The Next Doctor by: Russell T. Davies and directed by: Andy Goddard

 

“The Next Doctor” stars David Tennant as the Doctor and David Morrissey as Jackson Lake with Velile Ttshabalala as Rosita Farisi, Dervla Kirwan as Miss Hartigan, Ruari Mears as the Cyber Shade, Paul Kasey as the Cyber Leader, and Nicholas Briggs as the Cybermen Voices.  It was written by: Russell T. Davies and directed by: Andy Goddard with Lindsey Alford as Script Editor, Susie Liggat as Producer, and Russell T. Davies and Julie Gardner as Executive Producers.  It was originally broadcast on Thursday 25 December 2008 on BBC One.

 

When Russell T. Davies decided to make his final year on Doctor Who one of several specials, both allowing him a break and David Tennant to star with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Hamlet and Love’s Labour’s Lost, the Christmas special would have to be entered into production around the rehearsal dates at the RSC.  Davies was intent on bringing back the Cybermen for their third appearance in the revival.  “Court of the CyberKing” was always going to take place in Victorian times (although there was a brief period where it was thought the special may involve the fantasy world of J.K. Rowling came to life that was discouraged by Tennant).  Development on the script was surprisingly slow, partially due to Davies contracting a case of bronchitis early in 2008 going so far as to have to push back production dates by one week because the script was not ready, all while the BBC had changes to the Controller of Programmes for BBC One.  Davies had developed the idea for the Doctor to be the one to act as the companion to an imposter Doctor, the title at this point becoming “The Next Doctor”.  Inspiration was drawn upon from The Little Match Girl for the companion of the Doctor, Rosita, and originally a cliffhanger ending to “Journey’s End” was filmed of the Cybermen entering the TARDIS.  It was also produced as the final block of the fourth series, assigned to Torchwood director Andy Goddard, but sadly producer Phil Collinson had fully left Doctor Who and was replaced by Susie Liggat in what would be her final producing role for Doctor Who as well.  David Morrissey was cast as Jackson Lake, the man tricked into believing himself the Doctor.

 

“The Next Doctor” is the pure example of promoting an episode based on the gimmick.  David Tennant had been announced to be leaving Doctor Who, so there was a chance that the audience would believe David Morrissey could actually be playing the Eleventh Doctor, indeed Steven Moffat would only have confirmed the casting of Matt Smith a few weeks before “The Next Doctor” aired.  As a gimmick it sadly doesn’t really add to the episode, instead just making this a way to build some sort of hype that does not work after the fact.  The gimmick is dropped almost immediately after the opening credits, shifting towards a mystery of who this false Doctor actually is.  Davies doesn’t write the script in a way to give any impressions that this man is a villain or is working with the Cybermen.  Davies attempts to creates the mystery of who the man is, there are two candidates, Jackson Lake and Reverend Fairchild, basically the only two male characters who are mentioned to be dead.  Morrissey’s performance is, however, a highlight of the episode, playing off Tennant nicely and having this wonderful breakdown on discovering his true identity.  The chemistry with Tennant leads to some very nice closing scenes where the Doctor and Jackson Lake have Christmas dinner.  Heck, all the performances are at least a fairly enjoyable.  Morrissey and Velile Ttshabalala make a nice double act as Doctor and companion, while our main human villain of the episode Miss Mercy Hartigan, played by Dervla Kirwan, chews the scenery of every scene she’s in.

 

The big problem at the heart of “The Next Doctor” is that it’s an underbaked episode.  It’s clear that Davies didn’t have enough time to fully flesh out the script before filming began.  This is an episode that shows child labor but doesn’t really use it to explore any idea outside of the notion that child labor is bad.  Miss Hartigan is working with the Cybermen because she’s a woman and wants equality in a time that wouldn’t give it to her.  She becomes a Cyber King and the episode plays it as this horrific conversion, but there’s no real horror played like say the conversion sequences in “Rise of the Cybermen” and “The Age of Steel”.  She’s just in a new hat, making the climax just not come across effectively as she regains her emotions and loses her mind because of the monster she’s become.  Except she hasn’t become a monster, she’s just wearing a silly hat and controlling a giant Cyberman mech.  Yes, there’s a giant Cyberman mech at the climax of the story because it’s a special and that means there must be some sort of spectacle to really sell the danger, yet because the script is underwritten something that should elicit something just leaves me completely cold.

Overall, “The Next Doctor” is just an episode that is incredibly underwritten.  Underwritten so much that the basic plot feels honestly stretched too thin to fill the hour long time slot it was given as a Christmas special.  Russell T. Davies’ dialogue has some nice beats, the performances are nice, and Andy Goddard’s direction makes it feel festive, but the episode is just kind of lackluster.  It’s lackluster enough that it’s pretty tough to actually talk about, it’s about as deep as a very shallow puddle, and hoping that the gimmick is enough to get it by.  3/10.