"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