TV You will have seen reports in the past few days in which people who know they've signed NDAs but are a bit loose in their understanding of what one of those is, have "revealed" some details of when Ncuti Gatwa's time might otherwise have ended. The usual places have created text to fill in the gaps between advertising but we've no way of knowing what really occurred. As far as Unleashed and DWM are concerned, Ncuti only originally signed on for a couple of seasons (which is pretty usual when it comes to contracts) with presumably the potential for an extension. Even the classic series had a similar situation (see David Brunt's The Doctor Who Production Diary: The Hartnell Years for extensive examples of the paperwork).
Most of the outlets in the broken telephone exchange have decided that there were massive reshoots whilst noting that Disney+ accidentally leaked the above photo of a May Day celebration which was originally going to cap off the series and had an outrageous, Face of Boe-like reveal which probably left RTD chuckling into his ashtray at 3am in the morning, hopefully between emails with Ben Cook in preparation for The Writer's Tale: Redemption. Except we don't know if something has been lost in translation and that scene wasn't simply dropped because tonally it wasn't working and didn't fit within the context of everything around it. Cue a clip from the Hearts of Darkness documentary of Francis Ford Coppola freaking out about cutting the French plantation sequence in Apocalypse Now.
But just for a moment, let's just speculate on the process of having to shoot new material for the end of that story. On the socials in the week of broadcast, I received several likes for saying that the story as a whole was a bit like one of those old six parters, your Seeds of Doom or Invasions of Time, in which the germ of one story become the catalyst for another. The main narrative pretty much wraps up with the Doctor helps Ruby leave the wish baby with her Mum and Grand Mum and you can see version which would indeed cut to the party scene with the episode ending on the revelation of Poppy being Susan's parent leading into the following year's shenanigans, a thematic connection about mothers and daughters.
That would leave the episode with a duration of about forty-five ish minutes, comparable to the rest of the series. In which case the new material kicks in when we return to the TARDIS and the Doctor relishes being domestic until he doesn't thereby creating the inciting incident which leads to his regeneration. Let's disengage from suggestions about a third series foregrounding the search for Poppy. That feels overly complicated and not RTDs sort of thing at all. Plus the idea of crashing into the party scene with Ruby sobbing while everyone around her is celebrating doesn't feel logical. This version of Doctor Who, Lindy Pepper-Bean not withstanding, is more celebratory than that, more Disney.
In which case, let's celebrate how, with limited time and presumably resources, RTD and rest of the production team were able to bring everything together for this new material. In writing this coda Russell knows the budget won't extend to a massive new locale, so in a virtuoso piece of writing he utilises what he has - the TARDIS console room, which is a standing set and UNIT Headquarters which has just recently been utilised for the spin-off series. Perhaps the interior of Belinda's house is a redress of another domestic property from The War Between the Land and the Sea. Davies also might have repurposed dialogue from the original version, perhaps even the party scene, but to be reshot so that it blends which this new conclusion.
The fact that all of the actors were able to return and produce the performances they do in these circumstances is a mindwalk, especially Millie Gibson, who carries the emotional weight of this new story as Ruby gives that speech about Poppy's disappearance brimming with "If there's nothing wrong with me, maybe there's something wrong with the universe!" energy. Jodie wandering in and being her Doctor again as though no time has passed (perhaps helped by recently recording at Big Finish) in what's probably one her best scenes ever. And of course there's Ncuti, having decided to move on from the role because the entire world is his oyster now giving his incarnation the full belt send-off (Jodie has the braces).
The way this has been talked about as some kind of conspiracy theory and incredibly negatively and what especially pisses me off is how Billie's emergence at the end is somehow a "lazy" or "illogical" choice. A lot of work will have gone into those few seconds of screen time, from finding out if she's interested, signing contracts, setting aside a studio day, costume, make-up, special effects, even deciding what her first words is going to be. Plus it's gutsy. It's the RTD of old having an unexpected appearance of Catherine Tate in the console room seemingly from nowhere or the Tenth Doctor regenerating in a gleeful creative moment after being shot by a Dalek at close range. What the fuck happens next?!?
Not to mention, as Chris Williams said on Mr BlueSky:...RTD knows what he's doing... Everyone is talking about the regeneration and wants to know what happens next. Rather than leave it hanging with half a regeneration and a vague end to it all. Plus if it is the end then the last face we see is the first face we saw in 2005....
— Chris Williams (dink) (@chriswilliams-dink.bsky.social) 31 May 2025 at 23:50
But we don't know if this is the final end (until the next one). Even if Disney have pulled their funding, as these extra scenes and the yesteryear of the franchise demonstrates, Doctor Who is arguably at its best when its on life support and fighting for its existence. There's six months until Christmas. Who wouldn't want to tune in to see a Billie Piper incarnation of the Doctor saving themselves or the universe for an hour with whatever caves, sets and props can be found in the store alongside the TARDIS set. More Keys of Marinus? Another Mind Robber? The Revenge of Koquillion? After Midnight? Actually no, they've already done that one. Either way, I'm all in. As usual.
