Specials, Episode 2 | 1 part | First broadcast: 2 December 2023 | Writer: Russell T Davies | Director: Tom Kingsley
Cast
- David Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor
- Catherine Tate as Donna Noble
- Bernard Cribbins as Wilfred Mott
Summary
After the TARDIS inexplicably flies off without them, the Doctor and Donna find themselves stranded aboard a vast, seemingly abandoned spaceship drifting at the very edge of the universe, where they are stalked by shape-shifting entities capable of perfectly mimicking their appearance, voice, and mannerisms, forcing the pair to determine who is real and who is an impostor before the creatures can escape into the wider universe.
Interesting Facts
- This special features a deliberately minimalist, almost entirely two-hander structure, with David Tennant and Catherine Tate carrying nearly the whole episode alone.
- It marks the final on-screen appearance of Bernard Cribbins as Wilfred Mott, filmed shortly before the veteran actor’s death in 2022 and included as a brief closing coda.
- The uncanny “Not-Things” doppelganger creatures were achieved through extensive visual effects and contortion-based body-double performance work.
- The episode ends with a comedic historical cameo scene featuring Isaac Newton, played by Nathaniel Curtis.
- It was widely regarded as one of the most experimental and horror-inflected stories of the revived series, favoring atmosphere and tension over dialogue-heavy plotting.
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