The Power of the Doctor (TV story)

The Power of the Doctor
Script release:	online here
Doctor:	Thirteenth Doctor
Companion(s):	Yaz
Featuring:	Ace, Tegan, Kate, Vinder, Graham, Dan, Alexandra, Nicholas, Ian, Jo, Mel, Fourteenth Doctor
Main enemy:	The Spy Master
Main setting:	London, 2022 St Petersburg 1916
Key crew
Writer:	Chris Chibnall
Director:	Jamie Magnus Stone
Producer:	Nikki Wilson
Release details
Story number:	299
Number of parts:	1
Premiere broadcast:	23 October 2022
Premiere network:	BBC One
Format:	1x90 minute episode
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The Power of the Doctor was the 2022 Doctor Who Centenary Special, broadcast as part of the BBC 100 celebrations. Marking the end of Jodie Whittaker's tenure as the Thirteenth Doctor, this was also the final entry to be penned by Chris Chibnall as showrunner. It saw the return of the Spy Master and Ashad, following their apparent demise at the end of The Timeless Children, and marked the first time the Master, the Cybermen and the Daleks all worked together onscreen.

Several past Doctor Who companions returned for the special, most prominently Janet Fielding as Tegan Jovanka, Sophie Aldred as Ace, and Bradley Walsh as Graham O'Brien. Appearing in cameo roles were Bonnie Langford and Katy Manning as Melanie Bush and Jo Jones, with Langford returning to the television series for the first time since her exit in Dragonfire, and Manning returning to for the first time since her character's last appearance in The Sarah Jane Adventures story Death of the Doctor. Notably, joining Langford and Manning in a cameo role was William Russell as Ian Chesterton, marking the character's first onscreen appearance in the television series since The Chase in 1965, which Guinness World Records marked as the longest gap between appearances of a character still played by their actor.

Also returning in mental manifestations of the Doctor’s consciousness were David Bradley, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann, all reprising their roles as their respective Doctors, and Jo Martin as the Fugitive Doctor.

The story notably marked the first onscreen retro-regeneration, after the Master taking over the Doctor's existence with his own regeneration, something he failed to do before to the Eighth Doctor, with this brief possession being the first forced regeneration since The War Games and causing the possessed Doctor to take on the Master's appearance. With the Master using the name of the Doctor, this technically makes Sacha Dhawan the first actor to have portrayed both the Master and the Doctor onscreen in the same story. The special also marked the second time the Doctor was seen to regenerate more than once within the same television story, following Twice Upon a Time, if one was to count the Timeless Child as a different entity from the Doctor, who underwent no less than six regenerations in The Timeless Children.

In a twist, the special introduced Tenth Doctor actor David Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor in its closing moments, marking the first time on-screen that the Doctor regenerated into a different incarnation with the same appearance as a previous one, after such a phenomena was forshadowed by the Curator in The Day of the Doctor.

Synopsis

Famous paintings have been mysteriously defaced around Earth, seismologists have gone missing, there is strange activity occurring in volcanoes and across the stars a bullet train is pursued by CyberMasters. The Doctor doesn't understand how it all connects. All she has is a message from an old enemy - "this is the day you die"...

Plot

The Doctor and her companions rescue a space-going bullet train from a Cyberman attack, but Dan is nearly killed during the escapade. The Cybermen manage to escpe with the train's cargo, which seems to be a young human child. Having developed a sense of his own mortality, Dan parts ways with the Doctor in order to get back to living his life. A renegade Dalek contacts the Doctor, claiming to have decided the Daleks need to be destroyed due to them being a perversion of the Kaled race. It offers information about a plot to destroy humanity, promising to communicate a time and location. Kate Stewart also contacts the Doctor and informs her that various pieces of famous artwork have been defaced with the Master's visage and several seismologists abducted.

After briefly reuniting with former companions Tegan Jovanka and Ace McShane, the Doctor confronts the Master and learns he and his CyberMasters have teamed up with the Daleks and enslaved the child the Cybermen captured, who is in reality an energy being called the Qurunx, to end humanity by setting off eruptions from all volcanoes on Earth simultaneously. The Doctor meets the renegade Dalek, but discovers it had been allowed to contact her in order to lure her out, leaving the Daleks including their commander to kill the traitor and capture her.

The Master is arrested by UNIT, but reveals he sent a miniaturised Ashad to Tegan, pretending to be the Doctor. The miniaturised Ashad enlarges and acts as a portal to bring a fleet of Cybermen into UNIT HQ, freeing the Master. The Daleks take the Doctor to 1916 and hand her to the Master, who uses Gallifreyan technology to force her to regenerate into him. An AI program the Doctor created, taking the images of the Fifth, Seventh, Fugitive, and Thirteenth Doctors, leads Ace to meet with fellow former companion Graham O'Brien and destroy the Dalek volcano machine, Tegan to destroy the Cyberman converter created in UNIT HQ and destroy the CyberMasters before they convert Kate, and Yaz and previous ally Vinder to capture the Master and force him to undo the Doctor's transformation. Defeated, the Master mortally wounds the Doctor with the Qurunx' energy beam, causing her to begin her regeneration.

The Doctor takes Yaz home. Yaz meets with a group of former companions including Graham, Dan, Ace, Tegan, Ian Chesterton, Jo Jones, and Melanie Bush. The Doctor finds a cliff to regenerate upon. She says a fond farewell to her current self before saying to her next self “Tag, you’re it” and regenerates into her next incarnation. After the explosive regeneration finishes, resulting in a male incarnation once again and also a change in his clothes, the Fourteenth Doctor immediately realises something isn't right. By checking his teeth, he realises out loud in a very familiar voice and accent that he actually he knows the feeling of his new teeth. Alarmed by this, the newly regenerated Doctor begins to examine his new body. Recognising his new hands before noticing his predecessor's clothing has also completely been altered by the regeneration, the Doctor feels the shape of his new face and discovers to his shock that he has regenerated into a body virtually identical to his tenth incarnation. The new Doctor — or should that be the old Doctor? — can only exclaim in amazement and utter confusion "What? What? What!?"

Cast

• The Doctor - Jodie Whittaker, David Bradley, Colin Baker, Peter Davison, Paul McGann, Sylvester McCoy, Jo Martin

And Introducing David Tennant as The Doctor

• Yaz - Mandip Gill
• The Master - Sacha Dhawan
• Dan - John Bishop
• Ace - Sophie Aldred
• Tegan - Janet Fielding
• Kate Stewart - Jemma Redgrave
• Vinder - Jacob Anderson
• Graham - Bradley Walsh
• Ashad - Patrick O'Kane
• Deputy Marshal Arnhost - Joe Sims
• Train Marshal Halaz - Sanchia McCormack
• Curator - Danielle Bjelic
• Alexandra - Anna Andresen
• Nicholas - Richard Dempsey
• Messenger - Jos Slovick
• Voice of the Daleks & Cybermen - Nicholas Briggs
• Dalek Operators - Barnaby Edwards, Nicholas Pegg
• Cybermen - Simon Carew, Jon Davey, Chester Durrant, Mickey Lewis, Felix Young, Richard Price, Andrew Cross, Matt Doman
• Melanie Bush - Bonnie Langford
• Jo Jones - Katy Manning
• Ian Chesterton - William Russell

Uncredited cast

• Qurunx - Neo-Rae Gardener

Crew

Executive Producers   Chris Chibnall and Matt Strevens

Co-executive producer   Nikki Wilson

Written by Chris Chibnall	Directed by Jamie Magnus Stone	Director of Photography Robin Whenary	Production Designer Dafydd Shurmer	Visual Effects DNEG
Make-up Designer Emma Cowen	Casting Director Andy Pryor CDG	Music Segun Akinola	Costume Design & Creature Design Ray Holman	Edited by Rebecca Trotman and Adam Green	Special Effects Real SFX
Original theme music by Ron Grainer  •  Title sequence by Ben Pickles  Music conducted by Alastair King  •  Orchestrated by Alec Roberts  •  Recorded by Olga FitzRoy  •  Mixed by Goetz Botzenhardt  •  Music performed by The Chamber Orchestra of London  •  Guitar played by Adam Goldsmith  •  Solo vocals by Hollie Buhagiar  •  Special thanks to: Annetta Laufer  Cybermen created by Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis  •  Daleks created by Terry Nation

General production staff Head of Production - Charlotte Bloxham Executive Producer for the BBC - Ben Irving Production Executive - Tracie Simpson Line Producer - Steffan Morris Associate Producer - Sheena Bucktowonsing Production Manager - Delmi Thomas Supervising Location Manager - Iwan Roberts Location Manager - Gareth Roberts Location Assistant - Tom Chalkley Unit Manager - Kyle Yates Production Co-ordinator - Sandra Cosfeld Assistant Production Co-ordinator - Ellie Simmons Production Secretary - Sam Milletti Executive Assistant - Caroline Cook Production Office Runners - Ellie Hilton, Will Gorst Unit Drivers - Paul Watkins, Jolyon Davey, Steve Darwent Unit Medics - Glyn Evans, Andy Jones Business Affairs - Elaine Evans, Kyle Parsons, Steve Robson Production Accountant - Rhys Evans Assistant Accountants - Marta Toczko, Elise Betts Cast Payroll Accountant - Kate Barber-Williams Contracts Booker - Leanne Bowcott Crew Payroll Accountant - Bethan Wray Covid Assistants - Joseph Fletcher, Lloyd Di Mauro, Andrew Creak Covid Testing Schedulers - Etty Stanley, Leila Arada, Eva Wakeford Script department Script Editors - Caroline Buckley, Rebecca Roughan Camera and lighting department 1st Assistant Director - Christopher J Thomas 2nd Assistant Director - Lauren Pate 3rd Assistant Director - Jennifer Day Assistant Directors - Jac Lewis, Laura Thompson, Tom May Script Supervisor - Nicki Coles Camera Operator - Mark McQuoid ACO Camera Trainees - Adam Clewes, Olga Walus Focus Pullers - Jonathan Vidgen, Matt Hillier, Jack Hayter Key Grip - John Robinson Assistant Grips - Matt Clark, Marc Marshall Camera Assistants - Nic Yates, Evangeline Davies Gaffer - Mark Hutchings Rigging Gaffer - Andy Gardiner Best Boy - Gareth Sheldon Electricians - Gawain Nash, Stuart Gale, Matthew Hutchings, Rhodri Moses, Owen Hashimi DIT - Matt Williams	Art department Supervising Art Director - Ifan Lewis Construction Art Director - Julia Jones Art Department Assistant - Laura Honeybun Art Department Co-ordinator - Hannah Miller Production Buyer - Billie Blue Williams Petty Cash Buyer - Sally Sharp Set Decorator - Vicki Male Action Props Buyer - Milannah Faith Summers Graphic Designer - Stephen Fielding Trainee Graphic Designer - Lois Drage Standby Props - Ryan Milton, Robert Alexander, Lara Czornyj Standby Carpenter - Colm Garrett Prop Hands - Dewi Thomas, John Thomas, Liv Cheung, Tom Major, Jodie Gibson Standby Art Director - Cerys Lewis Rigging - Shadow Scaffolding Standby Rigger - Alex Herbert Scenic Painters - Alison Drane, Rachel Willsher, Alex Morgan, Ana Marlene Ribeiro HOD Painter - Scenic Steve Painter - Mark Reece Storeman - Lucy Hookings Prop Master - Paul Aitken Props Chargehand - Trystan Howell Props Driver - Paul Carmichael Construction Manager - David Hobbs Construction Assistant - Matthew Pike Workshop Manager - Mark Hill Workshop Assistant - Chris Slocombe Construction Chargehands - Dean Tucker, Jonathan Tylke Construction Driver - Darren Bousie CNC Programmer - Kristian Tucker Plasterer - Jason Tylke Practical Electricians - Rob Hearne, Matthew Dunford Draughtspersons - Lauren Harper, James Dyer Trainee Draughtsperson - Rachel Ellis Carpenters - Chris Daniels, Campbell Fraser, Matt Gronow, Charlie Wright, Marcus Scholl, Ben McDonald, Dafydd Llewelyn Jones, Mike Venables, Gemma Spence, Simon Pothecary, David Warner Costume department Costume Supervisor - Grace Brooks Assistant Costume Designer - Simon Marks Costume Cutter/Maker - Brighde Penn Creature Costume Maker - Robert Allsopp & Associates Costume Assistants - Ian Fowler, Jenny Tindle, Michelle McGrath Costume Trainee - Yiwen Lin	Make-up and prosthetics Make-up Supervisor - Amy Riley Make-up Artists - Angharad Walsh, Diana McDonald, India Jones Junior Make-up Artist - Nikki Salih Movement Stunt Co-ordinators - Crispin Layfield, Belinda McGinley, Stephanie Carey Stunt Performers - Alex Bracq, Alli Ryan, Christian Cole, Christina Petrou, Donna Williams, Elizabeth Donker Curtius, Guy List, James Pavey, Jonathan Fee, Liam Carey, Matt Crook, Matt Hermiston, Rachel Holifield, Rob Jarman, Robert Pavey, Varpu Kronholm Casting Casting Associate - Ri McDaid-Wren Casting Assistant - Ray Böhm General post-production staff Post-production Executive Producer - Ceres Doyle Post-production Supervisor - Liv Duffin Assistant Editor - Joseph Keirle On-line Editor - Christine Kelly Special and visual effects Additional VFX - Martyn Western, Rory Williams, Zodiak VFX, Ben Pickles VFX Editor - Emily Lawrence Assistant VFX Editor - Jacob Percival Colourist - Gareth Spensley Head Model Maker - Lee Radford Model Makers - Penny Howarth, Lee Price Sound Sound Recordist - Deian Llŷr Humphreys AMPS Dubbing Mixers - Natasha Haycocks, Howard Bargroff Sound Maintenance Engineers - Christopher Goding, Joe Malone Sound Designer - Harry Barnes Dialogue Editor - Darran Clement ADR Editor - Matthew Cox Foley - 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.

References

The Doctor's clothing

• After stealing the Doctor's body, the Master dons the Fourth Doctor's multi-coloured scarf, the Seventh Doctor's jumper, the Twelfth Doctor's plaid trousers, and attaches a stick of celery on his lapel just as the Fifth Doctor did. He also wears a tie very similar if not the same one worn by the Tenth Doctor. He also has the Second Doctor's recorder tucked away in his coat.
• The Fourteenth Doctor's attire includes a white button-up shirt, with a silver tie and a loose fitting waistcoat and trousers of black and turquoise tartan. He also wears a navy blue trenchcoat and Converse shoes.

TARDISes

• The Spy Master's TARDIS is a Type 75.

Culture

• Among the fifteen paintings defaced by the Master are the Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, The Hay Wain, The Scream, the Girl with a Pearl Earring, and American Gothic.
• When branishing her bat, Ace claims that Beyoncé stole all of her moves.
• The Master plays and dances to the song Rasputin while disguised as Grigori Rasputin.
• The Master later plays the start of "The Skye Boat Song" on the Second Doctor's recorder.

Locations

• While he poses as Grigori Rasputin, the Master lives in a house in Siberia, and uses the Winter Palace as his base of operations.
• Tegan Jovanka was in Romania, somewhere near the Carpathians, when she received the miniaturised Cyberman.
• UNIT has a new HQ in London.
• The Master holds the International Seismology Memorial Conference in a hotel 3.2 kilometres away from Mount Vesuvius.
• There is a UNIT base near Naples.
• A Dalek arranges meeting with the Doctor in a volcano in Bolivia.
• Daleks activate all volcanoes on Earth, including ones in Ecuador, Indonesia and Iceland.

Story notes

• This story was created in celebration of the BBC's 100th Anniversary, and had the working title of The Centenary Special.
• According to Chris Chibnall, this story was filmed in the belief that it was to be the last story of Doctor Who, as he didn't know who would take over from him. The post-regeneration scene with David Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor was filmed separately at a later date after Russell T Davies returned as showrunner.
• Jodie Whittaker was pregnant while filming The Power of the Doctor.
• This story shares filming locations with the Fourth Doctor story The Pirate Planet and the Seventh Doctor story The Curse of Fenric. For the latter, the landowners of the Lulworth Estate threatened to ban the BBC from filming there ever again due to what they described as them being "duplicitous and dishonest" in not describing exactly what the scene would show, potentially encouraging members of the public to put themselves in a dangerous situation, despite filming not actually taking place on top of the cliff itself.
• Discounting regenerations shown outside of chronological order in The Night of the Doctor and The Day of the Doctor, this is the first Doctor-regeneration story since The Parting of the Ways to not take place on a Winter Special, and the first chronological Doctor-regeneration story since Journey's End to not include the word Time in the title.
• As of this episode, the Thirteenth Doctor's tenure was able to run for longer than three Prime Ministers governing the United Kingdom (Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss), thus making her the first ever Doctor to outlast three Prime Ministers, beating Tom Baker's record of having outlasted two Prime Minsters (Harold Wilson and James Callaghan) and failing to outlast a third (Margaret Thatcher) during his tenure as the Fourth Doctor.
• This was the first episode to air during the reign of King Charles III, meaning that the Thirteenth Doctor's tenure was the first to cover two monarchs, with Queen Elizabeth II's death occurring on 8 September 2022, a little over a month before the Special.
• This is the third special to air in UHD, after Revolution of the Daleks and Twice Upon a Time.
• The new BBC logo returned to the title sequence, having been absent since Eve of the Daleks.
• This episode is the first to have two actors' names appear at the same time in the title sequence, in this case Sophie Aldred and Janet Fielding.
• This story marks the first and only appearance of Daleks with standard suction cups in the televised Thirteenth Doctor era following the Reconnaissance Dalek, Defence Drone, Death Squad Daleks and Dalek Executioners, all of which wielded a form of claw manipulator, though a CGI model of a Dalek with a claw makes a cameo.
• Whilst numerous interiors of the Dalek casing have been shown both on-screen and off-screen, the Dalek traitor notably has the Dalek mutant placed at the bottom of the middle section in contrast to the general placement within the neck section as seen in TV: The Five Doctors, Resurrection of the Daleks, Dalek, The Parting of the Ways, Daleks in Manhattan and The Stolen Earth/Journey's End.
  • The mutant itself resembles that of the Reconnaissance Dalek and its clone army from TV: Resolution and Revolution of the Daleks, respectively, rather than the earlier "New Who" mutant form introduced with the Metaltron in Dalek.
• The Dalek gunstick as used in this story inexplicably alternate between the standard blue beams and orange beams similar to the Imperial Daleks in Remembrance of the Daleks.
• The Master refers to his plans as the Master's Dalek Plan. This is a reversal of the 1965 story's episode title The Daleks' Master Plan, and was previously done in the title of a Big Finish Productions audio story featuring Derek Jacobi's War Master, The Master's Dalek Plan.
• Fourth Doctor actor Tom Baker was invited to take part in the Special as one of the Guardians of the Edge, but was unavailable, with Chibnall explaining "We asked Tom, but sadly he could not do it. He was not available. Such a shame."
• The song Rasputin by Boney M is played during the scene where the Master, disguised as Rasputin, dances and powers on the conversion planet. This isn't the first time the Master has danced to a piece of music: he last danced to Voodoo Child by Rogue Traders in The Sound of Drums and I Can't Decide by The Scissor Sisters in Last of the Time Lords.
• Sacha Dhawan improvised the Master's dance during the Rasputin song scene and he noted that he was given only "one or two takes" for the set piece, "and we didn't have that long to shoot it."
• Anneke Wills was invited to return as Polly Wright to be part of the companion support group, but was unavailable, saying "I heard it was quite brief so I’m glad I stayed and did my brambles instead.".
• This story is the first non-archive, televised appearance of William Russell as Ian Chesterton since 1965 story The Chase; he had previously appeared in HOMEVID: Ian Chesterton: An Introduction in 1999. With his appearance in this episode, Russell, aged 96 at the time his scenes were shot, became the oldest actor to work on revived Doctor Who. The previous holder of this record was Ysanne Churchman, who was 92 at the time she reprised the role of Alpha Centauri in TV: Empress of Mars.
• The Thirteenth Doctor's final words included the terms "blossomiest blossom", which came from a 1994 interview of Dennis Potter, and "daisiest daisy", which the Third Doctor mentioned in his speech about the Hermit in The Time Monster.
• David Tennant holds the distinction of being the first actor to have portrayed two different numbered incarnations of the Doctor in a mainline story of Doctor Who without needing to fill in for an actor playing the new incarnation, following Sylvester McCoy filling in for the Sixth Doctor during his regeneration scene in Time and the Rani in addition to his main role as the Seventh Doctor, Paul McGann briefly acting as a body double for John Hurt's War Doctor in the closing moments of The Night of the Doctor after the regeneration of his Doctor, Tom Baker and Colin Baker portraying the Curator alongside their original incarnations, and Richard E Grant playing both the Tenth Doctor in The Curse of Fatal Death and the Ninth Doctor in Scream of the Shalka.
• The end credits changed to groups instead of scrolling. This was last seen in Revolution of the Daleks. The text for the character names and crew roles were also changed to bold, last seen for the title card for The Woman Who Fell to Earth.
• Mel is listed in the ending credits as "Melanie Bush", marking the first time on television that her surname, which was previously only established in audio and prose, has been used. Likewise, Jo is listed in the ending credits as "Jo Jones", which is the first time she was referred to as such on the credits of televised Doctor Who, with her first time being referred to and credited as such in any television media being The Sarah Jane Adventures story Death of the Doctor.
• This is the last story to be composed by Segun Akinola, who joined in The Woman Who Fell to Earth in 2018 after Murray Gold decided to leave the show after 10 years in Twice Upon a Time in 2017.
• Due to a licensing deal between the BBC and Disney Branded Television to have future Doctor Who stories stream on Disney+, this was the final episode to air on BBC America.
• Russell T Davies revealed to Doctor Who Magazine #584 that "[he] was very certain that [he] didn’t want David to appear in Jodie’s costume." explaining that his reason for the Doctor's clothes changing during regeneration was to avoid stereotyping "the notion of men dressing in "women's clothes", the notion of drag", describing it as a "very delicate" matter, expressing that "it has to be done with immense thought and respect", and that the media would make it "look like mockery" of that culture, as Tennant is taller than Whittaker.

Contradictions with expanded media

• This story touches on the circumstances of Ace leaving the Seventh Doctor's company, an event which was not seen on-screen, but had been recently depicted in the novel At Childhood's End, written by Sophie Aldred herself. However, The Power of the Doctor contradicts At Childhood's End by having Ace meet the Thirteenth Doctor, Yasmin Khan and Graham O'Brien for the first time, though At Childhood's End does establish that Ace's timeline has multiple possible futures.
• Tegan's claim that she hasn't seen the Doctor since 1984 contradicts the Big Finish audio The Gathering, where the Fifth Doctor catches up with her in 2006 just as she's about to celebrate her 46th birthday. It also contradicts the date given by PROSE: Fixing a Hole, which states she shared an adventure with the Sixth Doctor on 23 February 1985, as depicted in A Fix with Sontarans.
• Clyde Langer had said that Tegan and Nyssa were a couple in Farewell, Sarah Jane. Here, Tegan mentions having two ex-husbands, but Nyssa isn't mentioned at all.
• Ace claims the last time she saw the Master, he was "half-cat", referring to Survival, ignoring the New Adventure First Frontier, the Big Finish audio play Dust Breeding and the Titan Comics Crossing the Rubicon.

Details from script release

• The bullet train pre-credits sequence has many changes:
  • The CyberMasters entered in the wrong carriage because Train Marshal Halaz deliberately shuffled the carriages.
  • On the train, Dan and Yaz reminded the Doctor that she forgot to tell them the plan.
  • When Dan's helmet got hit, his face got suctioned toward the rupture and his nose plugged the gap.
• Dan's departure speech was completely different, with the Doctor giving a response.
• During its first meeting with the Doctor, the Dalek traitor revealed more of its background such as identifying itself as an elite biological combat engineer whose mission was to devise strategies to ameliorate any Dalek defeat in battle, its work resulting in a genetic code which was to activate and self-execute Dalek creatures in the event of a threat to Dalek supremacy in battle, causing their casings to flood with toxic radiation and detonate, fatally damaging all enemies within a broad radius.
• To start the Rasputin song, the original scene had the CyberMasters activate panels on their arms and the Master used an old iPod to play the music instead of the TCE.
• Originally, three planets were at war instead of two and the devastation would be seen up close.
• The Eighth Doctor Guardian was seen as a separate figure instead of being part of the one figure in the final version.
• The original script had the Master arrive in the Tunguska forest in Russia in 30 June, 1908. Additionally it had a whole scene with a Russian woman watching in horror as the "first experiment" with the cyber-planet went wrong and squashed many miles of forest. The Master claimed he sent himself to Siberia as "punishment".
• Tegan was seen more heavily injured after her fall, with an injured her ankle and wrist, whereas she only had a slight limp in the final version.
• The feedback was revealed to only have knocked Ashad unconscious and an additional scene showed Ashad wandering the UNIT hallways as the building collapsed around him.
• The original script had a scene, set after he was returned to his old body, with the Master as Grigori Rasputin meeting with Russian Prince Yusopov, who, in keeping with historical fact, would have "Rasputin" shot and put in a sack by two henchmen to be dumped in the river, only the bullets were not seen hitting.
• During the companion support group scene in the script the laptop was suggested to be for Martha Jones, Ryan Sinclair or, somehow, Jackie Tyler.
• The Thirteenth Doctor's final scene in the script was originally different, with the Doctor sitting rather than standing, and her last lines being switched around, with her final words being, "I bet it's going to be brilliant.", echoing back to her first words "Oh, brilliant." in TV: Twice Upon a Time.
• Due to the fact that Chris Chibnall did not know anything about the future of Doctor Who, the regeneration scene was left open ended, with the last shot being the Doctor mid-regeneration.

Ratings

• Overnights: 3.71 million
  • Regeneration: 4.04 million
• Consolidated: 5.30 million

Myths

• Yasmin Khan would be a victim of the Tissue Compression Eliminator. (This turned out to be false. The rumour started when a promotional picture was released of Sacha Dhawan as the Master holding a tiny figurine resembling Yaz)
• Dan Lewis would die. (This ended up being false. The rumour came about as no promotional material depicted Dan outside the space bullet train mission)
• Kate Stewart would either die or be converted into a Cyberman. (Both of these ended up being false. Although she was shown going through the conversion process, which was halted by Tegan)
• Vinder and Bel was to be revealed as the Doctor's parents. (This was proven false [this rumour had been circulating since "Once, Upon Time"])
• The Doctor was to regenerate on top of a cliff or drown in the ocean. (Cliff was proven true)
• The Doctor's regeneration was triggered by being shot by Yaz, who was under the influence of the Master. (This was proven false, although the Master was responsible for the Doctor's regeneration)

Filming locations

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• Dan-yr-Ogof caves, Powys, Wales - Bolivian caves
• Durdle Door, Lulworth, Dorset - Regeneration cliffside (green screen)
• Hodge House, Cardiff - UNIT HQ interior
• The Gate, Cardiff - International Seismology Memorial Conference interior
• Grange Gardens, Cardiff - the Thirteenth Doctor drops off Yaz with Dan and Graham
• Bristol Museum and Art Gallery - Ace notices a painting is missing
• Llanmaes Street, Cardiff - Dan leaves the TARDIS for the final time in Liverpool
• West Bute Street, Cardiff - Kate and Tegan comment on the destroyed UNIT HQ

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.

• The Master's incarnation of the Doctor loses the Thirteenth Doctor's earring after changing his clothes. It momentarily returns during one scene, before disappearing once more until Jodie Whittaker's return to the role where it returns permanently without explanation.
• On the ABC, "Qurunx" was misspelt as "Quaranx" in the subtitles.

Continuity

• Dan is preparing for another date with Diane, (TV: The Halloween Apocalypse) who he got back into contact with after his adventure with Madam Ching. (TV: Legend of the Sea Devils)
• Tegan last saw the Doctor "thirty-eight years ago" in 1984, (TV: Resurrection of the Daleks) and shows the same bitterness Sarah Jane Smith did on not seeming them in the interim. (TV: School Reunion)
• Dan's house has still not recovered from being shrunk by Karvanista. (TV: The Halloween Apocalypse)
• The Dalek traitor mentions the Dalek casing originally being forged to ensure the survival of the Kaled race before their mission was perverted into conquest following the Kaleds' extinction. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks)
• The Doctor recalls the Master creating the CyberMasters on Gallifrey. (TV: The Timeless Children)
• Kate is rebuilding UNIT following the defeat of the Grand Serpent, (TV: The Vanquishers) who had orchestrated the organisation's shutdown as part of his alliance with the Sontarans during the Flux Offensive. (TV: Survivors of the Flux)
• The Doctor asks the Master how he escaped Gallifrey, (TV: The Timeless Children) which he mentions having "ransacked". (TV: Spyfall)
• The Master still has the Cyberium inside him. (TV: The Timeless Children)
• The Master taunts Tegan by mentioning her Aunt Vanessa, who he killed when they first met, (TV: Logopolis) while Ace recalls that the Master was "half-cat" the last time they met. (TV: Survival)
• The Master mentions that he killed Ashad. (TV: The Timeless Children)
• Ace remembers the Cybermen's weakness to gold, (TV: Silver Nemesis) and UNIT has guns with gold bullets, (TV: Battlefield) but Ashad reveals that the Cybermen have overcome this weakness. (TV: Nightmare in Silver)
• Yaz has post-it notes on how to fly the TARDIS. (TV: Revolution of the Daleks)
• The Master says that he has "dressed for the occasion" of taking the Doctor's body. (TV: Doctor Who)
• The Master is aware of the Time Lords enforcing a regeneration onto the Second Doctor, (TV: The War Games; COMIC: The Night Walkers) and wonders if they did the same to the Timeless Child. (TV: The Timeless Children)
• Vinder uses the communications device the Doctor gave him. (TV: Once, Upon Time)
• The Master has attempted to take the Doctor's body before. (TV: The Keeper of Traken, Doctor Who)
• The Master says, "I would hate to bring you down to size", to Yaz when entering the TARDIS in the Doctor's body, similar to what he said he "should have said" when he killed Ashad with the Tissue Compression Eliminator. (TV: The Timeless Children)
• After she is forced to regenerate, the Doctor sees her previous incarnations as the Guardians of the Edge in her mind, just as the Eighth Doctor had seen manifestations of his three predecessors within his mind after Charley Pollard stabbed him with an anti-time sword and he was at risk of regenerating. (AUDIO: Zagreus)
• The Doctor makes use of the Holo-Doctor that the Seventh Doctor had once given to Bernice Summerfield. (PROSE: Infinite Requiem)
• When she first sees the Holo-Doctor, Tegan believes she is hallucinating. According to one account, she would come to believe that her travels in the TARDIS had been an fantasy she concocted to deal with Vanessa's death. (PROSE: Good Companions)
• Tegan confides to the Fifth Doctor's image that seeing the Cybermen makes her think of Adric. (TV: Earthshock)
• Graham still has his psychic paper. (TV: Revolution of the Daleks)
• Ace recalls fighting the Daleks in 1963. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks)
• Yaz recognises the Fugitive Doctor as Ruth Clayton, a tour guide she met in Gloucester. (TV: Fugitive of the Judoon)
• The Holo-Doctor calls the Master "a rubbish schoolboy", which coalesces with the Seventh Doctor recalls getting better grades than him (PROSE: Survival) and the Eighth Doctor's comments on the Master's academic prowess. (AUDIO: Masterplan)
• Ace blinding a Bronze Dalek before Graham uses one of her Nitro-9 mirrors a similar tactic done on a Grey Dalek by the Sixth Doctor and Peri Brown at Tranquil Repose on Necros. (TV: Revelation of the Daleks)
• The Doctor places Yaz, Ace, Tegan, Kate, Vinder and Graham to various positions within the TARDIS around its console to be given responsibility to handle a part of the controls to help her save the day, which resembles when the Tenth Doctor showed the Children of Time a part of the TARDIS to help bring the Earth back to where it belongs. (TV: Journey's End)
• Yaz mentions that she tried to take everyone home, but dropped them off in Croydon instead, calling it "close enough." While attempting to return Sarah Jane Smith home, the Fourth Doctor accidentally dropped her in Aberdeen instead of Croydon. (TV: The Hand of Fear) When told of his mistake, the Tenth Doctor asked if they were close. (TV: School Reunion)
• Graham organises a support group meeting of some of the Doctor's past companions, just as Alice Obiefune once did. (COMIC: The Meeting)
• The Doctor remarks on the "blossomiest blossom", akin to the Third Doctor's recollections of the "daisiest daisy". (TV: The Time Monster)
• The Doctor's clothes change when they regenerate for the first time since the Second Doctor emerged from the First Doctor's regeneration. (TV: The Power of the Daleks)
• The Fourteenth Doctor remarks on his familiar teeth, (TV: The Parting of the Ways) and repeats the word "what" in triplicate. (TV: Doomsday, The Shakespeare Code, Last of the Time Lords, Time Crash, Music of the Spheres)

External links

• Official The Power of the Doctor page on the Doctor Who website