Warning: spoilers ahead for Doctor Who season 14.
Here’s your one-stop guide to Doctor Who season 14. After Ncuti Gatwa debuted as the Fifteenth Doctor in 2023’s 60th anniversary special and met Millie Gibson’s Ruby Sunday in the subsequent Christmas episode, Doctor Who season 14 marks the duo’s first full run as TARDIS occupants. Season 14 also begins a whole new era for Britain’s greatest sci-fi export. In addition to the new faces leading Doctor Who‘s cast, Russell T Davies returns as showrunner for the first time since 2010, while a distribution deal with Disney+ brings the Time Lord’s adventures to a much wider audience.
Doctor Who season 14 comprises eight episodes. Starting with a double-feature, these will release Fridays at 7pm ET on Disney+ and midnight Saturday on iPlayer for viewers in the UK. Doctor Who then airs in its traditional Saturday evening slot on BBC1 in the UK. Aside from Gatwa and Gibson, Doctor Who season 14’s other recurring cast members include Michelle Greenidge as Ruby’s adoptive mother, Angela Wynter as her adoptive grandmother, Jemma Redgrave as Kate Stewart, Bonnie Langford as Mel, Yasmin Finney as Rose, and Anita Dobson as Doctor Who‘s mysterious Mrs. Flood.
A random TARDIS ride takes the Doctor and Ruby to 21506, where a space station serves as a baby farm for a human colony. Proving that not even the TARDIS can outrun bureaucracy, the farm has been abandoned due to budget cuts, save for one crew member who secretly stayed behind to protect the babies on board: Golda Rosheuvel’s Nan-E. The Doctor must get the space babies to safety, but first needs to outfox the ship’s mysterious monster, known only as the Bogeyman. At the same time, the Doctor begins to realize that the mystery of Ruby’s parents runs into the very fabric of time and space.
Ruby Sunday wants to see The Beatles recording their debut album, but she and the Doctor are stunned to arrive in a music-free 1963. The entire world has been drained of songs by new Doctor Who villain Maestro – an eternal entity and the child of the Toymaker. Maestro ultimately plans to destroy the universe by manipulating the sound of matter itself, and the Doctor confirms Earth’s imminent destruction with a quick trip back to 2024, where he and Ruby look out across a destroyed London.
Written by former Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat, “Boom” predictably comes with a clever and unique conceit. On this particular occasion, Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor spends almost the entire episode with one foot stuck on a landmine. Forced to rely heavily on Ruby Sunday for assistance, one wrong move will detonate the Doctor and half of Kastarion 3 along with him, meaning the Doctor’s only hope of survival is getting to the bottom of why war is raging in the first place. A much darker affair compared to “Space Babies” and “The Devil’s Chord,” “Boom” has enjoyed roundly positive reviews from critics.
More information on “73 Yards” will be added after the episode arrives on Disney+ May 24.
More information on “Dot & Bubble” will be added after the episode arrives on Disney+ May 31.
More information on “Rogue” will be added after the episode arrives on Disney+ June 7.
More information on “The Legend of Ruby Sunday” will be added after the episode arrives on Disney+ June 14.
More information on “Empire of Death” will be added after the episode arrives on Disney+ June 21.