"The Giggle"

Chris Chibnall's swansong for the programme was made to celebrate the BBC's centenary, and, at the close of Doctor Who's 60th Anniversary trilogy, we are taken to the birth of television itself, two years after the founding of the Corporation. John Logie Baird was an inventor that seems too wacky to be anything but fictional – and yet, look him up! Baird's natural eccentricity is a perfect fit for this story, as is Stooky Bill. As a puppet became the first face on television, we learn that there was more than one puppet master. Russell T Davies has tried to capture the zeitgeist several times before, but nowhere has he succeeded more than in this story. A century after Stooky Bill's debut, humanity is tearing itself apart because everyone is convinced that they are 100% right, heeding only the echo chambers that mass media has provided. Our imagination has to do very little work to see a world where people demonise those who hold views opposed to their own, where the notion of a left-winger and a right winger being friends seems like something from a bygone fantasy age. Even Trinity Wells seems to have made the leap from MSNBC to Fox News!

The nods to the past are not as crowd-pleasing as in past celebrations, but we have the return of an awesome adversary almost from the dawn of the programme itself. The Toymaker is reborn in the incredibly charismatic form of Neil Patrick Harris, whose playful prestidigitation, juggling and dancing can be undercut with a chilling glower. We are left in no doubt that he is omnipotent within his domain and he has overcome the Guardians and even perhaps God in his gameplay.

The very talented Chanya Button brings all of this magnificently to life, whether it be the Hollywood blockbuster level UNIT base to the jaw-dropping "Spice Up Your Life" section. Catherine Tate's performance is incredibly skilful – selling the unease of the Stooky Sue sequence, before the sharpest tongue in Chiswick counter-attacks. Kate is back and such is the instant rapport, that we forget that she has never shared a scene with that particular Doctor. Also returning is Mel. Aeons ago, I said that Bonnie Langford didn't agree with me, due to irritation, rather than incompetence. It's strange what a few decades can do. Mel is still buzzing with energy and facts, but it is so much more easy to take from Bonnie in her 50s and it is truly joyful having her back. The regulars are having a ball running the show and David Tennant rules the roost – until something rather unexpected happens. The Toymaker insists that each game has to be played by a different Doctor; First, Fourteenth – and Fifteenth. As the fantastic rules of the Toymaker's realm still apply, we have the first ever bi-generation and the coming of the new Doctor without the death of the old one. Ncuti Gatwa is born to play the role and commands the screen from the moment his head pops out. If the final test being a game of catch loses something of the challenge, the concept of the Toymaker being beaten in the most primal game is very satisfying as a concept – before the games got more complicated, now they become simpler.

We are, therefore left with two Doctors permanently, it seems, but with a purpose. The Doctor has earned a rest, but must always move on. Now, he can do both and, whilst a beloved face sits down to relax with his family, a new one launches itself, smiling at the cosmos...

NEXT: "The Church on Ruby Road

"Wild Blue Yonder"

 The second special is free of the burden of the fanfare and finale, which leaves it with the purpose of telling a good story. We are eased into this by a light-hearted opening, where the TARDIS lands with a newfound violence that seems par for the course, together with the tendency to set the control to "famous". Here we have Isaac Newton and the apocryphal discovery of the weakest fundamental interaction that desperately needs a gegorable nage. We are, of course, used to these romps around creation with the DoctorDonna, but, on only his second outing in his second term RTD is determined to give us something truly memorable, in a deceptively simple tale of the Doctor and his companion alone in a mystery situation. The story elements are nothing particularly new, with immediate similarities being evident to The Ark in Space and "Midnight". Coincidentally, I was reading a Stanisław Lem book at the time (the hilarious Cyberiad) so my mind was also drawn to Solaris. Despite this, we have a story subtly different to anything else previously broadcast with a script by Russell T Davies that continues to impress with fresh nuances after new viewings. The scenes between the Doctor and Donna flow so naturally that it's easy to forget the skill in creating the dialogue. In this story, set at the boundary of creation, character is key and character is used to astonishing effect. 'A man is the sum of his memories' someone once said, but this story proves that there is more. The metathoughts are where the soul is, beautifully brought to life by the Donnas different ways of telling of their Southampton origins.

The very talented Tom Kingsley makes a strong début for the programme, dynamically using confined and extended spaces with precision. There was no need for the sets to be much more spacious that those for The Ark in Space yet the extra scale is very welcome. Moreover, the clinical white of the interior contrasts with the blackness of space, very reminiscent of 2001 (incidentally, the alarm sound from the Discovery pod makes an appearance again, as it did in "The Waters of Mars". The practical and digital effects give the NotDoctorDonna's attempts to correct their shape the requisite elements of ridiculousness and unease. This would all, however, come to nothing the without four astonishing performances by the two leads. Tennant and Tate could do this type of interaction in their sleep, but the fact that they go the extra mile is gives us astonishing results. Their performances are the meat of the story, but there is one other actor who must be mentioned. I was not expecting to see Wilf ever again, and the final performance of one of our most beloved actors was a joy to behold.

"The Star Beast" was a Davies romp that proved to be as good as the best Chibnall era stories, but here, we have an episode that effortlessly outclasses any Doctor Who story broadcast between 2018 and 2022. Funny, scary, tightly shot and impeccably acted – what more could you wish for?

NEXT: "The Giggle"