"Survivors of the Flux", prefixed frequently with either "Chapter Five" or "''Flux''", is the fifth and penultimate episode of the thirteenth series of the British

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

television programme '' Doctor Who'', and of the six-episode serial known collectively as ''Doctor Who: Flux''. It was first broadcast 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, ...

on 28 November 2021. It was written by showrunner 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 mystery-crime drama ''Broadchurch'' and as a showrunner of the long-running BBC sci ...

, and directed by Azhur Saleem. The episode stars

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 ...

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, st ...

, alongside

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 r ...

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 Al ...

as her companions, Yasmin Khan and Dan Lewis, respectively.

Plot

The Weeping Angels transport the Doctor to a spacecraft carrying Division's head, Awsok from " Once, Upon Time", who is ordering an Ood to create a final Flux event. Awsok explains Division's involvement in the development of this current, and upcoming, universes. Division's spacecraft is travelling to another universe, as a "seed vault" containing genetic remnants of this universe. Awsok blames the Doctor for destroying this universe because the Doctor defected and interfered with Division's work. Thus, Division engineered the Flux to destroy this universe, with the Doctor still in it. Awsok reveals herself to be Tecteun, the Gallifreyan who found the young Doctor by a wormhole and raised her, while creating Time Lords ("

The Timeless Children "The Timeless Children" is the tenth and final episode of the 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, and directed by Jamie ...

"). The Doctor blames Tecteun for robbing her of a life that could have been, but Tecteun counters that the Doctor does the same when she takes companions. Tecteun reveals the possession of a fob watch with the Doctor's lost memories. Dan, Yaz, and Jericho travel around the world in 1904 to try to discover the date for world's end, evading countless assassins. A Nepalese hermit suggests they should reunite with Karvanista; although they leave a message for him at the

Great Wall of China The Great Wall of China (, literally "ten thousand ''li'' wall") is a series of fortifications that were built across the historical northern borders of ancient Chinese states and Imperial China as protection against various nomadic gro ...

, he cannot use time travel so cannot respond. The trio search out Joseph Williamson and the mysterious tunnels he dug under Liverpool, realizing he had discovered doorways leading to various time periods and locations. In 1958, a general asks the Grand Serpent, going by "Prentis", to help form

UNIT Unit may refer to: Arts and entertainment * UNIT, a fictional military organization in the science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' * Unit of action, a discrete piece of action (or beat) in a theatrical presentation Music * ''Unit'' (a ...

. Prentis embeds himself into UNIT leadership over the decades, eliminating potential threats to him. In 2017, when he closes UNIT down, Kate Stewart realises his deception and threatens to expose him. After a failed assassination attempt, she goes into hiding. With UNIT eliminated, in 2021 Prentis orders Earth's defences be lowered, inviting a second Sontaran invasion. When a Lupari ship falls from Earth's shield, Karvanista recalls the missing Lupari ship stolen by Bel, just as she was arriving at the source of the Passenger signal. With Karvanista on board, Sontaran forces attack Bel's ship. Vinder also pursues the Passenger signal, arriving moments after Bel's ship is recalled, but finding kidnapped survivors being disintegrated by Swarm and Azure for use as a power source. As he intended, Vinder is captured by Swarm in a Passenger, where he meets Diane. Swarm and Azure arrive on the Division spacecraft and plan on exacting revenge upon Division for imprisoning them. Swarm disintegrates Tecteun and approaches the Doctor to do the same.

Production

Development

"Survivors of the Flux" was written by showrunner and executive producer

Casting

The series is the third to feature

as the

, and

as Yasmin Khan, with

having joined the cast for the series as Dan Lewis.

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'' a ...

reprised her role as recurring character Kate Stewart, having been absent from the series since "

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 directe ...

" (2015). The episode also featured an off-screen voice cameo from

Nicholas Courtney William Nicholas Stone Courtney (16 December 1929 – 22 February 2011) was an Egyptian-born British actor. He was known for his long-running role as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart in the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. Ea ...

, using archive audio, as Alastair Lethbridge-Stewart, the father of Redgrave's character.

Filming

Azhur Saleem directed the second block, which comprised the third, fifth, and sixth episodes of the series.

Broadcast and reception

Broadcast

"Survivors of the Flux" aired on 28 November 2021. The episode serves as the fifth part of a six-part story, entitled ''Flux''.

Ratings

Overnight the episode was seen by 3.82 million viewers. The seven-day consolidated rating (counting all views across all platforms within seven days of broadcast) was 4.83 million. The episode was the ninth-highest rated programme on BBC1 for the week, and the 21st-highest programme across all channels for the week.

Critical reception

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 ...

, a

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website, 80% of five critics gave the episode a positive review, with an average rating of 6.3 out of 10.

References

External links

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