"Resolution" is an episode of the British

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

television programme ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

''. It was written by showrunner, head writer and executive producer

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 (TV network), ITV mystery-crime drama ''Broadchurch'' (2013-17) and as the third showr ...

, directed by Wayne Yip, and was first broadcast on

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

on 1 January 2019. The special follows the eleventh series as a

New Year's Day In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Day is the first day of the calendar year, January 1, 1 January. Most solar calendars, such as the Gregorian and Julian calendars, begin the year regularly at or near the December solstice, northern winter ...

special episode, instead of the traditional annual Christmas special. "Resolution" was the only episode of ''Doctor Who'' to air in 2019, preceding the twelfth series in 2020. The episode stars

Jodie Whittaker Jodie Auckland Whittaker (born 17 June 1982) is an English actress. She is best known for her roles on television as Beth Latimer in ''Broadchurch'' (2013–2017) and the Thirteenth Doctor in ''Doctor Who'' (2017–2022, 2025). She came to pro ...

as the

Thirteenth Doctor The Thirteenth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. She is played by Jodie Whittaker, the first woman to portray the character, in three series, five specials and a ...

, alongside

Bradley Walsh Bradley John Walsh (born 4 June 1960) is an English actor, television presenter, comedian, singer, and former professional footballer. Walsh's acting roles on television include Danny Baldwin in the ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'' (2004 ...

, Tosin Cole, and

Mandip Gill Mandip Kaur Gill (born 5 January 1988) is an English actress and narrator. 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 ...

as her companions,

Graham O'Brien Graham O'Brien is a fictional character created by Chris Chibnall and portrayed by Bradley Walsh in the long-running British sci-fi television series ''Doctor Who''. A retired bus driver from Essex who is in remission from cancer, the character ...

, Ryan Sinclair and Yasmin Khan, respectively. The episode also sees the return of the

Dalek The Daleks ( ) are a fictional extraterrestrial race of extremely xenophobic mutants principally portrayed in the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who''. They were conceived by writer Terry Nation and first appeared in th ...

s. The episode was watched by 7.13 million viewers.

Plot

In the

9th century The 9th century was a period from 801 (represented by the Roman numerals DCCCI) through 900 (CM) in accordance with the Julian calendar. The Carolingian Renaissance and the Viking raids occurred within this period. In the Middle East, the H ...

, three opposing factions narrowly succeeded in defeating a seemingly unbeatable enemy and hacked its body into three pieces to be hidden away in the farthest corners of the Earth:

Anuta Anuta is a small volcanic island in the province of Temotu in the southeastern part of Solomon Islands. It is one of the smallest permanently inhabited Polynesian islands. It is one of the Polynesian Outlier communities in Melanesia. Geograp ...

Island,

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

, and

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

. The holder of the last piece in Yorkshire is killed before he can bury it, leaving it unguarded. Lin and Mitch, two archaeologists, discover it in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

2019, and unintentionally revive it as it remotely summons the other two fragments to become whole. Whilst watching New Year's Day fireworks from different time periods, the

and her companions are alerted to this alien presence, arriving in the present day and meeting the two archaeologists. Lin reveals that she saw a large squid-like creature on a wall; the Doctor finds only a large blob of slime. Unbeknownst to the others, the creature has attached itself to Lin's back and has taken control of her mind and body. Returning to Graham and Ryan's home, the crew discover that Ryan's hitherto absent father, Aaron, has returned, and wishes to make amends with his son for not being there, especially since the death of Ryan's grandmother (and Graham's wife) Grace. Graham is skeptical, but supports Ryan when he decides to go with Aaron to a local cafe so the two can talk. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Yasmin try to follow the creature, which has made Lin steal a police car and uniform. After examining the slime, the Doctor discovers that she is following a scout

. The Dalek, still controlling Lin, arrives at an archive base, killing its guard and using his fingerprints to access the archives. Recovering a Dalek ray gun from the archive, she then travels to a rural warehouse, killing the owner and constructing a makeshift Dalek casing out of scrap metal. Eventually, the Doctor and company find Lin freed from the now-rebuilt Dalek's control. After killing a military patrol, the Dalek flies to

Government Communications Headquarters Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) is an intelligence and security organisation responsible for providing signals intelligence (SIGINT) and information assurance (IA) to the government and armed forces of the United Kingdom. Primari ...

, massacring the staff, and attempts to summon a Dalek fleet in order to conquer the Earth. The Doctor, her

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

crew, Aaron and the two archaeologists immediately go to GCHQ and scupper the fleet-summoning signal, destroying the Dalek's casing in the process. However, the mutant survives and possesses Aaron, threatening to kill him unless the Doctor takes it to

Skaro The Daleks ( ) are a fictional extraterrestrials in fiction, extraterrestrial race of extremely xenophobic mutants principally portrayed in the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who''. They were conceived by writer Terry Na ...

to rally the fleet. The Doctor agrees, but instead takes the Dalek mutant to a

supernova A supernova (: supernovae or supernovas) is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. A supernova occurs during the last stellar evolution, evolutionary stages of a massive star, or when a white dwarf is triggered into runaway nuclear fusion ...

. Ryan saves Aaron at the last moment as the Dalek mutant is cast into the supernova. Back in Sheffield, the Doctor offers Aaron the chance to travel in the TARDIS, but Aaron declines. The TARDIS crew bid farewell to Aaron and the archaeologists and depart.

Production

Development

Along with the regular series, special Christmas episodes were also broadcast every year between 2005, the year of the programme's revival, and 2017. " Twice Upon a Time" (2017) marked the last special episode created for Christmas, after the traditional special episode was moved to New Year's Day in 2019. The episode title was announced on 8 December 2018 as "Resolution". Chibnall stated during filming for the eleventh series, which included "Resolution", that the

s would not be featured; however, on 25 December 2018, the BBC announced that the New Year's Day special would feature the return of the Daleks.

Filming

"Resolution" was filmed alongside the ten episodes of the eleventh series.

Casting

On 6 December 2018, the BBC announced the guest stars for the episode, including Charlotte Ritchie, Nikesh Patel and Daniel Adegboyega, as the characters Lin, Mitch and Aaron respectively.

Promotion

The first trailer for the episode was released after the broadcast of the eleventh series' finale, " The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos".

Broadcast and reception

Broadcast

"Resolution" was the only episode of ''Doctor Who'' to air in 2019, as the twelfth series premiered in 2020. Similar to " Sleep No More" and " The Woman Who Fell to Earth" before it, "Resolution" featured no opening titles.

Ratings

"Resolution" was watched by 5.15 million viewers overnight, a share of 22.4% of the total United Kingdom TV audience, making it the fourth-highest overnight viewership for the night, but also the lowest overnight viewership for a ''Doctor Who'' annual event. The episode received an official total of 7.13 million viewers across all UK channels, making it the 14th most watched programme of the week, and it had an Audience Appreciation Index score of 79. In Australia, the episode received 424,000 viewers including time shifting views.

Critical reception

The special holds an approval rating of 95% on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, 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 an average of 8.03/10 based on 20 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "With a fresh take on familiar villains and a renewed sense of stakes, ''Resolution'' is a strong series special that surprises in both story and spectacle."

Home media

"Resolution" received a standalone DVD and Blu-ray release on 18 February 2019 in Region 2/B and 19 February in Region 1/A, and was released on 6 March in Region 4/B. The episode is included in the twelfth series boxset released on 4 May 2020 in Region 2 or Region B. It is not included on the Region 1 or Region A release of the boxset.

Soundtrack

Two tracks from the special, as composed by Segun Akinola, were included in the eleventh series' soundtrack, a 2-CD set that was released on 11 January 2019 by Silva Screen Records.

References

External links

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