The Star Beast (Doctor Who episode)

301 – "The Star Beast"
Doctor Who episode
Promotional poster
Cast
Doctor David Tennant – Fourteenth Doctor
Companion Catherine Tate – Donna Noble
Guest Yasmin Finney – Rose Noble Karl Collins – Shaun Temple Matt Green – BBC reporter Jamie Cho – Colonel Chan Ruth Madeley – Shirley Bingham Harley Mcevilly, Max Fincham – Lads Jacqueline King – Sylvia Noble Dara Lall – Fudge Merchandani Cecily Fay – The Meep Brian Herring, Phill Woodfine – Meep animatronics Robert Strange, Stephen Love, Jordan Benjamin, Vassili Psaltopoulos – Wrarth Warriors Isabella Carey – Soldier Ronak Patani – Major Singh Ned Porteous – voice of Zogroth John Hopkinson – voice of Zreeg Anna Martine Freeman – Chief Technician Archie Backhouse – Sergeant Miriam Margolyes – voice of the Meep
Production
Directed by	Rachel Talalay
Written by	Russell T Davies, from a story by Pat Mills and Dave Gibbons
Script editor	Scott Handcock
Produced by	Vicki Delow
Executive producer(s)	Russell T Davies Julie Gardner Jane Tranter Joel Collins Phil Collinson
Music by	Murray Gold
Series	2023 specials
Running time	57 minutes
First broadcast	25 November 2023 (2023-11-25)
Chronology
← Preceded by "The Power of the Doctor" (episode) "Destination: Skaro" (mini-episode) Followed by → "Wild Blue Yonder"
List of episodes (2005–present)

"The Star Beast" is the first of three hour-long special episodes of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who, marking its 60th anniversary. Based on a comic written by Pat Mills and Dave Gibbons for Doctor Who Magazine in 1980, the episode was written by returning head writer and showrunner Russell T Davies, directed by Rachel Talalay, and was first broadcast on BBC One on 25 November 2023. It serves as the reintroductions of David Tennant and Catherine Tate to the series, with Tennant making his first regular appearance as the Fourteenth Doctor, having previously played the Tenth Doctor during Davies' original tenure as showrunner, last seen in the 50th anniversary special "The Day of the Doctor" (2013), while Tate reprises her role as Donna Noble. The episode also sees the return of Jacqueline King as Sylvia Noble and Karl Collins as Shaun Temple with newcomer Yasmin Finney as Rose Noble, and guest starring Miriam Margolyes as the voice of The Meep.

The episode focuses on the newly regenerated Doctor being drawn back to the life of former companion Donna Noble, whose memory he was forced to erase to save her life in "Journey's End" (2008). Upon his arrival to present-day London, he is caught up in a fight to the death when a spaceship crash-lands, with an alien army of Wrarth Warriors pursuing a small furry creature known as the Meep.

"The Star Beast" is the first Doctor Who episode to be led by Davies and Julie Gardner since the two-part Christmas special "The End of Time" (2009–2010) and marks the return of former producer Phil Collinson, who left the programme after the conclusion of the fourth series, as an executive producer. Composer Murray Gold also returns to the series for the first time since the 2017 Christmas special "Twice Upon a Time".

The episode was watched by 7.61 million viewers, the show's highest viewing figures since "The Tsuranga Conundrum" (2018), which was watched by 7.76 million viewers. It received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised Tennant and Tate's reintroduction to the series along with the introduction of Rose, a transgender character, whilst the resolution to the meta crisis storyline and transgender themes received mixed responses.