This reaction piece was originally published on my (now-defunct) Substack newsletter on 10/12/23.

I loved this episode. So much so that I am prepared to declare right now that it is one of my favourite episodes of Doctor Who ever. I’ve never had such a strong gut reaction as that in all my life. The emotional narrative that runs through this entire story just feels perfect in my eyes. I’m just not sure if I’ll manage to get it down on the page. But I’m going to try.

As I’ve said before, this isn’t going to be a formal, well-constructed review. It’s more a series of thoughts of things that I find interesting that I can recall right now in a rough chronological order of the episode’s events. It’s limited on the time I have to spare, so it will not be exhaustive. Feel free to discourse it out with in the comments below, as long as you promise to be nice.

SPOILERS AHEAD, OBVIOUSLY.

Soho, 1925 (Pre-Titles)

A gorgeous period opening. We meet the Toymaker, a god-like being bound by the logic and rules of games. Notice how he says that the rules are very, very important. Russell has also chosen to acknowledge on screen that the Toymaker is a racist character; he originally appeared in Chinese garb and played the Trilogic Game, a mathematical game that appropriates Eastern mysticism, with the First Doctor. His use of several cod-European accents and comment towards the paying customer (“You must be used to sunnier climbs.”) preserves this aspect.

Stooky Bill is a creepy doll, prime material for a Doctor Who story. The Toymaker says he cut the hair off a ‘beautiful lady’ for the doll. We may come back to that someday. Did you notice that there is a ‘Grade’s Gents hairdresser’ next door to the toy shop? If only Michael Grade’s hair had been made into a voodoo doll…

John Logie Baird, the inventor of television appears here; we have the second pre-titles in two weeks that invokes the celebrity historical. It’s also a crossover with RTD’s recent ITV drama, Nolly, as Baird is played by John Mackay in that drama and in this episode.

Notice how they are delighted, and shocked, and in awe of the moving television picture. Isn’t that just how we feel watching at home? But who’s laughing now?

The World Has Gone Mad

Everyone has got an opinion and everyone is right all of the time. On first viewing, this felt like an obvious political subtext about how the world has become angrier and more divisive in recent years, but all I could think about on the second viewing was that it was about Doctor Who fans arguing on the internet why their personal interpretation of the story is the correct one. Maybe Russell is saying we are all correct, so long as only one person is writing Doctor Who at a time? Good thing I’m the one writing here then.

UNIT arrives on the scene. The Doctor and the TARDIS get transported by helicopter, harking back to the 50^th anniversary special The Day of the Doctor. Any pretence that they are a secret organisation has gone; they have a giant Marvel’s The Avengers-style tower in the heart of London now. Kate Lethbridge-Stewart doesn’t salute but hugs the Doctor like an old friend. They know how to fight aliens, but how are they going to fight humans? Also, this is the first time RTD has written for Kate and she sounds absolutely right to me.

UNIT Assembled!

The Doctor meets Melanie Bush on screen for the first time since 1987. She’s not the fan favourite like Sarah Jane was back in 2006’s School Reunion. But it felt lovely to see her again. She’s smart, capable and can programme a computer. This was all in her original characterisation, of course, but was never properly realised on screen. Bonnie Langford is the most famous actor today to have played a Classic Who companion and yet had to endure such a brief and tumultuous time on the show, now she gets to be a part of the 60^th celebrations.

The Government doesn’t care about its citizens, because they are mad. Donna is not surprised.

We meet the Vlinx, who is basically New Kamelion. The Doctor just accepts it.

Kate Stewart shows us what happens without the Zeedex; she goes mad talking about being infiltrated by aliens and people not needing wheelchairs. On the latter point, RTD already anticipated this response because it actually happened two weeks ago when Shirley first appeared. Jemma Redgrave has a moment to act.

Trinity Wells returns! As a far-right anti-vax-coded news journalist! Sad yet hilarious!

Stooky Bill has burned his giggle into every TV screen. Literal screen-burn!

The Fourteenth Doctor gives permission for UNIT to use the Galvanic Beam launcher to take out a satellite. Whilst non-lethal this time around, it feels like a callback to Harriet Jones in The Christmas Invasion taking out the Sycorax. And we all know what happened to Harriet Jones after that decision.

Absolutely laughing myself silly at the Sabalom Glitz continuity. Of course, he died falling over a whisky bottle!

Last Fight In Soho

Donna points out how the Doctor never talks about his past and moves on at such a pace. The Doctor avoids the question by asking Donna where did Stooky Bill come from. The Doctor is focussed on the narrative problem whilst Donna is focussed on the emotional problem. Let’s just hope his past doesn’t catch up with him? Oh wait.

The Doctor meets the Toymaker. It’s been nearly 60 years since his last appearance in the 60s. The entire relationship is sold on the tension in the performances between Tennant and Harris. Ball is the first game, the beginning of games… that might be relevant later on.

The Doctor and Donna are trapped going up and down endless corridors. This show never changes.

“Dice don’t know what the dice did last time.” Donna’s dad is wise. Every game is a chance to make a fresh start.

Then we get some proper creepy puppet/body horror here. Genuinely creepy stuff. I particularly love how the puppet has the Doctor’s outfit when it changes to his head (“I thought I was clever!”) and also how Donna then ruthlessly smashes a doll into the wall.

And then, story time!

Once Upon A Time Lord

The Toymaker’s recap of what has happened since Donna left the TARDIS was an absolute undisputed highlight. I yelped each and every time he cut the strings.

(American accent) “WELL, THAT”S ALRIGHT THEN!”

Moffat used Hell Bent to critique the ending of Journey’s End. Now Davies gets to come back on Moffat’s companions in The Giggle. The two of them are always texting. Even when writing Doctor Who scripts.

It serves to highlight the emotional baggage that the Doctor carries with them and proves Donna right, that the Doctor is always on the move, running away from his problems. It’s all the more cutting that the Toymaker is the one to confront him about this. These are uncomfortable truths from the past. The Toymaker himself is an uncomfortable truth from the past.

Amy, Clara, Donna and the Flux are all examples from the Doctor’s past who have died and yet also lived in some form. This will be important later on.

But the Doctor won’t confront them about it. Instead, he challenges him to a game of luck. And he loses. The Doctor isn’t always lucky. So, it’s back to 2023 for the best of three in the third of the three 60^th anniversary specials.

The Toymaker’s dance number is ludicrously camp and surprisingly dark. He’s operating from an entirely different rulebook to reality.

Talkin’ About Bi-generation

“You know full well this is merely a face concealing a vastness that will never cease”

The Doctor offers to take the Toymaker away from Earth, a common trope where he gives the villain a chance to step down. It has echoes of his offer of taking the Simm Master away from Earth with him in the TARDIS from Series 3. But the Toymaker is too obsessed with the games.

And then… BAM. Forty minutes in, we suddenly have a regeneration. If the Doctor hadn’t given Kate permission to use the Galvanic Beam, perhaps he wouldn’t have been shot?

The Doctor has two ‘handmaidens’, one companion from the Classic run and one companion from the New run, both of whom have previously been present for a prior regeneration. They pull apart the old Doctor and find the new Doctor within! Hello, Ncuti Gatwa!

Except, this time it’s a bigeneration. That’s interesting. The Latin prefix ‘re-‘ means back. As in to go back and repeat the process all over again. But now we have ‘bi-‘, which means two. The Fourteenth Doctor dies and becomes the Fifteenth Doctor but also lives on as the Fourteenth Doctor in that moment, we have circled back to the theme of the Toymaker’s puppet show. We now have two Doctors in this regeneration – a first for the show – and now we will get to see them work together to resolve the emotional conflict at the heart of this story.

People online seem to be frustrated that we haven’t been given a rulebook to how bigeneration works, but right now I honestly could not care about that. After all, the presence of the Toymaker allows the rules of reality just to bend a little. Maybe there will be a more formal explanation at a later point? Wibbly wobbly timey wimey and all that. But for now, we have something exciting and new and wonderous: a happy regeneration. It feels significant that RTD has used the anniversary to write a very happy and positive regeneration instead of the usual sad and sombre one. Is that why fans are struggling to adjust?

The Toymaker has fallen foul of their own rules; he must face two Doctors simultaneously. But the game is now Catch, a game of skill – not luck. This entire sequence is just so Extra. But I love it. It’s so silly and frivolous, but it’s played so seriously. Serious about what they do, just not the way they do it.

And then the Toymaker misses a catch – from Fifteen! He is defeated. Fifteen has won where Fourteen has lost. The first incumbent black Doctor has got one over the racist Toymaker; and he’s not even dressed yet! The Toymaker must leave this reality, he gets folded up like flat-pack furniture and is then put back in his box. Bound in salt.

Multi-Doctor stories are usually about them teaming up to save the day, not saving each other. But here Fifteen steps in to help Fourteen with a hug and a kiss and a shoulder to lean on. He’s there to take care of his younger self, to help him confront the emotional baggage of his past. This seemed obvious to me because it’s something I’ve been feeling a lot lately; I’ve been attending therapy this year to work on myself. We can’t just keep running away from our problems, we need to face them and have people around us for support. It’s a small moment; a beautiful, honest and vulnerable moment in an otherwise utterly mad story.

“I’m fine because you fixed yourself.”

The gold tooth is a nice nod the Doctor’s lost tooth at the end of the previous Toymaker story. But when will the Master return? And who’s hand was that picking up the gold tooth?

The Last Ten Minutes of Admin

We get to see a handover between two Doctors. Lots of gratuitous continuity references and fan service here. But it reiterates the core emotional message: slow down Doctor and work on yourself. It’s the 2023 version of the Metacrisis Doctor’s ending where he settles down with Rose Tyler.

Absolutely cackling at the giant mallet duplicating the TARDIS for the two Doctors. Right down to the ding of a prize bell!

The TARDIS is now wheelchair accessible. And that’s obviously a good thing.

The new console room even has an iPod… I mean, jukebox. Fifteen is here to change the tune.

There is a common trope that the Doctor sneaks off without saying goodbye; that’s subverted here. Fourteen and Fifteen hug each other and say goodbye. There is no doubt who is piloting this show now.

Fourteen enjoys a nice meal with his found family in the back garden. But that hasn’t stopped him from taking a few cheeky trips in the TARDIS. He’s never felt so happy in all his life. 🙂

Wait… Is RTD actually saying “Live, Laugh, Love” unironically here?

Wilf lives on just outside the screen. No moles are being harmed just outside the screen.

The Fifteenth Doctor flies away. Next stop: everywhere. (Okay, it’s Christmas actually)

Oh look, goblins.

> 

So yeah, in summary, I loved it.

The titular ‘giggle’ may have started out as the laughter of Stooky Bill, hiding within our TV screens. But by the end, I think it’s probably the sound of RTD laughing behind the keyboard. I think he’s just having fun. I’ve already written a whole essay on this Substack about how Doctor Who continuity doesn’t make sense and that’s alright actually. For me at least, it was the right dose of serious and silly. And I’m excited for the future now. Because it seems just so bright.

I’m seeing a lot of discussion online about whether this story is good or not. If you have a different opinion to me, then that’s fine. Because now we know they are all correct. But for one post, I’ve decided to forego the nitpicking.

But, in this moment at least, I know how I feel about it. 🙂