The thirteenth series of the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

science fiction television Science fiction first appeared in television programming in the late 1930s, during what is called the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary ...

programme ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

'', known collectively as ''Flux'', was broadcast from 31 October to 5 December 2021. The series is the third and last to be led by

Chris Chibnall Christopher Antony Chibnall (born 21 March 1970) is an English television writer and producer, best known as the creator and writer of the award-winning ITV mystery-crime drama ''Broadchurch'' and as a showrunner of the long-running BBC sci-fi ...

as head writer and executive producer. It is the thirteenth to air following the programme's revival in 2005, and the thirty-ninth season overall. The series, initially announced in November 2019, was the last to be broadcast on Sunday nights, continuing the trend set by the previous two series. It was followed by three associated specials, all of which aired in 2022.

Jodie Whittaker Jodie Whittaker (born 17 June 1982) is an English actress who is best known for portraying the thirteenth incarnation of the Doctor in ''Doctor Who'' (2017–2022) and as Beth Latimer in ''Broadchurch'' (2013–2017). She came to prominence ...

returns for her third and final series as the

Thirteenth Doctor The Thirteenth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the fictional protagonist of the BBC science fiction television programme, ''Doctor Who''. She is portrayed by English actress Jodie Whittaker, the first woman to portray the character, sta ...

, an incarnation of the Doctor, an alien

Time Lord The Time Lords are a fictional ancient race of extraterrestrial life, extraterrestrial people in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', of which the series' main protagonist, The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor, is a memb ...

who travels through time and space in her ship, the

TARDIS The TARDIS (; acronym for "Time And Relative Dimension In Space") is a fictional hybrid of the time machine and spacecraft that appears in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' and its various spin-offs. Its exterior ap ...

, which externally assumes the appearance of a British

police box A police box is a public telephone kiosk or callbox for the use of members of the police, or for members of the public to contact the police. It was used in the United Kingdom throughout the 20th century from the early 1920s. Unlike an ordinar ...

. The thirteenth series also stars

Mandip Gill Mandip Kaur Gill (born 5 January 1988) is an English actress. Her first television role came in 2012 when she was cast as Phoebe McQueen in the Channel 4 soap opera ''Hollyoaks''. After departing the series in 2015, Gill went on to have guest ro ...

and

John Bishop John Marcus Bishop (born 30 November 1966) is an English comedian, presenter, actor and former footballer. Bishop formerly played football as a midfielder for Winsford United F.C., Crewe Alexandra F.C., Runcorn F.C., Rhyl F.C., Witton Albion ...

as the Doctor's travelling companions, playing

Yasmin Khan Yasmin Khan is a historian of British India and Associate Professor of History at Kellogg College, Oxford. Education and career Born in 1977 to Pakistani and Anglo-Irish parents in Kingston-upon-Thames, Khan completed her BA in history at S ...

and Dan Lewis, respectively. The series follows the Thirteenth Doctor and her companions as they navigate a universe-ending anomaly called the "Flux", while dealing with enemies and secrets from the Doctor's past. The series consists of six episodes, which form a single story across the series. The six episodes were directed by

Jamie Magnus Stone Jamie Magnus Stone (born 15 December 1985) is a Scottish film director and animator, who studied at the National Film and Television School. He is the son of Sally Magnusson and grandson of Magnus Magnusson and Mamie Baird. Career Stone st ...

and Azhur Saleem; Stone returned from directing for the previous series, with Saleem directing as a new contributor. Chibnall wrote all six episodes of the series, co-writing one episode with

Maxine Alderton Maxine Alderton is a British screenwriter, best known for her work on the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. Career Beginning as a script editor in the mid 2000s, Alderton graduated to writing for the long-running ITV soap ope ...

, who also returned after writing for the previous series. Filming commenced in November 2020, and was completed by August 2021. The series has received generally positive reviews from critics.

Episodes

For the first time since ''

The Trial of a Time Lord The twenty-third season of British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', known collectively as ''The Trial of a Time Lord'', aired in weekly episodes from 6 September to 6 December 1986. It contained four adventures: ''The Mysterious ...

'' (1986), and the third time in the programme's history, the series tells one complete story across its entirety, rather than self-contained episodic stories. It is the second time where all episodes are encompassed by a single story number; ''

The Key to Time The sixteenth season of British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', known collectively as ''The Key to Time'', began on 2 September 1978 with ''The Ribos Operation'', and ended with ''The Armageddon Factor''. The arc was originally ...

'' (1978–79) maintained separate serial designations.

Casting

The series is the third to feature

as the

also returns as

. Following the departures of

Bradley Walsh Bradley John Walsh (born 4 June 1960) is an English actor, comedian, singer, television presenter, and former professional footballer. Walsh is known for his roles as Danny Baldwin in the ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'' (2004–2006), as ...

and

Tosin Cole Tosin Cole (born 23 July 1992) is an American-born British actor. He is known for various roles in British television series and films. He began his on-screen career starring in '' The Cut'' and '' EastEnders: E20'', later securing a regular ro ...

in "

Revolution of the Daleks "Revolution of the Daleks" is a special episode of the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who'', first broadcast on BBC One on 1 January 2021. It was written by Chris Chibnall, and directed by Lee Haven Jones. The episode foll ...

" (2021),

joined the cast for the series as Dan Lewis.

Jacob Anderson Jacob Basil Anderson (born 18 June 1990) is a British actor and musician. As an actor, he is known for his roles as Grey Worm in '' Game of Thrones'' and Louis de Pointe du Lac in '' Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire'', and his recurri ...

appears in a recurring role as Vinder.

Jo Martin Jo Martin (born 29 April) is a British actress. She played Natalie Crouch in the BBC One sitcom ''The Crouches'', which aired between 2003 and 2005. She joined the cast of ''Holby City'' in 2019 as neurosurgeon Max McGerry. Martin portrayed an ...

returned as the

Fugitive Doctor The Fugitive Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who''. She is portrayed by the English actress Jo Martin, the first non-white person to play the role. Within the pr ...

in "

Once, Upon Time "Once, Upon Time", prefixed frequently with either "Chapter Three" or "''Flux''", is the third episode of the Doctor Who (series 13), thirteenth series of the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who'', and of the six-episode ser ...

", having last appeared in the twelfth series episodes "

Fugitive of the Judoon "Fugitive of the Judoon" is the fifth episode of the twelfth series of the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who'', first broadcast on BBC One on 26 January 2020. It was written by Vinay Patel and current showrunner Chris Ch ...

" and "

The Timeless Children "The Timeless Children" is the tenth and final episode of the Doctor Who (series 12), twelfth series of the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who'', first broadcast on BBC One on 1 March 2020. It was written by Chris Chibnall ...

" (2020). Additionally

Jemma Redgrave Jemima Rebecca Redgrave (born 14 January 1965), known as Jemma Redgrave, is a fourth-generation British actress of the Redgrave family. She played the title character in four series of '' Bramwell'', and has a recurring role in ''Doctor Who'' as ...

reprises her role as

Kate Stewart Kate Stewart (born 16 January 1995), also formerly known as KStewart, is an English singer-songwriter. She featured on the vocal version of Oliver Heldens's "Koala", and her song "Ain't Nobody" charted at number 86 on the UK Singles Chart. On ...

, a recurring character alongside the

Eleventh In music or music theory, an eleventh is the note eleven scale degrees from the root of a chord and also the interval between the root and the eleventh. The interval can be also described as a compound fourth, spanning an octave plus a f ...

and Twelfth Doctors, who was last seen in "

The Zygon Invasion "The Zygon Invasion" is the seventh episode of the ninth series of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 31 October 2015, and written by Peter Harness and directed by Daniel Nettheim. T ...

" / "

The Zygon Inversion "The Zygon Inversion" is the eighth episode of the ninth series of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 7 November 2015, and was written by Peter Harness and Steven Moffat and directed ...

" (2015). Also appearing in recurring roles throughout the series are

Thaddea Graham Thaddea Graham (born 29 March 1997) is a Northern Irish actress. She is known for her roles in the Sky One series ''Curfew'', the Netflix series ''The Letter for the King'' and ''The Irregulars'', the BBC One miniseries '' Us'', '' Doctor Who: F ...

as Vinder's paramour Bel, Craige Els as the Lupari Karvanista,

Rochenda Sandall Rochenda Sandall (born 1988) is a British actress who played Lisa McQueen in ''Line of Duty'', and has featured in other productions including '' Small Axe'' and ''Doctor Who''. Biography Rochenda Sandall was born in about 1988 in Grimsby, a ...

and Sam Spruell as the villainous Ravagers Azure and Swarm,

Annabel Scholey Annabel Scholey (born 10 January 1984) is an English actress. She played Lauren Drake in the BBC supernatural drama '' Being Human'' (2009) and the leading role of 'Maddie' in the musical feature film '' Walking on Sunshine'' (2014). Scholey ...

as Claire, and Kevin McNally as Professor Jericho. Other guest actors in the series include Craig Parkinson as the Grand Serpent,

Sara Powell Sara Powell (born 23 June 1968) is a British-Jamaican stage, screen and voice-over actress and audiobook narrator. Her regular television roles include crown prosecutor Rachel Barker in the BBC's police procedural drama ''HolbyBlue'' (2007–200 ...

as Mary Seacole,

Gerald Kyd Gerald Kyd (born Gerasimos Avvakoumides in 1973 in Pretoria, South Africa) is a half-Greek, half-Scottish actor. Kyd starred as Sean Maddox in the BBC medical drama ''Casualty'' from 1998 until 2000. He later reprised the role for a few episo ...

as General Logan, Penelope Ann McGhie as Mrs Hayward,

Steve Oram Stephen John Oram is an English actor, comedian, writer, and filmmaker. He is known for his role in the 2012 film ''Sightseers'', which he also co-wrote. Life and career Oram was born in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, England. He started as a ...

as Joseph Williamson, Nadia Albina as Diane,

Jonathan Watson Jonathan Watson is a Scottish actor best known for his comedy sketch show ''Only an Excuse?'', which parodied people and events from the world of Scottish football, as well as the BBC comedy ''Bob Servant Independent'' in which he appears with ...

as Commander Riskaw and Skaak, and Paul Broughton as Neville.

Production

Development

The thirteenth series was announced by showrunner

to be in development in November 2019, before the twelfth series premiered; Chibnall returned as the series'

showrunner A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also th ...

, having been in the role since the eleventh series. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on television, the series' production included only eight episodes, reduced from the previous eleven. Six episodes were designated to the thirteenth series, with an additional three airing the following year. The last episode would be Whittaker and Chibnall's last as star and executive producer respectively. He would later reveal on the ''Radio Free Skaro'' podcast that the series narrowly escaped cancellation, and that he and Whittaker turned down other job offers to make it work: "There was a week where it was not going to be made. There was a week where I'd been offered another job." Chibnall also stated that for at least one hour, the series had effectively been axed. In July 2021, near the end of filming, both Whittaker and Chibnall announced their intention to leave the programme following the series and three associated specials, to air by 2022. Chibnall explained that he and Whittaker had agreed to a "three series and out" pact, and that "now our shift is done, and we're handing back the Tardis keys". Additionally series composer

Segun Akinola Segun Akinola (born 1993) is an English composer for television and documentaries. He took over from Murray Gold as the director and composer of the music for ''Doctor Who'' from "The Woman Who Fell To Earth" in 2018 until "The Power of the Doct ...

also left, saying that he planned to leave alongside the pair.

Writing

, writer of the twelfth series episode "

The Haunting of Villa Diodati "The Haunting of Villa Diodati" is the eighth episode of the Doctor Who (series 12), twelfth series of the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who'', first broadcast on BBC One on 16 February 2020. It was written by Maxine Alder ...

", was listed on her CV as a "core writer" for the thirteenth series. In April 2020, Chibnall confirmed that writing for the series had commenced and continued remotely throughout the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Chibnall wrote all six episodes of the series, co-writing the fourth episode with Alderton.

Ed Hime Ed Hime is a British screenwriter and playwright, best known for his work with the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. Career Hime has written several plays, such as ''Small Hours'' (at Hampstead Theatre), as well ''London Fall ...

, who wrote "

It Takes You Away "It Takes You Away" is the ninth and penultimate episode of the eleventh series of the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who''. It was written by Ed Hime and directed by Jamie Childs, and was first broadcast on BBC One on 2 ...

" (2018) and "

Orphan 55 "Orphan 55" is the third episode of the twelfth series of the British science fiction television programme '' Doctor Who'', first broadcast on BBC One on 12 January 2020. It was written by Ed Hime, and directed by Lee Haven Jones. In the episo ...

" (2020) from the two past series, listed on his CV that he was set to write an episode for the series, as was

Pete McTighe Pete McTighe is a British screenwriter and executive producer. He is originating writer of ''Wentworth'', a female ensemble prison drama series that won Most Outstanding and Most Popular Drama at the Logie Awards. He is the creator and writer of ...

; however, Chibnall later stated in October 2021: The story features some of ''Doctor Who''s recurring aliens, including the

Cybermen The Cybermen are a fictional race of cyborgs principally portrayed in the British science fiction television programme '' Doctor Who''. The Cybermen are a species of space-faring cyborgs who often forcefully and painfully convert human beings ...

, Daleks,

Ood The Ood are an alien species with telepathic abilities from the long-running science fiction series ''Doctor Who''. In the series' narrative, they live in the distant future (circa 42nd century). The Ood are portrayed as a slave race, natural ...

Sontaran The Sontarans ( ) are a fictional race of extraterrestrial humanoids principally portrayed in the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who''. A warrior race characterised by their ruthlessness and fearlessness of death, they w ...

s, and

Weeping Angel The Weeping Angels are a race of predatory creatures from the long-running science fiction series ''Doctor Who''. They were introduced in the 2007 episode "Blink", making repeat appearances in later episodes. They also appeared in the spin-off s ...

Filming

According to production executive

Tracie Simpson Tracie Simpson is a British television producer. Her career had predominantly been as a production manager, in which capacity she worked on the revived series of '' Doctor Who'' until 2007, and in 2009 returned to produce three of the 2008-10 sp ...

, pre-production for the thirteenth series was set to begin in June 2020, with filming originally set for September 2020. Filming eventually commenced in November 2020, and ran for ten months. Filming was still ongoing in July 2021 as confirmed at the San Diego Comic Con.

directed the first, second, and fourth episodes, and Azhur Saleem directed the third, fifth, and sixth. Filming for the six episodes of the series, along with two of the 2022 specials, had concluded by August 2021. Production blocks were arranged as follows:

Release

Promotion

The series was first promoted at San Diego Comic Con on 25 July 2021, where the first teaser trailer was released. Throughout October 2021, a Sontaran ship was projected over Liverpool, and the Doctor's "phone number" was released in a promotional message. On 8 October 2021, the social media accounts for ''Doctor Who'' went offline. Whittaker appeared in an episode of ''

The Graham Norton Show ''The Graham Norton Show'' is a British comedy chat show presented by Graham Norton. It was initially broadcast on BBC Two, from 22 February 2007, before moving to BBC One in October 2009. It currently airs on Friday evenings, with Norton s ...

'' on 15 October 2021 during which a second trailer was released.

Broadcast

The series premiered on 31 October 2021 on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

, and aired through 5 December 2021. The six-episode series is collectively referred to under the subtitle ''Flux''. In the United States the series aired the same day on BBC America, while the streaming service AMC+ carried the streaming video on demand rights to new episodes. In Australia episodes were released same-day on ABC iview and broadcast on ABC TV Plus. In May 2017, it was announced that due to the terms of a deal between

BBC Worldwide BBC Worldwide Ltd. was the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the BBC, formed out of a restructuring of its predecessor BBC Enterprises in January 1995. The company monetises BBC brands, selling BBC and other British programming for broadcas ...

and SMG Pictures in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, the company has first right of refusal on the purchase for the Chinese market of future series of the programme until and including Series 15. In October 2019, a deal was made between

HBO Max HBO Max is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the libraries of HBO, Warner Bros., Cartoon Netw ...

and

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

for an additional two series of ''Doctor Who'', including the thirteenth and fourteenth series.

Home media

On 24 January 2022, the entirety of Series 13 was released on DVD and Blu-ray in Region 2. The first two of the 2022 specials, "

Eve of the Daleks "Eve of the Daleks" is the first of the Doctor Who (2022 specials), 2022 specials of the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who'', which was broadcast on BBC One on 1 January 2022. It was written by Chris Chibnall, and directed ...

" and "

Legend of the Sea Devils "Legend of the Sea Devils" is the second of the 2022 specials of the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who'', which was broadcast on BBC One on 17 April 2022. The episode was written by Ella Road and Chris Chibnall, and dir ...

" were released on 23 May on DVD and Blu-ray. The third and final special of 2022, "

The Power of the Doctor "The Power of the Doctor" is the third and final of the 2022 specials of the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who'', and was broadcast on BBC One on 23 October 2022. The episode was ordered for the occasion of the 100th anni ...

", was released on DVD and Blu-ray on 7 November 2022. The three specials were collected and released on Blu-ray on 7 November, as part of the "''Series 13 specials''" box set.

Reception

Ratings

The highest viewed episode was "The Halloween Apocalypse" with 5.8 million viewers, followed by "War of the Sontarans" with 5.5 million. In terms of overnight viewership "The Halloween Apocalypse" had about 400,000 less than the

series 12 Series may refer to: People with the name * Caroline Series (born 1951), English mathematician, daughter of George Series * George Series (1920–1995), English physicist Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Series, the ordered sets used i ...

premier Spyfall. According to the

Appreciation Index The Audience Appreciation Index (AI) is an indicator measured from 0 to 100 of the public's appreciation for a television or radio programme, or broadcast service, in the United Kingdom. Until 2002, the AI of a programme was calculated by the B ...

the average approval rate of the series was 77/100, with the highest scoring being "Village of the Angels" with a 79, and the lowest scoring being "Once, Upon Time" with a 75.

Critical reception

''Doctor Who''s thirteenth series has received positive reviews from critics. Series 13 holds an 82% critic approval rating on online review aggregation site

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

with an average score of 6/10, based on 52 critic reviews.

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

calculated a weighted average score of 68 out of 100 from six reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Both ''

Screen Rant ''Screen Rant'' is an entertainment website that offers news in the fields of television, films, video games, and film theories. ''Screen Rant'' was launched by Vic Holtreman in 2003, and originally had its primary office in Ogden, Utah. ''Scr ...

''s Edward Cleary and ''

Digital Spy Digital Spy (DS) is a British-based entertainment, television and film website and brand and is the largest digital property at Hearst UK. Since its launch in 1999, Digital Spy has focused on entertainment news related to television programmes, ...

''s Morgan Jeffery and Rebecca Cook ranked the series the lowest of the revived era, while considering it Whittaker's best performance as the Doctor. Cleary thought the series felt anti-climatic and that the ending "doesn't pay off", while Jeffery and Cook criticised the writing and lack of direction, calling it "somewhat incomprehensible". '' Collider''s Ben Clark noted that the show had the third lowest rating on

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

with a 6.5/10, only ahead of Jodie Whittaker's other two series, 11 and 12.

Awards and nominations

Soundtrack

returned to compose for the thirteenth series making it the third and final series to be scored by Akinola, as he left and was replaced by his predecessor Murray Gold. 30 selected pieces of score from this series as composed by Akinola was released on digital music platforms on 30 September 2022 by Silva Screen Records, and was released on a 3-CD set on 11 November 2022. The physical release of the soundtrack includes twelve selected pieces of score from "

" as the third disc, which were originally released on digital music platforms on 2 January 2021.

Notes

References

External links

* {{Navboxes , list1 = {{Doctor Who episodes by Chris Chibnall {{Thirteenth Doctor stories {{Ood stories {{Sontaran stories {{UNIT stories, selected=Television {{Weeping Angel stories {{Doctor Who soundtracks 2021 British television seasons

Series 13 Series 13 or Season 13 may refer to: * Lego Minifigures (theme)#Series 13, the toy line by Lego * Warehouse 13, the TV series * 13" series laptops ** Dell Inspiron 13 ** Dell Latitude 13 *** Dell Latitude 13 Education Series The Dell Latit ...

LGBT speculative fiction television series