DOCTOR WHO: WISH WORLD / THE REALITY WAR (TV) (2025, UK, 1 x 44m & 1 x 67m, PG) **
Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Adventure
dist. BBC One; pr co. Bad Wolf/BBC Wales; d. Alex Sanjiv Pillai; w. Russell T. Davies; exec pr. Russell T. Davies, Julie Gardner, Jane Tranter, Joel Collins, Phil Collinson; pr. Chris May; ph. Mika Orasmaa (Colour | 2.00:1); m. Murray Gold; ed. Meredith Leece; pd. Phil Sims.
cast: Ncuti Gatwa (The Doctor), Varada Sethu (Belinda Chandra), Millie Gibson (Ruby Sunday), Jonah Hauer-King (Conrad Clark), Bonnie Langford (Melanie Bush), Ruth Madeley (Shirley Bingham), Jemma Redgrave (Kate Lethbridge-Stewart), Susan Twist (Susan Triad), Jasmin Finney (Rose Noble), Alexander Devrient (Colonel Christofer Ibrahim), Steph de Walley (Anita Benn), Nila Aalia (Lakshmi Chandra), Josephine Lloyd-Welcome (Devika Babu), Anita Dobson (Mrs Flood), Hermon Berhane (Val Balham), Sam Lawton (Winnie Petheridge), Joshua J Parker (Brian Dale), Michelle Greenidge (Carla Sunday), Angela Wynter (Cherry Sunday), Aiden Cook (The Vlinx), Jodie Whitaker (The Doctor), Billie Piper (?), Sienna-Robyn Mavanga-Phipps (Poppy), Atilla Akinci (Otto Zufall), Leni Adams (Violett Zufall).
Traps are sprung and old enemies unite as the Doctor and Belinda finally arrive home to find a very different world. Can the Doctor see the truth before midnight arrives? This two-part season finale is an incoherent mess, filled with wonderful visuals and great ideas but lousy execution and perhaps some of the worst writing of the modern era. The first part sets up a scenario where a fantasy world has been created by The Rani to trap the Doctor and to free the first Time Lord Omega from his underworld prison to create a new Gallifrey in her image. The second part then looks to resolve this plot, whilst introducing a separate thread resolving the mystery surrounding Belinda’s desire to return home. However, the story collapses under the weight of its aspirations as Davies fails to deliver satisfactorily on any of the many promised set-ups. The Rani’s involvement, and also that of Omega, are dispensed with in equally disdainful measure. Ruby’s story threatens some further resolution before completely dissolving in its confusion. This leads to a finale in which by restoring reality, albeit in a flawed way, the Doctor is forced to regenerate, and we’re left with a shock ending that just leaves us scratching our heads. Davies, who is in serious need of a strong script editor, has tried to cram too many ideas and scenarios into this final story and, by doing so, has sent the viewer down so many rabbit holes, his/her head will be spinning for days on end. I’m not even sure a repeat viewing will clarify the many questions this story leaves unanswered on the first watch.
