Doctor Who Series 10: 7 Big Questions We're Asking After 'World Enough And Time'

We’ve reached that point in the series where most of our predictions about season long arcs will be exposed as flights of fantasy or deliberate red herrings. Barring another surprise twist next week, it certainly looks as if all the speculation surrounding the Doctor’s granddaughter Susan and a possible connection to Bill was off the mark. The mystery of Nardole also appears to be going nowhere with him now looking every bit like a regular companion, and the trilogy of the monks, which left all kinds of unanswered questions, at least for now looks like being a self-contained mini-adventure after all.

It will take quite a dramatic shift in emphasis if any of these three points are to be addressed next week in The Doctor Falls. So for now, after the airing of part one of the series’ only two-parter, speculation will inevitably turn towards Bill’s fate, the Doctor’s coming regeneration, and the relationship between Missy and the Master.

This was very much a set-up episode in the mould of series 8’s atmospheric Dark Water, and it’s about to go completely Death in Heaven crazy if the brief trailer for next week is anything to go by. The pre-credits sequence suggests some of our questions might carry over to the Christmas special, but with only two episodes to go Steven Moffat has plenty of plot points to resolve before he passes on the baton to Chris Chibnall.

Filmed only two weeks prior to transmission, the pre-credits sequence was arguably the biggest shock of the episode and the least important. Bill’s ‘death’ had been heavily signposted even from the series’ first trailer, and the Master and the Mondasian Cybermen had been officially confirmed by the BBC. The fact that the Twelfth Doctor’s regeneration had no obvious bearing on the episode whatsoever, coupled with the snowy setting, suggests it could be a flash-forward to the Christmas special.

It’s tempting to suggest that it was thrown in at the last minute to add intrigue to an overly spoiled episode. Certainly it would have made more sense to have Missy’s “I’m Doctor Who” leading into the opening sting, even if it would have been similar to Clara’s bluff in Death in Heaven.

Perhaps this is being too harsh, after all in the preview clip for The Doctor Falls a hand is seen with the tell-tale signs of an impending regeneration. The grassy background might indicate this is another character – one of the two Masters, but the Doctor appears to be holding back his regeneration in the pre-credits sequence. It’s feasible that at Christmas the Doctor could be succumbing to a regeneration that has already begun.

We should also allow for the tantalising possibility that the scene might bookend the finale (a framing device similar to the young Davros in The Magician’s Apprentice/The Witch’s Familiar). The spoiler-filled finale would be completely forgiven if when the final credits roll next week, we’ve been introduced to the next Doctor. It is certainly unusual for such a late reveal of the identity of the next Doctor and the information is clearly being held back for a reason. What a wonderful surprise if the BBC could pull it off.