Okay as opposed to what the BBC lead us to believe there are only three specials in the 60th Anniversary celebration; yeap, Davis and crew have gone out of their way to make the landmark as forgettable as possible. The fourth “special” being advertised is the Christmas special, which of course is breaking with Chibs attempt to eviscerate the franchise. So how did the specials do in terms of viewership, well absolutely terrible as fans tuned out in droves. The Star Beast disappointed with 5.08 viewers overnight, Wild Blue Yonder lost 20k with a 4.83 million result, and finally The Giggle continued the downward spiral with an abysmal 4.62 million viewers. Even with Davis and Tennant returning viewers decided they had better things to do with their time than watching this parody of a once great franchise.

The Doctor and Donna are back in London and things are not as they should be. People are angry, are fighting amongst themselves, and the city is going up in flames. Which is a normal night out Penrith way, but hey let’s not get side tracked here. Thankfully UNIT forces arrive to whisk our duo away before they get caught up in what amounts to a riot. Seems there is a hidden signal in the world’s communications that is sending folk insane; no not a new Disney release. Behind the signal is one of the Doctor’s oldest foes, the Toymaker! Can the Doctor defeat his nemesis from the first Doctor’s, (William Hartnell), era? And that would be the plot, threadbare comes to mind.

I sort of quite liked this one while I watched it, but on second thoughts I unfortunately found all sorts of issues with the special. How did UNIT know the location the TARDIS materialised in, who invented the device to stop a hidden signal, all in the name, while not turning angry angry beaver, and who in their right mind thought Ncuti Gatwa would be successful as the latest incarnation of the Doctor. More on this later, but just to round out there a far too many problems with this episode to list, ranging from destruction of the lore to content that makes no fracking sense.

One bright spot in this episode was the casting of Neil Patrick Harris as the Toymaker, great decision with Harris stealing every scene he is in. Unfortunately, the show decides that parodying the Germanic accent is totally acceptable, I wonder what would have happened if they had decided to parody say an Indian accent. So we can add hypocrisy to the list of sins Davis has committed over the past three specials, while he waffles on about diversity and inclusion he then serves up this xenophobic trash. No doubt in Davis’s universe of delusion parodying a white culture is perfectly acceptable, while still ranting about inclusion.

Naturally Russell T. Davis can’t resist changing the lore, because half a century of that lore having been established is apparently no good for a “modern audience”. Where exactly is this audience Davis, sure as hell they aren’t watching the show judging by the viewership numbers. So the Doctor goes into regeneration, but it stalls, nothing is happening till the Doctor goes into mitosis mode and splits into two; hey introducing Ncuti Gatwa as the fifteenth Doctor in the most ludicrous fashion possible. I have zero respect for Davis, and the labored “bi” pun that the audience have to endure, as Davis panders to an audience that isn’t interested in the show. Don’t get me started on the TARDIS separation into two, looked for all the world like something out of a Looney Tunes cartoon, Davis adding the cringe to the franchise now. My advice to Disney+ would be to bin Doctor Who before the audience numbers fall if to even worse levels. You don’t need a crystal ball to know that is going to happen as Davis proves himself to be a hack, what the hell happened Russell?

Back to the Toymaker, and the ever reliable Harris who appears to be having a lot of fun with the role, possibly because he doesn’t have to come back in a later episode. Silver lining right there Neil. Seems the Toymaker has to take on any game challenge, could we be hitting out with Squid Game shenanigans, oh hell no we’re taking cutting the deck for the top card, and catch. Yes, we are entering snowflake Doctor Who territory which is more likely to raise laughs than anything approaching tension. At the stage of the special I had completely given up, and really didn’t give a toss anymore.

Just when you might have thought Doctor Who might be heading in the right direction we get this pile of dog poo. It’s juvenile, lacking any impact, and simply written in appalling fashion. And you all thought the Chibs era was bad! Why the hell Davis thinks this crap is going to appeal to a new bigger U.S audience is beyond belief, the only people this is appealing to is the BBC canteen crowd who have forgotten what good story telling is all about. Don’t bother watching The Giggle, it’s unfortunately mindless drivel of the worse sort.

So we have a Christmas special coming up, that no one is remotely interested in, and then a whole new season of eight episodes with Ncuti Gatwa as the new Doctor. Well folks, think we can all agree that this franchise is doomed before anything else airs. Davis has stated that the days of Doctor Who being a Sci-Fi outing are over, we are going to go down the path of fantasy apparently. Welcome to the days of cringe, anything else half decent on?