10 Doctor Who Episodes That PISSED People Off

This episode absolutely blew the fandom apart when it dropped in 2020. The revelation that William Hartnell was no longer the First Doctor upset a lot of fans, with criticism levelled at Chris Chibnall for tossing almost sixty years of lore in the bin. However, the inclusion of the Timeless Child was actually tied in to earlier stories as well.

The Brain of Morbius, a Fourth Doctor serial, is shown in clips while the Doctor is in the Matrix. There are other faces shown in that story that are retroactively now counted as different incarnations of the Time Lord. Jo Martin returns to add another sense of continuity to the episode as well.

The episode did receive praise for attempting to do something different with the franchise. While the nature of the Doctor may be debated by the fans for years to come, there is actually another aspect of the episode that overshadows this revelation. The Master and Ko Sharmus destroy Gallifrey, meaning that the Time Lords are, once again, said to be wiped out. One of the biggest and most emotional mysteries of the revival was the Doctor's 'Last of the Time Lords' status, which was soundly resolved in both Utopia and The Day of the Doctor. Unfortunately, this final twist falls a little flat here.