Doctor Who Revolution Of The Daleks: 10 Huge Talking Points After The New Year Special

3. Will The Doctor Search For Her True Roots?

The Timeless Children is yet to be confirmed as having been a complete game-changer for Doctor Who. There are too many built-in get out of jail free cards, not least of which is the unreliability of the Master. If Chibnall really has established a new origin for the Doctor, one that takes us far away from Gallifrey and the Time Lords, then, however tentatively, this is something that will need to be explored in the next series. Ryan’s line about the Doctor needing to go and find out about her true roots, could turn out to be the most important one of the entire episode. The Doctor’s reaction certainly suggests this may well be what she is planning.

If the Doctor does indeed take up Ryan’s challenge to go in search of her home planet and people, it will be a risky path for Chibnall to go down. There must always be room for a good deal of mystery about the Doctor’s hidden past, it goes with the alien territory. We must expect any such journey to be a long and winding road, with many false avenues along the way. In short, we aren’t likely to get any answers soon.

As for where Chibnall might be leading us, there are few clues, if any. He could return to one of his own creations, the mysterious, supernaturally gifted Ux for instance, or the truth might end up being much closer to home. There is still the unresolved question of whether or not the Doctor is half-human (from the 1996 TV Movie), and it might not be a coincidence that according to this episode, one of her favourite bedtime stories, one she knows so well she can recite it from memory, comes from Earth: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.