Doctor Who: The Power of the Doctor – New Trailer and Release Date Confirmed!

Welcome to the end of Thirteen’s existence. It’s time for the Doctor to do battle with the forces that mass against her, and their Master… The BBC has confirmed that Jodie Whittaker’s farewell adventure ‘The Power of the Doctor’ will air on Sunday the 23^rd of October on BBC One. 

That puts the Special exactly one year and one month away from Doctor Who’s 60^th anniversary on the 23^rd of November 2023, when former showrunner Russell T Davies will be back in the driving seat and is expected to introduce Ncuti Gatwa as the 14^th Doctor (as well as reintroducing a host of welcome and familiar faces).

Thirteen is going out with a bang, by the looks of the latest trailer, which features regulars Mandip Gill, John Bishop and Jacob Anderson as Yaz, Dan and Vinder, alongside Jemma Redgrave as UNIT’s Kate Stewart.

They’re back alongside returning heroes Janet Fielding and Sophie Aldred as former Classic-era companions Tegan and Ace. Oh, and not forgetting a certain Sacha Dhawan as the Master, plus a few other familiar foes. Take a look below:

Here’s the official episode synopsis from the BBC:

In this feature-length Special to mark her last adventure, Jodie Whittaker’s Thirteenth Doctor must fight for her very existence, against her deadliest enemies: the Daleks, the Cybermen and her arch-nemesis, the Master.

Who is attacking a speeding bullet train on the edges of a distant galaxy? Why are seismologists going missing from 21st century Earth? Who is defacing some of history’s most iconic paintings? Why is a Dalek trying to make contact with the Doctor? And just what hold does the mesmeric Rasputin have over Tsar Nicholas in 1916 Russia?

The Doctor faces multiple threats…and a battle to the death.

Speaking exclusively to Empire Magazine, Whittaker describes her Doctor’s regeneration speech as “simple, epic and beautiful” and filmed in one long take. The question for fans is whether that regeneration will end in the traditional glimpse of the next Doctor waking up in their new body, or if – as the head-scratching around David Tennant’s 60^th anniversary adventures suggest – something more complicated might be going on. Read more about that here, as we attempt to separate the fact from the fiction.

Whittaker’s last episode is a feature-length special airing as part of a week of celebrations to mark the BBC’s 100 year anniversary on Tuesday the 18^th of October. It was written by current showrunner Chris Chibnall and directed by Jamie Magnus Stone, who tots up his eight full-length Doctor Who episode behind the camera here, after directing three instalments of Doctor Who: Flux (‘The Halloween Apocalypse’, ‘Village of the Angels’ and ‘War of the Sontarans’) and   as well as ‘The Timeless Children’, ‘Ascension of the Cybermen’, ‘Praxeus’ and ‘Spyfall: Part One’. 

‘The Power of the Doctor’ airs on BBC One in the UK on Sunday the 23^rd of October.