 "Dot and Bubble" was written by Russell T Davies and directed by Dylan Holmes Williams.
In this story the Fifteenth Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa), with his companion, Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson), attempt to save the population of the city of Finetime from human eating giant slugs. Primarily communicating through virtual means with Lindy Pepper-Bean (played by Callie Cooke), The Doctor and Ruby try to help the residents of Finetime escape.
While not considered a ‘Doctor-lite’ story, "Dot and Bubble" does focus less on The Doctor and Ruby but more on the character of Lindy Pepper-Bean. This makes "Dot and Bubble" the first story since the 2007 Tenth Doctor story "Blink" to focus primarily on a character who is neither The Doctor or a companion.
Similar to the previous story, Ncuti Gatwa was still filming Sex Education when this story began production limiting his availability but he does have a larger presence than he had in the previous story "73 Yards".
Similar to other stories in this season, Susan Twist guest starred as another seemingly disparate character (though briefly) this time as Lindy’s mother, Penny Pepper-Bean. The Doctor recognises Penny Pepper-Bean as the face of the screens of the Villengard Ambulances from the planet of Kastarion 3, as depicted in "Boom", while Ruby Sunday says she recognises her from elsewhere, recalling other characters with similar appearances that were seen in previous stories in this season. In the other previous stories Susan Twist has played a hiker in "73 Yards" and was a tea lady in "The Devil's Chord". Susan Twist also played Mrs Merridew in last season’s Fourteenth Doctor story "Wild Blue Yonder". At the time that "Dot and Bubble" was broadcast it has not been revealed how these separate characters are connected.
Tom Rhys Harries appeared as Ricky September. The remainder of the guest cast included Eilidh Loan, Aldous Ciokajlo Squire, and Niamh Lynch, among others.
Russell T Davies has admitted he took inspiration for this story from Black Mirror but with more freedom. Several critics also noted the similarities in tone and premise especially with the Black Mirror episodes ‘Fifteen Million Merits’, in 2011, and ‘Nosedive’ in 2016.
Russell T Davies initially conceptualised the idea in 2009 when the upcoming showrunner Steven Moffat asked Russell T Davies to return to the programme after his initial departure and write a story for the Eleventh Doctor and his companion Amy Pond. Russell T Davies has stated that the idea for this story was originally pitched to Steven Moffat in April 2010, but the discussion only lasted a few minutes before it was decided that it would be impossible to make at that time. This was due to the budget constraints that the heavy visual effects would have required. Following the co-production deal with Disney that began in 2023, which allowed for an increased budget enabling this story to finally be produced.
This story explored the reliance of social media on a young population while featuring underlying themes of racism and elitism. The Finetime residents' rejection of The Doctor in the final scene is widely interpreted as due to his race.
Only white actors were cast in the guest roles due to this story’s theme of racism; Russell T Davies has acknowledged his hope that some viewers would notice from the very beginning of this story that the residents of Finetime are all visibly white, which could be taken as an early sign of this story’s final twist.
"Dot and Bubble" was the second story of the Season Forty One (New Series 14) to be produced, though the final scene of this story was the very first to be filmed by Ncuti Gatwa for the main part of this season. It was filmed in the first production block along with the previous story, "73 Yards". Filming took place in December 2022 and January 2023.
Because the weather on set was unpredictable, the scene with Weatherman Will was filmed multiple times with different fictional weather forecasts.
Millennium FX designed the slug creatures, which took three people to operate during filming.
In this story The Doctor is seen wearing the outfit he wore in "The Church on Ruby Road".
The Doctor experiences racial prejudice from the residents of Finetime.
The Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones previously dealt with racism in 1599 during the events of "The Shakespeare Code", and in 1913 during the events of "Human Nature/The Family of Blood". The Twelfth Doctor and Bill Potts also talked about racism during the 1814 frost fair, as seen in "Thin Ice". While Yasmin Khan had to deal with racism for much of her life as presented in the 2018 Thirteenth Doctor story "Rosa" and in the BBC New Series Adventures novel "The Good Doctor" written by Juno Dawson.
It was also hinted the Kaled's racism against other races caused their war with the Thals which led to the origin of the Daleks, as expressed in the 1963 First Doctor story "The Daleks" and in the 1975 Fourth Doctor story "Genesis of the Daleks".
The population of Finetime refusing The Doctor's help because of prejudice is similar to how Drahvins refused the help of Rills in the 1965 First Doctor story "Galaxy 4"; and also how many Kaleds rejected the idea of many including Major Brogan and Scientist Shan making peace with the Thals in the Big Finish Productions audio stories "I, Davros: Innocence" and "I, Davros: Corruption".
As well as the more obvious racism, at the end of this story, the Finetime residents' racism is highlighted (or at least hinted at), before the Finetime residents get to meet The Doctor in person. Namely:
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The name ‘Vivienne Nook’, one of Lindy's friends, is similar to ‘Vivienne Rook’, a character from Years and Years, another television show written by Russell T Davies. It is also similar the character ‘Vivien Rook’ in the 2007 Tenth Doctor story "The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords".
The ‘Dot’ used by the Finetime residents looks similar to a device called the ‘light bee’ in Red Dwarf.
The Doctor still calls the TARDIS a ‘ship’. He previously did so in the 2017 Twelfth Doctor story "Twice Upon a Time".
The Doctor remarks that his TARDIS is unable to enter Finetime because of its high shielding. The TARDIS was previously unable to enter the Black Archive in London, for similar reasons, in the 2013 Eleventh Doctor story "The Day of The Doctor".
Lindy Pepper-Bean tries to call the police but is consistently dismissed by an automated message stating that the lines are busy. The Tenth Doctor faced a similar dilemma in the 2007 story "Gridlock".
The ending of this story, with the reveal that Lindy and the other residents of Finetime are racist, marked the first time that The Doctor has experienced prejudice and racial discrimination because of the colour of his skin, and was the second time an incarnation of The Doctor had been a target of prejudice after the Thirteenth Doctor in the 2018 story "The Witchfinder". Consequently, because of the racist behaviour displayed by the residents of Finetime causing them to refuse any help from the Fifteenth Doctor, the ending showed a rare example of The Doctor failing to save everyone in danger in a story despite his best efforts to convince them otherwise.
This story was released on the 31st May 2024 on Disney+, and on BBC iPlayer on the 1st June 2024, before being broadcast at 6:50pm on BBC One that same day.
The end titles include the caption: ‘Produced with the support of Incentives for the Irish Film Industry provided by the Government of Ireland’.
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The Firsts:
The first story since the 2007 Tenth Doctor story "Blink" to focus primarily on a character who is neither The Doctor or a companion.
The first time that The Doctor has experienced prejudice and racial discrimination because of the colour of his skin.
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