The Reality War was the eighth and final episode ofSeason 2 ofDoctor Who.

The episode saw the unannounced final appearance ofNcuti Gatwa as theFifteenth Doctor, leaving after two series and eighteen episodes. It also marked the departure of hiscompanions –Millie Gibson asRuby Sunday, andVarada Sethu asBelinda Chandra.

The episode additionally saw the return ofJodie Whittaker as theThirteenth Doctor for a briefmulti-Doctor scene.

Another return happened with thethe Doctor's regeneration, as he regenerated, seemingly, into anew incarnation played byBillie Piper.

Synopsis[[edit] |[edit source]]

As reality collapses into theUnderverse, theFifteenth Doctor is rescued byAnita. OnEarth, time resets to the morning of May the 23rd. The Doctor must save the Earth fromthe Rani, and prevent the emergence ofOmega, but can the Doctor succeed and keep his wish-created daughter,Poppy, alive?

Plot[[edit] |[edit source]]

As theDoctor falls into the abyss, a door to theTime Hotel opens up behind him andAnita Benn beckons him inside. The clock strikes midnight and time resets,Ruby andBelinda waking up on May the 23rd. TheRani andMrs Flood fix a lock onOmega's location in theUnderverse and begin the work to retrieve him.

Anita and the Doctor return to the house inhabited by him and Belinda in the wish, and, donning a kilt, he meets with Belinda and takes her to the Time Hotel, shocking her out of the illusion she's in. Belinda marvels over the existence ofPoppy - a baby that they've had in a single day. The Doctor travels to his work, theUnified National Insurance Team, opening doorway after doorway into the Time Hotel, and introduces himself as the Doctor. Cups shatter, the illusion breaks for those assembled. TheVlinx andRose Noble appear, incompatible withConrad's vision of the world. The Doctor then introduces Belinda and Poppy to the assembled group, who then use microchips installed in every UNIT employee to send signals to those within London and break them out of the illusion.

The Rani goes to Conrad and asks him to look through the world he's created and find the Doctor, tracking him down toUNIT Tower, teleporting to meet with him after Ruby,Shirley Anne Bingham, andMelanie Bush rejoinU.N.I.T.. The Rani explains how she survived the destruction of the Time Lords and has been following the Doctor, noting for Ruby and Belinda that she's Mrs Flood as well. Her plan is to return Omega, and use his biological material to revive the Time Lords - the Doctor objecting that he's a mad titan sentenced to the Underverse, the underworld of legends, for a reason. Mel suggests that the two of them just repopulate the race instead, but the Doctor dismisses it - Time Lords are sterile, which is why Poppy is so special. The Rani dismisses this option though, Poppy's a halfbreed, a dilution of the Time Lords, and when the wish ends she will vanish. The Rani teleports away, and begins the extraction of Omega, turning theBone Beasts on UNIT Tower as a distraction.

As UNIT scrambles to defend themselves, the Doctor andSusan Triad work to put together a solution to protect Poppy, azero room. Belinda insists on entering it as well, to keep Poppy company they wait for the wish to end. UNIT fits Ruby out withProject Indigo, a personaltransmat device, and the Doctor calls the Rani's hovercraft. He takes it up to the bone palace, piercing its protection, and Ruby teleports in after him, directly to where Conrad is stationed. The Rani and Mrs Flood convince the Doctor that at least meeting Omega is worth a shot, and the trio welcome him into the world. But his time in the Underverse changed him, as the Doctor said, the Underverse is a place of myths, so myths have warped Omega, turning him into a mad titan. He seizes the Rani and devours her. Mrs Flood takes thetime ring the pair were using and takes off, leaving just the Doctor to confront the beast. The Doctor picks up theVindicator off the wall, and fires it, charged with the power of one billionsupernovas, into Omega's maw, forcing him back through the portal opened. Meanwhile, Ruby picks upDesiderium and makes a wish, wishing Conrad to be happy. Conrad vanishes.

The Doctor runs to Ruby and Desiderium, who find themselves located inthe Doctor's TARDIS, taking it back to UNIT HQ, making one final wish - for no more wishes. The Doctor runs to the zero room and opens it. Both Belinda and Poppy are safe. The Doctor takes the infant Desiderium, now a foundling, toCarla Sunday be raised, having nowhere else to place him. Belinda and the Doctor set up a cot in the TARDIS for Poppy, Ruby watching on, the pair planning their adventures, now as a trio. But as Ruby watches them, in front of her eyes she sees Poppy vanish and the pair forget about her. Returning to UNIT HQ, now finally May the 24th, nobody else can remember Poppy either, the Doctor insisting that Ruby's memory is mistaken. Ruby eventually convinces everyone, however, due to the presence of other small changes in the world, comparing it to her own experience, how he remembered her when her own mother forgot her, how he fought for her then. Every person in UNIT agreeing with her, that he fights for all of them, that every person is important.

And so the Doctor agrees, and departs, heading into the Time Vortex, needing to shift time by a single degree back to a world with one person more in it. As he prepares, theThirteenth Doctor appears, attempting to talk him out of it, but she quickly relents, and instead helps him with the calculations needed. She departs, and he unleashesregeneration energy into the time vortex. The TARDIS lands him in Belinda's backyard, Poppy inside. But Poppy is just Belinda's daughter now, and Belinda has always been trying to return home to her daughter, ever since was abducted by robots. Belinda and the Doctor separate, her going back to her life as a mother and a nurse, and he moving on as he always does.Change can be delayed but not denied. Out in space, the Doctor opens the TARDIS doors and looks toa star, aconstant friend, wishing joy to the world, andregenerates into a newincarnation resembling former companionRose Tyler.

Cast[[edit] |[edit source]]

• The Doctor -Ncuti Gatwa
• The Doctor -Jodie Whittaker

And introducingBillie Piper

• Belinda Chandra -Varada Sethu
• Ruby Sunday -Millie Gibson
• The Rani -Archie Panjabi
• Mrs Flood -Anita Dobson
• Anita Benn -Steph de Whalley
• Winnie Petheridge -Sam Lawton
• Shirley Bingham -Ruth Madeley
• Carla Sunday -Michelle Greenidge
• Conrad Clark -Jonah Hauer-King
• Poppy -Sienna-Robyn Mavanga-Phipps
• Kate Lethbridge-Stewart -Jemma Redgrave
• Susan Triad -Susan Twist
• ColonelChristofer Ibrahim -Alexander Devrient
• The Vlinx -Aidan Cook
• Rose Noble -Yasmin Finney
• Melanie Bush -Bonnie Langford
• Cherry Sunday -Angela Wynter
• Voice ofOmega -Nicholas Briggs
• Lakshmi Chandra -Nila Aalia
• Seekers -Isla Moody,Megan Davies,Rosie Gibson,Alke Schwartz
• Drone Guards -Callum Owen,Harrison Pittard,Adam Bentley,Matthew Doman

Uncredited cast[[edit] |[edit source]]

• Voice ofthe Vlinx -Nicholas Briggs

Crew[[edit] |[edit source]]

Worldbuilding[[edit] |[edit source]]

Culture[[edit] |[edit source]]

• The Underverse in legends is reffered to as TheUpside Down, orNarnia, orHell.
• Ruby's bedroom has various decorations, including several issues ofThe Amp attached to the wall, posters for the musiciansTy of Rock,Eniys,Midnight,HL3, andBlock Park, tickets for performances of Eniys,Enigma, andThe Martians, various polaroids of music venues and beaches, and a poster representing thelunar cycle.
• Mrs. Flood refers to herself and her successor as "The Two Ranis", and uses the catchphrase of "that's goodnight from me!"

UNIT[[edit] |[edit source]]

• Gold alert is enforced in the UNIT building.
• Kate anouncesGold protocols.
• The computer terminal connected to Susan Triad'sZero Room has controls for the Room'sCirenium input connection,Artron energy feed,split quantum actualiser,Sizradian field,Z-Neutrino energy field,vortex clamp, anddynamorphic generator. It also monitors the energy cycles, artron feedback,artron control module,vortex energy,damper loop, and field parameters. It is also connected to theUNIT Database, has remote access to theTime Window chamber, and a "Black Site Override".
• At midnight, Mel reports fromEmpress House.

Individuals[[edit] |[edit source]]

• Ricardo isAnita's partner. He is the head ofHR.
• Anita is pregnant with aboy.
• The Doctor calls the Rani, Conrad Clark and Desideriumthe Unholy Trinity.
• Ruby asks Conrad why he never mentioned hisfather.
• Cherry Sunday's late husband was namedJoseph.
• Belinda asks Doctor to visit her UncleRoo.
• Ernest Borgnine became alive after the Wish World ceased to exist.
• Ritchie Akingbola is Poppy's father.

Locations[[edit] |[edit source]]

• Belinda proposes to take Poppy toNeptune orKerala.
• In the year60,000, there is a planet calledNew New Delhi.
• Belinda also wants to seeThe Big Bang.
• The border betweenNorway andSweden has moved seven miles east after the Wish World ceased to exist.
• Conrad Clark lives inLewisham.

Technology[[edit] |[edit source]]

• The Rani wants to use Omega as agene bank.
• The Rani uses thechronon beam to pull Omega out of the Underverse.
• The Doctor asks Melanie to power up theIndigo device.
• The UNIT tower hasparallax cannons,galvanic beams, theTime Window,temporal dams,retrodynamic artron cascades.
• Susan TRIAD asks to protect theretrofold cables and to keep thered-links connected
• The Thirteenth Doctor asks to try shifting the thirdstrand ofphenotype markers onemicro-spasm to the left.

Miscellaneous[[edit] |[edit source]]

• ABuild-a-Slice Pizza Cart and aNoah's Activity Ark are among thetoys owned by Poppy.

Notes[[edit] |[edit source]]

• The title was revealed on social media on22 March2025.^[1]
• Billie Piper is not credited as any named role, with her credit being "and introducing Billie Piper". BothNcuti Gatwa andJodie Whittaker were credited as "The Doctor".
  • LikeThe Power of the Doctor^[+]Loading...["The Power of the Doctor (TV story)"], Billie Piper's introductory credit is shown after other actors playing the Doctor, and not at the end of the cast list.
• Steph de Whalley asAnita Benn,Nicholas Briggs as the voice ofOmega, Jodie Whittaker as theThirteenth Doctor and Billie Piper were left off the advance cast list.^[2]
  • Nicholas Briggs is not credited as the voice of the Vlinx for the first time since its introduction.
• The archive footage fromDay of the Daleks^[+]Loading...["Day of the Daleks (TV story)"] comes from thespecial edition, as it includes Nicholas Briggs's dubbing of the Dalek voices and the new version of the Dalek's interrogation screen. This was the first time something exclusive from a home video release was used in the main show.
  • This was coupled with a purposely filmed Dalek moving across the foreground as the director wanted to work with a Dalek.^[3]
  • This is the second time that footage from a special edition of a television story is used, followingEmpire of Death^[+]Loading...["Empire of Death (TV story)"] making use of footage fromtheTales of the TARDIS edition ofPyramids of Mars^[+]Loading...["Pyramids of Mars (TV story)"].
• This was the first time that a Doctor's regeneration was not announced prior to broadcast.
• As part of a scheme set up byBad Wolf Productions to address the under-representation of women of colour in directing,Avril Evans was brought on as a placement director beginning in the pre-production stages of this story andWish World^[+]Loading...["Wish World (TV story)"]. She shadowedAlex Sanjiv Pillai for three months, throughout production, providing her opinions in meetings, and directing a few scenes herself. One such scene wasthe Rani being picked up and eaten byOmega.^[4]

Original ending[[edit] |[edit source]]

Promo image of an unused club scene.^[5]

• Russell T Davies posted that filming forSeason 2 wrapped on25 May2024.^[6] Fan discussion ofThe Reality War speculated that the version ofThe Reality War which finished filming may have had a different ending to the broadcast version.^[7]
• A promotional image forThe Reality War showedthe Doctor andBelinda partying at a club.^[5] This scene did not appear in the episode.
• Carole Ann Ford appeared asSusan Foreman in the previous two episodes, but was not inThe Reality War. Ford was in theDoctor Who: Unleashed episode forThe Interstellar Song Contest wearing a grey costume which did not appear in any episodes. Scooper Daniel Richtman stated that "Susan would have appeared in a Five Doctors-esque look (grey trenchcoat) overlooking the party that the Doctor [and company] are at", in what he said was the original ending forThe Reality War. "She [would] have been standing withPoppy to...Susan says, 'Let’s go Mum,' and then we cut to the credits. This was to be explored next season but was shelved once [season 3] was then not to go ahead as planned, and [Davies] wanted to give the Poppy storyline an ending instead of having to pick it up in a later season with a new Doctor."^[8]
• On16 April 2024,Ncuti Gatwa said in an interview withEntertainment Weekly that he would be "so angry" if he never got to face aDalek, following hearing talk about him never facing one, adding "What on earth would be the point of me being Doctor Who without facing a Dalek!"^[9]
• On11 October 2024, Gatwa appeared onThe Graham Norton Show and said, "It is all going well. We did the second series this year, the Christmas special is coming up, and we are filming a third series next year."^[10] According toDeadline's understanding, the quote was cut from the broadcast edit to "liven up" Gatwa's interview, and the BBC reiterated in a statement that no decision on the future ofDoctor Who would be made until after the release of season 2.^[11]
• TheDoctor Who: Unleashed episode forThe Reality War covered the Doctor saying goodbye to Belinda and Poppy, overall almost entirely covering the production of material from the final half hour of the episode, includingJodie Whittaker's appearance,the Doctor's regeneration, and the final scene inUNIT Tower, which was indicated to be the last scene ofThe Reality War to be filmed. InThe Reality War, this final scene is after Belinda and Poppy emerge from theZero Room, where characters other than the Doctor and Belinda have changed costumes and hairstyles,Sienna-Robyn Mavanga-Phipps (Poppy) is much older, andRose Noble is gone with no explanation. The UNIT Tower set in its last scene inThe Reality War and theUnleashed episode features several slight upgrades, such as new visuals for the screens and the Vlinx having more pronounced lighting for its tubes.
• The scene in whichDesiderium is adopted by the Sundays only uses camera angles which do not show the baby's face.
• The mother of Sienna-Robyn Mavanga-Phipps reposted the rumors by Daniel Richtman of an original ending, where "the Doctor, Ruby, Belinda etc are all having a big party", onto Mavanga-Phipps' TiKTok account. She liked two posts which asked "Did she film that part?" and "So was this actually legit if you're posting it?" When asked if photos of the filming could be shared, the account replied, "I wish I could hun... but due to NDA I can't."^[12]
• On12 October2025, at an event hosted byThe Sirens of Audio at the Parramatta Club in Sydney for the Doctor Who Club of Australia,^[13][14]Katy Manning asked Carole Ann Ford, “Did you know who your mummy was?” in relation to Susan's origins. Ford answered:^[15]

You didn’t see the episode which was to sort of introduce my coming back, where I was holding hands with a little — beautiful little tiny black child, three years old. And we were watching through the window somewhere where the audience wasn’t supposed to know where we supposed to be. And we were watching by newly-embodied grandfather, who was now Ncuti [Gatwa], and watching him have a wonderful time singing and dancing in a party in a shop opposite where we were. And obviously I, my character Susan, was longing to just go there and fling her arms around her grandfather and say, ‘Grandfather, how lovely to see you after all this time and how did you survive your floating about in space… and why have you changed?'Carole Ann Ford^[src]

• She also said, “Anyway, that was unfortunately not to be — for reasons I know and will not disclose”.^[15]
• RadioTimes.com published part of an interview withBonnie Langford and Carole Ann Ford on1 November 2025. Langford said that she "didn't have a scooby" about Billie Piper's part, and thatThe Reality War "was quite different to how we had filmed it. We'd filmed it the year before, and I had to pop back and do some extra filming, which I couldn't do with everybody else, which I was really disappointed about – I was in America at the time."^[16] Carole Ann Ford said, "I think enough people out there know by now that something extra was filmed and wasn't shown... So yes, of course there were a couple more [scenes] which, because of some changes that had to be made, didn't make sense once the changes have been made. So they obviously had to film something else that went with those changes... [It's a] shame though – I'd love to have done it, and the bit I did do, I really enjoy doing, and I love seeing it. I sort of looked as if I was floating in space. And you've still got to find me, grandfather! I'm waiting for that!"^[16]

Cinema release[[edit] |[edit source]]

• It was announced prior to broadcast that unlike the previous episodes of the season, this episode would premiere simultaneously onBBC One,iPlayer andDisney+, as well as select cinemas in the UK and Ireland.^[17]
• The content presented as part of these screenings was:
  • An advert for various programmes onBBC iPlayer, includingDoctor Who.
  • An advert for theWhoniverse onBBC iPlayer, showing footage from all major eras of the show.
  • Wish World.
  • An interval screen advising that after a short break there would be a special introduction toThe Reality War, and including a QR code encouraging audiences to sign up to the BBC's Doctor Who newsletter.
  • Special introduction toThe Reality War.
  • The Reality War.
  • A trailer forThe War Between the Land and the Sea.
• The special introduction was presented byVarada Sethu, who introduced herself as normally playingBelinda Chandra, but said that in theWish World she wasBelinda Smith. She recapped the ending ofWish World before telling audiences to enjoyThe Reality War. She stated that the episode's feature length was 68 minutes long. The UK version ofThe Reality War was 66 minutes and 40 seconds long.

Myths[[edit] |[edit source]]

to be added

Filming locations[[edit] |[edit source]]

to be added

Ratings[[edit] |[edit source]]

to be added

Production errors[[edit] |[edit source]]

to be added

Continuity[[edit] |[edit source]]

• Ruby's bedroom has posters for the bandHL3. Another HL3 poster was seen inTV:The Robot Revolution^[+]Loading...["The Robot Revolution (TV story)"].
• While looking for the Doctor, Anita sees theEleventh Doctor playinglive chess, as depicted inTV:The Wedding of River Song^[+]Loading...["The Wedding of River Song (TV story)"], theThird Doctor being interrogated by theGold Dalek and hissubordinates, as depicted inTV:Day of the Daleks^[+]Loading...["Day of the Daleks (TV story)"], and theFifteenth Doctor dancing withRogue, as depicted inTV:Rogue^[+]Loading...["Rogue (TV story)"].
• Kate mentionsher father’s encounter withOmega in1970s, as depicted inTV:The Three Doctors^[+]Loading...["The Three Doctors (TV story)"].
• The Rani mentions the old Gallifrey didn’t appreciate her, alluding to her exile first established inTV:The Mark of the Rani^[+]Loading...["The Mark of the Rani (TV story)"].
• The Rani recognises Melanie from their encounter onLakertya inTV:Time and the Rani^[+]Loading...["Time and the Rani (TV story)"] .
• AZero Room first appeared inTV:Castrovalva^[+]Loading...["Castrovalva (TV story)"].
• The computer terminal connected to Susan Triad'sZero Room has controls forCirenium, as seen inCOMIC:Return of the Daleks^[+]Loading...["Return of the Daleks (TVC comic story)"], asplit quantum actualiser, as seen inTV:The Husbands of River Song^[+]Loading...["The Husbands of River Song (TV story)"], aSizradian field, as seen inPROSE:Lords and Masters^[+]Loading...["Lords and Masters (short story)"], aZ-Neutrino energy field, as seen inTV:Journey's End^[+]Loading...["Journey's End (TV story)"], and adynamorphic generator, as introduced inTV:Time-Flight^[+]Loading...["Time-Flight (TV story)"]. It is also has remote access to theTime Window chamber fromTV:The Legend of Ruby Sunday^[+]Loading...["The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)"] and a "Black Site Override" related to theBlack Site fromSTAGE:Time Fracture^[+]Loading...["Time Fracture (stage play)"].
• The Doctor has previous encounters with Omega. First was through hissecond andthird incarnations during theFirst Omega Crisis inTV:The Three Doctors^[+]Loading...["The Three Doctors (TV story)"]. Twice was in hisfifth incarnation inTV:Arc of Infinity^[+]Loading...["Arc of Infinity (TV story)"] andAUDIO:Omega^[+]Loading...["Omega (audio story)"]. Omega controlled hissixth incarnation, until he was rejected; thanks toK9 Mark III,Dinah, andDrax'ssecond incarnation inPROSE:Search for the Doctor^[+]Loading...["Search for the Doctor (novel)"].
• Ruby and Conrad discuss their relationship, as depicted inTV:Lucky Day^[+]Loading...["Lucky Day (TV story)"].
• Susan Triad recalls her being born from the TARDIS a year prior, as established inTV:Empire of Death^[+]Loading...["Empire of Death (TV story)"].
• The Fifteenth and Thirteenth Doctors discuss her feelings forYaz, as established inTV:Eve of the Daleks^[+]Loading...["Eve of the Daleks (TV story)"] andLegend of the Sea Devils^[+]Loading...["Legend of the Sea Devils (TV story)"].
• The Doctor regenerates in light ofJoy Almondo’s star, as seen inTV:Joy to the World^[+]Loading...["Joy to the World (TV story)"].
• The Thirteenth Doctor notes the changedTARDIS control room and says she doesn't like it. TheSecond andTenth Doctors made similar remarks to their successors inThe Three Doctors^[+]Loading...["The Three Doctors (TV story)"] andThe Day of the Doctor^[+]Loading...["The Day of the Doctor (TV story)"], respectively.
• The Doctor says he may see Belinda and Poppy again, "but not like this." TheNinth Doctor used the same phrase when speculating if he'd takeRose Tyler toBarcelona, before hisregeneration inTV:The Parting of the Ways.
• The Doctor and the Rani note that Time Lords are sterile as a result of thegenocide of the Time Lords, which occurred sometime prior to the events ofTV:Spyfall^[+]Loading...["Spyfall (TV story)"]. This gives a secondary source to the Time Lords sterility afterPythia's Curse as learnt by theSeventh Doctor inPROSE:Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible^[+]Loading...["Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible (novel)"].
• The Rani used aTime Ring to get to Earth, as first seen inTV:Genesis of the Daleks. The Doctor calls her "poor baby" and the two share a laugh over the idea. TheTenth Doctor had a similar dismissive attitude towards time travelling without a TARDIS duringTV:Utopia; specifically viavortex manipulator, which was described byMissy as "cheap and nasty time travel" duringTV:The Magician's Apprentice.

Home media releases[[edit] |[edit source]]

to be added

Gallery[[edit] |[edit source]]

Main article:The Reality War (TV story)/Gallery

External links[[edit] |[edit source]]

• OfficialThe Reality War page ondoctorwho.tv
• The Reality War atTARDIS Guide

• The Reality War atTARDIS Guide

Footnotes[[edit] |[edit source]]

Citations[[edit] |[edit source]]