“The cliff-hanger ending saw the Doctor fatally shot by a Mondasian Cyberman and begin to regenerate,” a press release about this weekend’s season finale noted. “Stepping out of the TARDIS into an arctic landscape, he fought off the glowing regeneration energy and fell to his knees, vowing that this time he would not live on and change into a new Doctor. This was declared ‘ridiculous’ by an approaching figure, who mocked the Doctor as he stepped forward through the snow to reveal himself as the very first incarnation of the Time Lord, [‘The original, you might say,’] just before the credits rolled.”
BBC CONFIRMS DOCTOR WHO CHRISTMAS SPECIAL
The BBC also confirmed a Doctor Who Christmas special for the show’s nostalgic fans. The program in December will be “a multi-Doctor adventure featuring the current Doctor and the First Doctor.” David Bradley played the First Doctor in the finale, taking over the role from William Hartnell.
This will be the first time that the First Doctor has played an active onscreen role in Doctor Who since 1983’s “The Five Doctors,” when the character returned to the series following his regeneration almost 20 years prior.