The Giggle (TV story)

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The Giggle
Novelised as:	The Giggle
Doctor:	Fourteenth Doctor
Companion(s):	Donna
Featuring:	Fifteenth Doctor, Kate
Main enemy:	The Toymaker
Main setting:	London, 2023
Key crew
Writer:	Russell T Davies
Director:	Chanya Button
Release details
Story number:	303
Number of parts:	1
Premiere broadcast:	9 December 2023
Premiere network:	BBC One
Format:	1x60 minute episode
Official trailer
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Doctor Who television stories
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The Giggle will be the third and final of the three 2023 specials of Doctor Who, broadcast on 9 December 2023 as part of the 60th anniversary celebrations.

It will see the final onscreen adventure of the Fourteenth Doctor and Donna Noble, the return of the Toymaker portrayed by Neil Patrick Harris, and the first appearance of Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor.

Synopsis

The giggle of a mysterious puppet is driving the human race insane. When the Doctor discovers the return of the terrifying Toymaker, he faces a fight he can never win.

Plot

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Cast

• The Doctor - David Tennant
• Donna Noble - Catherine Tate
• The Toymaker - Neil Patrick Harris
• Kate Lethbridge-Stewart - Jemma Redgrave
• John Logie Baird - John McKay
• Charles Banerjee - Charlie De Melo

And introducing Ncuti Gatwa as The Doctor

Uncredited cast

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Crew

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

Written by Russell T Davies	Produced by Vicki Delow	Directed by Chanya Button	Production Designer Philip Sims
Make-up Designer Steve Smith	Casting Director Andy Pryor CDG	Music Murray Gold	Costume Designer Pam Downe	Special Effects Real SFX
Original theme music by Ron Grainer

General production staff Script department Script Editor - Scott Handcock Camera and lighting department	Art department Costume department	Make-up and prosthetics General post-production staff Special and visual effects Sound

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.

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Worldbuilding

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Notes

• This story's upcoming debut was mentioned alongside the other 2023 specials in the non-fiction feature Back in Business published in Doctor Who The Official Annual 2024 on 7 September 2023.

Myths

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Filming locations

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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.

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Influences

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Continuity

• Doctor Who The Official Annual 2024 contained several works of fiction which teased some of the characters in The Giggle:
  • The short story First Day of the Doctor contained an obscured snippet of a page of the Fifteenth Doctor's diary about his first adventure with a girl called Ruby S.
  • The spot-the-difference puzzle Double Danger depicted the Doctor asking an individual for help with the then-unnamed version of the Toymaker portrayed by Neil Patrick Harris.

Home media releases

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Gallery

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