Doctor Who series 15
2025 season of British sci-fi TV series From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The fifteenth series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who premiered on 12 April 2025. This series is also known as "Season Two" following the production changes and the acquisition of Doctor Who's international broadcasting rights by Disney+ prior to the previous series. It is the sixth series led by Russell T Davies as head writer and executive producer and the second since his return to the show in 2023, having previously worked on it from 2005 to 2010. This series is set to be the fifteenth to air following the programme's revival in 2005, and is the forty-first season overall.
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| Doctor Who | |
|---|---|
| Series 15 | |
Promotional poster | |
| Showrunner | Russell T Davies |
| Starring | |
| No. of stories | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 3 (+1 special) |
| Release | |
| Original network | |
| Original release | 12 April 2025 – present |
| Series chronology | |
This is the second series to star Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor, an incarnation of the Doctor, an alien Time Lord who travels through time and space in the TARDIS, which appears to be a British police box from the outside. Varada Sethu joins the series as new companion Belinda Chandra, with Millie Gibson also set to feature as Ruby Sunday, the previous series' companion. The series was preceded by a Christmas episode in December 2024, written by former showrunner and head writer Steven Moffat, where Nicola Coughlan appears as a one-off companion.
The series is set to consist of eight episodes, directed by Alex Sanjiv Pillai, Peter Hoar, Amanda Brotchie, Ben A. Williams, and Makalla McPherson. Alongside Davies, who wrote four episodes and co-wrote a further one, the writers include Juno Dawson, Inua Ellams, Pete McTighe, and Sharma Angel-Walfall. Filming began in October 2023 and concluded in May 2024.
Episodes
| No. story | No. in series | Title [1] | Directed by [1] | Written by [1] | Original release date [a] | UK viewers (millions) [4] | AI [5] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Special | ||||||||||||
| 312 | – | "Joy to the World" | Alex Sanjiv Pillai | Steven Moffat | 25 December 2024 | 5.91 | 76 | |||||
|
The Doctor arrives at the Time Hotel, an establishment that allows visits to historical points. The Doctor enlists the aid of Trev, a hotel employee, as he investigates a mysterious briefcase. Trev's Silurian manager arrives in Joy Almondo's hotel room with the briefcase and the Doctor following him. The briefcase takes control of Joy, and the Doctor finds a strange device inside about to disintegrate Joy; suddenly a Doctor from the future arrives from the Time Hotel with the required code. The future Doctor returns to the Time Hotel with Joy, stranding the current Doctor. He takes a job working at the hotel, befriending the manager Anita, awaiting an opportunity to get back to the Time Hotel, which he does a year later. He opens a door to the distant past, where he frees Joy by provoking her anger. The briefcase, of Villengard origin, is to be used to create an energy source. Trev, who connected psychically to Villengard's system before he died, reveals the briefcase's location. The Doctor opens it, but Joy lets the star seed enter her. Joy pilots it into space, where it detonates safely as the Star of Bethlehem, and the star gives hope and comfort to those who see it. | ||||||||||||
| Series | ||||||||||||
| 313 | 1 | "The Robot Revolution" | Peter Hoar | Russell T Davies | 12 April 2025 | 3.57 | TBA | |||||
|
Seventeen years after Belinda Chandra’s boyfriend Alan Budd gave her a "star certificate" naming a specific star for her, she is abducted by giant robots from that star. The Doctor tried to prevent the abduction, follows in the TARDIS but is caught in a time fracture, On the planet Missbelindachandra One, Belinda finds that the robots have enslaved the native population and want to integrate her with the AI Generator that controls the robots. She is rescued by the Doctor, who had landed on the planet six months before and joined a group of rebels. He explains that the people and the robots coexisted peacefully for centuries until something caused the robot revolt 10 years earlier. To protect the rebels, Belinda surrenders and offers herself to the AI Generator, which is revealed to be Alan, incorporated into the machine. When she was abducted, Belinda had told the robots to get Alan instead, but the time fracture caused him to be brought to the planet 10 years before. He incited the robot revolution, powered by the anger he felt when Belinda broke up with him. Inviting her to join him, he holds out the star certificate, which had somehow been sent into the planet’s distant past. When Belinda touches it with hers – the same certificate from different time streams – the reaction destroys Alan and frees the robots, who return the TARDIS to the Doctor. Belinda insists on being returned to Eath the day she departed, but the TARDIS is repelled from that date, May 24, 2025. | ||||||||||||
| 314 | 2 | "Lux" | Amanda Brotchie | Russell T Davies | 19 April 2025 | 3.00 | TBA | |||||
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The Doctor attempts to take Belinda home via an indirect route, causing them to land in Miami in 1952, where they investigate the disappearance of fifteen people at an abandoned cinema. Inside, they encounter Mr Ring-a-Ding, a cartoon character who has been possessed by Lux Imperator, the God of Light and a member of the Pantheon of Discord. Lux traps the pair inside a film reel, subjecting them to false cinematic realities as they try to escape, including one where they meet Doctor Who fans. Upon finally escaping, Lux imprisons the Doctor, hoping to steal his regeneration energy to create a body that can survive the world outside the cinema, but is defeated when Belinda convinces the theatre's owner to set the film reels alight, causing an explosion that lets sunlight pour into the cinema. Exposed in his light form, Lux expands infinitely until he becomes one with the universe and his fifteen victims return unharmed. | ||||||||||||
| 315 | 3 | "The Well" | Amanda Brotchie | Russell T Davies & Sharma Angel-Walfall | 26 April 2025 | TBD | TBA | |||||
|
The Doctor and Belinda arrive on an unknown planet 500,000 years in the future, where an expedition of troopers are investigating a mining colony who've gone silent. They discover a deaf cook named Aliss is the only person left alive, after a mysterious entity apparently emerged from the well being mined and killed the crew. The Doctor learns that the planet was formerly known as Midnight,[b] and the entity is one he encountered in his tenth incarnation. It is revealed that the entity is concealed behind Aliss, and anyone who moves directly behind her is killed. A power struggle between the troopers causes many of the crew to be killed by the entity, until the captain, Shaya, regains control. Aliss is freed when the Doctor forces the monster to see its reflection, but the entity moves behind Belinda before she can escape the colony. Shaya, intending to force the entity to transfer to her, non-fatally shoots Belinda and then dives into the well, allowing the others to escape. Back onboard the TARDIS, Belinda tells the Doctor that none of the troopers had ever heard of Earth or humanity, leaving troubling implications. Meanwhile, one of the troopers believes she sees something behind another's back. | ||||||||||||
| 316 | 4 | "Lucky Day" | Peter Hoar | Pete McTighe | 3 May 2025 | TBD | TBA | |||||
| 317 | 5 | "The Story & the Engine" | Makalla McPherson | Inua Ellams | 10 May 2025 | TBD | TBA | |||||
| 318 | 6 | "The Interstellar Song Contest" | Ben A. Williams | Juno Dawson | 17 May 2025 | TBD | TBA | |||||
| 319a | 7 | "Wish World" | Alex Sanjiv Pillai | Russell T Davies | 24 May 2025 | TBD | TBA | |||||
| 319b | 8 | "The Reality War" | Alex Sanjiv Pillai | Russell T Davies | 31 May 2025 | TBD | TBA | |||||
- Notes
Casting
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Perspective
Ncuti Gatwa confirmed that he would return for a second series in July 2023.[6] In November 2023, it was announced that Nicola Coughlan would appear as the companion in the 2024 Christmas special.[7][8] Millie Gibson was revealed to be filming for her second series in November 2023,[9] though reports emerged in January 2024 that Gibson would be leaving the show after the fourteenth series, to be replaced by Varada Sethu.[10] However, in April 2024 it was announced that Gibson and Sethu would appear concurrently throughout the series.[11][12] Subsequent promotional material foregrounded Gatwa and Sethu as the series' "TARDIS team", highlighting them as the first to consist solely of people of colour, with Gibson described as an "outgoing series regular".[13] Gibson is set to appear in the fourth and eighth episodes, "Lucky Day" and "The Reality War".[14] Sethu made a surprise appearance in the series prior in "Boom" (2024) as Mundy Flynn before her debut as the new companion. On 27 July, it was announced at San Diego Comic-Con that Sethu's character would be called Belinda Chandra.[15] It is later revealed in "The Robot Revolution" that Mundy is a descendant of Belinda.[16]
Alan Cumming guest starred in "Lux" as a cartoon character named "Mr Ring-a-Ding"; he had previously appeared in the show as King James VI in "The Witchfinders" (2018). Davies stated that only Cumming could give the character "so much wit, malice, danger and fun".[2] On 2 March, following the release of the series trailer, Rylan Clark was announced to be in the series, presenting an intergalactic song competition in "The Interstellar Song Contest",[17] a crossover with the Eurovision Song Contest which is also set to star Graham Norton.[18] Anita Dobson returns as Mrs. Flood and appears in every episode within the series.[17]
Further guest cast set to appear in the series include: Archie Panjabi as a villain;[19] Jonah Hauer-King;[9] Rose Ayling-Ellis;[20] Christopher Chung as a character called Cassio;[21] Jemma Redgrave and Bonnie Langford returning as Kate Lethbridge-Stewart and Mel Bush respectively;[17] Freddie Fox as a villain;[22] Kadiff Kirwan;[23] and Charlie Condou.[24]
Production
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Perspective
Development
Similar to the fourteenth series, the fifteenth series consists of a Christmas special to be followed by eight regular episodes, consisting of six standalone episodes and a two-part finale.[25] The synopsis of the series was officially stated to be about an "epic quest" getting Belinda back to Earth, as the TARDIS team face "wider terrors than ever before".[2]
Writing
Davies was writing the 2024 Christmas special by December 2022,[26] and the fifteenth series by June 2023.[27] By October 2023, five of the nine scripts had been completed.[28] In May 2024, former showrunner and head writer Steven Moffat confirmed that he had written the 2024 Christmas special instead, and that it was entitled "Joy to the World".[8] The episodes of the series itself were written by Davies and four other writers,[29] revealed on 27 January 2025 to be Juno Dawson, Inua Ellams, Pete McTighe, and Sharma Angel-Walfall.[30]
Filming
With filming for the previous series concluding in July 2023, crew were given a four-week turnaround before pre-production started for the next series, on 14 August.[31] Each production block was given ten weeks of prep.[32] The first readthrough was held on 17 October 2023.[33]
Principal photography began on 23 October 2023 at Bad Wolf Studios, with the 2024 Christmas special "Joy to the World" assigned to the first block, directed by Alex Sanjiv Pillai.[34][33] The second block — containing the first and fourth episodes — began filming on 14 November 2023, directed by Peter Hoar.[35][32] Hoar had previously directed the sixth series episode "A Good Man Goes to War" (2011), and had worked with Davies on It's a Sin and Nolly. Filming for the third block — containing the second and third episodes — began in January 2024, directed by Amanda Brotchie.[36][37] Location filming at Penarth Pier marked the first time that Sethu was photographed on-set as the new companion.[38] Makalla McPherson and Ben A. Williams directed further blocks, with Williams directing the sixth episode, which he described as a "very big episode", and Davies described as "epic".[39][36][40][25] The episode from Williams is themed after the Eurovision Song Contest.[41][42] Production for the series wrapped on 24 May 2024.[43]
Production blocks are set to be arranged as follows:[35][36][1]
| Block | Episode(s) | Director | Writer(s) | Producer[44] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Christmas special: "Joy to the World" | Alex Sanjiv Pillai | Steven Moffat | Alison Sterling |
| 2 | Episode 4: "Lucky Day" | Peter Hoar | Pete McTighe | Vicki Delow |
| Episode 1: "The Robot Revolution" | Russell T Davies | |||
| 3 | Episode 2: "Lux" | Amanda Brotchie | Russell T Davies | Chris May |
| Episode 3: "The Well" | Russell T Davies & Sharma Angel-Walfall | |||
| TBA | Episode 5: "The Story & the Engine" | Makalla McPherson | Inua Ellams | Vicki Delow |
| TBA | Episode 6: "The Interstellar Song Contest" | Ben A. Williams | Juno Dawson | |
| TBA | Episode 7: "Wish World" | Alex Sanjiv Pillai | Russell T Davies | Chris May |
| TBA | Episode 8: "The Reality War" |
Release
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Broadcast
On 21 February 2025, a trailer stating that the series would launch on 12 April was shown during the BBC's coverage of a Six Nations Under 20s Championship rugby match between England and Scotland.[45] The series is released in the UK on BBC iPlayer and internationally on Disney+.[28][46] The episodes are released weekly on Saturdays at 8 a.m. BST.[2] Episodes also air on the evening of their release on BBC One.[47]
The sixth episode of the series, "The Interstellar Song Contest", is scheduled to be broadcast on BBC One on 17 May, ahead of the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2025. However, if the FA Cup final, which is also scheduled to be played that afternoon, goes to extra time, the episode will not be shown on BBC One.[48]
On 29 April 2025, it was announced that the two-part finale, "Wish World" / "The Reality War", would be screened together in UK cinemas on 31 May, with the latter episode aligning with the simultaneous BBC One broadcast.[49]
Due to the terms of a deal between BBC Worldwide and SMG Pictures in China in May 2017, the company has first right of refusal on the purchase for the Chinese market of future series of the programme until and including series 15.[50][51]
Aftershow
The series is accompanied by Doctor Who: Unleashed, a behind-the-scenes companion show. Adopting a similar format to the former behind-the-scenes programme Doctor Who Confidential, Unleashed follows every new episode of Doctor Who with a 30-minute instalment on BBC Three, hosted by Steffan Powell.[52][53][54]
Home media
| Series | Story no. | Episode name | Number and duration of episodes |
R2 release date | R4 release date | R1 release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 | 312 | Doctor Who : "Joy to the World" | 1 × 55 min. | 27 January 2025 (D,B) [55] |
— | — |
In print
| Series | Story no. | Novelisation title | Author | Paperback release date[a] |
Audiobook release date[b] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 | 313 | The Robot Revolution[56] | Una McCormack | 10 July 2025[57] | 10 July 2025[58] |
| 314 | Lux[56] | James Goss | 10 July 2025[59] | 10 July 2025[60] | |
| 315 | The Well[56] | Gareth L Powell | 10 July 2025[61] | 10 July 2025[62] |
- Unabridged from BBC Audio/AudioGo unless otherwise indicated
Reception
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 100% of nine critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.7/10.[63] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the series a score of 65 out of 100, based on five critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[64]
Ratings
| No. | Title | Air date | Overnight ratings | Consolidated ratings | Total viewers (millions) | AI | Ref(s) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Viewers (millions) | Rank | Viewers (millions) | Rank | ||||||
| – | "Joy to the World" | 25 December 2024 | 4.11 | 6 | 1.8 | 6 | 5.91 | 76 | [65][4][5] |
| 1 | "The Robot Revolution" | 12 April 2025 | 2.00 | 4 | 1.57 | 21 | 3.57 | — | [66][4] |
| 2 | "Lux" | 19 April 2025 | 1.58 | 8 | 1.42 | 25 | 3.00 | — | [67][68][4] |
| 3 | "The Well" | 26 April 2025 | 1.86 | 4 | — | — | — | — | [69] |
References
External links
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