Doctor Who: The Giggle Review - 8 Ups And 4 Downs

Our gut instinct on the bigeneration was to hate it, but having spent some time pondering it after a good night’s sleep, we have to say… perhaps controversially, we really like it. At least, from a narrative, in-universe standpoint.

These little hints that The Doctor had hit his trauma cap throughout the specials had been building up to this: a way for The Doctor to heal himself, the long way round. The execution of this was pretty damn well done, with the care-free and affectionate Fifteeth Doctor immediately distinguishing himself from his predecessor in just how much he’s grown through Fourteen’s retirement - he’s better because Fourteen takes the time to actually get better. The scene in which Fifteen is able to comfort his predecessor with a hug, and tell him that he’s ‘got him’, is a beautiful moment in which, after all these years, we finally get to see one of the most overburdened characters in fiction finally start to love himself and show some self care, and the unique opportunity to visualise this by having two versions of him on screen at once is not wasted.

Is Donna being the second RTD companion to get her own copy of The Doctor a bit of a rehash, and a little cheesy? Absolutely. But we’re actually very on board with this temporary retirement/rehab, leaving the future of the show with a truly blank slate.

That unique scene at the end where Fourteen actually gets to wave off his successor, and wish him luck on his travels, is such a fun and optimistic change to the usual regeneration handoff, and works especially well in contrast to the most melodramatic regeneration of all at the end of Tennant’s last run.

We just hope this was a means of healing The Doctor, and not something a little more calculated…