Doctor Who (2024)
Doctor Who (2024)
Plot.
Where to Watch.
This TV Show Is About.
Cast & Crew.
Ncuti Gatwa
The Doctor
Millie Gibson
Ruby Sunday
Phil Sims
Production Design
David Tennant
The Doctor
Andy Pryor
Casting
Catherine Tate
Donna Noble
Scott Handcock
Script Editor
Murray Gold
Original Music Composer
Russell T Davies
Executive Producer / Writer
Julie Gardner
Executive Producer
Ruth Madeley
Shirley Bingham
Phil Collinson
Executive Producer
Karl Collins
Shaun Temple
Jane Tranter
Executive Producer
Yasmin Finney
Rose Noble
Joel Collins
Executive Producer
Jacqueline King
Sylvia Noble
Susan Twist
Mrs Merridew
Sam Care
Director of Photography
Tobias Datum
Director of Photography
Jamie Cairney
Director of Photography
Jamie Donoughue
Director
Dylan Holmes Williams
Director
Julie Anne Robinson
Director
Ben Chessell
Director
Briony Redman
Writer
Steven Moffat
Writer
Kate Herron
Writer
Bonnie Langford
Melanie Bush
Jinkx Monsoon
Maestro
Indira Varma
The Duchess
Lenny Rush
Morris
Chris Mason
John Lennon
George Caple
Paul McCarthy
James Hoyles
Ringo Starr
Phillip Davies
George Harrison
Golda Rosheuvel
Jocelyn
Jonathan Groff
Media.
Details.
Release DateMay 11, 2024
StatusReturning Series
Seasons1
Episodes8
Content RatingTV-PG
Genres
Wiki.
"The Star Beast" is the first of three hour-long special episodes of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who, marking its 60th anniversary. Based on a comic written by Pat Mills and Dave Gibbons for Doctor Who Magazine in 1980, the episode was written by returning head writer and showrunner Russell T Davies, directed by Rachel Talalay, and was first broadcast on BBC One on 25 November 2023. It serves as the reintroductions of David Tennant and Catherine Tate to the series, with Tennant making his first regular appearance as the Fourteenth Doctor, having previously played the Tenth Doctor during Davies' original tenure as showrunner, last seen in the 50th anniversary special "The Day of the Doctor" (2013), while Tate reprises her role as Donna Noble. The episode also sees the return of Jacqueline King as Sylvia Noble and Karl Collins as Shaun Temple with newcomer Yasmin Finney as Rose Noble, and guest starring Miriam Margolyes as the voice of The Meep.
The episode focuses on the newly-regenerated Doctor being drawn back to the life of former companion Donna Noble, whose memory he was forced to wipe after her human mind became overwhelmed by the Time Lord knowledge in "Journey's End" (2008). Upon his arrival to modern-day London, he is caught in a fight to the death when a spaceship crash-lands, with an alien army of Wrarth Warriors pursuing a small furry creature known as the Meep.
"The Star Beast" is the first Doctor Who episode to be led by Davies and Julie Gardner since the two-part Christmas special "The End of Time" (2009–2010) and marks the return of former producer Phil Collinson, who left the programme after the conclusion of the fourth series, as an executive producer. Composer Murray Gold also returns to the series for the first time since the 2017 Christmas special "Twice Upon a Time". It is also the first regular episode of the revived era to be broadcast on Saturday since the tenth series finale "The Doctor Falls" (2017).
The episode was watched by 7.61 million viewers, the show's highest viewing figures since "The Tsuranga Conundrum" (2018), which was watched by 7.76 million viewers. It received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised Tennant and Tate's reintroduction to the series along with the introduction of Rose, a transgender character, although some were critical of the resolution to the metacrisis storyline.