The Doctor Falls

"The Doctor Falls" is the twelfth and final episode of the tenth series, and 843rd episode overall, of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was written by Steven Moffat, directed by Rachel Talalay, and was broadcast on 1 July 2017 on BBC One. It is the second episode of a two-part story, the first part being "World Enough and Time".

As a continuation of the previous episode, "The Doctor Falls" concludes the first televised multi-Master story of the show, as well as the origin of the Mondasian Cybermen. In the episode, the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) must save himself and the remaining human population of a gigantic colony ship from Mondas, while also dealing with two different incarnations of the Master (Michelle Gomez and John Simm) at once. The episode features a cameo from the First Doctor, now portrayed by David Bradley. He had previously played William Hartnell, the original First Doctor actor, in the 2013 Doctor Who docudrama An Adventure in Space and Time.

The episode was watched by 5.30 million viewers and received much critical praise, with many deeming it a satisfying end to the tenth series. Aspects of the episode that were met with the most praise were Moffat’s script, Talalay’s direction and Capaldi’s performance.