Doctor Who Series 11: 10 Big Questions After 'The Woman Who Fell To Earth'
7. How Did The Doctor Survive That Fall?
The last time the Doctor sustained a comparable unbroken fall, he was clearly left in a battered and broken state even though it was a far shorter drop (The End of Time). In fact, the Fourth Doctor regenerates as a result of a lesser fall. Yet Jodie Whittaker survives relatively unscathed. Last seen being forcibly evicted from the TARDIS in mid-flight we are supposed to believe that she has crashed through a train to land in the carriageway, only to get up and dust herself down like nothing had happened.
Given the grittiness of the episode and the deliberate move away from the magical realism of the Moffat years it is more on an issue than it otherwise might have been. Whilst this is obviously a plot shortcut, there is a possible explanation for those unhappy with the suspension of disbelief expected of them. We have previously seen that for the first few hours post-regeneration the Doctor’s body has some remarkable healing properties. If the Tenth Doctor can regrow a hand that had been chopped off by the Sycorax, then it’s not that big a stretch to see the same healing properties at work here.
The Doctor’s regeneration energy is featured in the episode when she is sleeping on Grace’s sofa, and we even get to see a bit of it hover away, though it’s left a little unclear exactly where it’s going or why. We can at least use it to surmise that the Doctor’s body is still in the regenerative process when it falls into the train.