303 – "The Giggle" | |||
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Doctor Who episode | |||
![]() Promotional poster | |||
Cast | |||
Guest
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Production | |||
Directed by | Chanya Button | ||
Written by | Russell T Davies | ||
Script editor | Scott Handcock | ||
Produced by | Vicki Delow | ||
Executive producer(s) |
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Music by | Murray Gold | ||
Series | 2023 specials | ||
Running time | 62 minutes | ||
First broadcast | 9 December 2023 | ||
Chronology | |||
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"The Giggle" is the third and final of the 2023 60th anniversary specials of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who, written by Russell T Davies, directed by Chanya Button and broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 9 December 2023. It features the final regular appearances of David Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor and Catherine Tate as Donna Noble, introduces Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor and guest stars Neil Patrick Harris as the Toymaker, a character last seen in The Celestial Toymaker (1966). The episode also features the return of Jemma Redgrave and Bonnie Langford as UNIT commander Kate Lethbridge-Stewart and Mel Bush, respectively.
Set directly after the events of " Wild Blue Yonder", the episode sees the Doctor, Donna and UNIT confronting the return of the Doctor's old enemy, the Toymaker, who is behind a series of signals in a form of a "giggle" being transmitted, causing the human race to go insane over their opinions.
The episode was watched by 6.85 million viewers and received positive reviews from critics, who praised Harris’ performance and the writing.
The Doctor and Donna are taken by UNIT to its headquarters, as the world's population has become inexplicably violent. The Doctor is reunited with Shirley, head of UNIT Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, and former companion and friend Melanie Bush. The Doctor determines the cause of the violence is a giggle from a Stooky Bill film from 1925, which John Logie Baird had recorded to demonstrate his invention, television.
The Doctor and Donna travel to 1925 and discover that the Toymaker had sold Stooky Bill to Baird's assistant. The Toymaker traps the two in his domain and reveals that he transmitted the signal to make humanity play a never-ending game of debate, by making them aggressively convinced of the absolute correctness of all their beliefs. The Doctor and the Toymaker play a game of cards, with the latter winning. However, the Doctor states that since he won the game at their last meeting, [a] they are tied. The Toymaker resolves to have one final game with him and transports himself to the present day, with the Doctor and Donna in pursuit.
The Toymaker attacks UNIT before taking control of a graviton beam cannon. He reasons that since he faced separate incarnations of the Doctor for each game, he must face another, and uses the beam to mortally injure the Doctor, triggering his regeneration. However, to everyone's surprise, the Doctor instead splits into two incarnations via "bi-generation". Both the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Doctors challenge the Toymaker to a basic game of catch. The Doctors emerge victorious, and the Toymaker is banished from existence.
Aboard the TARDIS, the Fifteenth Doctor advises his predecessor that he needs to recover from the extensive traumas that his past incarnations have accumulated across their lives. Donna suggests to the Fourteenth Doctor that his old face returned because he is emotionally exhausted and has subconsciously recognised this need. She invites him to consider retiring from travelling and staying with her and her family, but he is reluctant to leave the TARDIS behind. The Fifteenth Doctor, realising that the Toymaker's rules of play still apply – when one wins a contest, one gets a prize – uses a mallet from within the TARDIS to create a second identical TARDIS, in which he departs after a cheerful farewell. The Fourteenth Doctor settles down with Donna and her family, while the Fifteenth Doctor travels the universe in his predecessor's place.
The Toymaker taunts the Doctor by reminding him of the unfortunate fates of three of his companions: Amy Pond, Clara Oswald and Bill Potts, all of whom he met after leaving Donna behind. [1]
Chanya Button directed the episode. [2] Filming for the specials commenced in May 2022, and wrapped at the end of July 2022. [3]
David Tennant and Catherine Tate returned to the series as part of the 60th anniversary specials. [4] Tennant and Tate makes their final regular appearances as the Fourteenth Doctor and Donna Noble respectively. [5] Ncuti Gatwa made his first appearance as the Fifteenth Doctor. [6] Neil Patrick Harris appears as the Toymaker, last seen in The Celestial Toymaker (1966), then portrayed by Michael Gough. [7] [8] An uncredited double stood in as Wilfred for "The Giggle", which featured usage of an archival audio recording of Cribbins from " The Poison Sky" (2008). [9]
The episode features the return of Jemma Redgrave's Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, last seen in " The Power of the Doctor" (2022) and Bonnie Langford's Mel Bush who made her last major appearances in Dragonfire (1987). [b] [11] Lachele Carl briefly reprised her role as Trinity Wells, an American news anchor who appeared frequently during Davies' first era. [12]
Aggregate scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Rotten Tomatoes (Tomatometer) | 100% [13] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
Empire | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Independent | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Guardian | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Daily Telegraph | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
i | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
"The Giggle" was broadcast on 9 December 2023 as the third and final of the three 2023 specials, released for the 60th anniversary of Doctor Who. [19]
The episode was released internationally on Disney+. [20]
"The Giggle" was watched by 4.62 million viewers overnight, and had an Appreciation Index score of 85. [21] It was the third most watched programme of the day. [22] The consolidated ratings figures for the episode were 6.85 million viewers, making it the tenth most watched programme of the week behind episodes of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! and Strictly Come Dancing. [23]
The special received positive reviews, with praise for Harris' performance and the writing. [16] [15] [24] On Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator website, 100% of 7 critics gave "The Giggle" a positive review. The site's consensus reads "Capping off David Tennant's encore run, 'The Giggle' puts a twist on Doctor Who's regenerative conceit and gives fans the best of both worlds." [13]
In a review for Den of Geek, Chris Allcock praised the returning characters, though he felt disappointed that Mel did not have more to do comparing her to Ace and Tegan in " The Power of the Doctor". [25]
The "bi-generation" plot twist was met with a polarizing reaction from fans of the series, [26] with some praising it as an interesting concept, [27] while others felt it would undermine Gatwa's role as the Fifteenth Doctor in the upcoming fourteenth series. [28] [29] [30] Writing for Vox, Constance Grady felt that the twist was unnecessary and went against the point of regeneration. [31] In an article for Den of Geek, Andrew Blair felt that the bi-generation offered a clean slate for Doctor Who to continue. [27] In 2024, the scene was nominated for a BAFTA award for most memorable TV moment. [32] [33] It lost to Happy Valley. [34]
Author | James Goss |
---|---|
Series |
Doctor Who book: Target novelisations |
Publisher | BBC Books |
Publication date | 14 December 2023 (eBook) 11 January 2024 (paperback) |
Pages | 224 |
ISBN | 9781785948473 |
"The Giggle", along with the other two specials " Wild Blue Yonder" and " The Star Beast", were released together on DVD and Blu-ray on 18 December 2023 as part of the "60th anniversary collection". [35]
A novelisation of the episode, written by James Goss, was released as an eBook 14 December 2023. [36] The paperback edition was made available for pre-order in July 2023 and was released on 11 January 2024 as part of the Target Collection. [37] [38] It was released as an audiobook read by Dan Starkey on 11 January 2024. [39] Starkey had previously appeared as various Sontarans, most notably Strax. [40] [41]
303 – "The Giggle" | |||
---|---|---|---|
Doctor Who episode | |||
![]() Promotional poster | |||
Cast | |||
Guest
| |||
Production | |||
Directed by | Chanya Button | ||
Written by | Russell T Davies | ||
Script editor | Scott Handcock | ||
Produced by | Vicki Delow | ||
Executive producer(s) |
| ||
Music by | Murray Gold | ||
Series | 2023 specials | ||
Running time | 62 minutes | ||
First broadcast | 9 December 2023 | ||
Chronology | |||
| |||
"The Giggle" is the third and final of the 2023 60th anniversary specials of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who, written by Russell T Davies, directed by Chanya Button and broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 9 December 2023. It features the final regular appearances of David Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor and Catherine Tate as Donna Noble, introduces Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor and guest stars Neil Patrick Harris as the Toymaker, a character last seen in The Celestial Toymaker (1966). The episode also features the return of Jemma Redgrave and Bonnie Langford as UNIT commander Kate Lethbridge-Stewart and Mel Bush, respectively.
Set directly after the events of " Wild Blue Yonder", the episode sees the Doctor, Donna and UNIT confronting the return of the Doctor's old enemy, the Toymaker, who is behind a series of signals in a form of a "giggle" being transmitted, causing the human race to go insane over their opinions.
The episode was watched by 6.85 million viewers and received positive reviews from critics, who praised Harris’ performance and the writing.
The Doctor and Donna are taken by UNIT to its headquarters, as the world's population has become inexplicably violent. The Doctor is reunited with Shirley, head of UNIT Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, and former companion and friend Melanie Bush. The Doctor determines the cause of the violence is a giggle from a Stooky Bill film from 1925, which John Logie Baird had recorded to demonstrate his invention, television.
The Doctor and Donna travel to 1925 and discover that the Toymaker had sold Stooky Bill to Baird's assistant. The Toymaker traps the two in his domain and reveals that he transmitted the signal to make humanity play a never-ending game of debate, by making them aggressively convinced of the absolute correctness of all their beliefs. The Doctor and the Toymaker play a game of cards, with the latter winning. However, the Doctor states that since he won the game at their last meeting, [a] they are tied. The Toymaker resolves to have one final game with him and transports himself to the present day, with the Doctor and Donna in pursuit.
The Toymaker attacks UNIT before taking control of a graviton beam cannon. He reasons that since he faced separate incarnations of the Doctor for each game, he must face another, and uses the beam to mortally injure the Doctor, triggering his regeneration. However, to everyone's surprise, the Doctor instead splits into two incarnations via "bi-generation". Both the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Doctors challenge the Toymaker to a basic game of catch. The Doctors emerge victorious, and the Toymaker is banished from existence.
Aboard the TARDIS, the Fifteenth Doctor advises his predecessor that he needs to recover from the extensive traumas that his past incarnations have accumulated across their lives. Donna suggests to the Fourteenth Doctor that his old face returned because he is emotionally exhausted and has subconsciously recognised this need. She invites him to consider retiring from travelling and staying with her and her family, but he is reluctant to leave the TARDIS behind. The Fifteenth Doctor, realising that the Toymaker's rules of play still apply – when one wins a contest, one gets a prize – uses a mallet from within the TARDIS to create a second identical TARDIS, in which he departs after a cheerful farewell. The Fourteenth Doctor settles down with Donna and her family, while the Fifteenth Doctor travels the universe in his predecessor's place.
The Toymaker taunts the Doctor by reminding him of the unfortunate fates of three of his companions: Amy Pond, Clara Oswald and Bill Potts, all of whom he met after leaving Donna behind. [1]
Chanya Button directed the episode. [2] Filming for the specials commenced in May 2022, and wrapped at the end of July 2022. [3]
David Tennant and Catherine Tate returned to the series as part of the 60th anniversary specials. [4] Tennant and Tate makes their final regular appearances as the Fourteenth Doctor and Donna Noble respectively. [5] Ncuti Gatwa made his first appearance as the Fifteenth Doctor. [6] Neil Patrick Harris appears as the Toymaker, last seen in The Celestial Toymaker (1966), then portrayed by Michael Gough. [7] [8] An uncredited double stood in as Wilfred for "The Giggle", which featured usage of an archival audio recording of Cribbins from " The Poison Sky" (2008). [9]
The episode features the return of Jemma Redgrave's Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, last seen in " The Power of the Doctor" (2022) and Bonnie Langford's Mel Bush who made her last major appearances in Dragonfire (1987). [b] [11] Lachele Carl briefly reprised her role as Trinity Wells, an American news anchor who appeared frequently during Davies' first era. [12]
Aggregate scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Rotten Tomatoes (Tomatometer) | 100% [13] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
Empire | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Independent | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Guardian | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Daily Telegraph | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
i | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
"The Giggle" was broadcast on 9 December 2023 as the third and final of the three 2023 specials, released for the 60th anniversary of Doctor Who. [19]
The episode was released internationally on Disney+. [20]
"The Giggle" was watched by 4.62 million viewers overnight, and had an Appreciation Index score of 85. [21] It was the third most watched programme of the day. [22] The consolidated ratings figures for the episode were 6.85 million viewers, making it the tenth most watched programme of the week behind episodes of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! and Strictly Come Dancing. [23]
The special received positive reviews, with praise for Harris' performance and the writing. [16] [15] [24] On Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator website, 100% of 7 critics gave "The Giggle" a positive review. The site's consensus reads "Capping off David Tennant's encore run, 'The Giggle' puts a twist on Doctor Who's regenerative conceit and gives fans the best of both worlds." [13]
In a review for Den of Geek, Chris Allcock praised the returning characters, though he felt disappointed that Mel did not have more to do comparing her to Ace and Tegan in " The Power of the Doctor". [25]
The "bi-generation" plot twist was met with a polarizing reaction from fans of the series, [26] with some praising it as an interesting concept, [27] while others felt it would undermine Gatwa's role as the Fifteenth Doctor in the upcoming fourteenth series. [28] [29] [30] Writing for Vox, Constance Grady felt that the twist was unnecessary and went against the point of regeneration. [31] In an article for Den of Geek, Andrew Blair felt that the bi-generation offered a clean slate for Doctor Who to continue. [27] In 2024, the scene was nominated for a BAFTA award for most memorable TV moment. [32] [33] It lost to Happy Valley. [34]
Author | James Goss |
---|---|
Series |
Doctor Who book: Target novelisations |
Publisher | BBC Books |
Publication date | 14 December 2023 (eBook) 11 January 2024 (paperback) |
Pages | 224 |
ISBN | 9781785948473 |
"The Giggle", along with the other two specials " Wild Blue Yonder" and " The Star Beast", were released together on DVD and Blu-ray on 18 December 2023 as part of the "60th anniversary collection". [35]
A novelisation of the episode, written by James Goss, was released as an eBook 14 December 2023. [36] The paperback edition was made available for pre-order in July 2023 and was released on 11 January 2024 as part of the Target Collection. [37] [38] It was released as an audiobook read by Dan Starkey on 11 January 2024. [39] Starkey had previously appeared as various Sontarans, most notably Strax. [40] [41]