The Star Beast (TV story)

The Star Beast

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The Star Beast
Novelised as:	The Star Beast
Adapted from:	Doctor Who and the Star Beast
Script release:	online here
Doctor:	Fourteenth Doctor
Companion(s):	Donna
Featuring:	Rose, Sylvia, Shirley, Shaun, the DoctorDonna
Main enemy:	The Meep
Main setting:	London, 2023
Key crew
Writer:	Russell T Davies
Director:	Rachel Talalay
Producer:	Vicki Delow
Release details
Genre:	Science fiction
Story number:	301
Number of parts:	1
Premiere broadcast:	25 November 2023
Premiere networks:	BBC One, Disney+
Format:	1x60 minute episode
Unleashed:	The Star Beast
The Official Doctor Who Podcast:	The Star Beast
Official trailer
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Memorable moment
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Another memorable moment
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Behind the scenes video
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Doctor Who television stories
← Previous	Destination: Skaro
Next →	Wild Blue Yonder
Production order
← Previous	The Power of the Doctor
Next →	The Giggle

You may wish to consult Star Beast (disambiguation) for other, similarly-named pages.

The Star Beast was the first of the three 60th Anniversary Specials of Doctor Who, broadcast on 25 November 2023 as part of the 60th anniversary, and it was also the first episode in Russell T Davies's return as showrunner. Furthermore, this episode was an adaptation of the 1980 comic strip Doctor Who and the Star Beast ^[+]Loading...["Doctor Who and the Star Beast (comic story)"], and, as such, saw the first onscreen appearance of the popular Doctor Who Magazine antagonist the Meep.

Notably, a year after the Fourteenth Doctor's introduction in The Power of the Doctor ^[+]Loading...["The Power of the Doctor (TV story)"], and after his appearances in the post-regeneration comic story Liberation of the Daleks and the mini-episode Destination: Skaro ^[+]Loading...["Destination: Skaro (TV story)"] for Children in Need, The Star Beast marked the first full onscreen adventure starring David Tennant as the character. The Doctor is shown in this story doubting his own identity, after his recent regeneration gave him the Tenth Doctor's face and body again, the mystery and unknown reason for one of the Doctor's incarnations having the face and body of a previous incarnation became the driving force of the narrative and character arc of the Fourteenth Doctor in the trilogy of specials. The Fourteenth Doctor's sonic screwdriver is also seen for the first time onscreen, along with a new TARDIS control room.

The Star Beast also saw the return of Catherine Tate as Donna Noble, Jacqueline King as Sylvia Noble and Karl Collins as Shaun Temple, thirteen years after their last on-screen appearance in The End of Time ^[+]Loading...["The End of Time (TV story)"]. The special also marked the introduction of Yasmin Finney as Rose Noble, the daughter of Donna and Shaun.

The Star Beast is notable for resolving what had happened to Donna following her last adventure with the Tenth Doctor, with it being revealed that a portion of the Human-Time Lord Meta-Crisis that had led to the creation of the DoctorDonna had transferred from her to her child. The Star Beast not only saw Donna fully regaining her memories of the Doctor, but the end of the DoctorDonna and the release of the Meta-Crisis, now shared between two brains instead of only one.

Synopsis

A spaceship crashes in North London. Not that Donna Noble noticed; she had other things on her mind. Besides, there's no such thing as aliens — right?! But then one turns up in her garden shed: the Meep. Another — the Doctor — barges into her kitchen. By the time a squadron of Wrarth Warriors shows up on her doorstep, the Noble family must face facts: Donna's past is catching up to her. And her mind is about to be blown...

Plot

In a cold opening set in the vastness of the universe, the Fourteenth Doctor recaps the adventures he once had with Donna Noble. He notes after she had gained his memories and intelligence during their last adventure, he had to completely wipe her mind of their adventures and of the Doctor himself to save her life, as it put her in danger. Donna on the other hand can't shake the feeling that something is missing in her life, and has reoccurring dreams of events she doesn't realise are her repressed memories. However, there's one thing on the Doctor's mind right now that he can't fully figure out or understand: his face. Why has he regenerated back into a body identical to his tenth incarnation? The Doctor has only one guess: it has something to do with Donna, and maybe the last time they were together wasn't the end of their story like he originally believed.

The Doctor's TARDIS lands in London in 2023, as the Doctor ventures out and strolls down the road. He wanders into a bustle of people before seeing a woman holding a large pile of boxes, which he tries to help with. He helps her with a few and is shocked to discover she's Donna, who still doesn't remember him. Her daughter, Rose Noble, a teenage transgirl, runs up as Donna becomes distracted with her boxes, missing a spaceship crashing down not too far away. Donna and Rose head off right before Donna's husband, Shaun Temple, drives up in his taxi. The Doctor convinces Shaun to take him to the crash, and, as they drive, he pumps Shaun for information on Donna, claiming to be a friend of Nerys's.

The Doctor manages to access the crash site inside the Millson Wagner Steelworks, even as UNIT establish a perimeter around it. He isolates himself inside and begins to analyse the data from the crash as UNIT scientific advisor Shirley Bingham comes up and offers him her readings on the site. He expresses hesitancy to work with UNIT, as he doesn't fully know who he himself is at the moment. He has his old face again and he's not sure what to make of that, or of the fact that he ran into Donna almost immediately after. Soldiers come up and mention that they've found the escape pod to the wreck and are sending a team after it, prompting the Doctor to leave with them. After the Doctor leaves, UNIT manages to unlock the ship and sends a squad of soldiers to secure whatever's inside. As the door opens, tendrils of light flow out into the eyes of the soldiers, leaving them aglow as they turn and walk away.

"Sometimes I think there's something missing. Like I had something lovely, and it's gone".

Meanwhile, Rose and Donna return to their house and three boys on bikes harass Rose by mockingly deadnaming her. Donna is appalled, but Rose tells her to leave it. They come back to see Sylvia, who's cooking dinner. Donna asks Sylvia if she heard anything about the spaceship that everyone's been talking about, which Sylvia, wanting to stop Donna remembering her travels in the TARDIS, resolutely denies. Rose finds a creature as she's taking out the recycling. The creature names itself the Meep and insists that there are "monsters" after it. Rose hides the Meep in her backyard shed, though Donna stumbles in. Donna first mistakes the Meep for a stuffed toy that Rose designed, before prodding it in the eye, realizing that it's alive and panicking. The Meep tries to calm Donna down and Sylvia intervenes, insisting that the entire thing is just a hallucination. The Doctor shows up at their house after UNIT stops nearby, realising that something must have happened, unlocking the door using his sonic screwdriver. The UNIT team with glowing eyes order those who are guarding the escape pod back to the steelworks and begin to search for the Meep.

The Nobles, the Meep, the Doctor and Shaun, who came in not too long after the Doctor, discuss what to do with the Meep, with the Doctor and Sylvia insisting that he should take the Meep away. The Meep explains to them all that the Wrarth Warriors used to hunt Meeps for their fur, and, when the rest of the galaxy put a stop to the practice, they decided to kill the entire species. UNIT soldiers knock at the door, and, as the Doctor answers it, he scrolls up their visors, seeing glowing eyes. The Doctor closes the door on them right as the back entrance is smashed open by two Wrarth Warriors, the UNIT soldiers crashing through the front almost immediately after. The Doctor, the Noble family, and the Meep escape through the attics on the street using the sonic screwdriver to weaken the brick walls between them. The group drives off and stops in a car park.

"I don't need to pretend, for I am The Beep of all The Meeps!".

The Doctor dons a wig and uses his sonic screwdriver to summon two Wrarth Warriors, Zogroth and Zreeg. The Doctor notes how there was no damage done to the taxi and that the fallen UNIT soldiers weren't killed, merely unconscious. The Wrarth Warriors confirm that their weapons apply an anesthetic. They consider the tale of the Meep to be tragic, as they were a species whose sun turned psychedelic and mutated them all into maniacs bent on conquest. The Wrarth Warriors were summoned to stop their conquest. As they all fought to the death, only the Meep remains. The Doctor asks the Meep if they have anything to say in their defence. Instead, the Meep drops its friendly façade, pulls out a weapon and kills both of the Wrarth Warriors as UNIT soldiers, brainwashed by the psychedelic sun, arrive. The Doctor manages to convince the Meep that he and the Noble family are more useful as hostages than dead.

The Meep takes the group back to the steelworks and shows off the ship present there. The Doctor insists that the ship can't be used; It has a Dagger Drive, which means it gets its power for propulsion by stabbing downwards, and it would use the whole of London as fuel. The Meep laughs and orders the group taken aboard the ship. Shirley subdues the soldiers taking them aboard and frees the Doctor and the Nobles, telling him that he needs to get aboard to stop it from taking off and pointing the family towards an exit. As he runs offs, Donna decides to follow him, calling him "Doctor" despite never learning his name, cluing to Sylvia that her memories are coming back. Donna enters the ship after the Doctor, watching him as he darts around, flipping switches and buttons to prevent the take-off as best he can. The Meep lowers a screen from above, splitting the room in two, with the Doctor and Donna caught on the other side as he still tries his best to stop it. Time runs out as the Meep activates the Dagger Drive.

"Too much power for one person, but you had a child, and the metacrisis passed down. A shared inheritance".

The Doctor explains to Donna that time's run out, and that there's only one chance left. Donna insists that he needs to do it, even when he says it would kill her, because it will save her daughter, and the lives of everyone else in London. The Doctor lowers the mental block she has in her head and regeneration energy spills out of her. In a flurry of technobabble, the two set to work on dismantling the ship. The drive fails, and Donna collapses. Soldiers of the Meep storm in to kill the Doctor, but the light drains out of their eyes, and Donna gets back up. Rose, having absorbed aspects of the Doctor's mind when she was born that were unlocked when the mental block fell away, turns off the psychedelic sun emitters.

The Wrarth Warriors show up to arrest the Meep and imprison them for ten thousand years, but, as they part, the Meep teases the Doctor that two hearted species are so rare - someone called "the Boss" will be told about him. The Doctor brushes the threat aside, returning to the issue of Rose and Donna having too much knowledge for any human, it was slowed down but not stopped. Rose and Donna acknowledge this, but say that there's just another way, one men would never understand. They decide to just let the power go.

As he returns to his TARDIS, the Doctor suggests to Donna that they take one last trip to see Wilfred Mott. They enter a fully revamped TARDIS interior that the two of them spend some time goggling over, complete with a coffee machine. The Doctor offers Donna a coffee. She joyfully accepts, but accidently spills it on the TARDIS console, causing it to burst into flames and the TARDIS to take off. The Doctor tells Donna they could end up anywhere in time and space.

Cast

• The Doctor - David Tennant
• Donna Noble - Catherine Tate
• Rose Noble - Yasmin Finney
• Shaun Temple - Karl Collins
• BBC Reporter - Matt Green
• Colonel Chan - Jamie Cho
• Shirley Bingham - Ruth Madeley
• Lad - Harley McEvilly
• Lad - Max Fincham
• Sylvia Noble - Jacqueline King
• Fudge Merchandani - Dara Lall
• The Meep - Cecily Fay
• Meep Animatronics - Brian Herring, Phill Woodfine
• Wrarth Warrior 1 - Robert Strange
• Wrarth Warrior 2 - Stephen Love
• Wrarth Warrior 3 - Jordan Benjamin
• Wrarth Warrior 4 - Vassili Psaltopoulos
• Soldier - Isabella Carey
• Major Singh - Ronak Patani
• Voice of Zogroth - Ned Porteous
• Voice of Zreeg - John Hopkinson
• Chief Technician - Anna Martine Freeman
• Sergeant - Archie Backhouse
• Voice of the Meep - Miriam Margolyes

Uncredited cast

to be added

Crew

Executive Producers   Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner and Jane Tranter with Joel Collins and Phil Collinson

Written by Russell T Davies story by Pat Mills and Dave Gibbons	Produced by Vicki Delow	Directed by Rachel Talalay	Director of Photography Matt Gray BSC	Production Designer Phil Sims	Visual Effects Untold Studios
Make-up Designer Claire Williams	Casting Director Andy Pryor CDG	Music Murray Gold	Costume Designer Pam Downe	Edited by Will Oswald	Special Effects Real SFX
Original theme music by Ron Grainer  •  Title sequence by Painting Practice & Realtime Visualisation  Music orchestrated & conducted by Alastair King  •  Music mixed by Jake Jackson  •  Music performed by BBC National Orchestra of Wales  The Meep & The Wrarth created by Pat Mills and Dave Gibbons

General production staff Head of Production - Alex Protherough Executive Producer for the BBC - Rebecca Ferguson Production Executive - Steffan Morris Co-producer - Ellen Marsh Line Producer - Mark Devlin Production Manager - Delmi Thomas Supervising Location Manager - Iwan Roberts Location Managers - Daniel Wellstead, Hollie Voice Assistant Location Manager - Alex Moore Location Assistant - Shuaib Said Unit Managers - Kyle Yates, Paul Milligan Assistant Unit Manager - Tom Chalkley Production Co-ordinator - Sandra Cosfeld Assistant Production Co-ordinator - Liam Hobbs Production Secretaries - Florence Trott, Chris Harkus Production Office Runners - Danilo Van-Der Nguyen, Lisa Elena Williams Unit Drivers - Paul Watkins, Jolyon Davey, Steve Darwent, Richard Hunt 1st Assistant Accountant - Greg Robinson Covid Coordinator - Leah Corcoran Covid Assistant - Ilona Tigere Script department Script Editor - Scott Handcock Camera and lighting department 1st Assistant Director - Scott Bates 2nd Assistant Director - Lauren Pate 3rd Assistant Director - Jennifer Day Floor Runners - Jac Lewis, George Cheetham, Helen Langford Script Supervisor - Lucy Dews Camera Operator - Martin Stephens Camera Trainees - Elesha Pederson, Kudzai Dzokamushure Focus Pullers - Martin Payne, Jonathan Vidgen Key Grip - Bobby Williams Grip - Ken Hodgson Clapper Loaders - Sophie Hardcastle, Sarah Macleod Lighting Gaffer - Paul Jarvis Rigging Gaffer - Pete Chester Best Boy - Chris Kiley Electricians - Scott Smallwood, Andrew Truckle, Andy Green, Sion Davies	Art department Supervising Art Director - Robyn Paiba Art Directors - Jon Horsham, Kartik Kundan Nagar Assistant Art Director - Hakan Yoruk Art Department Assistant - Sam Hanson Art Department Co-ordinator - Jason Davies-Redgrave Production Buyer - Helen O'Leary Assistant Buyer - Taymar Lee Petty Cash Buyer - Billie Blue Williams Set Decorator - Kate Guyan Action Props Buyer - Tara Lily Johnston Storyboard Artists - Mike Collins, Adam Pescott Concept Artist - Nandor Moldovan Graphic Designer - Stephen Fielding Standby Props - Phill Bull, Jonathan Barclay Standby Carpenter - Will Pope Prop Hands - Declan Petryna, Atiff Tahir, Calvin Evans, Ingo Hans, John Thomas, Joseph Craig, Ieuan Parker Standby Art Director - Ifan Lewis Lewis Rigging - Shadow Scaffolding Standby Riggers - Alex Herbert, Michael Boulton Standby Painter - Jessie Thomas Storeman - Charlie Malik Prop Master - Nick Thomas Props Chargehand - Stuart Rankmore Construction Manager - Brian Jones Practical Electrician - Phillip Jones Graphics Assistant - Aled Llyr Griffiths Draughtsperson - Matt Sanders Costume department Costume Supervisor - Laura Baker Assistant Costume Designer - Ros Marshall Costume Trainee - Lizzie Doody	Make-up and prosthetics Movement Stunt Co-ordinator - Derek Lea Stunt Performers - Ben Ashley, Elizabeth Donker Curtius, Gary Grundy, Gary Hoptrough, George Harris, George Surrey, Jack Jagodka, Jake Osborn, James Grogan, Joel Conlan, Kim McGarrity, Marlow Warrington-Mattei, Matt Sherren, Paul Bailey, Renato Gjini, Rob Jarman Casting Casting Associate - Ri McDaid-Wren Casting Assistant - Ray Böhm General post-production staff Post-production Producer - Ceres Doyle Post-production Supervisor - Liv Duffin On-line Editors - Christine Kelly, Geraint Pari Huws Special and visual effects VFX Producer - Will Cohen VFX Editor - Matt Nathan VFX Co-ordinators - Siân Reynish, Livvy Edwards VFX Assistant - Sarah-Hoor Aboubakar SFX Supervisor - Danny Hargreaves Colourist - Gareth Spensley Sound Sound Recordist - Alex Thompson Dubbing Mixer - Paul McFadden Sound Designer - Rob Ireland Foley Editor - Nathan Palmer Foley Artist - Gareth Rhys Jones Audio Post-production - Bang Post Production

Not every person who worked on this adventure was credited. The absence of a credit for a position doesn't necessarily mean the job wasn't required. The information above is based solely on observations of the actual end credits of the episodes as broadcast, and does not relay information from IMDB or other sources.

Worldbuilding

• Rose points out that the Doctor assumes the Meep's pronouns, bringing up gender identity.
• A UNIT soldier confirms Red Perimeter and commanded to engage Protocols 5 and 50.
• TCP is used to clean the Meep's injury.
• The Doctor invokes the Shadow Proclamation Protocols 15, P and 6.
• Donna thinks her family could have moved to Monte Carlo or Switzerland if she hadn't given away her lottery money.

London

• Meat Point and Cyberdog are businesses located in Camden Market.
• As Shaun drives the Doctor out of Camden Market, they pass branches of AllSaints and Hob Salons. There is also a sign for an ATM.
• According to Rose, London has a population of nine million people.
• UNIT has a new headquarters in the City of London, which is a skyscraper higher than the towers in the immediate area such as the Gherkin and 122 Leadenhall Street, and has a helipad.

The Doctor

• The Doctor's psychic paper takes time to properly reflect the Doctor's gender in titles, as the change is still recent. When the Doctor attempts the title "Master of Grand Knowledge", it says "Mistress" instead.
• The Doctor mentions that, after being "the one in the skinny suit", he was "wear[ing] a bowtie", and then was "a Scotsman" and then "a woman".
• The Doctor once found himself on Mars with Geoffrey Chaucer and a robot shark.

The Doctor's sonic screwdriver

• The Doctor creates a holographic screen to analyse data about the Meep's ship. He adjusts the dials at the base of the screwdriver to begin the scan.
• The Doctor also creates mobile force fields to protect himself, the Meep and the Noble family from both energy and projectile weapon fire.
• The Doctor uses the sonic screwdriver to resonate mortar and dislodge bricks to create holes in the walls between the attics of several houses.

Noble family

• A woman "obsessed with gonks" who resides in Abu Dhabi is a frequent customer to Rose's toy business.
• Rose was born under the deadname of Jason. She named herself after Rose Tyler due to the subconscious memories that she got from the DoctorDonna.
• Rose's toy designs are based on Daleks, Weapons-grade Cybermen, Judoon, Ood, Lupari, Adipose, the Beast, Racnoss and the Face of Boe.
• Sylvia was cooking a tuna madras for dinner when Shaun returned to his family house.
• A photo of Geoff Noble at Donna Noble and Lance Bennett's wedding rests on the mantlepiece in the Nobles' living room.
• Wilfred Mott, due to being 94-years-old and unable to use the stairs in their home, is staying in a cottage as "sheltered accommodation". UNIT covers most of the expenses, as Kate Stewart said she would look after the "old soldier".
• According to Donna, Rose can't act, as she warns the Doctor against attending her school plays, as she doesn't know how to tell her.

The Meep's ship

• The Doctor names the Meep's ship the Delusions of Grandeur, due to the Meep calling it "far beyond [humans'] tiny, grasping minds."
• The ship uses Dagger Drive, that gets its energy by stabbing down.
• Before launching the Dagger Drive, initialisers are activated, gravity stanchions are brandished and the flight deck is calibrated.
• As the Doctor was trying to prevent the Drive from starting, the Meep commands to maximise petrolinks and combustible hyperlines.
• After the computer estimates the star-launch time as five minutes, the Meep commands primary ignition signature to be installed and deadlock to be sealed as well the maxifold, where the Doctor and Donna are, to be bisected.
• As Donna receives all her memories back, she tripledrives the particle manifesto, oversteps the umbilical feed, vindicates the cyberline and roasts the hyperfeeds. The Doctor then maximises the stressfold links, while Donna channels up the booster drive. After that they inculcate the plexidrones and shatterfry the positrons. By doing so, they reversed the ignition.
• Rose shuts down every psychedelic lightwave emanator and transferred any excess power to the brokendrone pre-fixilators after the Meta-Crisis awakens in her.
• The Meep threatens to explode the engines of the Meep's ship to rupture Earth and damn everyone to Hell.

Cultural references

• Donna snidely refers to the Meep as "Mad Paddington" and selling them for one million quid.
• Donna also sarcastically calls Shaun "Bob the Builder" after he corrects the Doctor on the wall being mortar instead of concrete.
• After thinking that the Meep was a toy that Rose recently made, an impressed Donna said that she could go on the Sewing Bee.
• Various items are seen around the Nobles' home: in their living room, there is a PlayStation 5 controller on the table and a magazine beginning with "TV & Sa-" on one of the sofas, and, in the kitchen, there is a toy spork. The magazine's cover references several networks at its top: Netflix, Prime Video, Now, BBC iPlayer, and Disney+. It also features the presenters Holly Willoughby and Freddie Flintoff from The Game, and actress Claire Danes from The Essex Serpent.

Story notes

• The Star Beast aired one year, one month, and two days after The Power of the Doctor ^[+]Loading...["The Power of the Doctor (TV story)"], marking the longest gap between two consecutive stories since the show's return to television in 2005. It was also the first episode to air on Disney+ internationally. The Disney logo also appeared in the endboard.
• The first draft of the script had the Meep revealed as the villain much earlier in the story, as revealed by Russell T Davies in The Official Doctor Who Podcast.
• The title card includes a credit for Pat Mills and Dave Gibbons as the writers of the comic story The Star Beast was based on.
• The Star Beast marked the first time since the TV Movie that the executive producers had been credited straight after the title sequence.
• "The Doctor's Theme" is briefly heard when the Doctor uses his screwdriver. Likewise, a variation of "I Am The Doctor" is heard in this episode.
• The middle 8 returned to the end credits, last heard in Survivors of the Flux ^[+]Loading...["Survivors of the Flux (TV story)"].
• The German and Latin American Spanish dub credits of The Star Beast on Disney+ credit Gerrit Hamann and Óscar Flores respectively as "Der 10. Doktor" (the Tenth Doctor) rather than the Fourteenth Doctor.
• An in-vision commentary was released on BBC iPlayer immediately after The Star Beast, which featured David Tennant, Phil Collinson, and Vicki Delow. It was recorded on 19th April 2023, according to Georgia Tennant's Instagram post, in which Tennant talks about Russell T Davies possibly not being able to do it the next day.
• The Doctor running around the new TARDIS interior wasn't in the script; Rachel Talalay proposed the idea on set.
• This episode's premiere broadcast was mentioned alongside the other 60th Anniversary Specials in the non-fiction feature Back in Business published in Doctor Who The Official Annual 2024 on 7 September 2023.
• Rachel Talalay had no involvement with filming the pre-titles, elaborating that the scenes with Donna in the kitchen were "outtakes".
• The Star Beast marked the third time a new version of a previously retired series logo was used on screen, following Doctor Who ^[+]Loading...["Doctor Who (TV story)"] and The Day of the Doctor ^[+]Loading...["The Day of the Doctor (TV story)"], and the first time said logo was used for more than one episode.

Comparison with comic version

Doctor Who and the Star Beast is also a comic strip story by Pat Mills and John Wagner, which featured the Fourth Doctor meeting Sharon Davies after she had been tricked by Beep the Meep, with The Star Beast featuring the Fourteenth Doctor meeting Rose Noble during a reunion with Donna Noble that involves Rose being tricked by the Meep. However, while spirit of the original story remains intact, several changes are made to accommodate the change in location and time period, as well as the characters returning from previous television stories.

• To accommodate the runtime of a broadcasted episode, some story points are redacted and condensed, such as the Wrarth Warriors implanting a bomb in the Doctor's stomach, them confusing him for Beep's accomplice, and the Doctor retrieving a companion from space.
• While the comic story was set in Blackcastle during 1980, the television story is given a contemporary setting of 2023 and relocated to the city of London.
• Fudge Higgins, who was prominent character in the comic story, is replaced by Fudge Merchandani, who only shows up in a few scenes and is otherwise uninvolved in the crux of the story. K9 Mark II is removed from the plot entirely, while UNIT and the Noble family replace the army and Mrs Higgins, respectively.
• Due to being a television story, the Meep's inner-dialogue from the comic is removed entirely, thus the Meep's sinister nature is revealed at the same time as when the characters' find out. In a further deviation from the comic story, Wrarth Warriors Zreeg and Zogroth are killed when the Meep is revealed as a criminal, whereas they lived to arrest Beep in the comic.
• While Beep only starts speaking English once the Doctor arrives in the comics, the television story has the Meep speak English from his initial meeting with Rose. The Meep also has an injured paw when meeting Rose in an alley, whereas Beep is found bleeding from the side in a shed by Sharon and Fudge in the comic story.
• The Doctor gets the Meep away from the Wrarth Warriors in a taxi instead of a local bus.
• Rather than over a cup of tea at a kitchen table, the Wrarth Warriors explain the Meep's villainous nature in a mock trial in a car park.
• The cause of the Meeps' turn to evil is stated to be their sentient Sun turning psychedelic, whereas it was due to the radiation of the Black Sun in the comic story.
• The Meep's ship uses a dagger drive for propulsion, whereas the comic story uses a Black Sun drive, which Beep intends to use for a star jump that would create a black hole on Earth.
• Donna and Rose reverse the dagger drive entirely, stranding the Meep on Earth, whereas the comic story has the Doctor letting Beep initiate the star jump after he sabotages it so the action does not destroy Earth and only moves the ship into Earth's orbit.
• The Meep is sentenced to 10000 years rather than 3000.
• The Meep taunts the Doctor as they are taken into custody, rather than trying to beg for mercy and promising to be good as Beep does to Sharon. Additionally, the Meep cryptically tells the Doctor they will tell "The Boss" about him, whereas the comic depected Beep working alone.

Comparison between BBC and Disney+ versions

There are slight differences between the version broadcast on BBC One and the one shown on Disney+:

• The Whoniverse ident was shown at the beginning of the episode on the BBC version. However, on the Disney+ version, the BBC ident was shown.
• The Disney ident was shown at the end of the episode on the Disney+ version.
• The Executive Producers' credits were shown after the title sequence in the BBC version, however, they were shown in the end credits in the Disney+ version.
• In the end board for the BBC version, the Bad Wolf logo was shown on the left and the BBC Studios Productions logo on the right. In the Disney+ version, they were switched.
• For the DVD release of this episode, it is shown in its Disney+ form, minus the Disney ident at the end and the BBC ident at the beginning.

Myths

to be added

Filming locations

to be added

Ratings

• 5.01 million (UK overnight)
• 7.61 million (Consolidated)

Production errors

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.

• Two of the Ns in David Tennant's credit in the opening titles do not appear in the first frame that they should be visible, and Catherine Tate's credit is partially visible through the TARDIS as it passes by. This error persists across all three of the 60th Anniversary Specials.
• In the shot of the UNIT HQ, the Leadenhall Building can be seen, despite this being the site of the UNIT HQ in The Power of the Doctor ^[+]Loading...["The Power of the Doctor (TV story)"]. The onscreen geography also places the new UNIT HQ in the middle of Leadenhall Street.

Continuity

• The Redacted ^[+]Loading...["Redacted (audio series)"] audio drama AUDIO: Redemption ^[+]Loading...["Redemption (audio story)"] leads directly into The Star Beast, as the characters Cleo Proctor and Apex Costa watch the Meep's star cruiser fly through the skies of Camden Town.
• Doctor Who The Official Annual 2024 contained several works of fiction which teased some of the characters in The Star Beast:
  • The short story PROSE: We Are Family ^[+]Loading...["We Are Family (short story)"] hinted towards the reunion of the Nobles and the Doctor, and Rose meeting the Meep.
• The Doctor adjusts dials on the screwdriver after creating the holographic screen in the steelworks. PROSE: Super Sonic ^[+]Loading...["Super Sonic (feature)"] named these the frequency and intensity dials.
• A fourth wall breaking introduction was previously used in TV: Before the Flood ^[+]Loading...["Before the Flood (TV story)"] to explain the nature and workings of a bootstrap paradox.
• In the introduction recapping Donna's adventures with the Tenth Doctor, clips include the Doctor and Donna leaving the Library in TV: Forest of the Dead ^[+]Loading...["Forest of the Dead (TV story)"], the Empress of the Racnoss snarling during TV: The Runaway Bride ^[+]Loading...["The Runaway Bride (TV story)"], Donna flying the TARDIS in TV: The Sontaran Stratagem ^[+]Loading...["The Sontaran Stratagem (TV story)"], the Shadow Proclamation headquarters from TV: The Stolen Earth ^[+]Loading...["The Stolen Earth (TV story)"], Donna absorbing the regeneration energy from the Tenth Doctor's hand during TV: Journey's End ^[+]Loading...["Journey's End (TV story)"], Donna's wedding to Shaun Temple in TV: The End of Time ^[+]Loading...["The End of Time (TV story)"], Arnold Golightly in his Vespiform body attacking Donna during The Unicorn and the Wasp ^[+]Loading...["The Unicorn and the Wasp (TV story)"], a Pyrovile roaring during TV: The Fires of Pompeii ^[+]Loading...["The Fires of Pompeii (TV story)"], the Adipose nursery ship flying during TV: Partners in Crime ^[+]Loading...["Partners in Crime (TV story)"]. Clips of a Dalek, Sontaran General Staal and the Vashta Nerada also appear, as well as footage of Rose Noble taken from TV: The Giggle ^[+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"].
• Donna complains about about a man with goatee who "looked like he'd been stuck in a drainpipe", an apparent allusion to the Master getting repeatedly stuck in the sewers of Castle Tersurus during TV: The Curse of Fatal Death ^[+]Loading...["The Curse of Fatal Death (TV story)"]
• Donna continues her habit of managing to miss alien events, as noted in TV: The Runaway Bride ^[+]Loading...["The Runaway Bride"] and The End of Time ^[+]Loading...["The End of Time (TV story)"], when focussing on sorting her shopping rather than paying attention to the falling spaceship.
• The psychic paper needs to "catch up" to the Doctor regenerating from a "mistress" to a "master", echoing similar slip ups the Thirteenth Doctor had with her gender identity in TV: The Ghost Monument ^[+]Loading...["The Ghost Monument (TV story)"] and TV: Spyfall ^[+]Loading...["Spyfall (TV story)"].
• Donna is still acquainted with Nerys, who first appeared in TV: The Runaway Bride ^[+]Loading...["The Runaway Bride (TV story)"], and Susie Mair, who was mentioned in TV: Journey's End ^[+]Loading...["Journey's End (TV story)"].
• Shaun reveals Donna kept her maiden name after their marriage, because she thought "Noble-Temple" sounded "like an old ruin". The Tenth Doctor similarly compared the surname to a "tourists' spot" in TV: The End of Time ^[+]Loading...["The End of Time (TV story)"].
• The fate of the lottery ticket gifted by the Doctor at Donna Noble and Shaun Temple's wedding in TV: The End of Time ^[+]Loading...["The End of Time (TV story)"] is discussed.
• The Fourteenth Doctor has a new sonic screwdriver; COMIC: Liberation of the Daleks ^[+]Loading...["Liberation of the Daleks (comic story)"] depicted the circumstances in which the old sonic screwdriver got destroyed.
• The Doctor recalls that he was UNIT's first scientific advisor, a job the Third Doctor received in TV: Spearhead from Space ^[+]Loading...["Spearhead from Space (TV story)"].
• The Fourteenth Doctor gets slapped by Sylvia when she tries to stop Donna seeing his face. He alludes to Jackie Tyler slapping the Ninth Doctor in TV: Aliens of London ^[+]Loading...["Aliens of London (TV story)"] and Francine Jones smacking the Tenth Doctor during the TV: The Lazarus Experiment ^[+]Loading...["The Lazarus Experiment (TV story)"].
• Donna has a photo of her with her father, Geoff Noble, from her wedding to Lance Bennett in TV: The Runaway Bride ^[+]Loading...["The Runaway Bride (TV story)"].
• The Doctor relates to the Meep identifying as "the definite article", which is also how the Fourth Doctor compared himself in comparison to a doctor in TV: Robot ^[+]Loading...["Robot (TV story)"].
• The Doctor says the sonic screwdriver is good at "resonating concrete", a call-back to the Ninth Doctor trying to resonate a concrete wall to escape a room in TV: The Doctor Dances ^[+]Loading...["The Doctor Dances (TV story)"].
• The Doctor takes out a barrister's wig from his pocket to conduct a trial, much like the Fourth Doctor did during his trial in TV: The Stones of Blood ^[+]Loading...["The Stones of Blood (TV story)"].
• Donna and the Doctor get separated by a glass wall in a similar manner to the Tenth Doctor and Wilfred Mott when Wilf became trapped in a radiation chamber in TV: The End of Time ^[+]Loading...["The End of Time (TV story)"].
• The last three words that the Doctor uses to reactivate the DoctorDonna are, "Binary, binary, binary", a reference to the first word Donna fumbled over in TV: Journey's End ^[+]Loading...["Journey's End (TV story)"] as her mind started to overload.
• Donna recognises that Rose based some of her toy designs on the aliens she met when traveling with the Doctor; Donna had encountered Adipose in TV: Partners in Crime ^[+]Loading...["Partners in Crime (TV story)"], the Ood in TV: Planet of the Ood ^[+]Loading...["Planet of the Ood (TV story)"] and both the Daleks and Judoon in TV: The Stolen Earth ^[+]Loading...["The Stolen Earth (TV story)"].
• Donna once again complains about the TARDIS being "nippy", as she did in TV: Partners in Crime ^[+]Loading...["Partners in Crime (TV story)"]
• Donna spilling coffee on the TARDIS console produces a similar reaction to when Iris Wildthyme spilt gin on her own TARDIS's console in AUDIO: Iris Wildthyme and the Panda Invasion ^[+]Loading...["Iris Wildthyme and the Panda Invasion (audio story)"].

Home media releases

DVD and Blu-Ray

This story was released on DVD and Blu-Ray in the United Kingdom on 18 December 2023, along with Wild Blue Yonder ^[+]Loading...["Wild Blue Yonder (TV story)"] and The Giggle ^[+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"]. The Bluray release is encoded to Region B, atypical of BBC releases which usually do not have any kind of region encoding on the disc.

Contents:

• Rachel Talalay's Scene Breakdown
• Chanya Button's Scene Breakdown
• Tom Kingsley's Scene Breakdown
• The Star Beast Behind The Scenes
• The Fourteenth Doctor Reveal
• Wild Blue Yonder Behind The Scenes
• The Giggle Behind The Scenes
• The Giggle In-vision Commentary
• The Star Beast In-vision Commentary
• David and Catherine's Flashbacks
• Yasmin Finney Introduces Rose Noble
• Designing the Fourteenth Doctor
• Set Tour with Yasmin Finney
• The Star Beast - Behind The Scenes Trailer
• Wild Blue Yonder - Behind The Scenes Trailer
• The Giggle - Behind The Scenes Trailer
• The Cast Introduce the Villains in 'Wild Blue Yonder'
• Behind The Scenes Fun with David and Catherine
• Video Diary with David Tennant's Stand-in
• TARDIS Set Tour with David Tennant and Phil Sims
• Ruth Madeley Introduces Shirley Bingham
• Neil Patrick Harris Introduces the Toymaker
• Becoming the Toymaker
• 60th Specials Recap with David Tennant

• 

  UK DVD cover

• 

  UK Blu-ray cover

• 

  UK steelbook cover

Digital releases

This story is available on BBC iPlayer in the United Kingdom, in Ultra High-Def (4K). It is also available on Disney+ in other territories.

Gallery

Promotional material

Promotional pictures

• 

  Promotional image by Butcher Billy.

External links

• Official The Star Beast page on the Doctor Who website