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Jodie Whittaker
Flux
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Synopsis


Yasmin, The Doctor and Dan
Yasmin, The Doctor and Dan
 All across the universe, terrifying forces are stirring and an ancient evil is breaking free. And in present-day Liverpool, the life of Dan Lewis is about to change forever. Why is The Doctor on the trail of the fearsome Karvanista? And what is the Flux?

 The Doctor, during the Crimean War, then discovers the British army fighting a brutal alien army of Sontarans. While in another part of the universe Daleks and Cybermen are on the rampage.

 While on a planet that shouldn’t exist, in the aftermath of the apocalypse, The Doctor, Yasmin, Dan and Vinder face a battle to survive in the Temple of Atropos - and who are the Mouri?

 The Doctor, Yasmin and Dan, while trying to escape from a Weeping Angel that has invaded the TARDIS, find themselves in Devon, November 1967 where a little girl has gone missing and in the village graveyard, there is one gravestone too many. Why is Medderton known as the Cursed Village, and what do the Weeping Angels want?

 As the forces of evil mass, The Doctor, Yasmin and Dan face perilous journeys and seemingly insurmountable obstacles in their quest for survival. As the forces of darkness take control and it seems that The Doctor’s enemies have won, who can you count upon to save the universe?



General Information

Season: Thirty Nine (New Series 13)
Production Code: 13-1
Story Number: 297 (New Series: 141)
Episode Numbers:863 - 868 (New Series: 167 - 172)
Number of Episodes: 6
Percentage of Episodes Held:100%
Production Dates: November 2020 - July 2021
Broadcast Started: 31 October 2021
Broadcast Finished: 05 December 2021
Colour Status: HD Colour
Studio: BBC Wales (Roath Lock Studios, Cardiff)
Location: Wales: Morlais Quarry, Merthyr Tydfil; Penwyllt Quarry; Cardiff; Grangetown; Penarth; Barry; Barry Island; Vale of Glamorgan; Atlantic College, Llantwit Major.
Liverpool: Royal Albert Dock; Museum of Liverpool; Church of St Luke; Metropolitan Cathedral; St George's Hall.
Bristol: A Bond Warehouse, Cumberland Road
Writers:Chris Chibnall (All Episodes) and Maxine Alderton (Episode 4)
Directors:Jamie Magnus Stone (Episodes 1, 2 & 4) and Azhur Saleem (Episodes 3, 5 & 6)
Producer:Pete Levy (Episodes 3, 5 & 6)
Executive Producers:Chris Chibnall and Matt Strevens
Co-Executive Producer:Nikki Wilson
Executive Producer for the BBC:Ben Irving
Associate Producer:Sheena Bucktowonsing
Assistant Directors:Jac Lewis, Laura Thompson and Tom May (Episodes 3, 4, 5 & 6)
Script Supervisors:Vicky Cole (Episodes 1, 2 & 4) and Nicki Coles (Episodes 3, 5 & 6)
Script Editors:Caroline Buckley and Rebecca Roughan
Editors:Brooke Taylor Michael (Assistant), Hayley Williams (Assistant - Episodes 1, 2 & 4), Joe Keirle (Assistant - Episodes 3, 5 & 6), Alastair Gray (Assistant VFX), Rebecca Trotman (Episode 6), Joel Skinner (Episodes 1, 2 & 4), Cat Gregory (Episodes 3, 5 & 6) and Emily Lawrence (VFX)
Colourists:Christine Kelly (Episode 4) and Gareth Spensley (Episodes 1, 2, 3, 5 & 6)
Head of Production:Jacquie Glanville
Production Executive:Tracie Simpson
Production Manager:Delmi Thomas
Post Production Producer:Ceres Doyle
Post Production Supervisor:Liv Duffin
Location Manager:Gareth Roberts
Supervising Location Manager:Iwan Roberts
Production Designer:Dafydd Shurmer
Director of Photography:Phil Wood (Episode 3, 5 & 6) and Robin Whenary (Episodes 1, 2 & 4)
Casting Director:Andy Pryor CDG
Line Producer:Steffan Morris
Costume Designer:Ray Holman
Make-Up Designer:Claire Pritchard-Jones
Cameramen:Dan Patounas (Assistant), Nic Yates (Assistant - Episodes 5 & 6), Mark McQuoid (Operator), Adam Clewes (Trainee - Episodes 5 & 6), Olga Walus (Trainee - Episodes 5 & 6) and Evangeline Davies (Trainee Episodes 1-4, Assistant Episodes 5 & 6)
Visual Effects:DNEG
Additional VFX:Ben Pickles, Zodiak VFX, BBC Wales Graphics (Episodes 1-4), Martyn Western (Episodes 5 & 6), Rory Williams (Episodes 5 & 6) and The 2D Workshop (Episodes 5 & 6)
Special Effects:Real SFX
Prosthetics Designer:Danny Marie Elias
Special Creature Effects:Robert Allsopp & Associates
Creature Designer:Ray Holman
Stunt Co-ordinators:Crispin Layfield and Belinda McGinley (Episodes 3 & 5)
Stunt Performers:Anna Benton (Episode 1), Annabel Canavan (Episode 2), Joseph Paxton (Episode 2), George Harris (Episode 3), Stephanie Carey (Episode 3), Paul Ginns (Episode 5), Jodie Saunders (Episode 6), Yusuf Chandhri (Episode 6), Belinda McGinley (Episodes 1 & 2), Matt Hermiston (Episodes 2 & 5), Rob Jarman (Episodes 2 & 5), Ellie Keighley (Episodes 2 & 6), Christina Low (Episodes 2, 3 & 6) and Guy List (Episodes 5 & 6)
Incidental Music:Segun Akinola
Sound Designer:Harry Barnes
Sound Recordist:Deian Llyr Humphreys
Dubbing Mixers:Howard Bargroff and Natasha Haycocks
Music Orchestrated By:Alec Roberts
Additional Orchestrations By:Huw White (Episode 6)
Music Conducted By:Alastair King (Episode 6) and Alec Roberts (Episodes 1 - 5)
Music Recorded By:Paul Golding (Episodes 1 & 2), Olga Fitzroy (Episodes 1, 2 & 6) and Jeremy Murphy (Episodes 3, 4 & 5)
Music Mixed By:Goetz Botzenhardt
Music Editor:Neil Stemp (Episode 6)
Title Sequence:Ben Pickles
Title Music:Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Arranged by Segun Akinola
Sontarans Originally Created By: Robert Holmes
Weeping Angels Originally Created By: Steven Moffat
Cybermen Originally Created By: Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis
Daleks Originally Created By: Terry Nation
Ood Originally Created By: Russell T Davies
Number of Doctors: 1
The Doctor: Jodie Whittaker (The Thirteenth Doctor)
Number of Companions: 2The Companions: Mandip Gill (Yasmin Khan) and John Bishop (Dan Lewis) (Joins) Guest Cast: Jacob Anderson (Vinder), Dan Starkey (Kragar/Svild/Sestarg/Shallo), Jo Martin (Fugitive Doctor), Jemma Redgrave (Kate Stewart), Nicholas Courtney (Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart - Voice Only) Additional Cast: Craige Els (Karvanista), Steve Oram (Joseph Williamson), Nadia Albina (Diane), Sam Spruell (Swarm), Rochenda Sandall (Azure/Anna), Annabel Scholey (Claire), Jonathan Watson (Skaak/Sontaran Commander Riskaw/Sontaran Commander Stenck), Matthew Needham (Old Swarm), Sarah Amankwah (En Sentac), Charlie Oscar (K-Toscs), Richard Tate (Wilder), Paul Leonard (James Stonehouse), Heather Bleasdale (Wilma), John May (Kev), Gunnar Cauthery (Jón), Barbara Fadden (Weeping Angel), Isla Moody (Weeping Angel), Lowri Brown (Weeping Angel), Sara Powell (Mary Seacole), Sue Jenkins (Eileen), Paul Broughton (Neville), Gerald Kyd (General Logan), Jonny Mathers (Passenger), Nigel Richard Lambert (Priest Triangle), Thaddea Graham (Bel), Craig Parkinson (Grand Serpent/Prentis), Bhavnisha Parmer (Sonya Khan), Barbara Flynn (Awsok/Tecteun), Chantella Pierre (Police Officer), Nicholas Briggs (Voice of the Cybermen/Daleks), Amanda Drew (Voice of the Mouri), Kevin McNally (Professor Jericho), Alex Frost (Reverend Shaw), Vincent Brimble (Gerald), Jemma Churchill (Jean), Penelope McGhie (Mrs Hayward), Blake Harrison (Namaca), Poppy Polivnick (Peggy), Robert Bathurst (Farquhar), Nicholas Blane (Millington), Simon Carew (Ood), Silas Carson (Voice of the Ood), Guy List (Waiter), Kammy Darweish (Kumar), George Caple (Alfie), Stevie - Grand Serpent Victim (Sonny Walker)Setting: Liverpool (1820, 1904 and 2021); Arctic Circle; Observation Outpost Rose; Crimea (1855), Temple of Atropos, Planet Time; Medderton (1901 and 21 November 1967); Puzano (2021); Division Spacestation, outside of N-Space; Mexico (1904); Constantinople (1904); Nepal (1904); Great Wall of China (1904); England (1958, 1967, 1987, 2017 and 2021); Earth Orbit (2021); Williamson Tunnels Villains:Awsok, Azure, Cybermen, Daleks, Grand Serpent, Sontarans, Swarm and The Weeping Angels

The Episodes

No. Episodes Broadcast
(UK)
Duration Viewers
(Millions)
In Archive
863Flux Chapter 1 - The Halloween Apocalypse31 October 202149'52"5.8Yes
864Flux Chapter 2 - War of the Sontarans07 November 202159'26"5.1Yes
865Flux Chapter 3 - Once, Upon Time14 November 202149'03"4.7Yes
866Flux Chapter 4 - Village of the Angels21 November 202156'40"4.6Yes
867Flux Chapter 5 - Survivors of the Flux28 November 202150'35"4.7Yes
868Flux Chapter 6 - The Vanquishers05 December 202159'17"4.6Yes

Total Duration 5 Hours 25 Minutes


Audience Appreciation

Average Viewers (Millions) 4.9
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2023) Position = 12 out of 24


Archives


 This story exists and is held in the BBC's Film and Videotape Library.



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Notes


This story sees Jodie Whittaker return for her third and final season as the Thirteenth Doctor. Mandip Gill also returns as The Doctor’s travelling companion Yasmin Khan. Following the departures of Bradley Walsh and Tosin Cole in the previous story, "Revolution of the Daleks". John Bishop joined the cast as new companion Dan Lewis.

As well as the introduction of Dan Lewis this story sees the introduction of Swarm, Karvanista and has the Thirteenth Doctor’s first encounter with Weeping Angels and Sontarans.

Guest stars include Jacob Anderson who appears in the recurring role as Vinder, Jo Martin returned as the Fugitive Doctor (having last appeared in the previous season’s stories "Fugitive of the Judoon" and "The Timeless Children"), Jemma Redgrave reprised her role as Kate Stewart, a recurring character alongside the Eleventh and Twelfth Doctors, who was last seen in the 2015 story "The Zygon Invasion/The Zygon Inversion".

The story features some recurring aliens, including the Cybermen, Daleks, Ood, Sontarans, and Weeping Angels. It also introduced new enemies – namely: Swarm, Azure and the Great Serpent.

This story follows the Thirteenth Doctor and her companions as they navigate a universe-ending anomaly called the ‘Flux’, while dealing with enemies and secrets from The Doctor's past.

This is the first televised story to see The Doctor coming face to face with the embodiment of Time, although such a thing had previously been presented in Virgin Books' The New Adventures novels.

Chris Chibnall wrote all six episodes, co-writing one episode with Maxine Alderton, who returned after writing for the previous season.

Jamie Magnus Stone and Azhur Saleem directed this story - with Jamie Magnus Stone directing the first, second and fourth episodes, and Azhur Saleem directing the third, fifth and sixth episodes. Jamie Magnus Stone returned from directing for the previous season, with Azhur Saleem directing as a new contributor.

According to Production Executive, Tracie Simpson, pre-production for Season Thirty Nine (New Series 13) was set to begin in June 2020, with filming originally set for September 2020. Filming eventually commenced in November 2020, and ran for ten months. Filming was still ongoing in July 2021 as confirmed at the San Diego Comic Con.

Filming for all six episodes of this story, along with two of the 2022 specials, had concluded by August 2021.

The story was first promoted at San Diego Comic Con on the 25th July 2021, where the first teaser trailer was released. Throughout October 2021, a Sontaran spaceship was projected over Liverpool and Jodie Whittaker appeared in an episode of The Graham Norton Show on the 15th October 2021 during which a second trailer was released.

This story premiered on the 31st October 2021 on BBC One. In the United States the story aired the same day on BBC America where the streaming service AMC+ carried the streaming video on demand rights to new stories. In Australia stories are released same day on ABC iview and broadcast on ABC TV Plus.

This story marks the first serialised Doctor Who television story for thirty-two years - not since the 1989 Seventh Doctor story "Survival".

This marks the first time in the show’s history that in the title sequence the name of the story has been included along with the main title of the show. The episodes are also prefixed in the title sequence with chapter numbers.

This story marked the first time a new BBC logo was used on screen since 2005. The new BBC logo was incorporated into the title sequence and the end credits.

The six episodes that form this story form the longest continual storyline in the revived series (at 325 minutes in total).




Chapter One: The Halloween Apocalypse

This opening chapter introduced the Flux, a universe-breaking force which is bound for Earth, as well as Swarm, a figure from The Doctor's past who escapes his confinement and frees his sister, Azure, from her earthly life. New companion, Dan Lewis, also joins the TARDIS team.

The beginning of the first episode marks the first time in a televised story that the TARDIS has an all-female crew.

The start of this episode offers a brief glimpse at the dynamics of Yasmin Khan's largely unwritten solo travels with the Thirteenth Doctor.

Yasmin has been taught how to operate the TARDIS. The Doctor previously taught Donna Noble some of the basics (see "The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky"). The Tenth Doctor also briefly assisted a range of former companions to help fly the planet Earth back home after the Daleks moved it (see "The Stolen Earth/Journey's End"). Clara Oswald was also capable of piloting a TARDIS (see "The Day of The Doctor", "The Woman Who Lived" and " Heaven Sent/Hell Bent").

Dan Lewis' apparent dislike for Leeds, and nearby Sheffield, is most likely banter, stemming from the historic rivalry between Lancashire and Yorkshire. Dan is a born Liverpudlian, and the city of Liverpool was historically part of Lancashire before the reform of county boundaries in 1974; both Leeds and Sheffield are typical Yorkshire cities.

Upon meeting Dan, The Doctor is heard to say ‘Nice to meet you, Dan. Run for your life’. This echoes the Ninth Doctor's words to Rose Tyler when they first met in the 2005 story "Rose").

When trying to release herself from the vocally-locked handcuffs, The Doctor claims that her failure to open them might be to do with the fact that she was Scottish when she set them up, and proceeds to attempt a Scottish accent. According to the BBC America subtitles, she first attempts to copy the voice of the Twelfth Doctor (Peter Capaldi) and then the Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy).

The threat of the Flux is similar to the antimatter from the DC Comics, in which the 1980s event ‘Crisis on Infinite Earths’ had an antimatter wave destroy multiple universes. It is also reminiscent of the Nothing from "The Neverending Story", which was a seemingly unstoppable force that swallowed up everything in its path. The Flux tears apart anything it comes across at a molecular level, making it similar to the effects of Davros' Reality bomb from 2008 Tenth Doctor story "The Stolen Earth/Journey's End".

The Doctor is revealed to have been pursuing Karvanista, the last living member of the Division, the order which erased her memories of having been the Timeless Child. This carries on from the revelations of 2020 story "Ascension of the Cybermen/The Timeless Children".

Karvanista's attempt at hypnotism by swiping his hand across in front of Dan's face is similar to that of the ‘Jedi Mind Trick’ from the Star Wars saga.

The Doctor mentions Nitro-9, an explosive used by Ace (see "Dragonfire").

The Cloister Bell is heard as the Flux approaches. The Doctor explains this means the TARDIS is in imminent danger (see "Logopolis").

The Doctor calls the Flux ‘the end of the universe’.

The Doctor is interested in learning more about the Division. She previously learned of her past lives as the Timeless Child on Gallifrey, and knows these memories were taken from her by the organisation (see "Ascension of the Cybermen/The Timeless Children").

This episode was dedicated to the memory of former Foley artist Julie Atkinson, who passed away on the 28th July 2021.




Chapter Two: War of the Sontarans

The second episode introduced the Temple of Atropos on the planet Time and at the end of this episode saw Dan Lewis officially invited into the TARDIS by The Doctor.

In the second episode Mary Seacole appears during the Crimean War against a troop of Sontarans. Dan is returned to modern day Liverpool fighting against a different troop of the warriors while Yasmin finds herself on the planet Time to investigate the Temple of Atropos.

The opening sequence of the episode (inside The Doctor's mind) is in black and white. The last episode to have a black/white sequence was the ‘Previously’ sequence in "Twice Upon a Time" with William Hartnell as the First Doctor.

The Sontarans chant ‘Sontar-ha’ is an established war chant or when something is positive. This story introduces a negative chant in the form of ‘Sontar-ho’, when Skaak executed Svild for dishonour to the name of their species.

The Sontaran flag symbol resembles the yellow diamond symbol seen on the door of Styre's ship in the 1975 Fourth Doctor story "The Sontaran Experiment".

Commander Linx and the Shadow Proclamation are both mentioned in this episode.

When The Doctor tells Mary Seacole ‘half a league onward’, as she is about to enter the Imperial Sontaran Time Carrier, is a reference to The Charge of the Light Brigade by Lord Alfred Tennyson.

In the end credits of "The Halloween Apocalypse" Jonathan Watson is listed as playing the part of Ritskaw while in "War of the Sontarans" he is listed as playing ‘Sontaran Commander Riskaw’ - giving him his Sontaran rank but also a slightly different spelling of his name.

In the second episode the subtitles provided by BBC One and BBC America erroneously spelt Linx's name as ‘Lynx’.




Chapter Three: Once, Upon Time

In the third episode The Doctor enters her own time stream to discover her own unknown past life working for the Division, discovering her part in ending the Dark Times as well as stopping Swarm and Azure's rule. This episode sees the return of the Cybermen and the Fugitive Doctor. The Daleks also make a minor appearance. This episode introduces the character of Bel, the Grand Serpent and Awsok. Another Weeping Angel also appears.

The third episode saw the Thirteenth Doctor revisiting lost memories in her own time stream. The re-introduction of the Fugitive Doctor began to piece together how she fits in with the Siege of Atropos and the origin of the Flux. It also connects the Division, and their creation of the planet Time.

This episode focused in on each of the character's history. It also shone light on Vinder's story, including how he came to be on Outpost Rose, and what will be his main motivation: reconnecting with his pregnant wife, Bel, who is shown making her own way to find him. Bel's storyline in this episode also highlights the Flux's impact on the wider universe, with many worlds overtaken, and provides an anchor for the audience to understand what the Great Disruption has done to local time.

This episode firmly establishes the Fugitive Doctor as a past incarnation, something which had been left ambiguous since her debut. Specifically, it places her near the end of The Doctor's association with the Division.

The credits of this episode cemented the term ‘Fugitive Doctor’ for the mysterious incarnation of The Doctor that was first played by Jo Martin in the 2020 story "Fugitive of the Judoon". This name had been widely used in the Doctor Who fandom up to this point.

In this episode the BBC iPlayer subtitles during the ‘Next Time’ trailer, at the end of the closing credits, incorrectly names Peggy as ‘Maggie’.




Chapter Four: Village of the Angels

The fourth episode sees the proper return of the Weeping Angels.

This episode does not feature Karvanista, Swarm or Joseph Williamson. Vinder is also absent for a majority of the episode, only appearing at the very end during the mid-credits scene.

This episode's Weeping Angels were a special force called an Extraction Squad with the power to turn other beings into Angels if gathered in a large enough group, as well as being revealed to work for the Division, who are revealed to be able to recruit any creature and being into their organisation.

This episode marks the first time in the show's history that a victim of a Weeping Angel has been killed on-screen, with the characters in question shattering into rock debris.

The climax saw the Angels capturing The Doctor by transforming her into a Weeping Angel so as to recall her to the Division.

The Doctor utters her previous incarnations' catchphrases, notably ‘when I say run, run! ’, and, ‘reverse the polarity of the neutron flow’.

This episode is the second episode, of the revived show, to feature a scene during the end credits, the first being at the end of "Dark Water/Death in Heaven". The show also previously featured a post-credit scene in "Face the Raven", both from the Twelfth Doctor era. The mid-credit scene was also given a special glitching effect as it started and as it ended.

The Doctor Who theme also received a special variation during the end credits. It returns to normal after the ‘Next Time’ segment.

In the end credits of this episode, Barbara Fadden's name is misspelt as ‘Barara Fadden’. This is corrected in the fifth episode.




Chapter Five: Survivors of the Flux

In the penultimate episode The Doctor is flung into the centre of the Division's operations with Awsok waiting, revealing herself to be Tecteun and trying to start anew in a new universe, hence opening the Multiverse. Meanwhile, Yasmine, Dan and Jericho are stuck in 1904 trying to save the future.

UNIT returns to the show, with the Grand Serpent trying to climb his way up the ranks.

This episode reveals that UNIT is established at some point between 1958 (when Farquhar and ‘Prentis’ discuss it) and 1966, when WOTAN attacked London with the War Machines (see the First Doctor story "The War Machines").

Whilst various spin-off media has delved into UNIT's history, this is the first televised story to give an origin for the UK Branch of UNIT, which first appeared in the 1968 Second Doctor story "The Invasion" as an already existing ‘independent intelligence group’.

In this fifth episode an Ood and Kate Stewart return to the show. The voice of Nicholas Courtney, as Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, is heard in the background - apparently as a newly-recruited corporal in 1967.

This is Nicholas Courtney's first credit in a television story since the 1989 Seventh Doctor story "Battlefield". He did appear in the 1993 Children In Need special story Dimensions in Time and in the 2008 The Sarah Jane Adventures story "Enemy of the Bane". The audio clip used for his cameo was taken from the 1971 Third Doctor story "Terror of the Autons".

Kate is heard contacting Petronella Osgood before she goes into hiding.

According to the map Yasmine, Dan and Jericho travelled past the River Ganges, across the Bay of Bengal, through a bay between Sumatra and Siam, past Borneo and the Gulf of Siam, through the China Sea and past Formosa on their way from Nepal to the Great Wall of China. Tehraun, Persia, Persian Gulf, Bombay, Hindoostan, Calcutta, Arabian Sea, Bab-el-Mandeb, Maldives, Cape Comorin, Ceylon, Madras, Birmah, China, Canton, Java, Luzon, Philippine Islands, Mindanao and Gilolo can also be seen on the map.

This episode established Awsok as another incarnation of the Shobogan Time Lord Tecteun, whilst revealing the space station she was found on to be the remains of the Division, with an Ood as her servant.

This episode further revealed the space station to be a Multiverse division point in the Void between what she labelled Universe One and Universe Two, revealing that, with the Flux destroying ‘One’, all that is left is moving into ‘Two’.

This is the only episode in this six-part story not to have part of the storyline shown before the opening titles. All that came before the opening titles is the ‘Previously’ sequence.

This episode references the real-world release date of the subsequent episode, "The Vanquishers", mirroring how the first episode, "The Halloween Apocalypse", also referenced and was released on Halloween.




Chapter Six: The Vanquishers

This episode brought an end to the storylines of the Ravagers, the Great Serpent, and saw Vinder finally reunited with his pregnant wife, Bel, after they spent most of the story looking for one another.

This final episode also has Kate Stewart meeting the Thirteenth Doctor for the first time.

Dan realises that him releasing Karvanista was what the wiseman was referring to by ‘fetch your dog’.

When able to see her appearance in another clone of herself, The Doctor remarks positively. Echoing when the Tenth Doctor and the Eleventh Doctor made similar comments (see "The Stolen Earth/Journey's End" and "The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People").

This episode gave a similar ominous warning of impending doom for the Thirteenth Doctor, as had been previously given to the Tenth Doctor in the 2009 special "Planet of the Dead".




The first and sixth episodes of the six-part story are both set on the same day they were broadcast - namely the 31st October 2021 and the 5th December 2021 respectively. This makes them two of only six episodes in the revived series to do so, following after: the first part of "The End of Time" on the 25th December 2009, the second part of "The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang" on the 26th June 2010, the first part of "The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon" on the 22nd April 2011 and "Resolution" on the 1st January 2019.

At the end of this story The Doctor places the fob watch, containing her lost memories, within the TARDIS. The Doctor is also warned about nearing the end of her current incarnation.

This story contains a couple of errors - In the fifth episode in a close-up shot in the first pyramid scene, Yasmine is seen looking at the Professor Jericho whilst talking to him; however, in the next shot, she is seen looking away from him, with her head and eyes in a different position. Another error occurs at the end of the sixth and final episode where in the TARDIS, when The Doctor speaks to Yasmine as Dan leaves to find his bedroom, Dan can initially be seen walking up the steps to the corridor but disappears when the camera zooms in on Yasmin.


Show Only the First 50 Story Notes >>>>



First and Last

The Firsts:

 John Bishop's first story as companion Dan Lewis.

 Nicholas Courtney's first credit since the 1989 Seventh Doctor story "Battlefield".

 The first Doctor Who story to be directed by Azhur Saleem.

 The first use of the term ‘Fugitive Doctor’ for the mysterious incarnation of The Doctor played by Jo Martin.

 The Thirteenth Doctor's first encounter with Kate Stewart.

 The Thirteenth Doctor's first encounter with the Sontarans.

 The Thirteenth Doctor's first encounter with an Ood.

 The first serialised Doctor Who television story in the revived series.

 The first time in Doctor Who that in the title sequence the name of the story has been included along with the main title of the show.

 The first Doctor Who story that starts with the TARDIS having an all-female crew.

 The first time that a victim of a Weeping Angel is killed on-screen.


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The Plot

WARNING: May Contain SpoilersHide Text
Yasmin and Dan in the TARDIS
Yasmin and Dan in the TARDIS

The Doctor and her travelling companion Yasmin Khan are in pursuit of Karvanista, a member of the dog-like Lupari species. They manage to escape from Karvanista’s capture and follow him to Earth in the TARDIS. En-route, The Doctor experiences a psychic vision of Swarm (a mysterious being who claims to share a history with The Doctor) escaping from its millennia-long imprisonment by the Time Lord Division. The TARDIS arrives in Liverpool just after Karvanista kidnaps the seemingly insignificant Dan Lewis for reasons that are at first unknown. Before leaving Liverpool, in pursuit of Karvanista, The Doctor and Yasmin meet Claire, a woman from their future and her past. Shortly afterwards Claire is touched by a Weeping Angel and is transported into the past.

On Karvanista’s spaceship, Yasmin rescues Dan while The Doctor confronts Karvanista over his connection to the Division and learns that the Lupari are in fact trying to save humanity due to Earth’s imminent destruction by the Flux, an unknown entity that defies all laws of space and time, as it consumes everything in its path. Meanwhile, the Flux causes Vinder, the sole crew member of a remote outpost in deep space, to evacuate and this event catches the attention of the Sontarans.

Following another psychic interaction between The Doctor and Swarm, the Flux accelerates its attack on Earth. The Doctor has Karvanista form a defensive shield with the other Lupari spaceships, protecting Earth from the Flux. Unable to transport behind the shield, the TARDIS is overtaken by the Flux. The Doctor releases some of the time vortex energy into the Flux, but this does not have any discernible effect. Then the TARDIS' doorways fly open as the Flux approaches.

Karvanista
Karvanista

The Doctor manages to land the malfunctioning TARDIS. On exiting The Doctor, Yasmin and Dan find themselves near Crimean War-era Sevastopol, where they are met by British General Logan and nurse Mary Seacole. The Flux's effects abruptly send Dan back to 2021 Liverpool, and Yasmin to a damaged temple full of dying priests. There she meets philanthropist Joseph Williamson and Vinder. Swarm arrives at the temple, reveals it to be on the planet Time, kills the priests and takes Yasmin and Vinder hostage.

Back on Earth, The Doctor discovers that instead of the British fighting the Russians they are fighting Sontarans who managed to slip past the Lupari's defences and overtake human history. The Doctor enlists Mary Seacole to gather intelligence on the Sontarans, while he summons the Sontarans to negotiate a retreat, only to be arrested by Logan's soldiers, who later fight a disastrous battle with the Sontarans. The Doctor regroups with Mary Seacole and the remainder of Logan's men, and they disrupt the Sontarans' supplies, but Logan reneges and bombs the Sontarans encampment so destroying their Spaceships.

Azure and Swarm
Azure and Swarm

Meanwhile in Liverpool, in 2021, Dan discovers that the Sontarans have taken over his home city. He manages to infiltrate the Sontarans' shipyard but the Sontarans discover Dan's presence. Dan though is rescued by Karvanista who then destroys the shipyard, which resets the timeline. The Doctor manages to recover the TARDIS and collect Dan, but the TARDIS is hijacked and brought to the temple, where they are forced to watch as Swarm is about to kill Yasmin and Vinder.

The Doctor jumps into the temple's time storm and manages to stall Swarm by hiding Yasmin, Dan and Vinder in their pasts, albeit with many details changed. The Doctor jumps into her own timestream where she encounters memories of her past incarnation, the Fugitive Doctor, and Karvanista raiding the temple to defeat Swarm and rescue the priests. She finds the priests and encourages them to return to the temple, but the priests separate The Doctor from her past to protect her. The Doctor returns Yasmin, Dan and Vinder to the present and fixes the timestreams. She then returns Vinder to his Flux-ravaged home planet. But then a Weeping Angel intercepts the TARDIS.

The Doctor reboots the TARDIS, forcing the Weeping Angel out and stranding it in the village of Medderton in 1967. There Professor Jericho is conducting psychic experiments on Claire. While helping the villagers search for a missing girl called Peggy a Weeping Angel transports Yasmin and Dan back to 1901 Medderton where they find Peggy. They also discover a barrier to 1967 and Peggy's future self, who had to live out the rest of her life until then.

Sontaran
Sontaran

Still in 1967 Medderton, The Doctor, Claire, and Professor Jericho barricade themselves in the basement of Jericho’s house where Claire reveals she is becoming a Weeping Angel, having had a vision of a Weeping Angel that seizes her mind. The Doctor discovers the Weeping Angel is hiding from the other Weeping Angels, who are after it. The Doctor discovers that the rogue Weeping Angel has knowledge of the Division. When the Weeping Angels gain access to the house the group escape through a tunnel surrounded by more Weeping Angels, one of whom transports Professor Jericho back to 1901.

The Doctor learns the Weeping Angels have taken the village out of time to capture the rogue Weeping Angel. The rogue Weeping Angel reveals that it offered The Doctor to the Weeping Angels for its own safety. The Doctor is recalled to the Division as they turn her into a Weeping Angel, stranding the others in 1901.

The Weeping Angels transport The Doctor to the Division where she meets her adoptive mother, Tecteun, who reveals that the Division is their knowledge of the multiverse and that they orchestrated the Flux to kill The Doctor for interfering with the Division's plans. The Doctor also discovers that Tecteun has a fob watch containing her lost memories.

Vinder
Vinder

Back on Earth in 1904, Yasmin, along with Dan and Professor Jericho, have been tasked by The Doctor, via a holographic message, to search for artifacts and psychics to discover when the world will end. They eventually arrive in Liverpool where they encounter Joseph Williamson who reveals to them, that while excavating tunnels under Liverpool, he has discovered several doorways that led to various other places and times.

Meanwhile over many decades, a snake-like entity, that calls itself the Grand Serpent, infiltrates UNIT as an officer, eliminating those who pose a threat to him. After being threatened by Kate Stewart, he deactivates all UNIT defences, allowing the Sontarans to invade Earth again.

Vinder discovers Swarm harvesting energy from Flux survivors, but is caught and trapped in a Passenger where he meets Dan's friend Diane who was kidnapped earlier by Swarm and Azure. The Doctor watches helplessly as Swarm arrives to disintegrate Tecteun and is about to do the same to her.

Time Priests
Time Priests

The Doctor splits herself into three copies. Azure attempts to return one of the copy's memories. Yasmin, Dan, Professor Jericho, and Joseph Williamson, use one of the doorways that Joseph Williamson discovered, to travel to 2021 where they meet Kate Stewart and the second copy of The Doctor, who tasks Professor Jericho and Claire to become captured by the Sontarans. The second copy of The Doctor then retrieves her TARDIS that Kate had kept safe. Meanwhile the third copy of The Doctor crashes Karvanista's spaceship into the Sontaran command. But it is caught in a shield protecting the Sontarans from such attack. The third copy of The Doctor and Karvanista are captured. The second copy of The Doctor manages to rescue the third copy but not before the Sontarans commit genocide against the Lupari.

The Doctor discovers that the Sontarans have offered an alliance with the Cybermen and Daleks - but this is a ruse to sacrifice them to the Flux while the Sontarans use the Lupari shield to protect them from the Flux, which destroys the Daleks and Cybermen. Claire manages to escape the Sontarans but Professor Jericho cannot. The two copies of The Doctor rescue Vinder and Diane, and reform the Lupari shield behind the Sontarans, leaving the Flux to consume them as well. The two copies of The Doctor then summon a Passenger which absorbs the Flux.

Azure and Swarm bring the first copy of The Doctor to Atropos to sacrifice her to Time, but Time destroys the duo and reunifies The Doctor. Using the tunnel doors, Kate and Vinder maroon the Grand Serpent on a small asteroid. Vinder and Bel (a survivor of the Flux who has been searching for Vinder as she is carrying his child) decide to travel with Karvanista. The Doctor invites Dan to join her and Yasmin in the TARDIS and while Yasmin shows Dan around the TARDIS, The Doctor deposits the fob watch containing her lost memories deep into the TARDIS interior.

 
The Doctor and Yasmin
The Doctor and Yasmin
A Weeping Angel
A Weeping Angel
The Doctor with Professor Jericho and Claire
The Doctor with Professor Jericho and Claire
The Doctor as a Weeping Angel
The Doctor as a Weeping Angel
 
The Doctor with Tecteun
The Doctor with Tecteun
The Thirteenth Doctor, Twice
The Thirteenth Doctor, Twice
Kate Stewart
Kate Stewart
Yasmin, The Doctor and Dan
Yasmin, The Doctor and Dan




Quote of the Story


 'It's life, innit? Nobody gets by without some bruises.'

Dan Lewis



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Release Information

FormatTitleRelease Date (UK)Code NumberCover ArtRemarks
Video
DVD
FluxJanuary 2022BBCDVD 4498Photo-montageDVD boxed set containing all 6 episodes of this story
Video
Blu-Ray
FluxJanuary 2022BBCBD 0553Photo-montageBlu-Ray boxed set containing all 6 episodes of this story
Video
Blu-Ray
FluxJanuary 2022BBCBD 0554Photo-montageLimited Edition Blu-Ray Steelbook boxed set containing all 6 episodes of this story
Audio
CD
Original Television Soundtrack - FluxNovember 2022Photo-montageMusic by Segun Akinola (includes music from "Revolution of the Daleks")


In Print

No Book Release
Doctor Who Magazine - ReviewIssue 571 (Released: Winter 2021)
Doctor Who Magazine - ReviewIssue 572 (Released: January 2022)
Doctor Who Magazine - ReviewIssue 573 (Released: February 2022)

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Photo Gallery


The Doctor and Companions

 
Jodie Whittaker
The Thirteenth Doctor

   

Mandip Gill
Yasmin Khan
 
John Bishop
Dan Lewis
   




On Release

DVD Cover
DVD Cover

BBC
VIDEO
Blu-Ray Cover
Blu-Ray Cover

BBC
VIDEO
Blu-Ray Limited Edition Steelbook
Blu-Ray Limited Edition Steelbook

BBC
VIDEO
Original Television Soundtrack Cover
Original Television Soundtrack Cover

BBC
AUDIO
   



Magazines

Doctor Who Magazine - Review: Issue 571
Doctor Who Magazine - Review: Issue 571

Marvel Comics
Doctor Who Magazine - Review: Issue 572
Doctor Who Magazine - Review: Issue 572

Marvel Comics
Doctor Who Magazine - Review: Issue 573
Doctor Who Magazine - Review: Issue 573

Marvel Comics
   

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