Reunited, and it feels so good.
A decade ago, Doctor Who was marking its half century with a (semi-)traditional multi-Doctor tale which looked not just over the long history of the series to date, but also embraced the most popular of all the Doctors since Tom Baker (maybe even the most popular one, full stop), giving us the return of David Tennant, only three years after his original departure. Cut to 2023, Tennant is here once again, but this time he’s in the lead role as the current Doctor, and has also got the band back together.
After 2013’s ‘The Day Of The Doctor’, it seemed the fortunes of the show were on the wane, with a slow decline in ratings and the increasingly tiresome controversy over there being the first female Doctor, resulting in toxic arguments online and the greater polarisation of fandom. The announcement of showrunner Chris Chibnall and Jodie Whittaker stepping down appeared to leave the show in a state of flux (just like the then-forthcoming miniseries of the same name), with no obvious successor ready to take over on the creative side of things.
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Yet, just a few short months later, it looked as if Doctor Who was going back to the future, following the news of Russell T. Davies’ taking back the keys to the kingdom, accompanied by Tennant and Catherine Tate for the 60th anniversary. In 2008, Who seemed to be as its highest of heights, as Davies, Tennant & Tate’s triumvirate gave us a creative powerhouse, the likes of which has scarcely been seen since on the series. The anticipation of this glorious revisitation of what was one of the programme’s greatest eras was naturally tempered by a lingering worry: could lightning strike twice?
However, fans and viewers need never have been concerned: ‘The Star Beast’ – the first of three specials – saw the giant of a man that is Davies running about hither and thither in a thunderstorm with a metal rod held aloft, cackling wildly all the while. This was Davies’ Doctor Who in abundance, being familiarly old and comfortable, while at the same time fresh and new again. The years that had divided his tenures on the show were gloriously undone, and almost without skipping a beat, it was suddenly like 2008 all over again, only with even more vim, vigour and gusto.
Was Tennant and Tate’s comeback a carefully crafted ploy to draw in the viewers in a calculated ratings grab? Of course it was, at least to an extent, and there is absolutely no shame in that. After all, what would be the point in just marking the diamond jubilee for a battle-weary Time Lord languishing in the backwaters of audience popularity, rather than actually rekindling the general public’s love for the Time Lord, and it making the show appointment television once more? Well, it seems the gamble has paid off, with ‘The Star Beast’ turning into the biggest drama launch of 2023, serving the highest overnight figure for the Doctor since 2019.
Tennant and Tate were one of the strongest TARDIS teams in Doctor Who’s long history, with such an obvious chemistry and rapport both on and off screen, but with only one series together (plus a couple of specials), and Donna Noble’s tale having such a bittersweet ending, it truly felt like unfinished business. The trusted axiom of always leaving your audience wanting more was seldom played out better than here, and seeing the apparently effortless ease with which the duo had slipped back into their roles like a pair of old Converse, it was as if barely a day had passed, let alone 13 years. Tennant and Tate are just joyous to watch.
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As for Davies’ contribution to this magical equation, he has delivered a delightful feedback loop, adapting a comic strip from Marvel’s Doctor Who Weekly, a story by Pat Mills and Dave Gibbons, dating all the way back to 1979. One which in fact has already had an adaptation for audio by Big Finish, starring Tom Baker. Using the same basic story as the basis of his episode, Davies has offered us a rambunctious and rip-roaring slice of family teatime entertainment, which is also rather a cunning Trojan Horse, in which to sneak notions of tolerance, acceptance and inclusivity, using the fluffy form of a seemingly-cuddly alien as a distraction.
Doctor Who has always at its core been political, whether or not some people like to accept that. Under Chibnall, some of the messaging was done with all the subtlety of a Judoon in a china shop. Davies, however, has always been far more adept at getting his point across and putting just what he wants on screen. Just look at his original 2005 revival, in which he not only gave us out-and-proud LGBTQ+ representation, but he also made a pansexual character – Captain Jack Harkess – a children’s hero. Times have moved on, and so Davies reflects this with Rose Noble, Donna’s non-binary child, as played by transgender actor Yasmin Finney.
With a current Government seemingly hell bent on waging pointless and divisive culture wars, the assault on the rights of trans people has intensified, making them the subject of ire and discrimination. With Doctor Who stemming from a corporation – the BBC – which has been beleaguered by the Tories over the years, Davies uses Rose Noble not simply as a full-throated rebuttal of Tory politics, but also a full-frontal assault on their philosophy, which could be viewed as a risky move. However, what is even more audacious a move on the part of Davies is to use the new partnership with Disney on a global scale as a platform to broadcast his message all across the planet.
Yes, you can certainly tell that this new era of Doctor Who is benefiting from Disney money, such as in the form of the new TARDIS interior, which is a vast and breathtaking spectacle, harking back to Peter Brachacki‘s original 1963 design, while also adopting the feel and heritage of more recent iterations. Fortunately, there is either little or no direct creative input or influence from the House of Mouse to be felt here (although if they consider making the Noble women Disney Princesses, there would be no complaints here), so this is still exactly the same programme which we’ve always known and loved, only turned up to 11.
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While this latest rebirth of Doctor Who has ruffled a fair few feathers, it should really be lauded as much – if not moreso – for who it has entertained as for who it has annoyed. The path as taken by Davies is so far proving to be just what the Doctor ordered, with the first of this trio of special episodes going back to basics, and making us all fall head over heels yet again for this crazy, funny, thrill-making institution. For a show whose originator was famously averse to space aliens being featured, only to be proved wrong with the success of the Daleks, what better way to pay homage to it than giving us some literal bug-eyed monsters?
‘The Star Beast’ demonstrates there is surely plenty of life in the old Time Lord yet. Donna Noble may be descending, but Doctor Who is headed firmly in the opposite direction.
