 In this story The Doctor and his travelling companion Belinda face danger in 1952 Miami when they arrive in the TARDIS and find a terrifying secret hiding in an abandoned cinema in the shape of a cartoon character called Mr Ring-a-Ding - a unique animated villain that has come to life and who is not as two-dimensional as he first appears. After discovering the mysterious cinema where fifteen people have disappeared, the pair stay to investigate and ultimately confront an animated God called Lux who traps them in film.
This story was written by Russell T Davies, from a concept first developed over two decades prior, and was directed by Amanda Brotchie.
This story includes mentions of segregation and racism in which Russell T Davies said he added to address issues in present-day society. It was also used as a subversion to The Doctor usually situating themselves as the main authority figure. While including such themes, he didn't want it to be the dominant subject. Other motifs present explore grief, hope, friendship, and sadness. Popular culture references to Rock Hudson and the Scooby Doo character Velma were included. Additionally, Russell T Davies has continued a recent trend of breaking the fourth wall.
The guest cast for this story includes Alan Cumming - who voices Mr Ring-a-Ding. Other members of the guest cast include: Linus Roache (Reginald Pye, the cinema’s projectionist), Lewis Cornay (Logan Cheever, the distraught mother in the diner) and another mysterious appearance for Anita Dobson as Mrs Flood.
Alan Cumming voicing the antagonist, Mr Ring-a-Ding, marks his second appearance in the show after his role as King James I in the 2018 Thirteenth Doctor story "The Witchfinders". Russell T Davies said that he and the production team had considered whether it was too soon to cast Alan Cumming again and that had it been a live action role, he likely would not have been.
This story is unusual for the show in that it features a mixed live-action and animated format. Russell T Davies has revealed that he had wanted to do a story that included a living cartoon for a long time, but until now was unable to do one for funding reasons. He also revealed that he had considered variants of such a story, including featuring a hologram rather than a legitimate animation as a result of the budgetary constraints.
Filming for this story took place at Wolf Studios in Cardiff, Wales in January 2024. Some voice-over work took place internationally in New York City in June 2024. Animation and other post-production work continued later into the year, with some tasks still being completed as late as September 2024.
Costume designer Pam Downe created The Doctor's and Belinda's outfits using the complimentary colours of blue and yellow. Belinda's dress was inspired by a similar one worn by Anita (played by American actress and singer Ariana DeBose) and designed by Paul Tazewell in the 2021 adaptation of West Side Story.
The blue suit worn by The Doctor was influenced by American musical artists of the 1950’s. These hues were intended to further contrast with the red interior of the cinema by ultimately using all three primary colours.
Pam Downe ultimately wanted to successfully convey movement during this story’s action scenes. As such, three different wigs were considered for Varada Sethu to wear and her dress had multiple underskirts.
Ian Spendloff worked as a creative designer for this story, and was the designer of Mr Ring-a-Ding. Russell T Davies compared the concept of Mr Ring-a-Ding to the Fleischer animations from the 1930s. It has been revealed that Ian Spendloff drafted thirty different sketches to be considered before finally settling on the one used in this story. Each one featured a variation in noses, hair, and other elements. Mr Ring-a-Ding was ultimately given a pig-like nose and blue skin to reflect characteristics of cartoon characters from the time period, with Russell T Davies wanting the character to look vaguely human but not be immediately identifiable as something else.
As a result of Mr Ring-a-Ding being an animated creation, the cast had to interact with a two-foot acrylic cutout of the character or a thin green pole on set. These scenes were then edited during the post-production process. References for Mr Ring-a-Ding's movement were filmed by the crew, and then drawn directly into the scene by animators from Framestore. Ian Cumming voiced his scenes in New York City on the 28th June 2024. Elements of Ian Cumming's facial expressions, during the sound recordings, were incorporated into Mr Ring-a-Ding. The scene where The Doctor and Belinda are turned into cartoons were first recorded on a green screen, in which Ncuti Gatwa and Varada Sethu had to portray the characters in a rigid and cartoon-like manner. The animators used this as a reference for interaction between the two characters when redrawing them as a cartoon. The animations were done at twenty-five frames per second - so requiring twenty-five drawings for each second of screen time, or fewer if the characters' movements were limited.
Several of the animators, who worked on this story, also worked on the animations for the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit?. This film also dealt with animated characters interacting in a live action setting.
This story was filmed in this season's third production block, along with the following story, "The Well".
Location filming took place in Penarth, Cardiff. The surrounding area was made up to look like an American city in the 1950’s by adding vehicles and American flags. Penarth Pier pavilion was used for exterior shots of the theatre. The production team painted the building, added a period theatre sign, and removed a modern ramp at the front of the building. This story was filmed during Storm Jocelyn causing the cast and crew to struggle with strong winds and rain, requiring hot water bottles to keep the cast warm during takes. Interior shots for the studio were filmed on soundstage 4 at Wolf Studios. Parts of the set were reused from the 2024 story "The Devil's Chord".
Foley artists recorded sound effects at Bang Post Production in Cardiff, Wales on the 4th September 2024. This story's soundtrack included two singles: Roll Over Beethoven by Chuck Berry, and the Marlena Shaw rendition of California Soul. Despite this story taking place in 1952, the tracks were not released until 1956 and 1969, respectively.
The Doctor reveals to Belinda about his recent bi-generation (see "The Giggle") and the fact that he is the last Time Lord from Gallifrey (see the 2020 Thirteenth Doctor story "Spyfall") telling her Gallifrey is still in ruins (see "Ascension of the Cybermen/The Timeless Children").
After The Doctor burns his hand, it is revealed that he can restore it thanks to left-over energy from his bi-generation.
Continuing directly on from the end of "The Robot Revolution", the previous story, this story is the first full story to have Belinda Chandra willingly join The Doctor on an adventure so officially becoming his travelling companion.
The Doctor encourages Belinda to change her clothes so that they can fit in with the location and time period that they have arrived at. This is the same way he did with Ruby Sunday in "The Devil's Chord".
Mrs Flood briefly appears at the end of this story, where she is heard stating that The Doctor's ‘show is a limited run only, ends May 24th’.
Mrs Flood's mysterious appearance in 1952 rather than 2025, where she was seen last in "The Robot Revolution", continues the enigmatic nature of this character that has been hinted and shown since her first appearance in the 2023 story "The Church on Ruby Road".
References to Doctor Who fans were also present in this story. Although they say they are too inconsequential to be given surnames, all three characters are fully named in the credits. These being: Hassan Chowdry, Lizzie Abel and Robyn Gossage.
The three fans seen within this story can be seen wearing Doctor Who apparel: Hassan is wearing the Fourth Doctor's scarf and a jumper with the UNIT logo; Lizzie is wearing a fez and a t-shirt depicting a CyberTelosian, with the Cybermen’s home planet Telos written underneath the Cyberman. She is also sitting on a Weeping Angel cushion, and has TARDIS blue fingernails; Robyn is wearing a shirt with the Meep on it, and is seen holding the Third Doctor's sonic screwdriver.
The fans have figurines of a Slitheen and an Ood, a Fourteenth Doctor Build-A-Bear, and posters of the Fifteenth Doctor, Ruby Sunday and one with a Mantrap with Finetime written beneath it. Hassan drinks from a mug depicting K9, while Robyn's has a Bronze Dalek on hers.
The three Doctor Who fans are heard declaring the 2008 story "Blink" as being their favourite story. The Doctor though is disappointed that this is not the story where he encountered Goblins ("The Church on Ruby Road"), met the Beatles ("The Devil's Chord") or was stuck on a landmine ("Boom").
One of the fans is also heard mentioning the impending cancellation of the show. The fans point out the ‘obviousness’ of the story's foreshadowing, and to online leaks. The show's BBC ident appears on the screen of their television.
The concept of Doctor Who existing within its own universe has been previously briefly explored in the 1988 Seventh Doctor story "Remembrance of the Daleks". Following this instance this scene raised suspicion that Russell T Davies had potentially been planting spoilers online himself regarding upcoming stories as well as rumours that the show would enter into another hiatus. When the fact that this story had been written and filmed well before the leaks began appearing was considered, it was then compared to the futuristic predictions commonly seen in The Simpsons.
This story introduces to the show another member of the Pantheon of Discord, Lux Imperator, who mainly takes on the form of Mr Ring-A-Ding. Mr Ring-a-Ding is the God of Light and is part of the Pantheon of Gods that Russell T Davies had been developing since the 2023 story "The Giggle".
Mr Ring-a-Ding is heard saying, ‘Let me in! By the hair of your chinny-chin-chin! Or is that a different cartoon?’ This is a reference to the 1933 Walt Disney Silly Symphony short film Three Little Pigs.
Lux is aware that The Doctor had recently defeated the Toymaker ("The Giggle"), Maestro ("The Devil's Chord") and Sutekh ("The Legend of Ruby Sunday/Empire of Death").
Lux is able to manifest from the moonlight reflecting off a spoon, similar to how Maestro revealed her presence to The Doctor in the 2024 story "The Devil's Chord". A spoon also served a vital role in The Doctor's defeat of Sutekh in the 2024 story "The Legend of Ruby Sunday/Empire of Death").
The cartoon franchise Scooby Doo is mentioned, although it’s first series did not air until 1969. This occurs when Belinda compares The Doctor to Scooby Doo, The Doctor corrects her by saying that he sees himself more as Velma. He later refers to Belinda as Fred. This was also a nickname the Fourth Doctor offered the first incarnation of Romana in the 1978 story "The Ribos Operation".
The Doctor and Belinda escape from the cartoon world through the fourth wall. This is the same as Daffy Duck did in the 1953 cartoon Duck Amuck.
In the scene where Belinda tells The Doctor how she wished to see her family again, new renditions of Little Amy and Amy's Starless Life, from the Season Thirty One (New Series 5) soundtrack, can be heard. Sad Man in a Box, also a track composed for that season, that was also last heard in the 2017 Twelfth Doctor story "The Pilot", returns here as Hassan, Lizzie, and Robyn reveal themselves as part of the deception to keep The Doctor and Belinda trapped.
The same poster for Rocket to Venus, that was on Alan Budd's bedroom wall in "The Robot Revolution", can be seen in the projection room.
Unusually for the show, this story featured a mid-credits scene in which the three Doctor Who fans finish watching this story and realise that they are still alive.
Despite having received a warm reception from fans and critics praising its use of animation in a live-action setting, this story suffered a fairly substantial drop in ratings - with just 1.58 million viewers tuning in to watch this story on Saturday 19th April 2025. This is down from the 2 million who watched the previous story, "The Robot Revolution", and marks the lowest overnight viewership ratings in the show's history and the first time ever that the figures have dipped below 2 million. These viewing figures do not take into account those who watched this story via the BBC iPlayer, where it debuted at 8am on Saturday prior to its BBC One broadcast. The consolidated ratings, which included BBC iPlayer, devices and catch-up, came to 3 million viewers.
A novelisation of this story, written by James Goss, along with an audio version, read by Dan Starkey, were released in July 2025 as part of the Target Collection.
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The Firsts:
The first Doctor Who story to be directed by Amanda Brotchie.
The first full story to have Belinda Chandra willingly join The Doctor on an adventure so officially becoming his travelling companion.
The first time The Doctor and his travelling companion become 2D cartoon characters.
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