Flood, operating as the Rani's enforcer, has Belinda arrested alongside the Doctor. The pair are brought to the Rani's fortress, as Ruby and Shirley use a UNIT tablet to prepare to hijack Conrad's next transmission.
In the fortress, the Rani gloats when meeting the Doctor, and reminds him of who she and Mrs Flood are. She reveals her plan is to create a compromised reality in order to destroy it, with the help of the Doctor's attempts to return Belinda home. At midnight on 24 May, reality begins to collapse, with the intention of returning Omega, a founder of the Time Lords, from the Underverse below. As skyscrapers fall and the Doctor is thrown from the Rani's tower, the Doctor regains his memories.
Wish World